Bullet Soul

A fifty caliber bullet is fired from a rifle, heading towards its intended target at a speed of 2,800-3,000 feet per second. Waves of sound reverberate from the chamber reaching levels of 140-170 decibels, but dissipate within moments. Life begins when a child is born, nobody is aware that the moment his small heart starts beating, his time is running out. Years come and go, and everyone lives like life never ends. A bullet leaves the chamber of a gun, misses its intended target, and the stray bullet ends the life of a young man. One bullet impacts not just the victim, but its ripples effect everyone in his life.

Unfortunately, this is how life happens. Not all of us will get to live to be seventy five or older. For those of us that do, the amount of time we spend on this planet (in the timeline of eternity), lasts about as long as a gunshot. Our time is running out. Every New Year's Day that comes, reminds us just how quickly life passes us by, and this experience will just get worse as we age. Every year, on this day, we look back at previous years, and wonder where our time went. It's no surprise that our time is running out, but the sad truth is that, most of us live like we have all the time in the world.

The Bible tells us that when we die we will stand before the God of the universe, who died for us, and give an account of what we did with the short amount of time we had on this planet. Did we live for ourselves, our own selfish ambitions, or did we live our life to glorify God? There are no mulligans, no do overs. We get one bullet in our gunshot lives, and we're responsible to aim it wisely. But just like a gunshot,
one short moment can leave ripples which impact everyone in your life, in your community, and have eternal impact.

So, what are you aiming for? We are told that our adolescent years is the time to discover who WE are, not discover who God wants us to be. It's the time for us make brash decisions, because we have the rest of our lives to learn from our mistakes. Our middle and high school years are the time for us to live our lives for us, right? I think the unfortunate truth is that, for a lot of us, we're going to have to give an account of the time we spent in high school, and explain why we chose to aim for ourselves instead of God. I think most adults would tell you that some of the things they regret the most, doing or not doing, occurred sometime in their adolescent years. I know that for me personally, I regret the way I spent my high school career, and have deep remorse for the way I lived it out.

You could make a decision this holiday to live your life for Christ, instead of yourself. You could choose to make every moment count, and focus on God's will, instead of forcing what you want out of every situation. No one wants to stand before the One who sacrificed His life for theirs, and explain how their desires were more important than His. Do you want to explain how it was more important to spend time hanging out with friends or partying the night before so that you're so tired you can't go to church the next day? Do you really think that you can make God understand that it was a better idea for you to impress the people you thought were so important, and ignore the people that had no one? What if you made your New Year's resolution to live each moment for Christ? Maybe it wouldn't be cool or interesting to tell at parties, but maybe it would have a lasting impact, that you could trace back to New Year's Day 2010. So, what are you aiming for?

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In order to be entered into the contest to win a fabulous prize, click on the title ("Bullet Soul") of this blog post, then when the new page loads, scroll down to the bottom of the screen, and post an answer to the following question in the white dialog box: What New Year's Resolution will you make that will have an eternal impact for you?

Pray
That God will grant you the bravery and self-control to live your life in obedience to His will.

Control

I don't believe that it comes as a surprise to anyone, that the human race is obsessed with control. Nations are torn apart over control. Entire families destroyed because of it. Everyone wants to think that they can force an outcome out of any situation they find themselves in; however, there are certain areas of life that we cannot control. We can work to prevent disease, we can track hurricanes, we can manage our money to the best of our ability, but in the end when tragedy strikes, we are not in charge of the outcomes. This fact causes a lot of anxiety, frustration, and maybe even, anger. The thought most of us are faced with is: If I can't control my life, then who is in control?

As we learned on Sunday, no matter how much authority we have on Earth, it is given to us by God. Therefore, God can only give us authority, if He holds ALL authority (Matthew 28:18). Parents, Principals, Managers, Police officers, and even the President (whether they're aware or not), submit to a higher authority. We try to seize control from God's grip, but do not be fooled; you cannot steal from God. Whether we like it or not, God is in control, and no matter how much we try to manipulate the outcomes, we simply can't.

So, what then shall we do, when we realize that we do not control the outcomes of our life? Well, we don't become lazy, and assume that God is going to work our job for us or pay our bills for us or let us be healthy when we take no care of ourselves. We must be good stewards of what God has given us, whether it be our planet, our bodies, or even the authority he's granted us. However, we must be painfully aware of the fact that no matter how much we prepare, we are not responsible for the outcomes of life. Sometimes when it feels like life is most out of control, God proves that He has always been in control. The good news is, there is a peace that comes when you trust that the God who created the universe, is still in control of it. So, stop trying to steal God's control from Him, let go of your control, and let Him lead your life.

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Pray
That God provides you the strength to relinquish control over to Him, because He already has it all.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

From childhood to our adult lives we are conditioned to work primarily towards what we want. Even at an early age we learn how to manipulate others into giving us what we want. When we're infants, we whine and cry until our parents give into our demands and give us what we want. In our teenage years we whine, cry, pout, and/or butter up our parents until they give us what we want. We get married and we whine and cry, and our wives tell us to "shut up" and hit us on the forehead. Okay so maybe that last one is a stretch (I only say that because she'll hit me again), but it is true that our belief is that we abandon this mindset as we get older. It's hard to believe that we could ever apply this theory to our relationship with God, because it would be incredibly offensive to assume that we can manipulate or even trick God into doing anything. Yet, time after time we are exposed as people trying to bend God to our will. We promise God that if He'll provide results, than we'll give Him something in exchange. As if God is interested in bargaining with us. Some of us believe that if we spend time in church or volunteering at church, then God will deliver us from the consequences of our actions.

