Here is a random thought and its something that I have been thinking about this week and these thoughts were engrained into my head by president of the college I attended. One of his major platforms is that ideas do matter and that actions and words have consequences. We often learn of these truths early, but need reminding of them on a daily basis. I read an article today from a recent Sports Illustrated about a college student who was a walk on football player for the University of Virginia. (even to be a walk on at a Division 1 program means you are a very talented athlete). But Joseph Williams has a bigger cause on his plate, not only does he volunteer at several places and mentors a number of people there is one thing that is near and dear to his heart. He and several students at the University of Virginia went on an eight day hunger strike to bring up awareness about the pay of the service employees at the university were receiving. A lot of the service employees were receiving minimum or just above minimum wages which resulted in them just scrapping by. Williams saw it as an injustice because the university was spending millions on athletics and yet they could not afford to give their employees a pay raise. This news story not only caught the attention of the administration, but also garnished national media attention. Williams was forced to make a decision to fall in line and give up the protest and remain on the team, or keep on with the protest and not be a member of the football team. He chose that the latter and thought it was to big of a cause to give up.
This gives light to issues of social justice and what is worth fighting for and what is important. It is often standing in the gap for someone else and giving them a voice. I also know that a lot of us are not willing to go on an eight day hunger strike, but two things still remain. Who or what are we willing to stand up for and are we wiling to face the consequences of them. Everything that we do/say or not do/say has consequences either for good or bad. Our actions, thoughts and words often shows us where we are at with God and the condition of our heart. Whether it is not getting up and going for that walk in the morning, makes it that much easier not to do it tomorrow morning (not that missing a morning walk will make us lose our salvation). Or failing to communicate with family members or the tone of communication can have bad consequences and shows how selfish and self centered. So often we just focus in on the bad consequences and trying our hardest not to do them, that we often forget that there are good consequences. We teach ourselves and others (especially children) don't do stuff because something bad will happen. Whether it is drugs, alcohol, or premarital intercourse, we often preach on the evilness of these things and they will lead to bad things. Instead of always preaching don't do(there is a time and place for this), maybe its preaching on doing good things and reap the good benefits. Whether it is some more time in the Bible,leaving the cell phone at home, or saying no to that late night ice cream, they do have positive consequences.
In closing are actions and words, both that are said/done and the ones that are not said/done have consequences and they are usually either positive or negative consequences. The Christian faith is not one of works that will get us into heaven but our works are a response to who we belong to and the grace that has been given. I think there are very few decisions that are amoral (neither good or bad) because these things often lead to another decision. So be mindful of what is said and done and that as a Christian, we do have the power of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to make those decisions that will have a positive impact. But here is the kicker, we have to be open and listening for Him. The Holy Spirit usually that still small voice in our ear or that deep gut feeling telling us what to do or say, or from time to time hits us on the back of the head to get our attention.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
obedience
As I have been wrestling with Romans 6 the last couple of weeks and as I have posted earlier about the issues of kingship and authority. Obedience or disobedience is how one responds or doesn't respond to the authority figure Whether it is God's authority, or human authority, it is still authority. (The idea of whether to and when to obey and when to disobey human authority is a different posting) Whether it is being obedient to ourselves or to God. As I have wrestled with this issue of obedience, it is more than just doing something or not doing something for someone. When one obeys, there is some level of respect for either the person or the authority that the person has giving the directions. I often do or don't do things because its the right thing to do and there are times that I do the right things for the right reason, or the right thing for the wrong reason and vice versa. There are times where I throw a tantrum while doing it or and that usually leads to nothing getting done. When we are being obedient, especially to God and His authority or even earthly authority the intentions of the heart do matter. I often thing of when I was made to apologize to my siblings for doing something wrong. I may have apologized, but on the inside I was still kicking and screaming and calling them poopy heads. So my question to us all is how do we match up this idea of obedience as action, and obedience of the heart. It is a daily struggle for doing or not doing things for the right reason. In the end, true obedience is knowing where one stands with others and living out of that which I hope is a position not of ruling but of serving.
