Tag: Christian Blog

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Believer or Follower

Are you a believer or a follower? You see the intricacy of nature, and you believe. Yet, how does a butterfly know how to paint its wings? How does a chameleon change its color? What lies in the deep of the ocean? You see the vastness of the universe, every expanding, but expanding into what? Billions of stars spread out over a seemingly endless space, and you believe, but do you follow?

Are you a believer or a follower? You touch a newborn child’s small, delicate hands and believe. In the dark of the night, you lay still, listen to your heartbeat, and believe. You see, hear, smell, feel, and believe. But do you follow? God’s creation is all around you, so you believe, but do you follow?

Colossians 1:16, “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”

It is easy to believe because the mile markers are all around you. You don’t have to attend church to believe; even Satin believes.

Believing

Mark 16:16, “The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned.”

Believing is the easy part. God created in us the desire to search for our maker. We can not rest until we find the answer to “What am I here for?” How did I get here? Our lives depend on meaning and purpose. Without it, we wander in the darkness, looking for light. The light we seek is direction, purpose, and value. Once we understand God’s true nature as the author of everything, we understand our place.

Mark 9:21, “Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

We start to see a pattern and logic to man’s existence. But do we believe God knows and cares about us as individuals? It is one thing to try to grasp the enormity of creation and realize we can’t understand. It is another to grasp the enormity of God’s love for us; one is tangible, tactile, and rich in sensory feedback, and the other is a feeling that wells up inside us. It is a visceral reaction to an invisible power. Are you a believer or a follower?

Having Faith

The question becomes, who am I here for, not what am I here for? Our drive should be who I serve, not what I am to do. Knowing there is a God is not enough. Believing there is a God answers the what question. The bigger question is the who question. An unimpassioned God who spun the universe out in the ether to see what would happen is not the same God that would send His son to die for you.

This revelation is where the visible work of God becomes the invisible. First, we see the splendor of His creation; now, we must feel the love of His compassion for us. Do you believe that Christ died for your sins? If you do, what does that actually mean?

Salvation is by grace, not works, so that no man might boast. Christ’s death broke the barrier between God and us. His death on the cross opened the door to salvation. It is an invitation to spend eternity with the creator of the universe. Faith is about believing in something you can not prove. Faith invites the Holy Spirit into your daily life as a guide, companion, and comforter.

James 2:22, “You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”

Faith is the next logical step. It is when you decide you are not big enough alone. Faith is accepting help to overcome the challenges of a broken world. Faith knows Christ loves you unconditionally and will fight for you.

James 2:26, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”

“You find that the things you let go of while following Jesus were the things that were going to destroy you in the end.” – Francis Chan

Following

Matthew 16:24, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

Now the hard part. Doing is a by-product of following. Doing in and of itself serves only the doer. Not all good deeds are works of the spirit. Good works driven by the Holy Spirit are the only ones that matter. Following is about obedience to God’s call. Following is about doing God’s will, not our own.

“Great moves of God are usually preceded by simple acts of obedience.” – Steven Furtick

James 2:14, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?”

Following God is about setting ourselves aside and doing what God had predestined for us long before He formed the universe. Following God is about achieving the fullness of God’s creation in us. That fullness does not conform to worldly standards. It doesn’t promise worldly prosperity or life without challenges. What it does promise is an eternity greater than anything you could imagine.

Jesus says, “I want you to follow me so fully, so intensely, so enduringly that all other attachments in your life look weak by comparison.” – Timothy Keller

Being a follower is the true sign of being a Christian. Live the life God has always wanted for you. Be a follower.

Titus 3:8, “This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”
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Being a Pencil in the Hand of God

I started to think about the significance of being a pencil in the hand of God. It started with this quote from Mother Teresa.

“I am a little pencil in God’s hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything, and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little more.” ― Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living

Once we start to understand that we are the pencil in the hand of God, we start to understand our position in life. Christ is the author of all stories, the writer, producer, financial backer, and hero of every story. We are His instrument. When we start to understand we are a pencil in the hand of God, we start to appreciate all that we can be.

Psalm 115:1, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us. But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.”

Authoring Your Story

Many of us go through life thinking that we write the story of our lives. We are the hero who saves the day. On the other hand, some of us see ourselves as the victim tossed by the waves of life. In either case, we are the central character that the story encircles. We assume the role of the one in control when we are actually an instrument of the creator.

