Daily Thought: Something Terrific is Alive

That's the simple idea.  When the gospel enables us to believe that something terrific is alive in another and that something terrifically alive in us could actually touch it, good things happen.  We accept people for who they are, we grieve over every failure to live out their true identity, and no matter what happens, we continue to believe in what they could become without demanding that it happen on our timetable or for our sakes, or that we play a big part in making it happen.

Larry Crabb, Connecting, Word (1997), p. 53

Daily Thought: Stop Destroying Each Other

"As traumatic as earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis may be, they are not the cause of the violence that tears our souls most deeply.  What tears at us the most, what leaves us shattered and broken, is what we do to each other.  A tidal wave has no moral compass, no capacity to feel deeply.  Nature isn't supposed to care about anything, but we are.  We want God to stop nature from wreaking havoc on us, and God is trying to get us to stop destroying each other." ~ Erwin McManus, Soul Cravings

Daily Thought: The Simple but Challenging Call of Christ

"Our central job is not to solve the world's problems.  Our job is to draw our entire life from Christ and manifest that life to others.  Nothing could be simpler—and nothing could be more challenging.  Perhaps this partly explains why we have allowed ourselves to be so thoroughly co-opted by the world.  It's hard to communicate to a prostitute her unsurpassable worth by taking up a cross for her, serving her for years, gradually changing her on the inside, and slowly winning the trust to speak into her life (and letting her speak into our life, for we too are sinners).  Indeed, this sort of Calvary-like love requires one to die to self. It is much easier, and more gratifying, to assume a morally superior stance and feel good about doing our Christian duty to vote against 'the sin of prostitution.'" ~ Gregory Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Nation, pp. 64-65

The Me Centered Life

“In the midst of our growing fragmentation, we have never been more focused on the individual than we are today. This focus plays itself out in unbridled consumerism. While materialism is certainly an outgrowth of consumerism, it isn’t its primary focus. Consumerism’s primary product in our culture is narcissism. Remember, narcissism is a life in which everything is about us.” ~ Erwin McManus; Uprising

We are a funny society. We get all worked up over gas prices and then drive the most gas consuming vehicles we can find. We complain about the environment but we are willing to buy anything that is disposable and are quick to throw out last year’s model for the small improvements found on this year’s model. What this shows is that above all else “me” comes first in our society.

From a cheating spouse to the teenager looking to get high what we are ultimately after is what will make us feel good and will bring us a few moments of pleasure. The consequences of our actions are not considered because they are not part of the moment. As long as we can get what we want then ultimately that is all that matters. After all isn’t the good life found in making ourselves happy?

Here is the problem as I see it: We might find pleasure for the short term in pursuing a life that is all about ourselves; sooner or later the consequences of that type of life will sooner or later catch up to us. The pain and misery of these consequences usually outweigh any of the pleasure we sought as we tried to make a life that was focused on our desires.

The solution the world offers us to avoid the consequences of a self-centered life is to pursue a life that is even more about “me.” A person who has destroyed their life with sexual promiscuity will become even more promiscuous. The person who has shipwrecked their lives will turn to harder or different drugs to take away the pain. A life lived for “me” will always be trapped in this cycle of pleasure and consequences. Sadly, the consequences will never be connected to their pleasure seeking ways, and they will end up blaming people or circumstances for their situation.

One of the most common phrases in the New Testament is the phrase one another. We are called to love, serve, forgive, encourage, and help one another. Understanding this concept will help us to discover the full life Jesus promised us.

When we reflect on our lives we all realize that the best times in our lives have not happened while we were pursuing a life that was about us, but they happened when we invested time and love in other people. Relationships are where we experience the best life. If relationships are the most important things to us then our effort will be in loving others instead trying to gratifying our desires.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 2:3-4; Don’t be selfish, don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interest in others, too, and what they are doing (NLT). The life of a Christian is one where the focus is removed from “me” and is put on God and others. We are not the most important thing in the universe. To live our lives as if we were will lead to experiencing a very dissatisfying life.