One of the verses that has kept coming up for me is Malachi 6:8 of loving justice, mercy and walking humbly with God. With this in mind, when one is walking humbly with God, it is a realization what are place is and living in it. Its not taking a number and just being a member of the masses. It is this idea that we are living as a child of God and we are coming under Gods authority. God does not rule with an iron fist and a septor and kills off anyone who does wrong. God is a God of mercy and not only does He come along side us and helps us put things back in order but He also bestows His holiness upon us. To use a Dr Mulholland quote (professor at Asbury Seminary and thanks David Pritchard for sharing me of this quote):
One of the verses that has kept coming up for me is Malachi 6:8 of loving justice, mercy and walking humbly with God. With this in mind, when one is walking humbly with God, it is a realization what are place is and living in it. Its not taking a number and just being a member of the masses. It is this idea that we are living as a child of God and we are coming under Gods authority. God does not rule with an iron fist and a septor and kills off anyone who does wrong. God is a God of mercy and not only does He come along side us and helps us put things back in order but He also bestows His holiness upon us. To use a Dr Mulholland quote (professor at Asbury Seminary and thanks David Pritchard for sharing me of this quote):
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Kingship and Authority
In the
American culture, when one dubs themselves as king, or someone else does for
them, it often means that they are the best at what they do. In the past fifty years, we have had the king
of rock n roll (Elvis), the king of pop (Michael Jackson), or King James
(basketball player). These people are
either considered the best at what they do, or have the most potential to be
the best at what they do. Being king
often comes with the expectation of that they are not only the best at what
they do, and they have authority, whether self ascribed or ascribed by others. This type of kingship and authority often
leads down a very destructive and painful road.
Having this type of authority, makes us want to be like Eric Cartman and
yell respect my authority and when we say this, things never end well. Looking back on the lives of Michael Jackson
and Elvis, the end of their lives were nothing to be followed or desired and
lead to their untimely and unfortunate deaths.
We all have someone(s) or something(s) that rule over us and act as
authority in our lives, it is just a matter of is it constructive or
destructive to our current lifestyle and our eternal one.
Romans 6
talks about this idea of kingship and authority in our lives and who or what
has this authority. It is more than who
serves as our elected leaders on a local, state, and a national level, which is
an important discussion for a later time, but it is who rules our heart, action
and lives. In this chapter Paul is
sharing with the Roman church the two authorities that are not only trying to
grab our attention, but are trying to grab our hearts and our allegiances and
these authorities are in contrast with each other. One authority is sin and sin is anything that
takes us out of a right relationship with God.
Sin often manifest itself in being self centered, hedonistic, or self
destructive patterns. I think that Frank
Sinatra has a pretty good definition of sin and that’s doing things my way. Doing things my way often leads us down a
self destructive path that if we are responsible for getting ourselves out of,
we can’t. It’s because we have let sin
rule over us and we are under its authority and we become servants of this
destructive lifestyle. But here is the
good news, we do not have to be under the authority of sin and live this self
destructive lifestyle.
Paul
touches on this idea of should I keep on sinning so that grace may expound. Essentially Paul is asking the question of,
should I keep dishonoring Him to gain His mercy and favor. Paul emphatically says no way. To sum it up, we are turning God’s gift into
a cheap perfume that doesn’t smell good.
God’s gift to us, which is Jesus death and resurrection, gives us the
ability to have power over sin and not to continue in it. Paul contrast of sinning all the time to get
Gods grace with being an instrument of God’s grace to the world we live
in. Being an instrument for God, takes
on many forms, but the main constant is this; it is sharing and doing for
others what God has done for us. The
question is, are we going to be obedient to Gods grace and work within us and
through us, to be instruments of peace and reconciliation to a hurting and
broken world. Or are we going to go and
be obedient to our hedonistic selves and be destructive. We are kind of like bulldozers, they can be
useful in building roads and buildings, but also can be very destructive in
ripping things apart and causing mayhem.
So what kind of instruments are we going to be today and how are we
going to let God use us for His glory. In the end, it is not about respecting my
authority or kingship that I might have, but it is point to the One who has
authority over all and is the Creator of the Universe.
Friday, April 13, 2012
The Vindicated Prodical
The story of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15 is one of the most popular Bible stories out there and we would probably lose count on how many times it has been preached from different perspectives. To sum up the story, the younger of the two sons gets sick of living at home, so he demands his inheritance and leaves the family. After a time of living it up and reckless abandonment, he is out of money in a far far away place. To he decided to get a job feeding pigs (which for a good Jewish person, that is blasphemy) and after awhile of feeding and eating what the pigs ate, he game to his senses. He would go home and be one of his fathers hired hands, because they had it better than he did. When he almost got home, his father came out runningnot only greeted him, but had a long embrace. The son was restored to full sonship and he was a part of the family. The older brother had a tantrum because the dysfunctional brother not only came home, but was restored member of the family and there was a party.
