September 27, 2018

Check Your Motives

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. – James 3:16

She talks tough. Curse words dot most sentences. Her laughter is a little too loud. She shoves her arrogance in your face. She’s hard as nails.

In her way of thinking, she’s got to put everyone else down in order to look good. Her co-workers despise her. You never know when she’ll lob the next zinger. The air around her is tense, poised for battle.

She is jealous of everyone. Selfish ambition fills her. She refuses to be a part of the team. She’s too focused on herself. She’s too busy “winning” the day to realize she’s losing the battle.

Do you know someone like her? You probably do. There always seems to be one like her to dirty up any environment. Her “wisdom” says it’s all about her and she doesn’t care who she hurts or what she destroys on her mission.

Maybe you’ve even been her before. Maybe you know what it’s like to win no matter the cost. Maybe you’ve felt the emptiness that comes after the triumphant win. Maybe you’ve gone around and around on that roller coaster, trying desperately to figure out why success doesn’t seem to mean as much as it used to mean.

One of those viral videos just came to mind. It was of a young man with cystic fibrosis scoring a touchdown, as both teams ran with and cheered him on. Don’t miss that. Both teams. I have no idea who won the game. Who cares? Because, really, they both won when they united to help a young man achieve a dream.

It’s amazing what can happen when we work together, isn’t it? It’s amazing what can happen when we think of someone else first, isn’t it? Then why does the world tell us it’s all about us?

Satan wants us to believe that. We get so caught up that we forget we’re in a spiritual battle every single day. It’s real, folks. Satan dangles the world before us and we snatch it, the allure seemingly more than we can withstand. He tells us what we deserve. He makes false promises and we believe him every time.

The only way to withstand the onslaught is with the strength of Jesus. The only way to know the truth is to seek His wisdom. Read His Word. Pray. Listen to the Holy Spirit. James also tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from you. But are you willing to resist?

Jealousy and selfish ambition will destroy every relationship you ever have, whether it’s work, family or friendship. Whenever you start demanding your “rights” or what you think you “deserve,” step back and do a heart check. None of us deserve God’s grace. None of us have the right to claim what ultimately belongs to Him.

And none of us have the right to put others down, to spread lies, to cause trouble for others in a worthless attempt to look better and, thus, feel better about ourselves. It’s just wrong. And it doesn’t work. It doesn’t. Because people always see the truth and you end up destroying yourself.

There are two types of wisdom: that wisdom that comes from the world and that wisdom that comes from God. Make sure you know which you’re following before you end up down a path you never planned to go.

September 25, 2018

Are You Wise?

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom. – James 3:13

Are you wise? How do you know? Do you make good choices? Are you sure? There’s a difference about being wise in the world’s eyes and being wise in the eyes of Jesus.

Think about the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus didn’t teach a lot about common sense, did He? The rich are poor. Those who are persecuted are blessed. Those who mourn, are poor in spirit and are meek will all be blessed. Doesn’t sound too much like what the world would consider “wise” teaching, does it?

The world says it’s all about us. It doesn’t matter who we hurt. So what if someone else pays the price for our selfish ambition? Who cares about the cost so long as we get what we want?

Here’s what James says about this earthly wisdom:

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. – James 3:14:16

Ouch. We may convince ourselves that our motives are pure but God sees right through to our heart. The saddest thing is that the more we tell ourselves the lies, the more we believe it. Eventually we convince ourselves that we were right and that is dangerous. Something our pastor noted the other day.

So, what is good wisdom. Well, James talked about that too.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. – James 3:17

Let’s use a few words from my pastor. A wise person has no hypocrisy in him. No partiality. A wise person is willing to yield to what the Spirit says. A wise person is filled with mercy for others. A wise person reveals good “fruit” in his life. A wise person is peaceful.

That sure doesn’t sound like someone who would be respected these days, does it? Where’s the part about success and money and upbeat sermons? Where’s the part about more for me and less for everyone else? Where’s the prosperity talk? I don’t want to do for those who can’t do anything for me. Let them do for themselves. Isn’t that what we’re all supposed to do?

