Category: Christian Living

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Christian Living

The Sweet Smell of Victory

What does victory smell like? What does it look like? fingers held up in a "v" for victory sign

Here’s a pretty good description:
“Here was the heart of the secret that I was struggling to grasp–I had to step aside and ask Someone else to do the fighting for me. And every time I thought of my particular battle – usually many times a day – I had to step consciously out of the way again and give gratitude to Him for the battle He was waging on my behalf right then. Sometimes it took days, sometimes longer, for evil was rarely flimsy but the outcome was sure; sure because He was and is the Lord of life. And sure, because evil is at the last always a coward that slinks away when finally challenged and faced down.”

Evil is rarely flimsy. That is a great reminder that Satan has had plenty of time to know what best tempts me. He knows which of his lies will work best to keep me feeling defeated. But fortunately the outcome is sure – sin, death, and Satan have ultimately been defeated by Jesus. We just need to hold onto the truth of His victory. And that can look different for each person, because each of us are dealing with different struggles. Therefore…

“Eventually the results of the victory would be there for anyone to see, whether in a healthy body or a restored mind; or a boy or girl whose values – all awry – were back in place; or a ruptured relationship healed; or, perhaps, just in the miracle of finding joy in what had once been a hateful task.”

I love this idea – that victory is there for us, and though it may look different for each of us depending on our struggle at the time, the Master Reconciler desires for us to find healing. And though the healing of a body is helpful to us in so many ways, the more important healings are seeing wrong values transformed, finding a broken relationship mended, and the miraculous healing of seeing a once hateful task changed into something we learn to do with joy.

This is the victorious life that can only be found in Christ.

What miraculous victories have you experienced?

(Quotes from the book “Christy” by Catherine Marshall)

— brian rushing

Categories
Christian Living

The Yo-Yo of Seeking Approval

“I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And doggone-it, people like me!” Do you remember the Saturday Night Live character who told us to say this in the mirror each day? We might want to be good and smart, but doggone-it, even more so we want people to like us. But there is a problem if we live our lives seeking approval and using it as our guide for happiness.

wooden yo-yo to represent the ups and downs of seeking the approval of others
photo credit: xuliánconx

Gordon MacDonald tells us of the tragic consequences: “Since people’s approval inevitably comes and goes, increases and evaporates, motivation through approval becomes a yo-yo of emotions. It’s one of the first reasons men and women quit spiritual leadership. No one is clapping anymore.”

A great contrast we find in the Bible to a person seeking others’ approval is John the Baptist. John “watched a formerly approving crowd leave him to follow Jesus. His reaction? ‘I must decrease.’ Only a person free of the need for approval could talk like that.”

I wish I was more like John. Not that I want to eat locusts, wear camel hair, or live in the wilderness. But I do wish that I didn’t seek so much approval from others. I wish I was a person free of the need for approval, but instead I am like so many who often find ourselves trying to “keep up with the Joneses.” So many of us spend money we don’t have to buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t really like!

Too often, we put ourselves in compromising situations and are unwilling to take a stand, because we don’t want people to think we’re trying to be “holier-than-thou.” We compromise on our own standards to “get along” with others. We want our status to “increase” in the eyes of those around us. But I find that satisfaction in life remains elusive when I am seeking their approval.

So what needs to change? When I learn how to wholeheartedly say to God – “You must increase, and I must decrease!” Then I’ll find true satisfaction in life!

How have you gained some victory in this battle and determined to care more about God’s opinion than the applause of others?

— brian rushing

Categories
Christian Living

The Need for Transformation

Autobots…Roll Out! That famous line of Optimus Prime! Oh how I used to love the Transformers!adapted logo to represent transformation “Transformers, More than meets the eye…(go ahead and sing the rest…“Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons…!”) The Transformers were robots “hidden in plain sight,” and interestingly enough, so am I. What I mean is that no one knows just by glancing at me whether I am a follower of Christ or not.

I would hope that given some time, if someone studied my life, my habits, or my actions, that they could figure it out. But more important than wanting people just to see me or know me as a Christian, I want to be a Transformer – one in the habit of transforming society.

Jesus calls me to be a transformer when He calls me salt & light. salt shakerThe ideas of being salt in a decaying world and light in a dark world – these are transformational ideas. Changing something dark into something light – transformation. Changing something rotten into something delicious – that’s a hard one to stomach when you think of the image – but that is true transformation. And that type of transformation truly is the power of God – to take something putrid (my sin-filled unrighteous life) and turn it into something to savor (righteous holy living).

Our role as Transformers is to raise the moral level of society – not by dictating new laws, but by helping more people to experience a transformation like us. The problem is that… “Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society’s own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender” (A. W. Tozer).