I just wonder how many of us carry the attitude of the older son. It is the attitude of making sure everyone stays happy and we do not do anything wrong and we stay on the straight and narrow. The problem with the older brother, like a lot of us is that we are not children but slaves. Being a slave has several destructive tendencies that will keep us a slave if we do not over come them. The first one and I think the most important one to over come is vindication. A person who has a slave mentality is that they always have to be proven right and are always justifying what they do. This attitude is that there is always an explanation for what they did or didn't do, or place the blame on someone else. They are willing to do or say anything or nothing as long as they can justify it and it helps them sleep at night. Whether its justifying crappy eating habits because they claim that they don't have time or the money to eat healthy. This type of justification is based on our own standards or our interpretations of certain standards. Other people can do what they want, just as long as people fit things into your standards and justifications.
When we start using our own justifications to live life, we are going down a winding path that often leads to no good. When our own standards and heart are corrupt, it is really hard to come up with healthy ways of living when its coming from a broken person. It is like trying to turn out an award winning apple pie with rotten apples, it just doesn't happen.
Another problem with having the slave mentality is the concept of trying to play catch up or hooking yourself to the latest whim or bright idea. I am not saying that all the latest fades or whims are bad, but trying to play catch up can be exhausting. If and when the idea fails, we often sit in shambles because we don't know how we got there. One of the problems with this mentality, is that we are prone to not having a backbone. Going from whim to whim often shows a lack of planing and a lack of integrity/backbone because we either don't plan things out, or we are to stubborn to change our ways .
One of the biggest areas that I see where a person with a slave mentality comes from is seeking people's approval and wondering if they are making a difference. This often comes from two different sources. The first one is that we are to blind to see the big picture and we have tunnel vision. We just see what is in front of us. The second issue is that we are not willing to grow up and deal with our own issues. We either minimize our problems and say that they are not that bad and that everyone has problems. At least with me, I do enough reflection, but putting into practice to make those changes is hard. A slave does not want to admit that there is a problem or the severity of the problem. Therefore the problem doesn't change, because one does not want to put in the hard work to make it change. We are comfortable in our own little bubble and in all honesty, we enjoy sitting and our own crap where we don't want to change. With this mentality, we often wonder if we are ever making an impact and doing any good and I am comming to realize that the impact one is making is not as big as it could be if at all.
Or its not my problem its everyone else. The blame game often goes back to self justification and it is a terrible circle to get on and one that is very hard to get out of. Hopefully in the near future I can write about what it means to be a child
I just wonder how many of us carry the attitude of the older son. It is the attitude of making sure everyone stays happy and we do not do anything wrong and we stay on the straight and narrow. The problem with the older brother, like a lot of us is that we are not children but slaves. Being a slave has several destructive tendencies that will keep us a slave if we do not over come them. The first one and I think the most important one to over come is vindication. A person who has a slave mentality is that they always have to be proven right and are always justifying what they do. This attitude is that there is always an explanation for what they did or didn't do, or place the blame on someone else. They are willing to do or say anything or nothing as long as they can justify it and it helps them sleep at night. Whether its justifying crappy eating habits because they claim that they don't have time or the money to eat healthy. This type of justification is based on our own standards or our interpretations of certain standards. Other people can do what they want, just as long as people fit things into your standards and justifications.
When we start using our own justifications to live life, we are going down a winding path that often leads to no good. When our own standards and heart are corrupt, it is really hard to come up with healthy ways of living when its coming from a broken person. It is like trying to turn out an award winning apple pie with rotten apples, it just doesn't happen.
Another problem with having the slave mentality is the concept of trying to play catch up or hooking yourself to the latest whim or bright idea. I am not saying that all the latest fades or whims are bad, but trying to play catch up can be exhausting. If and when the idea fails, we often sit in shambles because we don't know how we got there. One of the problems with this mentality, is that we are prone to not having a backbone. Going from whim to whim often shows a lack of planing and a lack of integrity/backbone because we either don't plan things out, or we are to stubborn to change our ways .
