Small Steps Lead to Giant Leaps

The process of spiritual maturation can be daunting. I often become overwhelmed at how little growth I see in myself compared to what I desire and what I know God desires for me. I have students text me almost weekly and ask questions like, "How do I know I am looking more like Christ?" or "How can I be a Christian when I make so many mistakes?" Just like my own questioning it leads to despair. However, when  having these times of discouragement, I am reminded of Jesus' words, “If anyone would come after me, he must first deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34-35 NIV). 

 The passage is laid out by Jesus himself in steps: deny, take up, follow.... steps. Now these steps aren't a coincidence. These aren't just SOME steps to spiritual maturity, these are THE steps! The denial of self and the desires of the self. To take up or assume upon oneself the new life Jesus offers. Finally, continue to follow Jesus into the service of his kingdom. When we take these "small" steps daily, we discover down the road what  a giant leap we've made from who we use to be!

4 Ways to Waste your Time...and Life

Time is the greatest commodity we have! It's precious and we waste so much of it!
 Below are 4 of the greatest wastes of time I have experienced in life and ministry:

1. Fear- Fear is not to be confused with worry or the "fear" that the Bible descibes as reverence for the Lord! Fear is an unrealized, presumption of what might be happening or could happen. It often is related to a circumstance of our past and has no real bearing on the present moment. However it can be crippling and rob us of precious time. We should remember that fear is NOT from God, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7 NLT)

2. Worry- Worry, like fear is an unnecessary presumption, but it's more about the future than the present reality. It's a fear of the unknown and can literally rob you of the joys of the moment. Worry is also an indicator of your faith and reflects your view of who God is. Jesus reminds his disciples "That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?" (Matthew 6:25 NLT) he goes on to say later in the passage "And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are"(Matthew 6:26 NLT) We tend to forget that when we worry, we simply tell God that he isn't big enough.

3. Doubt- seemingly a synonym for the latter, doubt is one of the more precarious time stealers. When we doubt, we basically do not trust in the character and provision of God. When doubting, we waste our time on the "what if's" or "can it be's" rather than relying on what we already know to be true about God. Scripture reminds us, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (Proverbs 3:5, 6 NLT) You see doubt will always keep you from seeing exactly what God is doing in your life and that's time wasted!

4. Anger- Finally there is the fierce force known as anger. Scripture tells us that anger can make you look like a fool (Ecclesiastes 7:9) That in a growing relationship with Christ it should be something we are slowly moving away from (Col 3; Eph 4) And that it if not carefully addressed can lead to deeper sin (Psalm 37). More than anything, anger can be very harmful to your relationships with others, which is one of the key ways God desires for us to use our time on this earth. Anger is also another indicator of your faith and trust in God and how he is moving and working in your life and relationships. 

Time is precious, we have been entrusted with a certain amount of it, and it would be a shame to allow Fear, Worry, Doubt, or Anger to waste your time!

Martin Luther on Generosity

Although the Christian is thus free from all works, he ought in this liberty to empty himself, take upon himself the form of a servant, be made in the likeness of men, be found in human form, and to serve, help, and in every way deal with his neighbor as he sees that God through Christ has dealt and still deals with him. This he should do freely, having regard for nothing but divine approval.

He ought to think: "Although I am an unworthy and condemned man, my God has given me in Christ all the riches of righteousness and salvation without any merit on my part, out of pure, free mercy, so that from now on I need nothing except faith which believes that this is true. Why should I not therefore freely, joyfully, with all my heart, and with an eager will do all things which I know are pleasing and acceptable to such a Father who has overwhelmed me with his inestimable riches? I will therefore give myself as a Christ to my neighbor, just as Christ offered himself to me; I will do nothing in this life except what I see is necessary, profitable, and salutary to my neighbor, since through faith I have an abundance of all good things in Christ." - Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther

The Quest for Greatness

As I watch the Olympics I am in awe of the dedication, discipline, and sacrifice every one of these athletes and their families have made for this moment! When I visited the Olympic training facilities in Colorado, our guide told us that the average athlete spends $250k a year to train and that many athletes family's have several mortgages and loans just to support this dream! I again say, I am in awe of such sacrifice of anyone for anything. I began to think about so many who don't make it, can't afford it, have injuries end their career or just aren't as good as others. How do they measure themselves at that point? I am grateful that in my life, greatness is measured by who Christ is and not how I perform, how many medals I get or how fast I get it done! One of the pastors who mentored me in the early years would always say, "God judges you on your faithfulness not your effectiveness!" I am so grateful for those words and the truth they remind me of after all these years. Doesn't mean I don't strive for greatness, but my quest is not found in my ability or results but in a loving savior who "will finish what HE began in me". I am great because Jesus declares me great... That's victory! Hebrews 2:11

I'm Batman....

Sitting in a hotel room it scrolled across the screen: "Breaking News: Shooting in Colorado Theatre at opening of Batman Movie." Sadly I was almost none responsive as if I was completely inoculated in our day of shootings, terrorism, and ramped depravity. But after a moment, my gut sank, my throat got dry and I began to mourn. I mourned for those in that theatre, who simply went to be entertained and enjoy a movie, but instead lost their life or had their life altered forever physically, emotionally or psychologically. I mourned for the shooter, his brokenness, his depth of hopelessness and the shear sadness of a person constructing such evil in his heart. I mourned for families, parents, spouses, Moms and Dads who suffered unmentionable loss in that theatre. I also in the moments ahead thought back to years before, the very day that I stood before the students in my very first Youth group to explain why two kids went into their school and began to kill classmates in a brutal savage way. I am reminded of the human condition and the ever deepening sense of reaching as many people as I can with the hope of Jesus...Why does God allow such things to happen? I think the better question is Even though such things happen, why does God keep lovingly pursuing people like us? Lord may I never forget that without you, I am simply a Dark Knight vigilante myself...thank you for calling me into your great light!

L'amour de Dieu, les gens aiment

It's amazing how easy it is to love people when I travel abroad. Kids in slums, girls being sold like objects in market, 3rd world poverty and any other obstacle you can think of. But I observed in my own heart this week that loving the people of Haiti was easy. It's the people I will sit next to on flights today and tomorrow. It's the lady at the store back home who is super slow checking out my buggy full of food that I will hard time loving; the guy parked "to close" to my large SUV when I go to put the groceries in to go home to my comfortable home where I will have a hard time loving my neighbor who usually cranks his loud truck WAY earlier than I want to get up.... You get what I'm saying. As I leave Haiti today, the prayer in my heart is that I will Love God and Love People. All people!!!

Jesus lives at the Waffle House

Every year at camp, we set aside one night to take our graduating seniors on an "after hours excursion". This year we found out that about 80% of the seniors at camp had never been to Waffle House!?! So of course I had to solve this crisis. After the confusion of how to order, the awe of hearing scattered, covered, smothered, and chunked, lots of pictures and a good time was had. As we were leaving, a man asked, "Would you buy me some coffee?" Well 17 of us look at each other for a moment and then I say, "Sure!" Look in my wallet all I had was a $20. My rule is, if someone asks for money, if I have it I give it, no questions just give. It's all Gods money anyway! Well this gave us an opportunity and so 1 hour later we had heard a man that was literally destroyed by divorce, loss of job and confessed that if we hadn't talked with him, he had decided to take his own life. What a great privilege I had to see my seniors gather around this guy, listen to his story, share the love of Christ, and pray with him! I left that night convinced that Jesus lives at Waffle House!