Getting ready

I work for a company where the attire is "business professional". Every day, whether I feel like it or not, I have to have a long sleeved shirt that's ironed, a tie, pants with a nice crease in them, dress socks, polished dress shoes and a blazer or jacket ready just in case.

There are days when I don't feel like going through the preparation... I think about taking a vacation day, but I get ready anyway - go to work... and do what I'm supposed to do.

Why? To serve my earthy boss for the reward of a paycheck.

On the other hand, when it comes to my Christian faith, there are times when I just don't feel like going through the process. I don't feel like picking up my Bible and reading what it says. I may not feel like praying. I don't feel like sharing my faith with others.

Why is it easier to take a "vacation day" from Christianity than it is to take a vacation day from work?

I'm not sure... maybe it's in how we view our reward... or should I say, our confidence in our reward.

I think, from this day forward, I'll make it a point to properly prepare...

Hebrews 10:35-36
King James Version
 35Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
 36For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

It's okay to be the weakest link...

For those of us that struggle to be the best Christian that we can be, we generally look at ourselves as being the weakest link. So many times we look at those around us and feel like they are much better Christians than we are and they never have a crisis of faith.

A few years ago, I was sitting around a table with a Pastor and elders in a church and I was telling them that I was frustrated. Frustrated because we, as Christians, frequently don’t share our struggles with each other – and if we aren’t transparent with each other, we’ll never be able to have the kind of fellowship that is required to be able to really help each other out when we do have struggles.

The entire table chuckled nervously.

Then the pastor said… “Brother, we’re all like this table. We have this thin veneer that looks like a strong wood that covers all the cracks and imperfections underneath. We’re just not comfortable sharing our faults.”

Wow.

I have weaknesses. Sometimes I’m ashamed to admit that I do, but they are there. But, I have learned that when you admit your weaknesses, there are people that will pray for you, encourage you, and God will strengthen you.

We have to remember that Satan is called the “accuser of the brothers/sisters” (Revelation 12:10). If he can make you think you’re the weakest link, embarrass you, or make you think that you are unworthy, then you won’t seek out fellow Christians for encouragement, and even worse, you won’t seek the face of a loving God who wants you to be your best and is willing to help you become all that he knows you can be.

At some point, we have to realize that through God’s grace and his Spirit, we can make it, even if it’s a difficult struggle.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
9 But he said to me, "My grace is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak."
   So I am very happy to brag about how weak I am. Then Christ's power can rest on me. 10 Because of how I suffered for Christ, I'm glad that I am weak. I am glad in hard times. I am glad when people say mean things about me. I am glad when things are difficult. And I am glad when people make me suffer. When I am weak, I am strong.

Faith... yeah, I struggle too...

Faith is a tricky thing. In the lives of all Christians there comes a point in time where we really want something badly. So we close our eyes, clench our hands together and we pray with all the fervor we can muster… and then? Nothing happens.

We cycle through this again and again, and then we resign ourselves to the fact that we have faith that God exists… and somehow, that is enough.

But the question that I always ask is: “What do you have faith in?”

Abraham had faith that God told him he would be a father of many nations. Even when he was old, and his wife was barren, he held on to that promise and as a result – we all benefit from that promise.

God told Joshua that he would give the people the city of Jericho and all they had to do was march around the walls. They did, and the walls fell.

God told Elijah that it wasn’t going to rain and to go to a brook called Cherith where God sustained him.

Jesus told Peter that he could walk on water… and he did! … until he had a lapse of faith.

Jesus put clay on one man’s eyes and told him to wash his face in the pool of Siloam, he did and received his sight.

I could go on with many more accounts, but the way I read it in the Bible, we’re supposed to have faith in what God tells us – what he assigns us to do as we have fellowship in him through grace and empowered by his Holy Spirit.

He wants to set us right with him… make us fit for him… follow HIS plans… and in order to do that, we must listen to his voice and have faith that we will accomplish what HE wills for us.

Romans 5

 1-2By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

 3-5There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

How do I do better? Part II

God has given us his grace, and He has given us His Spirit. What exactly does that mean, anyway?

Romans 8:15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us - an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

That's pretty awesome. Once we accept Jesus as our savior, God takes up residence in us. So... when we experience his grace - His voice, communicates with us and His Spirit inside of us is there to help us accomplish doing what is right.

Think about it for a moment. Most of us, when we're in the presence of our Christian friends act more "Christian" than when we're by ourselves. What we don't realize all the time is that God is there... with us... all the time

.Do we neglect this gift? Do we make the most of it? I like this video... it kind of sums up how I am a lot of the time.

So, my current prayer - as I struggle to do better is

Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God's own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christs from evil and the consequences of sin).

How do I "do better"?

It is hard to live a Christian life. It's so much easier to take the path of least resistance. The problem is, once we've taken the path of least resistance for so long, it's hard to get back on the right path.

Matt 7:13-14 "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, those who find it are few."

