May 3, 2018

What Does Faith Like?

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. – 1 John 2:15-17

It’s possible to talk about loving God without actually loving God. That was the message from the guest pastor at our church. Who can argue with that truth? Surely, we all know someone who says all the right things and then lives his life in all the wrong ways?

And that person is never us. Ever. We love God. We love Jesus. We love the Holy Spirit. Just ask us. We’re good people doing the best we can. Just ask us.

Here’s a basic truth: God has not called us to the American dream. He has called us to do greater works than Jesus did on this earth. Jesus called us to go about the Father’s business. The Father’s business is not the great American dream.

Someone right now is throwing out the words of Jeremiah. Yes, God has good plans for us. Yes, God wants to give us hope and see us prosper. But what, exactly, does that look like?

For many Christians that looks like a big house and new cars. It looks like a nice vacation every year and dinners out at least once a week. It looks like dance lessons and Little League and all the things our children enjoy. It’s that new phone, that boat, that remodeled kitchen.

But does any of that look like our Father’s business? If we’re honest the answer is no. It’s not that God doesn’t want us to have all those things and many, many more. It’s just that those things should never be our priority. And those things, those activities, should never keep us from doing the things and investing in the things God has called us to do.

Ouch.

Satan tells us we deserve everything our hearts desire. He entices us to want more and more, better and better. When is enough really enough? We’re never satisfied because we are seeking to fill ourselves up with stuff rather than the purposes of God.

We think we know what service means. We count the seats that are filled in our sanctuaries rather than by the lives changed through discipleship. We measure our worth by our budgets rather that the lives touched through outreach. Are we fruitful people? Do we really know what that means?

Lives that are devoted to loving God and serving people as Jesus did look different than lives cruising through with barely a glance at His truth. We can say all the right things but do our lives really reflect the faith we claim? Are people changed for having known us, for watching how we live? Or are we just one more example of excess in a world full of hypocrites?

God knows your heart. He knows mine too. What does He see inside? Think about it.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Things Will Never Fill Us Up

Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

-- Matthew 4:8-10

What are you craving right now? Are you lusting after a giant piece of chocolate cake? Do you want a new car? Or maybe those designer boots you saw online? Maybe more than anything else you’d like two tickets to a major college football game?

Whatever it is that you want, you’re just following that American dream. It’s what we’re programmed for at birth. To want bigger and better. To have more than we’ve ever dreamed of having and certainly more than we could possibly ever use. It’s no wonder that the storage building business is booming.

Pastor Danny recently told us about the worship chip each of us have inside our bodies. God created us with something akin to a homing devise so that we’ll always be seeking Him. The thing is, only God can fill us up inside. But that doesn’t stop us from trying every other way we can to make it happen.

That desperate attempt to satisfy the worship chip leads to two awful conditions: Affluenza and Credititus. Those two conditions frequently go together. Either is enough to send us into a downward financial spiral from which we might not recover.

It all goes back to that American dream and what society tells us we have to have to be happy. It’s isn’t enough to have a nice house in a safe neighborhood. We’ve got to want a better house in an affluent neighborhood. We’ve got to have a new car even when the old one runs just fine. We’ve got to go on a fabulous vacation when a trip to the beach a short drive away would be just as enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the only way to afford all that stuff that society tells us we have to have leads to using credit cards again and again. We don’t think too much about it. Pulling out a piece of plastic just doesn’t have the same impact as paying with cash. It lets us forget, at least for a little while, that we’re digging a hole for ourselves and for our future.

Satan tempted Jesus, promising Him everything the world offered. And Jesus said no. Jesus understood that no amount of things could ever replace God when it comes to filling us up inside.

It is possible to just say no. It is possible to walk away. To be content with what you have. To give a little more to those in need. To spend more time with Jesus and less with the world and its ridiculous demands. To fill yourself up with God’s love and know that you are complete right where you are.