Today is the Day

"Boaz wanted Ruth. The writer allows no question about that. He wanted to call the rabbi, exchange vows, and take her to bed. If I were writing a steamy novel, I would describe in lurid detail his sexual attraction to Ruth. 

"The description would be accurate. But his passion, though including physical desire, is deeper, richer, more enduringly passionate than fleeting, easily satisfied lust. The inspired writer tells the story of a man who strongly desires a woman. The picture of Christ is hard to miss."

 ~ Larry Crabb; Shattered Dreams

There are people we learn about from Scripture with whom we seem to have a connection. For me one of these men is the apostle Paul.  Part of that connection can be attributed to the fact that I was named after the apostle who was from the tribe of Benjamin.  I also believe we are somewhat kindred spirits, sharing a love of intellectual things and yet having a passion to share Truth in a way which connects with everyone.

God is Pro-Life

Jesus calls us to live a life of unimaginable adventure.  It begins the moment we choose to follow Him.  It is not less than to pass from existence to life.  

Erwin McManus; Seizing Your Divine Moment

God told the Israelites:

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!" (Deuteronomy 30:19; NLT).  

There is no greater desire God has for us than that of life.  To give us life is the very reason Jesus came; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10b; NASB).  God cherishes life.

God is Pro-Choice

God created people with the ability to choose.  In Genesis we discover that God gave Adam and Eve a choice, but He did not dictate their actions.  Even with so much at stake God allowed Adam and Eve to make the choice on whether or not they would obey Him.

When we examine our lives we recognize that God has given us the liberty to pursue whatever we think will make us happy.  Our choices will, at times, limit our freedom.  Addictions and bad relationships, which are the result of our choices, can hold us in chains which are difficult to toss aside.

God's desire is that we will surrender our lives to Him and follow Jesus.  This is the best way to live and it is the way to usher God's Kingdom into this world.  Even though God is the sovereign Lord of the universe He is not a tyrant.  Instead God allows us the freedom to choice our own path, even when that path is destructive to the world He created. God has given us the freedom to love Him or reject Him.

A Powerful Weapon Against Sin

Evil and sin were not part of our original design.  We may equate sin with human nature, but the reality is that God did not create us to rebel against Him.  Sin is not our natural state. 

We were created to glorify God and live in fellowship with Him. I believe that sin becomes part of our lives when we lose sight of God's purpose for our lives. Purpose is one of the ways God helps us to remain on the narrow road that leads to Life. Erwin McManus wrote; “Sin is what happens when we have too much time on our hands and too little purpose in our lives” (Uprising; p. 186).

When we begin to really live out our purpose what we discover is that sin becomes an obstacle to what accomplishing what God has called us to do. When we are surrendered to God's purpose then we discover that we will reject things that are detrimental to accomplishing that purpose. On the other hand if we are not dedicated to God and His purpose for our lives we will be easily persuaded by things that will take us farther and farther away from where God wants us to be.

Yet it is not always easy to understand your purpose. Part of the problem, I believe, is that purpose comes in a couple different forms. The type of purpose we ultimately want is our grand life purpose.  The type of purpose which will define our lives. Abraham’s purpose was to become the father of a great nation; Moses’ purpose was to lead Israel out of Egypt; and Paul’s purpose was to be the apostle to the Gentiles. We long to have that type of life defining purpose for our lives.

Before we arrive at our life defining purpose we must first live a life of faithfulness. This is the second form of purpose: the everyday purpose. It is through a life of faith that God prepares us for the grand purpose of our lives. It builds the character we need to accomplish the purpose God has given to us. Our grand purpose in life demands that we have a Christ-like character. Without this type of character we will fail.

While waiting around for our grand purpose to show up we often neglect the everyday purpose that every Christian has: to live by faith. The result is that rather  than being prepared to live out the grand purpose of our lives we get distracted by the things of this world. We are not good stewards of the gracious gift of time God has given to us.

Think about what the apostle Paul wrote:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,  making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is (Ephesians 5:15-17; ESV).

To  make the "best use of the time" (literally as we "redeem the time") means that we live faithful lives in whatever situation we find ourselves in .  We do this by seeking and doing God's will.  It is through understanding God's will, that we begin to catch a glimpse of God's ultimate purpose for our lives.

Purpose does two things when in comes to combating sin in our lives.  First, it gives us a motivation to fight against any obstacle that might get in our way of completing God's will.  Second it fills our time with activity so we have less to waste on sin.  Purpose is a powerful weapon in our fight against sin.

From Evernote:

Striving to be Authentic

Authenticity is one of the core values of our society.  We want people and products to be real and not some cheap imitation.  For this reason authenticity should be highly valued.  On the flip side is if a person or product is naturally bad, useless, or harmful authenticity is not something to shoot for.  We have all witnessed people, in the name of authenticity, be cruel or demeaning.  These people will say things like, "I am just the type of person who tells it like it is." When authenticity leads us to be unloving then it is time to rise above simply being authentic to truly becoming the person God created us to be.  That is what true authenticity is all about.

While we might be deceived into believing that following certain primal instincts is what true authenticity looks like, the reality is that we cannot be truly authentic until we embrace the person God created us to be.  Only God, the Creator, can tell us what it means to be truly human.  In Jesus we discover what. It truly means to be an authentic human being.  The reason we are so often dissatisfied with the way the people live and act is because in the deepest part of our hearts we know they are not authentically human.  We are being deceived about who they really are.

I believe this is why the New Testament teaches us not to be a hypocrite.  It is hard for a person to put their trust in God after a self-proclaimed Christ follower has deceived or hurt them.  Please understand this: what we accept as true depends on our perceived trustworthiness of the source.  Why would a person accept the Good News of God's love and forgiveness when Christians are gossips and grudge holders?  If our lives do not bear the fruit of the Gospel then people will reject the Gospel, no matter how will we might present it.