Uh, no. It’s not about us. It’s about Jesus. We as His church must model something different that the world. We must be content. We must be merciful and loving and kind.

Church has become a recreational activity we participate in when we’ve got nothing else to do. It’s an option. Except when we make God an option, we have denied Him. We have denied His Presence in our lives. We have chosen the world over Him.

Wisdom comes to those who ask. But when you ask, you must obey. Are you asking? Are you obeying? You can’t live as part of the world without denying Jesus. You have a choice to make. Will you choose Him?

August 24, 2018

The Choice is Yours

Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God.”

– Jeremiah 42:6

I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the LORD your God in all he sent me to tell you. – Jeremiah 42:21

We tell ourselves and others that we’ll do whatever it is God calls us to do. We mean it. Sort of. We’ll gladly step out in faith on a journey of our choosing. But when God calls us to a place we’d rather not go, well, thanks but no thanks.

Faith isn’t for wimps, that’s for sure! God rarely calls us to go someplace nice and safe. He doesn’t usually ask us to do something that is so routine we can do it without even trying. God is all about growth and change and bringing us closer to the imagine of His Son. He can’t do that when our feet are stuck in the sameness of today.

We like our routines, don’t we? We like our days to go smoothly. If we crave excitement, it’s of our choosing. We love vacations, maybe a game or motorcycle ride. We want to be in control. We want to do what we want to do when we want to do it.

But God knows we’d never grow without change. How can unchallenged faith ever grow deep roots? How can we learn compassion if we never experience heartache? How can we learn to trust Him when we only stay where we can take care of ourselves?

It was a bad time for God’s people. They had disobeyed and God had allowed Babylon to take most of them. There was a remnant left. They sought out Jeremiah, the prophet who’d warned them about God’s anger. This was the same prophet they’d imprisoned, the same prophet they’d ignored.

This time they were determined to heed whatever God told Jeremiah. They promised. Until Jeremiah told them what God said. They had a choice. They could do as God commanded and remain where they were or they could head toward what they saw as safety in Egypt. They chose Egypt – and death.

We make choices every day as to whether we will follow God or our own wisdom. For example: You feel the Holy Spirit telling you to leave your secure job and move to another. You think about it. You pray about it. But you just can’t trust God enough to take that leap. Several months later your company downsizes and you’re laid off. If you’d followed the Holy Spirit’s promptings, you’d still have a good job. It’s a missed opportunity and heartache you needlessly suffer because of your disobedience.

Maybe it’s something totally different. You’re hanging out with people who sometimes skirt God’s laws. They gossip. Maybe they go out drinking every now and then, then leave the restaurant a little bit tipsy. Maybe they fudge on their expense reports. Maybe they flirt with strangers even though they’re married. Maybe they tell little “white” lies. Nothing big. None of it is big. You are confident you won’t become like them. You’re confident you’ll stay righteous. Until the day you don’t.

We have an uncanny ability to become like the people we hang around with. While we may want to be a positive influence on them, oftentimes it doesn’t work that way. The gossip is too juicy. The crowd is too influential. Before we know it, we’ve become one of them.

It’s not like God didn’t warn us. We just didn’t want to listen. We head down a path toward a place we never expected to go. We’ve pulled away from God. We want Him – but we also want to be part of this world. We can’t have both. Trying to walk that line of obedience when surrounded by the pull of sin, well, we’re bound to fall.

God’s people had to make a choice: follow God or follow their own wisdom. They chose what they believed was the “safe” choice and paid for it with their lives. In a very real sense, we do the same thing when we do what we know we shouldn’t do, hang out with people who are bad influences or we stay where we are when we know God is calling us to something different.

Every day you have a choice to follow God or the world. Choose wisely.

June 30, 2018

What Would Happen?

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

– Mark 10:51-52

Who would we be if we truly saw Jesus for who He is? What would we do if we truly saw Him?

We spend most of our lives being led by our own common sense and the world’s opinion of what we should do and who we should be. We not only deny Jesus but we deny the person He has called us to be.

We’re just so practical, you know? We don’t see a way so we assume a way doesn’t exist. We walk by faith – but only as far as we can see. We believe in miracles – for other people. We have great faith – but not when it means going where we are uncomfortable.

