significance

We all want our lives to count for something. When our days come to an end we want to know that we made a difference. We want to know that our time on earth wasn’t wasted. We long for significance. The problem is that we tend to get the concept of greatness upside down. We think greatness and significance means that we wield power and authority, but Jesus taught that in the kingdom of God it’s the opposite.

Jesus said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10:42-44, NIV). 

Do you want your life to be noteworthy? Give yourself to others in sacrificial love and service in the name of Christ. Then your life will be significant, not only for today, but for eternity.

overworked and underappreciated

This week I read about a young mother who sat with her almost four-year-old son on her lap and told him he was going to have a new baby brother soon. She explained that he could hold the baby’s bottle, bring a clean diaper when needed, and push the baby carriage. He finally got off her lap, stood in front of her and very seriously said, “And what are you going to be doing while I do all the work?”

Seriously, we know that moms are overworked and underappreciated, but for at least one day of the year we want to express to you our deep gratitude and appreciation for all that you do. You are the glue that holds our homes together. You are an anchor when we are wavering. You are our friend when we feel alone and betrayed. You are a reflection of our Savior’s love and grace. You teach us of God’s forgiveness and His unconditional love.

We, the beneficiaries of your breathtaking care and devotion, have so much that we want to say, but lack the words to adequately express all that is in our hearts. It will have to suffice to say, “Thank you for being who you are. You are loved.”

three dark days

There are few times in the life of a church that are as filled with joy as Easter. There’s something remarkable that happens when people who have had an encounter with a risen Christ and have found their lives being transformed by His grace come together and celebrate the day Christ conquered death. The joy is palpable because the resurrection reminds us that we who were dead are now alive. It’s an exciting time for us, but have you ever thought about how the disciples must have felt during the three days and three nights when Jesus’ lifeless body was lying in a cold, dark tomb guarded by Roman soldiers? We can tolerate Jesus’ suffering because we know the end of the story, but that wasn’t true for those who walked the dusty roads of Palestine with their beloved rabbi. For them, all they knew was that the one in whom they had placed all of their hope for the future had been railroaded by a sham trial and butchered by the barbaric Romans. All of their dreams for the future had been tied to this man and now he was dead…and so were their dreams. All the time wasted arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom seemed silly now. How could there be a kingdom if there is no king? All the miracles that had been performed seemed pointless. The one who had walked in power that was beyond their comprehension had been murdered. Placing their hope in this man now seemed, at best, misguided. The joy of knowing Jesus had evaporated.

The fact is, Jesus had told them repeatedly that he was going to suffer and die. He had explained to them over and over again that His kingdom was not of this world. He had tried to help them see that this had all been planned before time began. He tried to reassure them that after He suffered humiliation and death that He would rise from the dead on the third day, but they never understood it, perhaps because they were so busy denying that he would die in the first place. Regardless, they lived a grim existence devoid of hope for three days and three nights.

Like the disciples, there are times in life when we find ourselves in a place filled with darkness, gloom, and despair. What may have started out as a beautiful, hope-filled day turned bleak and desolate in an instant. Maybe the anguish descended after a conversation with your doctor and the news was not good. Maybe it came because the one person you thought you could trust thrust the knife of betrayal deep into your back and twisted it for good measure. Maybe the agony came because you’re facing a mountain of financial problems so large that it seems an exercise in futility to attempt to scale it. Maybe the sorrow came because the one you love decided to walk out the door, leaving you with a broken heart and a life bursting with worry and uncertainty. Your joy may have vanished like a morning fog that’s been burned away by the midday sun. Depression and anxiety may have descended upon you like a shadowy, foreboding cloud. Like the disciples, it may seem that any expectation for a brighter tomorrow has melted away and evaporated like an ice cube on the sidewalk on a sweltering summer day.