In order to communicate the Gospel we need to do more than just claim to be a Christian, we must demonstrate that we are truly following Jesus. How we live is the most crucial evidence we can offer for truthfulness of the Gospel.  Remember what the apostle Peter wrote: 

Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ (1 Peter 3:15-16; NLT).  

When Jesus sits on the throne of our hearts the way we live will be different.  Living lives of hope, peace, and love in the midst of a life filled with tragedy, despair, and broken dreams will compel people to ask about the difference in our lives. 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 steps to help us become authentically human:

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect (NLT).

The first step is that we must remember (I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you). God has graciously given us many blessings.  From the gift of life to the provisions we need to the blessing of salvation.  We need to be intentional and reflect on all the ways God has blessed our lives.  This will help develop an attitude of thanksgiving in our hearts which will overflow into the way we live.

The second step Paul gives is a requirement we must obey (give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable). If we are to be authentic human beings we need to understand what our Creator requires from us.  Paul here uses the illustration that we are to be living sacrifices to God.  In the Old Testament we discover  sacrifices offered to God were to be without blemish and the best portion of the flock or the harvest.  The sacrifice always came at great cost to the worshipper.  How does this apply to our lives?  We need to recognize that the life of faith is will be costly to us.  Being authentic in a world of fakes is not easy. We are no longer pursuing the agenda that the world gives to us, rather we surrender to the original purpose of our Designer.  In other words our lives are to be totally devoted to what God is doing. We give ourselves totally over to God's way of life.

The third step that Paul gives us is the reformation of our minds (Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think).  We are not transformed or reformed by our own efforts.  As we surrender our lives to God He will transform us.  This reformation is a reformation of heart and mind. It is a transformation that is noticed in the change of our attitudes, desires, and thoughts.  The more we surrender to God the more we are changed from the inside out.  Understand that for this reformation to really have an impact 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 respond by changing the way we live then we are being poor stewards of His grace.  We will return to the old way of thinking and being directed by the old passions.  When we respond to God's reformation of hearts that is when we will become more authentically human.

The last step Paul provides is discovering the reason for our life transformation (Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect).  The reason we need to be transformed is so we can live out God's purpose for our lives.  The bottom line is that is the only way to truly be authentically human.  We need to live out the original purpose of the Designer to be authentic people.  

To be effective in our communication of the Gospel requires us to be authentic.  It is through authenticity that people see the true difference Jesus makes in our lives. People can know what we say is true because they see it in our lives.  This is why we need to strive to be authentic.

After One Year

Today is my one year marriage anniversary.  It is hard to believe that after all those years of being single and living alone that I am really married.  I know many people, from marriage professionals to the average married couple, will tell you the first year is a difficult year, but for Jenny and I our first year has been wonderful.  That doesn't mean we haven't had our share of misunderstandings, but we have made the transition to being husband and wife very easily and naturally.

One reason for this is because we are at the same level of spiritual maturity.  We have both recognized that one of the reasons our previous relationships ended was because of differences in spiritual maturity.  It is so wonderful to be able to talk about things of faith and to be on the same wave length.

I would encourage anyone planning on getting engaged or counting down the days to spend time to grow spiritually together.  Read the same book together (I have a list of suggested reading on the side of the blog) and discuss it with each other.  Make sure you are taking time to pray for each other and with each other (I have some different prayers a boyfriend can pray in this post: Be a Praying Boyfriend).

A second reason our first year has been so great is because we are pursuing the same dream.  God laid on our hearts, even before we met, to have a place where people can come to find restoration, to have training, and to be discipled.  This has been part of our prayers, conversations, and our plans.  Rather than having our house serving as home base as we go out and do our own thing we see our home as the first place our common dream can become a reality.

If you are in the stage of heading towards marriage I think it is very important for you to talk with your fiancee about what you can do together for the Kingdom of God.  The first purpose of marriage is to become a dynamic duo for God's Kingdom.  God has brought you together for that purpose, and your marriage will only get stronger as you give yourself away to what He has called you, as a couple, to do.

A third and final reason I will share is that we didn't allow our problems to fester.  The apostle Paul wrote;  "And 'don't sin by letting anger control you.' Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26-26; NLT).  Keep in mind that anger is not the only way Satan can get a foothold in our lives, and so we need to deal with the whole range of sins and temptations, from anger to lust to gossip, because each and every area gives Satan room to wriggle himself into our hearts and minds.  Jenny and I did a very good job at dealing with our disagreements and problems right away and not bringing them into the next day.  I think that helped us to stay focus on our love for each other rather than blowing up the problems bigger than they really are.

One of the things our dating culture is very poor at teaching is how to handle conflict and problems.  Dating teaches us to run away when things get tough rather than learning to work through the difficulties together.  When we don't deal with the problems, when we let the sun go down on them, then we open the door to Satan, and he will do his best to bring division and hurt into the relationship.  If you are engaged I would urge you to take some time and work through some of the difficulties and irritations you might already have with each other, because marriage is not going to magically make them disappear.  What marriage will do is make them bigger, and that is why it is so important to deal with them as soon as possible.  Make sure you do it as gently and kindly as you can and bathe the whole thing in prayer.  Remember God wants your marriage to succeed, and so He is a valuable member of your team.

I am very thankful for one year of marriage and for the love and encouragement Jenny has shown to me this past year.  It is great to think that there are many more days and years ahead!

Bring in the Harvest, Show Compassion

The longer I follow Jesus the greater my sadness becomes for the world we live in. I am sadden because so many people are unaware that there is a better way to live their lives. Pain and sin dominate their lives and they don't even know that there is a problem. So many people in the world believe that this is just the way life is supposed to be and so they cope the best they know how with the life they have been dealt.

Jesus did not turn a blind eye to the needs of people:

Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields." (Matthew 9:35-38; NLT).

