Lone Ranger

(Funny title... not so funny meaning behind it. Of course I am not speaking of The Lone Ranger, and his horse Silver... but of how so many of us try to go this life... this walk... alone. We try to be the Lone Ranger as we walk along thinking that we can handle whatever comes our way... alone... yet how often is that really true? So with this post I am going to try to focus on who we need, and why we need them, as we trudge along in this world waiting to be called home. We have a place, and it is not by ourselves... but a part of something much bigger than us. This is something I have to deal with myself as I am one of those who likes to isolate, and who likes to try to do things on his own. So I speak to myself first... and I hope I will listen ;-)

Genesis 2:18 (NKJV)

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

It is not good for man to be alone. Interesting.

There are so many times and so many reasons that we try to face this life alone. Whether married or single, we try to do it alone. Whether we have many friends or few, we try to do it alone. Whether a part of our church or just one who passes through, we try to do it alone. For whatever reason, whether pride and ego, embarrassment or shame, guilt or regret, we try to face our life and our problems alone. But we are not made to be alone, or to go through this life alone. We are made to be a part of something much greater than ourselves. We are made to rely on God and on each other as we face the strife of this life. Without Him, and without those He has given us to be a part of our lives, are journey in this life will be so much harder than it needs to be. It will bring its troubles... that is promised...

Matthew 6:34(NIV)

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Troubles will come... as we all know so very well. But in those troubles that are sure to come, how do we act? How do we live? How do we face them? Do we try to face them alone? Do we try to overcome them in our own strength? Do we ask for help from God, from our family, or our friends? Are we willing to open up about our problems?

For me, this last sentence is the key. My willingness to open up about problems has always been... well... a problem. I have always been unwilling. I have always thought that I could handle it and if I couldn't I most assuredly didn't want anyone to know about it. So I put on a bold face and when anyone asked I would always say I "was doing fine," or "things were good." I guess this was my pride showing its face, mixed in with a bit of embarrassment... I was embarrassed that I couldn't really handle it. So I didn't want anyone to know, and yet I forgot that there is One who knows all. God saw. God knew. God wanted me to ask Him for help.

Matthew 11:28-29 (NIV)

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Psalm 50:15 (NIV)

and call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

Psalm 91:14-15 (NIV)

¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.

James 5:13 (NKJV)

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.

As well on wanting me to call on Him, He also wants me to lean on my brothers and sisters in the faith...

1 Corinthians 12:23-27 (NKJV)

²³ And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, ²⁴ but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, ²⁵ that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. ²⁶ And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

We are not to face troubles, trials, and strife in this crazy life alone... we need God, and we need each other. Not one of us is the Lone Ranger, and even he had help. Not one of us is strong enough to do it on our own. We need His strength, and the help of the body. I know that we have been programmed by society to asnwer, "Good, everything is good" when asked "How are you doing?" It kind of just always comes out that way doesn't it? I could be going through the biggest battle of my life and still tell everyone that asks that I am fine. I think as a man it is even worse because my father is like that. It is a part of being a man that we need to appear strong and capable. We need to put up a front that we can handle anything that comes our way. But that just isn't true.

So when will we learn? When will we decide that, and come to the conclusion that we cannot handle it on our own?

When will we stop trying to be the Lone Ranger?

For me that question has been answered... and the answer is now. I am now married. I have my helpmate. I have someone to lean on. I know I have a body of friends, a body of brothers and sisters in Christ who care and will be there to help. So when troubles come I need to call on God, and call on my family. I can't do it by myself... and I don't want to have to either.

How about you?

We need to be willing to admit our weakness. We need to be willing to call out for help. We need to be willing to be the help someone else may need. We need to! We need to remember we never walk alone. We need to remember that in our weakness the Lord's strength is revealed. We need to echo the Apostle Paul when he said...

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

"Call my Name" by Third Day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu0g5Y4uxww

Count the Cost

At such a cost our freedom was garnered... this a cost we could not pay.

Nothing we have could be offered for our own redemption... yet this is a bill that must be paid.

God demands an accounting for the life He gave... and each sin adds to a debt that never stops increasing.

So how??? How do we pay a debt we have absolutely no means of paying?

That's easy... Jesus paid it all.

And yet... is it really that easy?

