Truth in Faith

I’m often interested to know how people address God when beginning their day.  The reality is God is always there when we get up in the morning, whether we realize it or not – He is there and desires to lead us throughout our day.  That being true, everything we do addresses God in some way.

I know some people who won’t open their eyes or get out of bed until they have recited Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, 
he refreshes my soul. 
He guides me along the right paths 
 for his name’s sake. 
Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, 
    for you are with me; 
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; 
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

I know others who say a simple prayer, perhaps reciting Psalm 31:5 to God.

Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.

I know many people who start their day with God via prayer in the shower or a prayer thanking God for this day and asking for His guidance as they eat their breakfast.

I know some who recite the Lord’s Prayer as they begin their day.

I know others who address God as they set out to run in the morning.  Actually, what an amazing way to spend quality time with God!!!

I personally do a bit of everything (out of lack of discipline).  But I am very specific to always “prime” my day with prayer to God (sometimes while still in bed, sometimes when I get downstairs before making my much-needed coffee) and reading Scripture (whether a specific passage, series of chapters in a book, jumping between books etc…).

There is absolutely no right answer here.  However, we must remember we are always in the presence of God when we begin our day – whether we address Him through prayer, by pretending He isn’t there, reading His Word or asking for His guidance.

So, I ask again – how do you begin your day in the presence of God?

I heard of the following story from a friend and it peaked my interest!

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things–your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions–and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else–the small stuff. “If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

“Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first–the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

As the professor said above “The rest is sand”. That is very meaningful!! Jesus said (Matthew 7:26) that the one who heard His words, yet didn’t put them into practice, is like one who built his house on the sand. When your house (your life, trust, faith…your everything) is built on the sand (the temporary and fleeting aspects of life – success, popularity, wealth, luxuries, yourself) it will most certainly be artificially consumed by these trivial things. When this is the case, your life will slip through your hands before you even know it. Trust me, I know….mine was slipping, before I gave it to Christ!

So, where have you built your house or do you struggle with being distracted by the “sand” of life? Make a decision – make a change – allow God to fill up your empty jar!

Each of us are thrust into our day with so much force and before we know it, the day is going and the moments are just racing by.  That is my experience, at least.  Taking a moment to look around can be of great value.

Our lives appear a bit differently when we are observing from the warp speed we find ourselves going.  When we slow down, do our lives and our surroundings look the same?

Leo Tolstoy said it well:

In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.

So, look around!  Perhaps you’ll be surprised at what you see….

Recently I wrote of the idea of articulating a “life is too short to…..” list, which came from the book, Embracing the Love of God: the Path and Promise of the Christian Life by James Bryan Smith.  I come back to this idea (with a twist) this morning, as I want to remind myself of how to live this life.  What about a “life is too short NOT to…” list?  See, the days we have are too short and the years are fleeting.  I was reminded of this as I attended a funeral this past weekend.  The funeral was for a long-time lay leader within our church, a leader out in the community, a great guy and a very special family man and committed follower of Jesus Christ.

During the funeral, they scrolled through pictures from the man’s life.  He lived a truly blessed life with a great family of three kids, grand-kids and a beautiful wife.  A few of the pictures struck me and sent me into tears (if you’ve read my blog for any time, you may recognize tears come too easily to me).  The pictures were of this man holding each of his three children when they were babies.  That just struck too close to home for me and opened up my emotions.  The pictures were similar to something like these:

Today, I focus on contributing to my “life is too short NOT to….” list, in hopes of focusing my heart, my soul, my mind and my strength on God and His ways for my life.  So:

My life is too short NOT to…..

go on long walks with Jackson and Jamie

take breaks during the work day to laugh with Jackson and hug him

kiss Jamie and tell her I love her

send a friend a note

share the love of Christ with someone in need

sit outside and just watch the sun set

pray for everything and everyone

sit quietly and read the Bible

stare out the window for a long period of time, just observing nature

call my grandma

go smell a rose

go to church

say hello to a stranger at the grocery store

go for a walk in the rain and not care about getting wet

What is on your list?

