Grace and Peace...

Before I write about grace and peace, please direct your thoughts and prayers to the people of Japan and everywhere else affected... an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit that triggered a tsunami just a few hours ago. Check the BBC for an unreal video of the tsunami that shows buildings, cars, trees and the like getting swept away as if they weighed nothing. Put yourself in the shoes of the people who have just lost homes, jobs and family members in the blink of an eye, and then pray for them with that heart. God- may Your Name be exalted in this situation and may all see that You are worthy to be praised...

I began studying Galatians this morning and am SO excited to see how God is going to enlighten me and teach me more about Himself through this wonderful book of the Bible. Here are the first five verses (ESV):

"Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen."

I love how Paul introduces himself- reassuring the Galatian church that he is an apostle appointed and sent "through Jesus Christ and God the Father", not by men (as the Paul-haters were trying to argue). If you read on in verses 6-10, Paul calls out the people who were turning to a "different gospel", and just so they didn't have to ask 'which is the real gospel?', Paul tells them in the introduction: "Jesus... gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." This is the gospel that he had preached and continued to- and the gospel that we should hold fast to for all our lives for the greatest glory of God.

What really stood out to me this morning, though, was the part of his greeting that you can find in almost every one of his letters: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ..." I once read that "grace" and "peace" were the two greatest things that Paul could wish upon the churches (for reasons that slip my memory at this time). The book What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey is a phenomenal read that changed by perspective on grace. Yancey challenges the body of Christ, essentially saying that we do a much better job at showing "ungrace" than "grace" (ungrace being the opposite of grace- shunning people, being too judgmental, etc), which is the opposite of what we're called to do.

He opens the book by telling the story of a prostitute in a major US city that a man encountered. She told the man through sobs and tears that she was looking for food so that she and her two year-old daughter could eat. She also admitted that she was renting out her daughter for prostitution to support her drug habit. The man asked her if she had gone to a church for help, and she replied "Church? Why would I go there? I already feel terrible and they would only make me feel worse."

Let's be honest here- how many of us, upon hearing how she treats her child, inwardly thought "that woman ought to be tried and sent to jail! Bring in Social Services to rescue the child! What a terrible person..." without even caring for the woman, who had sunk to such a low place that she was using her daughter in that way. No person naturally would do such a thing- they have to be in a rock-bottom place in life to even consider it.

Now think of how terrible our situation would be if God treated us like that when we are in our wretched, sinful states. I'm not trying to absolve the woman of the terrible thing she's doing, but our first instinct should not be to throw the 'dogs' at the woman, but to show grace, like God has done for us. PLEASE read the book, as I'm confident it will change your perspective on grace...

But back to Paul and his greeting. A thought that the Lord put on my heart is that the majority of the Church not only does a poor job of showing grace to those who don't know the Lord... we do a poor job at showing grace to each other. Unity in the Body of Christ, which Paul writes strongly about multiple times in the Bible (see 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4), is one of our greatest weaknesses, and "grace" and "peace" are two of the biggest components lacking!

Think of how split and divided the Body of Christ looks to people all around the world (with all of our sects and denominations), especially in comparison to the unity of other major religions. Now think of how different the Church worldwide would look if we prayed earnestly for God to magnify His grace in our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Think of what the Church would look like if we pursued peace in our relationships instead of treating relationships with a 'my way or the highway' mentality.

My challenge to all of us is to do just that: pray for the "glorious grace of God" (Eph. 1:6) to be displayed in the relationships of all believers worldwide, and for a "peace that transcends all understanding" (Phil. 4:7) to make Him famous in our relationships with our brothers and sisters. Paul recognized the importance of these components to the Body of Christ, which is why he began the majority of his letters with this greeting. He also understood that the utmost importance was for God to get the glory- "to whom be the glory forever and ever." Let us not pursue this for our own fame, for we won't get very far at all. Let's do it for the sake of His Name.

Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ...

Luke

Real Church

Remember how I talked about one of the best weekends of my life a few weeks ago? Well- last night was another one of those times...