No matter how many advances in technology we make people continue to have needs.  These needs have changed little since the time of the New Testament. People still want their lives to have a purpose and to have meaning for their pain. The needs may be a little different, but people are still uncertain where to turn to for help. Casual sex, drug use, and pornography are just some indications that people are in search of some remedy to dull the pain of their hearts.

How should we as followers of Jesus respond to this reality?

It would seem to me that if we are truly interested in following Jesus' example then we first must develop compassion for the lost.  I think that we tend to judge rather than extend mercy.  Many people sin, not because they want to do evil, but because they are addicted to a certain way of life. Peter wrote; "For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver" (1 Peter 1:18; NLT).  People living in the world have inherited an empty way of living, and more than being told that they are sinners, they need to see that there is a better way to live.  They need to experience the abundant life Jesus promised His followers.  Rather than treating them as insolent rebels we need to see them as helpless victims of the evil one.

The second thing we must do in order to influence these people is to be active in their lives. In this passage we notice that Jesus took time to heal people of their sicknesses and to teach them God's truth. Quoting God's Law to people who don't accept God's authority does little good. If they don't recognize Him as having authority they certainly won't obey His Law. The way we bring God's truth into the lives of other people is through our relationship with them. We show them that we love them, and over the road of compassion God's truth travels smoothly.

Finally, if we are going to follow Jesus' example of influence we must pray for workers. We can only do so much and influence so many people. In John 17 Jesus prayed for those people, throughout the centuries, who would carry on His work. We too must pray for people to go before us and to come after us so the harvest is always looked after. Through our prayers we make sure that God's compassion and truth still influences people, even though we may not be directly responsible for it.

Donn Leach in What the Bible Says About Jesus wrote:

“Jesus knows that many are ready to repent if only some messenger bring the good news of the kingdom to them (Matt. 9:37, 38). But more messengers are needed. God can supply more messengers if His people will pray.” 

Prayer is one of the most important things we can do as we seek to influence the world and thus bring about change. People are not changed by our wise words or arguments but the power of God. The power of God is best seen in our love for other people.

The first step in all of this is having compassion for the people of the world, seeing them as Jesus saw them. Jesus not only saw people’s sin, but He also saw their need. He knew that their only hope was love and truth not judgment and law. As we seek to influence the world for Jesus we have to ask ourselves the question: What am I offering people? Truth and love or law and judgment?

From Evernote:

A Life Worth Celebrating

There are all sorts of highlights that we celebrate throughout our lives. We celebrate births, graduations, championships, new jobs, marriages, and personal successes. These things remind us that there is importance in everyday life.  We need to always remember that life is worth celebrating!

In spite all of this celebration we come into the harsh reality that life is hard. The tragedy of job loss, debilitating injury, messy breakups, terminal illness, and death are evidence that life is not what it should be. 

The Bible does not sugarcoat this reality. God makes it clear in His Word that life is difficult, and if we are not careful these difficulties can rob us of the true joy of life: the love of God.

The apostle Paul wrote:

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39, NLT).

What makes the achievements of life worth celebrating, what makes the tragedies of life worth enduring is the love of God. It is God who infuses our lives with meaning and purpose.  Without God there would be no reason to celebrate, for even our biggest victory will one day fade away.  Thank God that in Jesus we have a life worth celebrating.

How can I know Truth?

One of the questions that haunts my life is: How do we come to know and understand truth? Jesus told us in John 14: 17 that the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. If we are to take Jesus at His word (which I think is a good thing to do) then we are incapable of understanding truth, that is all that Jesus embodied in Life and the doctrines He taught ( This definition of truth comes from Paul Butler; The Bible Study Textbook: The Gospel of John Volume 2, p. 55) apart from the Holy Spirit working in our lives.

That doesn't mean that we don't have a part to play in discovering truth. In John 8:31-32 we read about Jesus teaching a crowd. Butler in his commentary describes the crowd as:

a group of the Jews here at the Feast of Tabernacles who had, in some way, manifested a superficial belief in Him. They wanted to believe in a Messiah, but not the Messiah. They were willing to follow, fight or die for a temporal King, but they would have none of a spiritual King who demanded sovereignty over their motives and deeds. They would gladly serve Him with their lips, but not their hearts. (p. 54)

This was not the most sympathetic of crowds. They were willing to listen as long as Jesus told them what they wanted to hear. So we see this crowd turn from belief to one with murderous intentions (see John 8:59). It is in this context that Jesus makes this statement;  "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32; NLT).

First I need to point out that a disciple of Jesus is first and foremost one who obeys His teachings. This is why in the teaching of the Final Judgment (Matthew 25) God separates the redeemed from the unredeemed based on their actions. A true disciple of Jesus will live out the teachings of Jesus.

This ponder was motivated by the simple word "and".  It seems here that Jesus is saying that through our obedience we gain a greater understanding of truth. Without obedience we cannot hope to know truth. Obey Jesus and know truth.

Aside from intentional time of reading and studying Scripture, our part of knowing truth is found in obedience.  Only through obedience do we experience God's truth as a reality in life. If we want to know truth then we have to actively obey Jesus.

Why would this be the case? I would imagine it has something to do with throwing pearls before hogs (Matthew 7:6). If we are not going to obey the teachings of Jesus that we already know then we are not going to obey a new teaching or truth that the Holy Spirit desires to reveal to us. Such a teaching would be a waste on us.

So the question we need to consider is: Am I doing my part to know truth? If we are struggling to hear from God it maybe because we are unwilling to to do what He has already told us to do.  Obey and allow truth to move from your mind to your heart.

Living in a Foreign Land

The follower of Jesus Christ is being guided through the dangerous wilderness of this world.  I wonder if we, as the Church, have missed this point.  Our sermons, lessons, and books deal with how we can have our best life now and how to live a life of purpose, but we seldom hear that we strangers in a strange land.  It seems to me that our teachings are designed help us blend into the world rather than empowering us to stand out.

