Thanksgiving Thoughts Part 1

As a parent, the one prayer request that is consistently coming out of my mouth is patience.  If you have to ask why, you don't have a toddler or interact with one on a regular basis.  Then there are the jokes about asking God for patience because He will give you more opportunities to be patient.  While this is true, I am thankful for any situation that is trying.  You may find that weird, but it's Biblical.

During my morning devotionals I have been reading the book of Revelation.  In both 13:10 and 14:12 it calls the believers out in a similar statement:

   “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12, ESV)  

The context here is that there is a lot of bad stuff about to happen to people who have faith in Christ.  Some may be taken captive, while others may be executed.  It is in this dire moment that the endurance of the saints (believers) is called for.  But, it begs the question, how do believers build up endurance to face this type of circumstance successfully?  Moreover, will all have enough endurance to make it through this suffering.

We find the answer to that question in the passage below:

   “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4, NASB95)  

James clearly tells us to rejoice in the daily struggles that come our way.  This is so counter cultural!  We live in a society that enjoys complaining about everything.  From the way our government is leading to the WiFi not being fast enough at Starbucks.  The former, by the way, is not a trial in my opinion.

So what do I rejoice in?  I rejoice when my arms hurt after lifting weights.  I rejoice when my bodacious bride has to work long nights because of either conferences or other school events.  I rejoice when our car breaks and we have to put hundreds of dollars worth of repairs on our credit card.  I rejoice and praise God daily when my left knee and right ankle are hurting.  I rejoice when I share the good news of Jesus and I am met with indifference or humiliation.  I consider it joy when __________ happens.

How can I rejoice in those circumstances (all of which and more have been in the last month)!?  I am able to rejoice because I know that God is good.  I am able to rejoice in the midst of these hard times because I have read the rest of the book of Revelation: God Wins!  I can rejoice because I have not suffered to the point of death on a cross.  I can rejoice because I have not, nor will I ever be forsaken or abandoned by God.  As a result, my faith is strengthened.  So when bigger things come my way I will have the endurance to withstand the darkest day.

However, if you don't learn how to rejoice in the day to day hard things that go on in life, how can you hope to be able to stand (endure) when your faith is truly blindsided?  The is answer is you can't!  If you fail to take joy in the difficulties of strengthening your faith, than you will fail to stand when great hardship hits you.  I have experienced some hardships this year and have come out stronger.  I praise God for it!  If you want to talk more about this or could use some prayer regarding this please contact me.

Lastly, remember that we can't start to compare 'hard times' that we are experiencing with that of friends and family.  The reason is that we all go through different seasons and because not everyone expresses pain the same way publicly.  Also, we have this great promise from God:

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (1 Cor.10:13)  One of these temptations is to leave God behind when oppression strikes.  However, the only way to endure tragedy is to embrace God's help even when you feel like He abandoned you in your hour of need.  Just because He didn't intervene, doesn't mean He left you.

So remember this Thanksgiving to “give thanks in ALL circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, ESV)

This is the song that Christian Hip-Hop artist Tedashii wrote after losing his one year old son Chase.  Listen and learn about endurance better than I could ever write about it.

Getting Back To Basics

I haven't written anything in awhile.  So before I get back into the swing of things I would like to take a moment to get back to the whole point of why I write.  The name of this Blog is "It's All About The Relationship."  The reason for that is it envelops the ideas of the two greatest commandments: Love God and Love Others.  Most of the stuff that I write in this blog I hope fits under that category somehow.

(Disclaimer: I am still and always will be learning the lessons mentioned below...so please don't take it that  I've got it figured out.)

Now while I believe that the Church in America does a decent job at teaching these commandments, I'm not sure how well Evangelical Churches as a whole are doing when it comes to teaching how to live these commandments/how far reaching into our everyday lives they are.  I mean Jesus did say that these two commands sum up the entire Old Testament/TANAK (Jewish name for it)!

We fail to teach how God is using our relationships with other people--whether it be parent, spouse, sibling, enemy, friend, coworker, or neighbor--to shape us into His Son's likeness.  I know so many that want to be a better parent, but don't know how to be one.  They look at the plethora of parenting books in the store, but have no idea which of the many conflicting voices to listen too!

Instead, why don't we stream line it for them.  Get someone to teach them about the greatest parenting methods of all time: Those of our heavenly Father!  Gary Thomas says that, "The Bible doesn't give many direct commandments of how to parent.  Instead, it shows us how our Heavenly Father relates to His difficult children (a paraphrase form Sacred Parenting)."  We can learn a lot about patience, consequences, love, appropriate boundaries/rules, and more if we just remembered that God reveled Himself as Father for a reason,

The same goes for spouses!  Jesus revealed Himself as the Bridegroom and the Church as the bride!  Again, we can learn so much about what these relationships should look like if we would remember simple points like this.  People would see large sections of scripture in a whole new light.