To make a long (and wonderful) story short, I had the privilege of taking part in the International Christian Fellowship here at VCU, a God-centered Christian Fellowship with believers of all backgrounds who gathered to love Jesus and exalt Him together. There was passionate, fervent prayer, simple yet powerful times of musical worship, Spirit-led teaching, worshipful offering, and welcoming community and fellowship. I believe that last night I got a glimpse of what real church is supposed to be like- not just a once-a-week meeting, but this once-a-week meeting was a celebration of what the Church should look like all the time.

What was different about this group? These people cared for each other. They loved each other deeply but did it in a way that held each other accountable (one of the leaders was training three Freshman guys in physical fitness and, in return, they did a Bible study with him. "Good trade", he said). Were there nominal believers that came 'just because'? Of course. But the majority were people hungry for the Truth and were willing to give up their entire Friday night (and I mean entire: many came at 6:30 and probably didn't leave until after 10:30/11) to exalt Jesus together.

I am truly not the same because of participating in the Fellowship last night. Even though the first worship set lasted 35+ minutes, a part of me felt that it wasn't long enough. And the prayer time before the meeting was for 45 minutes... but many, if not all of us could have gone much, much longer. During that time of prayer, the Lord put Psalm 63 on my heart and it got me thinking...

Psalm 63

"O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You;

my soul thirsts for You;

my flesh faints for You,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary,

beholding Your power and glory.

Because Your steadfast love is better than life,

my lips will praise You.

So I will bless You as long as I live;

in Your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,

and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips,

when I remember You upon my bed,

and meditate on You in the watches of the night;

for You have been my help,

and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy.

My soul clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me.

But those who seek to destroy my life

shall go down into the depths of the earth;

they shall be given over to the power of the sword;

they shall be a portion for the jackals.

But the king shall rejoice in God;

all who swear by Him shall exult,

for the mouths of liars will be stopped."

I really want to focus on the first verses, although the entire Psalm is phenomenal, which is why I posted all of it.

Just check out the first line: "O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You...." How many of us can say that with integrity? "O God, YOU are my God". If you look at it from the perspective of "well, I have no other deities that I choose to worship- not Buddha, not Allah, not Scientology... yeah- He's my God", then that would make sense. But I don't think that's what David is saying. David is saying, "God, YOU are my God- not my kingdom, not my family, not my wealth, not my fame... YOU are my God." Can we truly say that about our lives? Is God on the throne of our lives constantly, ruling and reigning, leading and guiding us? Do we plan our schedules and lives around God, or try to fit Him into them?

I'm not trying to suggest that I live this out perfectly (cause I'm very far from it), but let's shoot for this! What's a good test to see if this is our heart?

"...earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water."

Can you say that about your life? I believe we should all pray for hearts like David, to desire God like you would desire water "in a dry and weary land where there is no water." This isn't the only way to know that God is the King of your heart and life, but it sure is a good sign to show that this is the case.

Let's agree with David that God's "steadfast love is better than life" and "remember" how amazing He is as often as possible. Make Him THE priority of Your life and let Him order the rest.

Thanks, God, for ICF and how it challenged me, encouraged me and inspired me. May we all strive for hearts like David's in Psalm 63 for the exaltation of Your Name...

Grace and peace...

Luke

Highs and Lows

This has been an interesting past seven days for me. I had one of the greatest weekends of my life on many levels, followed by a mid-week 'low' due to being burdened by different things, then a phenomenal 'high' full of the joy of the Lord that has now brought me back to my usual norm (loving life in Christ). It's a roller coaster that I'm not used to riding, but I am eternally grateful for some of the lessons that I've learned and am excited to share them.

Don't be surprised if a valley follows a mountain-top experience.
It's so easy to get caught up in the "high" that you lose sight of reality. You might try to stay grounded in what life is usually like so that the descent isn't too great, but you never can. Nor should you- it would lessen the joy you have in the mountain-top experience!

