What do you want?

As we continue on this journey of self-knowledge and spiritual awareness it can be helpful to take a moment to take stock of your current health. I don’t mean physical health so much as your eternal health. One way we can do that is to think about what you are hungry for. What are you craving or not craving?

I once knew a man who talked of a small but persistent desire that always seemed to haunt in the back of his mind and never seemed to go away. It was this idea that it would be just an amazing experience to spend a night with a prostitute. Not a cheap one mind you, but a real professional.

Obviously I am not condoning this desire that he had, but it does serve as an example. These longings that hang around in the back of our minds can tell us something about ourselves. Whether good or bad they give us an indication of our spiritual health.

Our sinful nature desires sinful things.

Romans 3:11

John 3:19,20

This is normal, this is the default. We all have sinned and in our sin, we all want to keep sinning. But think about yourself for a moment, is there anything abnormal? Any strange longings that seem out of place from this “normal” state?

Many Christians can testify of a longing that they couldn’t shake if they wanted to. A desire not for some carnal pleasure but something more significant. It is sometimes small, but always there in the back of the mind. An unending hunger to be a more righteous person. I know sounds strange right? Who even uses that word anymore “righteous”.

Imagine if you would that your neighbor of many years wins the lottery. You are happy for them, because you know that they have many debts, children to feed, and work a hard job with long hours. Now imagine in a surprise move he shows up the next day and gives you every penny, no strings attached. He says he wants you to have it and expects nothing in return. Now what would you do? Say thanks, and go to town? Quit your job and throw a party?

I can only imagine that if it happened to me that I would try to give the money back to him, if he wouldn’t take it I might go to the bank and pay off his mortgage. Send a check to the gas company to pay off his heating bills in advance. I would feel obligated, compelled to try to do nice things for him to show my gratitude.

This is a partial view of what it is to be a Christian. Jesus has given us a gift beyond value. Those who have accepted it cannot shake the inner desire to try to please God to show our gratitude for that gift. Think about it. God wants us to crave righteousness and do good works.

Matthew5:6

Ephesians 2:10

If you don’t have that craving to be righteous then I urge you to take some time to consider whether you have ever truly confessed your sins to God in repentance and declared Jesus to be your Lord.

God created you. It was a gift, in the beginning humanity was perfect. Every one of us has violated God’s law and deserves to be punished. Jesus was and is perfect and deserved only to be glorified and praised as the flawless creator of the universe. That Man, stepped down from his throne and died a hideous, miserable death, volunteering Himself as a scape goat to take your punishment for you, so that you might live free for all eternity. Beyond that, He rose from the grave, demonstrating his mastery of creation and defeating death itself.

This gospel. This message, this Truth changes everything. It leaves a mark and forever alters the course of those who accept it. If it has not changed your life then you have certain proof that you haven’t really embraced it as truth. For some reason you have held back and your eternal health is in jeopardy. Open up your Bible and find that truth that can heal your soul. There is no better time than right now.

If you do have that longing, then you know what I am talking about. I urge you then to nurture it. Never forget that we are to seek the kingdom and His righteousness first, before the things of this world.

Matthew 6:33

Never stop growing, never stop seeking to find ways to improve, to continue and to expand in whatever good works God has place in front of you to do.

Chief

What are you looking for?

Hey long time no see. Sorry I have been away, life happens and we get busy, but I am back this week to hopefully give you some good old fashioned mental stimulation.

Today I want to challenge you to step back and take an honest look at yourself and how you view things on a regular basis.

We may not realize it but it is very easy to get pulled into a negative mindset. We are bombarded by lies, falseness, sin, and corruption every single day. We live in a world cursed by sin and sometimes it is all too obvious, it can be suffocating.

It is hard to find a movie without questionable content, just about every other TV show out there now has glowing portrayals of homosexual relationships, pop songs on the radio are rarely about anything other than sex,  and even simple funny cat websites seem to go out of their way to mock anything that is pure they happen to find.

I think that this often leaves us a little jaded, walking around defensively looking for things to be upset about or take offense from.

This is a shame but not completely unexpected. We can do better. Check out these verses:

Matt 6:33

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Philip 4:8

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

James 1:17

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Colos 3:2

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things

We can’t make all the negative things go away but we can change what we are looking for. Sometimes what you are looking for drastically changes what you find.

Is Harry Potter gateway entertainment that inevitably leads to witchcraft and eternal damnation or is it a story about a group of kids who stand up to the forces of evil no matter the personal cost?

It the song lyric says “Pursue the Truth no matter where it lies..” does it matter if it is in a heavy metal song?

Does the book explaining why the universe can exist with God actually spell out how the “big bang” would have required a miracle?

