Effort

This morning I was reading the fourth chapter of Paul's letter to the Colossians and I stumbled across this verse.  I know I've read it before, but it was new and fresh to me today so I thought I'd share:

"Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God." (vs. 12)

That word...struggling...it hung me up a bit.  After a little research on Bible Gateway (my favorite online Bible resource, by the way), I found what other translations put in place of 'struggling'.


Wrestling...
Laboring...
Tireless...


I don't know about you but those words all imply work to me.  Effort.  Intentionality, even.  So then, I started thinking.  When is the last time I prayed and it felt like work?  I don't mean that I prayed begrudgingly.  I mean, when is the last time that I prayed so hard and so fervently that an observer would say I was "struggling on your behalf in his prayers"?


I honestly don't know.  Saying that out loud sounds so terrible to me.  It makes me ashamed.  It makes me embarrassed.  But it's true.


And so, yet again, Paul smacks me around a bit.  I hope every time I read the Word I come away sore with the work out it's given me, my pride chipped away more and more, yet stronger in my faith and with something tangible to apply in my life as a result.


Here's the take away - I'm making it a point to pray.  More specifically, to pray hard.  To struggle, to wrestle, to labor, to tirelessly pour out my heart to the Father of Life who hears our prayers and answers our cries as we lift up our praise, thanks, confessions, and requests to Him.  And I'm praying for you, the reader, that you will continue to see the Lord for who He is in your life and continue to seek after Him - the only One who can give peace and direction and purpose to your life.


I would love to know if you have anything specific you would like me to pray for and I will gladly pray for your requests.  Leave me a comment.


Oh, and will you join with me in praying?

Exams

At the school where I teach, this week is exam week.  It's that special time during the school year that only comes around once every 9 weeks. The students are all restless with anticipation and (just to show how excited they are) they all spend weeks preparing for them - studying all the notes that they've so painstakingly written, pouring over practice problems that they've made up in their spare time to help with the preparation, and even forming impromptu study groups in the cafeteria while they munch on healthy food choices.


Who am I kidding?  Do you really think that my students eagerly anticipate taking their exams?  No way!  I feel lucky if they even remember that they have an exam, much less study for it adequately enough to perform well.  I mean, I have literally heard a kid walk into class and say out loud, "We have an exam in here?"


So this morning, as I was thinking about the day ahead of me and all that it entailed, I remembered something that I tell my kids all the time - but especially when a big test or exam is coming up:  Don't wait until the last minute to study!


Now, why do I say that?  I say it because when they wait until the last minute all kinds of bad things can happen.  They could find that they've lost their notes and have nothing to study.  Or they could not remember how to work a problem (even though we've worked it in class together many times).  Maybe they get themselves confused on a concept and then don't have time to come ask for help.  Ultimately (and we all know this because we've been there a time or two), bad things usually happen when we wait until the last minute to get it done.  And what is the end result of waiting to cram the night before a test or exam?  Failure.


I know it's terrible to think about those kids failing a test or exam, but we do it to ourselves as well, don't we?  What do you do when you're tempted to sin?  Where do you go for guidance in resisting the devil?  To Whom do you turn when you've given in and feel overcome with guilt?  You see, why is it that I can shake my head in disappointment at my kids who all wait until the last minute to study for their test, yet I do the same exact thing in my own life?


Why do we wait until we are in the middle of temptation to pray and consult God's Word?  Why do we wait until temptation has nearly overtaken us to go running to the Father for help in our time of need?  Just like waiting until the night before the exam, if you don't take the time to prepare for the test well in advance of it, you will fail.


I think that very same phrase from earlier can apply to us as well.  Don't wait until the last minute to study.  Here's what the Bible has to say about it:

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."        Psalm 119:11

God knows us just like I know my students.  He knows we end up waiting until the very last minute to ask for help, but that's the most difficult time to remember that he has made a way out of our temptation.  When we are caught in the midst of temptation, it seems the last thing we think of is asking God for help.  But what happens if we've been storing His Word away in our hearts the whole time?  It just flows out, naturally, from frequency of use, and then the temptation becomes easier to run away from.  Jesus modeled it for us himself.  What did He do when faced with the temptation of the devil?  He quoted scripture.  What should we do when faced with temptation?  Quote scripture.


