Forget

Tomorrow, we will wake up and live with these truths. At least, until we forget them again, as we have many times before.
-- Sergey Kuznetsov, speaking on recent terrorism attacks in Moscow.

Effective and Productive

Christians - how would you describe your life? Ineffective? Unproductive? Then have I got a promise for you!

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. -- 2 Peter 1:8

How awesome is that!!! What are 'these qualities', you ask? Just look back a couple of verses.

[...] make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. -- 2 Peter 1:5b-7

I highly recommend reading the whole chapter (while you're at it, the whole book. It's pretty short.) to get a better context about what Peter's talking about.

Notice that the road to effectiveness leads straight to God. It's not about activities or programs. It's not about volunteering and mission trips. It's about God, and your relationship to Him.

God will give you ministries, missions, opportunities. But these are God's gifts to us, not things we can successfully build on our own. Our responsibility is to focus on God and lift up Jesus. Work on building these qualities in your life. Then allow God to make opportunities in your life. Don't waste them.

The Anonymous god

I've noticed a pattern recently.  It's usually something on the order of "I'm a spiritual person", "I believe in a god" or "I believe in something bigger than myself".

Dear friend - if this describes you, then keep searching.  God is looking for you.  He is waiting for you to come home.  The Universe itself points to God.  It wants you to find Him.

God doesn't have to be some anonymous, meaningless concept.  Search Him out, and He will find you.

Driven

It's almost one in the morning, and here I am pounding out code for a 5 AM deadline.

What is it that really drives me?

Christianese

This is a topic that's come up around me many times over the past week.

I believe that we need to be able to talk about our faith in simple terms. Not simplistically; simply. (Ravi Zacharias said in last week's podcast, "simply is different to simplistically". He gives a good description of simplistic theology and its dangers).

Think of the words you use when you talk about your faith. Think about how you talk about your God and Savior. How many of the words you use are only used by 'church folk'?

Sometimes I wonder if 'Christianese' is a secret code that snuck its way into our Christian culture so that we can talk about God without anyone knowing what we are saying.

Be honest (in love). Be direct (not blunt). Avoid big words (don't water anything down). Use stories. Ask questions. Be passionate. Get involved. Quote scripture.

This last one is the most important. As we memorize God's Word, it becomes a part of us. It nestles down right into our heart, acting like salt and seasoning all of our conversation. Then it can accomplish God's purpose.

Practical

Our church has just gone through a study of Ephesians, which was great. I thought I'd share just a couple of things I learned.

Read the letter start to finish in one sitting. As many times as you can. This gives you the whole writing in perspective, start to finish. (Actually, this works for any book of the Bible. It's just easier on the shorter ones).

When you do this, you may notice that Ephesians starts out very theological and theoretical. It's certainly hard for me to get my head around the mysteries Paul writes about in the first couple of chapters.

By the time we get to chapter five, things are getting very practical. Then, at the very end, Paul starts writing about powers, principalities, spiritual armor and prayer.

There is nothing more practical than prayer and the spiritual outworking of our faith. It's hard to imagine that the stuff we cannot see has the most direct impact on our lives, but it does. Without prayer, and the rest of God's spiritual armor, we are completely helpless. And, literally, defenseless.

Giving

...remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
-- Acts 20:35

I meant to blog about this weeks ago. I heard this story on NPR. Apparently a study found that spending money on others makes you happier. I'm glad to hear that science is slowly catching up to Jesus :-)

Shortly after hearing this story, my church began the message series on giving entitiled generocity. They also did a pretty interesting thing.

They asked for a few volunteers from the congregation, not telling them exactly what they were volunteering for. Each volunteer was given an envelope with a random amount of money in it. They were instructed to invest it for God's kingdom.

This morning we heard the first report from a lady who received $1 in her envelope. This entry is getting long, and it's getting late, so I'll share the details later.

It amazes me how our God can do so much with so little. I guess He really enjoys feeding the multitudes with just a couple of fish.

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Angry with our brothers

I'm catching up on a weeks of feed reading, and I ran across this wonderful article on morality by Ravi Zacharias.

I always have a hard time reading and listening to Ravi Zacharias. So much of what he says is beyond me. The amount of thought and logic he puts into his arguments is truly amazing.

But something made it though in this essay. In particular, though, once sentence struck out to me:

When the prodigal returned, the anger he faced was not the father's but the older son's who failed to understand how marvelous was the grace of his father.

Having been called by my Father so long ago, I find myself in the role of the older son. Have I forgotten that "[...]God has always been in the business of rescue"?

God, help me to open my arms to my brothers that return home.

Ponder

...ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.
-- Psalm 4:4b

There is incredible noise in our modern lives. Make an effort today to get alone with God, and get quiet. Think about Him tonight as you drift through the land between wakefulness and sleep.
Push aside the cares of the day and focus on the mysteries of God.

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope your Christmas was as incredibly happy and joyful as mine was. Looking back on Christmas, I encourage you to think on the life of Jesus.

Not just His life as recorded in the Bible. Think about the fact that this man walked through the same stages of life as every other human being in history.

