Is this only the 4th one? Man, I have got to get in gear on these...
Verse 4: Joshua 1.
Have you ever faced a situation where you know what you need to do, it's clear as mud, yet you find yourself starring at the inevitable stalling to take the first step because you just don't know what the outcome will be? I think many of us face these things many times in our lives. They could be small things or they could be rather large things. From making decisions that will affect the entire family, to picking up the phone to call a friend who you know is in need. Either way, we all face what I have recently come to realize as "Jordan Moments".
The Israelites found themselves at a similar point right before they crossed over into the promised land in the book of Joshua. Faced with the promise of receiving a "land flowing with milk and honey", their leader Joshua, receives another promise from God to help along the way. Verses 1:5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you, 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go, and 1:18 Only be strong and courageous.
The Israelites had a choice. They didn't have to enter the promised land. They didn't have to cross the Jordan to get what God wanted to give them. They could have stayed East of the Jordan and lived out the rest of their years in fine fashion I would imagine. But they did. Through the encouragement given to Joshua, God's people made the choice to receive a place to call home which awaited them for many years.
How often in our own lives do we face our own "Jordan moments"? And what has been your response? Did you cross? Did you stay put? What was the outcome? Most of us have no idea what is across our own Jordans. We think about these moments every day wondering what life would be like if I had only done this, or only done that. Yet we continually find ourselves faced with a new Jordan where we must make a decision to cross or simply stay put. If your faced with a difficult decision you must make today, remember, you don't cross it alone. God speaks to you saying, I'm here with you, and by your side I will stay. Now can you cross?
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
TP3
Ok, it's taken me a while to go through the 7 verses that I promised a couple of weeks back, but I've been taking some time to think through them before I sit down and write about them. This verse has probably one of the greatest impacts on my daily life that I have yet to attain perfect understanding, yet it sits at the forefront of my conscienceness in hopes that I will pass it's test.
Verse 3: Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he? Isaiah 2:22.
I had a conversation today with another individual who said, "I see no point in religion." I've heard this many times in my short life and it doesn't fail how my heart sinks each time I hear it. It doesn't get old and I haven't grown callous to hearing it like I have with some other things. It's also not something that a short conversation will cure. While in many ways, I see and agree that there is no point in religion, it's really not religion that most people are talking about I think. It's HOPE. I envision people really saying, "I see no point in having any hope in this world." This is where my heart really starts to hurt because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt a person who says this is reacting to a religious person who has hurt them.
When we get hurt, we stop living with any hope. It never fails to happen this way. If you are a believer, these experiences can become a challenge to living a greater life for Christ. It affects your personal fulfillment, your outlook on the church, your desire to help others and your priorities in general. But why does this happen? Please understand this point: WHEN WE PUT OUR TRUST IN MAN, WE WILL BE DISAPPOINTED. Yes, everyone you know will disappoint you. Your neighbor, co-worker, parents, friends, best-friends, and even your pastor. Yep, even your pastor. So what I'm saying now, please write it down in your memory banks, because everyone you know will eventually disappoint you. And you will eventually disappoint someone else. There's no stopping it, no running away from it, no evading it. It will happen! I could go on and on about this, but I think my point is very clear.
So what must we do? First, we must understand that God knows people will hurt us. This is why He gives us the priority to trust in Him. It's when we trust in Him alone that we are able to deal with the hurt and disappointment we will face in this world. It's not if, but when. Isaiah even says that man is but a finite creation having no ability to be trusted in the first place. Secondly, COMPASSION and GRACE go much further in our own lives when we use it to extend to others who have hurt us. These are tools available through the promises God has given each of us who believe in Him. And finally, when we continue to seek God first, we experience a supernatural freedom that only comes from Him who stills our burdened hearts. If we can just let go and let Him free us from these burdens, we can truly experience a greater life, an abundant life that John 10:10 talks about.
But we must trust in God first, and be ready and mindful of the simple reality that we will be hurt by our fellow man. Right or wrong, we have to choose to respond out of faithfulness to Him, rather than vain or selfish defensiveness that only turns us away from living a greater life of faith.
I've been hurt several times by people whom I thought would know better about how to treat people. I've also been disillusioned by just watching how people treat each other even within the church without being directly involved. Do I expect more? Sure, I expect more compassion and grace from those who have accepted it as part of their faith. But I have to be honest, none of us ever live by these things all of the time. The end result is, it directly affects others and ourselves, whether we are an innocent bystander, the hurter or hurtee. So I must be ready to extend forgiveness to those whom I would want forgiveness from. I will never be perfect, just as those whom I come into contact with will never be perfect. So I must take my trust out of their abilities and transfer to once and for all to Him who is worthy of my complete trust. For in Christ, I've placed my hope and my salvation.
Oh God, please forgive us for our selfishness. Please forgive us for our lack of faith in you. Please forgive us for our own deceitful ambition to be right in our own hearts and minds rather than right in your eyes. And please help us to trust in you alone so we may be free from the possibility of losing hope in this world, and turning our back on making a difference in the lives of those who need that hope. Amen.
Verse 3: Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he? Isaiah 2:22.
I had a conversation today with another individual who said, "I see no point in religion." I've heard this many times in my short life and it doesn't fail how my heart sinks each time I hear it. It doesn't get old and I haven't grown callous to hearing it like I have with some other things. It's also not something that a short conversation will cure. While in many ways, I see and agree that there is no point in religion, it's really not religion that most people are talking about I think. It's HOPE. I envision people really saying, "I see no point in having any hope in this world." This is where my heart really starts to hurt because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt a person who says this is reacting to a religious person who has hurt them.