An alien in a foreign land stands out because they are different.  They speak a different language (or at least with an accent), they dress differently, celebrate different holidays, and have different values.  Christians are to live like foreigners in a strange land.  Our goal isn't to learn the language and the customs of this world, but to adopt the customs of the Kingdom of Heaven. The apostle Peter wrote:

Dear friends, I warn you as "temporary residents and foreigners" to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. (1 Peter 2:11-12; NLT)

How does the apostle Peter want us to live?  As "temporary residents" and "foreigners"! We are displaced.  We are not at home!

I want you to catch this: when we live no differently than the world we are not part of God's Kingdom!  God isn’t interested in people who will merely confess Him and believe in Him.  The Bible tells us that everyone will bow a knee confess Jesus as Lord.  What God wants is a people who will live by faith.  People who will be motivated by a different set of desires.  People who live by a different set of standards.  People who love people no one else will love.  People who will not abandon the customs of their home country, but will teach those customs to others.  By living differently we proclaim to the world that there is a better way to live!

In his book The Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus wrote:

From the moment we become citizens of the kingdom of God, we become aliens and strangers in a world that chooses to live absent of God.  From the first step taken to follow Jesus, we are out of step with the rest of the world.  Once your life is in sync with the story of God, you become out of sync with any story that attempts to ignore or eliminate God.  You are a stranger to them, an alien among them, a nomadic wanderer who, while refusing to be rooted in this life, seems to somehow enjoy this life most. (p. 93)

Are you walking out of step with the world?  My great concern is that we are not.  I know that many of us have an issue with the morality of the world, but our hopes and dreams are wrapped up in the very same things the world hopes and dreams for.  Our dreams and desires center around success, money, happiness, and love.  The list could go on, but the point is that while we are morally different from the world we are not spiritually different from them.  That my friends was one of the problems Jesus had with the Pharisees.  They looked good on the outside, but on the inside they were filled with dead men’s bones.  White washed tombs.  We need to quite fooling ourselves that to be different from the world is just about having the right moral standard.  Being different from the world primarily has to do with our desires, dreams, attitudes, and thoughts. It is about the direction of our lives and what we are willing to give our lives away to.

I am coming to believe that one of the ways we truly begin to live differently than the rest of the world is to begin to desire the New Creation God has promised His children.  A temporary resident doesn’t put down roots in the land he is living.  Instead he hopes and dreams for his home and thinks of the day when he will finally go home.  How can we think about settling for the things of this world when God is offering us so much more? How can we think about being like the citizens of the world when God is calling us to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven?  Since this world is not our home let us live like citizens of Heaven.

Letter to the Editor: The Bible still has a Role

Since I only got two hours of sleep last night and because my thoughts today are centered around the loss of my Grandpa I won't be able to do live blog Wide Awake today.  Instead I want to share with you the letter to the editor that I wrote which was published in the Austin Daily Herald yesterday.  To be fair I will post a link to the the letter I was responding to: Message was OK.


Here is the unedited version of the letter.  The newspaper did make a couple of changes, but nothing of importance.


The Bible Continues to have an Important Role

I am writing in response to Darya Gemmel's May 4 letter to the editor titled, “Message was OK.”

It is crucial for us to remember that a message is greater than its content. The message of a speech is also tied to things like word choice, body language, and tone. All these parts combined form the actual message of Dan Savage's speech: It is okay to bully people who believe “b***s***.”

According to Dan Savage we can ignore the words of the Bible because “the Bible is a radically pro-slavery document,” and “because the Bible got slavery wrong.” While it is true that the Bible makes allowances for slavery, it is hardly pro-slavery. We must remember that the Bible was written within a certain cultural context, and within that context slavery was a normal, acceptable, and some may argue, necessary part of life. As we interpret what the Bible says about slavery we have to keep this social context in mind.

While Dan Savage can conveniently look back on ancient history and pass judgement, he fails to appreciate precisely why he holds the position on slavery that he does. While he might call it “the easiest moral question that humanity has ever faced,” his position is actually the minority position. Not only has slavery been acceptable throughout human history, it is still very acceptable throughout the world. If National Geographic is correct in its September 2003 report then “there are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.” Even today people are getting the “easiest of moral questions” wrong.

Why do so many of us in the Western World get this moral question right? The answer is the Bible. It is true that the Bible outlined rules for the fair treatment of slaves, yet it is also true that the apostle Paul planted the seeds which revolutionized the way people viewed slavery. Commenting on Colossians 4:1 historian and theologian N. T. Wright writes; “Paul does not protest against the institution of slavery. That would be about as useful, for him, as a modern preacher fulminating against the internal combustion engine. His approach is subtler. He has found a fixed point on which to stand, from which to move the world: slaves too are human beings with rights.”

Slowly the world did begin to move. The first sign that these seeds Paul planted were germinating is seen in 379 during Lent when Gregory of Nyssa preached a sermon condemning the institution of slavery. A person will search in vain to find a similar sentiment expressed at that time in the ancient world. It was a slow, especially by our standards, process, but as Christians meditated on the teachings of Christ and the teaching of Paul they began to realize that this culturally acceptable institution was not acceptable to God. Eventually people like William Wilberforce, who were influenced by this vein of Christian thinking, appeared on the scene and fought to end the practice of slavery. This is a fight that continues today.

To say that the Bible got slavery wrong is to ignore the role the Bible played in bringing the Western World to the understanding we have today: that slavery is an immoral practice. We must remember that when handled correctly the Bible continues to play an important role in influencing the morality of people.

Paul Steele, an imperfect disciple
Austin

The Hope of a Garden

{Hebrews 12:1; NLT}

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

This morning I received word that my Grandpa Huff has joined the huge crowd of witnesses of  faith.  I am thankful that I was able to know this man and have him influence my life.

My Grandpa was a man of faith, and that will always be the defining characteristic that will remember about him. On this day, as I ponder his life, what do I think my Grandpa Huff would want me share about living a life of faith?