Mostly I find myself thinking of his younger life (especially since I have two young kids myself). He needed to be fed in the middle of the night. He had to learn how to walk. He ran around and played games.

God chose to send His son to save us. He was willing for His son to be born in a stable in order to save us.

God bless us, every one.

Scripture

For the past year or two, I've been very consistent about reading a Bible story to my oldest kid every night at bedtime. I read from a simple Beginner's Bible, which paraphrases 95 stories from the Bible. This Bible I particularly like, because it includes many New Testament stories. (For pre-schoolers, I highly recommend the most recent edition of The Beginner's Bible, distributed by Zonderkidz).

This has been a tremendous experience for the both of us. He's learning Bible stories. Actually, we're both learning them. Some of the details that come out even in this simple paraphrase are new to me! He also takes advantage of that time to ask questions and figure things out.

What puts the biggest smile on my face is when he makes references to the stories during the day. He's actually learning this stuff!!!

Today I read Explaining the Gospel to a Child from Pulpit Magazine. Then I realized that as good as our Bible story time is, I can make it better. These paraphrases are wonderful, powerful tools, and I wouldn't trade them for anything.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. -- 2 Timothy 3:16-17

These paraphrases of God's Holy Word still have power, and are still effective when spoken in Faith. God gave His message to His messengers thousands of years ago. This message has been faithfully passed down and translated from one generation to the next. I am now determined to read a few verses from "the grown up Bible" as a part of our Bible story time from now on.

Why is this so important, you may ask? Because I was dangerously close to forgetting the whole point of reading these stories to him in the first place. It's not my focus that he learns how Jacob stole Esau's blessing; or that Baal was a pretend god; or even that God pursues us like a shepherd after a lost sheep.

These are all pieces to the puzzle. Building blocks to the ultimate goal. He needs to learn that, as my two favorite vegetables say, "God made you special, and He loves you very much." I have to teach him about sin, Heaven, Hell, forgiveness, repentance. It is my job to show the Gospel to him as often as I can; to live it out.

Reading an English translation of scripture not only shall accomplish that which I purpose, but it instills this Gospel into my own heart. It makes it more a part of my own life. It helps me to live it out.

Trouble

My four year old son has this incredibly cute shirt that has 'TROUBLE' written on it.

When we having lunch today, and we were pointing to words around the restaurant. I pointed to his shirt and asked "What does this say?"

"Trouble," he said with a smile. Then he gets that I-need-to-know-everything-in-the-Universe look on his face. "Why does it say trouble?"

"Because you can be trouble sometimes. Are you trouble sometimes?"

"No," he said, still smiling. "That would make sin. I will be good forever."

Now I'm smiling! [T]o such belongs the kingdom of heaven.

Daddy

God is our Heavenly Father. He provides for us (Matthew 6:25-34), forgives us (Matthew 6:14), disciplines us (Hebrews 12:6), Loves us (1 John 3:1), and so much more.

A recent article from Focus on the Family reminded me of an important truth. A person's earthly father colors their perception of the Heavenly Father. This gives me two important things to consider, both as a father and as a son.

As a son, I need to see how my opinion of my earthly father affects my thoughts about my Heavenly Father. It is so difficult to break free from human perceptions. God is spirit, so we cannot see Him with our human eyes. We can feel Him, we can see His work, but we cannot actually see Him. At least not on this side of Heaven.

The clues about who God is are written into the fabric of the Universe. But these are only clues. They do not (and cannot) tell us everything about God. These are hints, provided on the level that we can understand.

God was gracious to provide the perfect man to be my father. Obviously, he is not perfect in every way. But he is perfect for me. While I cannot find a single thing about my Dad to complain about, I have to realize that God is way more than simply a magnification of my father. If I see God simply through the view of what my earthly father is, then I will miss out on important aspects of His character. Even worse, I might take my Dad's flaws and ascribe them to God.

I have to be diligent to take the clues about God's character that I see in my Dad, and stack them up against Scripture. Hold them in the light of my own experience, and the relationship that I am building with God.

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
-- Galatians 4:6-7

As a father, I need to be keenly aware that I am perhaps the biggest clue my kids will have to God's nature. I have to be diligent to be the best example of God that I can be. This is a responsibility that is way more than I could handle on my own. Thankfully, God's power is made perfect in our weakness.

I would love to go on about this, but this post is already getting too long. The insanely important depths of fatherhood will have to wait for another post.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
-- Ephesians 6:4

Waiting

A dear friend of mine, Rodney, recently wrote a note of encouragement to me.

I heard someone the other day speaking on Isaiah 40:31.

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

They spoke about what WAIT means in this verse. Does it mean to just sit back and wait like you are in big waiting room? Does it means to be anxious like waiting for a Baby? The NIV uses the word HOPE. The speaker put emphasis UPON in the King James. He got the image of a servant.