Out of love God sent His only begotten Son. Out of love Jesus came to be born of a woman. Out of love He came and bore the reality of the human life... pain, loneliness, humiliation... hunger, fatigue, distress... abandonment, separation, and death... even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). Out of love Jesus walked this earth searching for those who would believe and follow. Out of love He rose again in victory over death, so that through His death and resurrection we too could share in His victory.

So again I ask... is it really that easy? Simply put... No.

Why would we think it would be? It seems far too many of us who claim Christ, to one degree or another, live in a way that takes the sacrifice of our Savior for granted. I know this firsthand since I used to be one of them... and at times still may be. The question is why? Why do so many continue to take Him for granted? Why do so many continue to take the steep cost for granted?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT)

¹⁹ Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, ²⁰ for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

I lived many years of my life claiming to be a Christian... and yet I never knew what that meant. I never knew... or better put... I never understood what my redemption cost. The high price that was paid for the forgiveness I received... the cleansing, restoration, and salvation I received. I didn't know or understand because I didn't want to know or understand. Something in me knew I would have to change... and that I would have to give up some things if I was to live a life of faith. I wasn't willing. Sadly... I wasn't willing. But thanks be to God... He is patient.

Now, after almost four and a half years of learning, walking this life of faith, and having my eyes opened to the cost, I am now beginning to understand... although I will never fully know or comprehend it all. Jesus paid the ultimate cost. It was a debt He did not owe that He paid for all of us who had a debt we could not pay. And what do we do in response to this??? What do we do to show our gratitude? How do we respond to the ultimate act of grace? Do we believe... yes. Do we go to church... yes. Do we allow God to change us... yes, to a degree. Do we count the cost... sadly I think for most Christians the answer is no. My answer was no for a large majority of my life.

But what I am speaking about here is not counting the cost of the sacrifice of Jesus. That is something we can never know. We can never truly know the cost of God the Father sending His Son. We can never know the cost of the Son laying down His life. We can never know what it cost Him. But what I am speaking about hear is something we can know. Something we should know. And that is the cost of following Him. What will it cost us is the question. I hope that many, if not most Christians have come to grips with the fact that Jesus had to die in order for us to be saved. I hope that we as a body of believers have deep gratitude that goes beyond words for what our Savior has done for us. What I don't know, and what I am trying to get at hear is do we understand that His cost will lead to our cost?

Following Jesus will cost you something. Following Jesus should cost you something. Following Jesus through the veil and in through the narrow gates of heaven should cost us all we have... but it doesn't. My question is... would we be willing to give it?

This past Sunday as I sat in church and we sang songs worshiping our God and Savior this really started to sink in for me. One of those songs was by Jared Anderson called "Pleasing to You." Some of the lyrics go like this...

"I give my life, my all
Taking the cross I will follow
Jesus my heart must know
I'm pleasing to You

Sanctify me
You are the light to guide me
To the place where I am
Only if pleasing to You"

Do we give our lives to Him... do we give our all?

Do we give all we have to give for the honor of knowing Jesus Christ?

Do we allow Him to take us to a place where we will be pleasing to Him?

Another song was called "I Give Myself Away" by William McDowell, and some of the lyrics go like this...

"Take my heart
Take my life
As a living sacrifice
All my dreams, all my plans
Lord I place them in your hands

My life is not my own
To you I belong
I give myself, I give myself to You

I give myself away
I give myself away
So You can use me"

Do we offer up our heart... what we love, enjoy, watch, listen to, partake in... and our lives?

Do we present ourselves as a living sacrifice to our God?

Do we realize that our life is not our own... but that we belong to Him?

Another song was "Refiner's Fire" by Brian Doerksen and the lyrics go like this...

"My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy"

Do we have the desire to be holy? To be set apart for Him? To stand out as children of the Light?

Do we choose to be holy as He is Holy... or do we choose to live as the world does, unwilling to give up the things we used to do, desire to do in the flesh, or cling to as we long to be in control?

Do we allow Him to purify our hearts? And do we realize that we hamper the cleansing of our hearts by holding on to the trash the world has to offer?

And yet another song was "Overtaken" by Gateway Worship and the lyrics go like this...

"CHORUS
God, You're taking over all of me, I'm letting go so
You can come and have Your way in me
I leave it all behind me 'cause Jesus saved my life
Now every day I worship You, my King

VERSE 2

Jesus Christ, I thank You for the love You've
Given me, though I deserve nothing
Everything I have, I owe it all to You
Nothing that this world has got to offer
Satisfies my soul, I still hunger
Pouring out my heart, I'm filling up with You"

Do we let go? Truly let go of what this world has to offer?

