A Confession – Oh, To Love Well

Nov 19 – Psalm 1:1-2

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

It has been quite the weekend for me.  I had the privilege of taking some of the wonderful youth from my church on a camping trip to a campground not so far away for their first experience with church camping.  A lot is asked of them, in terms of serving and cooperation and, overall, they really rose to the occasion.  Sunday morning, each of three groups presented a portion of our camp-style worship service.  The last group shared some verses that really caught me off-guard about Jesus who was rich making Himself poor for us.  At that point, I realized that, when I leave my job where I am now, the one thing I want to leave them with is some beginning knowledge of just how much they are loved – because, to some extent, I think every Christian believer has to start there.  God enabled me that morning to share my heart in the way I wanted to but something slammed me between the eyes later in the day - despite just how very much I want them to know they are loved, I’m not so sure I have demonstrated that love to them.

It is so easy to lose focus on the WHY.  It is so easy to concentrate on the actions in ministry.  I try to build the best group I can build and help individuals be the best individuals they can be…and I forget to just be Jesus to them.  I want to be one who “delights” in the Lord.  I want to show that to them.  I want to love them well so that, in time, they become the ones mentioned in these two verses who delight in the Lord.

What is your focus?  Where is your heart?  And if your intention are good, do your actions coincide with where your heart is?  Think about it.

And if you are any of my youth reading this, know that you’re hearing my heart.  I hope you will see Jesus in me more in the next month than I have shown you in the past.

Prayer Power x2

Nov 12 – Colossians 1:9

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

I’m not going to lie.  I had a rough morning this morning.  I woke up from a not-so-pleasant dream and still had some upsetting things on my mind from last night and I just generally didn’t want to see the world.  I came into the office and attempted to act normally which I did for the most part, but I don’t try to hide my emotions much from my wonderful co-workers.  They knew I was kind of down but didn’t really delve into why.  About 10am, I got a text message from a friend of mine – someone I haven’t spent much time with and can’t spent much time with because of where we live but someone who I love nonetheless and who I was blessed to spend some quality time with just last week.  All it said was “Hey!  Is there anything i can pray 4 you about today?”  At that time today, that one simple question brought tears to my eyes.  It was just what I needed. 

Have you ever thought about the power of prayer?  Not just how powerful it is when we share with God what we need but how powerful it is in our relationships with other people.  If you’re anything like me, maybe you pray a lot more for yourself than you do for anyone else.  Other people might come to mind every now and then, but most of the time, they’re not your main concern in prayer.  But have you ever had someone ask you what they can be praying about in your life?  It is such a blessing to me when someone asks that!  It means that, not only do they care about me but they care enough to spend some time talking to God about me.  Wow. 

That is my challenge to you this week.  It may be hard and it may feel unnatural to you at first, but ask someone close to you what you can be praying for in his/her life right now.  You never know how much they might need that outlet at the moment.  The hard part comes AFTER you ask though - then you actually have to pray!  Be a blessing to someone in that way this week and while you’re at it, consider what a privilege it is to be able to come to God any time you want. 

What Do You Leave Behind?

…I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. – Phil. 1:25-26

Sometimes, Paul makes statements that can be taken as being pretty arrogant.  But let’s just step outside of that for a minute and look at the heart of what he is saying.  Regardless of where you are in your faith, if you’re a leader or a beginner or possibly both, what effect does your presence have on other people?  When you walk into a room, what is people’s first reaction?  If you go to visit somewhere you haven’t been in awhile, what is the response of the folks you see?  Here, Paul says that his presence among the people will cause the people’s “joy in Christ Jesus to overflow” because he is there with them.

What a challenge this is to me.  We are not called to be people pleasers but we are called to be people lovers.  Do people find joy in Christ when you talk to them?  Do they walk away thanking God for your presence in their lives?  I know what I want the answers to those questions to be and I know who those people are in my own life, but I’m not exactly sure where I fall in this striving.

