Archive for the ‘Christian Living’ Category

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Rom 6:1-2 KJV

In preparing for our weekly Bible study I had the opportunity to spend some time mulling over this passage of scripture. One of the references that I use a lot (The KJV Parallel Bible Commentary) brought out a point that I had never really thought of in quite this way before.

Through the ages there have been many that argue that the Doctrine of Justification had to be incorrect because it didn’t make sense. Their argument is essentially that if God has forgiven us and treated us as righteous, regardless of what we have done or will do, that this mindset would lead one to continue in sin because there was nothing to encourage them not to. Meaning, in short, if God’s going to forgive me anyways I may as well have some fun along the way! I doubt that’s exactly how the argument would be presented, but that certainly seems like the general gist !

Paul, apparently anticipating just such an argument, goes on in the next few passages to lay the ground work for this doctrine. While it is certainly true that God freely and fully forgives us, that gift is only granted after a heart felt, sincere appeal and repentance. Absent that sincerity, all the words and works will do us no good at all, because it’s all done for the wrong reason. Paul goes on to argue that we are dead to sin, that the very body of sin might be destroyed, and that if we are in fact freed from sin (forgiven by God) then we’d have no desire to continue to live in sin. And I think that right there is the very key to the argument.

If we are sincere when we seek God’s forgiveness and turn our lives over to Christ then the very idea of continuing to intentionally live in sin wouldn’t even cross our minds! We’d have such a heart felt desire to serve God, and to live for Christ, that our sins would no longer be a source of enjoyment, but rather a source of torment that requires us to face them head on and, through the power of Christ, overcome them. It’s about our reason for doing, or not doing, things that is the difference. We do not need to serve God out of fear, for we are already justified through faith and faith alone. But we choose to serve Him out of love, respect, admiration and gratitude! Talk about a paradigm shift!

So the question we are faced with is are we truly dead to sin? Not are we perfect, for we won’t reach that point this side of heaven. The true test I think is that when we know that something in our lives is sinful, how do we deal with that? Do we recognize our need for change, or do we just say “God will forgive me anyways”. If we take measure of how we respond to sin in our own life, we will have a very good barometer of where our relationship with Him stands.

It’s funny how certain phrases that you hear just stick in your mind. My wife and I watched the movie Fireproof this weekend. (Which, by the way, if you haven’t seen yet I highly recommend!). One of the scenes of the movie has the main character talking with a friend of his who he knew was a Christian. The main character had just accepted Christ as his Saviour, and was stumbling to find a way to share this with his friend. He finally manages to tell his friend that he’d joined the team. His friend looks at him and says something to the effect of “have you completely joined? You can’t be part way in, you have to be all in.” I’m paraphrasing here, and obviously my recall leaves a bit to be desired, but the “all in” part really stuck in my mind.

It’s such a simple phrase, but filled with so much meaning! To be “all in” means that we are completely, 100%, and without reservation committed to that relationship with Christ. It means that this relationship is the most important thing in our lives, the one thing that is going to drive every thought, action, desire, relationship, decision, everything. It’s how our relationship with Christ is supposed to be.

How many of us, I wonder, are truly “all in”? How many of us have reached that point where we put serving Him above EVERYTHING in our lives? I know personally there have been times in my life when I’ve reached that point, and sadly there have been times when I’ve been “half in” or less. Unfortunately that seems to be true for most Christians that I know as well. That’s not meant to belittle myself or anyone else, it just seems to be the way things work in this life. But what if we could reach, and maintain, that level of “all in”?

I’ve been praying that God would continue to show me places in my life where I’m not as committed to Him as I need to be; to show me the things that are barriers that are keeping me from completely serving Him. You know the phrase “be careful what you wish for”? It’s certainly true in this situation. He’s definitely responded, and I find myself more challenged today than ever before. But that’s a good thing! It means that although I have a long way to go, at least I know for sure that God is continuing to work in my life.

Are you “all in”? Or are you sitting on the fence a little bit, holding back part of your life? I challenge you to really look at your service to Him, and ask Him to show you what area’s you need to work in, and then pray for the strength to be able to overcome those. Growth is scary sometimes, because we get comfortable in our routine, in our way of living. But growth is what this Christian Journey is all about! We just have to be willing to ask Him for guidance.

As 2009 draws to a close, many of us are no doubt going through that annual rite of passage of coming up with our New Years Resolutions. I don’t know about you, but personally, I am horrible about keeping resolutions. I have great intentions each year, and tend to do pretty well for the first few days, and then the old will power dies and the resolution is thrown out with yesterday’s trash!

