Tag Archives: christian living

October 11, 2016 · 5:00 AM

Follow Me


My son, like most kids, loves to play chase around the house. I usually play along pretending he is faster than me, but sometimes I catch him. When he realizes that I’m going to catch him, the game changes very quickly. He says, “Just follow my footsteps!” He then goes around the living room, hopping, sliding, drumming on the couch, and other crazy movements to which I am to follow. I have to pay attention to where he went and how he went so I can follow correctly. Otherwise, I’m not following very well.

I often think about Jesus’ call of “Follow me” that He gave to the disciples and now to us. Follow me. Follow my footsteps. Do what I do. Say what I say. The disciples were so good at this that they were named Christians by others in Acts 11:26. The name “Christian” means follower of Christ. I find it interesting that it wasn’t something they labeled themselves as, but rather, based on their actions, they were called it. Are you and I self labeled Christians or do others label us that based on how we live?

I love how the Amplified Bible expounds on the meanings of words based on their original meaning. In Mark 2:14, Jesus went up to Matthew and said, “’Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk].’ And he got up and followed Him [becoming His disciple, believing and trusting in Him and following His example]” (AMP). Matthew was labeled as scum by another version, yet when He accepted the invitation of “Follow me”, he changed how he lived to follow Jesus’ example. How have our lives changed since accepting Him?

The call of “Follow me” goes out to everyone, but there’s a difference in following Jesus around and being His disciple, by accepting Him as your Master and Teacher through following His example. The Pharisees followed Jesus around, but it wasn’t enough to change how they lived. We each need to examine our life to see if we are following Jesus around or if we are following His example because there’s a big difference in labeling yourself a Christian and following His example to the point that others label you one. “Follow me” is more than a geographic change – it’s a lifestyle change. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 4, 2016 · 5:00 AM

Quit Doubting God



I began my daily devotional journey over four years ago. I’m often asked how I can write so often without running out of things to write about. In the beginning, that was my greatest fear. What if I woke up one day and had nothing to write? What would my readers think? Would they forgive me for letting them down? I honestly worried that that day would come, but I’ve since learned that I wasn’t doubting my abilities – I was doubting God’s

Several months after I started, and while I was wrestling with those thoughts, I got to meet and have breakfast with William Paul Young, author of “The Shack”. As we talked, he said something that changed how I looked at God. He told me, “Quit looking at God as well and start to see him as a river flowing from an eternal spring.” In that moment, my perspective changed. I had been looking at God as a well that could run dry instead of an endless source of creativity. I truly had been doubting Him instead of myself.

In John 4, Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well. After asking her for a drink, He remarked that if she knew who He was, she would ask Him for water that never ran out. In verse 11, she said, “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket, and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water?” (NLT) She was still looking at the well to be the source. She, like us, had a very small idea of who God was and what He was capable of. She tried to confine an infinite God to a finite space. She tried to place Him inside our laws instead of herself in His.

I love Jesus reply to her. He said, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” When we put God into our laws, we become thirsty again and fear that His goodness will run out. When we see Him for who He is, our laws go out the window because nothing is impossible to Him. He isn’t your well – He’s the one who gives you a fresh, unending, bubbling stream so you’ll never thirst again. When you change your perspective of who He is, you’ll quit doubting His abilities. 

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 27, 2016 · 8:05 AM

Prove it


I think we can all agree that there is a difference between saying something and proving something. When we were kids, we all had that friend that told tall tales. He was related to famous people. He was going to be on TV. He had a hundred dollars. You name it, he either did it or had it. After a while, we found the phrase, “Prove it!” It turns out, he could tell you just about anything, but he couldn’t prove any of it. Without proof, we had no reason to believe the things he said.

When I was younger, I heard someone ask, “If you were to be accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to prove it?” That’s a tough question we should all think about. A court can’t convict anyone unless there is some form of evidence against them. In some cases, that evidence comes from first hand witnesses. Other times it comes from physical evidence left behind. What evidence are you leaving behind for others to know you are a Christian? Can others eye witnesses tell by how you live that you’re a Christian?

