Foundations

In chapter 3 of The Slumber of Christianity *author Ted Dekker takes a break from his autobiography to examine some the the patterns that could be seen in his quest for happiness. One of the issues that come to light is the fact that he used emotion to navigate through life.

“Thinking back to my search for happiness in the jungles of Indonesia, I now see that I was simply following the instincts placed in me by God. As a child and through my adolescent years, I navigated my way through life using my basic emotions as a compass. I wanted to belong, to be happy, to feel needed, to feel nurtured. Don’t we all?

“Unfortunately, happiness, as a raw emotion, has been disparaged in many religious circles today. Many well-meaning people no longer seek happiness at all, but I say it’s inhuman not to. We were created for happiness, and whether we admit it or not, we are governed by it.” (p. 32)

While I understand what Dekker is saying, I don’t know if I can agree with him. I agree that happiness is important and we should find pleasure in this life. Yet there comes a problem if we are governed by happiness. Being governed by happiness can take us just as far off course as being legalistic can. There is a big difference between finding pleasure in this life and making happiness the purpose of life.

Many people make happiness the goal in there lives to the determent of their lives.

“A simple examination of mankind reveals that we humans spend most of our time doing things that we believe will either immediately or ultimately give us happiness.

“This is why we go to school and brush our teeth and get married and look for better jobs. It’s why we have children and buy cars and spend large amounts of money on foods that please our palates instead of just shoving the necessary nutrients down our gullets.

“These pleasures, as I will call them, do give us a measure of happiness. They are God’s gift to enjoy now, for a very specific reason. We were created to search and find these pleasures suggested Solomon.” (p. 33)

Here is the problem I have with what Dekker seem to be saying: pursuing happiness can lead us far away from God. I agree that God has given us pleasures to enjoy and discover in this life, but we have to be careful not to let those pleasures to dull our desire for God.

It is this desire for happiness and satisfaction that drives us to ask some very important questions. If we take to time to ponder these questions and bring us to God. Questions such as:

“Why do so many of my relationships struggle?
“Why do I feel worse about my body with each passing year?
“Why is my job so empty?
“Why am I such a failure?” (p. 33)

The person who is following Christ has a real dilemma because we are told that being a Christian is supposed to give us joy and peace and fellowship. We look at our lives and wonder where the abundant life we were promised is.

What makes the difference in experiencing a life full of joy and a life full of disappointment? Hope. This one emotion has the power to take us to the mountain top, even in the midst of great disappointment all around us. On the other hand hopelessness can take us into the pit, even while experiencing great success.

“Hope and hopelessness impact our sense of well-being, even when we encounter them in tiny portions. Encouragement and discouragement, a sense of success or failure, our drive to get out of bed in the morning—all are guided by hope or hopelessness.” (p. 35)

With hope we can endure a great amount of disappointment and tragedy in our lives. It is what keeps the prisoner of war going during the dark hours. It is what keeps the cancer patient in treatment. Hope is crucial to life.

“Hope is the primary force that drives human beings from hour to hour. Hope for a simple pleasure, a hug, a kiss, a juicy rib eye cooked to perfection. A new red Corvette, a beautiful home, a long vacation in Europe. The renewed health of an ill child or aging mother. These are among the many hopes that motivate our daily lives. Everything we do is driven by hope or hopelessness in one from or another.” (p. 35)

I think it is easy to understand why hope plays such an important part in our enjoyment of life. Let’s face it if we didn’t have hope, if we were hopeless, then we would wonder if life was even worth living. Hope makes all the difference.

“And it is most critical that we begin to see our hope as the single most influential element in achieving happiness. There are other elements that affect our happiness—what is happening in the present moment, for example. But the present is fleeting in a way the future is not, and so it doesn’t hold the same power as hope for the future.” (p. 36)

According to Dekker it is hopelessness that prevents us from enjoying life the way God intended.

“If there is one universal symptom of hopelessness or depression it is sleep. A slumber could easily be defined as a separation from reality that provides sweet, sweet relief from hopelessness...Without exception, hopelessness will call its host to slumber. I might have called this book The Hopelessness of Christianity because, as we will see, hopelessness is the reason for the slumber of Christianity.” (pp. 36-7)

I think all Christians can understand how the promises of Christianity haven’t seemed to be real in our lives. We wonder if we can really ever experience the abundant life of following Jesus. The point Dekker is making is that too many Christians having given up of ever having the abundant life and have settled for something far less. I don’t know about you, but I have been there.

“If you no longer feel or have never felt that desperate desire to feast at your Creator’s table when you die, I would say it’s because you are in a slumber. Your life is bound to be frustrated. Great pleasure and happiness will always evade you.” (p. 40)

What Dekker is correctly pointing out is that there is a correlation between our hope for Heaven and our enjoyment of life. If our hope is just to find happiness now we will be disappointed. True happiness and satisfaction is the result of a hope for heaven.

“Yet in Christendom, we hardly know what hope mean any longer. In the end there is faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. Yes, but both faith and love spring from a hope of heaven, according to Paul (Col. 1:5). Without hope, our faith is dashed and our love is empty.” (p. 42)

I want to leave you with this question: Where is your hope? The answer goes a along way in determining our joy and satisfaction with life.

* Dekker, Ted; The Slumber of Christianity: Awaking a Passion for Heaven on Earth; Nelson Books, Nashville, TN; 2005

Find the other chapters:
Chapter 1: The Death of our Dreams
Chapter 2: The Search for Pleasure
Chapter 4: Give Me Pleasure or Give Me Death
Chapter 5: The Slippery Slope to Slumber
Chapter 6: In Living We Die; In Dying We Live
Chapter 7: Created to Obsess
Chapter 8: The Eyes of the Heart part 1
Chapter 8: The Eyes of the Heart part 2

Trust God's Power

I do not trust God's power the way I should. Sure, I talk about God creating the universe and doing all these other cool miracles, but when it comes to my life I don't trust Him. Rather than facing life with confidence, I often ignore what is happening and hide from reality.

If Christians truly lived lives of faith then the world we live in would be totally different. Too many of us are willing to talk about what we believe, and want everyone to believe the same we do, but we are unwilling to live a life which will make that happen. We do not sacrifice our comfortable lifestyles in order to support missionaries and charities helping people discover God's love. We don't give up time to help our neighbors or visit people in the hospital. While we might believe the right things about God we don't trust His power or promises.

The Gospel, the Good News of God's Love and Forgiveness, is spread by people of faith. That means more than people who believe certain things about God, but people who trust God. Faith is not simple believe. Faith is trust and action coming together.

