In the Beginning...God

Strangely enough, I remember even as a 6 year old boy, how incredible it was to hear that there was something more to life than riding my bike, etch-a-sketch or trying my hardest to avoid getting cooties from the opposite sex.

Even at the ripe age of 6, I distinctly remember that the concept of a loving God who so badly wanted a relationship with me that He sent His only Son to die for me so that He could, wasn't all that difficult for me to grasp. In fact, it just plain made sense–of a lot of things. 

What a tremendous perspective to know that long before I ever even existed, before my parents, parents parents even existed, God was–and He had a plan. His plan was to create human beings in His likeness with which to share all of creation. Mankind would be given dominion and authority over the earth to rule and reign in life.

We all know the events which transpired that ultimately led to the condition of the world we see today. Yet what I see going on all around me almost every minute of every day is a society dead set on fabricating their own self-serving version of paradise. Perhaps a more fitting view would be that if we don't quite have it in us to pursue something beyond our own existence, at the very least we can surround ourselves with a sufficient level of distraction to pacify our appetite for close encounters of the God-kind. 

We've been blessed beyond measure with 5 physical senses with which to experience, encounter and enjoy all of God's creation, yet we allow our desire to feed our fleshly appetites to subvert anything God may be trying to do in and though our lives. 

While we may not even notice, instead of beginning and continuing our lives in and with God, realizing that His desire is to bring us into a level of experiential Christianity that we never thought possible, we allow ourselves to become so distracted by the world around us, that we default to merely ending our life on this earth in God (somewhere between our deathbed and our last breath), as though our life on this earth actually represented the true measure of our existence. While in fact, it is merely a gateway into eternity. (Which from what I hear is a really long time.)  

About every two or three years I find what I believe to be true about God comes full circle. At the same time, I always tend to experience some level of regret for shying away from what I know, instead of pressing further into the things of God. Perhaps this is what Jesus meant in Revelation when He talked about coming back to your first love. When you're in love, that person consumes your thoughts, affects your words and dictates your actions. Your day begins and ends with your affections toward that person on your mind.

My prayer is that was all learn to trust God with abandon, have faith like a child and begin to truly see God for the loving Father He really is. Imagine the sheer joy we bring to God's face when He catches a glimpse of His kids understanding and operating in the dominion and authority He created us to walk in and enjoy. 

The Looney Toon Gospel...

When I was a kid, I just loved me some Looney Toons! I distinctly remember one episode where Elmer Fudd was hunting wabbits. (No surprises there.) Upon one shoulder sat angel Elmer, and on the other shoulder – devil Elmer. Unfortunately, Elmer then had an epic dilemma on his hands. Though a part of him truly wanted to do what was right, another part of him just wanted to kill that wascuhwee wabbit! If I recall correctly, I'm certain the devil eventually got the best of him, but despite his best efforts, Bugs Bunny was still too much for him to handle. 

As childish as this scenario may seem, it's a script that plays itself out one way or another in all of our lives on a daily basis. You see, Elmer's body played a neutral role. His body was neither for nor against hunting wabbits. His spirit was all for doing what was morally right or "righteous", while his flesh, or the "old man" if you will, just wanted to kill that wascuhwee wabbit!

As I attempt to plumb the depths of profound spiritual truth from a Bugs Bunny cartoon, I submit to you today that the reason the devil always got the best of Elmer was because he made the same mistake we've all made from time to time. When we fail to renew our minds to the truth of who we are in Christ, we will inevitably find ourselves reverting to our former, flesh-ruled lines of thought that eventually lead to our former, flesh-ruled behavior. 

Paul said in Ephesians 4:20-24:

"But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy."

Paul said that we are to allow the Spirit of God to renew our thoughts and attitudes to His thoughts and attitudes. Ultimately, what we find ourselves doing (or not doing) is merely a reflection of the primary influence(s) we've allowed to form the core of what we believe to be truth. 

This simply means that we must be intentional with what we allow our eyes to see and our ears to hear. Why? Because eventually, life will squeeze us and temptation will  come our way, and when it does all the little things we've been feeding on will come out.  It's the little things, wrapped up in our daily habits that will either bring us closer to our destiny or push us further and further from who God intended us to be!

Will we give in to temptation or will we resist the devil watch him flee? The choice is ours!

Living By Design and Not By Default - Part One

Sometimes it's comforting to know that even the Apostle Paul said that he finds himself doing the very things he knows he shouldn't, and the things he knows he should be doing, he often neglects. If the very person who admonished us to, "put on the new man", found himself occasionally defaulting to his B.C. (before Christ) thoughts and patterns, there may still be hope for us all!

How many times do we find ourselves engaged in the same behaviors, thoughts and patterns that reflect our old man, our old nature or our old way of doing things? For whatever reason, despite our best efforts, it would appear that we have been programmed with this default setting that seems to bypass what we know in our heart is right. We wind up engaging in activities we know are wrong, yet we do them anyways. 

