this week has been a reminder of the brevity of life. i was reminded that i need to take better care of myself. i was reminded that we never know what tomorrow will bring.
last night as i talked with my dear friend, jerry newton, on the phone i was confronted with the reality that we aren't guaranteed tomorrow. jerry told me of how our good friend passed away wednesday morning. at one point i could hear jerry getting choked up and it made the tears in my eyes build up before spilling over the levee.
i sit here this morning watching the horizon change from a deep onyx blue to vibrant orange. as the color emerges revealing more vibrance, more passion in it's voice, the soulful voice of ray lamontagne sings a plea to the heavens,
"Trouble...
Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble
Trouble been doggin' my soul since the day I was born
Worry...
Worry, worry, worry, worry
Worry just will not seem to leave my mind alone"
i reflect on my life...
for me, when death strikes close to my heart, i find myself wondering, "am i living the way God called me to live?"
is my heart's cry being answereed by my actions, by the relationships i build, by my daily focus?
or am i simply submitting to my selfishness, to what i think needs to be done?
am i living for God or for me?
am i investing time in people or stuff that won't last?
am i putting others before myslef or am i stockpiling material things for me and my family because i've bought into the lie that i deserve more than than the poor because i have an education or i've "worked hard"?
these are the questions that i ask myself today. i can feel the love of Christ move through them even when the questions are at their most convicting, i feel God's Love. the hard questions bring change; they bring rebirth.
what matters in the end?
it's not our bank account.
it's not the house we live in.
it's not our retirement plan.
it's not the cars we drive, or the clothes we wear.
in the end, will you be able to answer a resounding "yes" to Jesus when He asks you,
did you visit me when i was in prison?
did you feed me when i was hungry?
did you clothe me when i was naked?
did you love me when i was unloved?
did you lift me up when i was at the bottom?
did you take me in when i was homeless?
there is a skewed view of reality in the world we live in. we have been raised to think that giving our can of food to the food bank at thanksgiving is our duty. now please don't hear me say that giving to a charity is bad, it's not. the attitude i'm weary of is the attitude in which we give to a charity to rid ourselves of guilt. i'm not sure Christ ever said, "when i was hungry you gave food to the food bank and they fed me."
we shouldn't be indirectly effecting change, we should be direclty effecting change.
don't forget that we are to imitate Christ. we are to strive everyday to be more and more like Him. Christ was a servant. scripture points that out clearly. Old Testament prophets point to the Messiah as being a humble servant. then we read of this son of a carpenter emerging in the desert winds of the first century and He doesn't fly through the roman empire striking down all who get in His way. instead, He walks along the road with thieves. He eats in the house of prostitutes. He gives Grace to the beggars. He spends insane amounts of time with men and women we avoid at all cost.
if this is the lifestyle we are supposed to imitate, how do we fool ourselves into thinking we deserve more than anyone else? how arrogant have we become? how deeply is our idolatry with pursuing the american dream going to go?
for many of us we don't want to be confronted with our depravity, but we need to be. because without being shown what we are moving towards, we might never realize that we are traveling down the wrong road.
when issues like the ones mentioned thus far are brought up, we automatically think the writer or speaker is telling us that we need to give all of our money away and live as the poor lives. that's not what i'm saying, yet it is. i don't want you to tell yourself that I think less of you because you have much. i do believe whole heartedly that the more we have, the more we should give. i do believe that believers should live below their means so we can give more. i wonder if the first thing we think of is money, then maybe that's what our heart is holding on to too tightly.
maybe that's the one thing we know we can't give up?
guilt is not why i write this to you today. i share what God is calling me to share. i have been called to challenge believers to live outside of our lives of comfort, outside our lives of mediocrity and move to lives of risk, lives fueled by passion for Loving God, Loving Our Neighbor and Putting Others Before Ourselves.
we fool ourselves if we beleive that sunday morning is all God has for us.
we fool ourselves if we think that life is all about us taking care of ourselves and our family.
there is so much more that God has for us, but we'll never see it if we aren't willing to serve.
Christ, the humble servant He is, knows that if we put others before ourselves, change happens.
if we put others before ourselves, the misconceptions of the church go away because we are actually giving grace to people instead of condemning them.
if we put others before ourselves, the world changes, revolution begins.
what is your heart's cry for your life?
look deep with yourself... what is it?
forget money. forget power. forget comfort. forget retirement plans. forget your dream house.
remember that true religion is caring for the orphans and widows and keeping yourself from being polluted by the world. james said that.
don't forget that at the root of everything Love must exist. if we don't have Love as our foundation, then all is for not.
Love is the beginning.