God made us to be relational beings because that is what His essence within the Trinity is!  In the end all any of us has is our relationships with God and others.  If we tried to parent like our Heavenly Father and be a spouse like Christ and even understand what it is to be a Child (Son) from Him, there wouldn't be as many conflicting voices pointing the true way.

So when you are preaching, teaching, or doing your daily devotionals ask this question: What relationships are addressed here and how can I become more Christ like to those in my life?

It will be difficult, strenuous, even painful at times if you decide to embark on this adventure...but you will be able to say that it was worth it!  If you would like someone to walk with on this journey, please let me know and I would love to have walk along side me as I also continue to learn these lessons and/or I can point you in the direction of someone else who can walk with you.

Next Up:  Putting Christ Back In Thanksgiving!


Until next time enjoy "Loving God, Loving Each Other" by The Gaither Vocal Band

The Giver

Today I went and saw the movie The Giver and thoroughly enjoyed it.  So if you don't read any further please let me tell you that you will not be disappointed if you spend the money at the theater to see this movie!  This is the best adaptation of a young adult book that I have seen in a very long time and I now look forward to reading it as my most excellent wife has been telling me to do for quite awhile.

Now I would like to take a moment and explain why I enjoyed this movie.

1. The story is not about overthrowing a corrupt post apocalyptic government like so many others in this genre.  Instead, it is about what sacrifices would we have to make to live in a Utopian society.

2.  It engages you to think about emotions.  Are they good, bad, neither, or both?  What would happen if we got rid of these emotions?  Would we be better or worse?

3.  It engages a the Christian to think about the duty that we have to educate people why some actions are evil.  The reason is because without knowing if something is good or bad how can we expect them to do the right thing.

4.  Cinematicly speaking the story was told very well.  The Cinematography was very good and almost always helped the story to progress while not being a distraction.

5.  The acting was done at a high level.  Nuff said.

6.  Lastly, it made me what to talk about the numerous themes afterward.  I could tell that the source materiel was extremely good.  The story stuck with me and was not forgetable like many YA movies today.

I look forward to reading the book and seeing the similarities and differences.  I hope that you give this movie a chance.  If you have teens in your home take them to see this movie.  This is the type of movie that deserves to be supported at the box office.  If you see it, please let me know what you thought of it.

UPDATE:
Read the book, and not surprising I greatly enjoyed it.  I would definitely recommend reading it.  The ending was a lot more interesting in the book!

I am currently on the second book in the in The Giver Quartet -- Gathering Blue.  What I like is that it doesn't continue with the same story, but actually looks at similar issues from a different point of view.  Once again a very good book.

Be Wary of Familiarity

Familiarity with a person, especially your spouse, can be dangerous.  It's dangerous because we get lazy in our relationship with this person.  We stop listening intently to what the other person is saying because we assume we know what he/she will say.  While we may be right most times there are two big problems with this approach.

The first is that we should be constantly striving for better communication.  If we get lazy there is a good chance that the margin of error will slowly increase.  Not to mention it will cause consternation for the other person.  

The second is that we stop trying to get to know the other person.  This has two negative aspects.  First we miss out on learning new stuff about this person.  The second is that we can become arrogant assuming that we know what the other person wants in any given situation and we stop asking the person what they want.  As a result, when he/she rejects the decision, or even gift, another rift is formed in the relationship with both finding wrong in the other.

However, this is not true only of human relationships, but it is also true when it comes to our relationship with God.  Case in point, I lead a small group of men in Bible study on Thursday nights.  We recently started going through the Gospel of Mark.  We got to 2:1-12 the story of the man paralyzed and lowered through the roof by his friends and healed by Jesus.  It's easy to almost skip the story assuming you know what it is about.  I was tempted to skip my study on this passage and wing it because I have heard this story since I was a child.  I'm sure glad I didn't, because God taught me things that I had never noticed before.

Here are just a few bullet points of what He taught me:

1. The paralyzed man and his friends were looking for physical healing. Jesus was concerned with spiritual healing.  Initially all he does is forgive the man his sins.  He does not heal him.
2. The Pharisees where indignant towards Jesus for doing what they though only God could do.  (Indeed God is the only One who can truly pardon our wrongs.  However, He does call us to forgive one another repeatedly...even the sin of familiarity.) 
3. The reason that he healed the paralytic was so that the people there would know that He had authority to forgive sins.
4. This paralyzed man received a blessing from God beyond forgiveness.  This blessing was to reveal Gods glory to everyone who was watching.  It was primarily for the benefit of the people watching and secondarily for the man who experienced the healing.

However, this is not out of the norm in scripture.  Recently, I have been trying to escape being overly familiar with God and seeking Him out in new ways.  As a result,  I spent the last month and half going through the book of Ezekiel for my devotions.  God flat out states this in the passage below.

