Things Are Changing...Again

We don't typically deal with change too well do we? I remember moving in to my college dorm and I was just scared to death. Then, right as I am getting settled in, graduation comes. You have to start making big life decisions and its scary too. Then, like a contagious disease all your friends at once seem to be getting married and its very exciting, but also weird because it causes change. Now some of my best friends are expecting a baby and I can't help but think the baby fever of friends is beginning if it hasn't already. This is so amazing, but it is also going to drastically change things. All these things listed change people schedules, where they are living, and also change their priorities. Is change bad? No. I want to give my thoughts on properly dealing with change.

Once Brad and Elyse have a baby, the baby will consume almost all of their time. Will they be able to come over and just hang out till late at night? I doubt it. Will they be able to make it to last minute dinner plans? Probably not. Does this mean they care any less about their friends and family? Not one bit. We need to embrace change and help those as they adapt to new circumstances. God beautifully designed creation mindful that we are going to mature and changes are going to take place in our life. So my first big tip is to truly be happy and supportive of your friends. Whether they are getting married or having a child or taking on a new job or whatever, don't let your selfish desire prevent them from enjoying the next season. They will prioritize their spouse, child, or doing well with their new job and the more you make them feel guilty the more they will push away. So please just enjoy the time you spend together, and in the midst of their stress be the friend that helps them through this new time. They will never forget.

Secondly, remember that God is faithful through every season of life. Circumstances may change, but God is still the same. Remember the times He has gotten you through tough times where you we were worried and anxious. God is going to use you in every season, so be confident and rest on Him. Change isn't as scary and is even more exciting when you look at the Creator Who is in control.

Lastly, learn from those who are experiencing these changes before you. Figure out some of the hard parts of marriage before you get married. I plan on spending a lot of time with Brad and Elyse's kid, one because I love them and want to be a part of His life, and two I want to have a better understanding of how to take care of a kid if I ever have one. It will be different no doubt, but I will learn things as well that will prepare me for the future. 

I know these things are pretty straightforward, but they are things to keep in mind. I am excited for all my friends and family back home even though I don't get to see ya'll as much. I am praying for you though and just keep trusting in the Lord! 

Humble Me Lord

For some reason humility has been on my mind and heart for a while now. I did a Sunday School lesson on money and materialism and I love what I read in Deuteronomy 8:16-17. God tells the people He purposefully tests the people so that they will be humbled so that they don't say it was by their own power that they became wealthy. In a society where our view of a person is based on how successful they are, we are constantly pressured by gaining more and more. When we are successful, we get praise and tend to start believing in our own power. When a person is struggling, they seem like a failure. However, hardships the Lord gives could be the best blessing a person can receive. If the Lord withholds material success and thus preserves the faith of that person and prevents them from falling into pride, that is a great showing of mercy. We have to change our thinking and not view our worth based on what society values, but on what God values. That way when we go through a tough time, we can fully rely and depend on God. When we do receive blessing, we know that it is by His grace and remain completely dependent on Him. For in times of hardship and blessing, He is still faithful to provide everything we need.

Pride and worldly success has consistently infiltrated everything, including the churches. This isn't a new problem, but it is evident in the world today. We are all tainted by it. I am frankly tired of hearing the words growth and outreach become the battle cry of the church. I am not against growth and outreach, but it seems less and less that we are crying growth for believers to come to know the Lord. Rather, it seems like we are crying growth, so we can see our pews filled throughout the week. This is not a pure motivation, but a prideful motivation. Can we please start trusting in the power of the word of God, desire universal redemption of sinners not just our own purposes, and take on the role of building up the body of Christ so that true disciples can be made? I know these are no difficult tasks, but growth of the church in itself means very little if not nothing.

Our salvation and relationship with the Lord is based on a faith in His life, death, and resurrection that requires repentance and a life committed to obeying Him as Lord. Getting people to the church may aid them in hearing this, and obviously the Holy Spirit can and will do a mighty work, but that should not be the main focus of the body of Christ. Take this excerpts from the parable of the sower:

²⁰ The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the ^[j]word, immediately he ^[k]falls away.