I think part of the problem is in previous years I focused on things that I really didn’t want to change! I knew I needed to, mostly for my health or professional growth, but my motivation was amiss. Doing something for the wrong reason’s will generally lead to failure.

Having said that, my resolution this year is not about physical or professional goals, but spiritual one’s. I want to draw closer to God, and serve Him better than I ever have before! In a nut shell, that’s my one and only resolution for 2010. And I am hoping that everyone that happens to read this will join me in that goal!

Think about the impact that this could have in our lives. If we are truly striving to serve Him above everything else, then many of the “problems” that we face day in and day out will not seem so insurmountable. This doesn’t mean that they will just go away, don’t get me wrong. We’ll continue to have challenges, that’s just part of life! But if our mind is set on the things above, and that is where our focus is at, we’ll see these challenges in a completely different light. Rather than being some daunting or horrible obstacle, we’ll begin to see them as opportunities for growth, as opportunities to remain faithful to God, no matter what!

You may be saying “sounds great, but how?”. There’s many ways I’m sure, but for me personally it’s going to involve more time in studying my Bible and prayer. That’s how I connect with God the best, and I would dare say that would hold true for any of us. The more time we spend communicating with God, either through bible study or prayer, the more He is able to mold and shape us into the people that He wants us to be. I once heard someone say that God is a gentleman, and He will not force His way into our lives. He stands at the door and knocks softly, waiting for us to invite Him to take His proper place as the priority in our lives. The really exciting thing is once He is given that place in our lives, He’s able to being working in ways we never before imagined possible!

So my challenge, to myself as well as you, is let’s make 2010 a Spiritual New Year! Let’s commit to taking our devotion and service to Him to a brand new level! Let’s open that door and allow God to take His proper place in our lives. When we do, great and wonderful things will happen!

When you hear the word Repent, what thoughts come to mind? Perhaps you envision a stern preacher, standing behind a pulpit, pointing his finger at the congregation, appealing to them to beg for God’s forgiveness. Maybe the preacher had been reminding his listener’s of how unworthy and sinful they are, and how badly they need to get their lives right with God. In my own experiences, the only time the word Repent is brought up in church is during a “salvation message”, and it seems to be directed predominately towards either the unsaved or the backslidden. So in our modern day church repentance has become synonymous with asking for forgiveness. And although that is certainly part of it, as we will see, that is far from the end of the process.

Today I want us to look at the term Repentance, not as it applies to the unsaved, but as it applies to those of us who are Christians. When we truly understand this term, we can begin to see how it has a direct impact on our walk with Christ.

It is helpful to trace terminology back to the original language, in this case the original Greek, in order to develop a fuller understanding of the terms. English truly is a rather simple language, and often times the full meaning of a term can not be conveyed in one word. So bear with me for a moment as we look at three Greek terms that are commonly translated as Repent or Repentance. Each of these definitions come from the Easton’s Bible Dictionary.

The first term is Metamelomai which means change of mind, such as to produce regret or even remorse on account of sin, but not necessarily a change of heart. This word is used with reference to the repentance of Judas in Matthew 27:3. This is a Mental Repentance, meaning that we recognize that what we have done is wrong on an intellectual level, but it hasn’t really impacted us spiritually or emotionally. It is much like being sorry that we got caught, but with no intention of stopping the behavior. I am reminded of young children who get caught misbehaving. They are quick to apologize, and although that apology may very well be sincere, they are quite likely to repeat the behavior again just as soon as the parent is out of the room.

The second term is Metanoco which means to change one’s mind and purpose, as the result of after knowledge. Here we see a progression from Metamelomai. This type of repentance is leading to a change in our lives, based on new knowledge. How many of us have ever said “If I would have known then what I know now”? As we mature, in life and in our Christian Journey, we begin to see things differently, we learn more about how we should live our life, and hopefully we put this new knowledge into practice. While this is certainly a much deeper Repentance than simply being sorry, it is still relying on our minds. This new level of knowledge has caused us to change our behavior. This is good, but it is still not, in my opinion, the True Repentance that we are seeking.

The third term that I want to look at is Metanoia which means true repentance, a change of mind and purpose and life to which remission of sin is promised. Can you see the difference? This type of repentance hits us so deeply that not only our mind is changed, but our purpose and our life! It is going far beyond simple human knowledge and impacting us at our very core. This, my friends, is true repentance, and it is very powerful. It is the gateway to forgiveness and becoming more like Christ.

