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Friday, May 25, 2012

‘Wannabe’ does not make it so

Learning and doing can be disconnected. Learning is often disconnected from life and living life.

For instance, I can read all kinds of books, attend lectures, and watch video clips about building, but until I actually start building I’m not a builder. And I’m not really a builder until I’ve built a few things.

I can read and attend lectures and watch videos about running, golf, fishing, sewing, pottery, etc, etc and never be a runner, golfer, fisherman, seamstress or potter. I am simply a wannabe. A wannabe becomes the real deal when they start putting miles on their shoes, spending hours fishing, and sewing all sorts of items. It is not the ‘wannabe’ that makes it so. It is the doing. It is in putting ‘rubber to the road.’

This is true in the Christian life. Reading about Jesus and the Christian life, attending church services, watching videos, and listening to teachings may give information and knowledge, but if that person never puts ‘rubber to the road,’ they are a wannabe Jesus follower and not a Jesus follower.

Jesus told the Apostles to make disciples and to “…teach them to obey [DO] everything I’ve commanded you.”

Jesus half-brother, James, said it this way: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22 NIV)

People can learn about something and never put it into practice and never become what they ‘wannabe.’ On the other hand, a person who does it - who puts ‘rubber to the road’ - learns it. They can’t help it. Learning happens in the doing. A person can read all about running and never become a runner, but a person who runs learns all about running and is a runner.

A person who obeys Jesus is a Jesus follower and learns more about being a Jesus follower than the person who reads, watches, and listens to teachings about being a Jesus follower but doesn’t obey.

This is also true in marriage and parenting. I can read all kinds of books, attend weekend seminars and sign-up for coaching, but unless I put into practice what I learn, I am a ‘wannabe’ and not the real deal. It is when I obey Jesus and love my wife as Jesus loves the church that I become a godly husband. When I put ‘rubber to the road’ and serve my wife and kids, I become what a husband and father is supposed to become.

‘Wannabe’ does not make it so – doing makes it so.

Friday, May 18, 2012

People are reading your book

In the first century the Gospel was not something read in a Bible, or listened to on the radio or TV. The Gospel was read in the lives of those who were followers of Jesus. Every follower of Jesus revealed to those they came in contact with something about God and something about the values, priorities and life of Jesus. The Gospel came to people in the flesh and blood, the words, attitudes and actions of those who were following the risen Savior.

One of the earliest writings about the Gospel was the letters to the church in Corinth. In 2 Corinthians Paul was defending his apostleship against the accusation that he was not really an apostle. He told the Corinthian believers that they were his letter of recommendation, that every time someone looked at them they could ‘read’ what Paul had taught and how Paul had lived.

The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This "letter" is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.
(2 Corinthians 3:2-3 NLT)

Today, every follower of Jesus reveals something about God and theology. Every follower also reveals something about the values, priorities and ways of Jesus. Is your ‘book’ telling the truth? When someone reads your life do they read truth about who God is and what God is like? When someone reads the ‘book’ of your life, are they getting the truth about Jesus’ priorities, values and ways or are they reading a lie?

Paul continually encouraged people to follow him. He wrote:
You should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1 NLT)

Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:9 NLT)

Paul wrote these words with confidence because his ‘book’ was telling the truth.

Is your ‘book’ telling the truth?

Friday, May 11, 2012

Are you drinking Living Water?

Water …

Upwards of 70% of the planet is covered by water. Some of the water is salt-water and some of it is fresh water. People can live for weeks without taking in food but can last only days without water. In 1981 an Irish hunger striker went 73 days without food. According to the Guinness Book of Records the longest time a human has survived without water is 18 days. Dehydration begins to impact the human body with thirst, dry mouth, dizziness, no longer making tears, no longer sweating, muscle cramps, nausea and vomiting, heart palpitations. Going more than four days without water leads to kidney failure, and eventually death.

1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water. Roughly one-sixth of the world's population and half of the world's hospital beds are filled with people suffering from water related illnesses.

The human race is dependent upon water. Without it we are doomed.

Is it any wonder that Jesus used water as a running illustration of people needing to depend upon Him as the source of ‘Living Water?’ The illustration would have been so much more potent to the people that he spoke to directly than it is to you or me.

Today, getting a drink of water takes almost no effort whatsoever. For most Americans it only requires the turn of a faucet handle. Much of the world today doesn’t have the access to running water in their homes that we have. They have to go out to a river, lake or well and work for the water. In Jesus’ day people did not get water without effort and often substantial effort.

Jesus said to the woman at the well: “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you living water.” (John 4:10 NLT)

Jesus taught that the only way to live a healthy spiritual life is to receive from Him ‘living water.’ Anything short of a few days without ‘living water’ and the human spirit begins to undergo changes that, if not hydrated with the ‘living water,’ will lead to ‘spiritual organ failure. People begin to sense a thirst, then a dryness and then spiritual dizziness and so on.

People never have to be without ‘living water.’ The supply in Jesus is never ending. The well is never closed. Jesus just said, “Ask Me, and I will give you living water.”

Are you spiritually dehydrated? Ask for living water.
Has it been a few days since you drank from the well of living water? Ask for living water.

Jesus is the ‘living water’, which is available at all times to every person.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Out of the Blue Temptation

I have been thinking this week about how moment-by-moment temptation can be. It seems like a person can be going through their day minding their own business, and then what seems like out of the blue something happens that can, if not responded to correctly, set an unintended trajectory for the next period of time.

For example, the evening at home is progressing peacefully. Something happens, and right in front of you is an unavoidable fork in the road. You must make a split second choice. React in anger, and the next period of time is filled with tension, frustration and conflict. React in kindness or even in silence, and the momentary tension melts away back into peace.

At that fork in the road, the temptation, which was not present a split second before, is talking. This split second, on-the-fly temptation could be, anger, lying, bitterness, gossip, jealousy, selfishness, lust, self-medicating with chemicals or alcohol - you name it. More often than not, it seems like our mind would describe the situation unfolding as “didn’t see that coming.”

There are, of course, situations of premeditated temptation that brew for a while, giving a person the chance to go forward or to back out of the situation. Often, though, it is not the no-one-is-going-to-be-home-or-know-so-I-think-I’ll-surf-the-net thoughts that start tempting someone. Instead, it is the picture, advertisement or spam that jumps out and puts a little ‘niggly’ in someone’s thoughts. It is the ad for something that I didn’t even know existed, but now that I know what it is, I have to have it … no matter what the cost!

This was not premeditated covetousness, materialism or greed. This was ‘where did that come from’ covetousness, materialism and greed. The advertisement plants a little ‘niggly’ in our ‘want’ organ and that itch has to be scratched!

The Apostle Peter said, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8 NLT)

It is at those forks in the road that the enemy waits ready to pounce. Stay alert!