God is not interested in bargaining with us, so stop insulting Him. Why is it that when we make a mess of our lives, we immediately assume that we can trick God into relieving us of consequences, if we will just do what He had already asked us to do? God is pleased when we go to church or read the Bible or spend time in prayer or treat others with love and respect, but these things don't force His hand into giving us what we want. But if we believe in and serve a God who created the universe, conquered death, and made a donkey talk (check last week's post), than it is an insult to believe that we can trick Him into giving us what we want. So, what then do we do, when we mess up our lives or when our lives are in chaos?

The most important thing is to stop treating God like some kind of "cosmic vending machine", where if you push the right buttons you get exactly what you want. God is not worried about your money or how often you come to church or how many times you volunteer, all of those things reflect what is in your heart; however, what God is concerned about, is you. He wants a relationship with you, and He wants all of those things to happen because you want to become more like Him. But you can't have a relationship if you still want to be the king (or the respective queen) of your life. You have to turn control over to the God who made you, and crown Him king. Once you crown someone king, you no longer get to decide what goes on in your life. You must obey and bend to their will. You might have to accept your consequences or your situation might not be rectified immediately, but you just might find that God will meet your needs. You might be able to break the habits that brought you to the place you were at or you might learn to look past your current situation and take comfort knowing that God is always in control. In the end, you have a decision to make: You can either keep playing games with God, attempting to manipulate the God of the universe, or you can decide to hand control over to Him, where you just might get what you need.

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In order to be entered into the contest to win a fantabulous prize, comment on this week's post. Post your first and last name, what campus you attend, and an answer to the following question: In the past, what strategies or lies have you believed would help you force God to give you what you want?

Pray
That God will grant you the peace and security to turn control over to Him, and crown Him King.

When in Doubt

I tend to believe that I'm a smarter man than I actually am. Most of the time I think that given enough information I can use my basic reasoning skills to understand a situation, and most of the time this proves to be right. However, there are concepts which I cannot seem to wrap my mind around or rationalize, and my first instinct is to disregard them as false. I believe that if I cannot fully understand or explain away an idea, I would never be able to put my faith in it. Yet as we learned on Sunday, there are several ideas in which most of us don't understand, but in which we still put our faith in such as: airplanes, cell phone technology, radio waves, etc... So, if we can trust that an airplane is not going to fall out of the sky, even though we don't know how it works, why is it that we can't trust God's Word?

Although, it is important to note that there is nothing wrong with doubting your beliefs, in fact it's necessary for faith to be doubted (otherwise it's knowledge, not faith), why is it that we refuse to believe some of the stories from the Bible? We accept the things we can understand, and at the same time discount the rest of the book we base our lives on. I fall prey to this same mindset often. I've believed since I was young that God created the universe and that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but for some reason I want to try and rationalize certain parts of the Bible (like "Balaam’s Donkey"-Numbers 22, "Daniel and the Lion's Den"-Daniel 6, etc...). I want God to reveal all of his secrets to me, so that I'll understand everything. But is faith truly faith when I know all the answers? Although, Christianity isn't blind faith, God does reveal Himself to us through many mediums, there are areas where logic must take a backseat to faith. Sometimes we have to just take God at His word.

So, what do we do when we doubt? Well, we don't have to completely throw reason out the window in order to believe in the Bible. There have been many times throughout history that scholars question the validity of stories in the Bible, and time after time scientists and historians verify God's Word. Therefore, is it not "logical" or "reasonable" to trust that if many of the things we once believed to be false have been proven true, that maybe more or even all of what the Bible claims could be true? Examine the evidence. We know for a fact that Jesus Christ was a man, and that He died. We also know that hundreds of people claimed to see Him walking around forty days after he was killed. Through persecution and even many of them being murdered, His followers continued preaching of His resurrection. There are countless other facts that support Christianity, so, first, lean on what you know. Finally, you have to begin to trust that God is who He says He is, and that if that's true, nothing is impossible for Him. Although, we cannot understand it sometimes, that does not make it impossible. If we choose to always deny the things we can't comprehend, we might miss out on Moments of Truth that God wants us to experience.

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In order to be entered into the contest to win a fantasmagorical prize: Click Here.

Pray
That God will help you to trust in Him, instead of leaning on your own understanding.

Sooner or Later (Soren's Song)

In the early 1800's there lived a man named Soren Kierkegaard, who was convinced that most of the human race was living with blinders on. He believed that humans live empty existences, but there is something that can fill the void in our lives. Just as the other great thinkers we heard from on Sunday (C.S. Lewis, St. Augustine, and, of course, Jesus Christ), Kierkegaard understood that there is something missing from our lives, which leaves us feeling empty inside. Even the greatest thinkers of our generation, Tom Brady and John Mayer (this is called sarcasm), can figure out that no matter what we try to fill our lives with, nothing can satisfy our endless hunger for something greater. During a candid interview, three time super bowl champion Tom Brady stated that despite all his accomplishments, he still felt that there was something left he was supposed to do. Grammy winning artist John Mayer exclaims in one song that "Something's missing, and I don't know what it is". This desire is not left only for the philosophers, musicians, athletes, and celebrities, but it is coded in our soul. As we learned in the previous series, we are cursed with the knowledge of the way the world should be. We live inside the tension created by our separation from God.

