Categories
Relationships

Hypocrisy

One of my favorite quotes that I memorized as a teen was from a DC Talk album:
“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians… who acknowledge Jesus with their lips… and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” –Brennan Manning

Even if an unbelieving world doesn’t believe in God, they know that the God we claim to follow tells us to consistently live out His teachings. And part of living out those teachings is loving others.

Instead of loving people and speaking the truth in love to them in hopes of them changing toward more God-honoring behaviors, many Christians instead choose to judgmentally condemn others. We are told that we can view peoples’ behaviors in order to judge how to win them to the Lord in love. But we are not told to be harshly condemning of people, pointing our fingers at them as if to say “shame, shame, shame.”
Pointing finger
Passages such as “Do not judge so that you will not be judged” aren’t about us accepting peoples’ ungodliness as OK, but rather they are about the issue that God’s problem with our judging is that we not only judge right from wrong, we then stand in judgmental condemnation.

Too often we condemn while we hold onto our own similarly ungodly behaviors. This is called hypocrisy.
Some examples:
We condemn murder, while we hold onto hate;
We condemn those who won’t forgive us, while we are still angry with others;
We condemn adultery, while we are filled with lustful thoughts;
We condemn liars, while we hold back the truth to benefit us;
We condemn greed, while we are not generous;
We condemn criminals, while we find little ways to break the law (such as speeding);
We condemn those who gossip, while we talk about them behind their backs.

We condemn ungodly behaviors, while refusing to see how ungodly we are in the same areas.

What we are doing is standing in judgmental condemnation of others, rather than trying to win people for Jesus through an attitude of loving reconciliation.

We are all sinners. We cannot stand before God on our merits. Therefore we are not to condemn others for being in the same boat as us. Instead we are to use our wisdom and compassion to judge only with an eye toward loving reconciliation… to help others get on track (or back on track) with God.

God says that He does not take pleasure in the death of an evil person, but that every person who is doing evil should turn toward Him and find life. Do we have the same attitude of compassion as God?

There will be a day of judgment. And God will be the One to preside. My hope is that I will have fulfilled my role of pointing more people to life in Him through loving reconciliation on that day.

Categories
Christian Living

Broken Things

Brokenness.
Have you ever felt broken? a broken, shattered lightbulb
Most of us have at some point in life.
The pain seems so strong at that point. All joy seems gone. We are broken-hearted and feel as if we will never be able to smile again.

Peter had promised his friend Jesus that he would stand by His side no matter what. Then Peter denied Christ three times. The rooster crowed. Peter looked over at Jesus. Jesus’ eyes caught Peter’s. Peter remembered what Jesus had said. Peter had failed. He ran out of the courtyard weeping in his brokenness.

You’ve likely been in a similar place.
In pain.
Weeping.
Broken.

But there is good news about finding ourselves in a state of brokenness…

“God uses broken things.
It takes broken soil to produce a crop,
broken clouds to produce rain,
broken grain to give bread, and
broken bread to give strength.
It is the broken Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.
God can often use our brokenness to reveal His power to us and show us our dependence on Him.”

Paul tells us:
“…to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh…. I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults , with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

For when I am weak and broken… I find I can rely on God’s strength and become strong.

When we are dealing with “brokenness,” whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually, we are often more open to receive healing from God. This is due to the fact that at this point in life we become more ready to cry out to God in the midst of the brokenness. God often uses the brokenness of our spirit to bring us to a spiritual healing like he did in both Peter’s & Paul’s cases.

Categories
Relationships

Obtaining Real Satisfaction

From my last post about filling our lives with Christ to find satisfaction, two questions were posed: What is “real satisfaction”? and How do you “fill your life with Jesus”?

The answer I shared was that the ever-increasing number of dissatisfied and depressed people in our nation is an indication that too many people are putting their hopes for satisfaction in the wrong place. So reading devotions, studying the Bible, getting involved in a church, listening to uplifting Christian music – all of these help us to fill our lives with Christ.

Two other quotes from Matt Chandler’s ‘Creature of the Word’ also spoke to this issue. Both quotes have to do with the satisfaction we try to gain through relationships and connectivity to others.

#1 – “We simply ask too much of our relationships. Women, you’ll never find a man who completes you. Regardless of what the TV shows and movies promise you, no one can fix what’s broken in your heart…. No man is enough. You need a Savior.” And the same goes for men – there is no woman out there that is enough. You need a Savior. We can so easily believe the lies of Hollywood…that there is some Mr. or Ms. Right out that there that will meet our every need. Perhaps that’s why Hollywood is filled with so many failed relationships – these actors believing the lies of their own TV shows and movies. When we believe these lies, we place too much stock in the belief that the other person should bring us all the happiness we need. Only Jesus can bring lasting joy. Once we have Him as our foundation, then we will develop a proper understanding of the roles of our other relationships – to supplement the lasting joy that He brings.