In Matthew 3:8, John the Baptist was out at the river baptizing people when the religious leaders came to take a look. One of the things he said to them was, “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God” (NLT). He knew they were manufacturing false evidence to try to prove they were righteous, but their lives contradicted that evidence. Jesus later said they were whitewashed tombs. They looked good on the outside, but were full of death on the inside.

Today’s devotion is not to say that you earn salvation by your works – that’s what the religious leaders were trying to do. It’s saying when you truly experience the power of God in your life, it changes you. Your life changes inside and out. You find that going to church isn’t evidence that you’re a Christian – living for God is. When you experience the power of salvation, you begin to leave evidence everywhere that you have repented and followed Christ. My challenge to you today is to take an honest look at the evidence in your life. What does it point to? Is it manufactured or is it natural from a changed heart and life?

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

May 4, 2016 · 5:30 AM

Doing God’s Will


Too often we think it’s hard to know God’s will. We say we want to find it for our lives, but I wonder if that’s just an excuse we use to keep us from doing something. We don’t like change. We like things that are comfortable for us. We rationalize that if God opened the heavens, gave us a clear sign, and spoke to us in an audible voice then we could do the things that are uncomfortable. We put parameters like that on how to know God’s will so that we can remain inert.

The truth is that we know what God’s will is if we’ve read any of the Bible. We know His will for how we should live, we know His will for how we should treat the least among us, and we know His will for what we should do with our knowledge of Him. What we don’t know is how to do it. So the real question isn’t, “What’s God’s will”, it’s, “How do I do God’s will?” That’s the real problem most of us have, but we just can’t admit it because if we know what His will is, we are responsible for doing it.

I do an exercise with managers at work to illustrate the difference in telling someone to do something and teaching them how to do it. I create a long tube out of easel paper, tell them to hold out their fingers, put it on top of them, and tell them to take it to the ground. The problem is they can’t do it. They know what I want them to do, but they can’t. I keep telling them my will, but they don’t know how to do it so they get frustrated. Many walk away from the exercise frustrated because they aren’t successful. They give up because something that seems so easy is do hard to do.

After letting them struggle for about 10 minutes, I finally teach them how to do it. They then are able to do it with some struggles. I think it’s similar to doing God’s will. It should be easy to love our neighbor, defend the orphan, or tell others about Jesus, but it isn’t. I think David struggled with doing God’s will too. That’s why I think he prayed this prayer in Psalm 143:10. He prayed, “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing” (NLT).

I can relate with David. I know God’s will and I want to do it, but I struggle with doing it. Maybe you’re in that boat too. You want to do what He’s called you to, but you just don’t know how. Let David’s prayer be your prayer. Change your question from, “What’s your will” to “Can you teach you how to do it?” We still might struggle with doing it, but I’d rather fail at trying to accomplish His will than to fail God by doing nothing. Pray today to ask God how to do His will, then look for opportunities to do it. God will teach us and give us opportunities too.

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 14, 2016 · 5:30 AM

Lasting Motivation

  
In a training class, I was recently taught that there are three basic motivations: compliance, identification, and internalization. As I learned more about them, it made me realize that many people approach Christian living using one of these three motivating factors. When I explain them, you will realize where you’ve been and where you fall now in these with your approach to living like Jesus. I’ll include the Parable of the Sower, from Matthew 13, to show the end result of each of these.

The first one, compliance, is where many people initially fall. The motivation is “Do it, or else!” There’s a constant threat living over you that if you don’t do it right, you’re done for. As long as you’re at church or church people, you live the way you should. When you’re away, you go back to how you want to live. Living like this is like the seeds that fell on the footpath. The birds came and ate them up. Trying to live a double life ends in failure. No one wants to try to live like Jesus if there’s a constant threat being held against them.

The second one, identification, is where you see someone else’s life, you identify with the end result, and you want to be like them to get their blessings. You’ll be motivated to do some things like join a small group, go to church on Wednesday, or even give your tithe, but what you’re missing is how to live that way consistently. To me, this is like the seed that fell in shallow soil. They sprout up quickly, but can easily wilt under the hot soon because they lack deep roots.

The third one, internalization, is where you take to heart what you hear and do whatever it takes so that the changes become who you are. This is the only one that produces long lasting change because it’s a change in your heart and mind. It’s like the seeds that fell on fertile soil. It will grow and reproduce thirty, sixty, and hundred times what was planted.

