June 12, 2009
All throughout the Old Testament God keeps throwing a recurring theme and question at the Israelites. He does this when His people, the Israelites seem to drift away from the sole worship of him and who he is as the Creator God, the Holy One of Israel. The phrase usually is stated something like this, “Remember When I rescued you from Egypt?” or “Do you remember when I, the Lord your God brought you out of captivity?” It’s phrased in many more ways than this, but nonetheless God is saying the same thing each time.
Lets talk a little bit about the context in which this ws happening in. You see at one point all of the Israelites were as a people enslaved to the Egyptians. Until one day when God raised up a leader named Moses to lead them out of Egypt and into the land God promised them they would inhabit. Now this happened in a miraculous way that only God could have made happen. There were the 10 plagues, the signs from God to the Pharaoh such as Moses staff turning into a serpent, not to mention the parting of the Red Sea. Yes, I would say that would be considered a miraculous event for sure! For the Israelites this would be a redeeming, salvation moment in their history as a people. This was actually THE moment that would define the relationship in which God desired to have with his people. It was a redeeming love from God to rescue them from their captivity.
Now, onto why he kept repeating that same question to them over and over again. The Israelites were losing focus of who God was and what he had done for them. As a matter of fact they were constantly moping and complaining about their situation and about their problems, hurts, not too mention their on-going love affair with sin. From time of their redemption as a people and the time when Jesus arrived, there were definitely times of great obedience and true worship by the Israelites, but the were also many periods when they could not have been further from obedience to God. In these times God would ask them or say to them through the prophets, “Do you remember when I rescued you?” He did this so they could get back on course, get back in the game, and focus on the truth of the situation that their all-loving and faithful God cared about them deeply and intimately!
Here’s where this applies to you and me. There are definitely times when you and I lose our focus on God and become just like the Israelites. We start focusing on our problems, hurts, and we can spiral into our own love affair with sin. This is where I believe that God steps in and asks us the same question he has been asking for thousands of years. “Do you remember when I saved you?” Do you remember when I brought you out of captivity?” You see it is so important that we actually go back and reflect on that moment to truly grasp what God has done for us, how he saved us, how he gave us a second chance and a new beginning. In this moment of reflection we can see the goodness of God in a clarity we rarely get to experience.
I leave you with this, when is the last time you truly reflected on the time when God did the miraculous in your life? When is the last time you focused on how good God has been to you? When is the last time you sat down to remember your salvation experience?
June 9, 2009
The Background stuff:
In the book of Hosea in the Old Testament God uses, as an example Hosea’s unfaithful wife to illustrate the unfaithfulness of Israel. It is quite a sad story in the beginning because it is all about Hosea rescuing his wife Gomer (what a name!) from a life of promiscuity and prostitution. Hosea gave Gomer everything she could ever want as far stability and her needs were concerned. Yet, she still returned to her promiscuity and became unfaithful to Hosea even after he fathered and raised her children.
The Good Stuff:
The good news is that the story does not end there and the illustration of God’s love for his people did not end there either. God said to Hosea, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them” His words not mine… From a mere human perspective this would be hard for me to do. If I were Hosea and I had done all I had done to give Gomer a wonderful life and she did what she did…hit the road Gomer!!! But, the Lord told Hosea from the beginning this would happen and because Hosea knew that this relationship illustrated the love God has for his people he was willing to go through this heartache with his unfaithful wife.
The take away form this story for me comes from chapter 2, verse 15. Even after all I can do to be unfaithful to God, HE is still faithful and loves me even in the light of my unfaithfulness. The verse says (God speaking to Israel) “ I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope.” Remarkable! It does not matter what I did in my past or how I have turned my back on God, HE still loves me and you and can transform even the darkest of valleys into gateways of HOPE!
May 12, 2009
Have you ever woke up in the middle of the night while the house was still dark and needed to navigate your way through the house for some reason? Now, you can somewhat find our way through the house because you are familiar with the surroundings even though you cannot see very well in the darkness. Often times I find myself in this situation. My wife is pregnant right now and does not sleep very deeply, so often I find myself being sent out of the bed for my excessive snoring causing her lack of sleep at a time when she desperately needs it. What I do is grab my pillows and stumble my way through the dimly lit house. I say, “stumble” because although I am fairly familiar with the layout and surroundings, it is still dark and I can’t see! This is where the pillows come in…partly for sleeping on, mostly for padding my falls and protecting me from the wall corners.