Strong’s adds one more definition that is fitting. “To change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins.” It is not enough for us to say we are sorry. That it is far from the end result of true repentance. When we truly repent of something we abhor our previous behavior and turn away from it completely. Certainly this applies to an unsaved person that is first coming to Christ, but what I am interested in here is how this applies to us as we continue to walk with Him.

You see, repentance isn’t a one and done proposition. It isn’t something that “other people” need to do. It is something that you and I, as Christians, need to recognize as necessary in our own life, in the further development of our efforts to become more like Christ.

When you were first saved, you were certainly forgiven, but were you Christ like at that point? I’m sure you’d agree that you weren’t, and neither was I, by any stretch! Becoming like Christ, emulating Him, is a life long journey. Along the way we are going to come face to face with things in our lives that are wrong, that are blocking our growth, that we must remove in order to continue our journey. We as Christians will have many times in our own lives that we must Repent!

In Acts 17:30 we hear “He commands all people everywhere to repent.” (NIV). All people everywhere. This can not be limited to just the unsaved, it must include you and I as well. It must include those of us who are striving to live our lives by following Christ.

Repent is not a bad word, in fact it should be a term that we learn to embrace, because it brings with is such amazing power. We should rejoice when we are confronted with things in our lives that we need to change, because it is one sure sign that we are on the right path, that Jesus is still working with us for our betterment. Quite frankly, it’s when we don’t feel that need to Repent and change that we should begin to worry. If we aren’t feeling that quickening of the Holy Spirit in our lives, then there’s a very good chance that whether we realize it or not we’ve gotten off of the path of transformation that we have been called to walk.

In a rather succinct format, Easton’s provides a few steps of repentance that apply perfectly to us as Christians, and I want to look at those for a few minutes.

An appreciation of God’s mercy in Christ. When we come to true repentance we must have a full apprehension of the mercy of God. God is loving and patient. He knows that as humans we are going to struggle along this path, and He knows that we are going to make mistakes. But He is a just God, and although He loves us, He must correct us so that we can continue to grow in holiness. The key word here is Mercy. Far too often I think the Church uses Repentance as a threat, a means of making us feel unworthy and guilty. I certainly won’t argue that we aren’t those things, but see where the emphasis is placed here. It’s placed on the mercy of God! He is waiting to hear our plea’s, to forgive us of any wrongdoing, and to assist us in correcting things in our lives. We just have to understand that and allow it to happen!

1. An actual hatred of sin and turning from it to God. This is Easton’s second step, and it is so applicable to our lives. This is the end result of true repentance. It goes far beyond “I’m Sorry”. This, by pure definition, must lead to a changing of our heart, mind and lives. We must reach a point where that particular thing in our life is repulsive to us. So repulsive that we turn away from it completely, and in so doing, we turn to God. What that “thing” is will vary from believer to believer depending on where each of us are in our journey with Christ. Regardless of what the hindrance is in your life right now, know that it can be overcome!
2. A persistent endeavor after a holy life in a walking with God in the way of His commandments. This last step that Easton’s provides sums up what our very purpose of life as Christian’s should be all about. A persistent endeavor! The life that we as Christians are called to live, rather are commanded to live, is NOT an easy one! If anyone ever told you it was, they were mistaken! We are expected to be set apart, to be different, and different is generally not easy. We are commanded to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness”. What the world says is important, what it tempts us with, what it says we must obtain are all false. We must be ever persistent in our endeavor to follow God!

In my research I came across a sermon by Mike Hullah that really made me think. In this message he included three rewards that come from repentance, and I want to close by looking at two of them.

   1. Repentance brings Refreshing. He begins by referencing Acts 3:19 “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” What a wonderful promise! Many of us need a refreshing in our own lives. Perhaps life has just become stagnant and we feel like we aren’t progressing in our Christian walk. Maybe there is something significant going on in your life that is causing you angst and worry. What is the key to refreshing? Repentance! Maybe it is time to take a look at your life and see if there is something blocking your walk, something that is preventing you from fully experiencing the presence and impact of God in your life. If there is, be courageous enough to face it, and know that with His help you can overcome it!

