PART 3: "Pursuit"

In light of PART 1 and PART 2 of this blog, I want to hit on the pursuit of both "Love" and "God calling us." In 1 Corinthians 13, we see how important love is. Verse 13:1 "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." When we love, we open up doors. The opportunity for healing, restoration, and new beginnings all come with the pursuit of love. When we love, we give no reason for hate or disconnect. You see, when we love, the world has no reason to push it away. One thing we can count on is that the world will always accept your love. In the pursuit of following God's calling, I think we can get wrapped up in our own happiness. We choose temporary "fulfillment" over long-term investment. When God calls us, it's because He has an eternal plan in mind. When we put off following God's plan, it does the exact oppostite of what you're trying to achieve with temporary pleasure. It leaves you feeling empty, because it's not what we're intened to do. Pursue Christ's will and pursue love because this is where true meaning and joy comes from.

Part 1: "Love"

When I really think about this word "love", I think about how many times I have failed to live up to the meaning of it. All throughout the book of Matthew, Jesus asks us to love. You hear Him say, "Love your neighbor as yourself"..."Love your enemy." Last night was a perfect example of me NOT doing this. In fact, if the opposite of love is hate, then I guess you could say that I succeeded greatly at hating someone. I guess what makes the situation even more bothersome is that the guy was even a follower of Christ, a brother. He and I did not see eye to eye on a lot of issues, and I left pretty angry with this man. But as much as I try to not want to love him, God not only calls me to love him, but to be unified with him. In John 17, Jesus is praying for His disciples to "Be one as We are One." (referring to the Trinity) When I look at it in this light, I see how foolish I was last night in acting the way I did. Not only did I not love my brother, but I was not in unity with him. I think this breaks God's heart. Maybe instead of arguing and bickering over pointless things with our brothers (and enemies for that matter), let us first remember that this completely goes against everything we're called to do as followers of Christ. We're called not just to "deal with" that person, but to love them , regardless of the situation. Be love.

PART 2: "Negotiation"

This thought crossed my mind at about 3 AM this morning when I was having a coversation with Murry about life. In Matthew 8:21, one of the disciples says to Jesus, "Lord, first let me return home and bury my father." Jesus responds with this answer..."Follow me now! Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead." In Matthew 4:19, Jesus sees Peter and Andrew fishing and says to them "Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!" Then it says, "And they left their nets at once and went with Him." My thought was this...Sometimes we hear God calling us to do something, and it's almost as if we negotiate with God. We justify not dropping everything to follow His call with the excuse of "Well, I'm going to pray about it for 2 weeks and see what God says." If Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are One, don't you think their answer will be unified? If Jesus called the disciples to follow Him at that very instant, don't you think that when God calls us to do something that He intends for us to act immediately? The very thought of "praying about it" seems ridiculous when you look at it in this sense, doesn't it? Why is there a need to "pray about it" when you've already heard God say what He wants you to do? I'm not saying prayer isn't important. (1 Thessalonians 5:16) But maybe in this instance we should pray about what steps to take in order to accomplish what He's already called us to do. When God asks for something, He doesn't want excuses and negotiations...He wants action. Will you be like Peter and Andrew and drop everything at once, or like the other disciple who wants to get some other things taken care of "before we take off on our journey"?

Nourishment.

As I'm sitting here writing this, I'm eating a meatball hot pocket. These things never get old to me. You can ask anyone in my family...I've been eating them since I was probably 12. I was reading in John chapter 4 today, and there is a part that really stood out to me. The disciples were urging Jesus to eat, and He tells them, "No, I have food you don't know about." (verse 31.) The disciples were confused about where He got this food, and then Jesus says: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing His work." The disciples were so worried about Jesus not eating. Now, any of the guys in my band can testify to this...If I don't get food, I get cranky and eventually start whining about it. What if we were so concerned about doing God's will rather than filling our lives with all of this stuff that has no value? I know food is important, but it's not just food we do this with. Sometimes for me, it's music, playing Wii, my iPod touch, etc. What if we really valued doing the will of God over all of these things? What would this look like in your own life? I think it has to be a moment by moment conscious effort to really do this. We have so busied ourselves with other things (other nourishment), that we forget why we're really here (and where our real nourishment comes from).

Be Intentional.

Every day we have a choice. In fact, every second we have a choice. Now, sometimes, we let our wills determine our choices. For instance, apart from being in a band, I also work at a bookstore. Occasionally, (especially in the morning!) we have some difficult customers come in. By difficult, I mean completely rude and just simply uncalled for...(it's either that, or I am just not a morning person. ha) When this happens, everything in me (my will) wants to just rip into these people and just let them have a piece of my mind. Honestly, I do let my will get the best of me sometimes. I blow it. Lose my cool. And most of all, I potentially hurt my integrity, the integrity of those I work with, the corporate name that I work for, and I can skew the way people think of God by the way I act. Lately, I have been trying to be intentional with my choices. Not just in the bookstore, but in my thoughts, my speech, my marriage, my songwriting, etc. You see, we have a choice. A choice in every aspect of life, to make what could possibly have a tragic outcome, into a holy (set apart) outcome. Rather than making poor choices, turn them into choices that glorify God. Even when we're angry we have a choice whether or not to let it control our actions that follow. You never know how God will use the choices you make to play a part in someone's life. Sure, we're going to fail...we're human. Sin is our condition. We have to battle against our will sometimes. Be intentional.

