… He’s gonna show up.
A good friend told me this a couple of weeks ago as I was in the midst of the worst week of one of the best months of this year so far. As I read that back , it sounds absolutely ridiculous ,but its also absolutely true.
Today is April the 30th . In the last 30 days I have had the opportunity to preach the Gospel 4 times at 3 different congregations in 2 different states and heard 1 outstanding sermon from a young Christian as I visited 1 another congregation just last night. While most would agree that the preacher is the one doing the encouraging, I have been encouraged more than I can express by the audience at each place. In addition to these moments I also was approached by a willing heart looking for truth in the scriptures and have a study with him later this week… Spiritually speaking - this month has been incredible . In losing myself in service to God , I found in myself both Strength and Peace.. This service no doubt was an invitation to the enemy to fight… and he showed up.
And although I have never been a materialistic person , its amazing the stress that losing or paralyzing the “necessities” of life can bring in to your life. As much as I wish it wasn’t , money is a necessity , it is - and the Devil knows this. Financial hits aside , I was also involved in a wreck that not only cost me additional money -but also a week of work… again more loss of wages. I think anyone can identify with the stress that unexpected financial surprises can cause in every facet of your life ,and I like everyone else am not immune to the pressures of these…
But the devil didn’t win.. he threw me the punches and through trust in my God , prayer and the generosity of others - I was able to roll with them…
Keith -1 / Satan -0
So for now - I have made it though and look forward to the beginning of a new month and look forward to both it’s challenges AND rewards. We are only affected by what we allow to affect us , and I for one have been showed grace ,mercy,generosity and favor and affect by ALL of them.
The most important things to take away from this best worst month is the lessons that God allowed me to learn - that being a Good Steward is MORE than just being frugal ,that being a Good Servant is MORE than serving,but allowing yourself to ALSO be served , and first and foremost that TRUSTING HIM is more important than all of these. Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 12:10 “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, THEN I am strong.”…
…and so AM I.
read 1 Peter 5:8 and 1 Corinthians 10:13
Have a great one people ;)
I’m not gonna lie.
What a strange phrase!? Yet I , and the majority of people I know say it. Its almost as if we are saying ” Normally at this point , I would belying to you -But right now I’m telling the truth”.. Putting it this way sounds completely absurd and I sometimes put things in absurd terms to help me to think about them- as absurd as THAT sounds. The truth is (and there is another one) , I would hope that we are ALWAYS honest with each other , striving to not only seek the truth but to espouse it in all that we say and do.. But often , probably too often - we allow ourselves to be deceived and believe a lie or worse - we lie to ourselves… Why?
In my past , I struggled with the truth. I can easily tell you that it was a defense mechanism or a means of escape and while there is SOME truth in those claims - its not the ENTIRE truth of the matter… And that’s the point. Sometimes we would much rather just have a little of the truth than ALL of it - Again I ask ,why? For the same reason that I struggled with telling the truth in my past - SELFISHNESS.
We as humans will often take the path of least resistance. We want to do the right thing ,but too often don’t want the work that comes with it. In this type of mindset we will look for justification .. Justification keeps us from feeling guilty about not doing the work and we feel better about ourselves. The root of the problem is not in the justification(although that is still a problem) but in the cause of it. Almost every lie carries with it a portion of the truth - sometimes its a small detail , other times its most of the story - either way, in the portion of truth - there lies our justification… So which is worse? A little truth in the lie, or a little lie in the truth?
Before you answer let me ask a different way- Lets say your making a cake . Your kitchen window is open because the spring weather outside is beautiful . As your are mixing the cake batter , a bird flies by and does what comes natural to him and drops his excrement and it lands on the window sill and in turn, a small amount splashes into your cake mix. What do you do? After all - it is just a small amount of bird poop ,and in the grand scheme of things - who will know? The heat from the oven should cook out the impurities and besides , you have worked SO hard on this cake it would be a real shame and a lot of work to throw it away and start over…
My hope is that you saw the absurdity in this description but also recognized the Progression of Justification. Sadly ,This seems to be the American mentality when it comes to the truth. We would rather believe that the cake is unaffected my the smallest impurity rather than toss the whole thing away. “The Greater Good” and “The Lesser of Two Evils” have become our “go-to” phrases when it comes to The Progression of Justification and we absolutely relish in these 2 phrases because it makes us feel GOOD about making a BAD choice.. But I have to ask , How much bird poop has to be in something before YOU wont eat it?
I hope your answer is NONE.
The truth is , When choosing the lesser of two evils , EVIL is still chosen…
So my final question is , What are you prepared to do about it?
Count the cost before you answer…they are high and great.. But absolutely worth it. There is no substitute for the truth..Nor a substitute for the one who gave it. If ANYTHING is true -its in God’s word . Jesus tells us plainly in John 14:15 ” If you love me , keep my commands.” .. Surely he didn’t mean just the ones that are convenient for you to keep , but ALL of them.
Stand Firm.
Tell the truth..no matter the consequence.
The invitation to study the bible is STILL open.. ;)
Read 2 Thessalonians 2 :1-17…Yes, the whole chapter.. ;)
Contemplation is a gift…for some. For me? - it’s a never ending cycle of self examination. Constantly examining and re examining myself ,my life , my experience and what I can do with it all to help others…but the truth is , I can only help myself. If I am being intellectually honest , the only person that can benefit from my past experiences is me…To take the lessons learned and be a living example in a very true sense The truth is no one may ever benefit from the things I have to share about my life and mistakes I’ve made or the love that burns within me for my God who bought me back with the blood of his son… But If I am who I believe I am , from all of this self contemplation and self examination I subject myself to , then I HAVE TO TRY.