When we get hurt, we stop living with any hope. It never fails to happen this way. If you are a believer, these experiences can become a challenge to living a greater life for Christ. It affects your personal fulfillment, your outlook on the church, your desire to help others and your priorities in general. But why does this happen? Please understand this point: WHEN WE PUT OUR TRUST IN MAN, WE WILL BE DISAPPOINTED. Yes, everyone you know will disappoint you. Your neighbor, co-worker, parents, friends, best-friends, and even your pastor. Yep, even your pastor. So what I'm saying now, please write it down in your memory banks, because everyone you know will eventually disappoint you. And you will eventually disappoint someone else. There's no stopping it, no running away from it, no evading it. It will happen! I could go on and on about this, but I think my point is very clear.
So what must we do? First, we must understand that God knows people will hurt us. This is why He gives us the priority to trust in Him. It's when we trust in Him alone that we are able to deal with the hurt and disappointment we will face in this world. It's not if, but when. Isaiah even says that man is but a finite creation having no ability to be trusted in the first place. Secondly, COMPASSION and GRACE go much further in our own lives when we use it to extend to others who have hurt us. These are tools available through the promises God has given each of us who believe in Him. And finally, when we continue to seek God first, we experience a supernatural freedom that only comes from Him who stills our burdened hearts. If we can just let go and let Him free us from these burdens, we can truly experience a greater life, an abundant life that John 10:10 talks about.
But we must trust in God first, and be ready and mindful of the simple reality that we will be hurt by our fellow man. Right or wrong, we have to choose to respond out of faithfulness to Him, rather than vain or selfish defensiveness that only turns us away from living a greater life of faith.
I've been hurt several times by people whom I thought would know better about how to treat people. I've also been disillusioned by just watching how people treat each other even within the church without being directly involved. Do I expect more? Sure, I expect more compassion and grace from those who have accepted it as part of their faith. But I have to be honest, none of us ever live by these things all of the time. The end result is, it directly affects others and ourselves, whether we are an innocent bystander, the hurter or hurtee. So I must be ready to extend forgiveness to those whom I would want forgiveness from. I will never be perfect, just as those whom I come into contact with will never be perfect. So I must take my trust out of their abilities and transfer to once and for all to Him who is worthy of my complete trust. For in Christ, I've placed my hope and my salvation.
Oh God, please forgive us for our selfishness. Please forgive us for our lack of faith in you. Please forgive us for our own deceitful ambition to be right in our own hearts and minds rather than right in your eyes. And please help us to trust in you alone so we may be free from the possibility of losing hope in this world, and turning our back on making a difference in the lives of those who need that hope. Amen.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
TP2
Verse 2: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:5-11
Have you ever looked at your life and just said, "This is such a rat race?" I find myself doing this often. It's not so much that life is busy or that I am doing the wrong things, it just merely an expression of how I feel a lot of the times when my priorities seem to get out of whack. The "rat race" produces nothing of any significance other than to pay the bills and buy fancy toys, or nothing that has any value to making me a better person. Words like significance and purpose have a far greater depth to them when thinking about what we want for our lives. It's almost something that we can feel deep down in our gut. These words fill our very being and make us connect with a greater reality that I think God designed for us to realize in the first place. Yet, we all find ourselves moving back and forth from the race to have a "good life" verses a fulfilling life. They are very different.
So the question that hits me is, "Does God really impact our daily life?" We obviously live in a world where we have to work to have a roof over our head, drive a car, pay for gas, eat at our favorite restaurant, and on and on. So technically, we must be in the "rat race". But can we move beyond the daily living of going through the motions of sleep, eat, work, eat, work, eat, sleep? The Bible answers this question with a resounding YES! We do have purpose and we can experience life in a greater way than just merely going through the motions on a daily basis.
The passage in Philippians show us a very simple picture of the mind of Christ which we are to imitate.
1) We are not God.
2) We are to serve others.
3) We are to be obedient to His commands.
4) We are to point to Him and not ourselves.
5) We are to bring glory to God.
If Jesus' purpose was to bring glory to God, and we are to be Christ-like, then our purpose is to bring glory to God through our lives. I think we lose this very simple reality of our own creation in our daily life. We are not here for ourselves or to be successful for our own glory. We are put here to point to God's glory so that all men may know and confess the truth of our salvation.
Have you ever looked at your life and just said, "This is such a rat race?" I find myself doing this often. It's not so much that life is busy or that I am doing the wrong things, it just merely an expression of how I feel a lot of the times when my priorities seem to get out of whack. The "rat race" produces nothing of any significance other than to pay the bills and buy fancy toys, or nothing that has any value to making me a better person. Words like significance and purpose have a far greater depth to them when thinking about what we want for our lives. It's almost something that we can feel deep down in our gut. These words fill our very being and make us connect with a greater reality that I think God designed for us to realize in the first place. Yet, we all find ourselves moving back and forth from the race to have a "good life" verses a fulfilling life. They are very different.
So the question that hits me is, "Does God really impact our daily life?" We obviously live in a world where we have to work to have a roof over our head, drive a car, pay for gas, eat at our favorite restaurant, and on and on. So technically, we must be in the "rat race". But can we move beyond the daily living of going through the motions of sleep, eat, work, eat, work, eat, sleep? The Bible answers this question with a resounding YES! We do have purpose and we can experience life in a greater way than just merely going through the motions on a daily basis.
The passage in Philippians show us a very simple picture of the mind of Christ which we are to imitate.
1) We are not God.
2) We are to serve others.
3) We are to be obedient to His commands.
4) We are to point to Him and not ourselves.
5) We are to bring glory to God.
If Jesus' purpose was to bring glory to God, and we are to be Christ-like, then our purpose is to bring glory to God through our lives. I think we lose this very simple reality of our own creation in our daily life. We are not here for ourselves or to be successful for our own glory. We are put here to point to God's glory so that all men may know and confess the truth of our salvation.
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