There are a lot of people out there that believe that humans (on the whole) are born good and deserve good from God because of they are “not bad people”. However, this is not what the Bible teaches about what we deserve from God. On Sunday, the pastor talked about love (or romance or sex or something, I’m not quite sure, as he wasn’t very clear) and he made the point that “God deserves our best”, which I agree with. But he also made the point then that “we deserve God’s best,” which as you’ve guessed, I don’t agree with.

I think the Bible is clear that we deserve nothing from God but death and hell. We don’t deserve His love or His patience. We don’t deserve His mercy or His grace. And to say that we do, even as Christians, is a misunderstanding of the Gospel. The gospel isn’t that God gave us what we deserved in Jesus. It is that while we deserved death and hell, God had mercy on us and sent His Son to die in our place. And even after Jesus died and we were given grace, it would be a terrible mistake to assume that because we are Christians that we deserve anything from God. We are not any more deserving of answered prayers or providence than people who aren’t Christians.

We don’t deserve God’s best, because we are sinful and wicked people (all people, even Christians). We deserve to die. But Jesus died in our place. And in Him we have all blessings. That is the gospel. That’s why I love Jesus so much. I love Him because He didn’t give me what I had earned (because that would have been hell), but He gave me amazing love and grace which only He could give. So, let’s not think for a minute that we deserve anything from God other than hell. But let’s worship Him as the only giver of life and joy and all good things who gives out of the abundance of His grace, because of who He is, not because of who we are.

These past couple of weeks have been a great time of relaxation for me as my job has allowed me to have them off. Or, I believe, more accurately, there hasn’t been any work scheduled to do. So I’ve had loads of time to myself, the kind of time I haven’t had since I was in high school, and I’m not so convinced that not having to work is the holy grail that people think it is.

The first week was really nice, but this week is starting to overstay its welcome. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve had all of this time off, but haven’t had anything to do, or anyone to do it with that’s getting to me. I used to see myself as a loner, someone who didn’t need any friends or contact to be happy, but now I can’t stand being alone with myself.

(more…)

Yesterday our church celebrated with families as they made commitments to raise their children for God. Alina and I dedicated Rachael along with four or five other families and their children from our campus. We, as parents, vowed to raise our children up to live lives of holiness and to direct them toward Jesus as much as we can through teaching them about and living out of our own faith in front of them.

We pray that God would help us to live our lives to be great examples of His holiness. And to live with humility and repentance when we don’t.

For a while now I have felt out of shape, and I knew that there was no reason that Jeff should be throwing his disc farther than me in disc golf other than the fact that I had not maintained that all cherished high-school fit body that I once had.  So, a few weeks ago I joined the local gym.  Since I started going I have felt great.  Full of energy, and all of that good stuff.  I have been going pretty regularly, but I have reached that point that everyone does in their attempt at physical fitness.  You know the feeling.  When the initial fun of “loosing weight to look and feel great” give way to the “man this getting up before the sun to beat up my body is getting old” attitude.

I was thinking.  The gym is a lot like church.  Or, more accurately, getting in shape physically is a lot like the Christian life.  Think about it.  Everybody knows the consequences of living an unfit and lazy life.  The evidence is all around us.  It is clear that eating too much, or not the right things, or filling your body with drugs or alcohol will kill you.  From ER to Grey’s Anatomy to House we see the evidence of what slacking off physically can do.  The evidence is clear, your body will continue to age and as it does you will become weaker and weaker until the day that you finally breath your last.

The interesting thing though is that whatever causes you to breathe that last breath, doesn’t matter.  At that point it doesn’t matter how often you went to the gym or how many twinkies you ate, because at that moment, when you die, the only thing that matters is what you did with the evidence of Christ.  All of the book smarts about healthy eating, and all of the power bars and all of those miles ran don’t make a difference to Jesus.

Just like needing to be physically fit, people everywhere know that they need a savior.  They know that something is lacking in their lives.  It’s a void that all of the money, sex, and power in the world cannot fill.  And people feel that.  They feel the hopelessness that an unfit spiritual life consists of.  And people, in general, and especially in our culture know the name of Jesus, know what sin is and know that they need something that they don’t have.  And for those that don’t know this, it is the responsibility of those who Jesus to teach and show people who Jesus is and why they need Him.

One of the problems though with this metaphor is that everyone has a different idea of what it means to be fit and how to get there.  Wether it’s carbs, cals, or cardio, everyone’s got an idea.  And to get yourself fit, the how isn’t too important.  In other words, in the physical world, it doesn’t matter who you believe or what route you decide to go, just do it and get in shape.

The same is not true for your spiritual life.  Yes, there are many different ideas out there and many different “ways”, but only one matters.  Spiritual life is not like picking your diet.  You don’t have a bunch of different choices to pick from, just one.  Do you do it Jesus’ way or not?  All of the smarts and all of the scholars in the world could come up with millions of “logical” ways to do it, but if isn’t just a retelling of God’s way, it is wrong.

There is only one way to deal with the fact that one day you will die and that apart from Christ there is nothing but hell to pay.  Living like Jesus through the power of Jesus for the glory of Jesus is what life is all about.  Life, physically and spiritually, begins with Jesus.  But without Jesus there is no spiritual life.  A man can run a marathon in record breaking form and smile for the cameras and accept his crown, but without Jesus, that life that he shows is nothing.  He is but a dead man walking or running or smiling or whatever else it is that he does to feel alive.  Without Jesus life is death.

So at some point in your life the message has got to impact your life to change.  Physically you’ve got to commit yourself to lifelong fitness and spiritually you’ve got to commit yourself to living for Jesus.

