The Way Things Should Be

I will preface all of this by saying that I know that we live in an incredibly broken world that is completely ravaged by sin. The world we live in is broken and it will be broken until the miraculus day when Christ comes to make things right. Creation is longing for that day. This world, and us humans long for things to be the way they were always supposed to be.
We can pray for that day to come quickly, and we SHOULD pray for that day to come quickly!
But, I have been realizing, that there are too many evidences in my life that I use this broken world as an excuse.
I use the brokenness all aroudn me as an excuse to not live the way that Christ has enabled me.
We have the ability to "walk in the Spirit and not obey the lusts of the flesh." We have been given "all things that pertain to life and Godliness" RIGHT NOW! We are "a new creation in Christ! The old man is gone, the new has come." I know that "greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world." We have been saved "to do good works!" I could go on and on, but what I'm really getting at here is that there is a certain way that things should be.
The world will one day like it was created to be, and today I CAN live the way I am supposed to live with the help of our gracious Savior, Jesus.

I know all of this.
But last night, I was sitting in my room and thinking about the way things should be, and the way things are, and the way things have been, etc, and this huge thought hit me.
and it will take a little bit of explanation to tie all of this together.

Much of this thought originates with the game of basketball, and after years and years of playing and during the midst of my second year of coaching, I think this big idea finally came together.

Everything that the coaches do is all about getting the players to improve. We want the players to play up to their potential, and be able to play together as a unit as well as do things individually to succeed on the court. They don't get mad if a player doesn't understand, but they really don't like it if someone isn't pulling their weight, or playing within the team concept or doing something they shouldn't.
Coaches put months and months of time into the players doing everything they can to prepare and equip and train the players to be the best they can individually and as a team. The goal is for growth individually and as a team, and getting everyone to play up to their potential.
As a player, I always hated to let coaches down. It was probably the worst feeling ever.
Now, as a coach, it's hard when a player lets you down...especially after you put so much work and effort into them.
I've never thought of this before! It's so obvious, I really don't know how I missed it.
But this concept is huge.
Imagine what a parent feels every time their child lets them down? And as a child, i know I let my parents down ALOT.
I am beginning to feel what a coach feels when their players let them down.
Imagine what a teacher feels when a student fails a test? Especially after they have spend extra hours tutoring the student.
And on top of all of that...
Imagine what God feels when we let Him down? Every single time we disobey or sin, imagine what it does to the heart of God?
It has to hurt more than anything we could ever feel.
This is one of those things that parents probably feel the most on earth, but the feeling a parent feels still pales in comparison to what God feels.
If we really thougth about this more, wouldn't it change how we live?
Wouldn't we see God and His commands as a GIFT!? It's something He does to protect us, and when we break His commands, we break His heart.
This would change every relationship, every interaction, every job, indeed; it would change every moment.


This passage hit me in a whole new way last night:

Hebrews 12:5-14 - ESV - "Have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord."

I want to be really careful in what I say here because I haven't taken the necessary time to really dig into this passage and fully understand what God is trying to say here. But, see if this makes sense:
Have we ever considered discipline as a positive thing?
When people prepare for a marathon, what do they do? They discipline themselves, and eat right, and run a lot and workout, etc.
To succeed almost always requires discipline.
What if we saw discipline as a positive thing?
Just like coaches "discipline" their players by having them complete various drills in practice, and just as teachers "discipline" their students by making them do homework or read books, and just as employers "discipline" their employees by making them do work, perhaps God uses "discipline" to make us more like Him.
And if this is true, why aren't we all in this together?!
Why aren't men rallying around each other and encouraging and exhorting each other to live a certain way?
Remember my point earlier, the point of everything the coaches do is to get the player to play to their potential.
That is the goal of Christ! He wants us to be like HIM! That is our potential!
It all ties together.
See the beauty of it?
Christ wants us to be like Him. He uses discipline to get us there. He corrects us when we fail, sometimes gently and sometimes violently. When we let Him down, it breaks His heart.
But when we let Him down, does He give up on us? Of course not!
He keeps loving and keeps instructing and keeps teaching. He does!
And we are to do the same!
We are to keep loving those that let us down, we are to keep loving those who fail us. We are to keep doing this all of our days.

But there are days when I simply use an excuse and say I don't want to live this way.
I say that things are just too broken for me to live like I should.
I don't say that outloud necessarily, but I say it in the way I use my time and the way I live.
This is wrong. This is sin. And it breaks the heart of God.

It's time for people to come alongside each other and truly encourage, and challenge, and exhort each other to live like Christ. We CAN live like we should! But we violently need God's help to do this, and we need each other to do this.

Perhaps the passion that has been missing will return if we start thinking more cleaerly.
I really want the passion to come back.
To dream big dreams and pursue them.
To be the hands and feet of Jesus.
To love with reckless abandon,
and to keep loving those who let me down.
To teach and exhort and challenge and be let down and then do it all again.

To live with passion for Jesus and a zeal for life and a joy unquenchable by anything the devil throws at me, yes Lord, that is my plea.
Help me to not live quietly, help me not to live a mediocre or unproductive life,
help me to live with passion every second.
help me to live...the way things should be.

Continuation - Dreams

There is much more that needs to be said about necessary passion, and dying to self, and love and how all of that relates to living the way that Jesus wants us to live.