Acts 3 and 4 tells a tremendous story of faith. Peter and John go to the Temple to preach Jesus. Here are two disciples of Jesus going into the very heart of Judaism to preach about the salvation found in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Certainly they were aware of that this was dangerous and that the Jewish Leaders wouldn't like to hear about Jesus, just as they didn't like Jesus. Still they went to preach.

They caused a commotion by healing a cripple of 40 years, and as a big crowd gathers, so do the guards. Peter and John are arrested and spend the night in prison. The next day they get their day and court, and this is what the council members noted of the pair after questioning them:

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men who had no special training. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13; NLT).

Here is the point I want to make: Faith is the product of being with Jesus, not through education. Peter and John spent three years learning from Jesus during the time He was on earth; we are unable to have that type of experience. Though we may not have the same experience Peter and John enjoyed we can still be with Jesus. Don't limit spending time with Jesus to just time spent in Bible Study and Prayer, for it is so much more than that. We are with Jesus when we begin to live the life He wants us to do. The little steps we take give us confidence to take bigger steps because we experience God at work in our lives.

You want your faith to grow? You want to be like Peter and John? I know I do. What that means is that we have to start experiencing Jesus in our lives by doing what He has asked us to do, and as we gain confidence from doing small things we begin to take on bigger and bigger challenges. Faith begins by hearing the Gospel, but it is grown through living the Gospel.

• Point to Ponder: Faith is the product of being with Jesus, not through education.
• Passage to Remember: Acts 4:13
• Question to Consider: How can we spend time with Jesus today?

Struggling Through Life

It is no secret that life is hard. Even when we are following Jesus and doing God’s will life doesn’t get any easier. There is a part of us, even though it has never been promised, that expects things to be easy if we are doing what is right. We want to be validated and reassured that we are doing the right thing.

Though it would seem to me that if we are truly doing God’s will then things would be difficult. Why? Because the enemy is opposed to God. If we are making progress in overcoming sin in our lives, if we are in a relationship God wants us to be a part of, if we are part of a ministry making a difference in the community, or if we are standing up for what is right we shouldn’t be surprised if things are not easy. In fact, I might even suggest that if things are easy it might be time to evaluate what we are doing.

True we can’t evaluate things solely on the basis of whether things are going well or not. Sometimes things will go well even though it is God’s will and sometimes things will be a struggle even though it goes against God’s law. All I want to do is point out that struggling isn’t a bad thing. When God’s will is a struggle this gives us an opportunity to grow and will help us appreciate what God has for us on the other side of the struggle.

In the midst of the struggle we need to remember what Jesus said to the church in Smyrna:

9 "‘I know your suffering, your poverty—though you are rich—and the slander on the part of those who claim to be Jews but aren't. They are the synagogue of Satan. 10 Don't be afraid of what you are going to suffer. Look! The devil is going to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested. For ten days you will undergo suffering. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the victor's crown of life.

11 ‘Let the person who has an ear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be hurt by the second death.’" (Revelation 2:9-11; ISV)

Jesus tells this group of Christ Followers not to give up in the face of persecution. “Hang in there,” He says, “this won’t last forever.” Our struggle may not be persecution, but it maybe that circumstances haven’t turned out the way we expected. Reality isn’t anything like our dreams and we wonder if we are in the right place. Should we have faith or should we give up?

I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules for such situations, but let me offer you a few thoughts. First, is your struggle tied to right and faithful living? If it is then we are doing what God wants us to do. When our desire is to honor God, encourage people, help others, and grow in our knowledge and faith then there are a lot of places we can go and things we can do and remain in God’s will. These are certainly things that Satan would oppose, so if you are being faithful and loving God and people and things are a struggle stay faithful. You can be confident that you are in the right place.

Second, let go of your dreams. I think God allows us to struggle sometimes because our dreams need to be changed. We are missing out on the life God wants us to live because we are clinging too tightly to the dreams we have for our lives. Even good dreams need to be let go in order to experience God’s best. This is an act of faith because we have come to believe that only in these dreams will we discover happiness, so we are relying totally on God to bring joy into our lives.

A last thought I would offer is to get the opinion of different Christians. These could be people you are close with or not, but they need to be people you respect and who live faithful lives. While we need to evaluate what they say, more than likely they will help us see things from a new perspective. Too often we get so close to the situation that we fail to see the entire picture. The perspective of other Christians can help us see things more clearly.

Life is tough. Just because life is tough doesn’t mean that we are not doing God’s will. Often the struggle is an indication that we are doing what God wants us to do and we are being opposed by the Enemy. We need to stay faithful and in the end we will experience the life God created us to live.

• Point to Ponder: Struggling isn’t a bad thing.
• Passage to Remember: Revelation 2:9-11
• Question to Consider: Are you ready to give up on your struggle? Why?

The Search for Pleasure

Chapter 2 of The Slumber of Christianity* Ted Dekker begins to tell the story of his personal journey to discover happiness. While each person’s journey is their own there are always similarities to our own journey that allow us to identify with each other.

“My story. My own quest to understand King Solomon’s claim that there is nothing better to do in this life than find happiness and satisfaction (Eccl. 3:12). My own quest for bliss an subsequent descent into a slumber that deadened my life for many years. Perhaps if we examine my slumber, we can better understand the nature of this odd condition that has lulled so many Christians into darkness.” (p. 16)

In this autobiographical chapter we see that Dekker’s experience is very similar to many children who grow up in a Christian home. Though there are two things that added difficulty to his search. First, the fact that he didn’t have a home. His dad was from Holland and his mom from Montana. Through they became Canadians to help with international travel. Which was necessary because his parents decided to be missionaries. He spent some of his formative years in a boarding school, with with his siblings, but with minimal contact with his parents.

This leads into the second and that is a search for where he is to belong. The foreigner on the mission field and the weird mission kid on furlough in the United States. It is tough enough to try to fit in when you don’t have to deal with the impression that you are an outsider.

This quest to be accepted and find his place in the world resulted in his asking three questions of himself.

“I can’t say that my particular kind of not-belonging was any different from yours, or from millions of others’—it was just more pervasive than most. So began my lifelong quest to discover happiness. Later I would characterize that quest with three questions:

1. Who am I?
2. Where do I belong?
3. Am I happy? (p. 18)

I think these questions define very well our search for significance, satisfaction, and happiness. There answers are what motivate us to do many of the things that we do. Dekker’s journey looks like many of ours as it goes through hobbies, girls, and discovering our abilities. Through it all he was able to give the impression that he was happy and that he had it all together.

“There I was, the product of twenty-some-odd years of searching for happiness, and I hadn’t yet found it. At least none that last more than a short time. Everyone thought of me as a happy person, I think. But deep down, where none of them could see, I was lost. (p. 31)

What are some events that have shaped your quest for happiness, satisfaction, and significance? Are you disappointed with your life? Do you put on a happy face, but underneath wonder what the point of it all is? Just some question to ponder as we follow Dekker on this journey of awaking our desire for heaven.