The good news is that the disciples' story didn't end there and neither does our’s. The three days of pain, disillusionment, and confusion that the disciples endured must have seemed like an eternity to them…but then came Sunday. Jesus rose from the dead. When He came back to life, He breathed new life into the disciples. Suddenly, the hope that had died was alive again because Jesus was alive. Suddenly, the joy that had melted away came rushing back into their souls because Jesus was alive. Suddenly, the future that had become so bleak was now brighter than they had ever imagined because Jesus was alive.

The resurrection of Jesus has the same power for us. He is alive. He has conquered our sin and vanquished the grave. That knowledge restores our joy when we are discouraged. That knowledge fills us with hope when circumstances seem impossible. That knowledge assures us of our future no matter what may happen to us in this life. Even when we walk through the valley of despair, faith is still alive because Jesus is alive. No matter what sorrows may befall us in this life, we gain strength knowing that it is only temporary and we are not forsaken. The one who overpowered death, hell, and our sins is walking with us. Hold on to Jesus. He will not leave you alone.

burden bearers

We have all had those moments when life was easy and full of joy. We have also experienced episodes when life brought burdens that seemed more than we could bear. The truth is, we were never meant to bear those burdens alone. In Galatians 6:2, Paul writes, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” During the times when a person’s life become cruel and they begin to stagger under the weight, it is the responsibility of every other member of the body of Christ to swoop down and be used of God to liberate that person from the relentless heaviness that threatens to engulf their soul.

Look around you today. Who do you know that is beginning to bend beneath a load of trouble and anxiety? Who is carrying the burden of a wounded heart? Who is enduring the ache of loss? Who is stumbling as they try to persist in their pursuit of Christ? Who needs words of strength and encouragement?

Answer those questions and then answer the most important one: How can I bear their burden?

three words

It’s amazing how powerful three simple words can be. “I love you” provides fertile soil for a lifelong relationship to grow. “I am sorry” can restore a broken relationship. “I was wrong” can open a door for growth and learning. “We are home” can cause an explosion of joy after a long journey. “Don’t give up” can fill a discouraged heart with determination. “I am lost” can cause a man to do the unthinkable and ask for directions. “Dinner is ready” can motivate an inert teenager to suddenly move with the speed and grace of an Olympic athlete.

There is no doubt that words can have an immediate and vigorous impact, but there are three words that carry such force that all other words pale in comparison. These three words change everything. These three words bring an explosion of joy and hope within the soul. These three words give weary people the strength to carry on. These three words carry the weight of eternity. These three words allow peace to settle upon a heart filled with confusion and pain. These three words changed the course of human history. What are these three words?

Jesus…is…alive!

the hug that saved my life

A couple of weeks ago I had an interesting experience. My youth pastor and I were preparing to leave the church office to visit someone in the hospital. As we were exiting the building, we paused briefly to inform the office staff of our anticipated whereabouts. Just then a wonderful young woman of God named Lauren Cribb stepped into the office from a door on the opposite side of the room and greeted Pastor Steve and myself. I almost walked out the door before I realized that she was walking across the office to give each of us a hug before we left. I paused for three or four seconds, collected my hug, and then we were out the door.

We walked out to my car, slid into our seats, fastened our seatbelts, started the car, and we were on our way. As we were driving, we approached an intersection that had stop signs for the cross traffic. As we neared the intersection, a car blew past the stop sign and drove halfway through the intersection before the driver realized what was happening and managed to stop the vehicle.

My first reaction was to remark about how careless the driver was and how he should really slow down on small side streets. (Okay, what I said wasn’t that nice-sounding. I probably made some comment about the driver's level of intelligence, but I have since repented.) As I was speaking, I suddenly realized that being delayed for our hug was what kept us from being in that intersection when that car ran the stop sign. So, I offer my thanks to Lauren for giving me a hug that saved my life.

Alright…I know I'm being overly dramatic. I don’t really know what would have happened to me physically if we had been in a collision with that car. I can’t say that it would have ended my life, but I’m absolutely confident that it wouldn’t have been pretty. If we had been three or four seconds farther along on our trip, he would have plowed into my driver’s side door at a high enough rate of speed that I would have been badly injured in the very least. The collision was avoided because of the time it took to receive a hug.

