Honest To God

Photo Courtesy of iStockphoto.com, © fotokostic, File #17006126

My dad was a linebacker for the Air Force Academy football team, and he told me this story:  After the huddle broke, he approached the line. My dad is a pretty big guy, but when he saw who he was up against, he didn’t feel so big anymore. He explains how his opponent was larger than life and even when crouched down, his huge body blocked the sun and there my dad stood shivering in his shadow. When quarterback finally called “Hike” my dad just closed his eyes and with all his might tried to tackle the giant.

After the collision, he barely got up to find the huddle. As he wobbled over to the other guys, he realized that the hit that he just taken dinged him a little bit worse than he thought. He told the other players, “Hey look, I am not doing so good. I can only hear out of one ear, my nose is in excruciating pain, and I have tunnel vision in one eye.”

The other players laughed and said, “Jim, turn your helmet around, you’re looking out the ear hole”

Isn’t funny how we walk through life asking each other, “How are you?” and the majority of us simply answer “Oh, I’m Good” when the truth may be that we are dinged by life. The truth is that we all have hard days that knock the wind out of us and make it hard to get up and try again.

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(picture from www.reachingcampus.com)

Grasping for a relationship with God isn’t always easy. If we are honest, it can sometimes even seem impossible. Yet, in the Bible we are commanded to seek after God with all our heart, mind, and soul (Deuteronomy 4:29). But how are we to pursue a God that we can’t hear, see, or physically feel? Here are a few biblical tips to help you pursue God wholeheartedly: 

1. Pray that God will give you a desire for Him. We can see many times in Scripture where people prayed for God to give them a longing for Him. A great prayer to memorize and pray often is in found in Psalm 63:1-8 where it says, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you” (vv.1-3). 

2. Remove (or put in check) the things in your life that you love more than Him. It is easy to love the good things that God gives us more than we love Him. Our possessions, things that bring us pleasure, or even our loved ones, can often become idols of our heart. We must ensure we are not loving anything more than God, for when we do we replace God’s rightful place in our lives with something less than Him.

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God has laid out a clear mandate and plan the universal church to call people to repentance because He cares for the souls of men and their reconciliation unto Himself. Many people over the years of church history have avoided the commands to discipline people for the sake of repentance. Some church congregations have made excuses as to why not to perform church discipline, claiming that it is unloving to do so, the biblical expectation is not defined, or in fear of getting sued by the disciplined member.

Nonetheless, the Scriptures are clear that church discipline is an important part of edification for the Saints within the Church. Because the Bible is the infallible, inerrant and the authoritative Word of God, it should be our sincere desire to apply the teachings of the Bible as it relates to church discipline to the individuals within our church. The attitude of those administering Church should be Christ-like and God glorifying. By all means possible, the example of humility, grace, justice and holiness should be exemplified, as Christ displayed in His work to restore sinners while on earth. 

The primary biblical reasons for church discipline are to restore the straying member to Christ and to the church (1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 2:25; Matthew 18:15) as well as maintain the public testimony for Christ that the church upholds (Romans 2:24; 1 Corinthians 5:6). There are many types of offenses that could constitute an occasion for someone to be disciplined. In its simplest form, the standard should be that the church should discipline any unrepentant offense against another believer. This could include, but is not limited to, things such as murder, adultery, gossip, embezzlement, insubordination to church eldership, and many other sins that would cause disturbance within the body of Christ.

Many Scripture verses such as Luke 17:3-4 and Pauline passages make it clear that we are to discipline as a church. However, Matthew 18:15-20 gives us the clearest explanation of how we are to exercise church discipline over a brother or sister in Christ who is acting in willful and unrepentant sin. In the following outline I will summarize the three steps that are to be fulfilled according to Matthew 18, concluding with the final result of dismissal from fellowship. This process should make it clear as to how we should continue to pursue the unrepentant person for the sake of restoration. It is important to note that each step is only necessary if the person continues to refuse the correction of the church and does not acknowledge his or her own wrongdoing before God. Continue Reading…

I love this picture! I want to buy a big print of it and put it on my office wall!

How do you kill your giants?

That’s right – One  at a time.

Yes, there are millions of saying like this, but there is truth in all of them – if we are going to take care of those monstrous tasks before us, we have to just take it one little step at at time.

Lately Iv’e been in one of the most overwhelmed seasons of my life. Iv’e had church tasks, sermons, school, writing, family, friends, counseling and 1,000 other minuscule tasks to take care of – all at the same time. My list of both tasks (single action items) and projects (anything requiring more than one step) seems to grow faster than I contain it.

I’ve learned not all task and projects are created equal. Some are actually enjoyable, while others are more haunting then going to the dentist for a root canal.

As I’ve been knocking down my giants one-by-one, I’ve kept track of these little tips to help pull me through. Here are some helpful hints I’ve been using for getting though this overwhelmed season of life:

1. Find inspiration. For example, I use the picture above as a desktop back ground on my computer. This picture is a biblical inspiration for me to be to live like David and kill of all the Goliathes – one at a time. For other projects, I’ve create a folder or a piece of paper where I past saying, pictures, and other little reminders of things that will inspire me to keep pressing on. I find that without keeping little symbols of inspiration around I get drained faster.

2. Create a realistic plan. Without a plan, I’m toast. I have to know how I am going to get though the mounds of work before me. At least weekly, if not daily, I will sit and schedule out my tasks on my calendar, place a list in Evernote, or sort my Omnifocus by deadline and start date. I find that knowing I have a plan relieves a lot of anxiety.

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Monday mornings have always been hard for me; or maybe it is just all mornings are hard for me – but especially Mondays! I wake up one brain cell at a time.

I’ve learned if I can start the week off right it will set the tone for how the rest of the week hums along. The last few weeks I’ve been trying to be more efficient with the first hours of each day. In order to gain some motivation for making the wise use of the AM hours, I had to look to the scriptures for some instruction and inspiration.

One passage that caught me off guard was Proverbs 24:33 where it says, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” This warning, in its poetic yet sarcastic tone, cautions against finding too much comfort in rest. We are not to be lazy – or a “sluggard” – to ensure that we are not robbed of our valuable possessions (one of which is our time).

I am not saying we should not enjoy good rest; rest is important! I believe rest is a gift from God that was not only commanded by Him but was also modeled by Him. We need to rest; it keeps our bodies and our souls in good health. While the passage above advises against laziness, other passages warn against not resting enough, like this one:

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