One of the biggest areas that I see where a person with a slave mentality comes from is seeking people's approval and wondering if they are making a difference. This often comes from two different sources. The first one is that we are to blind to see the big picture and we have tunnel vision. We just see what is in front of us. The second issue is that we are not willing to grow up and deal with our own issues. We either minimize our problems and say that they are not that bad and that everyone has problems. At least with me, I do enough reflection, but putting into practice to make those changes is hard. A slave does not want to admit that there is a problem or the severity of the problem. Therefore the problem doesn't change, because one does not want to put in the hard work to make it change. We are comfortable in our own little bubble and in all honesty, we enjoy sitting and our own crap where we don't want to change. With this mentality, we often wonder if we are ever making an impact and doing any good and I am comming to realize that the impact one is making is not as big as it could be if at all.
Or its not my problem its everyone else. The blame game often goes back to self justification and it is a terrible circle to get on and one that is very hard to get out of. Hopefully in the near future I can write about what it means to be a child
Thursday, April 12, 2012
The Spirit of Adoption
The last two weeks in sports there have been some events that made me want to bang my head against the wall. The first was when the Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen made the horrific comments that he actually admired the dictator Fidel Castro. He later apologized and tried to explain himself. Secondly, if you go and have a motorcycle accident, make sure you tell your boss who was involved, especially if it was a female subordinate who just happened to be your mistress. Don't let him find out when the police report becomes public, and it makes you look like a liar and having something to hide. So now Bobby Pitreno is looking for a new job while trying to mend his broken family and the University of Arkansas is looking for a new head football coach
Bubba Watson happens to be the coolest person in sports right now (his name might have something to do with it :)). Not only has he won one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world (The Masters) without having a golf coach or never taking a golf lesson, he owns the original General Lee. For those of you who watched 1980's tv, The General Lee was the car used on the TV show The Dukes of Hazard. He happens to owns the original car that has the doors welded shut. I was a fan of the show and if it were on today I would still watch it. But the coolest thing about Bubba Watson is that not only he is a Christian, but him and his wife just adopted an infant boy. I heard an interview with him this week and he basically said that winning the Masters was cool and a great accomplishment, but there is more to life than winning a golf tournament. He got home late after winning the Masters and yet he was up two hours later to change a diaper. He has shared a little bit of the struggles that him and his wife went through in adopting and it didn't sound fun.
For those of you who know my family story, my sister and her husband adopted two children, and they are the greatest in the world. It is so fun watching them grow up in pictures and learning new things and doing some of the weirdest and most bizarre things. but they sure do make me smile. Here is an older picture of them
When become apart of God's family we become adopted. I am reminded of the old Gospel song that this world is not our home and we are just passin through. When we are adopted into Gods family, this world is not our final destination. We have something better waiting for us and we are apart of something bigger than just ourselves or even our families, but it is global.
Throughout the New Testament, especially in the book of Romans and John's Epistles there is language that states that if we have accepted Christ as our Savior and turn from our ways, God gives us His Spirit and we are called sons (and daughters) of God and co-heirs with Christ. What this means, is that we belong to the Creator of the Universe. Romans 8 gives us several helpful and hopeful meanings to what it means to be adopted.
The first one is the greatest one of all. Since we have God's Spirit, our bodies may die, yet we live. Essentially the grave and separation from God for all eternity is no longer something we have to worry about. Through God's Spirit, we can put to death all of our destructive and bad habits and replace them with Godly ones. It is God's Spirit doing the work in us so that we no longer have to struggle with our earthly nature, but become a child of God and do things that are of God and move away from things that are not of God.