That got me to thinking (which in and of itself is a dangerous proposition). I began to wonder how many times God has spared me from something that would have brought me pain – whether physical or emotional – by sending someone or allowing some circumstance into my path that in one way or another helped me avoid disaster. I wonder if there have been times when my car wouldn’t start and I chalked it up to aggravating happenstance, but it was actually the mercy of God keeping me out of harm’s way. I wonder if there have times when I was frustrated by another person’s “slowness” when it was actually the hand of God steering me toward safety. I wonder if there has ever been a moment when someone cut me off in traffic and I responded with a barrage of anger directed at the driver, when it was actually God impeding my progress to keep me away from danger. I may never know, but it causes me to stop and give Him thanks for His mercy, even if there are times I am desperately unaware of it.

The flip side of the coin is this: God can use each of us to cause another person to veer out of the path of danger – whether it’s physical, emotional, or spiritual danger. What if God wants me to give someone a hug because He knows it will help remind that person that they are loved by their Creator? What if one of your friends is about to give up and God sends you with a word of encouragement to derail the locomotive of discouragement? What if someone is hurting and God sends you to be a salve of healing as you embrace them with your heart?

This is why it’s so important for us to cultivate sensitivity to the whisper of the Spirit. Listen for His voice and offer what you have to Him. It may seem small and insignificant to you, but He delights in taking things that are small and insignificant and doing marvelous miracles with them. He can use something as simple as a smile, a card, a handshake, a word of encouragement, or a hug. Whatever it is, don’t hesitate to give it away in Christ’s name. You never know…your hug might just save someone’s life.

aren't you tired?

Aren't you tired of the status quo? Aren’t you tired of just going through the motions? Aren’t you tired of hearing about the depths of God’s love, mercy, grace, and power, without ever experiencing any of those things in your life? Aren’t you tired of having your soul stirred by the Spirit of God without seeing any life-change? Aren’t you tired of chasing after the things of this world as if they will bring satisfaction to your soul? Aren’t you tired of pursuing things that wear out, get broken, or are lost or stolen? Aren’t you tired of talking about Jesus, but never talking with Him? Aren’t you tired of wearing your mask every time you come to church in order to make sure that no one sees how broken you really are inside? Aren’t you tired of carrying your burdens alone? Aren’t you tired of bearing the guilt of hearing truth, but never putting it into action? Aren’t you tired of living with that nagging feeling that your life isn’t having any eternal impact? Aren’t you tired of playing church? 

I am. I’m pressing in. There’s more than this.

the most dangerous prayer in the world

Jesus made our mission clear to us when He told us to “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (Matthew 28:19–20, NLT). There is no doubt that we have been called by God and commissioned by Him to carry the message of the cross of Christ to the entire world.

That idea, however, can be a bit overwhelming. How can we possibly do that? There are so many people in the world, so how can we possibly hope to even make a dent in the task of making disciples of all nations? Jesus answered that question in Acts 1:8 when He told His disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 (NLT).

When Jesus said this to his followers, they were in Jerusalem. He was saying, “I want you to start at home.” God wants us to start with the people closest to you, right here in your own community. Then he said to go to Judea and Samaria. He broadens the scope to a larger area geographically, but the Samaritans were different culturally and racially. God wants us to go to people who are different from us. Then he said, “I want you to go to the ends of the earth.”

God is building a family of people who love and trust Him that are going to spend eternity with Him. He wants family members from every nation. One day all believers are going to be gathered together in heaven. This is not mission impossible; this is mission inevitable. It’s going to happen. That has been God’s plan all along.

Here’s the amazing part: God has chosen us to complete the mission. God wants us to finish the mission that Jesus Christ started when He came to earth. Being on this mission is the greatest privilege we’ll ever be given. We have the privilege to be in on making history, that’s what it is all about.