Loving Other Christians

{Hebrews 6:10-12; NLT}

For God is not unfair. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other Christians, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep right on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and patience.

The central command of the Christian faith is love. Love is what sets us apart from the world and makes us beacons of light in the dark world. If we are going to be lights in the world we need to love.

In this passage we notice the writer of Hebrews encourages his readers to love their fellow Christians. It is through this love, he says, that we demonstrate our love for God. I find it very interesting that he states that we are to “care for other Christians”. After all shouldn’t we love everyone equally?

This is a valid question because we have been told that God loves everyone. I have no doubt that God loves everyone and He desires them all to be saved. The Bible tells us this much. The Bible is also very clear that we are to love other Christians first and foremost. Is this a contradiction?

Perhaps we should take a look at our lives. A teacher can love all the kids in her classroom, but the love she has for them pales in comparison to the love she has for her own children. A guy can love all his friends and buddies, but that love is nothing compared to the love he has for his wife. The fact that God loves the Church differently, and expects us to love other Christians differently, doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love the rest of the world, but simply points out the special relationship that the Church has with God.

Remember that Jesus didn’t die for just a person, but Jesus died for a people. Jesus died for the Church, and that makes us very special to Him. We are God’s Children and the Bride of Christ and that means that we have a special relationship with Him.

This might seem unfair, but in reality when Christ Followers love other Christians first it makes the Church a very attractive group to be a part of. The world is a hard place filled with rejection and heartache. Many people are searching for a place to belong and place to be loved, regardless of who they are or what they have done. By loving each other, rather than bickering and fighting with one another, the Church becomes a place of hope in a land of hopelessness.

It also appears from this passage that by loving each other we grow spiritually. The best way to grow in our faith is not through a study or listening to a sermon series, but through experiencing life with other Christians. When we are able to do things with other Christians because we enjoy their company and have their best interest at heart we begin to develop the heart of God. We desire the things God desires and we become spiritually sharp and full of passion.

It is by having this heart of God beating in our chests which moves us down the road of becoming the people God created us to be. When we care about the things He cares about we become a little more like Him. The people of faith of old were set apart because they had this heart. They were willing to sacrifice in order to do what God wanted them to do, because they wanted the same thing God wanted.

In our quest to become more like the people God wants us to be we have to start loving other people. First, we need to love the Christians who make up our Church family. This is helps us develop a heart like God’s which allows us to love the hurt and lonely people of the world.

• Point to Ponder: By loving other Christians we develop a God-like heart.
• Passage to Remember: Hebrews 6:10-12
• Prayer to Pray: Father in Heaven, help me to see past myself so I can love the people around me...

The Church's First Love

The book of Revelation begins with seven letters to seven churches from the Lord Jesus Christ. These letters contain both praise and reprimand to these churches. The first letter is addressed to the church family in Ephesus, and what we discover is a model for church families everywhere, except they were missing a very important element of what being the church is all about.

1 “To the messenger of the church in Ephesus, write:
‘The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands, says this:

2 ‘I know your works, your toil, and your endurance. I also know that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles, but are not, and have found them to be false. 3 You have endured and suffered because of my name, yet you have not grown weary. 4 However, I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Therefore, remember how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first. If you don't, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 But this is to your credit: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7 ‘Let the person who has an ear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give the privilege of eating from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.’” (Revelation 2:1-7; ISV)

The Ephesians were lacking love, more specifically they were lacking love for Christ Jesus. Here was a church family that had functioning ministries which kept people busy, they stood their ground as they were persecuted, and they did not tolerate false teachings, but they had lost their love for Jesus.

I have been pondering this reality today, because it is hard for me to get my head around the fact that here was a “model” church family, even by today’s standards, but they were in danger of losing their place in God’s Kingdom. Their lampstand would be removed if they didn’t repent and return to Jesus. Here is what I find difficult to understand: why does a church family do all these things if it isn’t out of love for Jesus?