* Dekker, Ted; The Slumber of Christianity: Awaking a Passion for Heaven on Earth; Nelson Books, Nashville, TN; 2005

Find the other chapters:
Chapter 1: The Death of our Dreams
Chapter 3: Foundations
Chapter 4: Give Me Pleasure or Give Me Death
Chapter 5: The Slippery Slope to Slumber
Chapter 6: In Living We Die; In Dying We Live
Chapter 7: Created to Obsess
Chapter 8: The Eyes of the Heart part 1
Chapter 8: The Eyes of the Heart part 2

Monetary Policy

The United States is on the brink of tough financial times because of poor monetary policy. The one candidate that understands this better than all the others is Ron Paul. To get back on the right track we need to listen to what he is saying.

"But these actions, directed by the Federal Reserve, alter the purchasing power of our money. And that purchasing power is always reduced. The dollar today is worth only four cents compared to the dollar in 1913, when the Federal Reserve started. This has profound consequences for our economy and our political stability. All paper currencies are vulnerable to collapse, and history is replete with examples of great suffering caused by such collapses, especially to a nation's poor and middle class. This leads to political turmoil." ~ Ron Paul

Read what Dr. Paul has to say about monetary policy.

The Death of Our Dreams

Ted Dekker, the author of many Christians novels, has written a book entitled The Slumber of Christianity.* The premise of this non-fiction book is that followers of Christ have become preoccupied with finding happiness and pleasure here on earth rather than in the age to come and in the process the happiness and pleasure of right now lose their significance. For me this is a thought that resonates within my heart. Life never seems to turn out the way it is supposed and even when it does there seems to be something missing.

Aren’t you looking for meaning and satisfaction in your life or have you allowed those desires to go to sleep? I know I am. Dekker writes:

“Perhaps you know this slumber; perhaps you don’t. Either way, any living soul who is even remotely concerned with enjoying life this side of death needs to know about a terrible shortsightedness that has lulled Christians by the millions into a deep sleep.” (p.4)

That we have settled for a life that is disappointing is a bad enough, but the fact that our lives are no different than the rest of the world is absolutely tragic. Where is the hope that is supposed set us apart for everyone else?

“You’ll get more and more sighs and nods at suggestions that Christians aren’t really so different from non-Christians, certainly not on the scale you would expect considering the promises of love, joy, and peace boldly pronounces from thousands of pulpits across the land. We spend our money on the same kinds of entertainment, we buy the same kinds of foods and clothes, and we spend as much time searching for purpose.” (p.9)

It is no wonder that the Church is losing influence in the West. If we can’t be different than those people around us and if the hope we are to have in Jesus isn’t evident in our lives then why should we expect people to be interested in following Jesus? If we can’t find what we are looking for then other people will assume they won’t be able to find it either.

We have been told to have more faith, to sin less, and to seek after God. So we throw ourselves into the “spiritual” disciplines that we have and the results have been less than impressive.

“Most Christians have followed this mantra in spurts, yet they invariably end up dissatisfied with the results. Their marriages still fail. Their jobs are still downsized. Their cars still break down. Their health still wanes. And they still can’t seem to find enough faith to ignore their general predicament in life or embrace the great happiness they once had as naive children.” (pp. 9, 10)

Somehow we seem to have forgotten one of the great truths the Bible teaches: We can’t find satisfaction in this life. When we make find happiness and pleasure in this life our goal we will fail.

“The fact is, nothing in this life can satisfy unless it is fully bathed in an obsession for eternity. Nothing. Not a purpose-driven life, not a grand adventure, not the love of a dashing prince or the hand of a beautiful maiden.” (p. 11)

It is not that these things are not worth while or incapable of delivering us moments of happiness and pleasure, but when they are taken out of the context of our hope for heaven and seeing Jesus, then they will not satisfy us. They were never designed to satisfy us to begin with.

“Yet, stripped of a preoccupation with heaven, this life and all its pleasures will continue to disappoint you, because life really isn’t about purpose or adventure in your allotted time on earth. It’s more about the purpose and adventure of eternity. You will find great happiness for this life only when you lose yourself to the climax of the next life.” (p. 13)

In the context of hope our pleasures and dreams we have right now take on greater significance. They become a foretaste of what awaits us in glory.

“This hope in no way minimizes the work of Christ on the cross to deliver us from the bondage of sin now, while we run the race. But we will experience our final escape from sin only in that final day of ecstasy. In the meantime, our access to that day of bliss is found through the pleasures of God and in particular through a portal called hope.

“It is critical that we begin to understand our great slumber and awaken to reclaim our incredible and enviable inheritance. It is time we begin to hope, really hope, for the incomparable riches that await us.” (p. 14)

I hope that you will join me on this journey as I read through this book and discover Ted Dekker’s thoughts about how we can awaken a desire for heaven here on earth. **

* Dekker, Ted; The Slumber of Christianity: Awaking a Passion for Heaven on Earth; Nelson Books, Nashville, TN; 2005

** I have not read this book. I am in the process of reading it. So I don’t know if it will be any good or if it will offering any new insights, but since I do so much reading I thought I would try to combine two of my passions. Let me know what you think.

Find the other chapters:
Chapter 2: The Search for Pleasure
Chapter 3: Foundations
Chapter 4: Give Me Pleasure or Give Me Death
Chapter 5: The Slippery Slope to Slumber
Chapter 6: In Living We Die; In Dying We Live
Chapter 7: Created to Obsess
Chapter 8: The Eyes of the Heart part 1
Chapter 8: The Eyes of the Heart part 2

Seek God

Loving Like Family

One of the many blessings I have in my life is my family. I have great parents who sacrificed their time and money to raise me and in the process taught me about Jesus. They have continued to help me along the way as I have moved away and been on my own. My older brother and younger sister have been there for me when life didn’t seem to turn out the way I would like it to. The people they married have become part of the family, people I can talk to and count on. My nephews and nieces provide me with joy and love I couldn’t find anywhere else. To be part of a loving family is to know that we are accepted no matter what happens.

One of the tragedies that have happened in the Western Christianity is the rise of the individual. There is no doubt that we are to make a personal decision to love God and to have a personal commitment to Him. No one else can provide us with the faith to follow Jesus the way we are supposed to. We are personally responsible for our own faith.

The problem is that often we focus solely on our “relationship” with God, while ignoring the people around us. As a result we feel frustrated in our “relationship” with God and seek out different ways to “connect” to Him. I believe the thing we need most to grow in our faith and commitment to God is all around us, but ignored. Relationships with other Christians are what we need to grow in our own relationship with God. We need a group of people who make us feel loved and accepted, just as a good family loves and accepts the people who are part of that family.