I spent much of this weekend reflecting on the nature of God.  Sometimes I find myself confused and/or I find others are confused about the nature of God.  My story is that I spent the first 28 years of my life focusing on myself, my ambitions, my strengths and/or weaknesses, my pleasures, my misfortunes, my finances, my hurts, my wins, my pains.  I spent the first 28 years of my life hoping in the all things seen and in things humanly and in MYSELF.

I didn’t have a faith, nor did I know the nature of God with my heart and with my mind and with my soul.  I didn’t love God and I certainly had no interest in loving His Son Jesus Christ.  I was the poster child for those who are completely obstinate in the way of fighting against the Christian faith.

Actually, here is my story.  My church made a video to showcase the life transformation seen within a member of our congregation this past fall.  Now I am part of a big church, 18,000+ members.  Somebody told somebody, who told somebody else about this goofball guy who gave his life over to Christ and has seen his life do a complete 180 and that is me!  I’m that goofball guy and here is my story as told via the video:

I share this video to reflect on the nature of God and make a few statements.  This video is about God’s plan and never-ending chase after each of us.  In understanding who we are , we must know of God.

God is faithful.
Take my story, He stood with me for 28 years.  When I was at the end of my road, He scooped up His child and set me free toward life.  Even when I had been completely faithless.

God is patient.
We won’t live perfect lives.  He knows this and Jesus died because God knows this world is an imperfect place.  He came here. He knows!!

God is jealous.
Re-frame the way you think of jealousy perhaps.  God desires to have our fullest commitment, every ounce of our love.  He desires our radical abandonment from the things of this world, for Him!  He is jealous to use our lives to broadcast His nature and love.

So, what is your story?  Will you let God re-write it???

Let me preface today’s post by saying, I’m not God – None of us are! It is my belief that we have no right to cast definitive judgement upon our fellow brothers and sisters, calling them wicked and making man-made laws around how/if they can join in marriage.

That said, North Carolina voted to ban same-sex marriage earlier this week via Amendment 1. This ultimately just makes me very sad. It is a sad day, when we willingly and intentionally deny others their freedom and attempt to play God.

Now some point to Scripture as their reasoning for a vote against same-sex marriage. For those doing that, I would ask if they are Biblical literalists across their application of the Bible to all areas of life??? Are those who use Scripture to reason against same-sex marriage also against women’s rights within the church, according to 1 Timothy, chapter 2 or is that just a matter of the contextual environment of that era? I can’t say with 100% confidence I’m right or anyone else is right in the application of Scripture, only God is right. I think that could be an interesting conversation to have and I think it’s healthy to understand all sides and others views before we try to cast judgement. Is that wrong?

Anyhow, I see a picture like the one above and it makes me sick and sad. I think of freedom movements of the past and I really can’t believe that Jesus Christ – our Lord and our God, would support a stance like this. I believe he would take those seeking the given right to marry into His loving arms, with awesome compassion and care. I believe He would simply love them for who they are – His creation!

I wonder if we will look back 30, 50 or 100 years from now and wonder how this ever happened. We don’t know that, ONLY God does!!!

Many who seek God become confused when they begin to live a life of Christian faith.  The confusion comes when we read the Bible, when we interact with others and wonder whether we should or should not wear our “Christian” flag on our sleeve for others to see, when we begin to care for others, when we pray etc…

This confuse is centered in questions like – “What is God actually calling me to do?  How does He want me to live and apply the Bible to my life day in and day out?  What should I do with my day?  How should I treat this person, in this circumstance or that?”  

Amid the fog, Christ has given us a simple, yet very specific answer of summary regarding how to live!

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:36-38, bold emphasis added)

Whoever you are and wherever you are, you can find great confidence in boiling everything in your life down to this.  Love God and Love others!  If can do the loving thing in all circumstances, you are living for God!  Christ has eliminated the need for confusion and we must stand firm in Him!