Psalm 37:23-24, “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him, though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”

When we get to Heaven, if we get to Heaven, what will be God’s response? Will God look at His assortment of writing utensils and say I’ve never written anything with you? Will he see you and say that He remembers a story, but it was a short story once, or twice?

Will God beam with joy, grab you up and hold you close, remembering all the incredible adventures of your life? Will He laugh and cry with every turn of a phrase embodying a triumph or tragedy from your relationship? Will He weep because there will be no more new stories to delight Himself?

Jeremiah 10:23, “Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.”

Wasting Your Time

You are wasting your life if you are not an instrument of God’s story. There is no kinder way to say it; any good deed, or honorable act, that the Spirit does not drive is a wasted effort. All who flit from activity to activity in busy, misdirected lives are not building a legacy; you are passing the time. Forty or eighty years after our passing, others will faintly remember us, no matter our skill, intelligence, or accomplishment. But, there will be no eternal implication echoing through time, no great stories to be relived.

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Even the great statesmen, who emboss their names in history, are just that, a name. We don’t know them; we might know of them. They are a name, a face, and a place, real only within the context of a subject. It is in Heaven that relationships last forever. It is in Heaven that angles relived, rejoiced, and regaled over God’s stories

Luke 15:10, “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Refocus Your Storytelling

We spend too much time making our mark here, where time erases because another will supersede every earthly accomplishment. Our wealth will be left behind. The great stories about adventure, tragedy, victory, and love not written by God will fade away like a mist in the morning sun. Yet, those stories driven by the Holy Spirit will prevail. They ripple for generations as angles rejoice at their retelling.

“Seeking to perpetuate one’s name on earth is like writing on the sand by the seashore; to be perpetual, it must be written on eternal shores.” D.L. Moody

Don’t waste your life by doing good for the sake of doing good, thinking the story you write has merit. Anyone can do good and be kind; it’s called being human. Being Godly is to let God write your stories and guide your path. Remember, live your life so that when you meet Christ face-to-face, He will cry. He will cry joyfully at your meeting and sorrowfully that He will not write any new stories with you.

“The mere fact itself that God’s will is irresistible and irreversible fills me with fear, but once I realize that God wills only that which is good, my heart is made to rejoice.” – A. W. Pink

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That’s My King, Do you know Him?

That’s my King, do you know Him? On this Good Friday, we should take a moment to understand just who went to the cross for our sins.

Dr. S.M. Lockridge (1913-2000) was the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego, CA from 1952-1993. This African American minister participated in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and was a prominent speaker and Baptist leader.

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Job or Naomi, You Pick

Job or Naomi, you pick the one closest to yourself. This decision is not a question of gender but temperament and faith. It might be easy for some to let gender play too big a role in this comparison, but that would be a mistake. How we approach God in times of trouble is not dictated by gender, environment, or ethnic background but by faith.

It is essential to realize that gender does play a role in Naomi’s situation, as she is both an immigrant and a woman. It does add to her suffering, but she does not suffer from Job’s physical condition. So they somewhat offset each other. I do not believe the Bible means for these two stories to distinguish between male and female suffering but to contrast their approaches to suffering. So, are you Job or Naomi?

Job

Job 1:20-22, “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”

Job devastatingly lost everything. God took everything Job loved and cherished. He still had his wife, although her assessment was, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” ( Job 2:9). Not exactly the type of support one would expect. Job’s friends took the time to give him bad advice. They assured him that he brought on his problems through his poor behavior. Job did not see anything in his possession as his, but God’s to do with what He pleased.

Job 3:25, “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.”

Job feared suffering. He did not understand why God would let him suffer instead of taking his life. Job did not understand. But, through everything, Job stood with God. He would not blame God for his misfortune. He was not a victim. 

Naomi

Ruth 1:20-21, “Don’t call me Naomi, [pleasant],” she told them. “Call me Mara, [bitter] because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

Naomi also lost everything. She lost her husband and sons, which was her ability to care for herself. Unlike Job, thieves did not rob her; the death of her husband and sons robbed her of her ability to create income. Also, unlike Job, she was a foreigner, an immigrant. Therefore, she had no standing in the community.  

