R3: radical, revolutionary, different

Last week I wrote about something that really struck me: God has given us a big enough responsibility in just being obedient, we don’t need to worry about “making something” of our lives.  It’s easy to think we need to do more to become successful, but how do we define that success?  

More often than not by the world’s standards.

God defines success so much differently, which is why we’re just asked to be obedient.  This thought hasn’t left my mind all weekend, so I wanted to focus on it again.  But instead of me trying to find words to for my thoughts, I think I’ll just let Building 429’s song Amazed do it for me. 

Where did it go
33 and it’s gone so fast
Thought I knew who I was
I thought that You were leading me

But this depression is
Crashing in on me
And I’m not half the man
I hoped I’d be

But I won’t question in the dark
What is true out in the light
I will follow after You
Through the storm and through the fight

Cause You’ve got me
Right where You want me
Yeah You’ve got me
Right where I need to be
And I’m standing amazed

Not to sound melodramatic but I think there’s a moment (possibly several) in a person’s life where they question if what they are doing is worthwhile.  Is the project you’re working on meaningful?  Is the business you’ve started going to be relevant.  Are you making a difference in people’s lives? 

It’s easy to fall into the idea that we’re somehow not doing “enough.”  And that’s where I’ve been the last few days.  I was wondering if I was doing enough professionally.  Was I reaching everyone I could with R3?  Should I do more? 

I expressed these concerns to a friend, and she said something that froze me in my tracks:

I think you’ve got something backwards here :o].  It’s not you that needs to make something out of your life, it’s God.  That I know of, nowhere in the bible does God tell us that we have to make something out of ourselves.  That’s His job…our job is to listen to what He says and act on what we hear, whether that’s physically doing something, or waiting on God to do something.

Ouch.

She’s right though.  I can’t think of a single example where God said, “why don’t you make something out of yourself?  What are you waiting for?”  God always says, be obedient, and let me do the rest.

All I need to worry about is listening to God, then obeying. 

What a relief!

Sometimes I get caught up in my life.  I get wrapped up in the details as they say.  I worry about the little things and because of that I stop focusing on what God is doing in my life.  Third Day has a song called “Blind” that captures this thought nicely. 

How could I have been so blind to not see you
The more that I look the more I find
You’ve led me to the truth
That I am nothing if I’m without you
You opened my eyes and helped me to find
How could I have been so blind

 focusing on God

God, all too often I spend my time worrying about all the mistakes I’ve made instead of focusing on you.  Help me not to do that.  Remind me that you’ve already forgiven my past, and I can’t control the future, so help me to just focus on the present.  Help me to always keep my eyes fixed on you.  So even if it doesn’t feel like I’m accomplishing anything, as long as I’m following you let that be enough.  Amen.

 <comments are open, feel free to add your own prayer asking to remain focused on God>

I don’t know who came up with the idea that “seeing is believing” but they couldn’t have been more wrong.  Trusting what you see is one of the fastest ways to get you into trouble!  I think we all recognize that we can’t trust our eyes.  That’s why it’s so fun to play with optical illusions. 

Yet the truth is, we live in a world that is visually manipulated.  Like optical illusions sometimes it’s for fun.  But other times it’s done intentionally, with the goal of manipulating us.  Our advertisements are manipulated.  Our television images are manipulated.  Even the “truth” is manipulated.  We are surrounded by distortions of what “real” is. 

Now I get what some of you are thinking.  ”Sure, we get that the news portrays current events for ratings not news.”  Or, “I know Hollywood is full of it, I’ve seen Mythbusters!”  The sentiment is that manipulating what we see just isn’t that big of a deal.  “It’s only TV.” 

But is it? 

Sins like greed and lust work on this exact principle.  They tell us that what we don’t have is more appealing that what we do have.  Lust plants the idea that what we need, no, what we deserve, is another woman (or man).  While greed whispers that we owe it to ourselves to get a “little more” money no matter the cost. 

Consistently the world tells us that if only we would go after those things will we be satisfied.   We just need to consume more things and then we’ll be happy.  Just one more drink.  Just one more cigarette.  Just one more purchase. 

Can you feel it?  Can you feel those desires tugging at your heart?

I can.  And the truth is, sometimes they win.

What we see is a lie.  What we see is not reality.  It’s a myth.  It’s something the world desperately wants to be true, but is so far from God’s Kingdom.  Think about your own life, and then compare it to what we see.  Hollywood portrays sex and drugs as ways to live your life.  But when you have sex and do drugs does your life improve?  Or do you feel more empty than when you began?  Hollywood never shows us the consequences.  Because that would show that their world doesn’t exist.