God bless you and your family today and always.

This is a real and legitimate question.  Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard continues to challenge me and send me running toward God, while questioning my motives and spiritual formation.

Regarding the question posed in the title of this post, here is some perspective from author Philip Yancey, as he wrote in Christianity Today on July 10, 2000:

The historian of Alcoholics Anonymous titled his work Not-God because, he said, that stands as the most important hurdle an addicted person must surmount; to acknowledge, deep in the soul, not being God.  No mastery of manipulation and control, at which alcoholics excel, can overcome the root problem, rather, the alcoholic must recognize individual helplessness and fall back in the arms of the Higher Power.  ”First of all, we had to quit playing God,” concluded the founders of AA; and then allow God himself to “play God” in the addict’s life, which involves daily, even moment-by-moment, surrender.

There has been a knowledge of God and/or understanding of Him among all peoples…basically forever.  But consistently people have become displeased with God having his place of power, because if He is running the universe (running the show) we consequently aren’t!  As Willard says, “God being God offends human pride.”

So I could take this and really spin it around with words and ideas.  I’m going to refrain from doing that today.  One simple question:

Does God being God and having all of the power in the universe offend you/me?

I’ve had an iPhone for a bit over a year now.  Like the majority of iPhone carriers, I have it in a nice neat case for protection.  I mean come on; if I were to drop and break it I would be out $400+….right?  And I don’t want it to get scratches, nicks, dings or any type of blemish.  I want to keep my iPhone looking nice and new and pretty, just like when I first got the phone.

My iPhone was wearing it’s third case, when that one broke last week.  However when that happened, I remembered what my friend Jerry has said about putting a case on an Apple device.  He won’t put his iPhone, iPod etc… in a case because he loves the feel of the phone.  Paraphrasing his words, “It’s a device of beauty and he wants to enjoy the feel of the phone, the texture and the curvatures.”

Upon my iPhone case breaking and remembering Jerry’s words, this got me thinking.  There is a similarity between the way I’ve been protecting my iPhone and the way I (and many of us) often put a case around our lives, out of fear and worry.

Many of us live in a constant state of fear over: our jobs, our finances, our wealth, our reputations, our health and everything else we are told to fret over.  Consequently, fear corrodes our confidence in God and His mighty power to sustain us and fear drains the joy from our lives.  Therefore, we insulate ourselves from the world, from others.  Like the iPhone, we put a protective case around our lives…believing it will protect us from the scratches, dings, nicks and dents of life.

Jesus said it perfectly, “Take courage, I am here.” (Matthew 14:27).  Because that is always true, we need not worry or attempt to insulate our lives.  Just as Jerry believes he can feel the contours of the iPhone, thus enjoy it much more than if it were in a case; God knows we will enjoy this life and it’s offerings so much more if we allow ourselves to truly consume this life without a barrier or case of fear and worry.  He knows how much we can find joy in this life and feel the texture, contours and depth of life we are meant to experience!

So, currently I’m enjoying a case-less iPhone.  I may put a case on it at some point (with kids, you kind of have to I guess), but God has opened my eyes.  He has opened my eyes to a way of life, where I can life freely by putting my trust and my faith in Him and Him alone.

God wants us to live richly in Him, not in a case of fear.  The choice is ours!

I was going to write about something else today, but I had to seize this opportunity.  My friend Bryan shared with me something from Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard [awesome book about personal spiritual transformation - really a great book!].    The something, is Willard’s explanation of God’s grace and what it means for our lives.  This really tipped my head and heart upside down when I first read it.  This is a complete 180 from the way I think.  See the yellow underlined sentence in the scan of the book pages below.

My thinking says the more I need grace, the weaker I am!  My thinking says the more I need God to cover over me and pour out grace, the slower I am progressing as a disciple of Christ.  My thinking…

Wait, my thinking is all wrong!