Ezekiel 36:23 (ESV)  And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

In the verses that follow God explains how He is going to restore the nation.  However in verse 32 He reminds the people that it is not for their sake that He is restoring them.  Instead, it is because He is concerned with His glory primarily.  His secondary reason is so that the nations will know that He is the one true God.

Ezekiel 36:32   It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

Both accounts teach us the same thing.

1. The greatest blessing an individual can receive is forgiveness of sins.  
2. If God decides to bless us beyond this than we should ask what is the reason that God has chosen to bless me.  Is it primarily a loving gift from Father to child, or is meant to bring glory and lead people to Him?  If it is the latter than we should ask how we can join Him where He is working.

So if you have become familiar in your relationship with your parent, spouse, or child please take time to sit down and listen to them.  Ask them what they want to do sometime and do it with them.

If you have gotten a little to familiar in your relationship with God I encourage you to listen to Him and seek Him out in a place you haven't in a long time.  That might be extended periods of prayer, on a personal retreat, a new devotional, or a book of the Bible you haven't read in a very long time.

God has blessed me greatly as I have gone through the book of Ezekiel, which I ignored for a long time, I hope that He uses this to bless you also!

R.I.P. Makes No Logical Sense

Whenever a famous person dies, Robin Williams being the most recent, my Facebook newsfeed blows up with statements like R.I.P. ____________.  However, it makes no sense to say Rest In Peace no matter what your worldview happens to be.  Let me break down my reasoning.

First, if you are a Christian like me than you should already know that there are only two options.

1. You believe that the person who died was a believer in Jesus Christ.  As a result, it is assumed that person will enter into paradise/heaven and be not just at peace, but he/she will be rejoicing forever in God's presence.
2. You believe that the person is not a follower of Christ.  As a result, that person will experience everlasting torment because they are forever separated from the grace of God.  This is a sad moment and in this life I do not rejoice over anyone who has failed to turn to God.  But it is truth that this person will in fact Not Rest In Peace.

Second, if you are a Spiritualist / New Age in your personal philosophy then everyone just becomes one with the great spirit in the sky and you loose all sense of your individuality.  As a result, you do Not Rest In Peace.  You no longer exist as an individual anymore.

Third, if you are an Atheist, as it seems Robin Williams was, then you believe you cease to exist.  It's not even like you went to sleep without waking up.  Because sleep means you have the chance to dream.  Everything you were becomes dust and forgotten.

If in fact Robin Williams was an Atheist I believe that he has now become a Theist: For every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD.  Sadly, it is to late for him if this is true.  I hope it is not.  But if it is true he is Not Resting In Peace.  Instead, he is experiencing the absence of the grace of God.  If you want a picture of what that looks like rent the movie What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams.  It has horrible theology and is filled with syncretism.  Worldviews mashed up together as many in America do daily, not knowing how they contradict one another.

In the movie Williams character is traveling through hell to try and find his wife who went there because she committed suicide (Not an unpardonable sin as this movie states).  He is trying to retrieve her.  However, she is lost in a world of grey and black depression.  Everything is hopeless.  Hope is not even a word in her vocabulary.  She is lost in misery and regret.  That is an accurate depiction of what hell could be like.

So I want to encourage you to take this time to think about life and death.  It will certainly come for you whether you like it or not.  Think through it logically.  If I am wrong then I am surprised that we don't see suicide as a common thing because of all the emotional and physical suffering that happens in this world.  If instead I am right about Jesus and life after death, then I encourage you to start asking questions about God.  It can't hurt you.  Because in the end you, me, and even famous entertainers such as Robin Williams will be forgotten eventually (and sooner then you may think).

I dare you to ask me about the hope that I have in me and why I believe that I will do more than just Rest In Peace when I leave this world behind.

Updated:
I hope that I am wrong and that at one point in his life he did cry out to God for salvation but slid away from Him because Satan got a hold of him through depression. However, we live in a world where everyone wants to believe that everyone is going to have a happy afterlife Christians included. My point is that not everyone will. We sing songs about our faith and how 'when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be.' Well for some it will be a day of mourning. That is why it does grieve me whenever I hear that someone has died without Christ. That goes for both Williams and the latest inmate to die on death row. For we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and we all need the Christ as our Savior. So my hope in pointing this out with a real person is that this will become more real to people. My prayers are with his family and friends. May they reach out to Christ and I hope that the Church will reach out in love to them as His arms and feet! Lastly, I am sorry if I came across with no heart for the man and his loved ones.

Let's Do Lunch...

I'm a good American because I love food.  As a Evangelical Christian I also enjoy a good old fashioned Potluck!  Food is all around us.  We can get it fast or slow.  We have easy access to snack food which is the food that we eat between our meals.