Naomi, as opposed to Job, assumed her suffering was of God. She felt that God had chosen her for suffering. Naomi hints at the idea that what was hers was hers, and God just took it away. Naomi sees herself as a victim.

Restoration

God, in His compassion and wisdom, rescues both. God restored Job.

Job 42:10-11, “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.”

God redeemed Naomi through Boaz.

Ruth 4:9-10, “Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion, and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife.”

You

Matthew 5:45, “that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Often, we endure trials seeking God’s deliverance from them. Suffering is painful for us to endure or to see those we love endure. While our instinct is to flee trials, remember that even in the midst of suffering, God’s will is being done. – Paul Chappell

Are you Job or Naomi? Which do you choose; what is your approach? In this broken world where bad things happen to good people, do you praise God in your affliction, or do you see yourself as a victim of God’s judgment? Do you think that as a dedicated Christian, God should rescue you from the world around you, or do you look for ways to glorify God within your circumstances?

My dad used to say, “Life is unfair; get over it.” We serve a loving God who will take us through the darkest times. We need to cling to that promise. 

Isaiah 54:10, “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”
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Pursuit of Happiness

The Pursuit of happiness is one of the most cherished possessions of all United States citizens. The pursuit of happiness is so cherished it is in the first sentence of our Declaration of Independence, signed in 1776. The right to the pursuit of happiness is considered unalienable; unalienable rights are rights that can never be forfeited. They’re fundamental parts of humanity, the basis for moral interactions between people, and are irrevocable.

Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

“Every man, whatsoever his condition, desires to be happy.” —Saint Augustine

Unalienable Rights

Thomas Jefferson, the primary drafter of the Declaration of Independence, described unalienable rights as, “We human beings are born on this planet with these rights, and so these are our birthright. These great virtues keep us separate from other living species and protect human dignity. These rights are like God’s gift to the human race.”

Ecclesiastes 3:13, "Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man."

Over 130 national constitutions recognize happiness or well-being as a constitutional value worthy of protection. However, this is high praise for a concept so pure yet so misunderstood. We all crave a world where we are free to chase what makes us happy. We freely endorse that all people have the right to be happy. The problem comes into play when we start to define happiness. Some things that might make one person happy infringe on another’s happiness. Many things that might bring us happiness at the moment are short-lived and harmful in the long term. Almost every perception of human happiness concerns the here and now.

Misapplied Happiness

Most people pursue happiness at their peril. The list of things people do to pursue happiness makes the sins described in Second Timothy sound like a shopping list. Somehow we seem to gravitate toward things opposed to God.

2 Timothy 3:1-5, "But understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power."

“There is no man upon the earth who isn’t earnestly seeking after happiness, and it appears abundantly by the variety of ways they so vigorously seek it; they will twist and turn every way, ply all instruments, to make themselves happy men.” —Jonathan Edwards

Happiness becomes self-centered. Happiness becomes about having, being, or controlling rather than giving, loving, and accepting. The pursuit of worldly happiness makes us more unhappy. We become insecure about what we have. We become possessive of our happiness over others’ happiness; slaves to the very things we are pursuing.

True Happiness

Happiness is untested delight. Joy is delight tested.- Jack Hyles

Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law."

Happiness is situational; joy is a decision. God did give us the unalienable right to Joy. Pursuing it does not lead us to gain something but to give up something. Once we give up our right to be joyful and start helping and loving others, we find we have joy. God has built this joyful quotient into us that the more you give, the more you get. We chase happiness like an animated object trying to allude us. Joy is stationary, waiting for us to apply the Gospel to our everyday lives and reap the rewards promised by God.

Ecclesiastes 3:12, "I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live."

Happiness is a valent concept that would lead us to praise it as if it was an object to be worshipped. But, in fact, it is a by-product of our condition. On the other hand, we get joy when we give up on everything worldly. It is the peace that comes from knowing God is with us.

John 15:11, "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

The world is spiraling downward toward the end predicted in Revelations; those who do not cling to the God of the universe will eventually suffer significantly from it. Accordingly, happiness is about serving; not about others serving us.

“It is a Christian duty . . . for everyone to be as happy as he can.” —C.S. Lewis

Philippians 4:11-13, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance, and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

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Swimming with Jesus

Ever wonder what it would be like to go swimming with Jesus? Are you holding on to the side of the pool for safety? Maybe you can swim with Jesus, but only in the shallow end of the pool. You know, where the water is shallow enough to touch the bottom when things get rough. How many of us venture into deep water with only Jesus to protect us?

