The first thing I want to share about the much needed change in the expression of our christian faith is rather simple. It is something that is easy to say, but putting it into action seems to be the most difficult assignment that followers of Jesus could have.
This simple yet complex idea is..."People who are followers of Jesus need to live like they actually know Jesus."
A few facts we all claim to "know" about Jesus:
1. He is the savior of the world.
2. Through Him we are made to be "More than conquerers."
3. He called His followers to REACH the ones who do not know Him.
4. Faith in Him will change your life.
Now, Jesus came to bring grace and truth. Each of these four facts represents an aspect of grace and truth. Grace to bring us new life through salvation, truth that there is no other way. Grace to allow us to overcome, truth that says we will face things that will be tough. Grace to share our faith with the whole world, truth that we are required to do this. Grace that renews us and changes us, truth that our efforts will fail (because we are changed by our faith, not by our effort to change ourselves.)
Why, then, do followers of Jesus expect lost people to act like they aren't lost? Jesus is the only savior, and yet we condemn people who do not know Him for acting like they don't know Him. By doing this, we fail to extend grace and therefore are acting like WE DON'T KNOW HIM! (Next post will explore this thought deeper).
Why do followers of Jesus worry about the issues of the world impacting us? Econmony is a perfect example. We sit around complaining about how tough times are, and how we don't know how we are going to make it. But we will stand up in church and claim to be "more than conquerers." We aren't living like it...but we say its what we believe. Sickness is another example...we mope in our physical ailments, worry about the outcome of our illness...and yet claim that Jesus already has won the battle. This is a major area where lost people have a viable reason for saying "the church is full of hypocrites." Why don't we live in confidence? Why don't we live without worry? Why don't we live in peace with other believers? Aren't our petty issues easily overcome by the grace of Jesus? Only if we walk in that grace, and allow it to flow.
Why can followers of Jesus share their faith with people in a foreign country, but the guy next door is destined to hell? I'm not discouraging international missions, I'm just saying that fulfilling the great commission is an ALL the time assignment and mandate...not just a trip you take twice a year, and a bible school that you plan in the summer. Why can you have a conversation about the contestants on American Idol, but never share your faith with that person? Do you know if your friends know Jesus? What about your neighbor? What about the guy or gal you work with that gets on your nerves? We say that we know we are called to reach the lost...but why are we leaving it up to the pastor at the church, or the evangelist on tv?
Why do followers of Jesus spend more time watching Fox News than reading the Gods word and Praying? We pray before we go to bed, before a meal, and before a ball game. Each time we ask God to bless something we are about to do...eat, sleep, or play. Is this the essence of our life? We get so mad when prayer is taken out of schools, but what about the fact the YOU have taken prayer out of your home...unless of course, it benefits you. Our faith should change us...yet instead of it changing us, we just interject it into the same selfish, self serving, inward focused life that we have always lived. "God, I'm sick...heal me" "God I'm about to eat...bless this food" "God, we are about to travel...keep us safe." But what about the things that God is really concerned about? I'm about to pinch a nerve..."God, make the people in Washington vote for the opinion that I have." News flash...if you aren't giving God your heart on a daily basis...He is not going to care about the temporary acts of lost men in washington. God is concerned about the purity and condition of His bride...and if she was as concerned about Him as she is about herself, and her country, and her family...then He would be compelled to give her "exceedingly and abundantly far greater than we could ever ask or imagine." Why don't we tithe our time to God? We have 24 hours in a day...why aren't we spending 2 1/2 hours each day giving Him our undivided attention? Is it too much to ask? Well what if He said "you won't give me the time I ask from you...so I'm just going to take away the time I give to you each day."...just so you know, you would be dead if He said that. If your faith hasn't changed you, maybe it didn't save you...nerve has been officially pinched.
Until next time...much love!
Ypc
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Change (part 1)
The word "Change" has been tossed around like a football on sundays in the fall lately. You've got the whole global warming debachle talking about "climate change." Then there is Obama winning his presidency a little over a year ago on the slogan "yes we can...bring change." Recently, I skimmed passed an article on Yahoo that said the recent earthquake Chile caused a small change in the earths rotation.
The real kicker is this: the majority of people buy into the theories of climate change, Obama just saw one of the biggest pieces of legislation in America's history pass through congress to bring "change" to healthcare, and scientifically the theory of the Chilean earthquake changing the earths rotation is pretty solid.
Now, just so you know these examples are about as political as I will ever get. Why? Because we have plenty of "christians" out there who spend an average of 3 1/2 hours a day watching fox news, reading "conservative world" magazine, and talking like they have the answers to our nations problems, and 15-30 minutes a day (at BEST) reading God's Word and contending in prayer for God's mercy. Im not going to even begin to try and tackle our nations problems, they are way bigger than me. Sure, my voice can be heard, but why would I want it to be heard if I dont have anything rock solid to say?