Of course, that means we have to have it hidden in our hearts in the first place.


Just a reminder for us all today - don't wait until the last minute to study.
  

Fearless

Have you ever heard a story, maybe on the news or the radio, about someone in another country who is being persecuted for their faith?  Maybe you read that book "Jesus Freak" by DC Talk that tells stories about followers of Christ being imprisoned, tortured, even killed for their preaching of the gospel?


What is your reaction to stories like that?


I'll tell you mine.  I say, "Aw.  Man.  That is terrible.  I wish there was something I could do.  I will definitely pray for them."  Sound familiar?


Compare my response with that of Paul's contemporaries:

"And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." Phil. 1:14

Wow. Here I am listening to a story about someone who has given up their life for the sake of the gospel and I respond with "I'll pray for them."  Don't get me wrong, prayer is great.  It's amazing.  It's wonderful.  It should be a part of every response that I have to every situation. The convicting part of this verse for me is that while I settle and let prayer be good enough, the believers in the early church didn't stop there.  They saw how Paul was imprisoned and it only made them more bold!  It only made them preach more!


Where did we go wrong?  What happened to us?  Why are we not out there shouting the name of Christ from the rooftops because we can't do anything else in response to the persecution of believers around the globe?  Why are we not telling our friends and family, who we say we love, about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for their sins?


Is it because, just maybe, we've become comfortable?  Have we gotten into our little routines of going to work, taking kids to games, studying for class, going to church, etc. and completely forgotten about our true calling in life?  Have we become complacent in our comfort?


Or is it a belief issue?  Do we really believe what we say we believe?  Do we really believe that Jesus Christ saves us from our sins and makes our lives new?  Do we really believe that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Him?


I suppose my take away today is urgency.  I want to have a heart and mind that is just as burdened for the lost as Paul was, just as urgent about sharing the good news as his brothers in Christ were upon seeing Paul in prison.  I want to be fearless.


What about you?

Radical

So I recently finished the book "Radical" by David Platt and let me just say to those of you who haven't read it - Go.  Now.  Don't delay.  Read it.  Did I mention now??


There's a catch, though.  A big one.


If you want to keep living your church-going, song-singing, comfortable-living, status-quo, "keeping up with the Jonses" lifestyle...well...this book is not for you.


BUT...


If you want to have your world completely rocked, if you want to be haunted by the message that it speaks to your heart, and if you want to radically change your life for the glory of God and the furthering of His kingdom then this book IS for you.


I can't put into words all of the thoughts that are going through my mind and heart about this book.  Specifically, I'm convicted that I am much more concerned with the things of this world than the things of God and - let me be honest here - that is NOT the picture God has for my life (or yours for that matter).  I spend way more time and money on food and books than caring for the widows and the orphans of this world.  And guess what?  There is not a single verse in the Bible that says it's okay for me to worry about the next book I buy or the next meal I eat.  However, James 1:27 makes it crystal clear as to what I should be concerned about:

"Religion that our God and Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

I don't know about you, but that doesn't leave much room for interpretation.  In fact, it seems to be exactly opposite of what I just described that my own priorities are looking like.  Go look at your own checkbook - what are you spending your time and money on?  Does your list of priorities seem just as backwards as my own?  Are you living a life that is "polluted by the world?"


And that's just one point that Platt brings up throughout the book.


Here's the long and short of it:  This is not meant to be a book review.  This is meant to be a challenge.  Go read the book.  More importantly, go read the book and come away changed, altered, distressed and disturbed.  The point is not for Platt to get the recognition for writing a good book and saying all of these things that are convicting and unsettling.  The point is that we should be convicted.  We should be unsettled.  We should be reminded of and called back to our first love - Jesus Christ - and we should align our lives with what Jesus actually said for our lives to look like, not what we're pretending Christianity is all about.


If you spent more time reading this than you have your Bible all week, there's an issue.
If you spent more time on facebook than sharing the gospel all week, there's an issue.