This person that makes it to the church responds in joy, but is not built up into maturity. It says they fall away, meaning they will suffer an eternity in hell apart from God. It is absolutely not enough, and if our motives are to fill our pews and we are not desperately begging God to save sinners and help them grow in the maturity of faith then what are we doing? God's power is not evident in our pride, but rather in our humility. I really desire we humble ourselves before the Lord, and desperately seek Him that the lost will be found.

In doing so, I am not saying that the church sits idly. My practical response to this goes as follows. My first application is to deepen your prayer life. This is probably the biggest conviction I have right now, and something I desperately want to increase in my life. Second, build up those around you and invest significant time in them. Help those you love and those that love the Lord grow in their faith and make disciples. Lastly, be preachers of the gospel. Tell people who Jesus is and why they need Him so badly so that they may repent and thus glorify God. If they do, spend time helping them understand what it means to follow Christ. I guarantee as you do so, you will grow and your faith will increase even more!

Most of the time when I preach, I am preaching to myself so please hold me accountable to these things. I invite you to join me in trying to develop a better dependence on the Lord. We need to become more disciplined in prayer, more intentional in our time with friends, and more determined to share the message of hope to the world. I love you guys and I hope the Lord works mightily through us all.

How To Change the World

My mom tells me I need to think bigger. She thinks I am going to impact the world. She thinks that I need to be available for God to do something huge in me! Now what mother wouldn't want great things from their beloved son? The thing is, in a way I think she is right. Don't write me off as someone who is full of himself because I assure you I am not. I just think we have the wrong perception of what it takes to change the world.

The truth is, I am not going to change the world. Neither are you. We have no ability or power to do so. But God does. It's a strange dichotomy of lowliness confidence. I can do nothing, but through Him I can do anything! So I don't believe I will change the world, but I know the world will be changed through His power working in believers.

I am working through John 15 very carefully and it made me see that God doesn't care so much about our gifts and abilities. Sure, He gave them to us and created us purposefully to be used for His glory. Yet, without His power working through them they don't amount to anything. God does care about obedience and submission. You may be getting uncomfortable thinking I am about to give you some legalistic sermon on the importance of your deeds, but I assure you I am not. Jesus says you must abide in the vine before you can bear fruit. When you draw near to Jesus, obedience and submission are going to be a natural response because the Holy Spirit dwells within you. Love for God comes from obedience to His word! As you obey His word, you will be overwhelmed by His goodness.

Back to the first paragraph. I don't think I can change the world by anything I do, but I do believe if I trust the Lord and try to obey His commands to the best of my ability that He will change the world through me. He who abides in Jesus bears much fruit. I honestly hope I never care what that fruit looks like. Whether I lead a million people to diligently follow the Lord or none, there will be fruit in abiding in Jesus. I should be able to rest on that. Pride shouldn't be an issue because it isn't by my power, it's by His.

Now I know that there are situations in life where it is difficult to find the right decision. There isn't always a clear cut answer. Plus, the power of the flesh is always warring against us. However, the Word of God is sufficient, and our God desires to help us in our time of need and trouble. I realize we are going to make mistakes. I realize that there are going to be some unbelievably difficult situations. Yet, I hope and pray that we will strive every day to draw near to the Lord and His word. I pray that we will stop judging ourselves by our perception of results, and I pray that we will stop consistently comparing ourselves to others for our self worth. I pray that we will be obedient, and thus trust our God to change the world. If we do so, our Heavenly Father will be glorified, and that is a life worth living. He will work on your heart, just be available and seek Him. The world will change and evil will not prevail. I have read the end of the story. If you want to live a life of purpose for God, plug into the vine and obey the commands of our Lord.

Everything from the Lord is Good

16 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
² I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    I have no good apart from you.”

³ As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
    in whom is all my delight.^[b]

⁴ The sorrows of those who run after^[c] another god shall multiply;
    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
    or take their names on my lips.

⁵ The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
    you hold my lot.
⁶ The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷ I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
    in the night also my heart instructs me.^[d]
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being^[e] rejoices;
    my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰ For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
    or let your holy one see corruption.^[f]

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

This Psalm is a great one to meditate on. It makes me see how that when even things don't make sense, what the Lord commands us is always in our best interest.