    2. Repentance brings Restoration. Earlier in this sermon, the writer has a phrase that is so on point that I’m just going to quote him directly. “The sinner must repent before they receive salvation. The saved must practice repentance if they are to enjoy unbroken fellowship with God.” Think about that for a moment, and let it sink in. Now, ask yourself a question. How is my relationship with God right now? Just like any relationship, there are various levels of “connectedness” when it comes to our relationship with God. Married couples may be able to relate to this the easiest. There are times in any marriage where things are absolutely perfect. You are in harmony with each other, you are each putting time and energy into the relationship, and you feel so connected that the two are truly one. But there are other times when life gets in the way, and that connection weakens. It doesn’t break, it doesn’t mean that you don’t love each other, it simply means that something has gotten in the way. The same holds true in our relationship with God. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that His love never fails. But if we are honest with ourselves, we also know that there are times when our connection isn’t as strong. Guess what? That is completely on us! Our connection with God requires our time, energy and attention, just like any relationship here on Earth. If you aren’t feeling that perfect connection in your life right now, what do you need to do to restore it? You guessed it! You need to find out what is hindering that connection, with His help and guidance, and then repent of it, turn away from it, and let your relationship with Him be restored!

Every once in a while a song comes out that just expresses what is on your heart and mind perfectly. It’s almost like you wrote the song yourself, because it speaks to you so clearly. For me, one of those songs is by Matthew West, and its entitled The Motions. The chorus is so powerful, that the first time I heard it, it captured my attention immediately.

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions

What an amazing challenge for us as Christian’s today. There are so many people in the church today that are just going through the motions. They attend church regularly, may even be involved in their local congregation on some level, and by all outward appearances are “good Christians”. But, and I don’t mean this to sound judgmental because I was one of these people before, their love for Christ has grown cold. You and I may never know it, but they do! They know that the fire that was once inside of them is gone. There’s no real emotional connection to Christ any more. It’s like a marriage that is comfortable, but stale.

It’s time that we recapture that all consuming passion that this song speaks to. We so desperately need that in our lives, and in our churches today. We need to rekindle that passion for Christ, and then let that new found passion show in our lives, everyday, everywhere! Chances are that most of you who read this had that passion at one point in your life. Can you remember how you felt when there was absolutely nothing more important than serving God? Can you remember when you were excited to have time to read the Bible and pray? Can you remember? So what happened?

Personally, I think a lot of times we get so caught up in the day to day grind that we somehow loose that passion, that connection with Christ. I doubt very highly that most of us made a conscious choice to neglect that relationship, it just happened. On some level we still know how important that relationship is, which is why we continue to go thru the motions, but we struggle to rekindle that relationship. It’s time to stop struggling Church!

How do we get that all consuming passion back? We make a choice! It really is that simple my friends. We make a choice to make our relationship with Christ the single most important thing in our lives. A preacher once said that if we feel like we aren’t as close to God as we were, guess who moved? He hasn’t gone anywhere. He’s right there waiting for us to turn back to Him. All it takes to rekindle that fire is to decide that we are going to do it! Your pastor can’t do it for you, I can’t do it for you, nobody can do it for you. You have to decide that you are tired of just going through the motions, and recommit to that relationship! Once you make that decision, that passion starts coming back in waves.

Sustaining that passion isn’t complicated either. People who have that passion, and manage to keep it, do so simply by always keeping Christ first in their lives. That certainly doesn’t mean that they are perfect! Far from it! But their intent is pure, and they strive to let Christ lead the way in their lives. They are more active in their own Bible study, their prayer life is consistent, and they are more active in their Church. By making time for the relationship with Christ, that relationship flourishes and before we know it that all consuming passion is back, and stronger than ever!

Are you tired of going through the motions? Are you ready to have that passionate relationship with Christ that is truly life changing? All you have to do is reclaim it and then build on it! He’s right there waiting for you.

When we pray for God to lead the way, and really let Him do so, it’s amazing what will transpire! Over the past few months I’ve been feeling the call to return to preaching. Many years ago I was on the path to becoming a full time minister. Unfortunately I took a pretty significant detour in my spiritual life. But not long after I recommitted myself to Christ the pull to preach returned. I struggled with this for a while, thinking that it wasn’t time yet. After all, I had been out of church for several years, so I couldn’t possibly be used by God this quickly. Or could I?

It started out simply enough. Our Pastor, who I’ve come to learn encourages young men to respond to the call to preach, came up to me last Sunday morning and said “I owe you an apology.” I couldn’t imagine what he could need to apologize to me for, and told him as much. He said that he felt like he should have asked me to preach the previous Sunday when our church was having a cookout and worship day at a local park. The thought of preaching that day, or any day soon for that matter, hadn’t even crossed my mind. So I told my pastor that no apology was necessary, but that I was flattered he would think of having me preach, and any time he wanted me too I would be honored.