I'm not perfect and I certainly have just as much to work on as you do, probably more.  The reason I write all of this is not to make you feel bad and put myself up on a high horse casting judgment and condemnation down on everyone else.  The reason I write all of this is because I want more.  I want more than just the mundane drudgery of going to work and bringing home a paycheck and spending money and dying with nothing to show for it but a bunch of stuff!  I want to spend my energy giving it all away - my time, my money, my life - for the glory of God the Father.  It's what we were made to do anyway!


Who cares if people think we're weird because we do things differently than they do?  That's what people need to see.  It's radical to follow Jesus.  Normal to Him is entirely backwards to the rest of the world.


So be radical.


I dare you.

Molded

Thursday for my quiet time I was reading in Hebrews and there was a particular verse that stuck out to me.  Honestly, I didn't even know why it did at first.  I've been mulling it over for the past day or two just trying to make sense of it in my heart and let God show me what He was trying to show me through that verse.  Here it is:

"For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering."  Hebrews 2:10

I ended up leaving for work quite a bit early (because of meeting with the guys that I meet with on Thursday mornings), and I sat for about an hour and read through a sermon on this exact verse that was preached in 1826 (or so) by Charles Haddon Spurgeon.  Enlightening to say the least.  Spurgeon spoke about the fact that it was not Christ who was made perfect through suffering (because He already was) but the sacrifice itself that was made perfect.  Here's the thing - I don't really understand how all of that works.  But I know this:  If Jesus was making a sacrifice that was perfected through suffering, then it only makes sense that suffering in our lives has some purpose (whether we can see it or not) and that this suffering is molding us more and more into the image of Christ.


C.S. Lewis said in his book The Problem of Pain, "Tribulations cannot cease until God either sees us remade or sees that our remaking is now hopeless."  I tend to agree with Mr. Lewis, especially after this reading of Hebrews 2.


So, I think God is reminding me that pain hurts.  A lot.  But that ultimately His purposes are served through that pain and He's using it to make me more like Him.


I think He's also showing me that if I find myself in situations where I'm not being challenged to be more like Christ, then I need to run away as hard and fast as humanly possible.


And so I ask myself (and you) - Am I being molded into the image of Christ?  Is God perhaps using the pain I may feel at times to draw me more into Him and His will for my life?  Is God showing me something that I need to run hard and fast away from?


Lord, help me to humbly face the answers to these questions and give me the strength to change my life accordingly.

Forsaken

The past couple of weeks have been a blur, to say the least.  However, I've had this thought brewing in my mind the whole time.  It started one morning (I think) while I was driving to school: "What does it look like to completely forsake the world?"

I think what shocked me most about the line of thinking that followed was that I wasn't even thinking "spiritual" thoughts when it came to me.  Literally, driving down the road, it just popped in my head - out of the blue, you might say.  After the initial shock of such a thought I began to try to wrap my head around this idea.  What does it look like to forsake the world?  It's an uncomfortable conversation for me to have with myself because there are so many things in this world that I love, so many things that I devote myself to doing, so many things that I give time and effort and money and attention and...and...and...you get my drift?

For me, thinking about forsaking the world means giving up a lot of things.  It means my passions become different.  It means my priorities change.

It certainly didn't help the process when our pastor spoke at Wednesday night service.  He referenced this verse:

"For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation."  Galatians 6:15

You see, his point was the same that I'd been pondering for more than a week.  It's the same point that Paul is making in his letter to the church in Galatia.  It's the same point that we all as Christ followers should be asking ourselves on a daily basis - when all is said and done, is your life being made every day into a new creation in Christ?  Are the things that you pursue of this world or of Christ?  Or are you trying to compromise and do both - pursue the world and Christ?

You can see why Wednesday was so effective in my heart.  It served to confirm these thoughts that have been floating around in my head, it helped to solidify things and make them more clear.


Our church calls Wednesday night service 'Renewal', and for me it was that and so much more.  For me it was confirmation of the calling on my life.  It was affirming and encouraging to be reminded of what God's been doing in my heart and where He's been molding different areas of my life to change me more into His image.


And it was also convicting as I began to think about the things that I pursue in life that are not what I should be pursuing.  In my own life, it's books, movies, approval and a host of other things.  What is it in your life?  Football?  Maintaining an image?  Clothes?  Popularity?  Being religious?  Regardless of what your pursuits are, the question is not what are you and I pursuing.  The question is what are we doing to change the things that we pursue in life?  What are we doing to seek more after Christ?  What are we doing to forsake the world?


