Who’s Watching?

Religion is what you do for God that everyone can see. Faith (trust) is how you live with God when no one is watching or keeping score.

John

My wife and I met a guy named John the other day. We could have talked to John for hours about nearly anything because you could easily tell that he cared. He was secure in who he is and simply confident about life. At one point in the conversation he told my wife how much he loved God. We weren’t surprised in fact we already knew. John’s love for God was all over him. At one point quite a ways into our encounter John told us about his eleven year old son that has leukemia. Sometime later we asked about other children and heard about his newborn son who two weeks before was in the NIC Unit due to major complications at birth. The complications were a huge medical issue for John’s wife too. In fact at one point in the last few weeks his wife was at one hospital while his sons where at different hospitals in another city. None of them were within twenty miles of their home.

At no time did John indicate anything other than joy! He had every reason to be down and good reason to doubt yet his excitement for God was amazingly contagious. We loved how he told us about his Lord not his church because it’s personal. His trust was infectious. We can all learn from John and people like him.

John’s wife and baby are home doing well, will you please pray for their older son Toby?

Imitation

There are two ways to look at the word imitation; one is the act of copying someone or something and the other is a counterfeit.

Why then is so much of Christianity based on imitation and isn’t it interesting that simulation is a synonym of imitation.

God’s love for you is absolutely unique! He’s never loved anyone in the same way He loves and cares for you. His ideas and desires for you are matchless.

So why do we spend so much time, money and effort trying to duplicate what He’s done in another’s life? We read books about the 5, 7 or 10 steps to this or that, we put together elaborate programs, curriculum and seminars designed to make others like us, all the while forsaking our individuality and cheapening the exceptional relationship God wants to have with us.

Don’t be discouraged if trying to follow the crowd has left you saying “surely there’s more”. There is, it’s more Jesus! He is the only one capable of truly loving you with no strings attached and no baggage. The only one that can satisfy your very soul and the only one that can heal the pain this world has thrust upon you. Cry out to Him, He’s right there.

God is Real

God is real, you can know Him personally and intimately and once you do, there’s more. It’s an eternal pursuit, a perpetual longing so we need never settle into a smug “I’ve got God all figured out” way of living. We can wake up each day eager for what we might be taught from and about Him, eager to share and learn from others. We don’t have to be anxious or fearful just careful that what we teach and discover is consistent with what He’s given us in His Word.

I can’t begin to tell you the hours and hours of angst behind the above paragraph. I know what you’re thinking, “Duh! You say those things all the time.” Lately I’ve been listening to and reading a bunch of different Bible teachers on both sides of the concept of knowing God. Some that tell us God will pick out your clothes for the day and others that say the Bible is the only place you can hear from Him. The one thing they have in common is their insistence that they’re right. Combine that with the crappy way many Christians treat each other plus those on the outside and you have good reason to struggle with some tough questions. The answers to those questions are found in the seeking, urgently needing to hear from God whether it be in His Word, through His people or however He may choose to get through.

All that to say, sometimes it’s good to have what you know challenged in order to dig deeper and know more certainly how much God loves and cares for you. Aw, just read the first paragraph.

Your best and your same (vs. your different and your truth)

Couldn’t help but reblog this from sethgodin.com

“If someone wants your very best version, that probably means that they’re going to get the same version that you’ve done before, the same as the best version you produced a week ago. If you want the best, it also means that you’re asking someone to repeat what’s come before.

On the other hand, if they want you, right here and right now, it won’t be perfect. It can’t be. It will merely be different and real and in the moment.
The opportunity in any given moment is to share your truth, to light a spark and to leap. But you can’t do that at the same time you’re being perfect.

There is no best jazz performance. That’s why it’s interesting.”

Well Loved

I pray that Jesus’ love for you is so very evident today, that he surrounds you with folks that care for you deeply and appreciate how much you care back. I pray that you have the opportunity and the courage to be real with those that can handle it and that peace and fulfillment occupy your heart and mind.

Original Art

“God invites us to be new creations, original art, and to live a life of engagement. He says to leave the cheap imitation in a closet somewhere. He doesn’t say when you hang the real you out there – the priceless one – that things will go great either. It’s pretty clear from watching Jesus’ followers past and present that when you risk the real you, you’ll probably take a hit. God did when He hung Jesus out there. But one thing I do know is this: when we do take hits, and we will, God isn’t going to think less of us.” – Bob Goff, Love Does

He loves us scars and all.

Doing in Us

Romans 8:4,5

And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us. Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them–living and breathing God!

Be Anxious for Nothing?

Scripture says we’re to be anxious for nothing, really, nothing? Does God know how many things come our way each day that are really worthy of worrying about? I mean big things. And we don’t need to get worked up about them? Could it be true? The only way to know for sure is to give it a try. Is God real enough, does He care enough and is He big enough to meet us right here, come beside us and take on our worries, fears and concerns? It’s not easy; too often I’ll trust Him with something only to take it back upon myself only to find restlessness and unease. The better I get at leaving those things in His hands the more peace and ultimately resolution I find. I pray this for you today.

Devotion

Somehow devotion has become something that we do instead of something that we have. Our devotion to God should be a condition of our hearts, much more than something to be checked off of a list each day. But with that said, a daily time of worship can be a beautiful thing. Having a place and time set aside to really meet with God, to be honest, real and especially to listen, is vital. He is completely devoted to you allow Him some time to prove it.