Swallow your pride, Jesus still wants to be in relationship with you...

I have a friend... well... I had a friend until "the events" happened. The events were really stupid, if you want to know the truth. We were planning on watching an MMA fight together at my house - and split the cost for the rental. He didn't show up.

Then, we planned a golf outing - never happened.

Finally, we planned to watch another MMA fight, and split the cost... and another no show.

I eventually had to walk away from the friendship, but the truth is, he's a good Christian brother. If he ever came by and apologized, I'm sure we could pick up where we left off.

I think this is interesting because our relationship with God is pretty much the same way. We go to church, we read our Bible, we pray... then all of a sudden life gets in the way and we become ashamed and we become afraid to approach God again, so we drift away.

But... God has demonstrated that He is willing to reach out to use if we just swallow our pride.

Look at Peter. When Jesus was going to be crucified, Peter denied knowing Him. 3 times!

What did Jesus do? Jesus approached Peter - here's the dialog:


When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
(John 21:15-19 ESV)

In the end, Jesus wants us to follow Him. Let us struggle to embrace this message in our own lives, and share it with others. After all, we are entering the season when Jesus came down to prepare to be a sacrifice for our sins. Let's share this with those around us.

Faith is a tricky thing...

I remember when I was younger reading about how Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, and how he stepped out of the boat and walked with Jesus until he "saw the wind" became scared and started to sink. I remember thinking to myself how surely I had more faith than Peter and that I would never sink if that were me.

The next time I was at a pool. I looked at the water, summoned all the faith that I had, walked towards the edge of the water and without wavering, I firmly placed my foot through the water, falling forward into the pool.

True story.

I was thinking about this because I was talking with the 9th graders that I work with at church. For weeks they had been talking about a new video game that was coming out - HALO 4. I went around and asked them to tell me something exciting about HALO, and their enthusiasm was evident.

We went around the circle again, but the question was "tell me something that you find exciting about Jesus. I barely got a line out of them. When asked why, the open/honest ones replied "You can see HALO 4, and interact with it."

These aren't kids who just came off the street. These are kids who have been in church most of their life and are struggling with a crisis of faith.

Faith is more than a mental understanding of what the Bible says, and it can't be poured into you from someone else. For years we've heard people say:

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God Romans 8:17

But if you read further, you see that Israel heard AND they saw, but they still turned out to be a rebellious people.

And that... is the tricky thing about faith. Faith does come by hearing... hearing the word of God and hearing from God. God has a way of making his word come alive.

So, let us struggle to read the word of God. Not just our favorite verses... read as much as possible... and share it with others.

Oatmeal cookies aren't sinful...

I love cookies. There is nothing better than the smell of a hot cookie baking in the oven. I CANNOT WAIT for them to cool... I love grabbing a hot cookie... with 2 hands because it droops under its own weight because it hasn't cooled yet. It's too hot and burns my tongue a little... but it is soooooo good.

The truth is, if you put an oatmeal raisin cookie in front of me, I am almost powerless.   I am drawn to them... and I can't eat just one.

If I say to myself "Don't eat them, don't touch them... don't even think about them!" It doesn't work. It really just makes me want them more!

Sin is the same way - "Don't handle! Don't taste! Don't touch! Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe body discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires." Colossians 2:21-23

Colossians 2:20 starts off by saying "You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world."

Colossians 2:12-15   says "For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all your sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

I know people who have adult onset diabetes. This realization, for them, means that they cannot eat oatmeal cookies anymore. This truth outweighs their desires. Christianity is the same way. the truth that Jesus died for our sins should outweigh our desire to sin.

What if your "right" is wrong?

A friend of mine performed an outdoor wedding yesterday. For November, the weather was beautiful. The setting was gorgeous, there was a tranquil pasture, a babbling brook feeding into a pond. A gracious hawk circling the event. It all looked so beautiful. Except... there was a pig farm up the field and there was a horrible stench!

Interestingly enough, once you out of your car, and survived the original shock, eventually - you no longer can tell that the smell is there.

It's odd how that works. I once coached soccer at this field where you had to drive by a sewage treatment plant to get to the fields. Within a few minutes - you no longer can tell that there's this bad smell in the air.

Sin is the same way. When you fall into sin, at first, you are sensitized to it. You feel bad about it. Then... it can become a normal way of life - so that you don't even notice it.

Jesus described it this way: 

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:22-24 ESV)

Are there areas in your life that have become so routine that you don't even think about it as wrong anymore? I know, even in my life, there are some areas that I've become calloused. Let's start this week off by taking a look at our own lives and seeing if there are areas where we need to re-submit them to God. Let is struggle not to become so comfortable in this world that we forget that we are citizens of a Holy Kingdom where Christ is King!

How do you handle weakness?

I love and hate this time of year. I love the cool weather... and 3 months of really cool holidays. What I hate about this time of year is that it shows my absolute weakness when it comes to self control. When my favorite candy is around, it calls my name and without even thinking about it my hand goes in the bowl, candy goes in my mouth and I'm wondering what in the world happened!

Thanksgiving and Christmas are the same. The turkey, ham, cakes, cookies, pie. If I'm not careful, I will absolutely put on 10 pounds this time of year without even thinking twice.

Sin is the same way. Sin is so entrenched in our character that so many times, we find ourselves sinning and we don't even think about it. Take a moment and reflect. Can you think of an instance when that has happened to you?


But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:14-15 ESV)

   So... how do we battle it? It's easy to think about battling against Satan, and the gates of hell... but we have this weakness where we sabotage our own selves!

   This week... this season, let us be aware of our weakness, and in our weakness look to God to be our strength.