1 John 5:14, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."

Intimacy with Jesus takes the same courage and practice as swimming when we were children. When we were children, we relied on our parents or a swimming instructor to guide us through learning to swim. In the beginning, we spent most of our time either hanging onto the side of the pool or wading into the shallow end, where we knew we were safe. Only after much encouragement and practice did we even think about going to the deep end. But, unfortunately, the pool’s deep end did not provide the safety we needed.

Prayer is like swimming; we tend to cling to the edge and not let go. We want to trust in Jesus enough to set our worries aside, but we aren’t that sure. In time we feel more comfortable trusting Him with some things, but we want the security of taking control if it is not going how we want. If we are to mature in our prayer life, we must be able to swim in deep water and turn everything over to the one who loves us unconditionally. We must learn to trust Him even when we do not see His plan.

Hanging on to the Edge

1 John 5:15, "And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."

When we first started to learn about Christ, we probably did not understand the power of prayer. Prayer was more about asking for what we needed and then hanging on until it arrived. We felt we lacked faith if it didn’t arrive or God didn’t hear us. We certainly didn’t live as though we thought God would answer our prayers. It was more of a fallback position than looking for an answer.

Hebrews 4:16, "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

We didn’t approach prayer confidently. Who were we to expect God to care? God is busy; surely,  other prayers are more important than mine. My need isn’t as great as other people’s needs. Satan doesn’t like us to pray. He will do what he can to get us to stop. If he can’t convince us that our need is too big for God to resolve, he will convince us our need is too small for God to care.

Psalm 18:6, "In my distress, I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple, he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears."

Wading In

James 1:6, " But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."

As we grow closer to God, we become emboldened, asking what is on our hearts without restraint. The problem is that we still don’t fully trust God to answer our prayers how we want them answered. Somehow, we have come to believe in answered prayer, but not that God’s answer is the best. We want to stay in shallow water where we can stand on our own if the need arises.

Mark 11:24, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

The shallow end is where most Christians spend their lives—praying but doubting the power of prayer. Because of this, they never see God’s hand in their life. It is a spiral that leads them to become more skeptical of prayer’s power. They find themselves standing in shallow water, thinking they can swim.

Swimming with Jesus

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

For the advanced open water diver, the Marriott Gold Coast in Australia has a private saltwater lagoon with an artificial reef visitors could use to prepare for diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Open-water divers are the ultimate swimmers. They are diving fifty to a hundred feet under the water, miles from shore, with only their scuba gear to sustain them. They are literally emersed in the experience, totally dependent.

That is the experience God wants for us when we pray. He wants continuous communication with an expectation that He will meet our needs. God wants us to be totally dependent on Him. Not so that He can control our lives, but so He can show us the power of His grace and compassion. God has a great life planned for each of us. God wants us to experience what He created in us.

Ephesians 6:18, " And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."

Be a deep-water diver of prayer, swimming far from shore, deep under the surface, and completely secure in what God has in store for you.

Philippians 4:6-7, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
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A Sobering Thought

I was reminded of a sobering thought today. I was looking through old documents I had written to see if there was something that God would use to speak to me. But instead, I found an MP3 audio file from a few years ago. I very seldom record my thoughts. I used to, but I learned that God wanted me to write them out while they were fresh in my mind. I have a big file of Letters to Myself. So I listened to the recording to see what was so important that I recorded it.

Psalms 36:7, “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

It is hard to describe the enormity of God’s love for us. The fact is he wants all of us to spend eternity with Him. God demonstrates this through His relentless passion for us by constantly pursuing us despite our condition. We can never become so degenerate or lowly that He will stop loving us.

1 John 4:9-10. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

In the Dark of the Night

I recorded that message at four o’clock in the morning on an IMED trip while in Kyrgyzstan. It started to be about Andrey. Andrey was a student looking to expand his small construction business. Andrey has spent time in a Russian prison. His relationship with God was of the tough love type. God loved him unconditionally, but God had rules, just like everyone. In Andrey’s life, anything that came easy wasn’t worth having. He had spent his life overcoming. There was something about that man I loved. But he dropped out of the program because he couldn’t understand why we had to know so much about him. His leaving deflated me because we could have done so much for him, and his testimony was incredible.