The second one and I think the coolest one is the idea that we no longer have to be slaves again to fear and timidity, but we can call God Daddy. Having a slave mentality often means a person is on the outside looking in and often live in fear. A slave often works to please God and so that He doesn't come down in anger on them. The more the slave can do right and the less they can do wrong, that means the master will like them more and the slave will be in better favor. Adoption moves that slave barrier, and it is not so much what we do, but who we are. (what we do is important, but it flows out of who we are and what we do does not necessarily define us)
Adoption means intimacy with God and that there are no barriers. This means that we know God and God knows us. We do not have to go to God out of shame or hanging our heads, but we not only run to Him with open arms, but we often sit on His lap. When one is adopted and their is that intimacy, their is no weird awkwardness. If you have ever been in same room or in a conversation with someone, and something is not right, or there are unresolved issues that need to be taken care of and they haven't been, that is awkward and I know it makes me cringe inside. Being adopted means that we can go to God with open harms and we also go to God when we have done something wrong and we take care of it and make it right. Being adopted means we get a new lease on life and that we can be called children of the most High God and we can lay claim and participate in the promises that He has given us
Bubba Watson happens to be the coolest person in sports right now (his name might have something to do with it :)). Not only has he won one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world (The Masters) without having a golf coach or never taking a golf lesson, he owns the original General Lee. For those of you who watched 1980's tv, The General Lee was the car used on the TV show The Dukes of Hazard. He happens to owns the original car that has the doors welded shut. I was a fan of the show and if it were on today I would still watch it. But the coolest thing about Bubba Watson is that not only he is a Christian, but him and his wife just adopted an infant boy. I heard an interview with him this week and he basically said that winning the Masters was cool and a great accomplishment, but there is more to life than winning a golf tournament. He got home late after winning the Masters and yet he was up two hours later to change a diaper. He has shared a little bit of the struggles that him and his wife went through in adopting and it didn't sound fun.
For those of you who know my family story, my sister and her husband adopted two children, and they are the greatest in the world. It is so fun watching them grow up in pictures and learning new things and doing some of the weirdest and most bizarre things. but they sure do make me smile. Here is an older picture of them
When become apart of God's family we become adopted. I am reminded of the old Gospel song that this world is not our home and we are just passin through. When we are adopted into Gods family, this world is not our final destination. We have something better waiting for us and we are apart of something bigger than just ourselves or even our families, but it is global.Throughout the New Testament, especially in the book of Romans and John's Epistles there is language that states that if we have accepted Christ as our Savior and turn from our ways, God gives us His Spirit and we are called sons (and daughters) of God and co-heirs with Christ. What this means, is that we belong to the Creator of the Universe. Romans 8 gives us several helpful and hopeful meanings to what it means to be adopted.
The first one is the greatest one of all. Since we have God's Spirit, our bodies may die, yet we live. Essentially the grave and separation from God for all eternity is no longer something we have to worry about. Through God's Spirit, we can put to death all of our destructive and bad habits and replace them with Godly ones. It is God's Spirit doing the work in us so that we no longer have to struggle with our earthly nature, but become a child of God and do things that are of God and move away from things that are not of God.
The second one and I think the coolest one is the idea that we no longer have to be slaves again to fear and timidity, but we can call God Daddy. Having a slave mentality often means a person is on the outside looking in and often live in fear. A slave often works to please God and so that He doesn't come down in anger on them. The more the slave can do right and the less they can do wrong, that means the master will like them more and the slave will be in better favor. Adoption moves that slave barrier, and it is not so much what we do, but who we are. (what we do is important, but it flows out of who we are and what we do does not necessarily define us)
Adoption means intimacy with God and that there are no barriers. This means that we know God and God knows us. We do not have to go to God out of shame or hanging our heads, but we not only run to Him with open arms, but we often sit on His lap. When one is adopted and their is that intimacy, their is no weird awkwardness. If you have ever been in same room or in a conversation with someone, and something is not right, or there are unresolved issues that need to be taken care of and they haven't been, that is awkward and I know it makes me cringe inside. Being adopted means that we can go to God with open harms and we also go to God when we have done something wrong and we take care of it and make it right. Being adopted means we get a new lease on life and that we can be called children of the most High God and we can lay claim and participate in the promises that He has given us
Thursday, March 22, 2012
head slaps and spiritual milk
Growing up on the farm we had a ritual every fall and it usually happened around Labor Day Weekend. It was usually time to separate the cows from the calves and to lock the steers up to get them ready for butchering. The reason we separated the cows and calves is so the calves would be weaned off of the cows and they wouldn’t be dependant on their moms for milk and nourishment. They often complained for the first few days, but after the realization they were eating better, it usually stopped. Being weaned off of milk also has spiritual terms also.