It is easy to feel like we should attack these things, but I say that when we do that we are missing the point. There will always be falseness and lies, sin and corruption (until Jesus returns). In the meantime if we look for the nuggets of truth that are present all around us we will see that every good thing does come from God and you can find atheists and heathens inadvertently proclaiming His truth every day. These are opportunities for us to show people how all true things point back to God.

But only if we are looking for them.

Don't get me wrong, you should continue to avoid sin and live righteously. Just remember that we will get a lot farther pointing out the light than we will cursing the darkness.

-Chief

The Greatest Commandment

What is Love

Took a step out of the old comfort zone and delivered a sermon at church last Sunday. Here are some excerpts…

The Greatest Commandment. We Read in Matthew that on of the commandments is more important than all of the others.

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and [a]foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

- Matthew 22:36-40 NASB

This is passage is simple and straightforward. If you are a Christian than obeying this one should be nothing. But let’s look closer to see if we are really understanding this passage correctly.

To me it is clear that there is a key word, upon which our understanding of this passage hangs:

..You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and [a]foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself..

Love, what is Love?

Merriam-Websters says:

Love –

1. strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
2. affection and tenderness felt by lovers
3. affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests
4. warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion

With this definition, we get this basic understanding:

..You shall (have a strong affection for) the Lord your God..

..You shall (have affection and tenderness toward) the Lord your God..

..You shall (have a warm attachment to) the Lord your God..

Simple enough. But we need to be sure we are using the correct definition. So let’s look at how God defines the word by digging into the Bible a little more for examples of God/Jesus loving others.

Isaiah 63:9

 In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.

John 3:16

 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:35

 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

John 15:13

 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

Romans 5:8

 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 3:16

 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

John 14:15

 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments

John 14:21

 He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.

John 14:23

 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him”

Romans 14:15

 For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

If you go through all of these examples you will notice that not once does God love someone with merely an affection, devotion, or thought. Look at the key words. In almost every case there is an associated action:

-          Lifting up

-          Giving

-          Sacrificing

-          Obeying

-          Being considerate/ not harming

Love is not just a feeling of strong affection or devotion, but an affection that inevitably leads to action by the one who has it. And those actions are for the benefit of the one loved not the one who loves. So then our verse now reads:

..You shall (have a strong affection that leads you to take action for) the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind..

God did not love us with a passive love! His love was made real by the actions He took toward us for our benefit.

We need to love God with an active love that leads us to take actions that will please Him. Do not take actions for their own sake, but we all need to let our love of God drive us to take bold action. You can not obey this command passively in your own mind, true obedience to this command will be life changing.

Thanks again for your time,

Chief

Self-Knowledge

“All knowledge is ultimately self-knowledge.” – Bruce Lee

I have always liked this quote. It is simple and deep, like many great one-line philosophical quotes.

If you don’t know anything about Bruce Lee other than that he was some old kung-fu guy, then you should at least know that he lived a life in passionate pursuit of self-actualization. The idea that it is worth great effort to try to maximize everything you can about yourself to ultimately be the best version of yourself humanly possible.

I believe that this notion of constant self-improvement is a Biblical idea. Not that people like Bruce intentionally took the idea from the Bible, but they have nevertheless stumbled upon a portion of Truth.

This quote is a good example of that. In it he is talking about the idea that accumulating knowledge is a fundamental goal of existence but only by internalizing that knowledge, by applying it to yourself at an inner level, does that knowledge really help you become better.

Take this set of verses for example.

It speaks of those who hear the word (gathering knowledge) and of those who hear and do (self-knowledge or applying the knowledge).

Think about this question for a second-

Does your belief in Jesus impact how you think and/or act on a daily basis?

I once read that a study was done of thousands of self-professing Christians in America, and of those some 80-90% answered no to that question!

Perhaps you answered no to that question. Perhaps you are not a Christian… Too harsh? What good does it do us to gather knowledge if we don’t internalize it and apply it to ourselves? What if we look into that mirror and just walk away, forgetting what we saw?

I learned a long time ago not to judge others by the same standards that I hold myself too, but I can tell you from my experience that almost not a single day goes by that my faith in Jesus Christ does not come into play in some thought or action, or restraint from action. It is a real part of how I think about politics, work, marriage, parenting, movie watching, sometimes even eating. 

Gathering knowledge is not enough. Knowledge gained but not applied is knowledge you never really had. Only when we grab a hold of that knowledge and make it real in our hearts and minds does it become self-knowledge, or knowledge that leads to improvement.

A parable 

Take this as a challenge, if you will, to think about what you know. Are there Truth's you have found but never applied? Devote some time this week to attempt a more real understanding of what you already know; a thoroughly consistent application of your beliefs to yourself. If you do, it will only make you better...

-Chief