Having spent a few hours climbing Mt. Chimborazo, one of the highest mountains in the world, I know what it is to have a literal mountain-top experience (see the above picture, taken on Mt. Chimborazo). It's an unbelievable experience! You can see for miles and miles and you can't help but be overwhelmed by the greatness of God in His creation.

But something else that happens at 16000+ feet above sea level is that you start losing your sanity. The air is very thin and you can't climb more than 100 feet without needing a break. Unfortunately, I've found that this tends to happen in our spiritual "mountain-top experiences". We go from saying "God, YOU are amazing. Why in the world would You ever choose to use me? How is it possible?" to saying "God, You have made ME amazing... thanks for Your awesome creativity and power." to saying "Wow- I'm amazing. God is good." It is in these mountain-top experiences that we need to be tremendously careful that we keep our eyes "fixed on Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2) and humbly recognize that apart from Him we "can do nothing" (John 15:5).

In the valley we can rediscover the greatness of God... with the right perspective.
I have had some excellent conversations about how amazing God is these past seven days with believers and non-believers. One of the topics that has come up is the tough times of life. In my life, I've found that sometimes God strips away all of the worthless things to help me see that all I need is Him- He's my greatest joy and desire. But what if you are already maintaining this correct perspective before the valley and during the valley?

Is it just of God to allow us to descend into a valley even when we're already focused on him? Let's look to the Old Testament Scriptures for our answer:

Job- honest, God-fearing man who repented not just for himself but for his children on a regular basis (Job 1). Even when the Lord took away nearly all of what was most precious to him, he still said "Blessed be the name of the Lord" (1:21). He stayed faithful to God, but when his friends and he questioned God's justice and reason in allowing this valley to happen, check out a part of the Lord's response in chapters 38-41:

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action (*or Gird your loins) like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements- surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?... (38:1-5)

Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? (38:12-13)

Is it wrong to question God? Pray about that and see what God speaks to your heart, but understand that there's a chance the LORD's response to your questioning will be something similar to what Job received.

The person from whom we should draw inspiration during our time in the valleys is King David. Here are a few examples of his attitude during valleys:

"I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD." (Ps. 40:1-3)

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. ...by day the Lord commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is within me, a prayer to the God of my life." (Ps. 42:6a, 8).

"Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is not foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. ...Answer me, O LORD , for Your steadfast love is good; according to Your abundant mercy, turn to me.... I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify Him with thanksgiving. ...When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive." (Ps. 69:1-2, 16, 30, 32)

See a pattern here? Though David finds himself in quite a few valleys (many by his own doing), his focus stays on the Lord and He doesn't cease to hope in Him, trust in Him and give Him praise and adoration. He also remembers the Lord's faithfulness from the past and this adds to his hope and trust in the Lord. While we're walking through "the valley of the shadow of death", we should "fear no evil, for You are with me." (Psalm 23)

It's also comforting to know that the Lord truly desires the BEST for His children. Isn't that mind-boggling? Although we don't deserve even the smallest act of love or kindness from our Heavenly Father, He still works for our best according to what He knows is best. Check out Romans 8:28- "all things" work together for good for those who love Him and are called to His purposes. And what about Matthew 7:7-11, where it is described how if a son asks his father for something, won't his father give him "good things"? The craziest part of it all is that He knows that the best thing for us is Himself, so the greatest thing He can do for us is give us is Himself. But we'll tackle that in more detail another time...

Finally, we all have different mountain-tops and different valleys, but let's try to take them all with a right perspective: this week, fifty-seven Somali refugees drowned trying to flee the fighting of their home country when their boat capsized. My "valley" doesn't begin to compare to the valley of the sole survivor who lost his wife and three children and had to swim an entire day to reach the coast of Yemen.

In the same waters, four believers who were sailing the world and distributing Bibles were killed by Somali pirates. The burdens and "suffering" I feel don't begin to hold weight in comparison to the burden and suffering of the families who lost parents and grandparents.