Let‚’s face reality. These family like relationships are difficult difficult to have. One reason they are difficult is because you are vulnerable in a relationship like that. Your heart is open and laid bare and people may not respond to your openness they way you would like them to. The pain of rejection is increased when you put yourself out there and others just walk away.

Not only are our chances of being hurt increased when we seek to be part of an intimate relationship, but it also means we have to deal with other peoples’ hurts and problems. It means opening our lives up to the messiness of their lives. These relationships will demand our time and our love. They will be work.

But it is only by being part of the family of God that we really do begin to draw close to Him.

18 Little children, we must stop loving in word and in tongue, but instead love in action and in truth. 19 And this is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be able to establish our hearts in his presence.

20 If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God. 22 Whatever we request we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The person who keeps his commandments abides in God, and God abides in him. This is how we can be sure that he remains in us: he has given us his Spirit (1 John 3:18-24; ISV).

It is not enough to simply say we love other people, but we need to show it in our actions. Through our love we begin to develop real and personal relationships with other people. We encourage each other and push one another to pursue living a faithful life. The result of having fellowship with each other is God’s promise to live in fellowship with us. The key to having fellowship with God is not some spiritual discipline, but having fellowship with other Christians. Having a group of Christians who love and accept us like family spurs us into a deeper fellowship with God.

• Point to Ponder: Only by being part of the family of God that we really do begin to draw close to Him.
• Passage to Remember: 1 John 3:18-24
• Question to Consider: How are your relationships with other Believers?

Jesus is the Truth

Each one of us is on a quest to discover truth. Some people pursue truth more actively than others, but everyone wants to make sense of life. I think the majority of people try to ignore the quest by immersing themselves in jobs, hobbies, and entertainment, but God doesn’t allow us to always ignore the truth and there will come a time when we are forced to ask the great questions of life: Why am I here? Is there more to life? Is there a God? Does life exist after death? What is truth? The inquisitiveness of our spirits will take us on a quest to discover answers.

The great problem we have in this pursuit is that we are looking for the wrong thing. We are looking for data, facts, or knowledge. We want to have a list to reproduce for others or simple sound bytes that neatly answer the questions that we have. That is not what truth is. Truth isn’t found in facts and data, but truth is a person. Consider what Erwin McManus wrote in Soul Cravings:

“The less you trust in someone, the less likely you are to commit. The more you trust someone, the easier it is to commit you life to that one.

“This is one reason why the approach of Jesus resonates so powerfully with my soul. Jesus didn’t come advocating a better idea. While history is filled with great teachers, being the best of them was never Jesus’ goal or ambition. He never said to his disciples, ‘This is the truth. Follow it.’ Instead, he said something far more compelling. Jesus’ claim was nothing less than ‘I am the truth.’

“Jesus moves truth from impersonal to personal.

“He moved it from rational to relational. He was telling his disciples the truth isn’t an answer; it is a person. You don’t come to know the truth as a result of an academic pursuit. You might discover an endless number of things that are true along the way, but that is not the truth your soul is craving. No matter how many true things you come to know, they will never leave you satisfied until you find your way to the One who is the very source of truth.

“Jesus didn’t come to show us a better way or point us to a better life, but instead invites us to know him as the One who is the way, the truth, and the life. If all God wanted was to make sure that we knew the truth, Jesus didn’t have to come. It would have been more than enough to carve commandments from stone or to have scribes pen the pages of the Scriptures. But as sacred as I might hold the Law of Moses or the words of the prophets or the writings of the apostles, they are simply not enough. It’s simply not enough to know what is true. We need far more than that.

“We need to know the One who is true. Jesus walked among us not so that he could get to know us but so that we could come to know him. God himself stepped into human history so that we would know that he is not only the source of truth, but that he is utterly and completely trustworthy.” (Meaning; Entry 17:You’ve Gotta Know Who to Trust)

There is no short supply of people willing to tell us the truth. What I have discovered is that what we accept as true depends a lot on how we interpret the evidence, data, or facts that are put in front of us. The books and teachers that we accept us being logical and truthful are those people whom will support the way we look at the world. There is no such thing as true objectivity. Everyone of us will evaluate evidence and facts based on our world view. Not even science, which depends on interpretation of evidence, is totally objective. A totally academic search for truth will lead us to conflicting truth claims (based on people's interpretation of evidence), and in the end we discover that we are no better off than when we started. "Truth" becomes whatever fits our opinion about the world the best.

Here is what I have discovered on this journey to know truth: the more I have followed Jesus the more life has made sense. Most of the universe, God included, remains a mystery to me. If you asked me to explain how salvation works I couldn’t do it. I realize there is no good explanation for the Trinity. There are things I read in the Bible I just don’t understand. So if our search of truth is about finding answers and facts I would have to admit that my quest has been a failure. I think now I have more questions than answers.

On the other hand I have never had a better understanding of the world that we live in or a greater hope for the entire creation as I do right now. As I have placed my trust in Jesus I have come to see myself and the world differently. I have a greater appreciation for who God is and what He has done. While I don’t have the answers I do know the Truth and how that Truth should affect my life. Truth isn’t found in answers, but Truth is found in a person, and His name is Jesus Christ.

When we make our quest for truth purely intellectual we miss out on experiencing the truth in our lives. I personally believe that many people miss out on experiencing the truth because they are not willing to follow Jesus. They may be willing to go to church, read the Bible, pray, and even lead a moral life. They are not willing to sacrifice, to make changes, to step out of their comfort zone, and to live in mystery. So while they might believe in God for a while, they don’t really have faith. If God came to them, like He did to Abraham, and told them to leave their home to go to a land where He would show them, they would respond, “Where are you taking me?” They wouldn’t go because God wouldn’t answer their question. They have no true trust in God. The more we live by faith the more faith we will have. Our trust in God grows through the experience of living faithful lives.

If you are having doubts about Jesus and Christianity my suggestion to you is not to look for answers in books, but to step out in faith. Be honest with God, tell Him you are not sure if He exists, but that you are willing to take a step of trust. Then do that thing you are struggling with God about. Give a little extra to some charity or church. Start to struggle with a sin you have come to accept in your life. Be friendly to that annoying guy at work. For two weeks pray about it and do your best to do it and see what happens. You may not get your answer, but I am willing to bet you will know God better and realize that He can be trusted. The truth we need in life is only found in Jesus. As we follow Him we are given the truth that we need to live.

• Point to Ponder: Truth isn’t found in answers, but Truth is a person, and His name is Jesus Christ.
• Passage to Remember: John 14:6
• Question to Consider: What is God asking you to do that requires you to trust Him?

