Wholeness

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

THE EQUATION FOR WHOLENESS

1 Timothy 6:9
Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction

In his book The Sensation of Being Somebody , Maurice Wagner expresses a false belief in simple equations we tend to accept. He says we mistakenly think that good appearance plus the admiration it brings equals a whole person. Or we feel that star performance plus accomplishments equals a whole person. Or we believe that a certain amount of status plus the recognition we accumulate equals a whole person. Not so. These equations are no more correct than two plus two equals six. Wagner says: "Try as we might by our appearance, performance, or social status to find self-verification for a sense of being somebody, we always come short of satisfaction. Whatever pinnacle of self-identity we achieve soon crumbles under the pressure of hostile rejection or criticism, introspection or guilt, fear or anxiety. We cannot do anything to qualify for the by-product of being loved unconditionally and voluntarily" (Maurice Wagner, The Sensation of Being Somebody , Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1975, p. 163).

If these equations could work for anyone, they would have worked for King Solomon. He was the king of Israel during the greatest years in her history. If a meaningful life is the result of appearance, admiration, performance, accomplishments, status, or recognition, Solomon would have been the most together man who ever lived.

But God also gave the king an extra dose of wisdom to interpret his achievements. What was his commentary on it all? "Meaningless! Meaningless! . . . Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless" (Ecclesiastes 1:2 NIV ). Take the advice of the wise king: All the stuff and status you can acquire don't add up to personal wholeness. Millions of people climb those ladders to success, only to discover when they reach the top that they are leaning against the wrong wall! The only identity equation that works in God's kingdom is you plus Christ equals wholeness and meaning.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I affirm that nothing in this world can make me more complete than I already am in Christ.

Sing for Joy

... ; my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.

Psalm 84:2b

Seek First .. Steep Your Life

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. [v. 31-33, ESV]

"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. [v. 30-33, The Message]


Matthew 6

Daily Grace

Christine Wyrtzen Devotional

A PRAYER

Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Psalm 119:17

Lord, forgive me for just assuming that another day will be mine. For years, I just expected that I would awaken as always; alive, healthy, and the world would be what it had always been. I did not see that it is your mercy that keeps the earth on its axis. If it were just one degree off course in its rotations, I would be burned alive or frozen to death.

You made my body to work miraculously; muscles, a complex web of nerve endings, an endocrine system that is held together by delicate balances of hormones. Sight, touch, hearing, all are a product of your handiwork. It takes something so little to shut down life. To get up in the morning and experience all of them working together is a gracious gift, daily.

I think of all the times in my life when I accused you of not having a heart for me, of not being good. Yet I recognize that you have dealt bountifully with me for the breadth of my lifetime. Because of your generous heart, I have lived, I have survived the valleys of my life, I have sought You, and I have a heart that longs to know You and keep Your Word.

I echo David's prayer today, Lord. Deal bountifully with me. I know the One from whom my very breath comes. I don't take it for granted. Since You have given me life, my life is yours.

Amen

Unseen and Eternal

as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Cor 4:18

Waiting and Watching

Excerpt from Tony Reinke (Miscellanies) post: Anxious Impatience

Craig M. Gay, in his book The Way of the (Modern) World: Or, Why It’s Tempting to Live As If God Doesn’t Exist (Eerdmans, 1998), seeks to expose the symptoms of worldliness in the postmodern world. The organization of the book is quite thoughtful and the author builds a new theme off the previously theme, eventually tying all the themes together.

In a very basic form, the book develops around five progressive building blocks:

(a) Control—Man seeks to control his world through technology and rationalism. By this he refers to the impulse in the postmodern heart to control every area of life through technology, not merely to improve certain areas of life.

(b) Secularity—The aspirations of the modern man to this techno-rational control of the world leave little room for any god, save the “self-defining self.” God—if ever referenced at all—becomes a “god of the gaps,” a god whose necessity is limited to the areas of life that are outside of our control. Think “acts of god.”

(c) Individualism—The forces of control and secularity combine to encourage individualization, a fix-it-yourself mentality that breaks apart personal relationships and community.

(d) Anxiety—Man becomes an individualized self. But “the assumption of godlike responsibilities has turned out to be a heavy burden and that we have become increasingly anxious beneath the weight of this burden” (p. 308).

(e) Impatience—Combine control, secularity, individualism, and the anxiety from these godlike responsibilities and you end up with “what is possibly the master theme of modernity, and now of ‘postmodernity’: that of impatience” (p. 308).

This progression is helpful. And when the author begins to weave together the anxious impatience of our world his work really proves practical. Because, as Christians, we are called to cultivate an eschatological worldview and the spiritual disciplines of waiting and watching, distinctives directly undermined by modern forms of worldliness. I will leave the topics of prayer and community is for another post altogether.

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Inward Condition

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ Devotional

CHANGING CHRISTIAN PRACTICES

Matthew 6:7
When you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words

Jesus taught that Christian practices should be consistent with the inward condition of the heart. Holding to external practices which no longer correlate with the heart is repugnant to God. Jesus railed against praying in vain repetitions and putting on a gloomy face while fasting. Consistency cries for an affirmative answer to the question, "Is it real?" The Christian community searches for truth while the world searches for reality. These are large, overlapping circles, but I'm convinced that we must be real in order to be right. Change is most needed when Christians sit stoically week after week reciting endless creeds in utter hypocrisy.

Tragically, those who are coming to a church simply to fulfill a religious obligation are the most resistant to change. They have resisted the need to change under the instruction of the Word and are in a state of carnality. They are not coming to the changeless Christ and saying, "Change me so I may be like You." Time-honored faith and long-established practices often become intertwined in their thinking. When you advocate a different practice, they think you are tinkering with their faith!

Paradoxically, the ones who have a real Christian experience are the ones who are free to change their Christian practices. They are committed to the substance of their faith, not the form. Form always follows function, but people have a tendency to fixate on the form.

Organizational renewal will not bring spiritual renewal. When the spiritual tide is out, every little tadpole wants his own little tide pool to swim in. When the spiritual tide is in, the fish swim in one big ocean where someone is synchronizing every move. When the Holy Spirit is leading, almost any organization will work. But when He isn't, it doesn't matter how good the program and organization is, it won't work.

Prayer:

Lord, I will not rest my faith on my Christian practice, but I will base my faith and practice on the truth of Your Word.

An Act of Courage

There is never an ideal time to do anything. We can wait forever if we think that ideal opportunities will present themselves for acts of kindness and deeds of love. We have to seize the day. Grasp the opportunity. Make the most of good times and bad times. There must be a certain reckless abandon about the way we act. We cannot always be careful and calculating. We must do what should be done, even when we don't have the time or when things are not convenient.