That gave me an idea. We don't use the term waiter any more do we? They are servers. Perhaps this gives a clue to what it means to wait. Waiting is not passive. Waiting is active. Waiting does something FOR God during the course of the wait. We serve God. We go about his business while we wait. We don't sit back until something happens. We don't become anxious about what is not happening. We keep doing one of the most important things that Christians do. We serve God.

Have a great evening!

In Christ,
Rodney

My evening will indeed by good. Thanks for the encouragement.

Life and death - Scripture says it best

For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.
-- Romans 14:8

Time Budget

Like it or not, I've been listening to a lot of Dave Ramsey lately. The motivator for this is the hospital bills that have been rolling in since the baby was born in April. My out of pocket is getting close to $2k - I wonder what people without insurance do? But I digress.

The Ramsey plan is straightforward: change your behavior. Pay off your debts, build up an emergency fund, pay off the mortgage, start storing up money for... Well, he doesn't spend a lot of time talking about what you want all of that money for. I guess for most people it's obvious.

He has a tremendous focus on getting out of debt. The Truth is, the borrower is the slave of the lender.

I realized over the past few weeks that my debts are not strictly financial. My biggest debts are temporal. Whenever I promise to do something, I'm spending time that I have not yet received. A time debt. What a thought.

In the same way that you cannot live off more than you make, you only get so many seconds in a day. By promising them out, even promising them to good and noble efforts, I am squeezing what precious little time I have with my Savior. And with my family. And that's the time that truly matters.

God, help me to spend my time wisely. Especially the time I have yet to receive.

This isn't the first time I've written about time management. It surely won't be the last. Spending my time wisely is one of the biggest struggles that I face.

Today

I've always been convinced that truth is truth, no matter who is speaking it. Romans 1:20 tells us that God created the universe, and has put His signature on everything. C. S. Lewis took note of this in Mere Christianity, stating that there is a certain consistency to the moral obligations of the world's religions. That's why I love finding fragments of divine Truth in the secular world.

Jason Fried of 37signals recently posted about how 37signals plans for the future. Put simply, they don't. They focus on the reality of where they are today. They "[f]ocus on the things that won’t change."

Here's a company that gets Matthew 6:34. I won't pretend that the 37signals founders had some deep, spiritual epiphany that led to their corporate philosophy (maybe they did, I don't know). But they get something that we don't. They noticed a truth that God built into the fabric of the universe. The same thing that Jesus tells us about in Matthew 6: "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

What if we as Christians took the same attitude toward living our lives as they take to running their company?

Let's put aside our plans and programs. Let's stop fretting about how we are going to do this or that. Let's stop spending every dollar we get before we get it. Let's stop spending every breathe we get before we wake up in the morning.

Instead, focus on what doesn't change. Focus on Jesus. Focus on God's glory. Focus on lifting up Christ.

Stand where you are today. Focus on Jesus. Take a step. Do the same thing tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that. Don't try to map out the path between you and Jesus. Don't plan the waypoints between here and Him. God's got the map; He's got the plans. Plans "to give you a future and a hope."

Press on. Day by day.

--

I cannot close this post out without a warning. Do not read Matthew 6:34 in isolation; out of context. Read the whole chapter. Read all of Matthew. Heck, read the whole Bible :-) This is not a command to empty your 401k and start living la vida loca. This is a command to change your focus.

God commands us to be prudent, to invest our time and money wisely. But more than that, He commands us not to worry about it.

Kids

Sean Carter knows how powerful a child's prayer can be. BTW - PRAISE GOD FOR LILLIE!!!

I have two boys (one is almost four; the other is about three months old), and I can soooo relate to Sean's posts about Lillie. I cannot wait for the day that I'm singing and high-fiving about my kids' salvation. I'm like many Christian parents; walking the tightrope of raising kids up in the way of the Lord, and allowing them to find their own way.

Last night, at prayer time, my oldest said he wanted to pray for his boo-boo (a scratch on his leg from a few days ago). We've always had a hard time getting him to pray on his own, so I didn't expect him to pray on his own. I said "Prayer hands; repeat after me."

Well, off he went:

Dear God,
Thank you for boo-boos, and making them better. Thank you for healing it up. Watch over me tonight, and keep me safe, so I don't get more boo-boos. Amen

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Negative

Betsy Childs recently wrote that virtue is not simply the absence of vice, but is "a vivid and separate thing".

This is an amazingly simple yet profound fact. It is not enough to avoid impure thoughts, but we must fill ourselves up with whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable.

I was immediately reminded of a story in Luke 11. An unclean spirit was cast out of a man. It later returns to find "the house swept and put in order." It then goes out and gets seven other spirits to possess the man together.

It is not enough to empty ourselves of evil. In fact, I would say that's not even the first step. We have to fill ourselves up with The Way, The Truth and The Life. We have to fill ourselves up with Jesus, and God's Holy Spirit. Only then will evil be driven from our hearts.

You won't be able to clean up your own heart. Evil will find its way back, and things will be even worse. Run to Jesus now, before it's too late. Let Him fill you up, and make no room for anything less.

Err

Interesting quote from Paul Graham:

[E]rring on the side of conservatism is still erring.

Something to think about.