There are several places in the New Testament where the writers explain that we need to move from spiritual milk to spiritual meat. It is our way of not only growing up, but also maturing in the faith. We can not stay an immature Christian forever. In 1 Corinthians 3 the Apostle Paul is exhorting the church for not growing up. They have gotten the Jesus loves them idea, but growing up just wasn’t happening. They were claiming to be Christians, but were still doing worldly things such as gossip, jealousy, and petty fighting. What Paul was saying to the church at Corinth and can still be said for us today is, its time to knock off the petty stuff and grow up. There has to be a point in our lives that we go from knowing that Jesus loves us no matter what, to putting earthly things away and living a transformed life. Living this transformed life does mean we can put the old or bad things away and then live a holy life by ourselves. If that was the case, Christ death and resurrection would be pointless and His grace would be cheap. The only way I know how not to cheapen God's grace, is by participating in Christ death, so not only that we can be raised up with Him and to be transformed in His image and live in that image of being a child of God
Now we are all at different points in our spiritual maturity and our age does not matter or even how long we have been in the church. Being in the church and growing in maturity are two different things. We can spend all of our time in church and be immature, but if we don't go to church, there is no chance of maturing. We can walk into a auto mechanic shop and spend a lot of time there, learning how to be a mechanic, but that doesn't make us a mechanic. Not until we spend time learning and putting into practice what a mechanic does, this is when we become a mechanic. This is true with our Christian life, we can go to church and learn about God, but until we put into practice and grow, are we really growing in Christ. Our goal is to grow in God’s grace and to have Him change us. We are to reflect God’s character and not anybody else, because God is the author and the perfector of our faith. We all have areas where God is challenging us to grow up. There are times where God challenges us gently, but then there are times where He comes and does the Gibbs head slap. (on the tv show NCIS, one of the character; Gibbs, often gives his subordinates a slap to the back of the head when its time to knock it off and to grow up). It is not easy nor is it even fun at times to grow up, this means that we need to put away old habits and ways of life, but the results of this will be very beneficial. It has been said that we are either growing up and maturing or sliding and becoming immature in our Christian faith. There is no standing still, so with this challenge, I challenge all of us that it is time to grow up.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Spring time resurrection
Spring time is in the air and to be honest with you all, its not my favorite time of the year. Up north spring means plenty of brown, mud and impassible roads at times. Not to mention the work that has been put off because of the winter weather, or the cleanup that comes because of the winter weather, but I digress. It has gotten me thinking about several things though in relation to spring. When most people think of spring, they think of new life, warmer weather and a reason to wear the shorts and shirts. This idea of new life comes in many forms. Whether it is the baby animals being born, the leaves on trees, or even a moment of personal growth/self improvement can and is often started in spring. Spring gives hope, because there is something better to come,. whether it is warmer weather and longer days, or the chance at new life and new relationships. With the chance of longer days and new life, it has gotten me thinking, about two things that are kind of related......maybe and those are resurrection and discipline.
Resurrection means in my book not only something being brought to life, but not having to die again. Essentially, death has been conqured and we do not or will not have to die again. As a Christian, we do have that hope of final resurrection and hope that we will be in heaven when we die or when Christ returns. But there might be another form of resurrection that we can have here on earth. How many of us struggle with things here on earth. Whether it is food, what we watch, how we spend our money, we all struggle with something. That is why most of us make New Years Resolutions, so we can maybe conquer those things and so we can over come those things and be better people. I really think that we want to be resurrected from those things that hinder us is so that we do not have to deal with them again and we be raised up and have new life.
Here is the scary thing about this sort of thing, in order to obtain new life, something has to die. If it doesn't die, we are just making behavior modifications. These modifications may last for awhile, but eventually, they will come back to bite us in the backside. It may not be today, tomorrow or five years from now, but it will come back and bite us. If we are the sole provider of the death and resurrection, were in trouble because we are a pretty messed up people. Trying to get someone who is broken to fix themselves is like asking mud to turn itself into gold. It just doesn't or wont happen. We need someone or something to come and not only fix us, but provide that resurrection. Jesus death and resurrection provides that way for us. Jesus death provided the ultimate sacrifice for us and was more than sufficiant sacrifice for our sin and His resurrection provided victory over death. If we call ourselves Christians, Christ followers or any other name for Christians, we need to participate in Christ death also. Even though Christ sacrifice was and is sufficient, being a Christian means we put on the character of Christ. We are still created in God's image, but are scared with sin and its tendencies. So to replace those tendencies and our bad character, we need to die, so that Christ may live in and through us.