This Blog Series is not intended to be at all political, because to be honest with you, I believe politics, government, and christian worldviews have no ability to really "change" anything. I want to take a few weeks and talk to you about the much needed "change" in the expression of our faith. When we as believers will stop letting News Media be louder in our lives than the voice of Jesus, then we can say "Yes We Can..."
Moving forward, I want to share with you 3 things that I believe we must do to see the necessary change take place in the church, our lives, and in the lives of others.
But until then, I leave you with the this idea..."What if we invested our time, energy, and effort into ONLY things that have eternal significance? What could we do to change history?"
Psalm 119:89 says "Your Word, My God, is forever settled in heaven..."
What if we really DID what HIS word says, instead of USING His word to enforce our agenda? Either politically, or in any other realm of life.
Think about it...
The real kicker is this: the majority of people buy into the theories of climate change, Obama just saw one of the biggest pieces of legislation in America's history pass through congress to bring "change" to healthcare, and scientifically the theory of the Chilean earthquake changing the earths rotation is pretty solid.
Now, just so you know these examples are about as political as I will ever get. Why? Because we have plenty of "christians" out there who spend an average of 3 1/2 hours a day watching fox news, reading "conservative world" magazine, and talking like they have the answers to our nations problems, and 15-30 minutes a day (at BEST) reading God's Word and contending in prayer for God's mercy. Im not going to even begin to try and tackle our nations problems, they are way bigger than me. Sure, my voice can be heard, but why would I want it to be heard if I dont have anything rock solid to say?
This Blog Series is not intended to be at all political, because to be honest with you, I believe politics, government, and christian worldviews have no ability to really "change" anything. I want to take a few weeks and talk to you about the much needed "change" in the expression of our faith. When we as believers will stop letting News Media be louder in our lives than the voice of Jesus, then we can say "Yes We Can..."
Moving forward, I want to share with you 3 things that I believe we must do to see the necessary change take place in the church, our lives, and in the lives of others.
But until then, I leave you with the this idea..."What if we invested our time, energy, and effort into ONLY things that have eternal significance? What could we do to change history?"
Psalm 119:89 says "Your Word, My God, is forever settled in heaven..."
What if we really DID what HIS word says, instead of USING His word to enforce our agenda? Either politically, or in any other realm of life.
Think about it...
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
beautiful part 3
Sorry it has been awhile since my last post. I would like to finish up with the final two premises that women and girls wrap their identities up in:
4) Career- so if work is going good, you feel accompished and not so stressed out...but what about when it goes bad? You feel bad, don't you? It stresses you out, and when you are stressed out you feel low worthless, and either mentally or physically ugly. Luke 10 tells the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was so caught up in her work, that she lost sight of the fact that Jesus was in the room...and she got frustrated with Mary because Mary was sitting at Jesus feet instead of helping her. Martha was consumed by work, and Mary was consumed by Jesus. When you allow yourself to be consumed by Jesus, it doesn't mean you ignore the work that needs to be done...it means that you do not let it control your emotions. Mary felt beauty as she sat before the Lord, and Martha felt stressed out because in her heart, she wanted to be like Mary...but she was consumed by duty.
5) Religion- even christians can be so caught up in their religion that they lose sight of the value that Jesus has placed on them. For some reason, church has become this place where we feel like we have to always appear at our very best, from the clothes that we wear to the condition of our lives. So instead of church being a place where we are able to come before Christ weak and broken, it is a place where we have to prop up an image of ourselves that tells the world that we have it all together. Maybe you joined a prayer group, and all you do is sit around talking about the sins in other peoples lives and then say "we need to pray for her...because she is a -fill in blank-." When you are consumed by religion, you become the person who is leaning on the cross, staring out at the masses and pointing out the faults and sins of everyone else...instead, Christ desires you to be the one kneeling at the cross, looking over yout shoulder only to tell the others that there is plenty of room for them. Religion...especially southern church culture...has done more to hurt the cause of Christ than any other aspect of society, becauseit has become about what you wear in the house of God, and how good and perfect you can appear. I would rather see people in ragged jeans and t-shirts who have an inner desire and passion for God, than to see a group of panty-hose wearing hypocrites that size everyone up as they walk in the door. You may say "well, I dress nice at church because the bible says to give God our best." I'm pretty sure that didn't mean your clothes...way to abuse the word of God...
Now, I want you to think about the person in your life that you admire the most. Who is it?
Now, think about the one main reason that you admire them...
Did it fall into any of those 5 categories? Do you admire them because they have an attractive appearance? Do you admire them because they have a prettier home than you? Do you admire them because you wish you had the husband, or boyfriend that they have? Do you admire them because of the job that they have? Do you admire them because they point out the sins of others instead of fixing the sins In their own life?
My guess is NO!
