How many times have you thought to yourself "I deserve this" or "I am such a good person"? How many times have you done something kind and boasted about it? How many times have you done something nice or something that would be seen as admirable, but made sure that people noticed so that you could receive praise or attention? First of all, you are not alone. I want to start this off by saying that none of us have perfect intentions or a completely selfless heart. It isn't in our nature. What I do want to say,is that we have a guide to show us how to have a selfless heart and He forgives us along the way when we don't quite get it right, which is more times than not.
I am going to lay it flat out there. My heart is broken, filled with sin and self interest. I am not the perfect example of a Christian by any means. I write this to you out of mutual brokenness and out of a desire to want to become better for Christ. I write this and it is freeing as I take a step closer to grace, a step closer to realizing I am imperfect, a step towards realizing how badly I need a perfect Savior. I am unworthy.
In this world we live in, there seems to be a common theme that contradicts all of what I have just said. In this world, it has become common for people to believe that we are responsible for our joy and the good things that come in our lives, that we are worthy of all good things, that we deserve praise and adoration when we do something right, that we should praise ourselves for our successes.
The problem with all of this is that by praising ourselves, we diminish everything God has done for us and make His works seem obsolete and insignificant. It is almost as if Jesus dying on the cross was just another event on the news that people forget in a week when the next tragedy happens. Stop right there. Go back, all the way back to the cross and imagine the masses of people shouting hate towards Christ begging for Him to die. Imagine being completely innocent, never doing wrong in your whole life, and having people who said they loved you, people who begged you to heal them, people who you gave nothing but love to, turn around and ask for your death. Now imagine during and after all of this, still wanting a relationship with those people and wanting those people to avoid any punishment. It sounds crazy right? I mean we can't even forgive someone when they talk about us behind our backs. How could we ever forgive people who begged for us to die?
That's the thing. We are incapable of a forgiveness like that, but Jesus, oh Jesus has done it for us. Not only has He forgiven us, but He has payed all of our debts, made us exempt from death, and asked for us to be in His kingdom with Him. Can you imagine killing the queen of England and then having her say "I forgive you, now come let me give you this amazing life full of the greatest things you have ever known and come live with me and be my friend and oh yeah, I love you so much and always will"? That would NEVER happen. Not only that, but the queen pails in comparison to Jesus. She doesn't even come close to how special and great He is.
So to bring it back full circle, how many of you would say that any of the nice things you have done could ever compare to what Jesus has done for us? I don't write this to discourage you or to say what you do doesn't matter, because your good works do matter, but I want to remind us all that no matter how much good we do, we still can never be as good as Christ. I write this not to make you feel bad about yourself, but to remind you that we are not the ones who deserve praise. Let us boast of our brokenness so that Jesus' perfection can be exhaulted. Let us remember how we could never offer such forgiveness so we don't forget how loved we are by Him. Let us never forget that the wages of sin are death, so we always remember that we are saved. Let us remember that He is worthy of His name
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Fear Who?
Fear. An itty bitty word, just four letters, but somehow it carries so much weight. I mean let's look at other four letter words: barn, desk, cafe, fork, not really powerful words right? So what on earth is the deal with fear? Why does fear have the ability to render us speechless, to convince someone that they can't commit to marriage when they know in their heart they love someone, to stop us from standing up for what we believe in, to turn against the ones who love us? Well friends, unlike desk, cafe, fork, and barn, fear has the ability to sneak into our lives because there is someone directing it. There is someone who sees us and knows our potential, but doesn't want us to reach it.
In case you were wondering who the person driving fear is, it's Satan. Why would Satan want to make us afraid? So there is the wonderful being you may have heard of, His name is God. Well, God and Satan go way back and let's just say Satan is not a fan of God. Think of it like the Cubs vs the Sox. So, let's say God is team Cubs (He knows what's up) and Satan is the Sox (figures). Everyone loves the Cubs. They are all American, classic Chicago, wholesome, and just so lovable. Who wouldn't love the Cubs? The Sox see that the Cubs are getting so much love and get jealous, like really jealous and try to take the place of the Cubs. So the Sox start doing bad things to get attention because they figure any attention is better than no attention, and they spread lies about the Cubs because they want people to turn against the Cubs, and they get in peoples' heads and try to make themselves look all great and desirable, but end up being really bad in the end and leaving people sad and angry and empty. So, the Sox despise the Cubs now and will do whatever it takes to get people on their side, and the only thing they know how to do for those who are die hard Cubs fans, is to make them fearful and have doubt. I mean, I know we can all agree that during the Cubs' World Series battle, we were all really afraid of them losing. Anyway, fear leads to doubt, which leads to questioning, which leads to confusion, which distracts us from trusting that the Cubs (God) can really do it or that they have what it takes to make us happy, and that leads us to start looking somewhere else for happiness and purpose that we know only one team can provide. When a team doesn't have a good following, it loses it's power and influence, it can't make as many people as happy, and it can't do as much and that is what the Sox want.
