Who Lives That Way? (The World)

Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world's standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, "He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness." (1 Corinthians 3:18-19 NLT)

All too often, we look at the events of this world as somehow driving our walk together with God.  We allow wars and attacks to drive us to fear or anger.  We allow political elections and human leaders to inspire us to places God would never want.  We point to the economy as a reason to aspire to greediness or to wallow in self-pity.  The problem with letting the world drive our walk with God is that the world doesn't walk with God.

During the third year of King Jehoiakim's reign in Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord gave him victory over King Jehoiakim of Judah and permitted him to take some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God. So Nebuchadnezzar took them back to the land of Babylonia and placed them in the treasure-house of his god. (Daniel 1:1-2 NLT)

Daniel and his friends were taken captive because their nation had stopped following God.  They were defeated, captured, deported, then brought into the capitol city of their enemies and trained to be good Babylonians.  If ever there was a person who could blame "world events" for abandoning God, it would have been Daniel and company.

But, they didn't.  Rather than walking away from God, they chose to walk with God even in their difficult, world created, circumstances.  They didn't eat the food that God told them was "unclean" and "unholy" for them to eat.  Later in the story, Daniel refused to pray to false gods as well.  The world's circumstances didn't matter to him.  He still walked together with God.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV)

Walking away from God because of world events is just an excuse.  A person who wants to walk together with God will find a way to walk together with God, regardless of the circumstances.  Don't compare the life He wants for you to the world and say, "Who lives that way?"  Instead, compare your life to God's picture and ask yourself, "How can I live that way?"  Then, start doing it.

The Obsessed...Remember

Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. (Deuteronomy 32:7 NIV)

This week, we discussed the Profile of the Obsessed - Obsessed with God.  Someone obsessed with God always seems to remember what God has done.  Maybe the memory comes from reading Scripture.  It doesn't seem to matter to the obsessed whether it was the Old Testament or the New Testament.  When they remember what God has done, it encourages them in what God is doing today.  The Apostle, Paul, showed this kind of obsession all the time - remembering what Scriptures tell us about God working in the past...

Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this? Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and said, "LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too." And do you remember God's reply? He said, "No, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal!" It is the same today...  (Romans 11:2-5 NLT)

"Do you remember God's reply?" Paul asked.  In other words, do you remember this story from Scripture?  Have you read Scripture?  Do you know how the story ends?  This was important to Paul because the circumstances were "the same today..."  Paul was obsessed with what God had done.  It gave him confidence in what God was doing "now."

Sometimes the obsessed remember what God has already done in their own life.  They don't have to look back hundreds or thousands of years to remember God at work.  They only need a few years, months, or even days.  They remember what God had done in their life and it gives them confidence that God will be there today and any day in the future.

Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever. So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!  (Hebrews 10:32-35 NLT)

Do you remember the great things God has done in the past or even in your own life?  Do you find confidence today remembering what He has done yesterday?  Are you obsessed with God, remembering all He has done?

Serving Leftover Words

If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 NIV)

Our words are powerful.  How we use them reflects who we follow.  Declaring "Jesus is Lord" does not stop at the moment we voice those three words.  In fact, our success in declaring Jesus as Lord is determined by every word we speak.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. (James 3:9-10 NIV)

We show just how much Jesus is our Lord by our words.  How do you use your words?  Are they used to encourage people and build them up?  Are your words a gift to those who hear (or read) them?  Do you purposefully choose your words to Glorify God and build people up?  Do you use your words to share God with others?

"Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33 NASB)

You see, confessing Jesus to other people is only a good thing if the rest of our words are a blessing.  Inviting someone to Church or to follow Jesus will only confuse them if you just got done cussing them out.  All our words are to be under the Lordship of Christ.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. (Hebrews 13:15 NIV)

Serving Leftover Faith

They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household." (Acts 16:31 NIV)

In the modern church, we have reformed our understanding of God's grace to focus in on our faith.  This is good, because we can never repair our falling-out with God by bringing Him gifts.  The only solution to our broken-relationship problem is the solution He offers through His Son, Jesus.

[We]...know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we... have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16 NIV)

When someone wants to be saved, then, we simply tell them to believe in the Lord Jesus as it says in Acts 16:31 and they will be saved.  Perhaps we will have them say a prayer with us because we should confess our faith as well.