Or do we cling? Cling to the temporal pleasures that take away from our offering to the Lord?

Do we realize that we don't deserve anything and that all we have is due to Him and through Him?

Do we recognize that nothing this world has to offer can satisfy us?

If we answered yes to any and all of these questions... then why?

Why do we still do the things we ought not to do, and fail to do the things we ought to do? (See Romans 7:13-25)

As I thought about this today and I remembered that this is a blog I started to write way back in March of 2011, I also remembered why I never got around to doing it. People don't like to hear messages like this. But again I turned my thoughts towards the music we sing in churches and one imparticular which is "For the Sake of the Call" by Steven Curtis Chapman and the lyrics go like this...

"Nobody stood and applauded them
So they knew from the start
This road would not lead to fame
All they really knew for sure was Jesus had called to them
He said "Come follow me" and they came
With reckless abandon they came

Empty nets lying there at the waters edge
Told a story that few could believe and none could explain
How some crazy fishermen agreed to go where Jesus lead
With no thought for what they would gain
For Jesus had called them by name and they answered

CHORUS
We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die
For the sake of the call"

Are we certain we have heard the voice of our Lord? If so why don't we follow?

Why don't we also follow with reckless abandon?

Do we wonder about what we will gain? Or worry more over what we will have to give up?

Will we abandon it all for the sake of the call? For no other reason than that Jesus is worth it?

I wonder that when we pass on if this song will be sung for us? For how many of us will it be sung?

In Luke's gospel Jesus tells a couple of parables that pertain to counting the cost because it will cost us to follow Him.

Luke 14:28-30 (NKJV)

²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— ²⁹ lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?

³¹ Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.

We are to count the cost. We are to consider if we are able. We have a choice in the matter. But it isn't really a choice. The disciples left all behind to follow Jesus and all but John lost their life in persecution. While we may not be asked to do that... why we may not be asked to forsake all like they did... why we may not lose our lives to persecution... Jesus is looking for those who would be willing. Are you willing? It is obvious that most of us would say yes to that question... but would we mean it?

Most seem unwilling to forsake their Lady Gaga cd's, Eminem cd's, and TV shows like Family Guy that blaspheme Christ as they portray Him as a cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking pimp in one of their episodes. Yet we watch shows like that. We watch shows and movies with murder, sex, and cursing
and then go and bless the Lord in our church services. We listen to music that is all about sex, violence, guns, money, drugs and then go and bless the Lord is our churches. We rationalize this by saying things like " I am an adult I can handle it," or "it's only a movie, TV show, or song."

We are unwilling to part with ungodly friendships and relationships thinking just because Jesus ate with sinners its ok for us to surround ourselves with them too. Haven't you read or heard that...

1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV)

³³ Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”^[

Jesus would also say some other things that always made me nervous about making sure I was willing. He would say that...

Luke 9:62 (NIV)

⁶² Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

and...

Luke 14:25-27 (NKJV)

²⁵ Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Some may wonder what bearing one's cross and following Jesus has to do with entertainment. Some may wonder why I write this stuff. I guess my point is that if we are not willing to even change our choices of entertainment which allow trash into our minds and stunt our growth as Christians... what are we willing to give up for the sake of the call??? If are not making the choice to listen to, and watch shows that honor Christ instead of blaspheme Him or praise the world instead of Him... is our walk pure? Or is it corrupted by what we allow our eyes and ears to feast on? Is it a big deal? Is it not?

Jesus always said "He who has ears to hear let him hear." I guess I am saying the same thing. But more importantly, he who has the Holy Spirit dwelling within him (or her), should listen to the Holy Spirit and make choices that will honor God and not mock Him. We should make choices that will grow our faith, allow Him to change us by them, and help us along the way. Even if they are tough choices about how we entertain ourselves and who we hang out with. If it is just music... just a TV show... just a movie... just a friendship... why can't we let go of it? Why is the honor of knowing Christ and trying to live a life that pleases Him not enough of a reason to leave the world and its things behind?

James 4:4 (NKJV)

⁴ Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

James had a lot of harsh words, but they were truth nonetheless. So we need to make sure we make wise choices. We need to make sure we are willing to put things in their proper place... and for some that may mean the trash. We need to make sure we consider everything that goes along with following Christ. Yes we are saved by grace through faith. Yes His work on the cross was finished. Yes eternal life awaits those who believe. But there will be those crying out "Lord, Lord" and yet they will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. I don't want to be one of them.

