How can we live without purpose?
How can we proceed without an intended destination?
How can we run without a finish line?
Why would we run if there wasn't a prize? We wouldn't!
Since there IS a prize at the end of our lives, if we are living for Jesus, we better be running for it!
As Paul says, I do not beat the air, or run aimlessly. The point he is trying to make is that we must live with purpose!
We must live FOR JESUS.
What does this look like?
Our hearts must beat for what is dear to His heart.
Our hearts must break for what breaks His heart.
We must live for Him, no matter the cost to our wallet, our ego, or our adjenda.
We must live for Him no matter the cost.
We must run to Him, run toward the prize without looking back.
We must run with our eyes fixed on Jesus.
And not run, as one running aimlessly.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Surrender
I am working through some big thoughts recently.
One - Surrender
Two - Priority
Three - The fact that they go hand-in-hand.
I'm pretty sure of the fact that one of the biggest reasons I fail to more fully resemble a true disciple of Jesus is that I fail to surrender ALL to HIM.
Too often, and usually not even because I want to, I hold too tightly to the things of this world instead of surrendering everything to Jesus.
Ultimately, this leads to messed up priorities.
I end up spending my days on things I don't even really like all that much.
I am content to live a life that "promises" it will bring temporal fulfillment instead of surrendering everything for "supposed" real fulfillment.
Bottom line = I don't really have faith.
When I fail to surrender to Jesus it reveals my lack of faith.
When I fail to surrender to Jesus it shows how prideful I am.
When I fail to surrender to Jesus I give my love to something other than the Father's heart.
What would we do if we only had one day left to live?
How would we want Jesus to find us if He came back in five minutes?
Why aren't we living this way now?
Why aren't we living today the way that Jesus wants us to live and letting tomorrow take care of itself?
Why aren't we surrendering EVERYTHING? No, I'm not saying most things, I'm saying everything. Death to self. Death to everything this world calls dear. Death Death Death. Yes, that is the Gospel.
Death to self.
Yes to Jesus.
One - Surrender
Two - Priority
Three - The fact that they go hand-in-hand.
I'm pretty sure of the fact that one of the biggest reasons I fail to more fully resemble a true disciple of Jesus is that I fail to surrender ALL to HIM.
Too often, and usually not even because I want to, I hold too tightly to the things of this world instead of surrendering everything to Jesus.
Ultimately, this leads to messed up priorities.
I end up spending my days on things I don't even really like all that much.
I am content to live a life that "promises" it will bring temporal fulfillment instead of surrendering everything for "supposed" real fulfillment.
Bottom line = I don't really have faith.
When I fail to surrender to Jesus it reveals my lack of faith.
When I fail to surrender to Jesus it shows how prideful I am.
When I fail to surrender to Jesus I give my love to something other than the Father's heart.
What would we do if we only had one day left to live?
How would we want Jesus to find us if He came back in five minutes?
Why aren't we living this way now?
Why aren't we living today the way that Jesus wants us to live and letting tomorrow take care of itself?
Why aren't we surrendering EVERYTHING? No, I'm not saying most things, I'm saying everything. Death to self. Death to everything this world calls dear. Death Death Death. Yes, that is the Gospel.
Death to self.
Yes to Jesus.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Never Mine To Hold
There is something going on in our country that is hard to even explain.
I'm not sure if "disease" is the proper word, but it's the word I will use for the time being.
A disease is rampant in our country, and that disease is the quest for security.
Everywhere we turn, people are doing everything they can to be secure.
People slave away at their jobs that they don't even like to obtain money so they can be "secure."
People spend money on insurance so they can be secure if something bad happens.
People choose to spend their time to "ensure" the security of tomorrow.
But there is a huge problem behind all of this!
Why do we spend so much time making tomorrow "safer" when we are not even guaranteed our next breath!?
Why do we care so much about "security" when that "security" could be snatched from us at any moment. At any given moment, all of our plans, hopes, and dreams could be utterly destroyed by the mere whisper of God.
I'm scared to say it, but I think too many of us are more concerned about maintaining something we call "security" than doing what God really wants us to be doing. We are consumed with a mirage, the mirage of "safety" and "security", and it is destroying us from the inside out. Our culture produces people that have conformed to the culture. Our churches produce people that look very much like the world, they just cuss less, and don't go to bars as much as the world. What kind of a Christianity is that? What kind of life are we living? Why are we so stuck in this rut?