Nouwen captures these sentiments in the following prayer: "Let me have the courage to live fully even when it is risky, vibrantly even when it leads to pain, and spontaneously even when it leads to mistakes." [FN]

This attitude should characterize not only the way we live, but also the way we serve. Service is never safe. It is always risky. We never know how we will be received and what the outcomes will be. Service is also never perfect. We serve in spite of our mistakes and our weaknesses. And service also can lead to pain. It can lead to the server feeling empty after having given much. It can also result in a lack of appreciation. It usually involves carrying burdens that are not our own.

The more we think about all of this, the less we are likely to do. Thus service is an act of courage. It is an act of boldness. It is in some ways a foolhardy thing to do.

Courage to Act: Serving in the Face of Difficulty, Reflection 99, Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen by Charles Ringma.

[FN] A Cry for Mercy, p. 139.

It Is God

And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

2 Cor 1:21-22

Call to Ministry

Excerpt from Ed Stetzer's post: Discerning Your Church's Call to Ministry

...

Do I believe God reveals himself and gives us direction in life? Yes, absolutely. But I also believe he reveals himself more specifically as we obey the commands he has already given us. In other words, God will show us how he wants our church to minister to the community when we act on the directives he has already given us.

Four of the last things Jesus said to his disciples in his final days on earth are a good place for his followers and his churches to seek direction:

1. Jesus reminded his followers they have been sent just like he was: "As the Father sent me, I am sending you" (John 20:21). Now, if he stopped there, it could still be pretty confusing. He didn't specifically tell them where to go, what to do, what to say, or what to accomplish. He just told them they were being shipped out to serve in his spiritual army.

2. Jesus continues to clarify the vision and mission he has for his followers and churches: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matt. 28:19-20). Going out to all the world and proclaiming the Good News was to result in new disciples among all people groups. After that, Christ's followers are supposed to baptize new disciples and teach them to follow everything he commanded.

3. Jesus isn't finished yet. Before he ascends, he tells them: "Thus it is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:46-49). This clarifies the Good News they are to announce: Jesus died in our place so we could repent and be forgiven of our sins, and he rose from the dead so we could live a victorious life. In order to be witnesses about these things, however, they needed one more thing: the power from on high promised by the Father.

4. The last thing Jesus communicated to his disciples picked up where his previous instructions ended. He laid out a strategy for things to move forward: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). A good place for his followers and churches to start is to be witnesses in their own communities and then move out from there, as he leads and opens doors for ministry.

As you begin to engage practically in fulfilling the mission and vision that God has already given us, he will begin to reveal where your church fits best in serving and witnessing to your community. Instead of sitting around, waiting to be hit by lightning, here are some practical ways you and your church can begin to discern your ministry call.

As you begin to engage practically in fulfilling the mission and vision that God has already given us, he will begin to reveal where your church fits best in serving and witnessing to your community. Instead of sitting around, waiting to be hit by lightning, here are some practical ways you and your church can begin to discern your ministry call.

Pray together for great boldness. The early believers followed Jesus' instructions and actively waited and prayed for what the Father promised. Assemble a group of people regularly and pray for your church to be filled and anointed with the Spirit. The believers joining constantly in prayer led to the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost.

Most people remember that prayer preceded Pentecost, but they may not remember that Jesus' followers kept praying after Pentecost. Acts 4:23-31 records believers gathering and raising their voices in prayer. They stood in prayer against the people who were persecuting them and the forces of evil, right? Wrong! They asked the Lord to enable them to speak his word with great boldness and prayed he would do wonderful things through the name of his holy servant, Jesus. What does the current prayer environment of our church look like? Are we praying those kinds of prayers? What steps will we take to change the environment?

Explore multiple ministry options in your community. As you pray, take action by serving your community and finding ways to be his witnesses. God will give your people new passion and direction for ministry as they engage their community. Jesus himself "saw the multitudes" and was "moved with compassion for them" (Matt. 9:35). Try some or all of these practical ideas:

• Set up a time each month to conduct servant evangelism projects like giving away free drinks (water, hot chocolate, coffee, pop, etc.) at a traffic intersection, cleaning local parks, raking leaves or mowing grass for elderly folks, giving away coupons for free stuff, etc.

• Involve your small groups or Sunday school classes in community service projects at least once a quarter so they aren't just fellowshipping and learning stuff.

• Start ongoing ministries by getting some of your members involved in things like Release Time (for public school kids), Hospice, Big Brother Big Sister, and City Mission. Intentionally train people to be better witnesses with materials like Sharing Jesus Without Fear or Just Walk Across the Room.

• Ask three people in your congregation to set up interviews with leaders of local service agencies to discover unmet needs your church family might be able to address.

...

Enlarge my Heart

Devotional post by Christine Wyrtzen

SOARING ON THE WINGS OF LOVE

I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. Psalm 119:32

Plodding along, grinding out obedience to God is not any way to live. I did it for more than three decades. It's exhausting and it's hollow. One can sustain the pace for quite a while as long as life stays relatively trouble free. Let the trials come and things come crashing down pretty quickly.

Completely opposite of what I used to believe, soaring in this Christian life is not gained by knowing more, but by feeling more. An enlarged heart is what facilitates joyful obedience. The most important thing I can pray when studying the scriptures is, "Make my heart alive to You and Your Word." Loving God and the Word that reveals Him is my secret source of energy.

The biggest complaint of women I encounter is the sense of their heart being numb to the things of God. They know a lot but feel little. I sympathize with that, having lived that way so long. My advice ~ go back to where you lost your feelings. Some disappointment ran your heart underground. Some unexpressed grief cut the lines of emotion. Some lie, or series of lies, killed your trust in God. Ask God to help you find the root. Do this, while simultaneously, asking God to heal your heart and restore what you lost through the power of His Word.

The Word heals. The Word exposes the lies we embraced in our pain and disappointment. The Word tells us the truth and builds a new foundation of trust. And, the Word brings a once dormant heart to one capable of depth and feeling.

I am so grateful for my feelings of love for You. I love trembling at Your Word. Continue to enlarge my heart beyond what I even think possible. Amen

Mistake?

Mark Batterson post: Between an Egyptian Army and a Red Sea

Have you ever felt like God made a mistake?

That is how the Israelites felt with the Egyptian army breathing down their necks and the Red Sea staring them in the face. And here's the thing: God led them there. From a military standpoint, they should not have been there. They have no escape route. They couldn't retreat or advance. It seems like God has made a mistake. And the Israelites let Moses know about it. But God had them right where he wanted them.

Sometimes God leads us to a place where we have nowhere to turn but to Him. It's often the last place we want to be. But it's the best place to be. Here is the great irony: all of us want to experience a miracle. We just don't want to be in a situation that necessitates it. But sometimes you need to be between an Egyptian Army and a Red Sea so God can reveal more of His glory!