The first thing would be that a life of faith is an active life.  James wrote; So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless (James 2:17; NLT). Grandpa understood that true faith was more than just what you believed, but it was also about what you did.  He as involved in the local church, in various different ministries, and with the Boy Scouts.  Until his body began to give out on him Grandpa tried to be as active as he could in the mission of the Church.

A second aspect of faith I think my Grandpa would want me to share is humility.  I remember having a two or three conversations with Grandpa Huff, my brother, and I as we talked about the church and ministry related issues.  One of the things which stood out to me was his willingness to step aside and allow his preferences to be overlooked in order to reach new people.  This attitude requires humility because one has to be willing to lay aside their rights and their likes to do what is best for the Kingdom.  The apostle Paul wrote;

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being (Philippians 2:5-7, NLT)

Following Jesus requires humility.

A third mark of faith would be taking time for people.  One of the best memories I have of my Grandpa Huff is that as I prepared to go to my first year of Boy Scout Camp I really wanted my Grandpa to go with me. He came up to Iowa from Kansas to spend a week with me at Boy Scout camp.  His willingness to do that meant a lot to me.  I am so thankful that even thought traveling was difficult for him that he made the trip to Austin for the wedding last summer.  Being a person of faith requires making time for people in the busy and hectic schedules we call life.

I am saddened my the passing of my Grandpa, but I also have hope.  During my time of reflecting on the life of my Grandpa Huff God gave me an image of Grandpa in his garden.  This image caused the tears that had been welling up in my eyes to come streaming down my cheeks.

My Heavenly Father is a Gardener.  When the earth was wild and untamed God parceled out a section of land, irrigated it with four rivers, and planted a garden.  God then created people to care for that garden, to be good stewards of what He had created. While we have not done a very good job at caring for creation, God has promised is that He will make all things new.

Grandpa Huff was a gardener and at the resurrection he will be placed in the glorious new heaven and new earth to act as a steward and a caretaker. As beautiful as his garden was it will be nothing compared to what it will be.  Even now I can picture him at work in the great magnificent garden God has prepared for him. Part of my hope is to work side by side with him in that wonderful place.

We Have Been Promised Life

A truth that is essential for us to remember is life has meaning.  It is difficult to remember this reality because the world elevates certain skills, careers, and achievements as important leaving most of us wallowing in a sense of meaningless.  We will spend our day living our lives through the achievements of others as we try to grab bits of meaning that we can.  I would bet that you have been in that place, just as I have, where you ask the question: Why am I here?

It is my belief that each and everyone of us has a purpose for our lives.  This purpose is discovered in the context of the great purpose God created humans to enjoy: to be stewards of His creation.  It is connected with the commission Jesus gave His followers: to go and make disciples.  It will flow out of our identity since it is linked to our passions, talents, and resources.  Make no mistake about it you and I have a purpose for our lives.

The apostle Paul understood that there was a purpose for his life.  This purpose is what drove Paul.  It was the reason that he endured hardships and faced persecution.  The purpose that Paul lived was to take the Good News of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles.  This is what Paul told the elders of Ephesus:

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God (Acts 20:24; NLT).

Paul derived his sense of purpose and meaning from the call Jesus had placed on his life.  This calling caused Paul to see himself as both God’s servant and Christ’s apostle.  Those are the titles Paul used when he wrote a letter of encouragement and instruction to his student Titus.  This is what Paul writes:

This letter is from Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I have been sent to proclaim faith to those God has chosen and to teach them to know the truth that shows them how to live godly lives. This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began. And now at just the right time he has revealed this message, which we announce to everyone. It is by the command of God our Savior that I have been entrusted with this work for him. 

I am writing to Titus, my true son in the faith that we share. 

May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior give you grace and peace (Titus 1:1-4; NLT).

Being a slave and an apostle Paul saw that his job was to help Christians to mature in their faith, to instruct them on what it means to live a righteous life, and to remind them of promise of God—eternal life. Before the world began God promised that those who follow Jesus will have eternal life. What a wonderful truth to remember: God has promised us life!  Not just existence, but life, eternal life.  This reality should fill us with hope.

Remember God has promised us eternal life and not eternal existence. Eternal existence does not inspire hope. We sometimes confuse the two, but existing isn't the same thing as living.  Why would we want an eternal existence of sickness, hardship, bills, confusion, fighting, and a host of other problems that crowd our days?  We wouldn’t.  Eternal life is much more than just passing the time from one day to the next.  To fill us with hope eternal life has to be more than just existing in time and space. We need to find hope in the promise of eternal life.

We don’t have a description of eternal life in this paragraph for Paul's letter to Titus, but Paul does say that eternal life is a promise from God.  A promise is only as good as the integrity of the person making the promise.  Why can we trust this promise?  We trust God's promise because He has provided evidence of this promise.  The message of eternal life, Paul says, had been entrusted to him.  This message Paul proclaimed centered on God’s grace as found in Christ Jesus.  Remember God's promise to Israel was that He would send a Messiah and that Messiah would set them free.  Thousands of years past between God’s initial promise and the coming of Jesus, but in His timing God did exactly what He promised He would do.  Jesus is the evidence we need so we can know that God will keep His promise of eternal life.

It is important for us to reflect on the promise of God and the life of Jesus.  The difficulties of life, even the mundane routine of life, have a way of robbing us of the hope of eternal life.  We can wonder: “Where is this eternal life?  If I am a new creation, why do I still feel like the old creation?”  Reflecting on God, His Word, His Son, and His promise will reorient our lives and fill our hearts with hope.  We need hearts full of hope if we are going to survive this life of existence with our faith intact.

Point to Ponder: Jesus is the evidence we need so we can know that God will keep His promise of eternal life.
Passage to Remember: Titus 1:1-4
Prayer to Pray: Father in Heaven, help me not to surrender to the despair of daily existence, but fill my heart with hope as I am reminded of Your great promise of eternal life found in Your Son Jesus.