During the Sunday morning service he made it pretty clear that I was to be ready to preach the following Sunday evening. Mind you, until that morning he and I had not discussed my preaching. He knew I had preached years ago, but I had not mentioned anything to him about this debate I had going on within myself. But, I had asked God to open doors and promised to walk through them as He did, so I accepted the honor and spent a couple hours that afternoon in between services to do some studying for the upcoming Sunday.

In my mind, things were already moving pretty quickly. In a matter of a couple of hours I had gone from “should I even think about preaching” to “I better get ready for next Sunday.” I had a little bit of a case of spiritual whiplash going on to say the least. Little did I know that it was about to intensify.

Sunday evening rolls around, and as I am walking into church (a couple minutes late even, but fortunately we aren’t too tied to time in our church) the pastor comes up to me. “Guess what?” he says. Not thinking anything of it, I said “What?” “You are preaching tonight.” I looked to see if he was joking, but he had a pretty serious look on his face. “Be instant in season and out son.  You have about 20 minutes.” For a fleeting moment I thought about begging off. I had nothing prepared, and it had been 10 years since I last preached. Surely he wasn’t serious! But that thought was quickly replaced with “Well, you asked for doors to open. Are you going to go through or not?” So with only a moments hesitation I accepted the invitation. Man was I glad that I had spent a couple hours that afternoon studying! If nothing else I at least knew the text I was going to use!

Don’t ask me what songs we sang before the sermon, because I’ll be completely honest and tell you I have no idea! I was too busy trying to get my thoughts together and praying “Lord, please help me, and keep me from messing this up!” The time comes and the pastor does his introduction, and then it’s my time. I took a deep breath, remembered to shake the pastor’s hand on the way to the pulpit, spread my bible out, and looked out at the congregation. At first I was a little nervous, though not nearly as bad as I thought it would have been. But within a couple of minutes the nerves went away, and I felt such a peace that I can’t even begin to describe it. I’ll freely admit that the delivery was probably a bit rusty. But the experience was wonderful! It felt like I had never left, that I had delivered a sermon just a few weeks ago. If you have never preached, you may not be able to truly relate to this, but the presence of God was so absolutely amazing! I truly hope that the congregation got a portion of the experience that I had!

I’ve been assured that I’ll get a copy of the video from the sermon, and knowing me I’ll critique it to no end and find all kinds of problems with the delivery. I can’t help it, I’m just that way! But the experience itself, that night, was wonderful. It just goes to show that when we stop fighting God and let Him use us, we better get ready to be used! If He can use me, He can use anyone. We just have to be willing, and go through the doors as they open!

In Colossians 3 Paul gives us a rather short but extremely pointed explanation about how we should behave as Christians. He begins the passage by instructing us to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things. Paul starts with out thoughts, because he understood that everything we do stems from out thoughts. If we can get our mind in the right place, then the rest becomes that much easier. As Paul said in Romans 13:14 “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Do not even think about it!

Our modern world is just beginning to truly understand the power of the mind. There is a ton of information available that just confirms what Paul was telling us! Our thoughts drive our actions. Do you want to behave differently? Then you have to think differently! In Romans 12, Paul tells us that we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Again, it begins in our thoughts.

When we were “of the world” our thoughts were, naturally, centered on the things of the world. We desired what the world told us to desire: money, power, fame, all of it. We did this because that’s what we were programmed to do, and that’s what our thoughts centered on. But we are not of this world any longer, those of us who have chosen to commit to the call of “Follow Me.” We are new creations, the old has been buried. If that is the case, if we sincerely believe and are striving to follow after Christ, then our thoughts must change!

Returning to our passage, Paul instructs us to set our minds on things above. What are those things? Before Paul addresses what they are, he gives us a list of what they are not. Sometimes it’s easier to explain something by first telling us what that something doesn’t mean. Here, Paul tells us that heavenly things do not include: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lies. Those things are not “heavenly” and I doubt that anyone would argue with that point. So, if our minds are focuses on any of these things, then guess what? Our minds are not set on things above! It can’t be, because it’s too busy focusing on those earthly things.

In verse 7 Paul tells us “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.” He understands that in our old life, in our old way of thinking, these were the things we thought about and pursued. It’s only natural, because those kinds of thoughts go hand in hand with our human/carnal nature.