And just when you think God has made a mistake, He parts the Red Sea.

Your Strength

For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,"In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."

Isaiah 30:15

Strength

Devotional from Christine Wyrtzen

NUGGETS FOR THE CHILD

My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! Psalm 119:27

God's agenda for me is to strengthen my faith. Satan's agenda is to destroy my faith. He will do it by using pain and pleasure. The pleasures tempt me to believe that there is something more desirable than God. The pain lures me to believe that God is not good nor caring. I don't know which catalyst, pain or pleasure, is more dangerous to the Christian.

David knows that when he is grieving and about to break under the strain of something heartbreaking, his greatest need is a strength that comes from God's Word. The hug of a friend is nice, a good listening ear is valuable, a meal brought in when I'm too sick to make one for my family can be an overwhelming relief, but none will save my soul from melting away in the fire.

Most likely, for the majority of us today, there is something which threatens to break our heart in two. It is that issue where no words from others can dull the throbbing. It is all-consuming, bubbling beneath the surface of our smiles. Unless someone knows us well, they are impervious to the subtle sighs and far off look that tells the truth of our great heaviness.

God's Word comes to me in this helpless childlike state. I may be fifty five years old, but when hurting, I feel like a child. God's child. It is not the wordy discourse on pre-destination that will comfort me when I'm in great distress. It is the Word, whispering to me in bite-sized nuggets, that chips away at my fear and penetrates the darkness. "I know." "I care." "I wept with Mary and Martha." "Do not fear." "Rest in me." "Trust my heart." "I'm here, now."

Little nuggets for little children. With each one, a big hand takes a little hand and trust is momentarily restored. Grace for the moment. Undeserved, extravagant grace.

The strength I need can't depend on people only. I need You. Whisper to me like a child and I will be saved. Amen

We Are .. But Not

From 2 Corinthians 4

we are: ... but:
afflicted ... not crushed
perplexed ... not driven to despair
persecuted ... not forsaken
struck down ... not destroyed

[v. 8-9]

always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. [v. 10]

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. [Romans 8:18]

Plans

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Journey

My mom has started a blog to talk about her faith and her battle with cancer. Here is her first post:

In June of 2004, life was good, (still is) but less complicated then!! We mortals tend to just "bebop" our way thru the days, taking life itself for granted, enjoying the wonderful day after day, rarely thinking, REALLY thinking what a gift each day is. This was actually May 31 of that year, Memorial Day, fun with family at cook out and swim party, when that night a horrific backache took me to the Emergency Room....within several days the diagnosis was made, surgery was performed and the words, "It is cancer" forever changed my life, my husband's and all our extended family. The type of cancer was (and is) a very rare, Mixed Mullerian tumor, and so begins this journey to find a cure, and achieve a life of normalcy, with the very tiny voice back in my head, saying "is it back?". So, I will attempt to share what has occured these 5 1/2 years. I hope you will follow me and I hope Jeremiah 29:11-13 will give you the hope and promise it gives me.

For God

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Cor 4:6

Simple But Not Easy

Mark Batterson post: Difficult Things vs. Simple Things

"If the prophet had asked you to do something hard and heroic, wouldn't you have done it? So why not this simple "wash and clean"?

Remember the story of Naaman in II Kings 5? The prophet Elisha told him to dip in the Jordan river seven times in order to be healed of his leprosy. Naaman didn't want to do it because it was too simple. He wanted the prophet to wave his wand. And when it didn't happen the way he expected it to, he was about to walk away and forfeit the miracle when a wise and bold servant spoke truth into his life. He knew Naaman would do something difficult to get healed. But would he do something simple?

Can I make an observation? The reason why we don't see miracles ISN'T because we're not willing to do difficult things. It's because we're not willing to do simple things. It is good old-fashioned obedience that sets the stage for miracles. That is all God asks. If we do the simple things, like dipping in the Jordan river seven times, God will do the difficult things. If we do the natural things, God will do the supernatural things. If we do the obedient thing, God will do the miraculous thing.

In the world of athletics, you never outgrow the basics. You have to practice simple skills over and over again. Same is true spiritually. You never outgrow the basics! You have to be great at simple things--the spiritual disciplines.

Oswald Chambers said it this way: "It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not. We have to be exceptional at ordinary things."

Grace

“Among all the realities of the invisible world, mediated to us by the disclosures and promises of God, and to which our faith responds, there is none that more strongly calls into action this faculty for grasping the unseen than the divine pronouncement through the Gospel, that, though sinners, we are righteous in the judgment of God. That is not only the invisible, it seems the impossible; it is the paradox of all paradoxes; it requires a unique energy of believing; it is the supreme victory of faith over the apparent reality of things; it credits God with calling the things that are not as though they were; it penetrates more deeply into the deity of God than any other act of faith.”

—Geerhardus Vos, Grace and Glory: Sermons Preached in the Chapel of Princeton Theological Seminary (Solid Ground, 2007), p. 135.

[Post from Miscellanies]

Counterfeit

Excerpt from Introduction to Tim Keller’s next book, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters.

A counterfeit god is anything so central and essen-
tial to your life that, should you lose it, your life would
feel hardly worth living. An idol has such a control-
ling position in your heart that you can spend most of
your passion and energy, your emotional and financial
resources, on it without a second thought. It can be
family and children, or career and making money, or
achievement and critical acclaim, or saving “face” and
social standing. It can be a romantic relationship, peer
approval, competence and skill, secure and comfortable
circumstances, your beauty or your brains, a great po-
litical or social cause, your morality and virtue, or even
success in the Christian ministry. When your meaning
in life is to fix someone else’s life, we may call it “co-
dependency” but it is really idolatry. An idol is whatever
you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have
that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I
have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” There
are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to
something, but perhaps the best one is worship.

Majestic and Awesome

"Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

Exodus 15:11 [Song of Moses]

Success

Mark Batterson post: Two Words

A few years ago an intern asked me this question: what is the key to success in ministry? And he qualified it: in two words. Nice! For the record, I see success and stewardship as synonymous. It's not about how big your church is. It's about doing the best you can with what you have where you are. It's about cultivating your God-given gifts and using them to glorify God.

Here are five "two word" answers:

1) Keep Learning

When you stop learning you stop leading. I never want to become a closed system. If you keep learning you cannot fail. Why? Because failure is not learning the lessons God is trying to teach you. If you learned something you did not fail.

2) Take Risks

Playing it safe is risky. I'm more afraid of missing opportunities than making mistakes. I think that is a leadership mindset. You obviously need to discern if they are God-ordained. But our greatest regrets will be the lions we did not chase!