This question's been on my mind ever since our pastor asked it Wednesday night.  He said he wanted to haunt us with this question, and I'd say he did a good job of it (at least with me):

"What is your life marked by?"

Hummingbirds

This weekend Beth and I went with a group of leaders in our church to do some planning for the college small groups that are starting in the next few weeks.  I got up early on Saturday morning, well before everyone else, because I enjoy that time alone.  For me, it's a chance to sit quietly and read my Bible, drink a cup of coffee, and truly rest in the Lord.  Even if I'm really tired I find myself energized by that, prepared to face whatever the day has in store.

So, I went outside with my Bible and journal to enjoy the cool of the morning while I read, and just as I had gotten settled into the rocking chair and reading from Psalm 100 I heard a buzzing noise.  I looked up and nothing was there, so I dismissed it.  The second time I heard the noise I ignored it for a moment, but when it persisted I looked up and there was a hummingbird, getting nectar from a feeder nearby.  It kept doing this interesting thing, though.  It would get some nectar, then back up and look at me, then get some nectar, back up and look at me - definitely an interesting experience being stared down by a hummingbird...

Anyway, as a result, two thoughts occurred as I watched this tiny little bird feeding and watching and feeding again.

The first was of the song by Tenth Avenue North called "Love is Here."  The lyrics say, "Come to the water you who thirst and you'll thirst no more."  I was reminded that just as this hummingbird needed that water for life, so also do I need the living water that Jesus offers in John 4:

"Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

I love the picture of that bird coming for water, needing that water to sustain life, and the reminder that Christ offers us all water that's better than any we could ever find on earth - pure enough to quench our thirst for eternity.

The second thought was of the scene in C.S. Lewis' The Silver Chair where Jill meets Aslan for the first time, posted here in its entirety because I could never do justice describing it.  The main gist is that Aslan (the symbolic Christ-figure in the Narnia series) offers Jill water and she is concerned about the danger of drinking the water in the presence of the largest, wildest, most dangerous looking Lion she's ever seen.  As I watched the hummingbird, who needed and wanted the life-giving nectar, it also kept an eye out for me, the very large human who could destroy its life in an instant.

More fitting than the scene in The Silver Chair, though, the hummingbird really reminded me of 1 Peter 5:8, which says:

"Be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

Peter is telling us to be watchful because just like I could have jumped up to harm the hummingbird, so also is the devil prowling around looking for any way that he can possibly destroy us.  I find it quite easy in my own life to remember that Jesus is the living water, but all too often I let my guard down and don't keep an eye out for the schemes of the devil.  He's crafty and cunning, and if I let up watching for just one minute, he steps right past my defenses and starts wreaking havoc in my life.

I'm taking the hummingbird as an example of what I want to emulate - while I continually come to the Lord as my source of life, I also want to keep watch so that I don't get caught in the snares of the devil.

And I'm praying the same thing for you.

Good Measure

Sometimes I sit down to write, having been inspired by a passage I read in the Word that day or that week, and I've found that a lot of what I write about hits on topics that have been convicting or challenging me - and that makes sense to me because I know how sinful I am and how much I mess up on a daily basis.  It makes sense to me that God would convict me over and over about things - I can be just that dense a lot of the time.


The other day, though, I was sitting on the couch (I think) and these thoughts started to overwhelm me.  It all stemmed from a verse that I've known and read many times over the years:

"...for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control."  2 Timothy 1:7

I love that verse because it reminds me of the true spirit that God puts inside each of us.  He makes us powerful and loving and self controlled through His strength and movement in our lives - and I love that!


Anyway, this verse made me start thinking about how this school year is different that the last few.  This school year I have a different attitude.  I know things are stressful sometimes and I know I'll be frustrated over the course of the year, but God didn't put the spirit of fear inside of me and He doesn't want me shying away from the work that He's going to do.  Rather, He started to remind me further of promises found in scripture.  John 10:10 - 

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

 And Luke 6:38 - 

"...give, and it will be given to you.  Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.  For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."

