Someone died today

Right outside my office someone died today. I watched the aid cars, police, and investigation for hours. A life, a precious life, came to an end. I don’t know their story, but I do know their life came to an end and for those who loved them that end came too soon.

Earlier this week someone I know witnessed a jumper fall from a bridge. Over the weekend a co-worker’s mother figure’s life ended. Last week a past co-worker/friend died in a plane crash. The shock of these deaths are still being felt across the communities they were a part of.

At the memorial service for my co-worker, one of the things that impacted me the most was the fact that he had taken care of the important things to prepare for his future. At 34 years old he was outwardly prepared to die. We never know what will happen to us each day, and how our day will end, but we can make the decisions to care about our future, both here on earth and in our eternal life. We can be prepared both outwardly and inwardly.

Are you living with short accounts in your relationships?
Do you have a plan for the future?
Do those closest to you know how you feel about them?
Do you have unfinished business that you need to take care of?
Do you have a will? A life insurance policy?
Do you have confidence about where you will spend eternity?

Someone died today…..but it wasn’t you. Are you choosing to live?

Do we gossip in ministry?

The tongue is a powerful weapon. In James it says the tongue can be used both to praise and to curse. The one part it doesn’t clearly speak of in that portion of scripture is gossip. As with other biblical concepts gossip is spoken of in several places (Proverbs, Romans, 2 Corinthians, 1 Timothy, 3 John), but no where does it define exactly what gossip is and is not.

What does it mean to gossip? Is it just speaking negatively about another person? Does it include sharing personal information about someone that they didn’t share on their own? Does it include sharing information that others don’t know which could change the receiver’s perception of the person?

In ministry it is very common to talk about those we serve. We share information about others with our co-leaders, our pastors, our home groups. Are we gossiping? Are the rules different for adults who are working with kids and youth than it is for ministry to adults? Should we be reporting things to the pastor and making him aware of things just because of his role/title even if he is not directly involved in the ministry or situation?

Scripture says “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Are your thoughts obedient to Christ? Is your tongue?

God created us to…

If God created us to reflect his character and who he is, then what happens when we don’t do that? We aren’t really living as we were designed to operate. If I take a kitchen knife and use it as a wood saw it becomes dull, damaged, and possibly even broken. If I take a packing box and use it as a stepstool it might become squished (damaged), misshapen, and unusable.

If we are not living like God intended for us, aren’t we neglecting what we were made for, misusing what he has given us, and damaging or destroying his creation? How many of us have felt dull, damaged, broken, misshapen, or unusable becuase we are not living like God intended and reflecting his character? How can we better recognize God’s standards and his plan for our lives? How can we live differently and seek to be the new creation he has called us to be?

The sword is always beaten by the spirit…..

A friend posted this quote on their blog today: “Do you know what astonished me most in the world?  The inability of force to create anything. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the spirit.  Soldiers usually win battles and generals get the credit for them.  You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war. If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.” Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

The quote really hit me. Lately I have felt like my spirit has been beaten and I have been having to struggle through that battle. We are called to be soldiers, warriors, and ambassadors for Christ, but when our spirits are broken, beaten, and struggling we are either taken out or rendered pretty useless in that process. Our swords can be beaten if we are not taking care of our spirits. What have you done today or even this week to take care of your heart and spirit?

For the last few weeks I have approached worship with a very different attitude. I have recognized that I often come to worship and respond how it might make others around me comfortable. I often feel that others do not want to hear or know the truth of our struggles, our stories, or our questions and doubts. Instead I have been honest with God about my struggles, fears, insecurities, hopes, dreams, and passions. I have become very aware of my sinful and broken ways, the baggage and pain I have carried around and have not dealt with, and my hopes for a different path and desire to be all that God has made me to be. I had been allowing my spirit to be beaten which means my sword has been useless, but now I am trying to change that.

Are you ready to be all that God made you to be? If so, what is the shape of your spirit? We can’t neglect it if we want succeed. Our success starts in our own hearts and minds. What is in your heart and mind?

Theology or practicality?

One of the pastors at my church seems to really like theology. He speaks of all these concepts, writings, and theories. I am not against them, but honestly I don’t understand them. I have a hard time talking to him because I feel like he speaks a different language. He speaks in big words that I would classify as “Christianese” (epistles, Christology, missiology, ecclesiology). A new post on his blog ended with the question “What does a trinitarian-informed ecclesiology look like?” HUH?!?!?

I know that God talks to us differently and made us all differently, but how can we bridge the gaps that exist when our beliefs, interpretations, and understandings of Christ and how to live as a Christian vary so much? I have a hard time even pronouncing the question he posed, and I don’t know how to even address a question like that when I can’t figure out how to love someone without conditions when they hurt me, stop being selfish, and learn to see myself through God’s eyes instead of listening to the words of the world.

Transformation

When I was 15 years old I became a Christian. I have no doubt that I made a conscious decision to follow and there were some dramatic changes in my life. My life was transformed because of the free choice I made to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Recently I was reading a book that brought up the idea of transformation. It asked if we are allowing God to transform our lives. Not just in little ways, but in big ways. Are we as Christians really different because of our choice to have a personal faith walk? In Romans it talks of how we should live, offering ourselves to God. Through that we will be transformed.

Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 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.”

I have realized lately how much my life needs God’s grace and his gift of transformation. I have become deeply and painfully aware of my own sin and how broken I am, needing God like never before. I am recognizing how mixed up my beliefs are, and how much I rely on my own strength to make it through every day.

I want to be able to say that God has transformed my life, not just once when I was 16 years old, but over and over and over again. Are you seeking to be transformed in your life? Stop and ask God what it would take to make that happen.