3) Stay Humble

This one is huge. Don't let pride take root in your heart. I'm so grateful for a failed church plant on my resume because it's a constant reminder that "unless the Lord builds the house they who labor, labor in vain." If you stay humble there is nothing God cannot do in you and through you.

4) Dream Big

The size of your dream reveals the size of your faith. More faith = bigger dreams. I'm convinced that God-sized dreams are one key to spiritual growth. God-sized dreams force you to live on your knees in raw dependence upon God. Live your life in a way that requires divine intervention.

5) Be Yourself

You need to come to terms with who you are and who you aren't. Ten years ago I was trying to be a pastor. I'm now trying to be myself. And there is a difference. Life is too short and ministry is too hard to be in an environment where you can't give true expression to your unique gifts, personality, and calling.

I'm obviously making a lot of assumptions here. For example, spiritual growth is all about becoming more and more like Jesus. That's a given. And I'm assuming a strong devotional life that includes prayer and Bible study. So these five tips are "beyond basics" if you will.

Restoring

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

DISCIPLINE VS. JUDGMENT

Galatians 6:1
Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness

Are there any occasions when Christians should confront each other on matters of behavior? Yes. We are required by God to confront and restore those who have clearly violated the boundaries of Scripture (Matthew 18:15, 16). But let me alert you to an important distinction in this area: Discipline is an issue of confronting observed behavior--that which you have personally witnessed (Galatians 6:1); judgment is an issue of character. We are instructed to confront others concerning sins we have observed, but we are not allowed to judge their character (Matthew 7:1; Romans 14:13). Disciplining is our responsibility; judging character is God's responsibility.

For example, imagine that you just caught your child telling a lie. "You're a liar," you say to him. That's judgment, an attack on his character. But if you say, "Son, you just told a lie," that's discipline. You're holding him accountable based on an observed behavior.

Or let's say that a Christian friend admits to you that he cheated on his income tax return. If you confront him as a thief, you are judging his character and that's not your responsibility. You can only confront him on the basis of what you see: "By cheating on your taxes, you are stealing from the government and that's wrong."

Much of what we call discipline is nothing less than character assassination. We say to our disobedient child: "You're a bad boy." We say to a failing Christian brother or sister: "You're not a good Christian." Such statements don't correct or edify; they tear down character and convey disapproval for the person as well as his problem. Your child is not a liar; he's a child of God who has told a lie. Your Christian friend is not a thief; he's a child of God who has taken something which doesn't belong to him. We must hold people accountable for their behavior, but we are never allowed to denigrate their character.

Prayer:

Forgive me, Father, for judging others. Enable me to discipline in love those I care about and for whom I am responsible.

Praise Him

And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed." And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say,

"Give thanks to the LORD,
for his steadfast love endures forever."


2 Chronicles 20:20-21

Frame of Spirit

Mark Batterson post: While the Harpist was Playing

"While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha."

Have you ever noticed this prophetic idiosyncrasy? The Message version of II Kings 3:15 says: "When a minstrel played, the power of God came on Elisha." Is that a random connection? I think not. There are other instances in the Old Testament where music dramatically changes the emotional and spiritual climate. For that matter, it was the worship leaders who led Israel into war on occasion. Check out II Chronicles 20:21.

What am I getting at? As leaders we need to be intentional about creating atmospheres where people can hear God's voice. And musical worship is one of them. I had this revelation during worship a few weeks ago. Some things cannot be learned from a sermon. They can only be experienced in worship.

I'm not suggesting that you rent a harpist. But you better figure out how to hear His voice more clearly. Just as athletes have pre-game rituals that help them get in the right frame of mind for a game. I think we need spiritual rituals that help us get in the right frame of spirit. That is what musical worship does. It tunes us to God.

Whenever I open a service I try to put a frame around the experience. Here's how I did it this week. I simply reminded our congregation that we often feel unworthy to worship God but God is always worthy to be worshiped. We worship in that tension. And we have a saying around NCC: don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshiping what's right with God. Why? Because He's worthy!

Strength, Song, Salvation

The LORD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Exodus 15:2 [Song of Moses]

Gospel Love

Jon Bloom post (Desiring God blog): I Have Not Always Obeyed This Command

"Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you" (Matthew 5:42).

I confess, I have not always obeyed this command.

I'm a veteran urban-dweller. Having lived in an inner city neighborhood for 18 years, I've encountered many beggers and borrowers. Some I discerned as cons I have called out or waved off. Some I have hired to do work. Others I've given to because I felt the conviction of this text.

I've thought a lot about this command of Jesus over the years. I've discussed it with many. I think I know all the major reasons why not to give when someone asks. You don't want to encourage deception. You don't want to feed a chemical addiction. You don't want to contribute to someone's cycle of poverty. And there are many others.

But still this text unnerves and convicts me.

The reason is that Jesus doesn't give this command in the context of addressing how I can best facilitate transformation in someone else. He is telling me how I should respond to those who are making demands on me, either from explicitly evil motives or just plain out of their difficult situation. He is telling me how I ought to respond even when being taken advantage of.

• Do not resist the evil person, he says. Let him slap you twice. (v. 39)
• Give him more than he is suing you for. (v. 40)
• Do more than he is forcing you to do. (v. 41)
• Give to those who ask. (v. 42)
• Love your enemy. (v. 44)

Jesus is telling me to actively show kindness and radical generosity toward those who hate me or who are seeking to take advantage of me.

Really, Jesus? Isn't that rewarding sinful, or at least unhealthy, behavior?

Of course, I can think of Biblical examples that illustrate when it seems right to resist or flee an evil person in situations of theft, deception, abuse, persecution, war, etc. So when the Word speaks, I must listen carefully, and I must weigh all of his words.

But from the words Jesus speaks here, I think it applies more often and more broadly than I want it to. He does not let me off the hook easily. He tests my heart with such radical love. And in my heart I see my selfish, unloving impulses that do not want to part with my money, possessions, time, or convenience for needy or evil people. And I have a ready arsenal of noble-sounding rationales that conceal my sin, almost from myself.

What Jesus is calling me to is gospel love. It's the love that drove him to die for me with when I was still a weak, ungodly, sinful enemy of his (Romans 5:6-10). There is something about such over-the-top, radically generous love that is so different from the way the world loves that it reflects the Father's love for sinners. It's why Jesus calls us also to costly love. It is both an expression and picture of the gospel.

Pray for me. I have an opportunity in my life right now to obey this command, which is why I'm wrestling with this text again. Pray that I will love the way I have been loved.

No Other

⁵ I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
⁶ that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Isaiah 45

Catch Your Breath

Excerpt from Perry Noble post: Seven Ways to Catch Your Breath

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#1 – You’ve GOT To Rest…and Make No Apologies For Doing So!