Perhaps the reason that we don't have any big dreams is that we stopped listening to God long ago. Perhaps the reason we CAN'T obey God's voice now is that we've said NO to Him for far too long.
I could talk about Abraham a lot, but essentially the point is this...there were several major points of decision in his life and each got progressively harder. The reason he was able to say YES to God at every point, was that he said yes the first time. Maybe we have missed that. Maybe we missed the first yes to God, and that has crippled us.
How do we dig out?
We have to go back to the beginning.
Back to the simplicity of following Christ.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
We must go back to the beginning, confess that we have messed up, and commit to saying YES to Him no matter the cost to our "security."
We have to break out of the mold of American Christianity, and embrace His hands.
"The freedom of Christ is this: no more molds, just His hands."
We must break out of the cycle of conformity before it chokes out our dreams and passions completely.
Lord, let your cross be the blazing center of our lives, let our identity be found in You, and help us to say YES to YOU no matter the cost to our "supposed security."
We are but a vapor, I want to stop living for "security."
I'm not sure if "disease" is the proper word, but it's the word I will use for the time being.
A disease is rampant in our country, and that disease is the quest for security.
Everywhere we turn, people are doing everything they can to be secure.
People slave away at their jobs that they don't even like to obtain money so they can be "secure."
People spend money on insurance so they can be secure if something bad happens.
People choose to spend their time to "ensure" the security of tomorrow.
But there is a huge problem behind all of this!
Why do we spend so much time making tomorrow "safer" when we are not even guaranteed our next breath!?
Why do we care so much about "security" when that "security" could be snatched from us at any moment. At any given moment, all of our plans, hopes, and dreams could be utterly destroyed by the mere whisper of God.
I'm scared to say it, but I think too many of us are more concerned about maintaining something we call "security" than doing what God really wants us to be doing. We are consumed with a mirage, the mirage of "safety" and "security", and it is destroying us from the inside out. Our culture produces people that have conformed to the culture. Our churches produce people that look very much like the world, they just cuss less, and don't go to bars as much as the world. What kind of a Christianity is that? What kind of life are we living? Why are we so stuck in this rut?
Perhaps the reason that we don't have any big dreams is that we stopped listening to God long ago. Perhaps the reason we CAN'T obey God's voice now is that we've said NO to Him for far too long.
I could talk about Abraham a lot, but essentially the point is this...there were several major points of decision in his life and each got progressively harder. The reason he was able to say YES to God at every point, was that he said yes the first time. Maybe we have missed that. Maybe we missed the first yes to God, and that has crippled us.
How do we dig out?
We have to go back to the beginning.
Back to the simplicity of following Christ.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
We must go back to the beginning, confess that we have messed up, and commit to saying YES to Him no matter the cost to our "security."
We have to break out of the mold of American Christianity, and embrace His hands.
"The freedom of Christ is this: no more molds, just His hands."
We must break out of the cycle of conformity before it chokes out our dreams and passions completely.
Lord, let your cross be the blazing center of our lives, let our identity be found in You, and help us to say YES to YOU no matter the cost to our "supposed security."
We are but a vapor, I want to stop living for "security."
Sunday, February 13, 2011
After All Of This
I think that after all of this, the way that life should be lived is so very simple.
But I deeply fear that after all of this, I'm right back where I started.
It was probably my junior year of high school that I started learning "big life things." That's when my faith started to become mine, and I started to see things for the way they really are.
But I fear that I've come all of this way, and ended up much where I started; desperately needy for simplicity.
That phrase "desperately needy for simplicity" is huge for me.
I'm a person that likes to make things more difficult than they need to be. I like to learn as much about a situation as I can before I attack it. By nature I am calm, slow, calculated, and logical. It's who I am, and it's who God has made me. But sometimes, those traits really get in my way.
It's those traits that "prevent" me from leaving America for the rest of my life and living in Africa.
It's those traits that make it really hard for me to simply live in the here and now.
And after all of this, more than anything I need to again be left in awe of the Cross...to simply be left at the feet of Jesus and live there.
To lose myself in the wonder of the cross like it was the first time that I could clearly see Him.
To die to myself and live for Jesus.