Over the Sun

Today I was driving in my car listening to a Shane and Shane song called "Over the Sun." This song challenges me everytime I listen to it! Here are the lyrics, and then I will continue my thought:

Sitting around the fireplace
With a friend who's been through it all
Solomon, wisest one,
Tell me what you have found under the sun.
Under the sun, he answered...

Get over, Get over, Get over the sun where life is hidden.

Then he put on a somber face.
Talked about how the rich man would waste
Away in the ground where the poor man is found
Painted up like a clown under the sun.
Under the sun he answered...
Son, soon you'll be done.
A life spent on some shiny god who leaves you empty.

Every time I hear that song, I can't help but notice the world around me ...turning so fast that we forget to chase after what's meaningful in life. I'm completely guilty of lusting after things that are fleeting. If we're all honest with ourselves, I think you would find that you are too. I'm challenging myself and you to stop putting things that give you temporary pleasure in front the ultimate prize...God! I love the entire 2nd verse of this song, especially the part that says "Talked about how the rich man would waste
Away in the ground where the poor man is found
Painted up like a clown under the sun." I think these words sum up how we view life. We paint the dead to make them look good when their bodies are going into the ground.??? Does that make sense at all? If we could just get over the sun to find where true, meaningful life is found, we would find our purpose for this life.

God and Emperor's New Groove??

So I know I've posted a blog very similar to this before, but God will not quit reminding me! The other day, I was running sound at my church and God brought an illustration into my head. Do you remember the movie "Emperor's New Groove"? If you haven't seen it, it's a classic and a must see! In that movie there is a peasant named Pacha who lives on a mountain with his family. Well, the emperor (Kuzco) wants to tear down Pacha's house to build a summer getaway for himself. (Forgive me if I butcher the story line, but I believe this is somewhat how it goes!) The first time that Pacha hears of this, he runs to the Emperor's kingdom, and kindly asks the emperor to reconsider. Well, Kuzco says no. The next time you see Pacha in front of the emperor, Pacha barges into the emperor's courts demanding that he change his mind...needless to say, Pacha is furious! I wrote a blog about a year ago on approaching God with reverence. (refer to blog entitled "What I'm Learning.") I began to think today...Have I lived up to what I wrote in that blog a year ago? The answer was a huge NO. Let me ask you a question...When you enter the presence of God, whether it be at home alone, with your church, etc....Do you approach Him as if you're before him in His courts right before His very throne? Let me ask you another question. Whenever you sing songs to God, do you ask God if you may sing praises to Him? It's as if we've got this mindset that we can barge into the Creator of all of the Universe's throne room and start telling Him how we want things just like Pacha did to Kuzco. Have you considered that maybe God may want you to be silent in His presence and just absorb His holiness? Lay all political views aside for a moment, and picture this with me. Lets say you have a deep conviction of something president Obama is doing wrong, and you just HAVE to talk to him. You go to the white house and just barge into the oval office and start laying out your convictions in a harsh (non-loving) way right there in front of the president...(We all know that you would probably not even make it in the front door, but just humor me!) Do you think this would anger the president? Do you think it angers God when we come to church with our agendas and our routines without consulting Him about any of it? I'm really bothered by the fact that we as Christians think we can use God as our doormat, and be finished with Him. What if every time we worshipped God, we asked Him how He wanted to be worshipped instead of assuming things and "worshipping" Him out of routine and maybe going through a whole "worship" service not even thinking of God the entire time. What if we even changed the way we pray? Not just a "dear God" prayer...A prayer that is reverent...as if you were before our King's throne. What would this look like? Do you even think you could stand? Read Isaiah 6 to get a glimpse of what Isaiah did before our King in worship.

The Mystery is Our Only Hope

One of my favorite books of the bible is Ecclesiastes. I've read it about 3 or 4 times. (Maybe because it's so short! ha) But I think the main reason is because I relate to Solomon so much in this book. I find myself all of the time asking God, "Why am I here (on this earth)?". Don't get me wrong, I'm not suicidal or depressed... But sometimes I feel like everything is meaningless. What is the meaning in fitting in, being cool, or living up to people's standards and trying to please everyone? I feel like Ecclesiastes is the perfect book for a new believer in Christ. If a new believer can grasp the idea that this world has nothing to offer us, and Jesus is the only reason we live, I believe we could literally change the world. To live as Jesus lived without roaming around "chasing the wind" as Solomon put it all throughout Ecclesiastes. Ecc. 7:13-14 "Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made crooked?" 14 "Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life." So from that verse we learn that God gives and takes away, and that nothing is certain! So why do we walk through life pretending that we have it all together? Why, if God is in complete control of our lives, do we as Christians waste so much time trying to build the "American Dream"? I'll leave you with one more verse, and it's my favorite verse in the entire bible. In fact, if you have time, please read all of Ecc. 12!! But here's the verse. Ecc. 12:1 "Don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, "Life is not pleasant anymore."" So, since we know God has every minute pre-ordained, lets quit chasing after things that are fleeting, and let the mystery of God be our hope.