Advertisements tell us that we’ll be happy if only we have a new set of furniture, or a new game, or a nice vacation.  But do you feel satisfied after that purchase?  Or do you feel stress, fear, and worry because you don’t know how you’ll pay for it.  Advertisements show us a great life - but they don’t tell us that the happy couple doesn’t exist.

Only God offers us a clear image into reality.  Everything else is photoshopped.

Sometimes people don’t always see how their faith impacts their life.  “It’s a personal thing” or “it’s between myself and God” are expressions of this idea.  But faith, and the way you live your life, can never be separated.  What you believe impacts how you behave.

Just look at the financial mess the world is facing.  While there are so many factors, perhaps too many to understand, that have triggered these events there is one thing we can look at: human behavior.  We see executives taking huge amounts of money while their companies go under.  Is there anything wrong with this?  Maybe not.  But can you imagine Jesus doing this?  The point of being a Kingdom person is that we are willing to sacrifice everything for our brothers and sisters. 

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15: 13)

The same should be true of the people we place in government.  Unfortunately it’s not.  By the time this is all said and done we will find politicians on both sides of the aisle (and other world leaders) who knowingly acted for their own welfare, sacrificing the welfare of their countries.  God warned Israel that the minute they put a king over them instead of God, the best of everything they had would belong to the state. 

But Christians can change this.  Not by forcing non-Christians to live by God’s rules, but by living out those rules for ourselves.  There is nothing more powerful than witnessing a life lived out in faith.  Nothing more convincing that God exists.

So in the midst of all of this, remember that faith applies to your life, just as much as it does to CEO’s and Senators. 

Today the Dow dropped almost 1,000 points.  And then it gained 800 points back in a matter of minutes.  Things are uncertain, unexpected, and probably some other word that begins with “un”.  There’s no question that this is a tough time.  Maybe not the toughest, but certainly not the easiest.  But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean there’s not opportunity to show people what the Kingdom looks like. 

Christians should always look different from non-Christians.  And I’m not talking clothing here.  I’m talking about our behavior.  As people become more enraged, and more depressed about their financial losses, their behaviors are going to become more extreme. 

How we respond to our own financial losses reflects on how we view the Kingdom and how God operates.  If we act in love despite losing everything, that’s a more powerful example of God’s existence than all the intellectual arguments in the world.

When we live differently the world notices. 

Watching your 401(k) disappear is never a good feeling.  All that work, all that saving, all that energy feel like they are wasted.  I’ve only been putting money into savings for a few years.  Some people have spent 50 years making responsible decisions, saving money, doing the “right thing” only to see it all destroyed in a few months time.  People are angry.  But should we be?

The same is true about the country.  I love the United States.  I think it’s the greatest country in the history of the world.  I think we’ve done more to protect, support, help, and provide for the world than any country in history.  So it pains me to see the talk of an end to US supremacy.  But should it?

There’s no question these events are awful.  Tragic even.  But none of this really matters to a Christian.  Why?  Because we don’t live for more things.  Sure it’s great if we have them.  But that’s not the point. There’s a reason Jesus said that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven.  Not because being rich is bad, but because Jesus knew that wealth consumes us.

We live for the Kingdom and anything that advances the Kingdom.  If the first Christians lived with joy and happiness as they were being tortured to death, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to act in love as our 401(k)’s fall apart.  If Jews lived under the oppression of foreign rulers, but still managed to love God, is it impossible for us to live in a time when the US isn’t the number one country and still be obedient to God?

Life is hard now.  It’s not easy or comfortable.  But from a Kingdom perspective, is that bad?

Has there ever been a day where you just wanted to stay in bed?  Of course there has.  That’s a silly question!  For me it’s those cold mornings.  My bed is warm.  Comfortable.  And the thought of stepping into the cold air fills me with dread.  Not to mention the bad mood it puts me in!

Sadly staying in bed isn’t always an option.  Sometimes we have to get out of the comfortable, and step into the cold. This is where Samuel found himself.  God had told him to place Saul over all of Israel.  But now, after a few years had passed, Saul had gone too far.  He had once again defied God, which meant Samuel had to deliver some bad news to Saul.