Love demands I move beyond my comfort zone to people with different background, different education, different language, and different economics. Our mission has such eternal consequences, heaven and hell, that we must be willing to risk anything to get the message out. If I had the cure for cancer, I can tell you for certain that I would be shouting it on the street. I would do whatever was necessary to make sure that everyone knew. It would be criminal to keep it a secret. The truth is that I have something even more important than that – the way to eternal life. Somebody cared enough to tell me; I’ve got to be caring enough to tell others.

The question for us is: Is anybody going to be in heaven because of me? When you get to heaven, is anyone going to say thank you for telling me the Good News? In the next 365 days, 2.4 million Americans will die, and most of them will go into eternity without Jesus Christ. In the next 365 days, 54 million people in the world will die, and most of them will go into eternity without Jesus Christ. If we care, we must share.

There are four possible responses to the call of God to fulfill his purpose in your time. You can respond like Moses and say, “Who me?” You can respond like Jonah and say, “Not me.” You can respond like Habakkuk and say, “Why me?” Or you can respond like Isaiah and say, “Send me.” Acts 13:38 says that “David served God’s purposes in his own time.” My prayer is that we will serve God’s purpose in our time. I can’t think of a better thing to have on your tombstone. Here’s the test to know if you have completed your mission or not: Are you still alive? If you’re still alive, your mission is not completed. There is nothing more important than doing what God put us on earth to do.

The most dangerous prayer you can pray is “I surrender to you, God…use me.” I dare you to say it. It will change your life. Place your life in his hand, even if you think you have nothing to offer. Little becomes much when you place it in the Master’s hand.

pressing forward

We are living in an amazing day! As we stand on the verge of another new year and look back even at the past two hundred years, we realize that we have been witness to some of the greatest (and fastest) changes in the history of the world. One hundred years ago it was unthinkable that we could travel at the speed of sound, put a man on the moon, make popcorn in seconds, and carry a library full of books on your phone. Seeing how things have changed, it’s actually comical to look back at what some people were saying about “new” technologies that have become commonplace today. Listen to what some were saying.

“What can be more palpably absurd than the prospect held out of locomotives traveling twice as fast as stagecoaches?” 

(The Quarterly Review, 1825)

“While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially, I consider it an impossibility, a development of which we need not waste time dreaming.” 

(Lee Deforest, scientist and inventor, 1926)

“As a means of rapid transit, aerial navigation could not 

begin to compete with the railroad.” 

(William Baxter, Jr., Popular Science, 1901)

“The ordinary ‘horseless carriage’ is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the near future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle.” 

(The Literary Digest, 1889)

While the people who said these things were most assuredly intelligent, well educated men, they were not visionaries. They had a small view of the future. Too often, the church falls under the same spell as these men. We have a small view of the future. Our past can easily cloud our view of the future and make it difficult to believe that there are greater things on the horizon. The words of Paul speak directly to us about this.

Philippians 3:13–14 (NLT) - I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Paul had a laser-like focus. His goal was to forget the past and press on toward the future. Paul had made plenty of mistakes in his past. He was well acquainted with sin. In fact, at one point in time he declared that he was the chief of sinners. He was full of arrogance. He had actively hunted down and persecuted Christians. He had even gone so far as participating in the brutal murder of Stephen. Paul, however, was not going to let that stand in the way of God’s plan for his life. He had found the grace of God that was greater than all of his sins and he was determined to walk in that grace instead of any sort of self-imposed penance.

But that’s not all Paul was leaving behind. The interesting thing about Paul is that there were parts of his past that would make any man proud. He had a wonderful family lineage that would capture the respect and admiration of any first century Hebrew. He was a very learned man. He had chosen early on in life to make every effort to follow the God of Israel and observed Jewish religious laws astutely. Paul knew that all of his past accomplishments actually stood in the way of becoming all that God wanted him to be. He laid aside all of his past successes so they wouldn’t blind him to his great need for Jesus and to the future God had planned for his life.