If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Romans 10:9-10 NIV)

While these Scriptures are all true, stopping here is dangerous.  Believing and being saved can lead to "cheap Grace" where we go on with our lives "knowing we are saved" and continue doing what we did before.  The apostle Paul responds to such a thought process saying, "May it never be!" (Romans 6:2a NASB)  

God paid an unimaginably high price for our sin.  Continuing to run up the tab is dangerous.  Simply believing doesn't guarantee that we stay together with Him.  We can declare that we believe and still not go with Him into paradise:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Matthew 7:21-23 NIV)

Is there really such a thing as a Christian with a lukewarm faith? Or, are they not really a Christian at all?  Can we serve leftover faith to a Holy God?

Serving Leftovers

'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16 NASB)

Francis Chan challenges us with a concept that clearly challenges him this week: "Is there such thing as a lukewarm Christian?"  His conclusion from the Scripture above (and others like it) is clearly, "No."  How can we claim to be followers of Christ and yet live as though we are children of the devil?  "Child of the devil," you may think. "I'm a child of God, even if I do make mistakes and sin."

Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:7-10 NASB)

Doesn't Scripture say that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus?  Yes it does.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV84)

"How can sinning after I'm saved, then, make me a child of the devil?  I thought Scripture said that I'm always going to sin."  Well, this second part is not true.  It doesn't say you are always going to sin.  In fact, it says the exact opposite:

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." (1 Peter 1:14-16 NIV84)

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (Romans 6:13-14 NIV84)

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation--but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. (Romans 8:12-14 NIV)

Lukewarm Christians refer to people who call themselves disciples or followers of Christ, yet sort-of follow Him - sometimes following...sometimes not.  God told a whole part of His Body (the church) that He would spit them out for living in this way.  Can we be Christians and still serve leftovers to a Holy God?  Maybe Chan isn't the only one who should be struggling through this concept.

Lukewarm Praising

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest heaven!"  (Matthew 21:8-9 NIV)

I really enjoy worship and praise music.  I know that might sound strange to you, but I really do.  I find myself looking for Christian radio stations everywhere I go.  Now, with the invention of data streaming and apps, I can listen to these stations and even my own playlists on my phone.  Praise God!

There are times when I find myself lost in the music and lyrics while I'm reading, writing, or working on some of my "task list."  I get lost in the praise, worship, and enjoying the Glory of God.  I can see how easy it would have been to join in with the crowd that day when Jesus riding through the town as "King."  I most probably would have been singing more than one chorus of , "Hosanna in the highest!"

Then the music dies down.  I have a meeting to attend.  I move on with my day.  Do my words and actions continue to show Praise and Worship to my King?  I'm not saying I need to break out into song during meetings with people.  I am saying, though, that the way I treat people should be an act of worship, too.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2 NIV)

I don't want my praise to be hollow, shallow, or unworthy.  I don't want my worship to be short-sighted, short-lived, or false.  I don't want to be lukewarm in worship and praise.  I want my whole life to be an appropriate, acceptable act of worship and praise.

Remarkable Things Today

Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today." (Luke 5:26 NIV)

Jesus performed many miracles throughout his three-year ministry.  They got people's attention.  Crowds would seek him out because of all the things he could do.  One group of people believed in his abilities so much that they brought a paralyzed friend to Jesus with hopes that he may be healed.  The crowd was so large that they couldn't get their friend to him, so they helped their friend "drop in."  They lowered him through the roof of the building where Jesus was preaching.  He was lowered in the midst of the crowd right down in front of Jesus.

What did he do?  Jesus healed the man.  He healing he offered at first, though, was not physical.  He healed the man's spiritual problems - the sin that separated him from God.  Then, to prove he had the power to forgive sin, Jesus healed the man physically.  The crowd was amazed.  They called it "remarkable," the things they had seen.  They gave praise to God.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20 NIV)

All too often we want to see "remarkable things" from God as well.  We wish that we could see the kinds of miracles today that Jesus performed back then.  We want to be amazed...they we will give praise to God.