The question I have for myself is, “why don’t I turn on a light?” If I turned on the light there would be no need for the pillows…except for sleeping! In the bible Jesus said, “I come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put there trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.” (Jn. 12:46) At times, we who have put our trust in Jesus and those also who have yet to put their trust in Jesus walk out our lives as if we have no light to see in the darkness. We, like in the example above “stumble” through life in the dark and don’t turn on the light when we could easily flip the switch. I think it is because we are somewhat familiar with life and we think we can somehow make our way through it on our own. I am learning more and more or late that I am in no way smart enough, talented enough, or directionally gifted enough to make it through this life without a light to show me where I am headed. I am also learning that the more that I let Jesus be the light in my life that he said that he is, the more I am avoiding the falls and the slamming into walls. This does not mean however that I don’t experience troubles. Life is full of troubles! I am just that I am thankful that as I experience the troubles of life that the light is on and I can navigate through them.
My Challenge to you is this: If you have already put your trust in Jesus, flip the switch and let him be the light in your darkness as he promised instead of stumbling around in a dimly lit room. He is a flood lamp not a night-light! If you have not yet trusted in Jesus, why not turn on the light of your life Jesus Christ? He loves you just as you are! He died for you so that you would no longer have to walk in darkness. Flip the switch and let him be the light and director of your life.
May 5, 2009
There is a story in the bible about a man who was born blind and day after day he sat begging for his right to survive. He begged because this was the only way for him to eat or to get any money because he was blind. One day Jesus came along to where he was begging and that is where everything changed for him. Jesus, after discussing a few issues with the crowd he made some mud from the ground, rubbed it on the man’s eyes and told him to go wash it off in a nearby pool. When the man washed his face he was able to see! This is amazing that he has been blind his whole life and now in a moment his eyes were opened and he could see.
This is where the story gets interesting… There should be a celebration of the miraculous at this point for the miracle this man had just experienced because of Jesus. Instead, the religious leaders and locals go up in arms over the miracle because it happened on the Sabbath (a holy day in Israel). They question the man a couple of times basically condemning the miracle that had taken place. They really want to punish this man (Jesus as well) for his experience. So when questioned the last time the man fully defends his experience by making a statement that resonates with me to the core of my being. In a simple but firm response to the religious leaders speaking about Jesus and his experience he says “I don’t know if he is a sinner, but I do know this: I WAS BLIND, AND NOW I CAN SEE!”
Remarkable! This is what I love about the people that interacted and experienced Jesus in the bible. The details did not matter much to them. What mattered is that before they met Jesus they were in some way deficient or broken (in this case blind) and after they met him they left him whole, complete, and healed. Now I don’t know about you but I was not born blind or anything like that. I am sure however that before I met Jesus I was, in a sense blind as was the man in the story. I was blind to possibility. I was blinded by a life of sin. I was blind by a life filled with lack of purpose, understanding and direction. I was blind by not having any sense of who I was or who I could be. I was blind to the fact that I was disconnected from the God of the Universe who loved me so much that he gave everything for me! I was blind to what a life lived abundantly and complete could be.
I am not too sure I can clearly explain all of the details to you or every theological idea and reason over exactly what took place in my life. I would not be good at arguing over why there is or isn’t a God in the universe. I would not be good at stating a case for Jesus being the Son of the Living God. To be honest…I am not all that interested in making those cases. However, I do believe those things to be true for sure. What I do know and can attest to is this: I WAS BILND, BUT NOW I CAN SEE! And that is enough for me.
April 17, 2009
After receiving a degree in Christian Ministry (aka church work/pastoral care), working as a volunteer in a church leadership position, and vocationally spending my last 6 years working in the Insurance industry I have noticed a familiar trend happening amongst up and coming organizations. I call it CCS (Copy Cat Syndrome). What happens is that up and coming organizations (especially churches) look to successful and thriving organizations to take a closer look at the systems they have in place and try to copy and duplicate them. They think that by doing this it will be a magic pill for making them successful as well. I will agree that for the most part, those successful organizations do have great systems in place and are worthy of a closer look. However, I believe that we would be better served and more successful by copying the real reason they are successful instead. 9 times out of 10 those organizations systems are successful because of an often-overlooked principle and mindset. Passion and drive for accomplishing the mission. Successful organizations are sold out to accomplishing the mission at whatever price it comes with. Successful systems are merely the fruit of an organization being passionately devoted to the mission at hand. So, why then don’t we spend our efforts duplicating and copying systems? This week focus on your mission, and then move onto to developing the passion for the mission. I believe as you focus on the right things you will see start to see the successful organization you long for. Passion for the mission will drive you towards healthy successful systems. I want to note this applies to life as well not just organizations.
(Aside)
Now as for the church, our mission is unique. Our mission is to tell people about the extravagant love God has for them. That he loves us so much he sent his son Jesus Christ to this earth to save us. From what you might ask? An eternity separated from God. He made a way for us to be united with him by dying on the cross for our sins. Because of this we can be assured that we will spend eternity with him and live an abundant and full life here on earth. All of this happens when we choose to simply accept this free gift that he gives us. Now that is a message to be passionate about! I don’t know anyone on the planet who truly is without need for this message. It is a message of Hope, Love, Comfort Joy, Peace, Restoration, and abundance of life! It is a message that brings power into your everyday life!