All this to say we live in a time and place that purposefully going without food for a day is seen as both absurd and very difficult.  So it comes as little surprise when I ask Christians if they have ever fasted and the vast majority answers no.  You read that right.  I don't ask if they have fasted recently, but if they have ever fasted.  The sadness that is located here is that we know Jesus fasted and that he expected His followers to fast also.

   “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” (Matthew 6:16, ESV)  

Instead, much of the evangelical church has ignored this spiritual practice.  So the obvious question is 'Why!?'  Why have we not fasted?  The simple reason is that fasting isn't easy.  In America we are all about easy and dulling pain any way we can.  The most popular way we dull pain is with food.  So giving up food is giving up our pain killer.  We have a thing called 'comfort food' for a reason.  It is what we use to comfort us.  Instead, we should be turning to Jesus and His bride, the Church, for comfort when we experience pain.

   “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4, ESV)  

So before you begin trying to fast, ask yourself if you need to first learn how to take your pain to God and your brothers and sisters in Christ.  If the answer is yes talk to God and others about this issue.  Stop reading this post for the time being and work on this.  Remember to take things one step at a time.

Next, there are two primary reasons that you would fast.  The first is that the current situation you are in calls for it.  This could be something as big as making a big decision where you need God's wisdom to be able to go forward in any direction.  It could also be because you are hurting so much that you can't see outside of the painful circumstances that surround you and you need to gain God's perspective on the matter.

The second reason is that God is calling you to a season of fasting to build your relationship with Him.  That's it.  How does this increase our relationship with Him?  It's because the whole point of fasting is giving up a physical daily need and replacing it with a spiritual need.

Take the time and energy that you devote to thinking about, preparing, consuming, and cleaning up after your food...and devote it to God.  Use the time to read His Word, to pray, and to serve others.  The easiest way to serve others is thinking about how much money you would spend on food on a given day and donate it to feeding the homeless.  This could be giving a lunch sack to someone on a street corner or donating to the Phoenix Rescue Mission.

Lastly, consider this: If we don't have the ability to discipline our bodies to avoid eating food for a few hours, how can we expect to discipline our hearts and minds to be conformed to the likeness of Christ?  If we are to die to self and live for Christ we must remember that dying is a painful endeavor, but it produces eternal rewards.

   “And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”” (Matthew 4:2–4, ESV)  

Weighted Spirituality

Something that I have been convicted about for some time is the issue of my weight.  I recently had my annual physical at the V.A. so that I could get a consult to see a doctor regarding my left knee which has been giving me problems since last summer.  Before I saw my doctor I had to have the dreaded weigh in.  I weighed in at 245 pounds.

Now I know what many are thinking.  Stuff like, hey you're 6'1", that's not bad...or, wow you can't tell.  Well the problem is that I can tell.  I look down and I'm not happy with what I see.  The Holy Spirit puts it to m that I am not living the disciplined life that I have been called to live.  For, we are not spirit only, nor are we just bodies.  God created us with both working together.  But nobody has said anything to me about my weight!

I recently began reading a book by favorite spiritual formation author, Gary Thomas, titled Every Body Matters: Strengthening Your Body to Strengthen Your Soul.  He makes this very true statement in chapter 2.

"The curse of today is that so many Christians equate bodily sins with sexual sins.  The only possible bodily sin, in their minds, is related to lust.  If they're not sinning sexually, they believe these verses don't apply to them.  The contemporary age of the church is the only generation that has believed this."

He later goes on to say that we have completely disregarded the sins of gluttony and sloth in the teaching time at church's today.  We often speak about gossip, sexual purity, lying, anger, and other issues.  However, the two aforementioned sins are left untouched.  I believe the reason for this is that it hits home a little to hard.  Especially for pastors.  (Note: Not all overweight pastors suffer from these two sins there are other problems that cause weight gain.)

   “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:22–25, ESV)  

I am tired of being someone that knows with my mind what to do but doesn't practice it when it comes to my body.  For how well can I truly discipline my spirit if I am unwilling to discipline my body and make  the sacrifices that are needed, especially when they are really not sacrifices.  I need to die to self and live for Christ.  So that, when I am older, if the Lord grants me the days, I will be better able to continue to serve Him.

I know that this is going to be difficult for me.  Much is going to weigh on my eating habits (pun intended).  The reason why is that I have mild asthma, chronic right ankle pain, and issues with my left knee that need to be resolved (hopefully in the near future).  So I am going to need to do a lot of praying surrounding this issue and constantly rely on the Holy Spirit to help me to discipline my body so that I may grow closer to Christ and be more useful to Him.

So for the next year the passage below is going to be my theme verse along with the song by Tedashii.  Give a listen.  Let me know what you think and I appreciate your prayers I begin to cut out fast food, soda, and other foods in my diet that are not good for my body that doesn't get nearly as much exercise as it needs.      

   “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:24–27, ESV)