And, like the gym, living for Jesus is hard.  Faith seems so easy at first.  It feels so new and fresh that you can never imagine coming down from that new believer high.  But two months later when you loose your job or run into a new hardship that you never faced as an unbeliever reality begins to set in.  Spiritual life isn’t as easy as you once thought.  When many people become Christians they think that all of their problems will be solved in an instant and that life will be nothing but good news and greater living.  And as time goes by, without the proper (spiritually) healthy living, the feeling that you once had as a new Christian can grow distant.  And when put up against the reality of life and the sin of the world, faith can begin to crumble.

Like committing yourself to becoming physically fit, committing yourself to Jesus is full of challenges and trials.  It is filled with great moments, and it is filled with moments of utter exhaustion and doubt about the future.  Sometimes being a Christian is an act of great love to be near God and sometimes it is more an act of the will.  Sometimes it’s easy to get up before the sun to help out at church and sometimes it is the hardest thing that you can do.

But it’s worth it.  It always is.  No matter how hard you have to fight yourself to get up out of that comfortable bed, to go to the gym, or to go to church, it is always worth it.  Sometimes you have to make yourself do what your lazy body doesn’t want to in order to enjoy the things that God has for you.

But getting up doesn’t mean that you’ve done everything that you needed to.  For example, my gym has plasma TVs all over the place.  It has a spa and a cafe.  It is In fact everything that you could ever want in a gym, or everything you could possibly want to keep you busy why others think you are working out.  But just because it has all of the amenities and has a bunch of people getting fit doesn’t mean that you are working out.  Just because everyone around you might be getting in shape doesn’t mean that you are.  Just like church.

Just because there are people around you worshipping, doesn’t mean you are.  And just because you go to church doesn’t mean you go for Jesus.  It is entirely possible to go to church and miss Jesus for the amenities of the service.

The Bible tells us in

that “physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

I encourage you, as I do myself, to be committed to your spiritual health.  Don’t slack on God.  No matter what you do physically, you are going to die, and when you do, you will meet the God of everything.  And nothing matters but Jesus at that point.  So, yes, be healthy.  Be fit.  But remember you are going to die physically one day, but spiritual life is forever.  Don’t slack on your spiritual health.  Live for the One who offers the fountain of living waters, through life with Him, so that you will never thirst for unfulfilling things again.

Sometimes life can come at you so fast that it might seem like the only view of God that you get is in the moments of helplessness. And as long as the autopilot of your life is running without a problem, He might be missed for the ease of it all. But hit a bump in the road and all of the sudden that’s God’s fault. No repentance for trusting in the ease and becoming complacent, but only blame for the broken road.

Recently God threw a pothole into my nicely paved road. I was going along fine on cruse control and He decided that I had become too comfortable, so He broke my road. (I’ll leave the discussion of God breaking my road or me breaking it and God just letting it happen for another day). It doesn’t matter why the road is harder, it just is.

God didn’t break my road because He wanted to hurt me, He broke it to get my attention. He broke it to show me that I trusted too much in the journey, and not enough on Him who gives life and breath and all things. My life is not about how comfortably I make it to the finish line, but about how closely I trust in my redeemer.

My problems today are nothing when viewed through eternal eyes. And I would be arrogant to think that I could handle my problems on my own. Please pray for me and my family as we go through some growth in our lives (no, not the kind of growth that makes the family bigger, the spiritual kind). Pray for us that we would remain focused on who it is that can bring us out of the pit that we’ve gotten ourselves into.

Usually I feel in control of my life, but now all I feel is that helplessness that helps me to remember how small I am. Please pray that God would help me to remain focused on Him, and not just life. Nothing would be worse than missing God because of the beauty and peace of His creation.

Alina and I had decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to commit ourselves to serving and becoming members at First Baptist McKinney, but had not had an opportunity to attend the new member class until this past weekend.

I have got to say that through the past few months and our new members class I have become convinced that I have never met a man with a bigger heart for the Truth and the call of Christ than our pastor Jeff Warren. It is obvious that he is on mission for God, and that God is using him mightily for the Kingdom. The great thing though is that it is not just the pastor, but many people on staff that are being used for the glory of God, which makes it obvious that this is not just some church that talks of God, but a church who chases hard after Him. The church brings to mind one of my favorite verses from

which says “Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.” It is clear that this body of believers can say that in unison.

Our class was taught by the pastor and gave us a very clear idea of what membership in this body meant. They asked us to commit to daily prayer and Bible reading, to regular church attendance, and to discovering and then using our spiritual gifts. Anyway, the evening was great. We both left excited about what God is doing in us and among the members of this church. We pray that God would continue to glorify Himself and build His church.

I like change…  What I should say is that I like the change that knowing the eternal God causes in the lives of mortal men.  I like that He did everything necessary to make us new creations; to give us new hopes and dreams, new desires and passions.  About ten years ago God did that change in me.  He changed me and gave me new life.

Over the years, like many people, those new hopes and dreams became clouded by the day to day rat race of life.  But, no more.  I came upon a couple of verses in a Bible study last week that reminded me of the purpose of that new life that God gave.

Ephesians 5:15-18

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, (ESV)

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.  So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

The will of the Lord is this: to live out the life that God has given in such a joyous way that it brings Him glory as the only one who can truly satisfy.  The days are evil, so I (we) must live carefully, not letting our jobs our friends, or even our families get in the way of what God has called us to do.

And, because I have been reminded of the great task of bringing the Truth of God to those I know, I am going to do a lot more God oriented posts on this website.  I plan on adding a lot of new links to other like-minded sites as well as writing more about the things of God that are important to me and my family.  Change is good.  And I thank God that He has refocused my life and reminded me of what it means to live for His will.  Now I pray that daily He will renew me with His Truth.