This is why we stare at the ceiling in the middle of the night wondering if we're really alone or if things could ever change. We know that there is a God shaped hole inside of us all, and as Kierkegaard explained we're just living our lives, asleep at the wheel. Yet sooner or later you'll be faced with the truth that you were meant for something greater. Sooner or later you'll understand that you were designed to be in an intimate relationship with the God that not only designed the universe, but the innermost workings of your body. And sooner or later you'll realize that the only way you can approach God, is on your knees. See because we can only truly come into relationship with God when we, just like the woman at the well (John 4:1-28), take off our blinders, lay our weapons down, shed our pride, and embrace what God wants to tell us. Our pride and defenses create a wall between our Father and us, when are we going to realize that we need to tear down that wall? And the crazy thing is: Although, a lot of us spend many sleepless nights staring at the ceiling wondering if there is anyone out there who can heal our wounds, God is on the other side of the wall pleading for us to come to our senses, and let His perfect love heal all our wounds.

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In order to be entered into the contest to win a fantabulous prize, comment on this post, and answer the following question: In what ways or through what methods have you tried to fill the "God Shaped Hole" we talked about on Sunday?

Pray
That you can begin to shed your pride and defenses, and begin to embrace God's revolutionary love.

Mess of Me

We are the children of the quick fix. A people who are striving to get their needs met, but let's be honest, we don't want to do a lot of work. As a society we have worked for centuries to build a community which can synthesize life, in order for us to escape reality and our actual God given needs and desires. We have the desire to be in community with each other, but we don't want to face our own shortcomings or put the personal time in to building meaningful relationships; so, we pick and choose the aspects of our life we want, and post them on a social networking site (like facebook, twitter, or myspace) so that others who agree with our opinions can be our friends. God gave us the desire for a completely intimate connection with another human being, but I don't want to wait to get married to have sex; therefore, we choose to manufacture desire and intimacy with pre-marital sex or pornography. This is part of the reason drugs are so abundant in our culture, we're trying to synthesize a feeling or reaction.

This idea leads us to the untruth which we discussed on Sunday. We are given the need to love and be loved by our Creator, but we mess up our lives and we want a quick fix to get God to love us. So we try to get our lives in order or pray for a certain amount of time or memorize a series of Bible verses or forward certain e-mails or attend church long enough or a number of other things to get God to love us, and sometimes it feels like it works. Unfortunately, we also believe the opposite, that if we can get God to love us or love us more, than we can also do things that will make God love us less. However, the truth is God loved us before we were even born. Before we even knew what love was, God loved us, and there's nothing we can do to make Him love us more or less. Although, it's important to pray, study the Bible, attend church, grow closer to God, and those sorts of things, those should be a reaction to the love God's given us, not an attempt to trick God into loving us.

The hard part about all of this, is that it goes against our human nature. We can't believe that after all the things that we've done God would still love us, but that's the crazy kind of love we're talking about. Not only did God love us, but he gave up His own life, so that we could be closer to Him. The other reason some of us can't accept this love is that we didn't earn it, and our pride gets in the way. If there's nothing we could ever do to earn God's love, than we can't be worth God's love. Well, that's the beauty of grace, we get what we don't deserve. We don't deserve such an amazing love, but we serve a God who is amazing and loves us uncoditionally. This is why we often try to find a quick fix to earn God's love instead of humbling ourselves and embracing the perfection of love and grace.

Yet, there is still good news for those of us who have messed up in our lives (I'm guessing the percentage is pretty high), God has provided us a quick fix, a way for us to start over again. In a conversation with a highly spiritual man, Jesus explains that in order to enter into the kingdom of God one must be born again (John 3). Jesus promises us a fresh start for our spirit, a new birth with a clean slate. There is still hard work that must be put in so that we can live a life that is in accordance to God's good, perfect, and pleasing will, but we no longer have to manufacture love, because we can rest in the fullness of His love that has already been given to us. What a radical idea that even while we wound Him, the God of the universe still sent His love in human form to die for us. Why would we ever try to create love when we have already been given such a perfect, beautiful love?


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Pray
That God's love will become evident to you, as you learn to rest in it.

Gimme Some Truth

The human psyche has this amazing ability where it can legitimize any action, thought, or philosophy that it wants to. Put simply: As humans, we can rationalize our behavior or personal philosophies, in order to make ourselves feel better. All of our thoughts and decisions are based upon a series of "truths" or "realities" that we choose to believe. If I make myself a sandwich the truth that I believe is that it will satisfy my hunger. When I go to see a movie, hangout with friends, or play video games the truth I believe is that doing these things will entertain me. Although these truths are obvious, there exist several truths that have been corrupted by sin and our own nature.

For example, if I choose to continue to procrastinate about a project or simply not turn in my homework, the truth I believe is that God doesn't care about my schoolwork or that my school only affects me, therefore, I can study how I please. However, according to scripture we know that God wants us to do everything as if we were doing it for Him (Colossians 3:23-24). When I gossip or talk about or towards somebody with a malicious heart, the truth I accept is either that, they deserve it (for some reason or another) or because they're just words and that person may or may not ever hear them than its ok. Why would we believe this when we know that God wants us to speak words of love and encouragement (Ephesians 5:4)? As we learned on Sunday, we often convince ourselves that something is true, because it justifies our behavior, and the longer we convince ourselves the more we believe it to be true. The danger lies in the fact that the longer we live in a lie, the longer we live under the bondage of our sin, and we can never be truly set free.

How do we escape the lies that we've accepted as truths? We have to accept God's words in John 8 to be true, and live under them. Christ states that if we begin to follow the teachings of the Bible, then we can know the truth, and the truth sets us free.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." -John 8:31-32.

The first step is to begin acting on what you all ready know. We all know simple truths that we choose to ignore or corrupt, begin living out those truths, and you will begin to be set free. Next, you have to understand more, begin reading the Bible, and applying those teachings to your life. If you don't have a Bible, one of your youth leaders can get you one. If you don't know where to start, open to the New Testament, and start reading the Book of Matthew (it's the first book). Learning about how Jesus lived his life, is the best way to learn how to be more like God (because He was God, if you didn't know). As you begin to learn and apply the truth that God has revealed to us through His word, you will begin to be set free from these "untruths”, which will eventually hurt you. Don't wait any longer, the longer you allow yourself to live under these lies; the harder it will be yourself to be set free.