But he continues in verse 8 to tell us “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these.” When we made the decision to accept Christ, and even more specifically to head the call to “Follow Me” we began a transformation. That transformation must, by it’s very nature, affect us at all levels of our being, including out thoughts. We must rid ourselves of our old way of thinking and behaving, so that we can make room for the new way of thinking that only comes from following Christ.

Now comes the exciting part! After telling us what “things above” doesn’t mean in verses 5-11, Paul now shows us what “things above” does mean! He gives us a list that includes: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, forbearance, forgiveness, and most importantly, love. These are the things above which we should be focusing our thoughts on. And when we begin to focus our thoughts on those things, something incredible begins to happen in our own lives. The things that used to seem so all mighty important to us, cease to have meaning! We are no longer so quick to anger, inappropriate speech, lust, hatred, etc. Why? Because our thoughts are centered on the things above, which doesn’t leave room for the old way of thinking and acting!

In these few short verses Paul really ties it all together for us and puts it on a nice silver platter. It’s almost like we can hear him ending with “Here it is people, this is what I’ve been telling you, and more than that, here is what Jesus was telling you.”

Are you ready to take that next step in your walk with Him? Are you ready to put aside what remains of your old self and let your Christlike self take control? It all begins with your thinking, by setting your mind on the things above! It really is just that simple.

As a child I heard the parable of the prodigal son many times. But it wasn’t until I actually became the prodigal son that I really understood the significance of the story that Jesus was teaching.

In what now seems like another lifetime, I was a very active and dedicated Christian. I graduated from a Christian high school, and served as the chaplain for my senior class. After graduation I went on to bible school, and was active in my local church. In short I was taking the steps that one needed to take to enter the ministry full time. Little did I know at that time that I was about to take a major detour in my life.

Luke 15:13 says “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.” I can relate to this verse in so many ways now, because that is exactly what I did. At some point I became disenfranchised with the church, and turned my back on God. There wasn’t one specific incident or traumatic event that led me to that point in my life. Looking back I can see now that I simply got lazy and allowed myself to be lured away by the appeal of life in the fast lane. We might as well admit that sinning is fun! If it wasn’t, then we wouldn’t have nearly the risk of getting swept up in it. And that’s exactly what happened to me. Sure, early on I would feel the nagging sensation that I was making a HUGE mistake. The Holy Spirit tried to convict me, to get me to turn around and return to God. But I refused to listen, and at some point God let’s his children make their mistakes. He doesn’t abandon us, we abandon him, or at least I abandoned Him.

Over the next several years I lived my life by the American creed of “look out for number one!” I did exactly what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, and I was, quite simply, miserable. Oh sure, on the outside everything looked great. I have a pretty outgoing personality and can put on the mask of happiness whenever I choose. So most of my friends would have had no idea how unhappy I was inside. Unhappy really doesn’t even begin to describe it. I was tormented and miserable. But I was also extremely stubborn and refused to change my direction.

Predictably, my attitude cost me a great deal. Before long I was unemployed, homeless, and living on the streets. “He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.” (Luke 15:16) I didn’t realize it then, but now I can see the parallel so clearly! I had chosen to walk away from my true home and ended up with absolutely nothing to show for it. But even then I wasn’t willing to turn around. Fortunately for me God continued to watch over me, despite my complete disregard for Him. He had a plan for me; I just didn’t realize it at the time.

After spending two years homeless, and overcoming many obstacles, slowly things started to come together in my life. I started working again, and was able to start becoming a productive member of society. I even dabbled in church a little, but wasn’t anywhere near what I would consider a dedicated Christian. I was a pew filler, and nothing more. But I must admit that having come from where I was, life was certainly a great deal better!

Over the next several years I went about life without many cares, and certainly with little thought or concern about God. I wasn’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I was making a decent living and was becoming more and more successful and comfortable. Now that my physical needs were well under control, I once again started feeling the longing inside for a more spiritual existence. Once again I decided that the church and Christianity weren’t for me. I just couldn’t reconcile inside of myself the blatant hypocrisy that I saw in so many “Christian” people that I knew. They could quote the Bible with the best of them on Sunday, and than cuss like a drunken sailor on Monday. If that was what being a Christian was all about, then I decided I wanted nothing to do with it. There had to be something real, something true, and something that would fill this void that I felt growing inside of me. So I set out searching to find that “something”.