The sad truth is that we don’t want to cause ripples. And we certainly don’t want to ignite a storm. We just want to get along, to lead a good life, to be successful in the eyes of the world. If we want to be known, it’s for worldly achievements.

Sure, we want to go to heaven one day. Just not today. And we don’t really want to sacrifice anything to get there. We don’t want people to dislike us because we choose to follow Jesus rather than man. We want to do life on our own terms.

We know exactly what that looks like. We stay busy telling people how to live for Jesus. We insist that we know what is right. Yes, our biblical views benefit us. But, well, that’s just how it is. We’re not backing down. No compromise for us. We’re a hard-hearted bunch. All in the name of Jesus, of course.

But what would happen if we stepped back for a moment. Imagine yourself back in the days when Jesus was teaching and preaching and healing on this earth. Look down at your dusty feet. Feel yourself jostled in the crowd. Move close enough to hear His words. Do you still believe?

We’d like to think we would be one of those who gave up everything to follow our Savior. We want to believe that we would have given our very lives for the One who came to save us all. But the truth isn’t so pretty. Would we be like Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends, who denied Him three times rather than risk his own life? Or would we be like the Pharisees who “knew” so much but were really so focused on their own opinions and power that they missed the Messiah?

The blind man’s faith was simple and direct. He knew Jesus could heal him. There was nothing fancy going on. No rituals. No prayer circles. No debates. Just one man with great faith and a Savior who saw him and heard the cry of his heart.

Why do we need it to be so much more than that? Why do we need signs and plans and the support of all those around us? What keeps us from hearing His voice and walking toward Him with great faith? What would happen in our lives if we stopped looking around us and focused directly on Jesus? What would happen if great faith directed our steps?

Open your eyes. See our Savior. Start walking toward Him. It really is that simple.

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.

March 18, 2018

Are You Following Jesus or the World?

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. – James 4:8

We love the world. Oh, we may complain about things, get upset with those who disagree with us, and lament the violence, but we love it just the same. We just want to take all the good and shove aside all the bad.

It doesn’t work that way. We get a strong dose of both on a regular basis. Why? Because so much of what we term “good” really isn’t. We just can’t help ourselves. We want it all anyway. And that, my friend, frequently leads us to the bad.

Think about the movies you like to watch. How many of them have violence or sex or bad language? You watch them anyway because they’re entertaining. In fact, you’ve probably watched so many of them that you’ve become numb to what you’re actually seeing and hearing.

Have you ever padded your expensive account because “everyone does it”? Have you ever helped yourself to extra supplies from your workplace because the company “has plenty?” Have you ever bad mouthed a co-worker or played “politics” to discredit a rival on your path to a promotion? It’s all sin. That everyone else might be doing it doesn’t lessen the sin.

Do you ever make excuses for your failure to tithe? There’s just not enough money to go around. You don’t approve of all the ways the church spends the money. You aren’t certain that charities really do all they claim to do. You make excuses and keep it for yourself, neglecting to give first to God even though you know that’s what the Bible tell you to do.

We all like our lifestyles, don’t we? We work hard and deserve to be rewarded for it. We look down on people who have less than we do, assuming they don’t work hard enough, aren’t smart enough, or have secrets in their closet that have caused them to have less than we do. We loudly judge what we don’t know in a vain effort to justify how wrong our lifestyles really are.

It’s not that God doesn’t want good things for us. He does. Sometimes the blessings He extends are material things. More times those blessings come when we loosen our grip on stuff and extend a helping hand to His people. We are to love and share and be an active part in building people up, in helping the less fortunate. We choose to ignore the true call of His Spirit to focus on the desires of our flesh.

The slow shift toward the world and away from God rarely comes in a swift decline. Rather it comes from the small choices we make each day. Every time we compromise we step a little closer to accepting sin as “normal” in our own lives. Every time we point our judgmental finger, we are looking more like a Pharisee and less like the Jesus we claim to love.

We have a choice. We can pull back from the world or we can go toward it. We can be the light, solitary though the flame may be at times, or we can join the crowd. The choice belongs to you. What’s it going to be?