I encourage you to take stock of the impression that you leave with people.  If you are honest with yourself and genuinely believe that you are an encouraging presence, praise God!  But if you find that you may be a little overbearing or a little rude or a little self-centered, then step back and ask God for the wisdom to recognize when you’re slipping into those habits.  When you leave a room, leave a taste of love behind.

New Creation – The Power of Community

Oct 19 – God’s Love

I couldn’t stand it.  Everywhere I looked, people were better than me.  They were better writers, better athletes, and better musicians with better personalities and better looks.  And it wasn’t just anyone who I saw as better than me – it was my best friends, the people closest to me.  Wasn’t there anything I could excel at?  I beat myself up.  I wrote poems about it, songs about it.  I cried about it and got angry about it.  But for the longest time, nothing seemed to change it.

I don’t know exactly when it happened.  Those thoughts and attitudes certainly didn’t disappear all of a sudden but there was one thing that I know made an incredible difference in the way I saw myself - living in community, especially the one God had provided for me.  These new best friends surrounded me with unconditional love, hard truth, endless encouragement, and wisdom beyond their years.  To have people know your weaknesses and to love you intentionally in spite of them is a powerful thing.  They showed me love the way that Jesus does – sacrificially and honestly – and they saw me, in many ways, the way He does, the way I could not see myself.  In time, God used them to soften my heart and allow God into a piece of me that had been closed off.  Immersed in Christ-centered fellowship, vulnerability, and genuine affirmation, my view of myself began to change.  It took time, it took willingness on my part to let go of some lies I had been believing, it took persistance on God’s part to finally break through – but one of His most powerfully effective vessels in my life has been that community of friends.

I can look back at my life amazed and see the truth that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).  It is only by God’s grace that I have come as far as I have (and I am NOT finished with this struggle!), but I know the ways God got through to me.  I encourage you to find that kind of community in your own life.  If you have one like it, then thank God for that today.  If you don’t, or if you haven’t been able to share your failings with people, pray for that.  Pray for people who will surround, encourage, and affirm you.  Pray for the courage to share with others the places you are weakest or most afraid.  God did not intend for us to live or walk through life alone.

My friends, if you happen to read this, you know who you are.  I hope one day you understand what an incredible impact God has allowed you to have on my life.

End Poverty? Really?

Oct 18 – $2 A Day

Deuteronomy 15:4-8, 10

     There should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.  For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.
     If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.  Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs…Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.

Verses like this are so easily pushed aside.  It is easier to ignore the possibility that poverty could be taken care of rather than admit the consequences of the lifestyles so many of us have adopted and change the way we live.  Today, we are fond of saying that these verses are idealistic and impossible.  Maybe we group them in with other Old Testament verses and say that they don’t apply to us in the world today.  But then, after Jesus comes and brings God’s kingdom to earth, we see the newly born church living just this way: 

Acts 2:44-45, 4:32-35

All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need…All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

Move toward making this a reality, even if it’s just with baby steps at first.  Half the world lives on $2 a day or less.  Join with some friends and live on $2 a day for a week to really see what that’s like.  Or reconsider your spending with the knowledge that $1 can give clean water to a person in Africa for a year.  Become aware of other people around you, both locally and globally, and do some research to find out where the money you spend is going.  Imagine what it could be like….

Me? Dancing?

This week, DevoZine spends time looking at various creative ways to worship God.  As you go through the week, think about what your creative gifts are.  You might love to draw or paint.  Writing could be your gift or maybe you like to sing.  Whatever your gift is, recognize it as a way to worship God.  We’ll look at some specifics starting today.