This takes work, but we are not at it alone. It takes both kinds of discipline. The first kind of discipline is the fortitude and actions to go through and do something to get it done. The second kind of discipline is a matter of correction. I am like anybody else, I hate correction and discipline. I don't view it as a chance to get better, but as I have done something wrong and shame. I don't like to think that I do things wrong, and I hope to do everything right the first time, but the likelyhood of this is not that good. With God's discipline, He is looking for more than just for action or attitude change. He is not only looking for us to stop gossiping about other people, but for our character to change and not only to stop it, but not have the desire to gossip and change it when it comes our way. If it was just about action change, it not only cheapens God's grace, but it diminishes who God is. My hope is that we can embrace discipline, so that we can not cheapen God and to be made into His image.
So here is a closing illustration. In the fall, a tree loses most of its leaves quite easily. They just fall off and then they are done. There are a few leaves who hold on tight and it takes a strong wind to knock them off. Then their are the one or two leaves that hang on no matter what. The only reason they fall off is because the new leaves are coming forth. This is the way for our lives to. Some habits are easy to kick, for other habits, it takes plenty of prayer or event to go away. That third leave represents those hangups that just don't go away no matter how hard we try. Until there is new life and God's grace, it isn't going away. So in this time of spring and while we are still in the Lenten Season, lets die to ourselves and cloth ourselves in the righteousness of God and grow more dependent on Him every day
Resurrection means in my book not only something being brought to life, but not having to die again. Essentially, death has been conqured and we do not or will not have to die again. As a Christian, we do have that hope of final resurrection and hope that we will be in heaven when we die or when Christ returns. But there might be another form of resurrection that we can have here on earth. How many of us struggle with things here on earth. Whether it is food, what we watch, how we spend our money, we all struggle with something. That is why most of us make New Years Resolutions, so we can maybe conquer those things and so we can over come those things and be better people. I really think that we want to be resurrected from those things that hinder us is so that we do not have to deal with them again and we be raised up and have new life.
Here is the scary thing about this sort of thing, in order to obtain new life, something has to die. If it doesn't die, we are just making behavior modifications. These modifications may last for awhile, but eventually, they will come back to bite us in the backside. It may not be today, tomorrow or five years from now, but it will come back and bite us. If we are the sole provider of the death and resurrection, were in trouble because we are a pretty messed up people. Trying to get someone who is broken to fix themselves is like asking mud to turn itself into gold. It just doesn't or wont happen. We need someone or something to come and not only fix us, but provide that resurrection. Jesus death and resurrection provides that way for us. Jesus death provided the ultimate sacrifice for us and was more than sufficiant sacrifice for our sin and His resurrection provided victory over death. If we call ourselves Christians, Christ followers or any other name for Christians, we need to participate in Christ death also. Even though Christ sacrifice was and is sufficient, being a Christian means we put on the character of Christ. We are still created in God's image, but are scared with sin and its tendencies. So to replace those tendencies and our bad character, we need to die, so that Christ may live in and through us.
This takes work, but we are not at it alone. It takes both kinds of discipline. The first kind of discipline is the fortitude and actions to go through and do something to get it done. The second kind of discipline is a matter of correction. I am like anybody else, I hate correction and discipline. I don't view it as a chance to get better, but as I have done something wrong and shame. I don't like to think that I do things wrong, and I hope to do everything right the first time, but the likelyhood of this is not that good. With God's discipline, He is looking for more than just for action or attitude change. He is not only looking for us to stop gossiping about other people, but for our character to change and not only to stop it, but not have the desire to gossip and change it when it comes our way. If it was just about action change, it not only cheapens God's grace, but it diminishes who God is. My hope is that we can embrace discipline, so that we can not cheapen God and to be made into His image.
So here is a closing illustration. In the fall, a tree loses most of its leaves quite easily. They just fall off and then they are done. There are a few leaves who hold on tight and it takes a strong wind to knock them off. Then their are the one or two leaves that hang on no matter what. The only reason they fall off is because the new leaves are coming forth. This is the way for our lives to. Some habits are easy to kick, for other habits, it takes plenty of prayer or event to go away. That third leave represents those hangups that just don't go away no matter how hard we try. Until there is new life and God's grace, it isn't going away. So in this time of spring and while we are still in the Lenten Season, lets die to ourselves and cloth ourselves in the righteousness of God and grow more dependent on Him every day
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)