From Evernote:

The Way of Obedience

The quest of our lives is to become the people God created us to be. This isn't an easy quest because there are many paths that we can travel on this pursuit, and yet only one path will lead us to our destination. If we are unwilling to follow this road we will miss out, not only on God, but also the life He created us to live.

Henry Blackaby in the workbook Experiencing God wrote:

God's commands are designed to guide you to life's very best. You will not obey Him, however, if you do not believe Him and trust Him. You cannot believe Him if you do not love Him. You cannot love Him unless you know Him (p. 63).

The road we are to travel is the road of obedience.

This quest to become the people God created us to be begins with our knowledge of who God is. We cannot love, trust, and obey God unless we first know Him. Knowledge is the foundation of faith. This is what the apostle Paul meant when he wrote:

But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! (Romans 10:14-15; ESV)

Without a knowledge of God it is impossible to have faith. And what is faith? This is the definition that I use: Faith is the combination of trust and action which is demonstrated by our obedience. Without faith there is no true obedience.

The great biblical example of faith is Abraham. In the land of Ur Abraham heard the call of God. How well did Abraham know God at this point in his life? I know that it has been suggested that at this time Abraham may have worshiped other gods rather than being a worshiper of the One True God. Blackaby in Created to be God's Friend makes this point; "To our knowledge, Abram was not seeking God; God was seeking him" (p. 16). In other words the beginning of this journey is actually found in God's desire to have a relationship with us and not in our desire to have a relationship with Him.

The revelation of God, found primarily in the Bible, provides us with the initial knowledge that we need to trust God and obey Him. This revelation provides us with enough knowledge to make that first step of faith, and as we continue to trust and obey God with our lives we begin to develop a deeper trust in Him.

The relationship Abraham had with God at the beginning was not very strong. Abraham knew God well enough to trust God to lead him to the Promised Land, but based on the biblical account we know that there were other areas of His life that Abraham did not trust God. With time and experience Abraham learned to trust and love God like few people in history have. At the end of his life Abraham knew God a whole lot better than he did when he first left Ur to follow God into the unknown.

The apostle John talks about the relationship between obedience and a relationship with God:

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (1 John 2:3-6; ESV)

The only way to know God and thus become the people God created us to be is to obey God. There is no other way that will happen. We can spend time talking about purpose and goals and self-improvement techniques, but if we don't turn to the Life-Maker we will miss out on life.

Since God is the Life-Maker He alone knows what brings purpose, meaning, and joy into our lives. As God's creation it is essential that we look to Him for the directions we need for life. Part of those instructions are found in the Bible. As we begin this journey to become the people God created us to be we need to rely heavily on the wisdom we discover on the pages of Scripture. As we mature and gain experience with God we will begin to rely on prayer and other Christians to provide the wisdom that we need to discern God's will for our lives. As we surrender our lives to God's will in obedience we begin to catch glimpses of the person God created us to be.

It is by traveling the road of obedience we not only discover who we are, but we also begin to discover more about who God is. Only as we obey God do we begin to experience Him at work in the world around us as He transforms our hearts. It is this experience which helps us understand God's heart and thus we are brought a little closer to Him.

The Moldy Bread Deception

In Joshua 9 we read the account of the Gibeonites, a Canaanite tribe, who deceived Israel in order to enter into a covenant (a treaty), because the Gibeonites feared Israel.  These people had heard what God had done in Eygpt, they had been told that God had given Israel their land, and the stories of the destruction of Jericho and Ai were still very fresh in their minds. Naturally the Gibeonites did not want to be next. 

Rather than engaging the Israelites in battle, which they determined would be futile, they devised a plan to trick Israel.  The Gibeonite plan was to dress up ambassadors to make it appear that they had traveled a great distance.  The charade included moldy bread and torn wineskins to give the deception credibility.  Apparently they understood that God made allowances for Israel to enter into alliances with distant countries, but not with the people who lived in Canaan.  The Gibeonites hoped to survive by deceiving Israel.

Joshua and the leaders of Israel did fall for the ruse and entered into a treaty with the Gibeonites, a treaty they honored in spite of the deception on the Gibeonites part.  The Israelites allowed the appearance of things to distract them from reality. This is the description we find in Joshua; So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord (Joshua 9:14; NLT).  When we follow common sense or what appears to be true to our five sense there is a chance that we will be deceived.

I believe that as Christians we are vulnerable to make alliances with people and parties that we have no business with making an allegiance with.  One of those allegiances I think we get sucked into is the allegiance to politics. Sometimes this has to do with a political party, and other times it has to do with a particular candidate or an agenda.  The result is that we are distracted from what God has called us to do as we put time and effort into something that is of less importance.

The last presidential election cycle there were many Christians who have been deceived by Presidcent Obama's moldy bread rhetoric of hope and change.  They believed that this man would usher in change and bring hope to people.  Let's be honest, that was nothing more than political rhetoric, and after nearly four years of President Obama we realize very little has changed.

True hope and change doesn't happen through the policies of government, but through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jesus brings hope and change to people regardless of the type of government they live under.  Change that brings living hope is only found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not a politician who is able to make more promises than what he can keep.

Other Christians have been distracted by conservative promises of pro-life and pro-marriage platforms.  There is nothing more precious in this world than human life, and we need to fight for it, but we should have learned by now politics is a poor vehicle to make that happen.  The Republican party, despite of what they may say, is more interested in being in power than in protecting life.  If they can make a promise to secure your vote then they will do it.  When we get deceived by the moldy bread of a political party we will give them our allegiance and give time and money to get the "right" people elected and miss out on really touching the lives of other people.  The greatest thing that we as Christians can do to stop abortion and end the charade that is homosexual marriage is to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the lives of other people.  As the truth changes their lives, so will their views on life.