Transformation is serious business and is not just about being in the right place at the right time. Because “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to the garage makes you a car” (L. J. Peter).

“What is God looking for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a help-wanted ad. It is a help-available ad. God is not looking for people to work for Him but people who let Him work mightily in and through them” (J.Piper). When we allow God to work in us, we will see the transforming power of God accomplishing impossible things through us. Join me as we get out there and function as transformers! (you can even sing the song to help “energize” yourself.)

How have you seen godly people that you know transforming their world?
Today would be a good day to encourage someone who you think has done a great job of transforming their world – as we need to encourage each other more often!

— brian rushing

Categories
Christian Living

We’re Looking for a Few . . . Sick Men?

Uncle Sam pointing at you“The difference between Uncle Sam and Jesus Christ is that Uncle Sam won’t enlist you in his service unless you are healthy and Jesus won’t enlist you unless you are sick.”

But the amazing thing is that: “God is not only the doctor who prescribes [the proper medicine to cure our sickness]. He is the nurse who lifts up our powerless head and puts the spoon in our mouth. And He is the medicine” (John Piper).

What a great image of who God is to us – He is the One with the cure, He is the One who administers the cure, and He is the cure!

But have we cried out to Him for the cure? We might cry out, but what are we really crying about? I remember moments in childhood when I had disobeyed Mom or Dad, got caught, heard what my punishment would be (often a spanking!), and broke into tears. But was I really crying with repentance wanting a cure for my bad behavior?

“Many a criminal will weep when his sentence is read, not because he hasJudge's Gavel come to love righteousness, but because his freedom to do more unrighteousness is being taken away. That kind of weeping is not true evangelical repentance. And it does not lead to radical Christian obedience.

“The only true sorrow for not having holiness comes from a love for holiness, not just from fear of the consequences of not having it” (John Piper).

Too many times I was crying because I got caught… Not because I was disappointed in myself. How many times am I still unconcerned with righteousness as an adult?

How else but through a broken heart may Lord Christ enter in? –Oscar Wilde

So it is great that we have a cure, but what if you never cry out for it? What if you never develop that broken heart? You will be left empty. And I want to be filled to the top with life. I want to be completely satisfied. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” – Jesus

Thank You God for being the Cure for my sickness! And for helping me to realize that I was sick and in need of help.
Father, give me a love for your holiness!

— brian rushing

Categories
Christian Living

A Step In The Right Direction

In Honduras, I met several young men who were wrestling with a commitment to Christianity. The want to take a step in the right direction, but haven’t yet taken that first step. I wonder if they ever have these internal thoughts:

“How do I fathom what life is all about? Here are all these great philosophers across the centuries with better minds than I have, and one religion says this and another religion says that. Maybe one religion is as good as another. Who knows?…How can a person like me be sure?”

To that question, Catherine Marshall writes:
“Somebody very wise anticipated your question. All thoughtful men ask the same question sooner or later. So He left us a way so that we can be sure. It’s as specific as a doctor‘s prescription or as an algebraic equation. Here, I’ll write it down for you.

“Miss Alice went over to a little desk in the corner, sat down, opened one of the desk’s cubbyholes, took out a piece of notepaper, and began to write.… she folded it, and handed it to me. “Whenever you receive a written prescription from your doctor,” she said, “the first step after that is yours. You move on this,” she indicated the folded paper she had given me, “and then God will move.close-up of a person's shoes as they are taking a step in the right direction I‘ll guarantee it. And as for religion being vague—well, it isn’t. It’s been the delight of my life to find God far more common-sense and practical than any human I know. The only time I ever find my dealings with God less than clear-cut is when I’m not being honest with Him. The fuzziness is always on my side, not His.”

The piece of paper lay warm in my hand. I wanted to look at it but Miss Alice had not quite finished; “More people than not think religion dull. Some religions are dull. But believe me, Christianity isn’t. It‘s the most fascinating, delightful thing I know. You‘re standing poised on the threshold of great adventure. Now, you’re dying to see what I wrote…. Go—and take that first step.”

Maybe some of those Honduran guys are having these same thoughts.
Maybe you are too.
Maybe you would love to know what was on that piece of paper.
You might find yourself disappointed… When Christy opened the paper, it read:

“If any man will do the Father’s will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”

She then states – “I read the words over two, three times trying to comprehend. I felt let down. Why did the Bible always disappoint me this way? Other people seemed to get meaning out of it. Why couldn’t I? What had I expected? Some magic, obviously. Then I tried to recall her exact words. “Go and take the first step.”

To take that first step… that is the secret – a step in the right direction. Seek to do His will and to know Him. He tells us in His Word:
“You will seek Me & find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Have you taken the first step today to seek Him, or are you passively waiting for something to happen?

— brian rushing

(Quotes from the book “Christy” by Catherine Marshall)