April 8, 2009
Paul writing to his protégé Timothy in the bible, shared this with him in regards to a church he was leading in a city called Ephesus, “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone (the church) should accept it” “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”- and I am the worst of them all.” 1 Tim. 1:15 (NLT)
To often today I think that the Church (the people who make it up) has gotten itself into a sticky and sinful situation while all the time meaning well, but not delivering on a crucial part of the Bible message. “We are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God” The sinfulness of the situation is what I like to call the country club mentality aka PRIDE. Now the reason I can point this one out is because I have been there myself. What happens is the church, as place for people to gather and to worship becomes a sort of country club where the “Christians” (those more spiritual and better than everyone else) gather and everyone else is excluded. Now, when it comes to a real country club you know with the golf course and restaurants… I am fine with this. I want it to be exclusive and that is why I pay the fee to join so I can have it to myself and for my enjoyment. The sinfulness of this when it comes to the church is that we did not and will not pay a price for it. Only pride would say we did something special to earn it or buy it. It is just the opposite of this in fact, Jesus Christ paid the price and cost of membership on the cross where he died a terrible death for you and me. He paid this price so that ALL not SOME would be included in his plan for the church. The Church is HIS IDEA and his club, not ours! There is no such thing as a non-sinner. People who are Christians are not non-sinners. The truth in the matter is that before accepting Christ we were once slaves to our sinful nature, but now we are not held captive by a life of sin because of the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ.
The good news about the bad situation of the country club mentality is that there are a lot of pastors and leaders in churches all around the country that are realizing that the church has fallen victim to the country club mentality and have taken a stand and decided to do something about it. They (myself included) have decided (because God already decided) that the church will not be a place of exclusion but a place of inclusion because that is what the God intends the church to be, a place where all sinners can gather to celebrate the grace given to us by God through his son Jesus Christ. How do you know if you go to a church like this? A godly and biblical church is a safe place for you to be you. It is a safe place to be hurting, addicted, and broken. It is a place for healing, comfort, peace, joy, love, and mercy. Bottom line….Jesus is present in that place!
If you think the church is place that was created for you and only you…do not watch this video you WILL be offended, but I think it is really funny!
April 1, 2009
James 2:26 (NLT) says, “Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works”.
This is a life and death situation! We would so freak out if we were suddenly made aware that we could not breathe. We would freak out because we would be dead in a matter of minutes without breath in our bodies. My question is this: What would happen if through what ever avenue, you were suddenly made aware of the fact that you claimed to have faith but no good works to follow. I am guilty of this at times. Am I as freaked out by this notion as I am the realization that I cannot breathe? If I am not … I certainly should be! Because according to God’s word, what faith I have is as good as dead without good works to accompany. Good works is to faith as breath is to life. There is no escaping that fact.
Just to be clear though, good works are not what gets us to heaven. We cannot work ourselves into heaven, contrary to what some would have you believe. It is not the missing ingredient in the salvation formula or anything like that. The formula for salvation is one thing… Jesus Christ. It is the belief and acceptance in the heart of man that a personal relationship is possible with God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is salvation!
However, good works (serving others just as Jesus served others) is a crucial part of the formula of personal transformation and sustainable life change. You see, the reason God wants us to have good works in our lives is not to benefit him. He is still God, the creator of the universe without our silly good works. His motivation for our good works is pure and complete love for humanity (us). It is so others can experience the love of God in a real, tangible, and transparent way through our good works. Our service is a reflection of His love! Oh yeah…to top it all off, it benefits me as well. Faith produces good works and good works produces more and deeper faith. This cycle is unending when put into practice and completely revolutionary to our lives. So what are you waiting for? If you have any faith at all there is no use in letting it suffocate.
Go use your faith to do some thing good for someone today in the name of love. Smile at a stranger and say hello when you would normally act like you were busy or look down as you pass by. Help a person to their car with groceries. That struggling mom at the grocery store with the three wild kids… tell her what an amazing person she is and thank her for being a mother to her children. Let the older gentlemen behind you in line go in front of you. Help a neighbor with an outside chore in this busy season of getting the yard back in shape. Cook a meal for those neighbors you have yet to connect with. You get the idea here… “Do unto others…” Start a love revolution. It may start small but who knows where is could go from one small act of kindness.