Becoming Authentic

Supposedly one of the things our postmodern culture values is authenticity.* They want people you are sincere and tell it like it is. They distrust the establishment and anyone they perceive may have lied to them or deceived them in some way.

This may be a characteristic of postmodern culture, but I think it describes all of us as well. None of us like to be deceived or lied to. It will be next to impossible for us to give our trust to a person or organization after they have taken advantage of us. We want to trust people, but once that trust is broken if is hard for us to give it away again.

I believe that is one reason the Bible is so against hypocrites. It is hard for a person to put their trust in God after a self-proclaimed God follower has deceived or hurt them. Please understand this: what we accept as true is a reflection of our trust in the source. Why would a person accept the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness found in Jesus when we are gossips and grudge holders? If our lives aren’t changed by the message of Jesus then other people will not believe the message, no matter how will we might present it.

In order to communicate the truth of Jesus Christ we need to do more than just claim to be a Christian, we must truly show we are following Jesus in with the way we live. How we live is the most crucial evidence we can offer for truthfulness of the Gospel. Remember what the apostle Peter wrote: 15 Instead, exalt Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you to explain the hope you have (1 Peter 3:15; ISV). When Jesus is Lord in our hearts the way we live will be different, and that compel people to ask us why. To live like Jesus in this world will make us stand apart from everyone else.

How do we begin to live like Jesus? In Romans 12:1-2 the apostle Paul gives us four tools to help us live a life of faith.

1 I therefore urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercies, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to God, for this is the reasonable way for you to worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but continually be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may be able to determine what God's will is—what is proper, pleasing, and perfect. (ISV)

The first tool Paul gives us is remember (I therefore urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercies,). We need to reflect on the love God has for us. God hasn’t left us for dead, but instead He has done everything in His power to help us discover the life He created us to live. This is one reason that the Bible plays such a crucial part in our maturing as followers of Jesus. The Bible helps us remember what God has done through history to bring us to salvation, to give us new life, and to give us the hope of heaven. While the Bible can help us understand what God is doing through history I think it is also important for us to have an idea of what God is doing through our lives. We need to reflect on the question: How has God worked through my life? Understanding what God has done to provide us with a new life should provide us with motivation to change the way we live.

The second tool Paul gives us is our requirement (to offer your bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to God, for this is the reasonable way for you to worship.). In order to live holy lives it is important that we understand what is required of us. Paul here uses the illustration that we are to be living sacrifices to God. In the Old Testament a sacrifice that was offered to God was to be without blemish and from the best portion of their flock or harvest. It was given to God and it came at great cost to the worshipper. How does this apply to our lives? We need to recognize that the life of faith is going to come at great cost to us. It isn’t going to be easy. We also need to remember that we are giving ourselves to God’s purposes. Life is no longer about our agendas, but what God wants us to do. In other words our lives are to be totally devoted to what God is doing. In other words the requirement of a faithful life is that we give our lives to God. We are now His.

The third tool that Paul gives us is reformation (Do not be conformed to this world, but continually be transformed by the renewing of your minds). We are not transformed or reformed by our own efforts. As we surrender our lives to God He will transform us. This transformation is a heart and mind transformation and is seen in the change or our desires and thoughts. The more we surrender to God the more we are changed in the inside. But for this reformation to really make a difference we have to use it to change the way we live. Reformation is God’s way of directing us to the things He wants us to do. If God transforms our hearts and minds and we do not follow up by changing our lives then we will ultimately not be changed. We will return to the old way of thinking and being directed by the old passions. When we respond to God’s reformation in our hearts then we will discover that the way we lives begins to change as will.

The last tool Paul provides is the reason (so that you may be able to determine what God's will is—what is proper, pleasing, and perfect.). The reason we are to live faithful lives is that we can understand better and better what God’s will is. When we understand what God’s will is then we understand the proper way to live, how we can please God, and what it means to be perfect. Understanding God’s will helps us to become authentic. Our lives will match, more often than not, what we say we believe. We will be the people God wants us to be.

To be effective in communicating God’s word we must be authentic. People will trust us, and thus come to see the truth of the Gospel, when they see that we live what we say we believe. Truth we believe always comes from a source we can trust. Are you source people can trust?

• Point to Ponder: How we live is the most crucial evidence we can offer for truthfulness of the Gospel
• Passage to Remember: Romans 12:1-2
• Question to Consider: Are you a source of truth that people can trust?

*Though it is my opinion that too much is made about postmodernism, if it even exists.

Give It Your All

We all have regrets in life. There are things we have done that we wished we wouldn’t have done. On the other hand there are things that we didn’t do that we wish we would have given a shot. For me one of my greatest regrets in life is the fact that I didn’t play football in high school. I love football, but when I had the opportunity to play I didn’t take it.

The reason I didn’t play football in high school is because I ran cross country. Entering high school as a freshman it is what I was expected to do. My eighth grade year I had won all but one of the mile races that I ran, and so when our school decided to add cross country there was an expectation in the small community I lived in that cross country is what I would do.

I didn’t mind cross country my freshman year, mainly because my coach that year was very good and he expected a lot out of me. My fastest times in cross country came my freshman year. The following years I had a couple of different coaches who didn’t push me as hard as Coach Clayberg had done my freshman year. I began to hate cross country. During the meets my goal was to finish, I wasn’t out to win. As a result my cross country career is not very productive.

My track career in high school is a different story. I loved track, and even though my coaches didn’t always push us, I would do extra running after practice. As a result I was able to run at the Iowa State Track meet. The difference was in my attitude. While during cross country I was just putting in my time, during track I was seeking to be successful, I was running to win.

I believe we have the same problem in our lives that I had with cross country. We have become satisfied with just getting by, looking to finish, rather than living to win. In other words we are looking at the minimum we can do and still consider ourselves a Christian rather than really committing our lives to following Jesus.

Jesus does not want us to live lives that are just enough to get by. He doesn’t want us to be like everyone else. Jesus wants us to stand out from the crowd. Remember He called us to be lights of the world. You can’t be a light in the dark if you don’t stand out. Remember this: we are not really following Jesus if we are just doing the minimum. Christianity is more than “going to church” and place a couple of bills in the offering plate. Christianity is about a total life transformation. That is how we live to win as Christians.

When I talk about living out lives to win I don’t mean that we have to be perfect or even the best. If that were the case than we all would be in trouble. None of us can be the best at everything, and none of us will be perfect at everything we do.

To live to win simply means to give our best. This is what God wants from us. If all we ever do is just enough to get by then we will miss out on all that God has for us. If all we ever do is just what we are comfortable with, then we will not know what it is like to live out our potential.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians to remind them to give their best.