First of all…the LONGEST command (the one God spent the most time explaining) in the ten commandments is the one having to do with rest. God said take a Sabbath…to not do so is a sin!

(AND…you REALLY need to read this post by Clayton as to WHY rest is SO important…SERIOUSLY!!!) (Especially if you are a senior pastor!)

#2 – Find A Hobby!

I am still in the process of doing this…and I know it is necessary. You’ve got to find something you love to do at least a couple of times per week that relaxes your mind. (Watching television is NOT a hobby!) So…hit the golf course, ride a motorcycle or a jeep, play tennis…SOMETHING…but you’ve GOT to find a way to focus on something fun from time to time.

#3 – Get A Journal!

One of the things I do now ANYTIME I am traveling is carry my journal with me…that way when I have a great idea I can write it down (along with all of the thoughts that come with it) and after doing so KNOW that the thought has been captured…then I can proceed to enjoy time with my family because I not trying to remember the idea.

(Let me be clear…I don’t try to DEVELOP the idea…I just write it down…the time for development of it will come later.)

#4 – Have A Date Night With Your Spouse WITHOUT The Telephone!

Let me be clear…no calls, no text messages, no twitters…ANYTHING! Just you and her…in a restaurant (that doesn’t have a value menu) talking about whats going on in your life.

Let me take this a step further…spend time with your family WITHOUT having to have the computer on! The online world will survive without you!

#5 – Take A Season Of Rest Every Year.

Every single year I take at least three weeks in a row off from speaking. (I haven’t always done this…but since I have it has been awesome!) Trust me…it will recharge you like never before. (When you take just one week off you never really shut it down or disconnect…at LEAST try two!)

#6 – Focus on God’s Sovereingty And Not Your Ability.

He loves the church more than you! He said that HE would build the church…which means you don’t have to. AND…if you think you are SO essential to your church that it could not survive without you for a few weeks…then you either suck as a leader OR are struggling with pride!

#7 – Have Someone You Can Spill Your Guts Out To…Other Than Your Spouse!

You need someone you can be honest with…very honest, DANGEROUSLY honest…you can scream, cry, throw things…you get the picture. AND…it should not be your wife. Find a dude…someone in the ministry who you trust…and be real with them. One of the problems that I see that church leaders have is that many of us live as if our crap doesn’t stink…that we don’t have any problems…that our lives are perfect…and that just ISN’T the case!

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Fragrance

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

2 Cor 2:14

Missons

Excerpt from Ed Stetzer post: Five Reasons Missional Churches Don't Do Global Missions -- and How to Fix It

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All this provokes me to ask, "Why are so many missional Christians uninvolved in God's global mission?" As the missional conversation continues and deepens, what has occurred that has led to our blindness to the lost world around us?

There are five reasons I think this has happened:

1) In rediscovering God's mission, many have only discovered its personal dimensions.

I don't mean they have somehow localized mission into their interior, "private" life-- that would make little sense. Rather, the encouragement for each person to be on mission (to be "missional") has trended toward a personal obligation to personal settings, rather than toward a global obligation to advance God's kingdom among all the nations.

"Missional" has merged with privatized Christianity to serve as the reason for personal projects carried out in personal spheres. This is not bad, necessarily. But when the missional impulse is not expanded to include God's global mission, it results in believers moved only to minister in their own Jerusalems with no mind toward their Judeas, Samarias, and uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8).

2) In responding to God's mission, many have wanted to be more mission-shaped and have therefore made everything "mission."

Missions historian Stephen Neil, responding to a similar surge in mission interest (the missio dei movement of the 1950s and following), explained it this way: "If everything is mission then nothing is mission." Neil's fear was that the focus would shift from global evangelization (often called "missions") to societal transformation (often called "mission"). He was right.

Recently John Piper echoed these same concerns, differentiating between evangelism and missions. He reminded us that when "Every Christian is a missionary" equals "missional," then we have diluted the need for and specialness of missionaries to foreign lands. (Although I would want to nuance John's language a bit, I agree with his point.)

One American church's website recently identified their ministry as missional, which they proceeded to define as "reaching out to the community to invite them to come" see what is happening in the church. Another's young adult community service project consisted of landscaping the church grounds. Inviting people to church and cleaning up the church are noble endeavors, but passing them for "missional" and "service" is ministerial naïveté at best. It demonstrates the fuzziness that creeps in when labels become catch-alls. And as the outer edges of the missional label gets fuzzy so does mission to the outer edges of the world.

3) In relating God's mission, the message increasingly includes the hurting but less frequently includes the global lost.

One only needs to watch the videos to see the emphases: global orphan projects, eradicating AIDS, Christmas shoeboxes, etc. All of these causes now have advocacy groups, and rightly so, as they are important. However, their vocabulary and frames of reference do not frequently make room for evangelizing the very people they touch. The message of world evangelism, actually, seems more common in legacy/traditional churches than in missional churches. Missional churches seem to speak more of unserved peoples rather than unreached peoples. As we engage to deliver justice, we must also deliver the gospel regardless of anyone's status in a culture.

4) In refocusing on God's mission, many are focusing on being good news rather than telling good news.

St. Francis allegedly said,"Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words." Interestingly enough, Francis never actually said this, nor would he have done so due to his membership in a preaching order. But it is a pithy quote tossed into mission statements and vision sermons in missional churches all around my country. Why? It seems that many in the missional conversation place a higher value on serving the global hurting rather than evangelizing the global lost. Or perhaps it is just easier.

I am not urging a dichotomy here, only noting that one already exists. It is ironic, though, that as many missional Christians have sought to "embody" the gospel, they have chosen to forsake one member of Christ's body; the mouth.

5) In reiterating God's mission, many lose the context of the church's global mission and needed global presence.

For whatever reason-- the admirable one of commitment to the local church or the ignoble one of commitment to personalized consumeristic Christianity-- we have lost the grand scope of the entire family of God. While Christ calls people from all tongues, tribes, and nations, we have become content with our own tongue, tribe, and nation. Many churches are wonderfully embracing the missional imperative, but as they seek to "own" the mission by adapting their church into a missional movement in their local community, some inadvertently localize God's mission itself and lose the vital connection all believers share together. A hyper-focus on our own community results in a, have lost vision for the communion of the saints.

