Wandering in your own life.

Ever have trouble figuring out exactly what your suppose to be doing?  Sure at any given moment counts, but I'm referring to life in general.  For some reason I am finding that for a few brief moments each week I think I have it figured out....then the rest of the week sets in.  Sure I know what I want but is that what God wants for me?  A lot of people say they want to be doing God's will in their life but what does that really look like?   I mean yeah I know when God is talking to me or rather guiding me in a certain direction but he has yet to hand me a 5-year-plan.

I want to live not just exist and I would like someone to share those experiences with.  Mind you I'm not talking about a wife per say just some to share the experience with an be able to have intelligent conversation with along the way.  Is that really too much to ask for?  I guess if that is not what God wants for me then the answer would be yes.  There is so much more to life then sitting at home watching another stupid reality tv show or wasting away in front of the computer.  Why is it that so many people are comfortable in going to work, coming home, eating in front of the tv, playing on the Facebook and then going to bed.

Maybe because I find so much closeness to God in life the idea of "staying in" petrifies me.  Sunsets on the ocean, Birds of Paradise in the jungle, even the architectural achievements of man were guided by the One who created the laws of physics and science that make such wonders possible.  Gods splendor resonates in all of creation and yet I have very little time to bear witness to those while confined to my mortal coil.  What will it be like after death I'm not sure but I don't think I will feel same rush of life hanging over a 50ft waterfall that I would now.  The limitations placed on our mortal selves are only for a short time.  We will have all of eternity to be in the presence of God in our spiritual form made new.  Enjoy the opportunity to witness creation in a way that the Angels never will.  Oh and God can you please fax over that 5-year-plan you have for me so I can stop wandering around inside my own life.

One Body Divided

I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
1 Corinthians 1:9-11

What is it about the modern day church (church as in the collective organization of like minded individuals under one doctrinal umbrella) that weights the carrying out of the great commission? Under what doctrinal pretense do they feel justified in saying my ministry is greater then yours? and when did it become MY ministry instead of HIS ministry?

It pains me to see and hear these types of conversations happening within the modern day body of Christ.  Years ago it caused me to doubt the validity of a belief system based on the division I saw within its own believers.  I have since realized that is a flawed belief in itself as one can not judge the purity of the water based on the rusty container in which it is held, but that is the subject of a whole nother posting.

I would really like to know the thought process that goes into a member or leader in a church saying they can not support another ministry if albeit only verbally because they are doing the same type of outreach.  God has given servants hearts for various aspects of his ministry and we are not all called to the same approach.  I do not personally feel compelled to minister to those who are in hospitals yet Jesus has called his disciples to do that among various other aspects of ministry.  So because I feel called to teach other believers who lack direction or to inspire Christ followers to actively take up their cross, does that mean I should feel that someone who minister to children or the sick and elderly as being less or more then myself?

Part of the argument that I heard was that the reason behind those who were participating in a ministry was less then noble.   That seems to hold little weight to me considering that my own pastor has confessed to initially coming to church for the first time because there were hot girls.  First off am I so above reproach to judge the heart of my neighbor and secondly the transformation of our heart is not normally an instantaneous effect but God working on the broken vessels we come to him in.

As I heard Dr Whitcomb preach on this weekend, "man can come to Jesus through the TRUTH without Love but he can not come to him through Love without TRUTH.  To the soul who has been saved from an eternity in the absence of God it does not matter why you chose to share the Truth with them, only that you did.

Entitled to our Detriment

What is it about society today that gives us such an overwhelming sense of entitlement?  Why do we feel that God, the world, and our friends owe us so much that we abuse what has been given freely?  Society seems to feed this warped mentality and it grows with each generation.  God chooses to bless us at different parts of our life and for many different reasons and yet we come to to expect this from him.  If the welfare or unemployment check is a few days late we go hysterical as though we actually did something over the last week to earn that money.  Some of us expect our parents to bail us out of jams with very little sense of gratitude for doing so.  Entitlement lends itself to ungratefulness real quick and it is rampant in today's society.