Oct 9 – Dancing Closer to God

I may be many things, but I am not a dancer.  This body just does not do the things that some other people do on stage or at school dances!  For years, I would just stonewall anyone who asked – “I don’t dance.  I just don’t.  I don’t like it.”  That was what I said, but really, I wanted to dance.  I wanted to enjoy it like everyone else was, but I was too self-conscious.  I couldn’t do what the other people around me were doing so I didn’t even want to try.  Then I got to college.  After spending several months with people who accepted me unconditionally and watching people dance completely crazy without caring what anyone thought, I thought I would give it try.  And I loved it!  There was so much freedom in being able to dance and move and be absolutely ridiculous, knowing that no one would think of me any differently.

Whether you relate to my story or not, all of us have things that we are afraid to do in front of people because of what they might think.  But when it comes to worshipping God, what people think doesn’t matter!  Look at 2 Samuel 6:12-22.  (I LOVE this story.)  Verse 14 says that David “danced before the Lord with all his might.”  Whoa!  Think about someone dancing with all their might.  Then, imagine it being a king or the president.  Pretty crazy, right?  You don’t picture important, powerful people in suits dancing with all their might, but David was so excited, he just couldn’t help himself! 

When it comes to worshipping God, there’s not much that’s off-limits.  If your heart is praising God and you want to stand, then stand!  If your heart is praising God and wants to dance, dance!  And if you want to stay seated when everyone else is standing, that’s okay too.  God loves you so much and it brings Him joy when you worship Him, no matter what you look like, as long as your heart is in the right place.  Put aside others’ opinions and focus on bringing joy to God’s heart!  

Jesus in You and A Loaded Question

Sept 26 – Through the Window

Ah.  What a neat story.  To see Jesus in someone’s eyes – that is a rare privilege and a powerful compliment.  Have you ever seen Jesus in someone?

A couple of weeks from now, we’ll get to read about a guy named Shane Claiborne.  He wrote a book recently and this story reminds me of one of the things he shared.  Shane was able to spend some time serving alongside Mother Teresa in the Home for the Destitute and Dying where their goal was not to keep people alive but to allow them to die with dignity and give them some much-deserved pampering in the last stages of life.  He says:

Over and over, the dying and the lepers would whisper the mystical word namaste in my ear…They explained to me that namaste means ‘I honor the Holy One who lives in you’…Was it possible…that in my eyes, they could catch a glimpse of the image of my Lover?

What do you think?  Does your life, the way you live and love, reflect the Holy One who lives in you?  Who have you met who reflects clearly the image of Jesus?  Maybe they have a peace about them that doesn’t make sense or maybe they love in selfless ways that you just don’t understand.  

May we learn to follow our Savior in such a way that people see Jesus when they look at us and may we learn to see Jesus in others in the places we least expect Him.

Sept 27 – What We Believe

Let’s take a look at the beginning part of today’s Scripture, shall we?

Mark 8:27-29a says this:

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

 ”But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

“Who do you say I am?“  Six words.  Incredible significance.  This has to be one of the most loaded questions in the entire Bible.  Our lives, both present and future, rest on our response.  Who do you say Jesus is?

If you have a quick and easy answer, great.  But if He has become a little too familiar (as He has for me) or if you’ve never really thought about who this Jesus guy is, take the time to (re)consider Him.  Talk it out with some friends, a pastor, or a youth leader.  Talk it out here on this blog.  Thank God for giving us the Bible to learn about who He is and who Jesus is so that the question He asks us is one that can be answered and explored. 

A Reminder of Kindness

Sept 12 – The New Kid

I want to go to Europe.  If you’ve known me for very long, you probably know that.  But here’s the thing about Europe that blows my mind – how the heck do you find your way around???  Ok, so you can go to England or Scotland and maybe make it all right but what if you went to France or Italy or Spain?  Or smaller countries with lesser known languages like Poland or The Czech Republic?  Then what?  I don’t know!  But I know I would be dependent upon the kindness of the people there to get me where I needed to go, whether to a train station, an airport, or a bathroom.