24 You know that in a race all the runners run but only one wins the prize, don't you? You must run in such a way that you may be victorious. 25 Everyone who enters an athletic contest practices self-control in everything. They do it to win a wreath that dies, but we to win one that never dies. 26 That is the way I run, with a clear goal in mind. That is the way I box, not like someone punching the air. 27 No, I keep on beating my body and making it my slave so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; ISV)

We are to run to win. We are to give our best effort. Paul gives us two disciplines we need in order to give our best effort:

1. We need to have purpose. Paul says that he runs to the goal with purpose. We need a direction to go in and reason for going there. God gives us this purpose, to have a relationship with Him. When we give our best, we experience God like we have never experienced Him before.
2. We need to train. An athlete trains to prepare his/her body for the challenge of competition. In the same way we need to train our bodies to prepare them for the struggles and trials we will face. To live as a Christian is not easy, so we need to be prepared to defend our beliefs, to say no to temptation, and to stand tall when bad times come.

Running to win is what God wants us to do. An athlete seeking victory will give his/her best effort. They will have purpose in the playing and training to prepare them. If we are going to live according to God’s standard we need to give our best effort, having a purpose in our lives and training to prepares us for what lies ahead. Let’s quit being satisfied with just finishing and start to run to win, to stand out. Let us run for Jesus.

• Point to Ponder: We are not really following Jesus if we are just doing the minimum.
• Passage to Remember: 1 Corinthians 9:25-27
• Question to Consider: What sort of effort are you giving to follow Jesus?

Cal Thomas on Ron Paul

MIKE HUCKABEE ALSO SOUNDS LIKE A BIG GOVERNMENT REPUBLICAN. THE ONLY ONE BEHAVING LIKE A REAL REPUBLICAN IS RON PAUL, WHO ACTUALLY WANTS TO CUT SPENDING AND GET GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR LIVES. HE WON’T WIN THE NOMINATION BECAUSE TOO MANY REPUBLICANS ARE INTO HANDOUTS AND REDISTRIBUTION, JUST LIKE DEMOCRATS. ~ Cal Thomas; January 17th 2008 Commentary

To me Ron Paul is the only conservative running for president. Sure the other Republican candidates hold to some ideals of conservatism but they all lack the total package. I realize that Ron Paul won't get the nomination, but it is time that we started to remember exactly what are conservative ideals.

The Reality of Truth

In our search for truth we it is important that we recognize that most of the “truth” we hold as true is our interpretation of the data that we have received. I am not saying that absolute truth doesn’t exist but I am saying that truth isn’t as objective as we sometimes would like it to be. We realize that two people looking at the exact same data can come to two different conclusions. The reason is that we filter all this data through the filter of our experience and our emotions.

This is what Erwin McManus wrote in his book Soul Cravings:

In other words, for something to make sense to us, it cannot remain outside of us. We do not simply study information and then come to a conclusion; we absorb it and come to a personal interpretation of what is real.

I was listening to a lecture in which the speaker referred to studies in neuroscience that describe the process from which the human brain gathers and holds information. He explained that when the human brain absorbs information, that information is one part data and six parts emotion. Now that’s a fascinating thought--that everything we remember is wrapped around everything we experience. When you reflect on this, it makes perfect sense (Meaning; Entry #12: It’s All in How You Look At It).*

This is why, for many people, their relationships with the fathers affect their view of God. It can also account for people who leave the Way after some personal tragedy in their lives, their view of God and the Church becomes colored by their experience.

So what should this tell us? Faithful living and love are two important factors in conveying truth. Hard data is good and it is great that we have men and women involved in disciplines like apologetics and theology. These things are needed so we can have the information we need, but the way we live and the way we treat others provides the experience needed (for ourselves and others) to make that information truth in our lives.

Read what the apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

17 Therefore, I tell you and insist on in the Lord not to live any longer like the Gentiles live, thinking worthless thoughts. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19 Since they have lost all sense of shame, they have abandoned themselves to sensuality and practice every kind of sexual perversion without restraint. 20 However, that is not the way you came to know Christ. 21 Surely you have listened to him and have been taught by him, since truth is in Jesus. 22 Regarding your former way of life, you were taught to strip off your old man, which is being ruined by its deceptive desires, 23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new man, which was created according to the likeness of God in righteousness and true holiness. 25 Therefore, stripping off falsehood, “let each of us speak the truth to his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. 26 “Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity to work. 28 The thief must no longer steal but must work hard and do what is good with his own hands, so that he might have something to give to the needy. 29 Let no filthy talk come out of your mouths, but only what is good for building up as the need may be. This way you will give grace to those who hear you. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, quarreling, and slander be put away from you, along with all hatred. 32 And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another just as God has forgiven you in Christ. (Ephesians 4:17-32; ISV)

Surrounding the command to “speak the truth” are commands to live obedient lives and to love people. It isn’t the lack of empirical evidence that comes between people and faith in Jesus, but it is a lack of experience in their lives.

I have to admit that the number one reason why I am still a Christian is because of the lives of other Christians. From the example of my family to the kindness of friends these experiences have made real the truth that is found in the Bible. That is why it is so important for us to live the life of faith and not just talk about faith. The truth depends on it.

• Point to Ponder: Faithful living and love are two important factors in conveying truth.
• Passage to Remember: Ephesians 4:17-32
• Question to Consider: Does your life support the truth you believe?

* Soul Cravings is a book without page numbers. For reference I provided the title of the section and the entry number and title. I believe the McManus discussion on truth is worth the price of the book.

Covering Our Guilt

I am starting a new sermon series this week entitled Questions God Asks. Usually we focus on the questions we have of God, but in the Bible we find that God asks certain questions of people to help them to examine their lives. The first such we question find in the Bible is; “Where are you?” found in Genesis 3:9.

In studying for this first question I re-examined the circumstances surrounding man’s first sin. One thing that stands out too me is how Eve allowed herself to be led astray. The saw, lust, and took (Genesis 3:6) of Eve fits the very same pattern that leads so man of us into sin. We often sin because we put ourselves into the position to fail. We allow ourselves to see things we shouldn’t see, to think about those things, which finally leads to doing them.

Just a word about Adam before moving on. Adam chose being separated for God over being separated from Eve. I wonder how many people have ignored God’s call on their lives because they loved their friends and family more than God? We are sometimes led astray by those we want to love the most.

The second thing that stands out to me, and what I want to focus on, is the fact that Adam and Eve tried to cover their guilt, in form of their nakedness, with fig leaves. Right away they knew things weren’t right and the tired to cover it up so they wouldn’t be ashamed. John Davis in his book Paradise to Prison wrote:

In a pitiful attempt to replace the radiant garments of their innocence, the sewed together fig leaves. Man has ever since attempted to cover his guilt and assuage his conscience. His efforts, however sophisticated and impressive, still fall far short of God’s demands. (p. 92)

How we have tried over the years to cover up our guilt. From false religions to situational ethics to atheism to addictions are attempts to cover up our ever present guilt of not living up to the original glory that we were created to live. No matter what we do we will never escape the sense that our lives are not what they should be and that we are to blame.