So how do we fully embrace missional without losing the mission? The Mission Exchange (formerly the Evangelical Foreign Mission Society) asked me to talk to their global leaders on the topic "How to Put 'Missions' Back into Missional." In my talk, I proposed four principles we needed to consider:

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Freedom

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

2 Cor 3: 17

Foundation

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

IF YOUR FAITH IS OFF

2 Corinthians 5:7
We walk by faith, not by sight

When my son Karl was about eight years old, I introduced him to the game of golf. I gave him a little starter set of clubs and took him out to the course with me. Karl would tee up his ball and whale away at it with his mightiest swing. Usually he sprayed the ball all over the place. But since he could only hit it 60 or 70 yards at best, his direction could be off by 20 degrees and his ball would still be in the fairway.

As he grew up and got a bigger set of clubs, Karl was able to drive the ball off the tee 150 yards and farther. But if his drive was still 20 degrees off target, his ball no longer stayed in the fairway; it usually went into the rough. Accuracy is even more important for golfers who can blast a golf ball 200 to 250 yards off the tee. The same 20-degree deviation which allowed little Karl's short drive to remain in the fairway will send a longer drive soaring out of bounds.

This simple illustration pictures an important aspect of the life of faith: Your Christian walk is the direct result of what you believe about God and yourself. If your faith is off, your walk will be off. If your walk is off, you can be sure it's because your faith is off. As a new Christian, you needed some time to learn how to "hit the ball straight" in your belief system. You could be off 20 degrees in what you believed and still be on the fairway because you were still growing and had a lot to learn. But the longer you persist in a faulty belief system, the less fulfilling and productive your daily walk of faith will be. As you grow older you will find yourself stumbling through the rough or out of bounds spiritually if the course you have set for your life doesn't agree with Scripture.

For many adults, a mid-life crisis is the result of basing their concept of success and fulfillment on the world instead of on the Word of God. Tragically, many of our children and teenagers are heading for the same fall because their beliefs are not founded on Scripture. As a result, their lives are often bankrupt before they leave high school.

Prayer:

Lord, Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Teach me Your truth today that I may walk in it.

Say Continually

But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say continually, "Great is the LORD!"

Psalm 40: 16

With You

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Psalm 42:5-6a


God says to us in our anguish ...

"Hold on. I love you. I know you don't understand but I am with you. I hurt with you. I weep with you."

- - Dee Brestin, The God of All Comfort

Our Sufficiency

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,

2 Corinthians 3: 4-5

Success

Mark Batterson post: The Definition of Success

Thought I'd share a few of my personal definitions of success. It's important to define success in biblical and personal ways. You need to know what you're aiming at or you will succeed at the wrong thing.

First of all, success is maximizing your God given potential. Success is synonymous with stewardship.

A second definition is this: doing the best you can with what you have where you are. Success is not circumstantial. Some of the most successful people are those in the worst of circumstances, but they make the most of them. That's success.

Here's a third definition: the people who know you the best respect you the most. We care way too much about what strangers think of us, but they won't be the ones at our graveside. I want my wife and my kids to respect me the most.

Here's a fourth and newest definition: success is trying until the day you die. I think most of us give up on our dreams way too easily and way too quickly. We stop trying. But if you're still trying you're succeeding!

One key to success is not worrying about the outcome. Winning or losing isn't the issue. Trying is winning! That is what I told Parker when he decided to run for class president. That is the lesson I learned at our triathlon this weekend. That is what I've learned as a church planter. The measure of success is this: how hard did you try?

If you pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you you cannot fail.

A Superior Satisfaction

Desiring God blog post: The Love of Human Praise as the Root of Unbelief

This week's sermon: "The Love of Human Praise as the Root of Unbelief"

Jesus' refrain in John 5:30-47 is "not me, but God." He baffles the expectations and confronts the comforts of fallen humanity by being a Messiah who comes not in his own name, seeking his own praise, but by coming in his Father's name and pursuing his Father's praise.

In verses 37-47, Jesus issues a seemingly relentless string of indictments against self-seeking humans:

• Verse 38: You don't have God's word in you. You don't believe the one whom he has sent.
• Verse 40: You don't want to come to me.
• Verse 42: You don't have the love of God in you.
• Verse 43: You don't believe me.
• Verse 44: You cannot believe.
• Verse 45: You don't believe Moses, and you don't believe me.

How did Jesus' kinsmen, who knew their Scriptures so well, not believe in their Messiah? Almost at bottom is that they did not want to. They had other desires. But the bottom-line answer is that they were seeking human approval. Their craving for human praise was so strong that it closed their hearts to pursuing divine praise and closed their eyes to such a Messiah.

Love of human approval is at odds with faith because…

1. …true faith in Jesus gives all glory to God and none to ourselves (Romans 4:20), and…
2. …true faith is a drinking of living water for the satisfaction of our souls—and the well of that water is the glory of Christ.

When we are satisfied in Jesus, the enslaving power of the craving for human glory is broken. Broken by the power of a superior satisfaction.

Nevertheless

Words of Life Devotional| LifeToday

The Nevertheless of Comfort and Community
by Dr. Mark Rutland

"Nevertheless..." (II Corinthians 7:6)

There is a remarkable menagerie of words expressing pain of every kind in Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth; words like affliction, anguish, beatings, distresses, fastings, fightings, labors, perils, persecutions, sorrows, stripes, sufferings, tears, tumults, weak, and weakness. They snap and snarl at the reader ferociously, in such obviously inconsolable anguish that comfort is unimaginable.

“When we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings and within were fears.” (II Cor. 7:5)

Yet even in the midst of the most pain-filled epistle in the New Testament there is...Nevertheless.

“Nevertheless God, who comforteth those that are cast down comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not by his coming only, but by the consolation herewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me, so that I rejoiced the more.” (II Cor. 7:6-7)

To be sure, the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, but Spirit-filled persons in community comfort one another. A friend having sent his little daughter up to bed heard her whimpering and went to check on her.

“What’s the matter, darling?”

“Daddy, I’m scared in here alone.”

“But you’re not alone,” he explained. “Jesus is right here with you.”

“I know,” she wailed. “But I want somebody with skin on his face.”

We all do. The scripture says that God inhabits the praises of His people. He also inhabits the comfort of His people. Beaten, afflicted, persecuted, suffering and weak, Paul the Apostle found the comfort of God—in Titus and in his report of the love and concern of the Christians at Corinth. Was it God who comforted Paul? Or was it Titus? The answer is “yes.”

The community of faith does not scold the grieving widow for her grief or dismiss it lightly. The people of God dare not tell the hurting in their midst that they do not hurt, do not have a right to hurt. Even so, we are not wordless in the face of their pain. We do have one thing to say.

Nevertheless, we are here.

Like Titus, we are here. God in us, God as us can be with you and comfort you just as God comforted the great apostle through Titus.

Paul wrote in II Cor. 7:6 that God “comforts those that are cast down.” If, as many seem to think, God is peevish with the downcast and irritated at their lack of faith, He would upbraid them, not comfort them. We, the community of faith, like our God, must comfort the downcast who long for a word, a touch, a face with skin on it.