So I challenge you...strive to be like the ones that you admire most, because of the character qualities that they have. Most of all, strive to be like Jesus...and in that, you will understand the beauty that He sees in you.
Bless you all! Never grow weary of striving for the life God has intended for you! And in it all, may you always feel...BEAUTIFUL!
Ypc.
4) Career- so if work is going good, you feel accompished and not so stressed out...but what about when it goes bad? You feel bad, don't you? It stresses you out, and when you are stressed out you feel low worthless, and either mentally or physically ugly. Luke 10 tells the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was so caught up in her work, that she lost sight of the fact that Jesus was in the room...and she got frustrated with Mary because Mary was sitting at Jesus feet instead of helping her. Martha was consumed by work, and Mary was consumed by Jesus. When you allow yourself to be consumed by Jesus, it doesn't mean you ignore the work that needs to be done...it means that you do not let it control your emotions. Mary felt beauty as she sat before the Lord, and Martha felt stressed out because in her heart, she wanted to be like Mary...but she was consumed by duty.
5) Religion- even christians can be so caught up in their religion that they lose sight of the value that Jesus has placed on them. For some reason, church has become this place where we feel like we have to always appear at our very best, from the clothes that we wear to the condition of our lives. So instead of church being a place where we are able to come before Christ weak and broken, it is a place where we have to prop up an image of ourselves that tells the world that we have it all together. Maybe you joined a prayer group, and all you do is sit around talking about the sins in other peoples lives and then say "we need to pray for her...because she is a -fill in blank-." When you are consumed by religion, you become the person who is leaning on the cross, staring out at the masses and pointing out the faults and sins of everyone else...instead, Christ desires you to be the one kneeling at the cross, looking over yout shoulder only to tell the others that there is plenty of room for them. Religion...especially southern church culture...has done more to hurt the cause of Christ than any other aspect of society, becauseit has become about what you wear in the house of God, and how good and perfect you can appear. I would rather see people in ragged jeans and t-shirts who have an inner desire and passion for God, than to see a group of panty-hose wearing hypocrites that size everyone up as they walk in the door. You may say "well, I dress nice at church because the bible says to give God our best." I'm pretty sure that didn't mean your clothes...way to abuse the word of God...
Now, I want you to think about the person in your life that you admire the most. Who is it?
Now, think about the one main reason that you admire them...
Did it fall into any of those 5 categories? Do you admire them because they have an attractive appearance? Do you admire them because they have a prettier home than you? Do you admire them because you wish you had the husband, or boyfriend that they have? Do you admire them because of the job that they have? Do you admire them because they point out the sins of others instead of fixing the sins In their own life?
My guess is NO!
So I challenge you...strive to be like the ones that you admire most, because of the character qualities that they have. Most of all, strive to be like Jesus...and in that, you will understand the beauty that He sees in you.
Bless you all! Never grow weary of striving for the life God has intended for you! And in it all, may you always feel...BEAUTIFUL!
Ypc.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Beautiful (part 2)
So this is part 2 of the Blog-series "Beautiful."... lets dive right in and see if we can swim:
I believe that many women and girls do not feel beautiful because of the unfair comparisons that they make. Comparisons to the other "more beautiful" women in Hollywood, or on the magazine covers. However, is this 100% Hollywood's fault? Or did Hollywood just start taking commercial advantage of the identity crisis that many women were already experiencing?
See, when you wrap your identity up in the wrong thing(s), you end up dismantled from the outside in, and beauty is supposed to come from the inside-out. I propose 5 aspects of the female condition that many women wrap themselves up in. If your identity is even partially wrapped up in one of these 5 things, you will never feel trulybeautiful:
1. Appearance: There is a false formula that women use when it comes to beauty: more makeup + less clothes= more attention which leads to feeling more beautiful. If you could only wear the clothes that she wears, you would feel more beautiful. Or, "if I could just get my hair to do what hers does, I would be happy with it, and feel beautiful." The fact is, you spend MONEY on everything under the sun that will supposedly make you feel beautiful, yet at the end of the day, in the checkout line, when you look at the magazines, you still dont add up to "her." Maybe stop spending all your time, and money, trying to cover up or change yourself, and learn that you are already beautiful, and if people cant see that, its their problem! (atleast until next weeks blogpost, then you may discover it is your problem...*that was a teaser, by the way :))
2. House: "If my living room looked like that, i would feel so accomplished and proud." "Come on in the house, sorry for the mess "<--even though you just spent all day cleaning it, you still apologize for a mess that doesnt exist. Proven fact: Women identify themselves partially with the condition and decor of their house. The question is, are you more concerned with the wellbeing of the "home," or the house? Nothing wrong with keeping a clean, well decorated house...but when you do it because you want people to walk in and say "her kitchen is so much prettier than mine" then you are SINFUL. "Caleb, whats wrong with wanting people to admire my kitchen above their own?" well, it makes you a stumbling block for them to covet (you know, on of the 10 commandments? You shall not covet?) and it also probably means you saw a kitchen somewhere that you thought was the greatest kitchen ever, so you went and spent $15-$30,000 to redo yours...so now you are a coveter, and a terrible steward of money. Ladies, dont diminish your identity to a place where it can be bought at a cabinet retail outlet...
