Step back in time with me for just a moment. It’s July 4th, 1776 and Continental Congress just finished signing the Declaration of Independence. Everyone is talking about it but you’re trying to mind your own business. Like the dinosaur on Toy Story, you hate confrontations. You’re quietly sipping your favorite beverage at some historic tavern, when [...]
I’d like to ask you a question and it’s ok if you struggle with it. In fact, I hope you do struggle with it. I hope the answer doesn’t come easily but instead motivates you to spend time in prayer, asking Him for the answer. The question is, “What’s holding you back from being more dedicated to [...]
One memorable night, young Samuel wrestled with God’s call. He was unsure how to answer. Older, wiser Eli advises Samuel not to ignore such a call but instead give himself fully unto the Lord. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. I Samuel 3:9 We need more young people like this, who are [...]
Common sense teaches us: if it looks like a skunk, move. If it smells like spoiled milk, don’t drink it. If it was mailed by your archnemesis and makes a ticking sound, call a bomb squad. Modern Christianity – in an attempt to become more accepted – has adopted the fashions & flavors of a rotten, [...]
As a quirky, confused tween, I spent considerable time trying to figure myself out. The adage “just be yourself” sounded easy but was actually quite difficult in practice. Primarily, because I had never been me before. This was my first attempt at living as Daniel Gardner and I wasn’t born with a manual. If you’re having [...]
In Titus 1:15-16, Paul describes unbelievers as having a defiled mind. Clearly not walking on eggshells, he then sums up their lifestyle as abominable, disobedient and reprobate. He even calls their bluff on their false Christianity: They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him. Titus 1:16 Nowadays, Paul would be accused [...]
Mark 5:1-20 relates a story about a unique conversion. The main character is a possessed man who broke out of chains but was not free. He made his home in a cemetery but couldn’t find quiet peace. So much changed when he met Christ (v.6). Christ changed him inside-out, giving him a new heart, a [...]
“I’m so bored”. I see this phrase all over the internets. Now that we can broadcast our current status to the world, more and more of us are admitting that – despite fancy technology and new TV shows – we’re still quite bored.
Studies show that the glow of our computer & television screens are tripping up our internal clocks. I think they also play a part in bringing our self-motivated, focused sense of purpose to a halt and plunging us into a pond of shear boredom. Our videogames and smartphones can give us a false sense of purpose and a real sense of pointlessness.
That’s not healthy, especially for our spiritual lives.
Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep…And Christ will give you light.” (Ephesians 5:14)
If you want to serve the Lord, there’s plenty of work to do. But we gotta wake up first. We gotta wake up from the nonplused stupor in our high-speed, heading-nowhere lifestyles. Wake up to the shortness of life. Wake up to the reality of lost souls. Wake up to a God Who will give you work if you make yourself available.
The world is a giant glazed donut. With extra filling. Everything is so sweet about it. It smells sweet, feels sweet and tastes sweet.
The world has a sweet message. A message of acceptance, “come as you are,” “we’re one big happy family”. There are no absolute affirmations, no cardinal truths or sins, no definite word on God. Everyone recite together now, “Judge not so that ye be not judged.” Or, “God is love”.
The world has a sweet savor. There’s glamor on TV and buildboards. It glows with attraction. The music is sweet, the movies are sweet, the ever-changing fashions are sweet. Everything is glazed over with sugar. Eat it, drink it and be merry.
Like bees, we are attracted to our blossoming culture and bright flowery society. It makes us buzz with excitement.
Yet, God calls us to be salt. And that changes everything.
The world looks at us with a sour expression. SALT? He’s called you to be SALT? How can something so bitter mix in with a world so sweet?!
They’re right. How can we? Some of us spend our whole lives testing new theories but the truth is: we can’t. We weren’t meant to mix.
There was this guy who went before Pharaoh with the hope of changing the Egyptian King’s heart. He threw his staff on to the ground and it immediately turned into a snake.
Wow. It was pretty amazing.
Watching from the sidelines, our knee-jerk reaction might have been to shout Hallelujah. Naturally, we would assume that since God is awesome, awesome things are clearly a sign of God’s work.
But there’s a problem.
The guy’s name was Jambres. According to Exodus 7, he and his buddy Jannes were Pharaoh’s sorcerers and magicians. They did amazing stuff. Yet all this awesomeness was intended to distract from God’s message.
I’m sorry that so many in Christian circles get carried away with the wind of awesomeness. God does indeed act in mysterious and even miraculous ways. But too often we quickly assume all amazing experiences are “God experiences”.
Elijah learned it wasn’t so. Huge winds, earthquakes, spontaneous fires – God wasn’t in it. Elijah had to pipe down and be still awhile before he heard the small soft voice of an amazing God.
If our faith is based on amazing, awesome walk-on-water experiences, we’ll always be on the lookout for new experiences to grasp. This eagerness to see & feel the next big “God thing” bruises our Christian walk. Paul says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Emotions come and go. Shock & awe dies down. But faith should stand firm no matter what.
And that’s more of a challenge then turning some piece of wood into a snake.
There’s a man desperately thrashing in a pond. Someone from a bridge throws him a lifesaver. Between gasps of air and water, the man replies, “I’m too busy drowning to reach for the lifesaver…”
An Eskimo in short sleeves is frantically trying to get warm. But he refuses a heavy jacket offered to him. Teeth chattering, he insists, “I’m too busy freezing to put on something warmer…”
A hurry & worry Christian faces another trying day of work. He tells himself, “I’m too busy struggling through the day to read the Bible…”
Sometimes it’s what we don’t do that hurts us the most.
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