I began devouring as many books as I could get my hands on about other religions. Each of them taught me something about myself and about God, but in the end they proved to be hollow. No matter how hard I tried to make something fit for me, it just didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, there was some level of fulfillment, or else I wouldn’t have continued on that path. But even as I walked along these other paths I could sense that something was missing.

Fast forward about five years. At this point I was once again so far removed from Christ that whatever feelings I may have had for him at one time in my life was but a distant memory. If you would have told me then that Christ wasn’t finished with me yet, and that someday soon I would do a complete 180 and begin serving him again, I would have told you that you were absolutely certifiably nuts! So convinced was I that Christianity was just not the answer for me that I had ruled out ever returning to church. If there was an answer, I would find it, but it wasn’t going to be there. Boy was I wrong!

It started out so quietly that I didn’t even see it coming, but as I look back I can see the hand of God moving in my life. It was like God was saying “Ok, you’ve played long enough son, now it’s time to get to work!” Remember, at this point the word “Christian” was a turn off for me, so God worked around my ignorance. I started to study the Gnostic Tradition, thinking that maybe I could find some answers there. This once again exposed me to Jesus and his teachings, though admittedly from a much different angle than what I had previously studied. But it was “safe” because it wasn’t the dogmatic Christianity that I had turned my back on, so I continued my studies. Apparently that little crack in my armor was all that Jesus needed. Over the next year my studies gradually turned more towards Jesus, his teachings and his life. I wrestled with Jesus, the Bible, God… everything.

Meanwhile, my wife’s family began attending church, and on visits home we would join them. You would have to know my in-laws to really appreciate the significance of this change in their lives, but suffice it to say this was a pretty huge change for them. And it ultimately led to a really big change for me. I watched as I saw each of them growing, not only individually but as a family. I watched as God moved in their lives, as they overcame their own struggles and addictions, and became much happier and more at peace. Simply put I saw the power of Jesus in a way that I hadn’t seen in many years.

As I began to watch their growth, I began to look at my own life a little harder. Could it be that all this time I had been wrong? Maybe the church wasn’t the problem to begin with; maybe it was my own expectations and ignorance that had caused me to turn away? No, I was just being silly. Remember, this isn’t where I’m going to find my answers. Is it?

“I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.” (Luke 15:17-18)

As it turns out, any wrestling match that involves God can only have one outcome. I certainly won’t say that I lost, because this was the biggest victory I had ever experienced! I’ll never understand why God didn’t just give up on me. I mean, after all he had given me more chances to turn back to him than I had deserved. I had spent over ten years rejecting Him, trying to fill His place in my life with something else. But He remained ever faithful, and continued to chip away at my heart of stone, until one day I just had no choice but to fall to my knees, cry out to him, and beg for his forgiveness. Tears streamed down my face as all of the sorrow inside of me couldn’t wait to be released.  The tears just kept coming, and I began to see where the hand of God had been on me all through this journey, even though I had refused to recognize it. What an amazing love!

Finally I was able to compose myself, or maybe I had just cried for so long that I ran out of tears. And then, the most amazing thing happened!

“”But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20)

It was an absolutely indescribable moment! There simply aren’t words available to sufficiently express what happened. All I can say is that God wrapped his arms around me and said “Welcome home!” No guilt trip, no heavenly “I told you so”, nothing of the sort. I could feel the peace of God coming over me and knew that I was not only forgiven, but accepted back into His family and returned to my place as His son!

You see, God wanted me to turn back to him for so long. He had continued to work in my life and give me ample opportunities, which until recently I had rejected. But when I did finally come to my senses and reach out for Him, He was standing right there waiting to pick me up. And he is there waiting to pick you up as well. If you have been struggling with God, wrestling with Him and His plan for your life, know that all you have to do is turn back to Him and He will be right there waiting for you! And I can promise you one thing; you will NOT regret it for a minute!

Sure, you may struggle as you regain your footing, but He will never leave you or forsake you. Maybe you feel like there is no way that God could forgive you for what you have done. Well, my friend, there is nothing that God isn’t willing to forgive, if we are just willing to ask Him to. If He was willing to forgive someone who had turned his back on Him for over ten years, certainly He will forgive you, and welcome you back home just as He did me. You see, God knows we are going to make mistakes. He knows that we are going to reject Him, and go off on our own way. God knows everything, for after all, He’s God! But He loves us so much that he’s ready, willing and desires to forgive us, if we’ll just turn back to Him.