Okay, take a breather. I know that was a lot to take in. Are you still with me? I sure hope so. Now that we have why Satan wants us to be fearful out of the way, let's look at how he sneaks fear into our hearts and how we can stop Him from doing so.
Let's start out with how he fills us with fear. Who knows what confusion feels like? I am raising my hand soooooo high that I think it might fall off. Confusion is a feeling that cannot and does not come from God. God brings only good things and one of those is peace and wisdom. If you feel confused, it is not because God is sending you mixed signals. It is because Satan went in and cut some of your cables so you can't see things clearly. When we can't see things clearly, we become afraid that we might do the wrong thing or that what we though we knew was true is all a lie. Another way Satan plays his sneaky fear game is by using doubt. Now if you are like me, you doubt a lot. I mainly doubt that things will work out for me or that I can do great things, but as we know "I can do all things through Christ who gives me great strength" (Philippians 4:13). Doubt is the enemy whispering lies in your ear and telling you that you'll never make it, that God doesn't love you, that you don't deserve happiness, that there isn't good in the world, and on and on and on. God brings encouragement. He is not going to make you question yourself, but rather let you know that you can do it, that you are capable of amazing things, that good things are out there. One more way that Satan fills us with fear is making us worry. We worry about what might happen if we get rejected. We worry about out us or our loved ones getting sick. We worry about people leaving us. Worry doesn't stop anything bad from happening, but it does stop you from enjoying yourself and being joyful in this very moment. What will come will come and you can only handle it when it comes. Unlike Satan, God is full of contentment. He wants us to be happy in this very moment and know that it will all be okay because He has a bigger plan than life on Earth.
Now, how do you stop yourself from letting fear take hold of you. One way is reminding yourself everyday of God's promises. When you are constantly reminded of something, it is hard to forget it and the more you remind yourself of God's promises, the more you will be able to remember it when Satan tries to attack. Another way, is to surround yourself with people who love and live for God. We will all be weak at some point, but if we surround ourselves with strong people, they can cover us when we need protection and we can do the same for them when they need protection. If you try to fight fear alone, you will leave with a lot more damage done than if you went in with a team. I mean look at the Avengers. Teamwork makes the dream work. One more way to remove fear from your life is to remind yourself of what happens after this life. We have a tendency to put all of our stock in life of Earth, when in reality, this is going to be gone quicker than we can imagine. That is not meant to sound sad, but rather joyful. There is soooooo much more joy awaiting us in Heaven and there is soooooo much pain on this planet. This life is just a little trip, but our home is in Heaven. We can't be traveling forever. We have to return home eventually, and home is full of joy and love. If we remind ourselves that Earth is not our home, we realize we don't have anything to lose because what we need is God and God can never be lost. We could lose all of our property, our money, our health, and so on, but we would still have all we need because we have God. When you have nothing to lose, you live with much less fear.
Fear is never going away in this world, but we don't have to let it run our lives. Remind yourself that God made you to be fearless. All you ever need is eternally safe and sound and always waiting for you and there for you when you need it. So what do you say? Are you going to live tucked away afraid of getting hurt, or are you going to be bold and fearless and live a life full of drive and joy?