2 Timothy 1:9, “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.”

I sometimes get off subject and have to serpentine my way back, I‘m told; here is the tie-in. In this recording, talking about Andrey made me think more about myself. I had built this narrative around my life that had to do with God loving me so much that He saved me so I could help others. I didn’t die in the Emergency Room because God had a plan for me. It was a plan to serve others and expand His Kingdom. Andrey taught me that it was a faults narrative. It wasn’t about High Tech Ministries, Champions for Life, International Mission Connection, or Roswell Day of Hope. All of that would have been just as effective without me.

The Sobering Thought

The sobering thought was this, had I died that night, I would have spent eternity separated from God. I would be in Hell. God could do everything I have done since then without me. He did not need me; I needed Him. I just didn’t realize it yet. It was several years before I fully understood that I needed Him. I spent the immediate years after getting my pacemaker lamenting my loss of invincibility. Before that night, I was bulletproof and invisible. There was nothing I could not achieve. Now I was battery operated.

1 John 3:1, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

Andrey reminded me that he survived a Russian prison so that he could be saved. He didn’t see himself as the next Martin Luther. Instead, he saw himself as a child of God trying to please his Father. As Christians, we sometimes become arrogant in our beliefs. We start to think that we are one of the critical gears in God’s machinery. We can’t seem to accept that we exist because He loves us. Sure, He wants us to spread the Gospel, but His primary motivation is love for us.

1 John 4:16, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

We all have an expiration date. Unfortunately, we don’t know when that is. Sharing God’s story is so that others may be saved before it is too late. We don’t know when that is. We don’t know when that is for ourselves, our family, co-workers, and friends. God can do everything you have accomplished and more without you. We can not change His plan, but we can decide to be part of it.

Ecclesiastes 9:1, “So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.”

Living is about getting to salvation and finding our way home and helping others find their way home. God loves us unconditionally; He wants to be with us for eternity. And that, folks, is a sobering thought.

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Seeking Faith Rather than Seeking Christ

Are we seeking faith rather than seeking Christ? This quote is a paraphrase from John Wesley concerning the mountaintop experience of many Christians. It was an interesting question. The connotation is that we don’t necessarily fully understand the implication of Christ’s Love for us; we only understand the security of what He does for us.

1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears is not perfect in Love."

INTRODUCTION

I listened to an interesting Podcast concerning the events at Asbury University this last week. In case you do not know, Asbury University, a private Christian school in Wilmore, Kentucky, had somewhat normal chapel services on March 9, 2023, which led to a non-stop multi-day religious experience. The University does not call it a revival, as they believe only history can determine if it is an actual revival. In the podcast, the commentators paraphrased Wesley, “Are we seeking faith rather than seeking Christ.” The question elicits deeper thinking concerning the emotional impact of the moment as opposed to the eternal impact of Christ’s Love.   

Faith is a misunderstood concept. You can have complete faith that someone is going to lie to you. They have a track record of doing it, and there is no reason to feel they will go against the trend in the given situation. Faith in something is nothing more than confidence that you can predict what will happen. Faith is confidence in the outcome. Christ’s unchanging nature gives us confidence in what He will do.

THE QUESTION

Are we seeking faith rather than seeking Christ? Christian faith should be a byproduct of understanding the depth of God’s Love for us. It is not faith in what God will do but in who God is. If we understand the depth of God’s Love for us, we have no concern for what He does for us. What He does will always be directly related to how much He loves us.

Love is not merely an attribute of God’s character but the essence of his being —

Sunday Adelaja

John Piper, in his book “God Is the Gospel” asked this question, “The critical question for our generation—and every generation—is this: If you could have Heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with Heaven, if Christ was not there?”

Who do you seek? Do you seek the experience of Christianity but not the joy of Christ’s Love? Christ offers us a lot. For those who call Him King, the reward is an eternity like nothing we have ever experienced. But would we still seek Christ without the promise of that experience? Do we crave heaven with or without Christ? Is the fear of losing heaven the driving emotion behind your faith?

But do you feel His Love? When you think of Christ, does it elicit an emotional response? When your prays are not answered as you had desired, do you bask in His Love? Do you really believe that despite who you are, what you continue to do, and how you treat Him, He loves you unconditionally? Do you believe He loves you no matter what you are going through?