Cause after all, if everything is His, then nothing in this life was ever mine to hold.
Who am I to seek my own dreams?
Simply put, I need to start letting go of my dreams and fully embrace His.
And I can't get this thought out of my head:
“… for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not His
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.”
Christ beautifully expresses Himself through people. The music that He plays for the Father is expressed through the features of my face! Through my heart!
And how much more beautiful would that song be if I finally got out of the way?
But I deeply fear that after all of this, I'm right back where I started.
It was probably my junior year of high school that I started learning "big life things." That's when my faith started to become mine, and I started to see things for the way they really are.
But I fear that I've come all of this way, and ended up much where I started; desperately needy for simplicity.
That phrase "desperately needy for simplicity" is huge for me.
I'm a person that likes to make things more difficult than they need to be. I like to learn as much about a situation as I can before I attack it. By nature I am calm, slow, calculated, and logical. It's who I am, and it's who God has made me. But sometimes, those traits really get in my way.
It's those traits that "prevent" me from leaving America for the rest of my life and living in Africa.
It's those traits that make it really hard for me to simply live in the here and now.
And after all of this, more than anything I need to again be left in awe of the Cross...to simply be left at the feet of Jesus and live there.
To lose myself in the wonder of the cross like it was the first time that I could clearly see Him.
To die to myself and live for Jesus.
Cause after all, if everything is His, then nothing in this life was ever mine to hold.
Who am I to seek my own dreams?
Simply put, I need to start letting go of my dreams and fully embrace His.
And I can't get this thought out of my head:
“… for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not His
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.”
Christ beautifully expresses Himself through people. The music that He plays for the Father is expressed through the features of my face! Through my heart!
And how much more beautiful would that song be if I finally got out of the way?
Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
"Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken"
by Henry Francis Lyte, 1793-1847
1. Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my All shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I've sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition!
God and heaven are still my own.
2. Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate and friends may shun me;
Show Thy face, and all is bright.
3. Go, then, earthly fame and treasure!
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In Thy service, pain is pleasure;
With Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee Abba, Father!
I have stayed my heart on Thee.
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather,
All must work for good to me.
4. Man may trouble and distress me,
'Twill but drive me to Thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me,
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, 'tis not in grief to harm me
While Thy love is left to me;
Oh, 'twere not in joy to charm me
Were that joy unmixed with Thee.
5. Take, my soul, thy full salvation;
Rise o'er sin and fear and care;
Joy to find in every station,
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee,
What a Father's smile is thine,
What a Savior died to win thee;
Child of heaven, shouldst thou repine?
6. Haste, then, on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer;
Heaven's eternal day's before thee,
God's own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close the earthly mission,
Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope soon change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
by Henry Francis Lyte, 1793-1847
1. Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my All shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I've sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition!
God and heaven are still my own.
2. Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate and friends may shun me;
Show Thy face, and all is bright.
3. Go, then, earthly fame and treasure!
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In Thy service, pain is pleasure;
With Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee Abba, Father!
I have stayed my heart on Thee.
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather,
All must work for good to me.
4. Man may trouble and distress me,
'Twill but drive me to Thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me,
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, 'tis not in grief to harm me
While Thy love is left to me;
Oh, 'twere not in joy to charm me
Were that joy unmixed with Thee.
5. Take, my soul, thy full salvation;
Rise o'er sin and fear and care;
Joy to find in every station,
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee,
What a Father's smile is thine,
What a Savior died to win thee;
Child of heaven, shouldst thou repine?
6. Haste, then, on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer;
Heaven's eternal day's before thee,
God's own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close the earthly mission,
Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope soon change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Hail Sovereign Love
Author: Unknown
Hail, sovereign love that first began,
The scheme to rescue fallen man;
Hail matchless free eternal grace,
That gave my soul a hiding place.
Against the God who rules the sky,
I fought with hand uplifted high,
Despised the mention of His grace,
Too proud to seek a hiding place.
Enwrapped in thick Egyptian night,
And fond of darkness more than light,
Madly I ran the sinful race,
Secure without a hiding place.
But thus th’ eternal counsel ran,
“Almighty Love, arrest that man!”
I felt the arrows of distress,
And found I had no hiding place.
Indignant justice stood in view,
To Sinai’s fiery mount I flew,
But Justice cried with frowning face,
“This mountain is no hiding place!”
Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
And Mercy’s angel form appeared.
Who led me on with gentle pace,
To Jesus Christ, my hiding place.
On Him Almighty vengeance fell,
That must have sunk a world to hell;
He bore it for a chosen race,
And thus became their hiding place.
Should storms of sevenfold vengeance roll,
And shake this earth from pole to pole;
No flaming bolt could daunt my face,
For Jesus is my hiding place.
A few more rolling suns at most,
Shall land me safe on Heaven’s coast.
There I shall sing the song of grace,
To Jesus Christ, my hiding place!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hail, sovereign love that first began,
The scheme to rescue fallen man;
Hail matchless free eternal grace,
That gave my soul a hiding place.
Against the God who rules the sky,
I fought with hand uplifted high,
Despised the mention of His grace,
Too proud to seek a hiding place.
Enwrapped in thick Egyptian night,
And fond of darkness more than light,
Madly I ran the sinful race,
Secure without a hiding place.
But thus th’ eternal counsel ran,
“Almighty Love, arrest that man!”
I felt the arrows of distress,
And found I had no hiding place.
Indignant justice stood in view,
To Sinai’s fiery mount I flew,
But Justice cried with frowning face,
“This mountain is no hiding place!”
Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
And Mercy’s angel form appeared.
Who led me on with gentle pace,
To Jesus Christ, my hiding place.
On Him Almighty vengeance fell,
That must have sunk a world to hell;
He bore it for a chosen race,
And thus became their hiding place.
Should storms of sevenfold vengeance roll,
And shake this earth from pole to pole;
No flaming bolt could daunt my face,
For Jesus is my hiding place.
A few more rolling suns at most,
Shall land me safe on Heaven’s coast.
There I shall sing the song of grace,
To Jesus Christ, my hiding place!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, February 7, 2011
Can You Say It?
At the end of the day, can you honestly say that you won today?
Can you do whatever you're planning to do with no regrets?
Is the way that you are spending your time something you would want to be doing when Jesus comes back?
More than anything else, I want to be able to say at the end of this day, that I won today.
Can I say that after today?
Can you say that you won today?
Can you say it?
Can you do whatever you're planning to do with no regrets?
Is the way that you are spending your time something you would want to be doing when Jesus comes back?
More than anything else, I want to be able to say at the end of this day, that I won today.
Can I say that after today?
Can you say that you won today?
Can you say it?
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Win Today
I have had this simple thought in my head all day.
The idea is simply this: the goal should be to win today.
The goal is to win the next minute of my life, then the next, then the next.
Too often I get caught up in the big picture. I want to do "big things." I want to "change the world." Those big dreams are great, but if we never take steps to get there we will never arrive. Lots of people have big goals and dreams, but there is a reason that so few people never reach them; it takes a LOT of work to reach big goals. It takes many steps to get to the top of the mountain.
So today God is teaching me to take small steps. To not look back down the mountain at where I've been, or look up and wonder what peril awaits me, but to simply keep my eyes fixed straight ahead and conquor the next step.
Cause after all, if I keep taking small successful steps, I will reach the top in due time. If I take care of today, tomorrow will take care of itself.
It's all about winning today. Winning and redeeming this moment of time that I can never get back to the fullest extent possible.
Come on, let's go win this moment. Let's redeem the time. Let's go win this day. Let's win, TODAY.
The idea is simply this: the goal should be to win today.
The goal is to win the next minute of my life, then the next, then the next.
Too often I get caught up in the big picture. I want to do "big things." I want to "change the world." Those big dreams are great, but if we never take steps to get there we will never arrive. Lots of people have big goals and dreams, but there is a reason that so few people never reach them; it takes a LOT of work to reach big goals. It takes many steps to get to the top of the mountain.
So today God is teaching me to take small steps. To not look back down the mountain at where I've been, or look up and wonder what peril awaits me, but to simply keep my eyes fixed straight ahead and conquor the next step.
Cause after all, if I keep taking small successful steps, I will reach the top in due time. If I take care of today, tomorrow will take care of itself.
It's all about winning today. Winning and redeeming this moment of time that I can never get back to the fullest extent possible.
Come on, let's go win this moment. Let's redeem the time. Let's go win this day. Let's win, TODAY.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)