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In order to be entered into the contest: Click Here

Pray
That God will begin, through His word and your obedience, to set you free from the "untruths" in your life.

There Will Be A Day

When natural disasters destroy an entire community or when divorce breaks up a family or when a disease strikes someone that you love and care about, it's often difficult to feel that we serve a God who is great. Even though we learned earlier that the curse of our sin causes tragedies like these to occur, when the truth becomes personal we begin to forget it, and assume that God is responsible or negligent. However, there is good news that rises from the ashes of a shattered world, God promises that there will come a day when those who have chosen to live for Him will be in a place with no more suffering or pain. On Sunday morning, the band performed an uplifting song (There Will Be A Day by Jeremy Camp) that celebrated this day, and was written by a man who understood suffering.

Jeremy Camp is a Christian singer-songwriter who most might consider, based on his positive songs, someone who has lived a privileged life. However, the truth is that when Camp was twenty-three he lost his young wife to ovarian cancer, they had only been married less than six months. Although this might be reason for many to discard God as either non-existent or cruel, Jeremy Camp pens a song which has been played on Christian radio for the past six years, called I Still Believe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgJrflQ0Qwg). The song claims a faith that God is still faithful and great, despite the horrors of the young widower's reality. The kind of faith that could be responsible for both of the aforementioned songs mirrors that of the author of the majority of the New Testament of the Bible, Paul. In his letter to a church in Rome, Paul states:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. -Romans 8:18

What both Paul and Jeremy Camp understand and what we often forget when we're in the midst of tragedy, is that the sufferings caused by the curse of sin do not even compare to the glory and joy which those of us who follow Christ will inherit when we're in heaven. This is the evidence that God is great and God is good, because even though He had to punish sin, He still took our punishment on Himself and created a way for us to return to Him. Because there will be a day when there is no more divorce, no more cancer, no more hurricanes, no more pain, no more ridicule, no more crime, no more reasons to be afraid, and no more death. God in his great love has made a way for us to be free of the curse of our sin, and we shall wait patiently for that day.


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In order to be entered to win this week's contest: Click Here.

Pray
That the knowledge of heaven can relieve the pain and stress of our present sufferings.

God is Great

I distinctly remember the feeling I felt four years ago, as my knees shook inside an old train car. The air seemed a little colder inside the wooden vessel, but my blood was running a little hotter than usual. I could smell the wood was stained with the horror and the tragedy of a generation long gone. I was fifteen years old, and I was standing inside a transport car of a train used during the Holocaust. The reason my body felt so hot, was the amount of anger I was feeling towards those that could commit such an atrocity. However, the truth is, I was holding some anger towards a God that could allow something this horrible to take place.

When we stare in the face of crimes which rob families of their children, natural disasters which destroy the livelihood of an entire community, and horrifying, outrageous losses of life, how do we equate these events with the existence of a loving, all-powerful God? If there's a God who is all-powerful and created the universe, than how can tragedies happen? An even more pressing question would be: if I've served God and bend to His will, why are my parents getting a divorce, why did a loved one die, why did my Dad lose his job? How do we answer these questions?

We learned on Sunday that God created the world and everything in it (including humans) as a perfect creation, when sin entered into the world system, it corrupted every aspect of the universe (causing things like hurricanes, sickness, and even death). However, even though we can understand why tragedies would occur, it's hard to understand why God would allow one of His children to suffer. Well, as we know God is a perfect father, and in his perfection he allowed us to have free will, so that we could choose whether to love and follow Him or to follow our own path to destruction. Due to our free will, there are people who choose to cause suffering, and because of our sin, natural disasters are now part of our world system and often wreak havoc on our planet.

The good news is that God has provided us with a comforter when the world is crashing down and when our heart breaks. God has given us His Holy Spirit, so that we can be comforted in our sadness. Next week, we'll discuss this further, when we talk about what happens when tragedy does strike, where do we turn to, and what does God want us to do? But you have to be at HYPE on Sunday morning to figure out what God's plan is during our catastrophes.


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In order to be entered into the contest to win a fabulous prize:
Leave a comment (with your first and last name and the campus you attend), describing something which is uplifiting, challenging, or troubling about this week's lesson.

Pray
That you can begin to trust in God's love, when you don't know where to turn.

Lose Control

Having stuff is awesome. Especially when you worked hard to get it. The feeling of accomplishment that surrounds owning property and the attachment we hold to our money and material assets is incomparable to almost every other area of our existence. You've probably heard somebody or yourself say something like: this Xbox is my life!, this car is like my child (which I always thought was rude to their actual child), I would kill to protect this waffle maker! Okay, so maybe that last one was a stretch, but this explains why the idea of releasing our grip on our possessions is often a subject which brings fear and hostility. Due to our attitude towards materialism, God asks us to counter our nature, and become more like Him: to be generous.

The act of true giving is a practice in losing control. Godly generosity requires one to understand that everything we own comes from God, and, therefore, isn't ours to give. How ridiculous is it to believe, then, that we have any say over what happens with our money? If it's not ours what right do we have to keep our hands tightfisted, and refuse to give God a percentage back of what He's given us? The sad truth is, we have such an emotional bond with our possessions that we want complete control over them. God asks us to loosen our grip, and hand control over to Him.