John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

We are not just His creation; we are His friends.

LIVING WITH THE ANSWER

You have to live with your answer. You can lie to yourself but not to God. We live in a material world filled with measurements and agendas. None of us have ever experienced altruistic Love. It is not natural for man to love that way. Everything is up for sale. We barter and trade affection like shares of stock. We judge others feeling toward us by what they are willing to do for us and us for them.

Romans 8:35-37, "Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake, we are killed all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter." No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

The God of the universe, who spoke it into existence, sent His son to die for you. He didn’t just die for you; that would have been too simple. Instead, he was humiliated, tortured, and hung alive on a tree with spikes through His hands and feet. He is God; He didn’t need to do any of that. He created us and could have easily destroyed us and started over. But He didn’t. He kept pursuing us.

Romans 5:8, "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Our faith should not be in what God can do but in how much He loves us. In Love, He will do everything possible to ensure you spend eternity with Him. It is not about how perfect heaven is but about who will be there, the only entity in existence that can and will love you the way you desire to be loved.

Do you need the image of eternity in the Garden of Eden with all of your loved ones who have passed before, perfect weather, agile strong bodies, and peace and goodwill to motivate you toward Godliness, or is spending eternity with your creator, worshiping at His feet enough? Is it about what He provides more than who He is?

This verse describes God’s Love toward us that we should try to emulate toward others.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "Love is patient and kind; Love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Do not strive to spend eternity in heaven; strive to spend eternity with the God who loves you unconditionally.

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Faith with Absolute Assurance

Faith is the assurance of things we hope for but have not received. Our faith in Christ is grounded in His promise to us through Abraham. We believe because we can see the impact on our lives today that encourages us about our future. It does not mean today is puppy dogs and unicorns, but it does mean that today is leading to a better tomorrow.

John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Whenever I face a critical issue, I return to a simple truth; “Do I believe what I say I believe?”. Everything is condensed down to this one critical question. When I distill an issue down to the root cause, it always boils down to this; do I trust that Christ is who I say He is, and do I believe He cares the way He says He does?

RELIGIOSITY

Let me give you a real-life example from several years ago. I knew someone who owed me money. They asked me to do some work for them, I did it, they acknowledged that I did it, and their client was satisfied with the work. I asked several times over the next year about getting paid without a resolution. He is a professing Christian. He has plenty of money, so he shouldn’t be concerned. Now I am a huge commitment type of guy. I believe you say what you will do, then you do it. It’s not the money; it is the principle of the matter.

My first thought goes right to righteous indignation:
Proverbs 3:27, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to act.”

I am owed; you, as a Christian, have an obligation to pay me. So, I start to build my argument. I start remembering bible verses that condemn him and justify me. I pray for the right (passive-aggressive) approach to make him feel guilty if he does not pay. It stopped being about money some time ago. It is now religiosity. I own the high ground. God is on my side.

There are a few things I should think about first:
Proverbs 16:2, “All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.”
Proverbs 20:22, “Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the Lord, and he will avenge you.”
Proverbs 27:19, “As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.”

What started as a quest to right a wrong has turned into a vendetta. My motivation turned selfish. It is not about getting my wages but proving my religious superiority. It has turned to punish him for not being as good as me. I stopped trying to let God work through this and started dictating the terms.

FAITHFULNESS

Living by faith requires a different approach. When we decide to follow Christ, we commit to allowing Him to lead. This commitment requires a certain level of trust. I believe Christ does not want us to suffer needlessly or without kingdom impact. Therefore, if we must suffer, there is a purpose in the suffering, and that purpose will positively impact His kingdom here on earth.

The next question that comes to mind is, at what cost? Who wins and who loses, and by how much? Does evil prosper? The ultimate answer to those questions is in Revelations.

Revelation 20:10, “And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

And who does this apply to?

1 John 3:8, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

There is an actual price to be paid by those who reject Christ. We must be assured that God will do what He said He would do.