God has given us a great opportunity in this country to be able to participate in the political process.  I think it is something that we need to stay informed on and to vote when we have the opportunity.  I also think that it is dangerous to give our allegiance to a party or a candidate.  The greatest hope this country has is the Gospel on Jesus Christ, which has the power to change the hearts of people.  Our allegiance must be to Jesus before anything else. 

If Only...

A battle that I constantly fight with myself is this attitude of “If I only....”  I believe that most people at one time or another has experienced this.  “If I only had musical ability I would do a special on Sunday.” or “If I only made $100,000, then I would tithe.”  Hopefully you see my point.  Too often we focus on what we don’t have rather than doing the best with what we do have.  We write up our failures and our lack of effort to the fact that we don’t have this or that.

Many times as we look around the Church and our local church families we see all sorts of things that could be done.  What keeps us from making changes is this idea: “If we only...”  Sure it would be nice if money wasn’t an issue, if we had the time and the personnel to do all these great and wonderful things, or if tradition wouldn't tie our hands, but wishing doesn’t make it happen.

There is a lesson from the Bible that we can apply here.  Jesus told a parable about a rich man who went off on a long journey.  Before going on that journey the man called three of his servants together.  To each of these men he gives a sum of money.  The first he gives five talents, to the second two talents, and to the third one talent.  You know the story, the man is gone for a long time, but the servants do different things with their money.  The first two invest it and double the money they had been given and the third one buries his for safe keeping.  When the man comes back he is pleased with the first two but is furious with the last one.

One lesson that we can take from this parable, found in Matthew 25:14-30, is a simple one.  We recognize that God has blessed each one of us differently, and therefore He doesn’t expect us to be alike.  What God does expect is that we use the talents and the blessings He has given us to build His kingdom.  We don’t need to be worrying about what we don’t have, because God has provided us with the things we need to impact the people we know and make a difference in the place we live.

Don’t start playing the, “If I only..” game.  Instead think about what God has given you, and use that to the best of your ability.  Pursue excellence, and when we do, we will discover that we can do so much with what we already have.

Don't Surrender to Fear

The tasks God calls us to are often scary and overwhelming.  We know that if completing the tasks depended solely upon us then they will remain unfinished.  Joshua must have felt that same way when he was called to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 31:7-8:

Then Moses called out to Joshua in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you will accompany these people to the land that the LORD promised to give their ancestors, and you will enable them to inherit it. The LORD is indeed going before you - he will be with you; he will not fail you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged!" (NET)

Moses had been the leader of Israel for 40 years and he understood the difficulties that were involved with the task, so he urges Joshua to be strong and courageous.  Moses reminds Joshua that he can be confident in the task because God would go with him.

Deuteronomy 31:22, 23:

So on that day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites, and the LORD commissioned Joshua son of Nun, "Be strong and courageous, for you will take the Israelites to the land I have promised them, and I will be with you." (NET)

Before the chapter ends in Deuteronomy Joshua is again urged to be strong and courageous, but this time the encouragement comes directly from God.  Joshua wasn't appointed for the task by Moses, but by God, and God tells Joshua that he can boldly lead the people into the Promised Land because God will go with Him.  What a great encouragement!

Joshua 1:6-9:

"Be strong and brave! You must lead these people in the conquest of this land that I solemnly promised their ancestors I would hand over to them.  Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do. This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful. I repeat, be strong and brave! Don't be afraid and don't panic, for I, the LORD your God, am with you in all you do."  (NET)

On the eve of venturing into the Promised Land God again comes to Joshua and affirms the promise that he had been given.  Joshua could be strong and brave because God went with him.  Yet we discover here that God gave Joshua some advice on how to be strong and courageous: to know and obey the law.  God had established a covenant with Israel, and as Israel's leader Joshua was charged with helping Israel to obey the terms of that covenant.  So it was essential that Joshua knew, obeyed, and ultimately modeled those terms to the nation.  It was Joshua's faithfulness to God, as demonstrated by keeping the terms of the covenant, that Joshua could be certain that God would be with him each step of the way.

2 Timothy 1:6-8:

Because of this I remind you to rekindle God's gift that you possess through the laying on of my hands.  For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, a prisoner for his sake, but by God's power accept your share of suffering for the gospel (NET).

Timothy had been given a task to do.  It was based on the talents and spiritual gifts that God had blessed him with, but there was a part of him that wanted to hold back.  If he was to accomplish his God-given mission meant that he would face persecution and opposition.  Paul reminded Timothy that God's Spirit fills us with courage and boldness so that he can have the strength to accomplish what God had called him to do.

As followers of Jesus we are not to surrender to our fears.  We are to go forth in courage and do what we have been called to do, to keep the terms of the New Covenant: Love God and love people.  Yes we will face opposition, but when we surrender to God He will enable us to accomplish what He as called us to do.  He will give us the strength to be faithful to the end.

We can go confidently into the world because we know that God goes with us.  He has enabled us, through His Spirit, to be the strong and courageous people He called us to be.

More Than a Personal Relationship

{Galatians 6:1-3, 10; ESV}

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself...So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. 

We like to talk about having a personal relationship with God. In many aspects it is personal. In Galatians 4:6 the Apostle Paul writes; And because you Gentiles have become his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father (NLT). Paul is talking about a relationship that is both real and personal. Paul also reminds us in Galatians 6:5; For we are each responsible for our own conduct (NLT). No one else can have this relationship for us; it is something that must be our own choice.

There is a personal aspect of having a relationship with God, but God never intended for us to be alone in this relationship. We are surrounded by people with whom have a relationship with God. We are to help each other as we live in relationship to God.

It is so easy to become concerned about our relationship with God, or at best a few other people we are close to, and neglect other people. We think that our “spiritual lives” are a private aspect of our lives and that it is improper to trespass on another’s relationship with God. We do this at the determent of the Church.