I turned 39 this past Friday…This truly was a day I thought I would never see 20 years ago , and yet it came and went and I am now 2 days into the last year of my 30’s… and then came the thought - What now? Have I done enough? Can I do more?..As the progression went I finally came to the big question -
“Is God pleased with me?”
Then I was quiet for long time…
IS God pleased with me?… I wanted to believe so , but based on what? My faith? My Love? My Hope? My obedience? My knowledge and application of his teachings?The number of people I have helped? - What?… My reputation?
In the book of Revelation Jesus addresses the church at Sardis and their reputation by saying at the end of verse 1-3 “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. “…
Though their reputation was good , they were DEAD… Why?
Because their works were incomplete - How?
Because their HEART WASN’T IN IT. - “Verse 3 -Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. “
John 4:24 tells us “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”… if you are just going through the motions and your heart ain’t in it - It AIN’T TRUTH…And just like the church in Sardis , you are DEAD…
So as I begin my 39th year of life - I will give nothing less than MY ALL to WAKE UP and STRENGTHEN what remains so that my works are complete in the sight of MY GOD.. and I will REMEMBER what I have RECEIVED and HEARD but most importantly - KEEP IT..
As far as my reputation goes -who really cares , if God doesn’t? That’s not why I do this..I do this because I JUST CANT HELP IT… Because I was worth saving…and so is everyone else…
WHAT we do is never as important as WHY … And in ALL I do - My God deserves nothing less than ALL of my heart…
The invitation to study the Bible is STILL open… ;)
Read Ephesians 3:16-18
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me…
…I will wait for you…
“… With a simultaneous flash of red light coupled with the sound of crunching teeth , the fall to the ground was welcomed . The abrupt collision with the dirt would give me the benefit of a second or two to figure out what just happened to me.Then came the taste… The unforgettable taste of blood - my own blood , and plenty of it seemingly… I had been sucker punched by a sucker , but I was on the way back up to return the favor … and then some…”
This is one of my most vivid memories. Although it is not a fond one , It’s one that has sculpted a certain part of me, my personality and for all practical purposes shaped my innate desire of confrontation.. To put it plainly I grew up fighting and I love a good fight , therefore - I am a fighter.
In some respects it has been a valuable gift … In my younger years , I was never bullied more than once by the same person due to my over eagerness to reciprocate the aggression shown to me ten fold , and so it gave me a confidence in myself that NO ONE could take from me.. NO ONE. In stressful or high pressure situations it provided me a cool mindedness and bulldog like tenacity because I KNEW ultimately I could handle whatever was hurled in my direction ,and I could beat it with a ear to ear smile on my face… and did - EVERY TIME. Even in my darkest days when addiction had its hold on me , once I decided to fight it - I fought it with ferocity and fervor that paralleled that of a Gladiator fighting for his life in the sand of the arena…after all , it basically was a fight for my life.
There always seemed to be a roaring lion living in me that just couldn’t be silenced… until I gave myself over to God . Even then however, the desire for confrontation continued. It seemed the roar of the lion had been tamed but not silenced. Over the next several years I took my new found faith and ever-growing knowledge of Gods word and set out on a journey to take that word to the lost and dying world that so desperately needed him like I did (and still do)…A few years later -enter Social Media.
With the new way of reaching masses of people via Facebook ,Tumbr , Twitter etc. My desire to take the words of life to people was magnified to a nearly unbearable intensity for those close to me , and the roaring lion of confrontation inside me had been revived and was back on the hunt with an insatiable hunger to prove the TRUTH and SEEK the LOST…no matter the cost.
But I am afraid the cost may have been greater than I hoped.
You see , because of my love for confrontation - I became a bully… By seeking out every debatable topic and controversy ,then beating people up with my faith. Proving that what they believed was wrong and what I believed was right… and in doing so pushing them further away from God than they ever were , and making myself EXACTLY what they think of ALL of us who have named the name above all names… and I was wrong …and I am sorry -truly.
As Christians , we talk a lot about “Fighting the Good fight”. By standing up for what we know to be the truth and doing our best to live according to his commands for us , but fighting that good fight is NOT about fighting at all..not with others anyway.In 1st Timothy 6 :11 it tells us “ But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.” In the first part of the verse it says to “flee these things” - what things?…they are listed earlier in the chapter as controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions… Words that Paul used to describe to Timothy the False Teacher..Had I become a False Teacher?…yes I had - in a sense. Not in doctrine -but in spirit. ..
You can have all the truth in the world and be right as rain in WHAT you teach , but be as wrong as the day is is long in HOW you teach it.. Verse 14 of that chapter Paul tell Timothy also “to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,”… and that my friends is NOT possible if you are beating people over the head with it.
SO - do I still believe the same things are wrong that I did before?- Absolutely..Do I still believe that the same things are right that I did before? Absolutely.. Are there still people who need to hear the Gospel of Christ ? Am I STILL seeking the lost?- YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!…so what’s changed?…. My heart has..
Fighting the Good Fight is about “preaching the word; being ready in season and out of season; reproving, rebuking, and exhorting, with COMPLETE PATIENCE and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”(2 Timothy 4:2-4)… But NEVER … NEVER bullying ..This goes against everything that God is and it’s WRONG… My God is not a bully - so NEITHER SHOULD I BE..
There are many who make the claim and wear his name ,calling themselves Christians… We had better be acting like it.
The invitation to study the bible is still open… ;)
Read Romans 12:14-18