Pray for those experiencing valleys all around the world. Trust in the providence of God and walk through the valley in confidence of the hope that the Lord knows what is best for us (Himself) and is working "all things" to this end for His greatest glory. And remember the immortal words of Marvin Gaye, there "ain't no mountain high enough... ain't no valley low enough... ain't no river wide enough" to keep Him from getting to us "babe".

In His strength alone...

Luke

War Time

Growing up, I was in a children's church called "C4C" or "Champions For Christ" that was a TON of fun. We had lots of games and we would win prizes, etc., while learning about the Bible and Jesus, etc. Unfortunately, I can't remember very much from it other than one thing that has stuck with me until today: whenever the leader would say "what time is it?!" All the kids would shout: "GAME TIME!" They would do this a few times to get us riled up and then we would play games.

To this day, whenever someone even softly asks the question "what time is it?" my initial response (always internally, sometimes verbally) is "GAME TIME!", and in my studies this morning I'm reminded that we should carry this attitude with us into the Christian life, with a twist: our response to "what time is it?" should be "WAR TIME".

Here's the first passage: 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (ESV)

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete."

What power in the Word of God.

Ladies and gentlemen, in case you didn't know this already, we are in a battle. A spiritual battle. Every day we're faced with choices- am I going to glorify God and exalt Him in this task/decision/conversation/etc? Or am I going to please the flesh and live for myself? Whether it be schoolwork, time management, relationships, work, the fight for joy, etc., we must not take this battle lightly. Why not, you ask?

Because the devil doesn't take it lightly. 1 Peter 5:8 says "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." Paul calls us to put on the "whole armor of God" to resist the devil's schemes and advances (Ephesians 6:11). He is stoked to get at us and tear us apart. It's a testament to the immeasurable greatness of Christ in our lives that we are NOT bombarded every second with the devil's schemes (Piper). Think you can resist them on your own? Think again. One of the best, if not the greatest, way the devil fights us is by disunifying us. Yup- I just said "disunifying", which is not being recognized as a word by blogger (and probably isn't).

Paul stresses the importance of unity in the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12... yet we seem "whatever" towards it. The devil loves to use deceit, also- check out this passage in 2 Corinthians 11 (verses 3 and 4):

"But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough."

Does this not describe the Church today, especially in America? The idea of "another Jesus" might sound outrageous to you, but how many of us have minimized Jesus to fit into our own little box? John Wagler of Commonwealth Chapel loves talking about this, and it's also found in the book "Radical" by David Platt. We take the Jesus described in the Bible and try to figure Him out and understand Him per our own terms. Don't like that part about Jesus? Don't think about it or worry about it.

Want to read about the real Jesus? Here are just a few passages to check out:

Philippians 2:5-11; 3:21

Colossians 1:15-21

Revelations 19:11-16

Yup. That's the Jesus Christ the Messiah we're called to exalt and live for. Why should we live for Him? Because He is WORTHY of being lived for and worshiped. If He never did anything for us He would still be worthy of worship, just because of who He is.

Paul describes the Corinthian church in these terms: "...if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus other than the one we proclaimed... you put up with it readily enough." He's saying, 'come on, guys- there is NO FIGHT in you. You don't test the words to see if they're true... you just go with them because they sound good.' When we listen to people, even the greatest of speakers, preachers, pastors, etc., we should pray for discerning ears and hearts. Acts speaks highly of the Bereans in 17:10-12, saying that they "received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." They didn't just take Paul at his word, but tested it against the Scriptures to make certain it was true.

I pray that you will take any words that I write here on this blog and test them against the Scriptures, because I am far from faultless in my writing (much less my speaking, teaching, etc). My prayer is always that the Lord would write through me and that those who read it would have open hearts and minds to see what He has to say to them.

Going back to the first passage, recognize that we cannot fight this battle with the flesh, because it's not of the flesh. We need to equip ourselves with the "divine power" spoken of in verse 4. If you were going to fight as a gladiator in the Coliseum at Rome, wouldn't you want only the best armor and weapons before you go to battle? In the same way, we need to be equipping ourselves with spiritual weapons of warfare that are readily available: growing in the Lord through studying, memorizing, treasuring and praying through His Word, being discipled and discipling, fellowshipping with other believers, and loving God and loving others, among other things...