The Bible gives two examples of two separate widows who had every reason to be tightfisted with what they had, yet they chose to release control over to God and our commended for it. The story we read on Sunday was about a widow who only had a few coins left, and still gave her offering to God (Luke 21:1-4, the second story is found in the contest link). Jesus commends her faith, and we our given an example of the kind of generosity that God asks of us. This woman didn't know whether she would have enough to get through the week, but she still had faith that God would provide for her and create in her a spirit which mirrored His own. This kind of open-handed mentality is the kind of generous heart that Christ wants to create in us. Jesus was the ultimate giver, He gave His life for us, and since we were created in His image, we should build a like-minded personality. Until we lose control of our finances and unclose our fists surrounding our money, we will never truly become the kind of generous giver that God wants us to be.

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Pray
That God will give you opportunities to unclose your fist, and that He will grant you a generous spirit which will drive you to give.

Becoming a Slave

"I just want to be myself!", "I don't want to just follow the crowd or fit into some mold", "I want to be my own person". These are the kinds of things I hear people, including myself, saying often. It seems that the atmosphere we live in is one of a people who are obsessed with being free, and ultimately one of a people who want to choose who they can be. No one wants to be someone else’s slave, however, the nature of debt, forces those within its confines to a life of slavery. As the Proverb that we read on Sunday explained, those who are in debt are slaves to their lenders, and this is contrary to what Christ wants for His followers. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus explains:

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.-Matthew 6:24

Our Father in Heaven loves us so much He doesn't want us to be slaves to our debt; in fact, He states that in order to follow Him, one must choose to get out of debt. God made us and He knows our need to be free, and He wants us to be free of the fear, stress, and embarrassment, involved with debt. The crazy idea is that in order to be free, we must surrender ourselves, and become a slave to someone else. In a letter written to a church in Rome, Paul, an apostle, explains the importance of being a slave:

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness-Romans 6:18

Wow, according to Paul, in order for us to be truly free, we must become slaves to righteousness. Slaves to Jesus. As Christ himself stated, we cannot serve two masters, we must choose. Debt is a prison, and it will keep us away from the things we truly desire. In order to be free men and women, we must first become a slave to righteousness. And what a beautiful contradiction, what sweet irony: I have found myself the most free, when I am a slave to Christ.

Being free from debt is not easy though, it takes strong discipline. It may mean that you can't drive the nicest car or that you have to flip burgers or that you won't be able to go out to every social event that you want to. In the end, as we learned last Sunday, our self worth is not found in these things, but in the love of Christ Jesus. We choose not to be slaves to debt, but to the love of Christ Jesus and His Righteousness.


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In order to be entered in the contest, and have a chance at winning a Fantasmagorical prize: Click Here

Pray
That God would allow you to be free of debt, and to live your life as a slave to righteousness.

Money, Money, Money, Money...

I remember when I got my first paycheck. The overwhelming feeling of joy as I bought my first hard-earned movie ticket, album, meal, and eventually my first car. There's some kind of pleasure we find in those little green slips of paper and plastic cards, and, unfortunately, there is an atmosphere of fear and despair that surrounds the idea of being without the security of money. In our world that equates success with wealth and self-worth with net-worth, it is often difficult to distinguish the way God feels about us and the way the world tells us we should feel.

Why is it that we often have a hard time feeling like we're important or that we matter? If we know that we matter to God, then why is it that we're still so wrapped up in the way the world measures worth? It's possible that it is because we live in this world, and it's the only tangible thing we have. However, I think the more accurate answer is that we don't truly understand what God's love cost Him. According to John 3:16, God loved (or valued) us so much that He left perfection to live among us in disparity, and eventually die a painful death on the cross so that we could spend eternity with Him.

The craziest thing about this kind of love is that Christ did this for his enemies, for people that would never come to know Him. Whether I ever came to believe and surrender to Him, Christ still would have died for me. That's how much I matter to Him. Jesus could have spent eternity living in heaven, yet He so badly wanted to be near us, that he struggled on earth with us. Therefore, if God loves me so much that He would die for me, I should never find my worth in any other power. And our hope is found in what we learned on Sunday, that nothing can ever separate us from that love.


Explore
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Pray
That God will help you understand where your true worth lies, in His love.

Listen To Your Heart...is just a terrible, terrible song...

The good news, folks, is that we're only two days (and some change) away from my wedding, and the even better news is today's post lends itself to me talking about my favorite subject: me. So, as I already mentioned, I'm very close to making one of the biggest decisions of my life, and in these moments you begin thinking about the decision you've made. After Sunday's small group I began wondering about how I came to the decision I did, and whether it was a "follow your heart" decision or a "search for God's will" decision. Although, most of us have an ideal that following your heart is the best (and possibly "only") way to make a decision about who you want to marry, but just as we've learned all throughout this series this might be a "dumb thing that smart people believe".

Most times I would like to believe that if I follow my heart, than I will ultimately find the right decision (or at least, not a bad one). However, the truth is: left to my own devices my heart is evil, and my wisdom, compared to God's is foolishness. I have made several good decisions based on my own means of discernment and understanding, but there are some decisions, which at the time seemed like a smart decision, I can finally see were a huge mistake. See the problem isn't that I'm not smart, but it's that I trust more in my own abilities than in the wisdom of the God who created me. Paul, the writer of a letter to an early church in an area called Corinth, understood that compared to God, the wisdom of men is futile (1st Corinthians 1:25)

Therefore, if we know that the God of the universe, the God who created us, knows what's better for us than we do, why do we choose to follow our heart? This may be a simple issue of trust. It is hard for us to follow the advice of Solomon in Proverbs:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding"-Proverbs 3:5

It is hard for us to trust that a God that we cannot see, might understand our situation better than us. However, not only did God create us, but the Bible tells us that Jesus had been tempted in every way that we have. Do you understand the significance of that? Jesus Christ, lord of the universe, understands my temptations and my fears. Now, we know that we can trust in God not only because we're his creation, but he walked in our shoes. He knows our deepest fears, our darkest temptation, and what would be the best decision for us to make. In light of all that, why would I ever want to lean on my own wisdom?