APPLICATION

When we have been wronged, what should we do? The first thing we should all do when faced with a dilemma is to pray for guidance. It is through prayer that we gain assurance that our faith is rewarded. There are too many permutations of grievances to suggest a one-size-fits-all solution. But, the starting point is always the same. Prayer

It is also essential to determine where our ego is during this time. Is the grievance material or emotional? Is the wrong subjective or objective? Do I believe God has my best interest in mind, even if I don’t get what I want? Am I advancing my kingdom or His? What do I believe about Christ’s dominion over the world? These are the critical questions, not our perception of right and wrong. God will handle right and wrong.

LAST POINT

The last point is that there are times when we must take advantage of the authority God has established over man to help with worldly issues that broken man can not adequately address. We have laws and governing authorities for that purpose. These are tools for Him to use to help us. They are not tools he has created so that we can punish those we dislike or disagree with.

Romans 13:1-2, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”

Trials will come. That is part of being human in a fallen world. How we face those trials will determine our impact on His kingdom for Him. Our assurance of victory comes through our faith in the victor. We can win the battle but lose the war.

James 5:11, “As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”
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Impact

Does your life have the impact that you want it to have? Of course, everyone has an impact, but is yours what you expect?

According to the ancient Greeks, there are three components to a lasting impact. They are 1) logos; what you say; 2) Pathos; how you make the other person feel; and 3) ethos; the way you live. If we are going to have a positive impact on the world, we need to do it with a sense of completeness. We can not approach change with duplicity. We can not want others to be what we are not prepared to be. To impact the world for Christ, we must present a total package. The latest social issue, media sensations, or worldly crises cannot influence us.

That is a big ask. We live in a post-modern world where sensation and bias rule. The next shiny object influences us. Trendsetters and newsmakers surround us. Truth is subjective. Honesty is overrated. Much of the ground we stand on is quicksand, ever-moving, ever-changing, and ever-morphing into a new reality. Values etched in stone a few years ago seem outdated and anti-social today.

Ephesians 4:14, “So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

How can we be light in a dark world? Follow the Greeks.

Logos

Ephesians 4:25 “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”

Remember that each of us is a part of something bigger than all of us. Like wavelets expanding out across the pond, what each of us does influences others. This is true not only of our actions but the actions of those around us. We are all on the same blue orb spinning through space. The more people are driven to please Christ, the better we all are.

That is the short-term incentive to speak the truth. If nothing else, we make this place more livable. The eternal impact is far greater, but for non-believers, hard to imagine. We can not shy away from the truth because it dramatically impacts us, individually and corporately.

The credibility in our words is demonstrated through consistency. We can not speak the Gospel in some aspects of our lives while retreating from the Gospel in other aspects. We can not only demonstrate the truth of our words by applying them to others, especially in situations in which we will not find ourselves. At the same time, we ignore the application of the Gospel to our shortcomings. Hypocrisy is contagious.  

2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

Courage is an act of overcoming, not overpowering.

Pathos

Ephesians 4:15 “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”

Compassion, what a powerful word and act. The ability to show compassion starts with confidence in who we are. We are children of God. And being such, we have overcome the world. We know it is not us who overcame the world, but Christ in us. We can afford compassion. Compassion is not from us but through us. The same God that showed compassion in us would use us to show compassion to others if we let Him.

One of my favorite quotes:

“At the end of the day, people won’t remember what you said or did; they will remember how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou

I remind myself of this often. I can have the best intentions in the world but deliver them with arrogance or disparagement, and I have lost. My message will be buried in ill feelings and resentment. I have to reflect the love of Christ to present the love of Christ.

Ethos

1 John 3:18 “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

Living out the Word in your daily life is the most challenging and effective evangelism you will engage in. Living your life according to Scripture adds credibility to your words and impacts people you will never talk with. If you proclaim to be a Christian, people will watch how you live your life to see if it is different. They will want to know if that difference produces positive results.

The pinnacle of sarcasm when parenting is telling your child, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Your friend, co-workers, and family are not children and shouldn’t be treated as children. Don’t hide behind the Christian badge of forgiveness unless you are prepared to extend it to others. Follow the adage – be the change you want to see.

1 Peter 3:10, “For Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.”

Impact

You must add ingredients, stir them thoroughly, and bake them when making a cake. It doesn’t matter what type of cake; the steps are the same. The same is true for sharing the Gospel. It doesn’t make any difference whom you will engage with or their condition; the steps are the same. So, study the Bible, pray for direction, and persevere. In all of this, walk the talk with compassion.

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