To me what makes Christianity so amazing is that we don’t have to cover up our guilt. We can have our guilt taken away because we have our sins atoned for. Read what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to everyone, because all have sinned. 13 Certainly sin was in the world before the law was given, but no record of sin is kept when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death ruled from the time of Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed. He is a type of the one who would come. 15 But God's free gift is not like Adam's offense. For if many people died as the result of one man's offense, how much more have God's grace and the free gift given through the kindness of one man, Jesus Christ, been showered on many people! 16 Nor can the free gift be compared to what came through the man who sinned. For the sentence that followed one man's offense brought condemnation, but the free gift brought justification, even after many offenses. 17 For if, through one man, death ruled because of that man's offense, how much more will those who receive such overflowing grace and the gift of righteousness rule in life because of one man, Jesus Christ! (vv. 12-17; ISV)

Adam’s sin allowed for disobedience to God to exist here on earth which has robbed us of the life God created us to enjoy. We keep in step with Adam through our own sin and the guilt mounts and mounts as the knowledge that we are not what we should be lingers in our hearts. There is nothing that we can do about it.

But there is something that could be done. The amazing thing is that our guilt is just covered up, but our righteousness is restored. This has nothing to do with our efforts, plans, or beliefs, but it has everything to do with our faith: our obedient trust in Jesus Christ. Through Jesus we are restored! This restoration is a gift and totally undeserved.

We can spend our lives trying to cover up our guilt and assuage our consciences or we can have our live our lives with the righteousness given to us by Jesus. This is one of the reasons why the Gospel is such Good News. We are given a second chance to live life. Now that is a gift worth getting!

• Point to Ponder: Through Jesus we are restored!
• Passage to Remember: Romans 5:15
• Question to Consider: How have you covered up your guilt?

The Heart of All Things

Jesus has come to give us life, and we know that we have this life we are connected to Him. How are we connected to Jesus? It is through our obedience that we remain connected to Jesus. This is more than adhering to the do nots of Scripture, but it is the aligning of our wills to the will of God. We are living God’s will when we help people who are need, when we love the outcasts and rejects, and teach the truth to people who are lost. In other words it is when we follow the example of Jesus and hold on to the promises that He has given to us. Jesus is the source of abundant eternal life.

What does this life look like? How do we know if we are living the true life from Jesus? Consider this question for a moment: When do you feel the most alive? If you are anything like me I would bet that you feel the most alive when you are doing things with or for other people. You feel alive when you are with friends talking about the “good old days”. Perhaps you feel alive when you help your grandchildren make exciting discoveries. Or maybe you have felt alive when you were able to help someone who really needed your help.

Love is essential for living true life. We see glimpses of this truth as we think about the experiences we have had in our lives, when we have shared our lives with others.

Jesus has come to give us life. This life isn’t something that is reserved for us when we get to heaven, but is something that is ours right now, today. If this is true then how do I live this life?

The biggest obstacle that we have to face in living true eternal life today is that it doesn’t feel like it is any different than what life was before. In fact at times it seems to be more difficult. That is because our lives are being opposed. Before time there was a great rebellion in Heaven as Satan set himself in opposition to the will of God. He is in constant opposition to God’s will, that includes us living the life that Jesus has secured for us through His death and resurrection.

As long as we are living here on earth life is going to be a struggle, because our lives are being opposed. We cannot afford to give up on this struggle. To have hope in this struggle we have to remember Jesus’ promise to return and make everything right and His mission to destroy the work of the devil (1 John 3:1-10). Find hope in the promise of Jesus and strength in the example of Jesus. We are going to have to fight for life.

As we struggle to live life we need to remember something very important: Love is the lifeblood of eternal life. Eternal life will continue to flow through our veins as long as we continue to love. We need to love God and love people. Without love our lives we shrivel up and die. It is love that will keep us alive for eternity.

Love is the theme of 1 John 3:11-24:

11 For this is the gospel message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another, 12 not like Cain who was of the evil one and brutally murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother's were righteous. 13 Therefore do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have crossed over from death to life because we love our fellow Christians. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his fellow Christian is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. 16 We have come to know love by this: that Jesus laid down his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians. 17 But whoever has the world's possessions and sees his fellow Christian in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God reside in such a person? 18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth. 19 And by this we will know that we are of the truth and will convince our conscience in his presence, 20 that if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience and knows all things. 21 Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God, 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him. 23 Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us the commandment. 24 And the person who keeps his commandments resides in God, and God in him. Now by this we know that God resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us. (NET)

It communicates to us the importance that love plays in our lives as followers of Jesus Christ. For us to live lives of love we need to keep in mind three elements of love.

1. The first element of love is the importance of love. (vv. 11-15)
In verse 10 of Chapter 10 John writes: By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness - the one who does not love his fellow Christian - is not of God (1 John 3:10; NET). So the Apostle continues with: For this is the gospel message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another(v. 11, NET). According to John love is what separates the children of God from the children of the devil. Remember from the very beginning we have heard this message. It is the foundation of the Old Testament and the central message of Jesus. To love God and to love people are the two great commandments of the follower of Jesus Christ.

John provides us with a negative example of love. Do not be like Cain…John writes. Every family, from the very first family, has problems. Though we are still shocked when those problems boil over to result in a man murdering his own brother. Yet that is the example of Cain who murdered his brother Able because of Able’s righteousness.

The Bible is not very clear on what made Cain’s actions evil. We assume that it has something to do with sacrifice that he offered and that he wasn’t willing to give God the best portion of his crop. What we do know is that what ever Cain did he was not ignorant of his wrong actions: he knew exactly what he was doing. And the blessings Able received from God only reminded Cain of his wickedness in disobeying God. Cain allowed jealousy and hatred to grow in his heart and the end result was that he took the life of his righteous brother Able.

Hatred and murder take life. They do not nurture life, but they take life from others. Have you ever experienced the hatred of family members? Maybe not personally, but you experienced it from a distance as an observer. Hatred always makes people miserable. The family members are forced to take sides and the joy and happiness that are supposed to define a family taken away. Where is the life?

Where is life? Life is found in loving people. John tells us: We know we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers (v. 14, NIV). This is the key verse of this entire section, if not the entire book. We know we have life because of love. We have compassion for our neighbors, spend time with our family, and we help our friends. Life is found in our love. You want to know if you have eternal life, then follow your love.

If we don’t have love then we don’t have life. Hate, which in its most extreme form leads to murder, is mere indifference in its weakest form. It is giving help to people who are need when you have the means to help them because you are in essence robbing life from them. It is taking time to pray for people we can’t help, but who are in desperate need. Indifference is the opposite of compassion, which is the main ingredient of love.