The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon. It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter. (Psalms 74:16-17 NIV)

Maybe we should be amazed more than we are.  I watched part of a sunrise this morning.  I was amazed.  The sun is hurling through space at a rate of about 486,000 miles an hour.  Not to be lost, the earth rotates around this moving target at a rate of 67,000 miles an hour.  But neither of these events produced the "sunrise" today.  No, the earth also spins around like a top at the brisk rate of about 1,000 miles an hour - completing one spin in 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.09053 seconds: the sidereal period.  

That produced this morning's sunrise - but not the temperatures associated with this season of winter.  Winter is produced by the fact that the earth is "tilted" at an angle of approximately 23.4 degrees.  The angle stays the same throughout the year while the earth circles the sun.  So, during part of the year the sun is closer to the "top" of the earth and during another part of the year the sun is closer to the "bottom" of the earth.  The angle of rotation produces "seasons" of warm and cold for the earth.

All of these things were necessary for me to enjoy one sunrise during the winter season in Northwest Indiana.  How much will it take for me to be amazed at "remarkable things?"  Seems like that sunrise was pretty remarkable.  I'm going to go praise God now...

Politics and Plaques

I know that I usually post on a passage of Scripture from my daily reading.  Today, however, I find myself drawn to discuss the political arena in honor of the election that is taking place today.  If you normally read my blog because I avoid politics, you have my permission to skip this one. ;)

My eyes have been opened over the last 10+ years to the reasons people choose a church, a denomination, and even a religion.  Our reasoning really ends up all over the place.  Some choose based on style.  Some worry about specific substance being taught.  Most choose to check things out because a friend or relative invites them.  We check out church and, through that process, God because we see the difference God makes in the person who is close to us.  God leads our friend.  Our friend leads us.

That's exactly the way He intended things to be.  This is what the apostle, Paul, meant when he said, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ."  (1 Corinthians 11:1 NIV)  Follower-ship is about following someone worth following.  Leadership is about wisdom and integrity.  Wisdom and integrity cannot exist without following the leadership of God.

Somehow, over the years, we've lost this vision in the political arena.  We've stopped voting for a person and started voting for issues.  Issues have become a litmus test for a person's wisdom and/or integrity.  But neither is true.  Issues are often far too complex to boil down to a box of soap flakes.  Yet that's what political operatives do to win our votes...and we listen.

The only thing that should matter, in a republic such as ours, is the person.  A republic is all about selecting a person who will lead - who will make the tough decisions that we don't know they are going to face.  We didn't know that 9/11 was going to happen when we selected the leaders who would navigate our country through that time.  We didn't anticipate the great depression, world wars, or even the war that would split our country in half and eventually end slavery.  But we selected the people who led us through it.  We relied on their wisdom and integrity.  Wisdom and integrity come when someone follows God.

My grandfather was a typesetter (worked with printing presses).  I have a plaque that he made that dons a quote from Abraham Lincoln.  "I do the very best I know how..the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end.. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything..  If the end brings me out wrong, ten thousand angels swearing I was right would make no difference..."  Lincoln knew his actions would be judged in the presence of the angels.  That knowledge is the beginning of wisdom.

I know that that the political arena has conditioned us to believe that there must be a separation of Church and State, but that does not mean the separation of God from our leaders.  A leader's consistency in following God is the only criteria that matters.  All of his or her decisions, then, will emanate from the wisdom that comes from God.  Their follow-through on those decisions will match their integrity in following God.  

History is filled with great kingdoms that have grown because the leaders followed God.  History is also filled with kingdom after kingdom that has fallen because they did not follow God.  My father gave me a plaque that reminds me of that reality throughout history.  It simply states, "I didn't call it the ten suggestions. -God"  A walk with God should be our only criteria in selecting a leader.

I find it interesting that an atheist/agnostic friend of mine gave me a plaque that said this: "Vocatus atque non vocatus, deus aderit."  It's a Latin sentence that roughly translates, "Bidden or not bidden, God is present."  Will we "bid" Him to lead us.  We do that when we select people who already ask Him to lead them.  We make them our leaders.

I know that I am saying things that most people will never read and that many who read it will scoff.  Nonetheless, it needs to be said.  Today, I was the one called to say it.  Another family reminded me of that nine years ago when they gave me a plaque that reminds me, "God's gifts and His call are irrevocable." (Romans 11:29)

I'm praying today that you will, if empowered to do so, vote today.  
Choose wisely.  Select leaders who walk together with God.