Pray
That God will help you begin to lean on His wisom, and not your own.

Explore
In 1st Corinthians 1:25, the writer mentions two areas where our human abilities fall short of God's abilities. What are those?

Homework
Prepare an answer for group on Sunday.
What are some ways people try to get to Heaven?

God's Blueprint

In the final 10 days of my bachelor-hood...bachelorism...bachelor life-style...I guess you get the point. But in the final 10 days before Jenny and I get married, I've had several decisions to make and topics to discuss, such as: insurance, budgeting, career choices, when to have kids, whether to have kids at all, and etc... Although I'm excited to the MAX about getting married, a lot of situations and decisions that lie ahead make me nervous. It would be comforting for me to believe that God has a blueprint for my life, which he can lead me to the path that would be best for me. But as we learned on Sunday, that is not the case, and today's post will be discovering the comfort that lies in the statement: God does NOT have a blueprint for my life.

Most of us believe, have believed, or would like to believe that God orchestrates every situation we face and decision we make (what job we take, what school we go to, who we marry) so that we can have a prosperous and happy life. However, we learned earlier in this series that God's main concern is not that we're happy, but that we become more like His Son. Therefore, maybe it's more realistic to believe that God is working within all situations, to create within us a mentality and spirit which reflects Jesus. According to Paul, the man most responsible for spreading Christianity throughout the world, God uses even the darkest situations to mold us into the people He desires for us to be.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. -Romans 8:28

Many have misinterpreted Paul's words, believing that he meant that God orchestrates are situations to build us a better life. The problem is that most misunderstand what Paul meant by the word "good". If God's main priority is not that we are happy, then what could this good be? Maybe God uses our situations to help us become more like Him. Maybe instead of asking God to show me signs for which job I should take, I should ask what kind of employee I should be. Maybe instead of asking God to orchestrate every situation so that I would know what school to go to, I should search through God's Word to find out how He thinks I should treat my teachers and classmates. The comfort is found when I understand that God's ultimate goal is to shape me into someone who reflects His will, and that He will be there to help me every step along the way. If God's will is not a blueprint that has to be followed precisely, then we can be comforted to know that God's will is much more flexible. We no longer have to fear decisions because we can't stray away from a blueprint that doesn't exist, and God will hold our hand in every decision and form us along the way.


Explore
What does Jesus describe as "easy" and "light" in Matthew 11:28-30?

Pray
That God can begin to bring comfort to the thought that He has no blueprint for your life, and that you can begin to look for His will in all situations.

Homework
Prepare an answer for group on Sunday.
When facing a big decision to you usually follow your head or your heart?

Guilty Pleasures

If only real high school was filled with bad actors, cheesy dialogue, and people who say "oot" instead of "out", then I might have actually wanted to attend. Alas, I am stuck enjoying my guilty pleasure, the Canadian TV show "Degrassi: The Next Generation". Now, if you don't currently watch Degrassi, please for the love of everything righteous and holy DO NOT WATCH IT, because you will become addicted. But unfortunately this post is not about Degrassi; however, it is about our guilty pleasures (and not the cute-comfortable ones like Degrassi). The kind of guilty pleasures I'm writing about are the ones that keep you up at night. Maybe it's not even a habit. Maybe it's just guilt over something you never thought you'd do, but it's still there waking you up in the middle of the night. So, when you find yourself in the situation where you're being haunted by the past or you feel like you've gone too far to be forgiven, what do you do?

We learned on Sunday that when we're faced with our sin we have two choices: Godly sorrow (a temporary sadness which leads to repentance and salvation) and worldly sorrow (a lasting sadness which leads to a spiritual and emotional death). You might ask, "if worldly sorrow leads to death, why would anyone ever choose it?” Well, if Godly sorrow leads to repentance and repentance leads to salvation and salvation is gained by surrendering our rights to Christ, then the answer might simply be: we don't want to surrender. When we choose to deal with our guilt on our own, we believe that we can handle our situation better than God. We beat ourselves up over our guilt or we try and resolve the situation on our own, and all the while our heart is still heavy from the weight of our guilt. David, a man who understood guilt better than most, explains how we might be able to remove our guilt while also changing ourselves in the process, in a prayer he wrote to God:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. -Psalm 51:10.

If we ask God to create for us a clean heart and a renewed spirit, then we might not only be free of our guilt, but more resistant to our temptations that led us to that guilt. David, the man after God's own heart, understood that only after we have a new heart, a clean heart, can we begin to live the life God is calling us too. As we know, there is nothing we can ever do that is too terrible for God to forgive, so why do we continue living like our sin is worse than anybody else's? God wants to create a pure heart within us, all we have to do is lay down our pride and ask for His help.


Explore and Pray
Read and pray along with David's prayer of redemption in Psalm 51:1-17

Homework
Prepare an answer for discussion on Sunday
What is the difference between having a blueprint for something and a plan for it?

You Don't Know Me!

If I'm honest with myself, I spend a lot of my day talking about and/or making assumptions/judging those around me. Most of the time I make judgments about random strangers (assumptions such as: I bet he's a jerk or I bet she's just trying to catch attention with that outfit, and we can all agree this is wrong and sinful; however, the situation becomes a little more tricky when someone we know is caught in a sin that is tearing their life apart, and we want to say something without overstepping our bounds.