Are you feeling that knock at your heart’s door? Can you feel Him working in your life, giving you opportunities to turn back to Him? Are you ready to stop running and come back home? If so, He’s standing right there next to you, ready to wrap his arms around you and welcome you back home! All you have to do is ask!

As I was driving in to work the other morning a thought kept going through my mind. “What have you done for Me lately?” And I looked back over the past few weeks of my life and I realized that although I have been relatively faithful in my daily Bible Study, I have also allowed many other things to get in the way of my service.

We all have such hectic lives. I don’t know of anyone that has more time than they know what to do with! And it’s right that we take care of our responsibilities and duties. But we have to be ever vigilant against allowing ourselves to get so caught up in this world that we forget our real purpose as Christians. We are called to serve Him! The Bible refers to us in numerous places as servants. The title “Lord” means that Jesus is rightfully Lord and Master of our lives, and our service to Him should always be the most important thing in our lives.

I think sometimes we allow the “urgent” to interfere with the “important”. What I mean by that is we allow the day to day activities of our lives to interfere with our fulfilling our true purpose. We get so caught up in the trappings of the world, that we sometimes fail to make the time to be good and faithful servants of Jesus. I know I certainly fall in to that trap more often than I’d like to admit. How about you? Have you allowed your time each day to become so filled up that there’s little time left for serving Christ? This isn’t intended to make anyone feel guilty. We all get caught up in this trap from time to time. But hopefully it will encourage someone to stop and think for a few minutes. What things are we willing to give up in order to be better servants, more faithful followers, and more effective workers for the Kingdom of God?

I encourage everyone that reads this to take just a few minutes out of their busy schedule today and see where your time is going. Are there things in your life that are taking up an awful lot of time but yielding little if any true rewards? How can you free up some time during the day, even if it’s only 30 minutes a day to start with, to devote to God? Imagine how much better our lives would be if we could truly put Christ first in our lives! It may seem like a sacrifice at first, but I can promise you that if we are faithful in our service He will bless our lives in ways that we can’t even begin to imagine! Won’t you join me today in this challenge?

There seems to be a dangerous trend occurring within the Christian community. Somewhere along the line we have become “politically correct” and more and more silent about our faith. Many of us are so concerned about not pushing our beliefs on someone else that we have gone to the opposite extreme and become a silent majority. While I will never condone an in your face approach to sharing the Gospel, I also do not believe that we should be so quiet that people have no idea that we are in fact Christians!

Jesus told his disciples that we are the light of the world, and that we should let that light shine! He also told us that we would be known by our fruits. So my question today, to myself and all who read this, is how brightly is our light really shining? How much fruit are we producing? What kind of a witness for Christ are we being?

Let me again state that I am not in any way suggesting that we should become aggressive or inappropriate in our witnessing. I can tell you that when I was not following Christ, that approach would have been nothing but a turn off for me, and I’m sure many other people feel the same way. People are sick and tired of the holier than thou in your face type of Christian. They’ve seen it all and heard it all before. But that does NOT mean that people are not searching for that peace, comfort, love and forgiveness that only comes at the Cross! In fact I am absolutely 100% convinced that people are searching more diligently today than at any time in our history. People want answers. Part of the problem is that we as Christians have done a pretty lousy job at times with showing those answers, not only but what we say, but more importantly by how we live.

It’s a fine line that we must walk. We certainly don’t want to have people just turn us off when we start talking, but we also don’t want to blend in so well that nobody see’s that light shining within us! So, how do we maintain that balance? I certainly don’t claim to have that answer for everyone, but here’s a few ideas.

* When things go well in your life, who do you give the credit to? Do you point to yourself in a prideful manner, or do you give the glory to God?

* When challenges and obstacles come up in your life, how do you respond? Do you crumble under the pressure and behave like the world, or do you stand strong on your faith knowing that God has everything under control?

* When someone asks you about your beliefs, are you able to share the Gospel with them, or do you get embarrassed and change the subject?

* When someone you know is having a hard time, do you comfort them and pray with/for them?

None of us are perfect, but part of the journey that is the Christian Walk is learning how to become better testimonies and witnesses. Maybe if we all take just a few minutes today and truly look at ourselves we’ll identify some area’s where we need to improve. Guess what? That’s a GREAT THING! There’s no need to beat ourselves us when we identify our shortcomings. We all have them after-all! Rather, rejoice when we see ways that we can improve, because that is all part of our growth in Jesus. And as we grow, our light shines more brightly!