3. Relationships: Do you define your beauty by how much you can get a man to give you attention (husband or not)? Somehow, if he is pursuing you then you feel more beautiful...but when he isnt pursuing you, you feel less beautiful. Guess what? HE WILL NEVER PURSUE YOU ALL THE TIME. He is wired to need some time to himself...by God in fact...notice Jesus would often drift away into His on little world, even when it seemed like He was needed most? The village of Capernaum, the disciples wake up and are like "all these people are needing healed and taught, where is Jesus?" So they go on a search for Him and they find Him under a tree out in a field just chillin'. Jesus NEEDED that time to not "pursue" anything, just to be alone with God...and even, just to be alone with Himself. So maybe your "he" wants to sit on the couch and watch the game, and ignore you a little bit...it isnt because you arent the most beautiful thing in his life...it's because he NEEDS to be in a quiet place for awhile. You can feel beautiful during those times only if you take you identity and emotions out of his hands, stop relying on him to make you feel beautiful, and understand that you are already beautiful because "the king is enthralled by your beauty!
Stay tuned for the final 2 premises...I will let you digest these first 3...
I believe that many women and girls do not feel beautiful because of the unfair comparisons that they make. Comparisons to the other "more beautiful" women in Hollywood, or on the magazine covers. However, is this 100% Hollywood's fault? Or did Hollywood just start taking commercial advantage of the identity crisis that many women were already experiencing?
See, when you wrap your identity up in the wrong thing(s), you end up dismantled from the outside in, and beauty is supposed to come from the inside-out. I propose 5 aspects of the female condition that many women wrap themselves up in. If your identity is even partially wrapped up in one of these 5 things, you will never feel trulybeautiful:
1. Appearance: There is a false formula that women use when it comes to beauty: more makeup + less clothes= more attention which leads to feeling more beautiful. If you could only wear the clothes that she wears, you would feel more beautiful. Or, "if I could just get my hair to do what hers does, I would be happy with it, and feel beautiful." The fact is, you spend MONEY on everything under the sun that will supposedly make you feel beautiful, yet at the end of the day, in the checkout line, when you look at the magazines, you still dont add up to "her." Maybe stop spending all your time, and money, trying to cover up or change yourself, and learn that you are already beautiful, and if people cant see that, its their problem! (atleast until next weeks blogpost, then you may discover it is your problem...*that was a teaser, by the way :))
2. House: "If my living room looked like that, i would feel so accomplished and proud." "Come on in the house, sorry for the mess "<--even though you just spent all day cleaning it, you still apologize for a mess that doesnt exist. Proven fact: Women identify themselves partially with the condition and decor of their house. The question is, are you more concerned with the wellbeing of the "home," or the house? Nothing wrong with keeping a clean, well decorated house...but when you do it because you want people to walk in and say "her kitchen is so much prettier than mine" then you are SINFUL. "Caleb, whats wrong with wanting people to admire my kitchen above their own?" well, it makes you a stumbling block for them to covet (you know, on of the 10 commandments? You shall not covet?) and it also probably means you saw a kitchen somewhere that you thought was the greatest kitchen ever, so you went and spent $15-$30,000 to redo yours...so now you are a coveter, and a terrible steward of money. Ladies, dont diminish your identity to a place where it can be bought at a cabinet retail outlet...
3. Relationships: Do you define your beauty by how much you can get a man to give you attention (husband or not)? Somehow, if he is pursuing you then you feel more beautiful...but when he isnt pursuing you, you feel less beautiful. Guess what? HE WILL NEVER PURSUE YOU ALL THE TIME. He is wired to need some time to himself...by God in fact...notice Jesus would often drift away into His on little world, even when it seemed like He was needed most? The village of Capernaum, the disciples wake up and are like "all these people are needing healed and taught, where is Jesus?" So they go on a search for Him and they find Him under a tree out in a field just chillin'. Jesus NEEDED that time to not "pursue" anything, just to be alone with God...and even, just to be alone with Himself. So maybe your "he" wants to sit on the couch and watch the game, and ignore you a little bit...it isnt because you arent the most beautiful thing in his life...it's because he NEEDS to be in a quiet place for awhile. You can feel beautiful during those times only if you take you identity and emotions out of his hands, stop relying on him to make you feel beautiful, and understand that you are already beautiful because "the king is enthralled by your beauty!
Stay tuned for the final 2 premises...I will let you digest these first 3...
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