Here is what I have come up with: these Christians were more loyal to the church than they were in love with Jesus. I see this reality in so many struggling church families. Their passion isn’t so much Jesus as it is to keep the church building doors open. Tradition and comfort is what motivates them, not love for God or love for people. They are busy, they demand to be taught the Bible, and they constantly express a desire to see the church grow, but their love for God is superficial at best.

I think the same thing can be said for large, mega-churches as well. They might have a growing attendances and well functioning ministries, but it is all done in a very corporate or business like manner that love for Jesus is pushed aside. They maybe church families look to as models, but Jesus looks on them in a very different way.

How can we make sure we love Jesus? Remember Jesus told the Ephesians that they needed to repent and to those things they did at first, so Jesus was telling them to work up an emotion in their heart, but instead to choose to do the right things. Here are three actions I think will help us hold on to our first love, both as individuals and as church families:

1. Keep our eyes on Jesus. I believe that our preaching and teaching need to constantly refer people back to Jesus. We need to remember Jesus isn’t just a piece of Christian doctrine, but He is the hope we have in the future and the solid rock that we build our lives on. It is no wonder that in Colossians the apostle Paul constantly points people to Jesus and reminds them of who He is and what He has done. In the first chapter of Revelation John is given this wonderful vision of Jesus, and one purpose of this vision is to remind John (and eventually his readers) of who Jesus is and what He has done. Doctrine is of no use if we don’t love Jesus.
2. Seek out God’s will. I think we get ourselves in trouble, as individuals and as church families, because we decide what we want to do and then we ask God to bless it. The model prayer Jesus gave to us shows that we are to seek out God’s will, ask for His kingdom to come and that His will be done, rather than just asking God to bless what we have decided to do. This helps us to remember that the church isn’t about us and our plans, but it is about entering into God’s plan to redeem all of creation. In other words we join our love to the love of God.
3. We serve the needy. Many churches have different ministries that take up the resources that they have, and when it comes to helping the poor or someone who has fallen on tough times there is nothing there to help them. We have delegated this responsibility of helping the needy to the government so we can have big fancy buildings and do flashy programs designed to bring people through the doors. Yet, Jesus told us that when we serve those people in need, then we are serving Him. How can we truly love Jesus if we are not willing to help those who are in need? When attendance, programs, and buildings become more important than serving people, especially those in our church families, then we have lost our first love.

I think it would do all of our churches good to evaluate themselves by the seven letters of Revelation. Those seven letters will help us understand what Christ thinks about the church, and the real changes we need to make in order to accomplish His will.

What is the Motivation?

Let me ask you a question: What is your motivation for following Jesus? As I pondered this question I realized that often my motivation has been to live up to the expectations of those around me. In other words I have been seeking the approval of people rather than seeking the approval of God.

The apostle Paul opens his letter to the Colossians with an interesting thought, one that took me by surprise. This is what he wrote:

3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints, 5 based on the hope laid up for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and spreading all over the world, so it has been doing among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth. (Colossians 1:3-6; ISV)

I have to be honest, I have not been looking forward to the joys of heaven. I have been wanting a nice life right now. I have been wanting a nice life right now. Now wonder my motivation for following Jesus has been the approval of other people.

This motivation, seeking the approval of people, also comes with a cost. When I am unable to live up to expectations, when I am rejected by another person, my faith in Jesus takes a hit. I wonder how God could allow that to happen when I have been faithful. The reality is that it isn’t God’s fault that I am rejected, since it was I who had put my hope in the wrong thing.

What does it mean to hope for heaven. Here are a few ideas I have had since reading this passage.

1. It means we have to realize that this world cannot meet our deepest longings and needs.
2. It means that we value our relationship with God above everything else and make that relationship a priority in our lives.
3. It means we long to live life the way it was meant to be lived instead of being satisfied with life here and now.

When I first read this passage I thought that the Colossians were awfully selfish in their motivation. As I continued to ponder these verses I realized that my has been selfish because it has been all about me. The Colossians seemed to be motivated by their love of God, their desire to be with Jesus, and the love for other people. The were motivated by heaven because the loved God and they loved people.