Count the cost... and then put that information into action by doing the things that will honor God with your life choices. Even in the little things.

"For the Sake of the Call" by Steven Curtis Chapman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sb4RrF9VxI

"Refiner's Fire" by Brian Doerksen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y8zP34AhuU

"Pleasing to You" by Jared Anderson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXHo4CPk9v8

"Overtaken" by Gateway Worship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxnJFoXVBxY

"I Give Myself Away" by William McDowell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7ofQmeao9I

Through Eyes Like Fire

This conversation between Father and Son wasn't going so well as far as the Son was concerned. He could hear His Father’s words echo through His mind, “No not one.” As He looked out over the expanse of time He replayed that last piece of the conversation. He had asked if His Father would have to destroy them all if just fifty righteous could be found. The answer given was no, if fifty could be found He would spare them all.

“But what if just forty could be found,” He asked. “No for the sake of the forty I will spare them all,” was His Father’s reply. “But none are righteous, no not one,” His Father went on to say.  “It grieves me that this is the way it has become, they all have turned away, not one does good. They are my creation and I love them dearly, but I am Holy and Just and must judge them according to their works.”

“Yes Father I know. You are Holy, Holy, Holy, and justice must be done, but I love them so.”

“I know that this hurts you my beloved, just as it does me. It pains me to my innermost being, but it must be done nonetheless.”

Through eyes like fire the Son scans through the ages. He sees those He loves with all His heart, mind, soul, and strength, and His heart is broken. “How has it come to this,” He wonders to Himself. “All the evidence of creation was placed before them and a longing for eternity was instilled in their heart, and yet they go their own way. How could it be that none do good?”

With one last attempt the Son looks at His Father with eyes full of compassion and says, “What if I go?”

The Father with a gleam in His eyes looks back and says, “Are you willing?”

“I am Father, but not my will but yours be done. Send me if you will.”

“As a man you will know full well what their existence is like. You will know hunger and pain, fatigue and despair, abandonment and betrayal. Those are the ways of man.”

“Yes Father I know and I am still willing. You said if just one could be found you would not destroy them all. Allow some, as many as who are willing to come to me and know me to be mine.”

“But Son I must still judge justly. For any to be saved you must take their place. You will have to taste death, and not just any death, but the death of the cross. You must die on a tree and become the curse so they can be set freed from it. Are you certain you are willing?”

“Yes I am. If it is your will, and if it will make you pleased, then punish me instead. If their debt could be paid by my death, then yes Father I will take their place.”

The Father looks at His Son with joy in His eyes. He knows what this means. He knows He will have to release the full burden of His wrath on His own Son for a race of people that will despise Him. But for the sake of the few who would believe, for the sake of those who would turn back to Him, He was willing.

“My Son in whom I am well pleased, you know that while you hang on that tree you and I will be separated. As you hold the weight of all their sin on your shoulders I will unleash the full measure of my anger. You will not know my presence at that moment. Are you still willing?”

Separation was something the Son has never known as He has always been with the Father. He looks again through the ages and sees those who He would come to know as friends. His live for them knows no bounds and He tells His Father, “Yes I am. I am still willing. I am willing to do whatever it takes.”

“Then so be it says the Father. Amen. Go my Son; I love you with an everlasting love.”

“Yes Father, let your will be done.”

What's the Difference???

1 Peter 4:3-4 (NKJV)

³ For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. ⁴ In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

What's the difference?

What's the difference between us who claim Christ and the rest of the world around us... the people around us?

Is there a difference? Should there be a difference?

(Before I begin let me point out that this comes from some self examination first and foremost and is in no way an attack on any one person. The goal is to get each person who reads this to also examine their own walk with the Lord.)

I was thinking about this topic the other day while in church. Within the past few weeks I have heard from the pulpit that it was ok for us to be different, that we should as Christians be different... we should be set apart unto God. First a few weeks ago from a guest preacher who is a missionary to Zambia, and then from my own Pastor who also added that it was ok to be weird... to seem weird... at least weird to the world. That is how we seem... at least I think we should... weird to the world. Yet when we take a good look at the church is that something we are seeing? Do we see a nation of believers set apart unto God??? Or do we see a nation of believers who live as if they are set apart from God?