I know many Christians who have struggled with certain areas of their lives for so long that they eventually end up adopting a passive attitude towards God altogether, simply resolving themselves to the idea that true freedom will never be experienced on this side of eternity. More often than not, they've thrown the baby out with the bath water before they ever really understood the Father-heart of God. 

I do believe that God gave gifts unto men (apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers, etc.) but unfortunately this issue is uniquely symptomatic of people who depend on a person to facilitate their personal encounters and relationship with God. Those "in the world" often assume that all church-going people are merely mindless zombies, who blindly follow anyone standing behind a pulpit, wearing a nice suit. Sometimes the very reason people don't go to church at all (Or believe in God for that matter) is because at some point in time, they visited a church where the packaging just didn't appeal to them. 

We've become a culture that claims that we're in search of truth, only we're careful to include the caveat that whatever truth we find needs to cater to our personal tastes and preferences. The "Inconvenient Truth" (pun intended) is that not all truth will actually be convenient, or cater to our personal preferences. 

When I was growing up, I thought it was very inconvenient that I had to ask my parents for permission every time I wanted to go spend the night at a friend's house. However, the more inconvenient thing would've been to not ask them, do it anyways and get a woopin when I got home! (Prepare for paradigm shift in your thinking. Starting in 3...2...1...) Did you know that consequences for your actions whether spiritually, physically or mentally don't magically disappear just because you're all grown up and you've moved out of your parents house? 

People have been making it up as they go along for years, but the end remains the same. Destruction. Ruin. Defeat. Any good parent provides rules and boundaries for their kids, not because they have a god complex, but because they care for their children and want what's best for them. The world we're currently living in is merely a byproduct of raising a generation with no concept of self-control. 

Could it be that God is the same? Could it be that God has guidelines and perimeters set up for His children because He knows what we need more than we do? What if we don't like His rules any more than we liked not being able to spend the night at a friends house whenever we wanted to? Whether we realize it or not, what we think, say and do are constantly revealing what we believe to be true about God. Our checkbook, the words of our mouth, the condition of our body and how we treat our spouses or those in authority are a genuine reflection of what our beliefs really mean to us.

Part Two Coming Soon! 

     

"Faith Pants" and other life lessons...(Yes, you read that correctly, I had pants that were full of faith...or were they?)

Several months ago, I was shopping at the mecca of commerce we here in the States call, "Kohl's". They happen to have a brand that I particularly love called, "Rockin Republic". The only downside to this brand is that you have to be slightly more svelte than the current version of myself. Be that as it may, I laid eyes on a pair of jeans that I couldn't pass up. 

Aside from the fact that they clearly won't fit (which on a side not means that I'm virtually buying a pair of pants that I cannot actually wear.), I decided that the deal was too good to pass up. I would merely lose the amount of lard necessary to fit into them. They shall be my "Faith Pants"! (Cue inspirational music, begin Rocky Balboa fitness montage.)

Fast forward several months and for whatever reason, my "Faith Pants" have found a new home at the bottom of my drawer. The reason? Up until a few weeks ago I had failed to realize the seriousness of my dilemma. I knew that I was overweight, I suppose I just didn't realize "how" overweight I really was. 

I was on vacation visiting my family when picture time came around. We all got together for the family photo and I realized that I had the biggest boobies of anyone in the picture. If I were a woman, I might have thought differently about this predicament, but being the man that I am, this news was very disheartening. How in the world did I let myself get so fat? Just 5 years ago I had lost 80 lbs. and got down to 183, and in 5 short years I had allowed myself to gain almost all of it back!

My problem was that I had failed to accurately access my current situation or my starting point. When I looked in the mirror, the reflection may have been a slightly smaller version of Chris Farley, but what I actually saw was more like Arnold Schwarzenhoweveryouspellhisname...only his face looked different...and he didn't have all the muscles.

When we fail to accurately access where we're really at in certain areas of our lives, those areas continue to spiral out of control simply because we lack the necessary vision for those areas of our lives to take their proper shape and form. For me it was my body, but it could be your job situation, the real condition of a relationship you're in or a host of other things. 

Zig Ziglar once said, "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time!" This is what I was doing with my body and my career. I had yet to conceive any clear vision for those areas of my life. I had much more control over those things than what I had realized, yet the only control I exercised at the moment was to allow those things to spiral out of control. 

Luke 14:28 ESV says, "For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?" 

An integral part of counting the cost is being able to accurately account for where we currently stand in the area of our life needing improvement. It's interesting that whenever I use SIRI on my iPhone to tell me how to get somewhere, the first question she asks me is if she can use my current location. What she's telling me is that in order for me to get where I want to be, I must first know where I actually am.

Taking a good, hard look at where you are is only going to increase your effectiveness in attaining the object of your affection. One day, I will fit into my "faith pants", but that journey didn't begin until I was able to accurately discern my starting point. 180 here I come!!!