So, in summary, we're in a battle. The Corinthian church was described as "[putting] up with" the false teaching "readily enough", and I fear that we as a Church today are doing the same thing. We're not discerning the Truth but accepting what we hear as truth (if we like it) and then minimizing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to a finite "Jesus" that we can comprehend. We need to recognize the battle, recognize that "apart from Jesus, we can do nothing", equip ourselves by investing in Him, and then fight the good fight in His strength so that He alone gets the glory.

What time is it? War time. Are you pumped and ready to fight for the glory of Christ in your life? Regardless if you are or not, the devil is more than ready to fight against it. Let's battle because He is worthy.

1 Peter 4:11

Luke

Praying for the hallowing of His Name

I have found myself thinking of 'profound things' in terms of "my next blog will be about..." and then fail to write a blog about them. Oh well.

I have been tremendously blessed by the power of prayer recently. The Desiring God conference (www.desiringgod.org) had the theme of prayer this year and speakers such as Jerry Rankin, Francis Chan and John Piper gave great messages concerning prayer. Chan's was especially interesting because he talked a lot about how the Lord has answered many prayers in his life.

John 14 is a passage that I have been trying to memorize and verses 12-14 read as so: "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my Name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my Name, I will do it."

Many believers love to take just verse 14 ("If you ask me anything...") and try to use God as our personal genie, when clearly, in the verses that precede it, God is saying that this is just so that "the Father may be glorified in the Son." When you pray, do you have this in mind?

Consider when you pray for others... it's not wrong to pray for someone's healing or for the Lord to provide them with a job if they're unemployed, etc. But in praying for someone, don't you want to be praying for their best?! God struck me with this thought: in my prayers for others, I should be praying for their eternal benefit, not just their temporal pleasure. If someone's sick, James 5 gives instructions on how to pray to get healthy... but why not also pray (primarily) that they may know Christ better in their suffering? Isn't this what our ultimate goal is- to worship and know Christ in every part of our lives? Or is the ultimate goal to 'live long and prosper'?

I had to question myself- when I pray for my friends and family, how am I praying? For their eternal benefit- that being that they may worship God more fully so that His glory is revealed even more through their lives? Or for their temporal pleasure- that they might be happy and far from sickness, suffering, and trials? That's not how we were taught to pray (Matthew 6):

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever amen." (The last part is included in some manuscripts but often recited in churches today)

Be careful to distinguish that "deliver us from evil" does NOT mean "deliver us from suffering and trials". And the first line is SO important, as John Piper points out in one of his messages:

"I am urging you from the Lord’s prayer that you go to God for bread, and for healing of relationships, and for the overcoming of besetting sins, and for the doing of God’s will, and for the seeking of God’s kingdom—all of it, all the time for the sake of knowing and hallowing, reverencing, honoring, valuing, treasuring God’s name (God’s being, God himself) above all things."

So we should go to God for all of our needs "for the sake of knowing and hallowing... treasuring God's name above all things". And this is accomplished when we pray for others in a way that eternally benefits them- for the sake of the Name of Christ.

Note: please understand that I'm not trying to bash praying for another's health. I have prayed that prayer many times myself and I believe God does want us to give all of our desires, fears, concerns, worries, etc to Him (Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Peter 1:6-7). But I hope that when we pray for their health, we pray with a Christ-centered mindset, keeping in mind that our ultimate goal in life isn't to have a long, prosperous life full of temporal pleasures. That shouldn't even be our secondary or tertiary or last goal in life. We have been created to worship and exalt the Most High King and so we should pray for our friends and family, much more ourselves, in a way that seeks to accomplish this purpose.

For the sake of His Name...

Luke

For the love of Christ controls us...