Jesus Himself was an outcast in His own day... at least He was an outcast to the mainstream, the people around Him. Those who accepted Him knew who He was and what He was all about. Those who did not accused Him of being a drunkard, a sinner, and a man basically posessed and powered by Satan.

Matthew 11:19 (NIV1984)

¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.”

Matthew 12:24 (NKJV)

²⁴ Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

The leaders of His day deemed Him an outcast and an outlaw. He was different. He is our example. But are we different? Are we "outcasts" in our world? Are we?

This is a hard topic to talk about because it is hard to be different. It is hard to know where to draw the line between fanaticism and a life that exemplifies the Christian faith as Christ intended. So how do we know what He intended? How do we know how to rightfully live a life that shows the world our faith in Christ without watering it down so the world barely notices a difference?

I think it would have been so much easier if Jesus would have lived in a recent time and had to deal with the world we deal with today. Immorality runs rampant through the streets. What is right is considered wrong. What is wrong is considered right. What is good is considered evil, and what is evil is considered good. I think I heard or read that somewhere before.

Isaiah 5:20 (NKJV)

²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 

We live in a world with people who love themselves and not God. Who seek to please themselves and not God. I think I read that somewhere too.

2 Timothy 3:1-4 (NKJV)

^"1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴ traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,"

Woe to those people. Yet don't Christians also do this? Do I? Do you? At times... I think so. But should this be... should we? I think not. I know not. Yet we do. So why... how. Why do we. How can we. Are we not supposed to radiate light? Are we not supposed to show Christ in us? Do we? Do I? I know that most people will say that this is impossible. We cannot always radiate Christ's love... can we? We cannot always live as Christ lived... can we? Is that something to strive for or something to dismiss as impossible? Do we seek first the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness or do we settle for less because we as people are incapable?

Tough questions to asnwer but isn't this what we see in the church... how we live... how I live? But why? Why settle for less? Why suppose and assume that it can't be done? Why do we live with one foot in the world and one foot in heaven thinking that it is acceptable to do so? Why live anything less than a life wholly dedicated to God that includes what we listen to, what we watch (both movies and tv), what we say, how we dress, and so forth and so on? Why allow the world to corrupt our thoughts, lives, and actions? Why be transformed by the world when we should be being transformed by the Word? Why do we seek to fit in rather than stand out?

Why?

What should our standards be? Where do we set the bar?

Our standards should be His, and we don't set the bar but He does. It is up to us to live by them.

If we go a little further in 2 Timothy we get a warning from Paul...

2 Timothy 3:5 (NKJV)

⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Yet we don't turn away do we. It seems we turn into them instead of turning away from them.

Throughout Paul's letters he gives us a picture... an idea... of what we should be doing...

1 Timothy 6:11-12 (NKJV)

¹¹ But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Romans 13:12-14 (NKJV)

¹² The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. ¹³ Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. ¹⁴ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

Ephesians 5:3-5 (NKJV)

³ But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; ⁴ neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. ⁵ For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Romans 6:1-3 (NKJV)

¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

 

I think I could write for days all of the exhortations of Paul, Peter, John, and James of how we should be living as Christians... but most of us who read the Word, go to a good church, and love the Lord already know these things. The question is why do we fail to see it so often amongst the church to actually live these things?

 

Shouldn't we be "Doers of the Word?" (James 1:22)

Shouldn't we be "Imitators of God?" (Ephesians 5:1)

Shouldn't we "Pick up our own cross and follow" the Lord? (Matthew 16:24)

Shouldn't we (me included)?

 

But let's be honest, when we look at the church as a whole... when we look at the body of believers as a whole... we don't really see this. We see a church corrupted by the world. Jesus said that He came not to bring peace but the sword (Matthew 10:34). He came to separate His followers from the world. One day when we all stand before Him, He will separate the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25). I tend to think this means a separation between the believers... those true to His Word, and those not. If we parallel what is spoken of in Matthew 25 and the Sheep/Goat judgment with what Jesus said in Matthew 7 we can see that there will many who think they are Christians who are not.

 

Matthew 7:21-23 (NKJV)

  
²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

 

These verses have always scared the daylights out of me. To me, for many to call Him Lord must believe He is Lord. Yet they may have known of Him, but never known Him. What a tragedy it would be to wind up being one of these who hear these words from Jesus... I never knew you... depart from me... how tragic.