Your desire to follow Jesus shouldn’t be because you are afraid to go to hell. That will only last so long. It also shouldn’t be because you want the same blessings someone else has. When they don’t come quickly, you’ll give up. Your desire to follow Jesus should come because you met Him, want a relationship with Him, and will follow Him because of your love for Him. When you do that, your mind changes and so does your life. It’s what’s described in Romans 12:2, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (NLT). When you internalize what Jesus did for you, your life will reflect it in your living.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

March 17, 2016 · 5:30 AM

Ruth’s Vow

  
Most every one of us are familiar with Ruth’s vow given in Ruth 1:16-17. Ruth said to Naomi, “Don’t ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried. May the Lord’s worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you!” (GNT)

Ruth perfectly demonstrates what it means to leave your father and mother and cleave to your spouse. I know that scripture was for men, but here Ruth does it. When her husband died, she clung to her husband’s family still because she knew that Ruth had no one left in the world. It may have been out of respect for her husband, it may have been done because she didn’t like her parents, or because she truly loved NaomI. I believe it was the last one, but we don’t really know.

No matter what, it’s the depth of her vow that draws us to this story. To me, it’s the same vow and devotion we should enter into with Jesus. In II Corinthians 2:2-4, Paul says that we, the Church, are like a bride engaged to Christ. He doesn’t want us to be a bride like Eve who was deceived and corrupted who will “abandon your full and pure devotion to Christ.” He doesn’t want us to be easily deceived or to turn back to the life we once knew. We are committed to Christ the was a spouse is committed. Jesus deserves our full devotion.

Just as it’s wrong to cheat on your spouse, it’s wrong for us as believers to cheat on Jesus by going back to sinning. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord, you have taken the vow to go where He goes, live where He lives, till death do you part I believe if we as Christians began to show that kind of commitment in our Christianity, we could change the world. If we could leave this world and cleave to Him, the depth of our commitment to our vow to Christ would be just as compelling as the story of Ruth and would draw in those looking for something real.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

March 3, 2016 · 5:30 AM

Sin Prevention

  
When I was in high school, one of my teachers had us open the cover of our Bibles. He then told us to write, “This book will keep you from sin. Sin will keep you from this book.” What a powerful message. Every time I opened my Bible, I read those words. They challenged me to read it daily so that I wouldn’t stray from God. To this day, I hear those words, even though I no longer open a physical Bible, and they challenge me.

When Moses was giving the final instructions to Israel, before they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, he gave them instructions for their future kings. In Deuteronomy 17:18-19 he said, “When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the LORD his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees” (NLT).

God knew then that His instructions would keep us from a life of sin. He not only wanted them read daily, He wanted them to write them down too. Imagine if you had to hand write the Bible and then carry that manuscript with you daily. The time and effort that would take would cause you to value His Word more. Then reading it daily would teach you how to follow God’s path.

David, who would have written it out and carried it with him, wrote something very powerful in the longest chapter of the Bible. In Psalm 119:11 he wrote, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” David didn’t just read God’s Word, he hid it in his heart. He studied it, memorized it, and applied it. Were there times he failed? Yes. It was God’s Word that put him back in right standing with God.

He knew what you and I need to know. The more we know who God is, the more we see Him as a loving father who doesn’t expect perfection from us. He forgives our sins and loves it when we come clean. The enemy wants us to hide our sin like Adam and Eve, but God wants to create a clean heart in us. His Word will not only keep us from sin, but lead us to forgiveness when we do. Don’t let sin keep you from God’s Word. Let God’s Word keep you from sin.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

March 2, 2016 · 5:41 AM

Eat Your Broccoli

  
If you’re like me, you like to be given a choice. You don’t like to be told what you’re going to have. I guess it stems from my childhood. When my mom said, “You can’t leave the table until you eat your broccoli.” I usually sat at the table all night watching the TV from there. Knowing you can only whip a child so much, she tried a different strategy. She’d say, “You can eat your broccoli or you can go to bed.” I didn’t like either choice, but at least I had a say.