#2 – “Connectivity does not equate to community. Being able to make quick connections with people doesn’t automatically require any depth to the relationship…. So although we are more connected than we have ever been, we also feel more alone and unknown than at any other time in human history. We relate without relationships, all together but all alone. Thus, without the gospel forming community, We are doomed to connectivity and aloneness in the midst of crowds. Only the gospel forms deep community.” It is so easy to see the truth of these statements from the social media explosion that has taken place. We quickly find that connectivity does not equal community. The need for a Savior and the relationship transformations that He provides within His church – the forming of true, deep friendships with unity and interdependence – are essential for our total well-being.

So how else would you answer the two questions of:
1. What is “real satisfaction”? &
2. How do you “fill your life with Jesus”?

Categories
Christian Living

A Cup of Cold Water

It’s been pretty chilly all over the country the past few weeks, including here in middle Mississippi, so if you are still trying to thaw out, a glass of ice-cold water doesn’t sound very good to you. That just means we’ll need to use our imaginations today. Travel in your mind to summertime – the middle of July. Do you remember how hot it is? So hot you could fry an egg on the hood of your car. When you step outside the heat hits you so hard, it makes it difficult to breathe. Now you’re no longer complaining about how cold it has been, but rather, you are sweltering and sweating and wishing for cooler days and that you weren’t cooking in the summer heat. When you get to that mindset, think about a simple glass of ice-cold water.
A glass of ice cold water
Think about standing outside in that sweltering summer heat, having just finished weedeating or some other miserable summertime task that has you dying for a glass of water. Sweat is dripping off your brow and into your eyes causing them to burn a bit. But you look over on the steps by the door and there is a thing of remarkable beauty. Someone has set out for you an ice-cold glass of water. The glass is full of ice cubes and the water is glistening inside that glass – beckoning you to come over and drink it. Beads of condensation are running down the sides of the glass. Your hand grabs that cold, wet glass – it feels so good that you even get a little shiver – and you put the rim of the glass to your lips. The coldness is about to be on your tongue, you tilt your head back to take your first big swallow and to feel that ice-cold goodness pour down the back of your parched, dry throat. And as you pour it into your mouth, you get a terrible shock as you realize it is a glass of salt water. The salt is all in your mouth, and you find yourself spitting and sputtering out nasty salt water. What a terribly cruel joke.

It looked like what you needed, your desire for it was so strong, but once you tasted it, you found that it didn’t satisfy in any way.

Ocean water contains seven times more salt than the human body can safely ingest. Drinking it, a person dehydrates because the kidneys demand extra water to flush the overload of salt. The more saltwater someone drinks, the thirstier he gets. You can actually die of thirst while drinking water.

In this life, we can do the same thing as we lust after the things of this world instead of for Jesus. We thirst desperately for something that looks like what we want. Something that will make living enjoyable – that will give us a sense of satisfaction and joy. We try all sorts of things. We don’t realize, however, that all these things that we are trying are the opposite of what we really need. We are thirsty for something in life that will bring us true satisfaction, but we are not drinking from the right fountain. Jesus says He is the Living Water – the only fountain that satisfies completely.

Whatever you are filling your life with – if it is not Jesus – it will not fully satisfy. It might give a moment of happiness, but in a short matter of time, life seems empty again. Only when you are filling your life with Jesus, does life make sense and bring satisfaction. It is only then that everything else fall into its proper place and can be properly enjoyed. Take a moment today to be certain that you are filling your life with Jesus, the Fountain of Living Water.

Don’t drink in salt-water – drink in Jesus.

Categories
Worship

no other gods

I am the Lord your God… you shall have no other gods before Me.
The first of the Ten Commandments.
How important is this first command?

“Martin Luther articulated that the first commandment appears first because it is the foundation for all the other commandments. He said that if We keep the first commandment, we will keep all the others. And if we break another commandment, it is because we have already broken the first commandment. For example, if you break the commandment to “not give false testimony,” it is because you have rejoiced in something other than God, something that seems worthy of your lies. If you break the commandment not to covet, you have first elevated the thing you are coveting as the object of your affection. You have made it your god.”

Using this same track of thought, we find that Jesus indicated that the greatest commandment in all of Scripture is to love God with all that is within you, and that the next most important commandment is to love others as much as you love yourself. So we really only need to obey these key commands to be fully obedient to God, but because we can be a bit dense at times, God took time to spell out how these primary commandments should be lived out. But all of the commands in the Bible come back to these key commands.

“Luther Wrote, “Under every behavioral sin is the sin of idolatry.” When we sin, We are ultimately worshiping something other than God, placing an idol on the throne of our lives.”

To place anyone other than God on the throne of our lives and hearts, we must first ask God to step down from the throne. This One who we said would be Lord, we boldly walk up to Him and say – Jesus, would You mind stepping off the throne for a while. I need You to hand back to me the royal crown and the royal robes. Just stand over here to the side while I place this idol on the throne to worship for a time. And this One who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, though He maintains all authority in earth and heaven, steps off the throne of your life until you are ready to repent and give Him control again.

Today, when you are tempted to worship something other than Jesus, remember how your worship of lesser things equates to you asking Jesus to step off the throne. Allow that imagery to help you keep Him in His rightful place as Lord and Master of your life.

(Quotes from ‘Creature of the Word’ by Matt Chandler)