I've been studying 2 Corinthians lately and a few things have really jumped out and blessed, encouraged, and challenged me, especially in chapter 5. Check out this passage:

5:14-17
"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

What powerful verses. It would take two and a half books to fully touch on all of the truths in these verses, but I just want to share what jumped out at me when I was studying them. We're going to go in reverse order here... the first thing that really sticks out to me is in verse 16- "we regard no one according to the flesh." How many of us regard people according to the flesh? According to worldly standards?

I find myself very often making rapid-fire assumptions from a first appearance, be it good or bad. James 2 speaks vehemently against favoritism... and yet that's a first-reaction many times. I'm guessing I'm not the only one who struggles with this, but the key is what we DO with that first reaction. Do we let it remain and affect the way we treat people? Or do we "regard no one according to the flesh... [any] longer"?

In your daily encounters with people, do your best to see them as Christ does- not making assumptions but seeking to get to know them and love them. "Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world" Paul writes in Romans 12, "but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Don't judge them as the world does (on how good looking, talented, athletic, immodest, etc., you think they are), but pray for the Lord to open your eyes to see them as He does.

More prominently, though, is the idea found in verse 14: "For the love of Christ controls us..." I challenge you to take a moment to think about how life would be different if we were really controlled by the love of Christ. But not only controlled, like a master controls his robot. Another version translates it "For the love of Christ compels us..." so it's not just controlling but compelling, or "to force or drive, esp. to a course of action" (dictionary.com). So it's more of a controlling motivation, a passion that "controls" you and affects every decision that you make.

It's been said that the believers didn't call themselves Christians, but were called Christians because of how differently they were living (in giving, relationships, etc- Acts 11:19-26). If we were living a Christ's-love controlled (and compelled) life, this would be our situation, as well. We would be different:

In the way we spend our money- we would be much more concerned about the poor and needy around the world as well as our brothers and sisters worldwide who need help, and much less concerned about material things that will burn at the end of time. Christ loved the poor and needy and if His love controlled our lives, we would "give generously", as we're encouraged to (2 Corinthians 9:6-15), especially because we know that even when we have nothing, we "possess everything" (2 Cor. 6:10).

In the way we spend our time- we would waste less time with trivial things and spend much more time doing the things that mattered- Christ spent a large part of His time teaching and discipling, but also knew the value of getting alone with His Father (Mark 1:35). We would look for people to disciple and spend time memorizing that which will endure- the words of God. Christ loved His Heavenly Father and His disciples and spent His time with them.

In our relationships- the love of Christ might be most evident in our relationships, for instead of being self-centered, self-seeking people (looking out for our own interests), we would be seeking to build others up (1 Thess. 5:11), to encourage each other (Eph 4:29), considering them more significant than ourselves (Phil 2:3-4) and loving them sincerely, from our heart (1 Peter 1:22).

I've recently come across two striking examples of people who were compelled by the love of Christ:

Gladys Staines: she and her husband, Graham, were Australian missionaries (along with their three kids) to the poor and needy in India. They sought to care for the lepers and show the love of Christ to them through their work. But one night in 1999, Graham and their two sons were burned while they slept in their car. But this tragedy didn't deter Gladys and her daughter from the Lord or His love- at the public trial, she made clear that she had "forgiven" her family's murderers. Wow. Not only that, though, but if I read correctly, she and her daughter returned to the village in which their family was murdered and completed the task that had been in progress- the building of a hospital. Many MANY people have come to know the love of Christ because of His love shining through the two of them...

Thomas More: while I don't believe in a lot of what the 16th century author, statesman, and politician stood for most of his career, his display of the love of Christ at his death is undeniable. In the book of martyrs, "Jesus Freaks Vol. II", More's story is recorded as such:

'More was tried and condemned to death on the testimony of false witnesses and his unwillingness to take the oath of allegiance (he opposed King Henry's takeover of the church). In response to his sentence, he said, "I have nothing more to say, my lords, but that just as the blessed Apostle St. Paul, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, was present and consented to the death of St. Stephen, ...and yet they are both together holy saints in heaven and shall continue to be friends there forever, so I truly trust, and shall right heartily pray, that though your lordships have now here on earth been my condemning judges, we may hereafter meet right merrily together in heaven and enjoy our everlasting salvations together."' After being sentenced to death, Thomas More prayed that his judges would be with him forevermore in heaven as friends, rejoicing in the Lord together. Nothing other than Christ's love could have compelled More to say that with sincerity.