The nevertheless of Paul was a very human Titus. We, likewise, can be there for someone else, just on the other side of nevertheless from their deepest anguish.

John Wesley said, “I know of no holiness save social holiness.” He meant that we do not live out our piety in relationship with God alone but in community with others. The downside of community is that no one can test your sanctification like your brother-in-law, the antichrist. The upside is that just when you are ready to collapse under the unbearable weight of grief and suffering, Titus shows up with love letters from Corinth.

Some believers tend to so over-spiritualize their faith that the relational aspect gets lost in the glow. Jesus painfully peeled away the soft spiritual goo to reveal the hard core realities of relational holiness as no other teacher ever has. Probably, that was a large part of what got Him killed.

The golden thematic thread that runs through the entire tapestry of the Sermon on the Mount is relational holiness. In that great teaching, theology (spiritual theory) was not Jesus’ point. It was human application (spiritual practices). He was teaching, not about what we ought to believe, but about how we should act, love, live, and forgive. You want to get folks angry enough to kill you, just leave the theoretical realm and deal with horizontal, relational reality. Preach on love and win medals. Talk to a man about how he treats his mother-in-law and wind up nailed to the wall.

Jesus taught that everything, even, or perhaps especially, offerings to God, must be seen in the light of human relationships. “If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” (Matt. 5:23-24)

The Bible never envisioned our being reconciled to God apart from our being reconciled to each other. No amount of spiritual language can change that. Nevertheless beautifully bridges the gap between the spiritual and the pragmatic.

This Week
Be that Nevertheless for someone by focusing on the relationships God has placed in your life.

Prayer
"Lord, allow me to comfort someone in my community just by being in the right place at the right time, so I can share your love with them."

My Strength and My Salvation

I love you, O LORD, my strength.

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 18: 1-2

Third Place

Excerpt from Ed Stetzer post about Matthew's Table

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to visit Java Joe's / Matthew's Table in Lebanon, TN. (The church gathers for worship in a coffee shop they own and operate.)

Part of the design is that they are trying to create a "third place" community. From Wikipedia:

The third place is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. In his influential book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg (1989, 1991) argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place.

Oldenburg calls one's "first place" the home and those that one lives with. The "second place" is the workplace -- where people may actually spend most of their time. Third places, then, are "anchors" of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction. All societies already have informal meeting places; what is new in modern times is the intentionality of seeking them out as vital to current societal needs. Oldenburg suggests these hallmarks of a true "third place": free or inexpensive; food and drink, while not essential, are important; highly accessible: proximate for many (walking distance); involve regulars - those who habitually congregate there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old should be found there.

They describe their church on their website.

Matthew's Table is a church stripped of its formality. At every Sunday gathering we prepare food and all eat freely. During the meal we engage in a simple liturgy that we call a Weekly Rhythm:

BLESSING - The word "blessing" means "to empower to strength." We seek God's blessing and pass that blessing on to others. As we gather we intentionally speak words of blessing and affirmation over each other.

EATING - Sharing food has always been central to a shared life of community. We want to place worship and communion back where it began: as a delight in the middle of the shared table. We eat and drink in remembrance of Christ - looking back to the cross and forward to his return.

LISTENING - We believe that God is capable of speaking to us. We do not confine him to any particular medium, but we try to be attentive to his voice, wherever and whenever it speaks. We provide a period for reflection, meditation and listening to the voice of God.

LEARNING - We desire to take on the image of God and to participate in his plan. We seek out knowledge about God to help us to do this. We gather around the Scriptures and learn together, discussing issues that confront our world.

SENDING - We are ambassadors who bear God's image in the world. We remind ourselves regularly that we are sent to participate in God's activity in both our local and global cultures.

I thought is might be helpful to share some of the setting with you. Instead of a church starting a coffee shop, this is a coffee shop with a church.

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(go to original post for pictures and more details)

Fueling Good Works

Excerpt from How the Hope of the Resurrection Leads to Good Works | Desiring God blog

Piper also discusses the resurrection—and the renewal of all creation—in chapter 30 of Future Grace. At the beginning of that chapter, there is a helpful discussion of how the hope of the resurrection fuels good works:

The faith that grows in the ground of God's promises takes away fear and fills us instead with hope and confidence. And when fear goes, and hope in God overflows, we live differently. Our lives show that our treasure in God is more precious than the fleeting attractions of sin.

When we rely on God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:9), and revel in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2), we don't yield to the sinful pleasures of the moment. We are not suckered in by advertising that says the one with the most toys wins. We don't devote our best energies to laying up treasures on earth. We don't dream our most exciting dreams about accomplishments and relationships that perish. We don't fret over what this life fails to give us (marriage, wealth, health, fame).

Instead we savor the wonder that the Owner and Ruler of the universe loves us, and has destined us for the enjoyment of his glory, and is working infallibly to bring us to his eternal kingdom.

So we live to meet the needs of others, because God is living to meet our needs (Isaiah 64:4; 41:10; 2 Chronicles 16:9; Psalm 23:6). We love our enemies, and do good, and bless those who curse us and pray for those who despise us, because we are not enslaved to the fleeting, petty pleasures that come from returning evil for evil, and we know that our reward is great in heaven (Luke 6:35; Matthew 5:45; 1 Peter 3:9).

All this flows from a growing hope in future grace. When you know the truth about what happens to you after you die, and you believe it, and you are satisfied with all that God will be for you in the ages to come, that truth makes you free indeed. Free from the short, shallow, suicidal pleasures of sin, and free for the sacrifices of mission and ministry that cause people to give glory to our Father in heaven.

Seeking

Post by Mark Batterson: Spiritual Hunger

How hungry are you?

Spiritual hunger is the key to spiritual maturity. When you lose that spiritual hunger you stop seeking, asking, and knocking. You stop growing.

As leaders, this isn't something we can "give" to people. But we need to salt the oats so to speak. And we need to set the example. You know what you owe God and owe your congregation as a pastor? A deep spiritual hunger to know God more!

I remember when I first starting seeking the Lord. It was between my freshman and sophomore year of college. I would stay up late reading my Bible. I'd get up early to pray. I went to sleep and woke up thinking about God. I was hungry. And I'm still hungry. I know it waxes and wanes, but how hungry are you?

If I could pray for one thing for you it'd be this: an insatiable hunger to know God more. There is no substitute for spiritual hunger.

Deuteronomy 4:29: "Seek the Lord and you will find him, if you search for Him with all of your heart and all of your soul."

God reveals Himself the most to those who want to know Him the most.

Cross

Calvary and the Real World post from Miscellanies

“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross… In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in light of his.”