It is very hard in America to not have a roof over your head and food on the table.  Unlike many other countries the percent of homeless or starving in America is VERY low.  Though there are not masses living on the street or going hungry there are plenty of people who have their needs met who do nothing to achieve that.  You want that great job that will lead to paying your bills on time and putting food on the table......then WORK for it.  It is one thing to be trying to improve on your life and getting help along the way (be grateful for the help you receive don't expect it or accept it while wallowing in self pity), it something else all together to spend your life expecting others to do the work for you.  How many of us know or are someone who receives their government check each week or month and do not even make an attempt to move off of our butt to change our circumstances.  Self-pity and depression are the leading causes of homelessness in America, it certainly isn't through the lack of opportunity.

Now granted its not always easy to achieve but then that is what separates those who succeed and those who don't.  How much do you really want it.  There are 24hrs in a day what are you doing with the time God has graciously allowed you draw breath?  Are you spending 10hrs sleeping, playing video games, or generally being unproductive?  If so then on what grounds do you expect to achieve?  We are called to be good stewards with what we have been given the greatest of which is our life.  If we are spending so much energy expecting our rent to be paid or food to be provided to us yet we are not doing Everything in our power to do so ourselves then are we truly being good stewards.  If we are treat others as we want to be treated then you shouldn't be surprised when the system you continue to abuse or the spouse you neglect or the friends you walk over, wake up one day and say we are done with you because you are not owed anything.  Rather then being owed we have a debt that took the blood of an innocent to pay and our belief in entitlement leads to our ungratefulness for his provisions through others to us and ultimately a ungratefulness for his sacrifice.

Pridefully Humble

Wow haven't really touched this in almost a year.  Been really busy with a thousand other things but through the prodding of one of my friends I have decided to make another attempt at keeping up my blog.  Over the past few day I have come to a conclusion that has actually helped me see the world in new light, actually it was more then one conclusion but for the sake of time I will only take about the first one in the post and the save the other for later this week (hopefully),  I realized that every single man on the face of the planet struggles with Pride.  If any man ever tells you he doesn't then he also struggles with telling the truth.  Pride itself comes in many forms though we as a society like to pigeon hole it into one or two of the big acts of being prideful.

One of the most common forms of Pride among men of coarse is in their physical prowess.  This is very akin to vanity but again that will be touched on later.  But being Proud in the fact that you can beat the snot out of the guy next to you in line at Publix is not the only form of Pride.  Many of us men are Proud in intellect, how much smarter we may be then the people we are around.  We are Proud of station; where we live, work, and play.  We are proud of our talents, whether this is in music or how talented we are leading or even how talented we are at metal or woodcrafting.  I just finished a book called The Language of God by Francis Collins who was the lead scientist on The Human Genome Project and a follower of Jesus Christ.  In his book he made the argument that genetics has shown the link in hereditary traits that go far beyond just our eye color.  Our cognitive ability or how well we can assimilate and retain new information, our skills and above average or below average athletic skill can all be linked to genes we inherited from our parents.  As he points out having a specific gene in most cases only predisposes you to a certain condition like having an increase risked to develop breast cancer and in the same way it predisposes you to having the ability to excel in academics.  However if you do nothing with that gift you could have the right 'gene' and still end up on the couch in your mom's basement at 30 with a box of Captain Crunch and bong in your lap.

These things that we all (men more so then women) take so much Pride in were gifts from God even before we had our first thought.  It is one thing to have pride in your work and being Proud.  Doing the best you can because you have pride in your work and desire to use the skills that God has blessed you with is completely different then belittling those around you for not measuring up to your standard.  None of us measure up to the standard set by Jesus yet he looks on us with love and devotion not contempt for our shortcomings.  If you find yourself looking on others with contempt and disdain for not being able to do something or achieve something as well as you can then you have just gotten an inside look at an area of your life that struggles with Pride.