As we talked about on Sunday, Jesus gave us guidelines for how to approach our friends when making a judgment: judge as we would want to be judged, understand the entire situation, examine ourselves, and address our own problems. Just as important as understanding how to judge, it is important for Christians to understand how to receive criticism. What does the Bible say about how we should handle ourselves when God sends a friend to confront an issue in our own lives? Let's take a look at what Solomon, a man God granted with the gift of extreme wisdom (which is wisdom TO THE EXTREME, by the way), has to say about criticism:

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid. -Proverbs 12:1

It is better to correct someone openly, than to have love and not show it. -Proverbs 27:5

Personally, when a friend of mine takes the time and puts our friendship on the line to bring my attention to a problem in my life, I am very respectful and receive their criticism with open arms...Now, I hope you didn't buy that. Just like most of us, I often become defensive, and ignore the Holy Spirit's calling stirred on by a friend's warning. However, if I could keep the advice of Solomon in my heart, I might be able to notice my own shortcomings, and save myself future heartache. God often puts people in our lives who can point out flaws in ourselves, which we would never notice on our own. Just as it is important for us to judge correctly, it is important for us to receive Godly correction in a God-honoring way.


Explore
Meditate on the words of Solomon in the previously mentioned Proverbs.

Pray
That God will help you receive correction in a manner that honors Him, and that you may follow His guidelines for judging others.

Homework
(Prepare an answer for group on Sunday)
What are some typical things people feel guilty about?

Happy is a Yuppie Word

In a 1991 interview covering the occasion of his 50th birthday, singer-songwriter and cosmic "weirdo" Bob Dylan gave an interesting response to a Rolling Stone journalist who asked if the aging legend was happy. This was his response: "You know, these are yuppie words, happiness and unhappiness. It's not happy or unhappy, it's blessed or unblessed". Although this could be considered nothing more than a shot at the middle-class business community or just a case of the old fashioned Dylan-esque craziness, I believe that Mr. Tambourine Man himself might have been on to an idea that is rooted deep in scripture. (Before we move on it's important to understand that a "yuppie" is a 1980's term for a young up-and-coming business-type, focused purely on becoming successful.)

As Christians we often follow a misconception that is deeply rooted in our minds, that "God's main priority is that we be happy". However, when looking at the life and teachings of Jesus it becomes evident that God's priorities and our happiness often fall on opposite ends of the spectrum. As we spoke about on Sunday, God clearly would not want us happy if our happiness was gained by us sinning, but more stunning is that Jesus spoke that those who are in difficult situations were "more than happy?”

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.- Matthew 5:3-10

The word used by both Bob Dylan and Jesus, "blessed", simply means "more than happy". So, in these verses, Jesus clearly states that those who mourn, those who are insulted, and those who are overly submissive are more than happy. The crazy thought that Christ followers must live by, is that when our circumstances feel hopeless or we feel alone and persecuted or we feel trampled on, we are to consider ourselves more than happy because we have a hope that runs underneath all of this. When we are broken and defeated God comforts us in a way we would never feel if we weren't broken. When we are persecuted for pursuing righteousness, we grow closer to becoming like Christ. When we feel like we are being taken advantage of to the point of being empty, we can rest in the loving arms of our Father. For those of us who are Christians, happiness is not our ultimate goal or God's ultimate priority, but God does want to bless us. God wants to make us "more than happy", because after all "Happy is a Yuppie Word".

Explore
Meditate on the Beatitudes stated in Matthew 5:3-10.

Pray
That God your hope will not rest in the temporary things of Earth, but in the salvation of Jesus Christ.

Homework
(Prepare an answer for group this Sunday)
According to what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-5, is it wrong to judge others? Why?

Service...Serve Who?

Call it laziness, call it selfishness...and that's probably what it is, but I love being served. I'm a momma's boy at heart, and I love knowing that my mom is going to be there to take care of every single need that I have. From extracting grease stains from my shirt to preparing my favorite meals, my mother knows how to take care of me. Now, I know there is no problem being pampered by your parents, however, I have this habit of viewing every moment through the lens of "how can my needs get met". If we're all honest with ourselves, most of us fall into this category as well. The problem boils down to one simple, honest, and maybe uncomfortable truth: I believe that my needs are more important than anyone else's needs.

This is the reason that we often find it so hard to serve others around us. Someone asks us to help out at church, but "I don't enjoy that area" or more accurately "my need to be entertained outweighs your need for my help". I know God wants me to serve an annoying person in my life by hanging out with them, but "they really get on my nerves" or "my need to be comfortable outweighs their need for intimacy and love". My Mom is really tired from work and I know I could help by taking some of the house work, but "I'm really tired too" or "my need for rest and relaxation outweighs her needs". I could go on and on with examples like these, but I think it's clear that this problem envelopes every area of our lives.

Possibly the easiest way to combat this mindset, is to begin placing ourselves in situations where we're forced to serve. Finding and committing to a serving team at church is a very easy and important way to begin transforming our minds. By regularly putting someone else's needs in front of your own, you can start conforming your mind to one similar to Christ. The next step is to find areas in your own life to begin serving those around you. Take advantage of those in your own house. Practice viewing your family's needs as more important than your own. Only when we have truly broken our spirit of "self" can we ever begin to build a heart which is Just Like Jesus'.

Explore
Meditate on the words in 1st Corinthians 10:24, Matthew 22:37-39, and Philippians 2:3.

Pray
That God can begin to break your spirit of selfishness, and allow you the strength to serve those around you in a Christ-like manner.

Discuss
In what ways can you serve someone in your life?

What If...