—John Stott, The Cross of Christ (IVP, 1986), pp. 335—336. As quoted in Randy Alcorn, If God is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil (Multnomah, 2009), p. 217.

You Are the One

Chorus from Wonderful, Merciful Savior


You are the One that we praise, You are the One we adore.
You give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for,
Oh, our hearts always hunger for.

Distractions

Mark Batterson post: Rebuke Distractions

If you want to make an impact for the glory of God, you have to rebuke distractions. Your life has to be totally focused on becoming who He has called you to be and what He has called you to do. If you don't, here's what will happen: unimportant things become important and important things become unimportant. One of the primary reasons we aren't advancing the kingdom like we could or should is because we major in minors. And that leads to sideways energy.

Let me touch on two kinds of distractions:

I think we have to avoid vision distractions.

I love the example Nehemiah set when he was rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. A couple of thugs named Sanballat and Tobiah are trying to discourage and distract him. Nehemiah says, "I am doing a great work! I cannot stop to come and meet with you." I love that. He refuses to play defense. He's got a job to do and he's going to do it. One of the maxims I live by is something Andy Stanley said: saying yes to one thing is saying no to something else. You have to make every decision with that in mind. You can get so busy the vision will never be fulfilled.

I think the second kind of distractions we have to avoid in church circles are theological distractions. We need to study to show ourselves approved. We need to know what we believe and why we believe what we believe. But we can get so busy arguing about theological nuances that we lose sight of the Great Commandment and Great Commission. Sometimes, when a person is endlessly arguing theological nuances, I want to blurt out: people are going to hell. Let's get our theology straight. And we need to call blasphemy and heresy on the carpet. But let's get some perspective.

In the words of Titus 3:9: "But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless."

True theology doesn't just lead to endless arguments. True theology leads to action.

Let's follow Jesus' example: "I must be about my Father's business."

Higher Life

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

THE VIEW FROM THE CROSS

Matthew 16:25, 26
Whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul?

Three guidelines from these verses summarize the view from the cross, which we must adopt to counteract the self-centered worldview promoted by the god of this world.

First, we must sacrifice the lower life to gain the higher life. If you want to save your natural life (i.e., find your identity and sense of self-worth in positions, titles, accomplishments and possessions and seek only worldly well-being), you will lose it. At best you can only possess these temporal values for a lifetime, only to lose everything for eternity.

Furthermore, in all your efforts to possess these earthly treasures, you will fail to gain all that can be yours in Christ. Shoot for this world and that's all you'll get, and eventually you will lose even that. But shoot for the next world and God will throw in the benefits of knowing Him in this present life as well. Paul put it this way: "Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:7, 8).

Second, sacrifice the pleasure of things to gain the pleasure of life. What would you accept in trade for the fruit of the Spirit in your life? What material possession, what amount of money, what position or title would you exchange for the love, joy, peace and patience that you enjoy in Christ? "Nothing," we all probably agree. Victory over self comes as we learn to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things.

Third, sacrifice the temporal to gain the eternal. Possibly the greatest sign of spiritual maturity is the ability to postpone rewards. It is far better to know that we are the children of God than to gain anything that the world calls valuable. Even if following Christ results in hardships in this life, He will make it right in eternity.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, You alone are God. Help me to choose the higher life today instead of seeking the pleasures of this world.

Recount Deeds

¹I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
²I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

Psalm 9

Infinite Value

Mark Batterson post: Switch the Price Tags

Soren Kierkegaard once told a parable about two thieves who broke into a jewelry store, but instead of stealing the jewels they simply switched the price tags. They put high-priced tags on cheap jewelry and low-priced tags on valuable gems. For several weeks no one noticed. People bought cheap jewelry for exorbitant prices and rare jewels for spare change. Kierkegaard's point is pretty obvious: sometimes we have difficulty discerning between what is valuable and what is worthless.

John 10:10 says, "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy." But here's how he steals. Very rarely is it overt. He uses covert means. He switches the price tags. He wants us to place supreme value on worthless things and no value on things that are invaluable.

A relationship with Jesus Christ is of infinite value. To settle for anything less is literally robbing from yourself.

Nines

On Wednesday there was a broadcast of The Nines. One of the speakers was Ed Stetzer. Here is what he had to say:


Ed's outline:

Mission, Self, and God's Mission

Mission is the opposite of self. We have to remember to make it about God and not about us.

Even pastors struggle with the reality that the heart is an idol factory. Your heart is an "Idol Factory" constantly creating things other than God to worship.

We must resist the pull of idols and live the mission-- to make it about God's Glory and His agenda.

We pastors too often consider ourselves as "religious professionals who can put on a show" rather than people transformed and sent on mission.

1. Those on mission focus on God's glory and His agenda
(Isaiah 6:1-8).

2. Those on mission reflect being with God
(2 Corinthans 3:16-18).

Trying to get people on mission who haven't been transformed by the gospel is a fool's errand.

3. Those on mission no longer live for themselves
(2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

It's not about thinking less of you; it's about thinking of you less.

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http://vimeo.com/6436097

Ed Stetzer - The 9s from LifeWay on Vimeo.

Be Prepared

^10-12And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

^13-18Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

Ephesians 6 [The Message]

Truth

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

John 16:13
When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth

It's not hard to know the truth if You are the truth, and speaking with authority would come quite naturally if you're God! Discernment is also easier if you know, as Jesus does, what's in the hearts of men (John 2:24, 25). Though we don't possess those attributes, we do have the Holy Spirit. If we are going to continue the work of Jesus, we must yield to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to control and guide us. Then we can know the truth, speak with authority, and discern good and evil.

We have as our guide the Spirit of truth. When Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, He said, "When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth . . . He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you" (John 16:13, 14). This promise has primary reference to the apostles, but its application extends to all Spirit-filled believers (1 John 2:20-27). The Holy Spirit is first and foremost the Spirit of truth, and He will lead us into all truth.

When Jesus prayed, He requested, "I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth" (John 17:15, 17). Truth is what keeps us from the evil one. John wrote, "The whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:19), because Satan "deceives the whole world" (Revelation 12:9). The only way to overcome the father of lies is by revelation, not research or reasoning. Many in higher education lean on their own understanding and believe only in what can be validated by research. Truth is God's will made known through His Word. The Holy Spirit's role is to enable us to understand the Word of God from God's perspective. Jesus says, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).

Prayer:

Father, forgive me for leaning on my own understanding. Fill me with Your Spirit and lead me into all truth today.

Revel in Him

Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute! [The Message]


Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; [ESV]

Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice!

Let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness, your forbearing spirit). The Lord is near [He is coming soon]. [Amplified]

Philippians 4: 4-5