 Fortunately, God has given us 2 things to help us along the way. If we don't neglect them we'll be able to "do better." The first thing that he has given us is GRACE.

What is grace anyway?

Grace is

the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues

Or... as Strongs Concordance describes it:

the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in life

I like to think of it this way... it's that small voice that you hear whispering in your ear that encourages you to do the right thing. It's the voice that we often ignore. The question is... what would happen if we listened to that voice when it encouraged us to follow our Christian values? Would it grow louder? Would we be able to recognize it more? If we ignore it, will it eventually go away or grow so faint that we won't be able to hear it?

In my life, I plan on striving to humble myself to God's grace in my life.

James 4:6-7 But He give us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this even tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it). So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.

 Note: We talked about being subject (a willing slave) to God yesterday... notice a trend?

Talk is cheap...

I was watching the trailer for Courageous, the latest movie by Sherwood Films, the church based movie production company that brought us the movie Fireproof, and a thought came to mind: 

It takes more than words... it takes conviction.

I have heard people say "God knows my heart." They usually say that when they've messed up in some way and they're feeling a little guilty about it. The thing is... God does know your heart. This reminds me of something that my Dad would say: "Man is the only creature capable of lying to himself." 

It's true, we do lie to ourselves and look at our own lives with forgiveness... but what if we didn't lie to ourselves. How would our life change if we really held ourselves to a higher standard? What if... our Christianity became more than words, but we lived it out with conviction?

If we judged our own actions against the words that we say, what would we find? Or better yet, if we prayed the words of Psalm 139 - would we trust God to guide us on the road to eternal life? He would, the question is... would we follow.

Ps 139:23-25 Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me;

Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I'm about;

See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong - 

then guide me on the road to eternal life.

Caution, Tripping Hazard!

One of the things that trips Christians up is that we... occasionally trip and sin. This starts this wild spiral into being a "carnal Christian*." It seems that we have been taught that once you come to God, everything is pie in the sky. We quote scriptures like "...anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Cor 5:17 NLT)

That is true. We have become a new person, in this way - we have decided to let God have rule in our lives. Here's where most of us trip and fall: We still have to willingly submit ourselves to his rule.


That's not an easy thing to do. Sometimes it's a struggle to do what's right. As Paul says in Romans, we can either be unwilling slaves of sin, where we don't even think about what we do... we just do it because we no longer question the destructive bondage that we live under... or we can be willing slaves of God - who chose to do things according to his way.

See, that's an area that we kind of gloss over in Christianity today. We say - "we have grace" and use it as an excuse to not live up to Gods standards, when in his word he asks us to submit ourselves to him even as a slave submits himself to his master.

We like to act like sons/daughters who have our inheritance now and we're running wild doing anything we want. The problem is, we're still not "home" and the way we represent our "Father" isn't bringing him any glory, just shame to the family name.

Anyway... I guess my thought for the day is... if you don't want to trip and fall into sin, you must actively watch where you're going.

Romans 6:16-18

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

¹⁶Don't you know that you are slaves of anyone you obey? You can be slaves of sin and die, or you can be obedient slaves of God and be acceptable to him. ¹⁷You used to be slaves of sin. But I thank God that with all your heart you obeyed the teaching you received from me. ¹⁸Now you are set free from sin and are slaves who please God.

*A carnal Christian is a Christian that is still guided by the flesh and not by the Spirit of God.

Obedience is better than sacrifice

I remember when my first born son was about 3 years old. I use to tell him that obedience was better than sacrifice. If he listened to what I said, all would be well, but if he didn't - he would have to sacrifice something - whether that be in the form of a spanking, time out, not being able to do something.

One day, we were riding in the car and it clicked. He was in the back seat saying "obedience IS better than sacrifice."

At 3 years old, he got it.

The problem is, in today's society, we don't think much about sacrifice. We offer lip service in the form of "God if you do this for me, I will/won't do ..." in hopes of buying favor by some action that we will/won't do.

All God really wants is for us to obey what he says.

We want to do things our own way. Some people call it what it is... rebellion. Others call it their own stubbornness. Either way, in the eyes of God, it's all the same.

1 Samuel 15: ²²And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
 ²³For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

If you get a chance, take 10 minutes out of your day, read the 1 Samuel 15. Meditate on it...

Who am I?

So... who am I, and why should you read a random blog about living Christlike from an anonymous stranger on the web that you know nothing about? That's easy... because you stumbled across this blog for a reason. Maybe there's this hunger burning inside you for... more.

I am not some great theologian. I am a lay person that struggles with his faith on a regular basis. I have been following Christ my whole life, but one if the things that I have learned over the past 6 months is an ever increasing need for an understanding of the grace of God.

So... that's what I'm going to do in the blog. Write about my struggle to live life in a manner that is pleasing to God. I'm not about a doctrine, a denomination, or even a Bible version. I'm all about reading what the Bible says in its historical context and living life in a way that makes a difference.

In short... I'm not looking for you to follow me. I'm hoping that you follow Christ, without making excuses. After all, that's what it's all about, right?