Sure it is uncomfortable to talk with another about something we believe is so private and personal. Since it is uncomfortable we should get the hint that it is important to do. Satan has great success when he gets us to believe that we have to struggle through life alone. When we are isolated we have a greater chance of falling.

It seems to me that Paul is urging Christians to be involved in each other’s lives. We shouldn’t let a person drift away for our local congregations without providing assistance. We shouldn’t think that this is just the job of paid Church Staff, but be willing to befriend anyone who seems to be in need. We should be willing to share stories of how God is working in our lives and the difference He has made. We should accept the help for other Christians rather than isolating ourselves for the Church when things aren’t going the way they should.

Christianity isn’t just about having a personal relationship with God, but it is also about getting involved in the lives of other Christians. If we are just focused on our relationship with God and neglect other people we reveal that we are still very selfish. By getting involved in the lives of others we are able to learn humility and compassion, two essential characteristics of a mature Christian.

I want to challenge you to get involved in the lives of other people. Maybe you need to be part of a small group, perhaps you need to teach a class, maybe you need to get to know a person in the nursing home, or perhaps there is a teenager at Church you could befriend. The ways for you to get involved are limitless and what you do is less important than you going out and doing it. Having a relationship with God requires us to have relationships with other people.

The Fruit of the Spirit is...

LIFE.

In January I preached a sermon, The Fruit of Life, on Galatians 5:16-26, and in that sermon I contended that the fruit of the Spirit is life and the nine virtues were adjectives describing that life.  This reasoning was based on the fact that in Galatians 5:21 when Paul writes;  Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God (NLT).  So when our lives are described by the works of the flesh then we are not living the true and eternal life God has promised to those who follow Jesus.

It is also based on the fact that the word fruit in verse 22 is singular:

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (NLT)

So Paul isn't talking about the various fruits the Spirit produces in our lives, but he is describing the ONE fruit that is produced in our lives.  Now it is true that each of us will have these qualities to varying degrees as the Holy Spirit transforms our hearts and changes the direction of our lives, but each of them must be present if we have truly inherited the full abundant life God desires us to live.

Yesterday for my Bible reading I read through the book of Galatians and in chapter 6 I saw something that I missed before, but further validates my thinking.  In verse 8 Paul writes; Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit (NLT).  According to the apostle Paul the harvest that we reap when we follow the Spirit is LIFE.

Why is this important?  I think it is important because it reminds us that God is interested in us becoming a certain type of person and that transformation process depends on the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.  We cannot manufacture eternal life, it is something that God must give to us through His spirit.

Don't Let Life Slip Away

As I grow older the more aware I am of the passing moments of life.  The younger you are the easier it is to put things off by saying, "I will do it tomorrow".   With each passing day time slips through our fingers.  We have to remember that we only have a limited supply of tomorrows, and we don't know when they will run out.  The good intentions that we have will remain undone if we don't begin to make an effort to accomplish them..

We all have dreams, goals, and passions that we would like to accomplish.  Maybe you want to start improving the relationship you have with a distant brother/sister or maybe start to pursue a romantic relationship.  Perhaps you want to write a book or go back to college.  Maybe you want to change careers or start your own business.  Perhaps you want to serve God in a new capacity or go on some type of missions trip.  We will not accomplish any of it unless we put forth the effort to accomplish them.

Tomorrow will not be any less busy than today is. We can be certain that tomorrow will bring with it a new set of troubles and expectations.  The only way to achieve the good we wish to accomplish today is to start taking the steps we need to do in order to accomplish our dreams and goals.  Sooner or later we will realize that tomorrow will not come and the chances we had in the past are now forever lost.

The big problem I face in this process is the lure of entertainment.  It is so easy to get sucked into watching that next TV show we were told we couldn't miss or to watch the latest movies releases so we can have something to talk about with our friends and family.

The hours spent watching TV shows, movies, playing video games, and surfing the net are hours that we could have spent doing something productive.  Entertainment keeps us from using the blessings God has given us when we allow it to consume our lives.  I am not saying the entertainment is evil, what I am saying is that when we allow the entertainment industry to consume us we waste the time, money, and talents God has blessed us with.  We have to realize that one of the victims of our over indulgence of entertainment and other distractions are the good intentions of our lives.  Lost are the relationships we wanted to cultivate, the projects we wanted to complete, and the people we wanted to help.

In the book of Hebrews we read:

Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.  Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near (Hebrews 10:23-25; NLT).

There are two points I would like to draw from this passage in Hebrews.  First we are to encourage each other "to outbursts of love and good deeds"  It so much easier to accomplish the good we intend to do if we have people in our lives encouraging us to do the right thing rather than enabling us to waste the time God has granted.  if we do not have people in our corner urging us on is so easy just to be swept along by the current of everyday demands.  Encouragement is needed if we are going to make good on the intentions that we have.

There is is a flip side to this as well.  If we expect encouragement then it is very important that we offer encouragement.  We cannot expect from others what we are not willing to give.  I believe that was we get involved in the lives of other people we will find ourselves being more intentional with the way we use our time.

Second point is "that the day of his coming back is drawing near".  Jesus never gave us a blue print by which we are to map His return.  The "signs" that so many point to are so general that they can apply to almost any age, and as we look at history we will notice that they have been.  That doesn't mean the Jesus isn't coming back, but it does mean that we can't predict when He will return.  Even if Jesus doesn't come back in our lifetime (though I have a belief in my heart that He will) we still have the fact that with each passing day our death becomes more of a reality.  We can only put things off for so long before time and death catches up to us.  Then it will not matter what our good intentions were because they have simply remained intentions.

We can intend to do good all we want, but if we never start to work toward accomplishing them they won't mean a thing.  Unlike in gift giving it is not the thought that counts.  It comes down to whether or not we will use what God has given us to accomplish the good works that He has called us to do.  What are you doing to accomplish the good you want to do?