So that challenge, friends, is to live a Christ's-love compelled life. Read and study how Jesus loved people and how God calls us through the authors of the Bible to love. And then don't let it remain as head knowledge- live it out for His greatest glory.

Striving for the sake of His Name...

Luke

Eternal Things

Does anyone else suffer from the "I watch, therefore I am" disease? I will watch a movie that includes fighting and automatically think that I would be a pretty good fighter if I tried/wanted, although I have never fought anyone in my life (other than some TKD action in Ecuador) nor have I been trained in it. It's also pretty bad when I watch D-I college or NBA basketball and think, "yeah- I can do that!" All it takes is a look at the mirror to realize that I'm 6', 160 with not a tremendous amount of natural athleticism and then a trip to the local gym to play some ball to put me back in my rightful place.

What I really want to write about, though, is a New Year's resolution of mine. It stems from 2 Peter 3:10-12 and Colossians 3:1-2. Here are the texts:

2 Peter 3:10-12- "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!"

Colossians 3:1-2: "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth."

The thing that I was reminded of at the start of the new year is that one day this world will burn up. Dissolve. Poof. Boom. Gone. All of the awards won? Burn like wood, hay, and stubble. All of the time invested into things of this world? It will mean zilch. All of the cares of the world? Nada.

We have been blessed with a short amount of time (The Psalmist calls it "but a breath"- Psalm 39:5) to do work for the glory of God here on earth- so why mess around? It is SO EASY to get caught up in things of the world- cares, concerns, worries, stress-inducers. But one question that will be very helpful to ask is, "in eternity, will this matter?"

Recognize, please, that I'm not saying it is sinful to play video games or buy a new set of clothes three times a year. But how much time are you spending playing video games- especially in contrast to the time spent investing in others or time with the Lord- and for what purpose? And how much money are you spending on those new clothes- especially in contrast with how much you are giving to those who are in need?

Dad used to tell me (when I was nervous about a test grade), "a year from now, you'll never remember the grade you got on that test". That was true even a month later for me- keep it in mind when stress/worry/concern begins to creep up about things that really won't matter in the long (eternal) run.

CS Lewis wrote many books, one of which is entitled "The Weight of Glory". I read the text of a sermon he spoke concerning the topic and one of the main things that hit me was this: Lewis said, "You have never met a mere mortal... it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendours." The people we interact with on a daily basis are going to spend eternity in one of two ways: as an immortal horror or an everlasting splendor.

This could lead us to view each other "solemnly", sucking the 'fun' out of life. But Lewis also speaks on this: "This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously-no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love..." So we can enjoy each other, but NOT at the cost of tearing each other down.

This has been especially convicting to me, for I do enjoy making people laugh but I need to be very careful that my joking has no "superiority" in it (very difficult to do, so sometimes it's better just not to joke). I need to ensure that what I say will be building up the Body of believers, not tearing them down.

What DOES God value? What WILL echo in eternity (to borrow words from Maximus Decimus Meridius)? Re-read what Jesus says to do in the Gospels to find out what will count in eternity (hint: Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8 are good places to start).

So my challenge to myself and to you is to fix your eyes on Jesus (Heb 12:2) and set your hearts and minds on things above, living with an eternal perspective on life- not wasting large amounts of time or money on things that will burn up, but investing our lives into Christ-exalting things. And treat each other as immortals- not worshiping each other, but respecting each other with NO 'flippancy, superiority or presumption', loving each other "earnestly from a pure heart" (1 Peter 1:22).

I'm clearly a work in progress, if you know anything about me. Let's journey this together and magnify the glory of God to the world.

For His glory...

Luke