Now I don’t know about you, but I’m not particularly fond of delivering bad news.  I will put it off for as long as I can.  Especially news that may get me killed.  I’m also pretty sure that Samuel wasn’t looking forward to this conversation with Saul.  The Bible tells us that “Samuel was troubled” (probably the understatement of the year) “and he cried out to the LORD all that night.” (1 Samuel 15: 11)

I don’t blame the guy.  I wouldn’t want to go tell the King that he would no longer have God’s support and was about to be dethroned.  Of course if I were in that position, I would have done a lot more than just “cry out.”  (I would be firmly in the ‘hiding under my bed’ camp.)  But Samuel was a man of action.  He was someone who trusted God totally and was willing to follow through no matter the cost.

We see in the next verse that “Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul” (1 Samuel 15: 12).

It is one thing to work up the courage to deliver news that may cost you your life.  It’s another thing to do it first thing in the morning.  I don’t even like talking to people early in the morning and here Samuel was off risking his life.

But as I said, Samuel was a man of action and trust.  So the very first thing he did was go look for Saul.  For all we know he didn’t even stop at Starbucks for some coffee.  He just acted.  There was no arguing; no waiting for the “right” time (as if telling a king God wasn’t happy with him would ever have a good time).

Samuel just got out of bed.  No procrastination, just action.

Some people don’t think the Bible is funny or that God can have a sense of humor.  But I disagree.  We see that after a full night of worrying and crying out, Samuel can’t find Saul.  He’s moved on.  All that worrying for nothing.  That’s funny!

It is also exactly like God.  He likes to push us to our limits.  Because when we reach our limits we realize we can go further.  God gave Samuel a task.  Something that was hard.  Something that may cost him is life.  And Samuel was determined to follow through with it no matter what.  Samuel could have easily said, “well I tried, but he wasn’t here.  Back to bed for me!”  But he didn’t.  Instead he went and found Saul and delivered the news.

Can I say the same about my life?  Can I look God in the eye and say, I did what you asked?  I want a life that’s filled with the same kind of trust and action that Samuel displayed.  But that doesn’t come about by wishful thinking or knowing what we should do – it only comes through action.  It only happens when we get out of bed.

A little house keeping item today. As some of you may have noticed there is now a green tree logo next to the click comments button. This was added by click comments so you can donate a dollar to charity. The charity may be perfectly acceptable, but I don’t know it. Nor do I feel comfortable lending my support to it at this time.

I want a way for you guys to interact with me without needing to send emails or opening up the comments thread. But for many, talk of faith and God is a difficult subject. A lot of us come into the conversation with painful experiences around money and giving. Sometimes we’ve trusted people in a church leadership role, only to find out they were stealing or using it for improper things.

While I’ve been fortunate enough to have never experienced that, I know that many of you have. Which is a major reason you don’t see any advertisements on this site. I don’t think God has a problem with money or wealth, but I don’t want to confuse those two issues. Maybe at some point there will be some kind of financial “system” (whatever that means!) - but if that day ever comes, it’s a long way off.

This is just a long winded way of saying I’m thinking about removing the click comments button. I asked them for a comment regarding the tree to find out if it was temporary or permanent, and they never responded. So I’m assuming it’s permanent.

The bottom line is this: if you like the click comments button let me know. If you don’t like it, let me know as well. If no one says anything, I’ll take the indifference as, well, indifference, and in that case I’ll just remove the tool.

So go ahead, let me know what you think of the button either by clicking on it or leaving a comment in this thread. (Fun = Keep; I disagree = We lose it)

Thanks.

Getting stuff and having things isn’t bad. 

Being consumed with getting stuff and having things is. 

Right now people are tapped out.  They are spent financially, emotionally, and for many, relationally.  How can it be otherwise?  We are constantly told that we need more to fill our lives.  That no matter what we have it isn’t enough, or it’s not the right size.  So we go out and try to lose more weight, or buy more gadgets, or have more dating relationships.  But it’s never enough.  We need more. 

Frankly that’s a tough place to be because the more we embrace a consumerist mindset, the more we believe we have a right to wealth, prosperity, and happiness.  And now that we might not be able to get our next fix, we’re terrified. 

As much as I wish it were true, God never promised that just because we beleive in him, everything will be fine.  In fact, just the opposite may be true.  It seems that the closer you get to God, the more likely “bad” things are going to happen.  Of course that’s only if you define “bad” as not getting gadgets, toys, and pay raises.  Losing our toys may be annoying, losing our jobs may be difficult, losing our lives may be unfortunate.  But losing our souls?  Devastating.   

The thing is, God can still use each of us.  God still wants to be in a relationship with us.  No matter how far we’ve fallen into debt.  No matter how bad the country’s (or world’s) economy looks, there’s always something we can be doing for God.  There is always a way to advance the Kingdom.

And where the Kingdom advances, there is hope.