I love these promises and it was so encouraging to have God remind me of these particular passages in His Word.  It's a beautiful thing to serve a God Who gives life abundantly and Who fills our lives up with good measure.  God has called us to live lives that are full and abundant and running over with good measure, not spent shaking in fear.  He blesses us way more than we could ever deserve and He calls us to live lives that glorify Him as a result.


So I challenge you (and myself) to live out this year abundantly in Christ.  Don't miss out on opportunities because you're afraid of what might happen.  And don't forget that ultimately we're glorifying the God of the nations who blessed us in the first place.

Strive

I hear a lot of people talk about the American Dream or life goals or their calling in life.  Especially when they don't have clear direction - then they start to talk about feeling lost and unsure of the future.  If they're a Christian, then I hear phrases like, "I don't know where God is leading me" or "I'm trying to figure out God's will for my life."  I hear it a lot - probably because I say those kind of things so much myself.


But, I was convicted this morning reading through Luke chapter 13.  Verse 24 really stood out to me:

"Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able."

That word "strive" really gets me in the gut.  Jesus didn't say "Hope to enter through the narrow door" or "Think about going through the narrow door."  Jesus said strive.  That's a word that implies effort.  The definition is "exert oneself vigorously, try hard."  Don't get me wrong, I don't think Jesus is telling us to work to earn our salvation.  That's not the intention here at all.


Jesus is saying this phrase and He's convicting me so much this morning about not being lazy.  About not having a laissez faire approach to life - and to my walk with Christ, specifically.  Instead of waiting for God to "reveal His will" to me or complaining that I don't know what my calling is in life, He's pointing out that He's already told me His will for my life.  He tells me in His Word to, "Seek first the kingdom of God."


Just because I'm saved and I know I'm going to heaven doesn't mean that my work stops there.  I still have a call on my life to lead others to Christ.  I still have a mission in life to bring glory to the Father.  Do I have to do anything to earn my salvation?  No.  But I still have tasks here on earth that God has called me to do and will continue to call me to do until I go home to heaven.  Jesus is just reminding me of that this morning.


So the challenge for myself as I go on to the rest of my day, and the challenge for you as well, is to strive.  Seek out ways to advance God's kingdom.  Look for ways to glorify Him.  You may not know specifically what school you're supposed to go to or what state you're supposed to live in.  You may be unsure about who to marry or what job to have.  BUT - if we're seeking after God, if we're striving for the narrow door - do any of those details really matter?  Don't we serve a God who is bigger than that?  Trust Him.  He's bigger than any of the details and He's infinitely more capable of handling them.

A Reminder

I just need someone to remind me of basic truth every once in a while.  Have you ever been there?  That's this morning for me.


I got up this morning to run and after I got home and cleaned up a bit, I sat down to read today's Bible passage from the L3 Journal, which was Luke 4, and what really hit home with me seemed so basic...and yet so necessary.


But then I started thinking about it.  I knew I wanted to write about what I had read and share that truth, but it seemed too simple.  What I had learned seemed like it wasn't good enough or spiritual enough.  I started to go back and re-read the passage, maybe find something 'deeper' to write about, but God grabbed hold of my attention and pointed something out to me.


Sometimes I see what the pastors at church blog about or what other 'spiritual giants' in my life comment on when they read the same passage I read and I get a little twinge of...I don't know...jealousy maybe?  It just seems like they got so much more out of what they were reading than I did - but like I said, today God just grabbed hold of me - I make things too complicated sometimes.  I look too hard and miss the most obvious things.  This morning is a bit of a convicting reminder for me to rest in the joy of reading scripture, to be open to God telling me what He's going to tell me, and that's it!


I almost skipped over that last couple of paragraphs to write about what I got out of Luke 4 today - that Jesus was tempted, that temptation is always something God provides a way out of, that being filled with the Spirit is a guaranteed way to escape temptation.  Those are all necessary truths for me to be reminded of today in my own walk with the Lord.  But that's for me.  It's what God chose to reveal to me today.


I would encourage you to seek the same thing.  What is God revealing to you today?  Compared to anything I could ever say, what God has to say to you is going to be far more relevant, more convicting, more valuable.  Genuinely seek God's face today and He'll show Himself to you more clearly than anything you've ever seen.