You know, in the good ol’ U-S-of-A, we forget pretty easily how difficult it is to be a foreigner in a strange country.  But we see ”foreigners” everyday.  They come from a different country or a different state or a different part of town.  And if you’ve ever gone to a camp where you knew no one or switched to a new school, then you have been a foreigner as well.  Do you remember how it felt?

In the verse for today, God tells us that we are to treat the foreigners among us as though they are citizens – after all, we’ve been foreigners before too, haven’t we?  (*Sidenote:  Certain versions of the Bible use the word “aliens” for this verse – anytime you see that in the Bible, it’s talking about someone living in a country that’s not their own.)  Wherever you are a “regular”, whether that’s at school, some activity like dance or theater, or a coffee shop, make sure to reach out in kindness to the people you know are from somewhere else.  You never know when the kindness might need to be returned – and when you might find a new friend!

*Today shall be a one-entry day.  It’s back to 2 tomorrow!

Hallway Horrors – A Change in Conversation and Loving Like Jesus

Sept 10 – The Power of Jest

The verse for today is one of my favorites.  I think it came in most handy in high school when I had to work on keeping my conversations positive, and I wish I had had it in middle school when joking quickly turned inappropriate or vulgar.  The magazine gives you part of it but here’s the whole thing:

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  – Ephesians 5:3-4

Um, how hard is this to do???  “Not…even a hint”?  In today’s world, that’s practically impossible!  That being said though, we are chosen by God to be His holy people.  The word “holy” means “set apart.”  Sure, everyone else at school or on TV might be diving into sexual immorality or making fun of people or bad language but that doesn’t mean that you need to – set yourselves apart for God by living as an example in the way that you talk with your friends.  Take on that challenge to remove all of that kind of language and conversation from your daily life. 

One day this week when you’re hanging out with your friends, I encourage you to stop and listen.  Is the majority of conversation negative?  Vulgar?  Filled with sexual jokes or swearing?  If this is something you feel convicted about (feeling guilty with the desire to change), consider what it would take for you to stop participating in that with your friends.  I’m not asking you to stop talking to them or even to say anything to them about the things they talk about, but take responsibility for you and clean up your act.  Don’t be surprised if people notice and be prepared to share with them that you’re trying to make your language pleasing to God and uplifting to other people.

 

Sept 11 – All Alone

The girl who wrote this story has walked a difficult road.  Not only did she have a baby in high school, something which requires swallowing a lot of pride and great emotional strength, but she also faced the cruel abandonment of her friends.

There are so many issues and struggles people go through that seem to drive away friends who don’t know how to react or who are too fast to judge.  Some people might struggle with depression, other mental illness, pornography, self-injury, or same-sex attraction.  Others may have gone through a pregnancy at a very early age, had an abortion, or experienced abuse.  Some may have gone through the death or illness of a parent or close friend.  Any or all of these things have been known in the past (and present) to shame or isolate the very person who is already hurting.  When we surround the people in these situations with love, we recognize the hurt they have been through and demonstrate our willingness to walk through their struggles with them, giving them the hope and assurance that they are not alone and have someone to lean on when times get tough.  Even though it may be hard for us (and for them) and even though they may mess up along the way, our hope-giving love and understanding in the midst of these situations can literally save someone’s life. 

In John 8:1-11, Jesus’ wise words save a woman from being stoned (killed by having rocks thrown at her) after she had an affair with someone’s husband.  There are many lessons to take away from this story but what I wonder tonight is if anyone walked with her after Jesus rescued her.  Did some woman from her village take her hand and tell her she would help her as she fought to change her life?  Did anyone love her enough to say “Yeah, I know what you did, but you’re after a different life now.  How can I support?”  Would I have done that?  I wonder.

Ask God to expand your heart to include the people who struggle with things you don’t understand.  Pray for the wisdom to know when to reach out and the courage to follow through.  It’s one of the best ways I know to “be Jesus” to someone.

*Sidenote:  The verse from today is what the Hebrews verse from last week quotes.  Deuteronomy 31:8b says “[The Lord] will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed.”