January 6, 2018

Does Your Life Reflect Light?

"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16

We like to think of ourselves as the light of the world. We pat ourselves on the back when we hold the door for someone, encourage someone, put an offering in the plate at church. Yes. That’s us. The light of the world.

But how do we hide our light? Oh, we don’t want to think about that part. We don’t want to consider how we might dim the light of Jesus by our words or actions. Except how can we ever change if we don’t look at ourselves from a realistic place?

Sometimes we hide our light by remaining quiet when we should speak. Just as we should measure our words carefully, speaking truth with kindness and compassion, so should we speak even when it might be uncomfortable. So often we’re so busy getting along that we blend in rather than stand out.

This doesn’t mean we should fight God’s battles. That’s a different thing. It simply means that when we see wrong, we should speak up.

That goes right along with the crowd. We don’t want to be different. We want to fit in. We want others to want to be around us, to include us. Except we are different. We aren’t meant to fit in. And sometimes the best way to shine your light is to step away from a crowd that isn’t following Jesus.

We also hide our light when we deny it. Oh, you would never do that! Are you sure? How many times have you taken credit for something that came from God? Yeah. Ego and pride don’t mix well with God. You have to choose. Do you choose Him?

In the same way, we sometimes let sin extinguish our light. People are watching all the time, just waiting for the Jesus follower to mess up. And we don’t disappoint them. We are quick to get angry at the other driver, we excuse dishonesty on our taxes because “everyone does it,” we laugh heartedly at the off-color joke. We watch television shows, listen to music and play games that we know aren’t things that go along with the teachings of Jesus.

We also dim our light when we don’t tell others about the wonderful gift of Jesus. We don’t talk about our faith. We don’t invite people to church. We’re so busy trying not to “offend” anyone that we don’t share the most important gift we’ve ever received.

And we ignore the very real troubles of others. We throw out promises to pray but do we? We know we should help but we’re just too busy. We have loads of excuses – frequently blaming the very person we should help. We always should ask Jesus to guide us. People see Him through our actions, not by hearing empty words.

Does your life point people to the light of Jesus? Think about it.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Do You Have Religion Or Faith?

You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can’t be a friend of God. -- James 4:4

Who is Jesus to you? Don’t give me the Bible answer. Tell me who He is to you and what He means in your everyday life. Do you call Him friend? Brother? Savior? Is your relationship with Him up close and personal or is He just some famous person you read about and hear about every now and then?

Think about your answer before you give it because the answer is important. It’s the difference between having religion and having faith. Reading about someone and hearing about them doesn’t mean you have a relationship with them. Seriously. Relationship is face to face, friend to friend, person to Savior. It makes all the difference.

The thing is many of us truly think we’re believers. Maybe we are. But we’re so busy keeping one foot in the world that we don’t realize the other foot is on a very slippery slope. Falling away from God rarely happens in just one moment with just one action. It’s a slow slide to a place we never intended to go.

The hard truth is that we can’t serve God and be part of the world. We can’t. Yeah. We live in the world, but we can’t be part of it. We are separate. Set aside by God for His purposes. The world that embraces Satan doesn’t serve God. The two simply can’t mix.

We are so sure of ourselves, confident that we won’t slide. That we can make it work. We don’t see that the choices we make each day lead us away from the God we love.

Before you decide I don’t know what I’m talking about, think about your own actions. Have you ever watched a movie and thought, just for a moment, that maybe it had a little too much profanity or a little too much sexual content or was a little too violent? Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t something one of God’s children should be watching and, by that action, encouraging supporting financially.

Or maybe you prefer music about cheating spouses. Or books about illicit sex or murderous rampages. Maybe you enjoy hanging out in a bar just to hear the music. Or you have lunch with colleagues who spend their hour gossiping about everyone they know.

Choices. We make them each and every day. Do your choices reflect your relationship with Jesus? Are you living your life as though He’s your very best friend and He’s standing right beside you? Or are you living your life claiming to serve Him but unwilling to give up the charms of this world?

It’s the difference between religion and faith. Talking the talk or walking the walk, as the cliché goes. You decide. Because, really, you can’t do both.