On the first day of school, you walk onto the campus viewing every moment as an opportunity to follow God's will. What would your day look like if you believed that God's will consumed every single second of your life? The problem for most of us is that we like to compartmentalize our life into categories: "God moments" and "worldly moments". We can understand that God would have a purpose for what our career should be, but what about "how we work"? We pray that God will show us what college to go to, but he has no place telling us how to study or handle our education. God wants us to love people, but he doesn't care who I hang out with. The truth is, God's will consumed the life of Jesus, and if we are to live like Jesus it should envelope our lives as well.

The absurd thing is that we often believe that we might understand our situation more clearly then God. Sometimes we're even arrogant enough to believe that we know BETTER than God! However, if we believe that the Bible is correct, when it states that God is the Creator, then why can't we believe he might know how His creation should work? If I create something, I have a specific purpose for it, and so does God.

We discovered on Sunday, that Jesus' beliefs ("every moment is sacred", "when there's a need I'll meet it", and "when moments are interrupted, I'll look for God's will") influenced his decisions to the point that the search for God's will consumed his life. So, why can't we do this? Put simply, I believe two things hinder our obedience to God's will: our selfish desires and our lack of trust. Although, everyone can understand how selfishness gets in the way, you might be asking "how does trust come into play?” When we search for our own answers or ignore God's callings, it is often attributed to our lack of trust in God. We cannot trust that God's love or what Jesus did on the cross, could ever outweigh the cost of whatever sacrifice we would have to make in order to follow God's will.

The truth is, if we're ever going to allow God's will to permeate our life we first have to let go of our selfish desires, and begin to trust in the love of God shown through Christ Jesus. I know, "easier said than done", but I believe the first way of trusting in what Jesus did, is understanding the impact of the cross. We often believe that the cross only affects our salvation. Even though salvation was the ultimate goal of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, it also serves as a perfect example of the love that God has for us. A love that is so powerful that it can satisfy you over any friendship, over any heartbreak, and over any rejection. We often feel that if we follow God's will, we might be rejected or it might be socially awkward. The fear that we will be left alone or scorned causes us to ignore God's will, but we can trust that God's love is enough to satisfy us through every situation. So, what if you truly believed that you had a love so strong that you could step outside of yourself and truly follow God's will unashamed and unhindered?

Explore
Read Mark 2:23-3:6, examples of Jesus' mindset that "every moment is sacred".

Pray
That you can begin to look for God's will in all moments, and that God can provide you the courage to meet the needs of those in your life.

Discuss
What habits can we put in place to assist us in hearing or seeing God's will in our lives?

This is Love

I think I'm funny. I mean, I think I'm really funny...And interesting. In fact, if I could, I would spend most of my day talking to or about myself. Now, I'm aware that this is a little self-obsessive, and possibly a tiny bit arrogant; however, I spent my entire high school career with this thought as my mindset, and it often led me into trouble. You have to understand I never had a problem with self-esteem, I always viewed myself as someone deserving of love. There is a problem, however, lying within this mindset that led me to not truly love those around me, and I believe it might also hinder some of you, as well.

Although I never had any problem viewing myself as worthy of love, I began to view most others around me as undeserving of it. I held many people to a set of standards and expectations that could never be met, and if you stepped outside of those boundaries, I chose you as unworthy of my love. The question I had to begin to ask myself was: If God could forgive me of all the things I had done, who was I to claim someone else as unworthy of love? I knew all the terrible things I had done, and God had forgiven me of all those things. However, I still couldn't love others like Jesus loved me.

See, the problem is that I viewed love as something in which I had a choice in. Although, it is true that love is a decision, as a Christian, love was no longer a choice for me. The writer of 1st John perfectly illustrates this:

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.-1st John 3:14

As John states in this verse, when we accept Jesus as the leader of our life we no longer choose to love, but love becomes who we are. In other words, if we do not love than how can we truly say that we belong to Jesus?

However, some of us cannot truly love another person, because we view ourselves as unworthy of love. Maybe you have a hard time accepting the love that Jesus has all ready given you, and so to love someone as yourself wouldn't mean much. Fortunately, God has called us to love others as Jesus loved us, and Jesus sacrificed everything, including his life, for us.

The question we must ask ourselves is: Am I truly living the love that Jesus lived?

Explore
Read 1st John chapter 3:11-24.

Pray
That God can grant you a spirit of love and compassion for those that don't fit your standards, and that you can begin to accept the love that He has already given you.

Discuss
In what ways can we practically love someone in our life this week?

WWJT

"What would Jesus do?". As many of us shared on Sunday morning, it is often hard to follow this simple (once popular) motto. Even though we know that God's commands were created out of love and are meant to protect us, we find ourselves falling into the same old temptations over and over again. Why then, if we want to please God and we want to live by his commands, do we continuously fail? The answer might be found in our memory verse from Romans.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will."-Romans 12:2

Paul, the author of Romans, makes it pretty clear that in order to truly understand God's will and His commands, we must first renew, or change, our mind to be more like Christ. From birth we are trained to think like the world and the people in this world, however, when we accept Christ as our Savior, we become a "new creation", and we must begin to act like that creation. Unfortunately this is easier said then done. So, how do we go about renewing our mind? For some of us, we cannot begin to think like Jesus thought, because we don't know what Jesus taught. Possibly, reading about the life and teachings of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John can provide a deeper understanding of Jesus' commands. Praying daily for God to transform your mind, can also help you gain a better understanding of how Jesus thought. This week continue to diligently renew and transform your mind unto thoughts that Jesus would think.

Explore
Begin memorizing Romans 12:2, and dwell on the teaching of Jesus Christ.

Pray
That God will transform your thoughts unto the thoughts of Jesus.

Discuss
What practical steps will you put into place, in order to daily renew and transform your mind?