March 25, 2009
Some time ago our church did a series about breaking through a drought in your life. You see, at the time we were and still are experiencing a level-4 drought in North Georgia. In this series we talked about the story of Elijah concerning a long standing drought the nation of Israel had been experiencing. Elijah had prophesied that there would be no rain in the land for a few years and that the rains would not return until he gave the word as the Lord had instructed him. This was happening because God was issuing judgment over King Ahab for doing evil in the sight of the Lord. In other words, he was not a God honoring king, did some really nasty stuff and he sucked! Eventually, after a few years Elijah gave the word that the rain would return and the drought would end and he prayed for rain to come on the land. In his words “a mighty rain storm”. The funny thing here is that as he prayed for the rain he sent his servant out ahead of him to look towards the sea expecting that a storm would be coming in at any time. He sent his servant back to look out towards the sea a total of seven times. The first six times…nothing! This would have shattered most people (including me) but Elijah had great faith in the promise of God that he would send “a mighty rain storm”. So, Elijah sent his servant back a seventh time and upon his return he asked his servant what he had seen and the servant replied, “I saw a cloud the size of a man’s fist”. Instant deflation! Or at least I would have been deflated. How in the world can we have “a mighty storm” with a cloud only “the size of a man’s fist”? You see, what Elijah understood, and what we often forget, is that the great moves of God start small.
Jesus in Matthew 13:31, gives us yet another parable (he often taught in stories like this. See my previous post “Knowledge without Wisdom”). The story here is about a mustard seed. The mustard seed is the smallest of seeds and at first glance, can be taken for granted or even discarded because of its size. The important thing to remember though… The mustard seed eventually grows into such a large plant that it is referred to as a tree. It is big enough that birds come and nest in its branches. This is the truth about the fulfillment of God’s promises in our lives as well. The great things God has promised you and I are on the way. They are being prepared for us. But guess what? When they start to come through they will almost always start small. Our job: Don’t despise the small beginnings. Great and mighty things will come from small beginnings! And, if you your patience is starting to grow thin or you are growing weary in waiting for the promises of God to come through, I leave you with these words from Steven Furtick… If you are wondering why things are not happening as quickly as you think they ought to be happening remember that, “God is busy preparing you, for what he has prepared for you”!
March 23, 2009
So here are some links to some great blog posts that got me thinking deeply last week. Maybe some of them will provoke some deep thinking for you as well.
This post from Seth Godin about Fitting in or Standing out.
This post from Tony McCollum about mentors.
This post from Steven Furtick.
This post from Ben Arment where he talks about grooming an audience. He gives a shout-out to my pastor Tony McCollum in this one.
March 19, 2009
I want to preface this post by pointing out that this is a major struggle of mine, so I am not pointing fingers here . This idea is definitely not new and is not even my idea, but I think it is worth talking about. See thing is that we are constantly told in the business world and in other areas of our lives that we should spend our valuable time trying to do a lot of different things, some of which are not even beneficial to us or anyone else for that matter. The problem with this strategy is that you will become an inch deep in a lot of things without actually doing any of them with excellence. If there is one thing that is an absolute pet peeve of mine, it is mediocrity. The ironic thing about this… I find myself being mediocre on a regular basis by trying to be an expert in too many areas or trying to be great a too many things. Go figure! I see a lot of companies and people trying to be all things to all people as well. They try to offer a million products or a million ideas hoping that one of them will stick.
After thinking about a few major players in the business world today, who are successful even in this turbulent economy we find ourselves in, I have noticed a certain marker to their success. This may not be the only marker but it is definitely a key one. The companies I want to mention here are: Google and Apple. You see, they focused on one idea or solution and excelled at it before they decided to attempt launching another product or service. I can almost guarantee you that they were not concerned with trying to do all things well, at first. They focused on their strengths first. For Google, they wanted to provide the worlds leading search engine… They succeeded! Now, they have a plethora of services and products that most would agree are exceptional. They built their business one product at a time. For Apple, it was building reliable computers… not necessarily cheap computers. They focused on providing a stable platform and uniform construction unlike their competitors, currently referred to as PC (we’ve all seen the commercials). While PC was opening up their platform to all who wanted to make parts or computers so they could make the cheapest and highest profit margin computers possible… Apple on the other hand told everyone that they could write software if they wanted but the computers would all be built with same parts on the inside and they gambled on the fact that quality not price would eventually lead to their success. They understood that developers could write and provide reliable and stable software for consumers because the software would be predictable in all machines built by Apple because the hardware was the same in each machine. The result was stability, and though they did not see as much revenue in the 1990’s as PC…who is taking it to the bank now? People everyday are making the switch to Apple/Mac because they have proven to everyone that their choice to focus on one thing at a time resulted in reliability. Not to mention they are genius’ at marketing. What this has done for the Apple brand is allow them to now offer an array of products that once again, considered by most to be exceptional.
Of course, there is always going to be the temptation to try to do too much no matter who you are! The biggest payoff to doing one thing at a time though, and doing it with excellence is that once that one thing is successful it allows you to then add one more service, idea, or product and give it the same time and attention you gave the first one. Who knows, when it is all said and done you may have many things that are successful as a result of tackling one thing at a time.
My challenge to us is this: Are we trying to do too much? Are we becoming an “a mile wide and an inch deep” as they say?