However, my thoughts have recently been taking a small turn.
I've been thinking a great deal about dreams.
More specifically, I have been considering how dreams connect with passion which connect with how we live our lives.

It would be safe to assert that we all live our days in pursuit of SOMETHING.
We are all pursuing some THING or some ONE or some GOAL or some PASSION or some DREAM.
It is the pursuit of this THING that gives us the drive to live.
Obviously, we are all, as Chritians, supposed to live in a passionate pursuit of Christ. But what that looks like at the individual level varies from person to person because each person is created uniquely.

So what does all of this have to do with life, you may ask.
Well, that is a very good question!
The reality of living for a certain goal, is something that is very evident in America.
I will make a generalization here, but it is one that many can relate to: Many American's live for the goal of: Financial Security, Wealth, or some combination of the two.
Many people seem to equate security and money with happiness.

I don't think that my generation is quite as infatuated with money as past generations, but the desire is still evident.

At any rate, the average American rushes aroud pursuing some goal.
Most Americans never even have time to stop and think what's going on, they just rush from activity to activity, and pursue the next goal as quickly as possible.
But when a disciple of Christ sits down and thinks about such things, he will quickly have some questions:
Is seeking financial security really the reason for living?
What are MY goals?
What am I really pursuing?

It is obvious that the way a person spends his money, they he spends his time, and the goals he pursues, well, that is who this person really is.
Our goals and pursuits tell us a lot about who we really are.


Ok so, let's draw everything together here.
1 - Americans rush around pursuing many goals and passions, and many of them are not worthwhile.
2 - The true disciple of Christ wishes to align his life with the way that Christ calls us to live.
3 - If Christ calls us to live a certain way, then our goals are to match up with His.


What truly brings us, as a Christian, happiness?
What brings fulfillment?
What brings satisfaction?

Catch this statement because it is the centerpiece of this discussion:
Our lives are FULL when we live to bring GLORY to CHRIST and ENJOY HIM forever.
Those two things are not mutually exclusive, they go hand in hand.
Our lives are FULL when we stand before an evening sky and point to the heavens and say "LOOK! Look at ALL of the stars up there! God put them there! He is GLORIOUS!" and at the very same moment...something crazy happens. We see who we truly are in light of Christ, we see that we are nothing and God is everything, we see that HE is BIG, and we are so very small; and it is in that moment that we are most satisfied.
As a disciple of Christ, we are most satisfied in the moments where God is glorified and we enjoy HIM.

This idea brings us full circle back to this question: What are we pursuing?
Are we pursuing self or are we pursuing the things of Christ?
Are we pursuing happiness or are we pursuing the happiness that is only found in Christ.

As little children, many of us have dreams.
We have really big dreams. We want to be astronauts, or the President, or a Major League Baseball player, etc. As we grow up many of us lose the dreams. We lose the passion. We replace the dreams we had with dreams that are "more realistic" or "more attainable." In reality, we replace big dreams with small dreams.
Our "growing up" makes our dreams get "smaller" for some weird reason.

This same thing often happens in our relationship with Christ.
When we are first saved, we will do anything to spend a few extra moments with our Savior. We are infatuated with Christ. We see Christ in everything.
But something happens when we "grow up" in our faith.
Our knowledge increases yes, but our Wonder grows smaller.
We no longer see Christ in everything.
We no longer simply bask in His presence.
We don't feast on His Word like we used to.
Things become "routine" or, dare I say it, "boring"
Songs of praise no longer move our hearts, they no longer bring emotions or tears.
The cross loses its brilliance.
And Christ is replaced with something else.

I don't think this happens on purpose. We never wake up one day and say, "today, I'm going to lose the wonder of Christ." No, nothing like that ever happens in a day. It is something that happens over many days and weeks and months and years.
It is a slow fading away, a gradual thing.
And it is something that will take time to get back.

So my resolution is this:
1 - I resolve to do everything I can to once again live in complete wonder of Christ and of the cross.
2 - To do everything I can for the glory of God, and to find my joy fully in Him.
3 - To say "NO" to our cultures view of happiness and success and say "YES" to Christ.


I think many of us struggle with our dreams.
We no longer have big dreams.
Perhaps it is time to start living like a child again in some ways.
Let's get back the total and complete reliance on our Father that we had when we were younger.
Let's start to dream big dreams again. These dreams will be the passion and the fire that fuel our days and make our lives count for eternity.
Chasing these kind of dreams will help us to avoid the pitfalls of flailing aimlessly about with the intention of attaining temporary happiness as so many of us in America are prone to do.
Let's regain the wonder of the cross and the wonder of Christ that we had when we were first saved.
This may first mean de-cluttering our minds and our schedules, and refocusing more and more on Him.
Let's stop being satisfied with a low level of living.
We have been given divine power to live in this age!
We have been given ALL things that pertain to LIFE and GODLINESS!
Let's live this LIFE WELL!
Let's go for it, and give it our best shot.

For the glory of God, and not ourselves.
For the destruction of self, and the purposes of Him who IS our lives.

Jesus, You are our lives.
Help us to dream big dreams, because You are a BIG GOD.
Help us Lord,
Help our unbelief.
Help us to live a Gospel oriented life,
a glory oriented life,
and a life that displays the love of Your Son.
Help us Lord, we are entirely inadequate.