Love is the end.
may we see that we are here for more than we ever expected.
may we realize that our life is not about us.
may we come to the full knowledge that everything is about Him. it's about God and nothing else.
may we be shown our brokenness and may that brokenness compel us to serve others; to put others above ourselves.
may we remember life is today
not tomorrow
not yesterday
life is this moment
this instant
may we not waste it.
peace be with you
Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble
Trouble been doggin' my soul since the day I was born
Worry...
Worry, worry, worry, worry
Worry just will not seem to leave my mind alone"
i reflect on my life...
for me, when death strikes close to my heart, i find myself wondering, "am i living the way God called me to live?"
is my heart's cry being answereed by my actions, by the relationships i build, by my daily focus?
or am i simply submitting to my selfishness, to what i think needs to be done?
am i living for God or for me?
am i investing time in people or stuff that won't last?
am i putting others before myslef or am i stockpiling material things for me and my family because i've bought into the lie that i deserve more than than the poor because i have an education or i've "worked hard"?
these are the questions that i ask myself today. i can feel the love of Christ move through them even when the questions are at their most convicting, i feel God's Love. the hard questions bring change; they bring rebirth.
what matters in the end?
it's not our bank account.
it's not the house we live in.
it's not our retirement plan.
it's not the cars we drive, or the clothes we wear.
in the end, will you be able to answer a resounding "yes" to Jesus when He asks you,
did you visit me when i was in prison?
did you feed me when i was hungry?
did you clothe me when i was naked?
did you love me when i was unloved?
did you lift me up when i was at the bottom?
did you take me in when i was homeless?
there is a skewed view of reality in the world we live in. we have been raised to think that giving our can of food to the food bank at thanksgiving is our duty. now please don't hear me say that giving to a charity is bad, it's not. the attitude i'm weary of is the attitude in which we give to a charity to rid ourselves of guilt. i'm not sure Christ ever said, "when i was hungry you gave food to the food bank and they fed me."
we shouldn't be indirectly effecting change, we should be direclty effecting change.
don't forget that we are to imitate Christ. we are to strive everyday to be more and more like Him. Christ was a servant. scripture points that out clearly. Old Testament prophets point to the Messiah as being a humble servant. then we read of this son of a carpenter emerging in the desert winds of the first century and He doesn't fly through the roman empire striking down all who get in His way. instead, He walks along the road with thieves. He eats in the house of prostitutes. He gives Grace to the beggars. He spends insane amounts of time with men and women we avoid at all cost.
if this is the lifestyle we are supposed to imitate, how do we fool ourselves into thinking we deserve more than anyone else? how arrogant have we become? how deeply is our idolatry with pursuing the american dream going to go?
for many of us we don't want to be confronted with our depravity, but we need to be. because without being shown what we are moving towards, we might never realize that we are traveling down the wrong road.
when issues like the ones mentioned thus far are brought up, we automatically think the writer or speaker is telling us that we need to give all of our money away and live as the poor lives. that's not what i'm saying, yet it is. i don't want you to tell yourself that I think less of you because you have much. i do believe whole heartedly that the more we have, the more we should give. i do believe that believers should live below their means so we can give more. i wonder if the first thing we think of is money, then maybe that's what our heart is holding on to too tightly.
maybe that's the one thing we know we can't give up?
guilt is not why i write this to you today. i share what God is calling me to share. i have been called to challenge believers to live outside of our lives of comfort, outside our lives of mediocrity and move to lives of risk, lives fueled by passion for Loving God, Loving Our Neighbor and Putting Others Before Ourselves.
we fool ourselves if we beleive that sunday morning is all God has for us.
we fool ourselves if we think that life is all about us taking care of ourselves and our family.
there is so much more that God has for us, but we'll never see it if we aren't willing to serve.
Christ, the humble servant He is, knows that if we put others before ourselves, change happens.
if we put others before ourselves, the misconceptions of the church go away because we are actually giving grace to people instead of condemning them.
if we put others before ourselves, the world changes, revolution begins.
what is your heart's cry for your life?
look deep with yourself... what is it?
forget money. forget power. forget comfort. forget retirement plans. forget your dream house.
remember that true religion is caring for the orphans and widows and keeping yourself from being polluted by the world. james said that.
don't forget that at the root of everything Love must exist. if we don't have Love as our foundation, then all is for not.
Love is the beginning.
Love is the end.
may we see that we are here for more than we ever expected.
may we realize that our life is not about us.
may we come to the full knowledge that everything is about Him. it's about God and nothing else.
may we be shown our brokenness and may that brokenness compel us to serve others; to put others above ourselves.
may we remember life is today
not tomorrow
not yesterday
life is this moment
this instant
may we not waste it.
peace be with you
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