 

There is a lot of harshness to this post. I have had many conversations over the past 4 years about what people watch, listen to, talk about, joke about, think about... etc., etc. But the question is when it comes to how you live your life... what's the difference? Are we claiming Christ and still living as our neighbor who knows nothing of Christ lives? Are we allowing the world to dictate to us how we live our lives rather than letting God dictate how we live? Is society and all it encompasses more powerful than God? Is culture, tradition, TV, more valuale to you when it comes to making a decision about how you live and what you do than the Word of God? I pray not.

 

My prayer and my hearts desire is to be one of the sheep at Jesus's right hand to whom He says... "well done good and faithful servant." 

Strive to be different. Strive to be strange (as Peter put it). Strive to be weird as my Pastor put it. Strive to be set apart unto God offering your body (and life) as a living sacrifice. Strive...

Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV)

  
¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

 

Dare to live as an outcast just as He did. Living this way does not mean we never leave our houses... or that we never have anything to do with the world... but just beacuse we are in the world does not mean we have to be part of it.

 

Yes, I know it is difficult. I know how hard it is to change. I know how hard it is to give up the things we have grown accustomed to. I know how hard it is to say no to the world. I know all of this from experience and I still struggle at times. I can tell you that the first decision is the hardest... the first thing you change or give up for the sake of the cross. But all things are possible through Christ who gives us strength, and each decision after will get easier. This life may be full of small choices here and there that we must make in order to separate ourselves from a world gone mad. But doesn't our savior deserve for us to give all we have, all we can... to part with the things of old so we can take hold of the new? Doesn't His sacrifice for us deserve a sacrifice from us in return. Not because the sacrifice in itself makes us worthy... but because HE is WORTHY. He is worthy for us to give up all things to grasp hold of HIM.

 

Shall we let our comforts, the things we take pleasure in, our movies, our music, our lifestyle, and/or our wants, get in the way of our walk with Him?

 

If we are alienated by our families, colleagues, friends... should we allow our feelings get in the way of our choice to follow Christ?

 

Do we stand firm on the rock of Christ, alone if necessary, and say to the world... "Come what may I will not be moved"... or do we fall in line with the goats and with the nonbelievers, because we refuse to be separate? Are you willing to be different?

1 Peter 1:13-15 (NIV1984)

¹³ Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;"

 

May God bless you and keep you and show you His will for your life.

Willing... Love Is

Wow... it has been a while since I have written anything. I started this one once already  and have had no time to get it done until now. So much has changed in the past month and the best part of it is that I am now married. So... This one is dedicated to the love of my life, my best friend... my bride Rachael.

Rachael my SWEET... As our love has grown, my understanding of love has grown. What it really is... what it takes... and you have shown me. You have said on a few occasions that love is a choice... a choice that we must make even when the going gets rough. I agree. True love is willing to make that choice to love no matter the circumstances... and I am willing to love you as you ought to be loved. I know I have mentioned that I need to be inspired in order for me to write, and I just want you to know that I have spent the past 4 1/2 months being inspired... by you.

In our first marriage counseling session with our Pastor, he asked us a question. That question was, "what is love." At first I had a hard time answering the question. To me the meaning is complicated... the meaning is... well... meaningful. I had a hard time answering because the love I feel for Rachael, the love I now know is possible... is beyond what I knew before. I didn't really know how to describe it, and since it is so serious to me, I just didn't want to offer up an answer to it that was anything less than it should be. But as I thought all the more about what love is to me, and thought more about how I felt in my relationship, the meaning I was searching for became more clear. To me love is willing. That would be my answer. Love... true love... love as God intended it... is willing. If you look at the scriptures you see that this is how God enacts His love towards us. He is willing to love even when we are unlovable. He is willing to shower us with His love even though we don't deserve it.

Romans 5 (NIV)

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is love in action... love that is willing... it should be our example. So this is what has been on my mind ever since that day in the Pastor's office and I hope to explain further just what I mean be a "willing" love.

The way I see it is that we have had love modeled for us... a perfect love... true love... and yet we struggle immeasurably to follow the model. In our nature the love we have to give others is but just a small piece of what it should be as our desire to please self interrupts the flow of love to another. That is why when things in a relationship begin to get hard so many people look for the exit instead of deciding to stick it out... to make it work. And this kind of love isn't really love at all. In order for us to know how to really love someone you need to be loved. And if you are going to truly love somebody you will need to be truly loved by somebody. But the only one who knows how to truly love is God, and until we go to Him to be loved... and to be taught how to love... how we love will always be but a small portion of what it could be.