In case you were wondering who the person driving fear is, it's Satan. Why would Satan want to make us afraid? So there is the wonderful being you may have heard of, His name is God. Well, God and Satan go way back and let's just say Satan is not a fan of God. Think of it like the Cubs vs the Sox. So, let's say God is team Cubs (He knows what's up) and Satan is the Sox (figures). Everyone loves the Cubs. They are all American, classic Chicago, wholesome, and just so lovable. Who wouldn't love the Cubs? The Sox see that the Cubs are getting so much love and get jealous, like really jealous and try to take the place of the Cubs. So the Sox start doing bad things to get attention because they figure any attention is better than no attention, and they spread lies about the Cubs because they want people to turn against the Cubs, and they get in peoples' heads and try to make themselves look all great and desirable, but end up being really bad in the end and leaving people sad and angry and empty. So, the Sox despise the Cubs now and will do whatever it takes to get people on their side, and the only thing they know how to do for those who are die hard Cubs fans, is to make them fearful and have doubt. I mean, I know we can all agree that during the Cubs' World Series battle, we were all really afraid of them losing. Anyway, fear leads to doubt, which leads to questioning, which leads to confusion, which distracts us from trusting that the Cubs (God) can really do it or that they have what it takes to make us happy, and that leads us to start looking somewhere else for happiness and purpose that we know only one team can provide. When a team doesn't have a good following, it loses it's power and influence, it can't make as many people as happy, and it can't do as much and that is what the Sox want.
Okay, take a breather. I know that was a lot to take in. Are you still with me? I sure hope so. Now that we have why Satan wants us to be fearful out of the way, let's look at how he sneaks fear into our hearts and how we can stop Him from doing so.
Let's start out with how he fills us with fear. Who knows what confusion feels like? I am raising my hand soooooo high that I think it might fall off. Confusion is a feeling that cannot and does not come from God. God brings only good things and one of those is peace and wisdom. If you feel confused, it is not because God is sending you mixed signals. It is because Satan went in and cut some of your cables so you can't see things clearly. When we can't see things clearly, we become afraid that we might do the wrong thing or that what we though we knew was true is all a lie. Another way Satan plays his sneaky fear game is by using doubt. Now if you are like me, you doubt a lot. I mainly doubt that things will work out for me or that I can do great things, but as we know "I can do all things through Christ who gives me great strength" (Philippians 4:13). Doubt is the enemy whispering lies in your ear and telling you that you'll never make it, that God doesn't love you, that you don't deserve happiness, that there isn't good in the world, and on and on and on. God brings encouragement. He is not going to make you question yourself, but rather let you know that you can do it, that you are capable of amazing things, that good things are out there. One more way that Satan fills us with fear is making us worry. We worry about what might happen if we get rejected. We worry about out us or our loved ones getting sick. We worry about people leaving us. Worry doesn't stop anything bad from happening, but it does stop you from enjoying yourself and being joyful in this very moment. What will come will come and you can only handle it when it comes. Unlike Satan, God is full of contentment. He wants us to be happy in this very moment and know that it will all be okay because He has a bigger plan than life on Earth.
Now, how do you stop yourself from letting fear take hold of you. One way is reminding yourself everyday of God's promises. When you are constantly reminded of something, it is hard to forget it and the more you remind yourself of God's promises, the more you will be able to remember it when Satan tries to attack. Another way, is to surround yourself with people who love and live for God. We will all be weak at some point, but if we surround ourselves with strong people, they can cover us when we need protection and we can do the same for them when they need protection. If you try to fight fear alone, you will leave with a lot more damage done than if you went in with a team. I mean look at the Avengers. Teamwork makes the dream work. One more way to remove fear from your life is to remind yourself of what happens after this life. We have a tendency to put all of our stock in life of Earth, when in reality, this is going to be gone quicker than we can imagine. That is not meant to sound sad, but rather joyful. There is soooooo much more joy awaiting us in Heaven and there is soooooo much pain on this planet. This life is just a little trip, but our home is in Heaven. We can't be traveling forever. We have to return home eventually, and home is full of joy and love. If we remind ourselves that Earth is not our home, we realize we don't have anything to lose because what we need is God and God can never be lost. We could lose all of our property, our money, our health, and so on, but we would still have all we need because we have God. When you have nothing to lose, you live with much less fear.
Fear is never going away in this world, but we don't have to let it run our lives. Remind yourself that God made you to be fearless. All you ever need is eternally safe and sound and always waiting for you and there for you when you need it. So what do you say? Are you going to live tucked away afraid of getting hurt, or are you going to be bold and fearless and live a life full of drive and joy?
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