She learned that even if I didn’t like the choices, I liked having the chance to choose. God gave Israel a choice, and He gives the same one to you and I. In Deuteronomy 11:26 He said, “Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!” (NLT) It seems like an easy choice on the surface. Who doesn’t want to be blessed by God? But choosing the blessing in this scenario was like eating your broccoli.

The blessings that God gives come when we surrender our life to His will. We have to give up living like we want to live like He wants. God was telling the Israelites and us, “If you will live the way I’m telling you to, I will open up the windows of heaven and pour out blessings on you. But if you live like everyone else on earth and choose a life that is not different, you will be choosing the curse.” The blessings come at a cost, but that cost is good for you just like the broccoli.

In II Corinthians 6:17, Paul reminds us that God said, “Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD.” We are called to be in the world, but not to live like the world. We are held to a higher standard as children of God. When we are willing to live the way God wants us to live, our lives will produce love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and faithfulness. The choice is yours and no one else can make it for you.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

November 17, 2015 · 5:41 AM

Quit Being Self-Confident

  
In life, we tell people the way to be successful is to believe in yourself. We say. “Don’t doubt. Have confidence in yourself.” We’ve learned that when Henry Ford was right when he said, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” A lot of success in life comes from being self confident. If you believe in yourself, others will too. Self- confidence is contagious and people want to be around others who are confident.

I looked up the definition of self- confident, and bing.com says, “Trusting in one’s ability, qualities, and judgement.” In many areas of life, that’s a good thing. In our Christian life, being self-confident is a bad thing. Salvation isn’t earned by what you do, it’s only through what Jesus has already done. Your abilities have no say on whether you get it or not. It’s only through humbly asking the One who paid the price for your sin to apply His grace to your life.

When it comes to living like a Christian, so many of us think it’s just a matter of will power. We think we can force ourselves to live right. Ben Franklin tried that. He kept a daily journal of his sins so he could focus on them and thereby not do them anymore. What he found was when he corrected one, he ended up doing another. He ended up getting frustrated trying to live a good life on his own.

In Romans 7, Paul wrote about trying to live the Christian life in your own ability. In verses 21 and 24, he summed it up this way, “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” (NLT) He couldn’t do it and neither can we. The life we are called to live can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In I Corinthians 10:12, Paul wrote, “Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence” (MSG). We can’t live the life we are called to live in our own abilities, qualities, and judgement. It’s only through God’s, that we can be successful. If we continue to try to live it in our own, we will be miserable like Paul was until we learn to live this life like he did through the Holy Spirit’s ability. Cultivate your God-confidence when it comes to living righteously and you will be successful.

I encourage you to read Romans 8 where Paul goes into more depth about living a Spirit-led life.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 23, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Pray For Boldness

  
One of the things I believe that Christians are missing today is boldness. We keep praying for gifts and an anointing that we were already given. We don’t need more gifts, we need more boldness to use the ones we have already been given. Boldness isn’t about making a show of the authority we have. It’s about using it despite the pressures of a culture that is opposed to our way of life.

Before Jesus ascended into Heaven He told us that He had been given all authority in heaven and earth, and that He was giving it to us. You and I have been given everything we need to proclaim His message and to live our lives in His service. What we seem to be lacking these days is a godly boldness. To help us know more about boldness, I’m including some scriptures on boldness.

1. And, beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us [if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us], we have confidence (complete assurance and boldness) before God.

1 John 3:21 AMP

2. And then I’ll stir up fresh hope in Israel—the dawn of deliverance!—and I’ll give you, Ezekiel, bold and confident words to speak. And they’ll realize that I am GOD.
Ezekiel 29:21 MSG

3. The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions.

Proverbs 28:1 NLT

4. Let us be bold, then, and say: “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”

Hebrews 13:6 GNB

5. And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

Acts of the Apostles 4:29-30 NLT

6. And [also] most of the brethren have derived fresh confidence in the Lord because of my chains and are much more bold to speak and publish fearlessly the Word of God [acting with more freedom and indifference to the consequences].

Philippians 1:14 AMP

7. That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you! And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.

2 Timothy 1:5-7 MSG

8. And pray also for me, that God will give me a message when I am ready to speak, so that I may speak boldly and make known the gospel’s secret.

Ephesians 6:19 GNB

9. Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31:6 NRS

10. After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.

Acts of the Apostles 4:31 NLT

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,