What is the importance of love? The importance of love is that it reveals whether or not we have true everlasting life flowing through our veins.

2. The second element of love we have to understand is the action of love (vv. 16-20).
John began this section by giving us a negative example of what love is. We are not to follow the example Cain, instead we are to follow the example of Jesus Christ.

What is the example of Jesus when it comes to love? It is the fact that He laid down His life for us. This is the greatest example of love: the laying down of life so others can live. That is what Jesus did.

It seems that John understands that not all of us will be asked to do the supreme action of love: the giving of our physical lives. So John provides us with an example to help us understand how self-sacrifice can be real in our every day lives. Here is an example of self-sacrifice on a daily basis: we give what we have to help those in need. It is giving to help provide life for others. Jesus certainly did this. There were times when He was tired but when the crowds sought Him out He stayed and taught and healed the sick. The early Christians did this by continuing to preach the Good News of God’s Love and Jesus’ death and resurrection in the face of persecution.

We do this when we give money above and beyond our tithe to help a person with expenses. We do this when miss a business appointment to spend a few hours with a friend who needs to talk. We do this when we stop and pick up an acquaintance and bring them to church.

Love, according to John, is not just what we say, but it is what we do. We can say we love people, but if we don’t show love to people, then it is evidence that God’s truth is not part of our lives. There are a lot of people who say the love people, who give to humanitarian causes, but are terrible and hateful to their family. Love isn’t about giving money, but how we treat individuals.

This brings us to a difficult part of the text. What does it mean that our hearts condemn us? Sometimes Satan, trying to disguise himself as the Holy Spirit, will attempt to deceive us with our conscious. He will remind us of the times we were not loving to people or how we might have missed an opportunity to love someone. One of the truths John wants us to know is that our hearts, our conscious, isn’t always right. We need to remember God’s promise to forgive our past sins and our current commitment to love people. Those two things will show us that God accepts us, and He is the ultimate judge of our lives.

What is the action of love? The action of love is self-sacrifice, giving away things that are important to us so that we can improve the quality of life for someone else.

3. The third element of love we need to know is the hope of love (vv. 21-24).
Since we do not stand in condemnation of our hearts we can have confidence before God. Why can we have confidence before God? Because we have committed ourselves to doing His will. This is very important to remember as look at verse 22. With out this context we can take verse 22 and claim a promise from God that God never promised.

John promises that when we are committed to God’s will that we can be confident that when we ask something of God that He will do it. That is a wonderful promise. It is not the promise that God is our personal genie willing to grant our every wish, but it is the promise that God will give us those things that will help us accomplish His will. In other words God will help us love people. He will not necessarily provide the warm fuzzy feeling of love, but He will provide us with the resources necessary to properly show compassion for people.

What is the command that God has given us to obey? The first part of the command is to believe in Jesus. Why is this important? If we don’t believe is Jesus then we can spend all our time trying to improve people’s physical lives, but do nothing for their spiritual lives. Remember Jesus’ mission is centered on freeing people from their sins. It does very little good to help people with their physical needs if we don’t address their spiritual needs.

The second part of the command is that we are to love people. In other words we are to continue with the mission of Jesus in destroying the devil’s work. We do this, ultimately, by telling people the Good News about God’s love and the forgiveness of sins found in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Though it also includes helping them with their everyday needs, because this provides evidence that the Good News that we bring is the truth.

The promise we find in this passage is that when we obey God’s commands then we know that we live in Jesus. Remember this is important because it is through Jesus that we are given life, and it is by staying connected to Jesus that our life is sustained. There is another piece of evidence that we are connected to Jesus in the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. The Holy Spirit moves us towards compassion; He helps us understand the truth of God’s Word; and shows us the opportunities God has given us to serve other people.

What is the hope of love? The hope of love is that we are connected to Jesus.

When have you felt most alive? One time I felt alive was the summer of 2004. It was early July and I and 25 other people traveled from western Illinois to northern Arizona to a Navajo Indian reservation. It was shocking to see the extreme poverty that existed there. Our group spent five days painting houses and doing some minor repair on houses for people who could not afford to have it done. I also had the added privilege of being able to teach the kids and the sponsors who went along on the trip. I remember thinking: this is what life is all about!

Have you ever had that feeling? I hope that you have, because I believe that it gives us insight into what real true abundant life is all about. It is about love. Not love that is just spoken or felt, but love that is acted upon and shown. With out love there is no life in us.

That is the great truth that I want you to take away this morning: Love is the lifeblood of eternal life. It is how we maintain the life given to us by Jesus, and it is how we share that life with other people.

God has loved us and the result has been life. He has instructed us to love other people. Why does God want us to love? One of the purposes of the command to love others is so that they too might have life. Are you ready to love?

• Point to Ponder: Love is the lifeblood of eternal life.
• Passage to Remember: 1 John 3:14
• Questions to Consider: How has love enriched your life?

Welcome Back!

The last two weeks I have spent in New Mexico with my girlfriend Alyssa and her family. It was a great time, an extended time together that we really needed.

The problem is that I have returned home to the worse cold that I have had in a long time. To put it simply: I am miserable. Preaching yesterday was rough, though with God's grace it turned out very well. Today I have not felt up to doing too much of anything even though I have a new sermon series to prepare and a new Bible Study to prepare (which I will talk about more at another time).

As I am battling this cold and wanting to sleep I am also learning about being a pet owner for the first time. I picked out Barkley(Fox terrier/rat terrier mix) on December 8. At the time he was just about a month old and not ready to leave his mother so the soonest I could have gotten him was around Christmas time, but since I knew I was headed to see Alyssa for two weeks I had the farmer hold him until I got back. I picked Barkley up on Saturday evening, and he spent the rest of the evening scared to death. Anyway I have endured two nights of little sleep which makes me feel even worse.

So I apologize for not having any words of wisdom to share with you today, but on the plus side you got to see a picture of my cute puppy Barkley. I will have something for you tomorrow.

Pictures From New Mexico

My girlfriend is sleeping, recovering from eye surgery earlier today, so I thought I would post a few pictures I have taken of my trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Advice for the Single Christian Guy

"What does it mean to be a man?" I think this is a question that many of us have asked ourselves because we live in a culture where we have lost a true transition from boyhood to manhood. That is the reason I decided to share some of the insights I have gained along my journey in becoming a man.

What Makes a Man a Man?
When Men Aren't Men
Honoring Her Choice
Let's Talk about Sex
Boyfriend Lessons
Spiritual Discipline and Sexual Purity
Be a Praying Boyfriend
Prepare for Marriage

Updated January 11, 2010