It reminds me of an experience I had as a child. We were at the beach and I was probably 7 or 8 years old. My dad told us we were going to swim out to the sand bar. As my dad, brother, some friends, and I drifted further and further out it began to hit me that there are some dangers in what we are doing. First of all, I couldn't touch and didn't trust my swimming skills all that much. Secondly, in my mind this was the area where the giant sharks liked to snack on little kids. Despite all these fears, I looked to my dad and he could touch and I knew he had me. He didn't seem worried about the sharks at all and in my eyes my dad was strong enough to protect me anyway. Ultimately, despite me fearing the decision that had been made, I knew it was okay because I trusted my dad. He loved me so much that I knew he wouldn't tell me to do anything if he thought I was in any sort of danger.

Well let me tell you something you already know. Your Heavenly Father desires nothing more than for you to dwell with Him for eternity. Why you ask? Because you are a child of God. You think parents sacrifice a lot of things for their children? God gave up His only Son for His children! Are you afraid of evil? Evil cannot even be in the presence of your God. Are you afraid of Satan? Satan and his demons cower and flee even at the mention of His name. That is the authority your God has. So quit doubting Him every single time one of your comforts gets upended. I understand that some things in life are hard to understand and can be very difficult. But He is to be our refuge. How badly does the Father want to comfort their children in time of need. And you need Him badly. So run to Him and trust Him. It may not make sense to you all the time, but it will definitely be the best decision you could ever make. Commit to no matter what happens in life you are going to stand for Christ, and I assure you that despite many hardships that peace, joy, grace, and love will flow abundantly. Spend some time reading the words of this Psalm and just praise what a mighty God we serve.

Preserve Life at all Costs

I just wanted to share my thoughts on a simple passage we all have read.

Matthew 5:30 states, "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Everyone who I have ever heard speak of this passage always talks about how it doesn't mean to literally cut off your hand. It is hyperbole. While I don't wish to see Christian amputees running around everywhere, I don't think we should be toning down the significance of this passage.

Let me put it in the medical light. When a disease is discovered in a specific body part, lets say the hand, it potentially will destroy the hand and then spread to the rest of the body. Doctors will attempt to isolate the disease in the hand until it can be cured, but if there is no way that the disease can be isolated, the decision is made to remove the hand. Why? Because it is better to live without a hand then to not live at all.

The problem is people love their hand to much. They think of all the conveniences they would have to miss out on if they didn't have their hand. Writing, picking up things, and simple tasks would be much more difficult. It would be hard to play catch with your children, or even pick them up for that matter. When you focus on these comforts it causes you to lose sight of the fact that these are easy sacrifices to make when keeping the hand means death. Your children would rather have handless you then not have you at all. 

Same thing with sin. It can enter one area of life and eventually it will devour your whole body and bring you to death if you don't rid yourself of it. Say you struggle with sexual sin. It may start isolated and seem harmless, but the truth is if it isn't dealt with it will lead to death. Why you ask? Because you begin to love that sin more then you love God. It becomes an idol in your life. I'm not saying that if you struggle it will lead to death, I am saying if you don't repent and battle to rid yourself of it, it will lead to death. Well how do you cut out sexual sin? Maybe it has to do with media and technology. Maybe you need to spend time away from the opposite sex and just spend time praying about it. Maybe you need someone in your life who knows every move you make so that you can't sin in secret anymore. You know what sparks that sin in your life.

Here is where you probably are thinking about how much you love your "hand". How could you live with no computer or television? How bad would life be if you had no contact with the opposite sex? The problem is that we love our sins, which again is a terrible form of idolatry. But it is better to rid yourself of all these comforts  then to be thrown into hell. We are so near sighted it is hard to see. It is time we start believing in the promises that God has given to us, promises of eternal life. We need to believe that He alone is good and can preserve our lives, and cut out everything that prevents us from being near to Him. If we don't cut things out, we will die. 

So I hope that you don't take the words of Jesus lightly. They are not too extreme. If you do see a place where your right hand is keeping you from God, I pray that you would realize that it is so much better to lop the hand off right then and there. Same with anything else in life. It is better to sacrifice a hand in order to save the soul.