In my life, I have experienced the love of God... and it is through this love that I am free and able to love. I have received love... true love... and now I can give love... true love. Thanks be to God. This is the love I will now look to give back to God, and then extend to my wife Rachael. This is how God intended it to be, and this is how I want to live my life... loving God first, and my wife above all others. I am willing, and I am able, but not because/or in and of myself, but because of God. I can love Him because He first loved me. I can then extend that love because He shows me how to love.

1 John 4 (NIV)

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.

or in the NKJV

1 John 4 (NKJV)

¹⁹ We love Him because He first loved us.

And since He loves us we can love... what He has freely given us we are free to give away.

Matthew 10 (NLT)

⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!

Notice how this verse says to give freely what we have received... so in other words... if you haven't received it you cannot give it. That is how God designed it... and it is just one of so many reasons of why we need Him. For me, my desire is to love my wife with all that I have to give, so the more I know of God the more I will know of love, and I can then love her as she deserves to be loved. I am willing.

Our example to love has been given to us... and it is an example I hope to learn to live by. When talking to His disciples Jesus once said that...

John 13:35 (NKJV)

³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

In writing to the Thessalonian church the Apostle Paul said...

1 Thessalonians 4:9 (NKJV)

⁹ But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;

The Apostle Peter says that...

1 Peter 1 (NIV)

²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.

How is it that we purify ourselves... by going to God to be purified, by obeying the truth... His truth... and loving one another. we must be willing to seek Him first, to receive His love, and allow Him to teach us how to love.

Rachael my love I am willing.

I am willing to learn more of God so I can learn more of love. In this I hope to be able to learn how to love you... truly love you... beyond how I love you now. You deserve to be loved in this way, and that is my hearts desire.

I am willing to be changed... changed and molded by God... molded and shaped into the man He has made me to be. In this I know that He will make me into the man who will love you as you ought to be loved, a princess\... a daughter of the Almighty.

I am willing to be corrected... as I know that many of my "ways" are not the ways of the Lord. I pray that He helps me correct the error of my ways so that I can be the type of man who doesn't need to be right... who doesn't seek his own way, but who seeks His way.  In this I hope to become the type of leader that you will need me to be/want me to be.

I am willing to learn more of you... as I know that all that I do know is just the beginning. I want to know everything there is to know about you... whether "quirks" in your personality, or things you may see as "shortcomings"... to know every way I can make you smile, laugh, or blush... to know the things that make you tick whether good or bad... to know the desires and dreams of your heart and how they may change over the years... because in all of this I will know you better, for all of these things are a part of you. I want to know all of you. I am willing to go further and deeper into who you are, to know you in the most intimate and personal ways... to spend my life gathering information on who you are because you are that special to me.

I am willing to be humbled... as I know I am not perfect even though I try so hard to be. To be humbled by God as He teaches me my place, my role, and shows me the plan for my life... and to be humbled by you, my partner, my friend, my wife. You amaze me, and I have already learned so much from you... and I look forward to seeing how God is going to use you to teach me. The way you look at things, your insights, your wisdom, all of this will help make me a better man. To serve God and to love you I am willing to be humbled.

I am willing to admit when I am wrong.
I am willing to seek you first before I make any decisions.
I am willing to seek advice on anything and all things to make sure I am doing the right thing by you.
I am willing to learn what it means to love as God loves.
I am willing to learn how to live in that love and extend it first to you, and then to others.
I am willing to love you when the going gets hard, when I don't feel like it, and when you don't deserve it.
I am willing to make the choice to love no matter what.
I am willing... because God is willing... it is His desire for me to be the kind of man who treats you as you should be treated, so I will trust Him to teach me and make me that man.

In all of this I am willing... love is willing... and I love you with all I have to love you with... more than yesterday, but not as much as I will tomorrow.

This is my goal... the goal I will live my life by so I can love you as God intended...

Ephesians 5:25-33a (NIV)

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³² This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself,..."


I love you SWEET!!!

"When God Made You" by Newsong and Natalie Grant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIdnp0z0OCA

"If You Could See What I See" by Geoff Moore and The Distance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_InoBdOVGWM

"How to Fall" by Josh Wilson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvRlvpcKDVk

"God Gave Me You" by Dave Barnes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7PvQCwhgHo


"You Belong To Me" by Michael W Smith

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H4ubwENeeo