Paul wasted no time dwelling on the past. Instead, he focused all of his attention on the greater blessings that were yet to come. He wasn’t imprisoned by the sins of his past, nor was he satisfied with the accomplishments and accolades of days gone by. He knew that as long has he drew breath on this planet that God had something more for him and he was single-minded in his pursuit of Christ.

As we head into a new year, let’s take our cue from Paul. Let’s refuse to give the past our time, attention, and energy. God has great plans for the future, but if we’re living in the past we’ll never experience the glories of His future. Let’s press forward and grab hold of everything He has set before us. As we do, all I can say is, “Look out 2011! Here we come!”

the perfect gift

What is your favorite Christmas memory? No doubt that question causes a flood of memories from days gone by to fill your mind. Most of us recall the simpler days of youth when Christmas meant you got a vacation from school and Christmas presents (hopefully lots of them). Those were the days when your greatest worry was that the package you were excitedly tearing into would contain something horribly unsatisfying like underwear. I mean, really, who gives underwear for Christmas? (Yes, I did receive underwear for Christmas…more than once…but I’m getting counseling.)
In spite of the seemingly irresistible urge by some family members to inundate me with undergarments, I have many wonderful memories of Christmas past. I remember the year that I found my parent’s stash of gifts that they had hidden in their closet. I went back several times trying to figure out which gifts belonged to me. (By the way, I did an excellent job of acting surprised when I opened the gifts on Christmas day.) I recall the many sleepless Christmas Eve nights listening to the radio as they “tracked” Santa flying around the globe. It was so hard to sleep knowing that in a few hours I was going to open the gifts that had relentlessly taunted me with their existence for weeks. I remember waking up ridiculously early every Christmas morning and doing all that I could to wake my parents gently so as not to start the day by incurring the wrath of sleep-deprived progenitors. I remember the torture of our family’s tradition of taking turns to open gifts so that everyone could see what everyone else got. Let me be honest, I didn’t much care about what my brothers and sister got for Christmas. I only wanted to know what was in my Christmas packages. It was agony waiting for my turn to come around again, but it was good for me.

I’ll never forget the year our family Christmas tree had become a bit dilapidated and needed a little help to stand up straight. My dad, being the resourceful man that he is, grabbed a present and put it between the wall and the tree to force it into a fully upright position. The thing is, nobody knew what he had done and on Christmas morning he forgot it was there. A few days later, we kids noticed the resplendent radiance of another Christmas present shimmering through the sparse branches of the decrepit tree. We pulled it out and, low and behold, it had my name on it. I was honestly afraid that my parents were going to make me wait until the next Christmas to open it. I mean, it’s against the law to open Christmas gifts on any other day than Christmas, right? But, to my pleasant surprise and immense relief, my parents let me open it. It was like Christmas all over again…at least for me. That was a great year.

As I grew older, Christmas started to change for me. After I got my first job working at Sonic Drive-In (love the onion rings), I had the resources to actually buy gifts for people, so my older brother and I decided that we would purchase a microwave together for our mom. Today, microwave ovens are cheap and considered to be an indispensable tool in the kitchen, but in those days they were a bit of a luxury item and, due to the fact that it was a relatively new technology, they were very expensive. My brother and I bought our mom a top-of-the-line microwave that cost us nearly $450. On Christmas morning, we covered it with a blanket, carried it into the living room, and, after a short speech, we unveiled it for her. I remember it as if it happened yesterday. My mom looked at the gift and started crying. She couldn’t believe it. That year changed everything for me. That was the year that I discovered the truth in the words attributed to Jesus in Acts 20:35 when He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” That was the year that I discovered that the joy of Christmas is found in giving, not receiving.

Christmas is a celebration of the fact that God, out of His heart of love, gave His Son, Jesus, to redeem us from the clutches of sin. Christmas is a celebration of the fact that the Father gives us life instead of the death that we so richly deserve. Christmas is a time for us to respond to God’s generosity by being generous with others. Christmas is a time for us to give because we have received. But most of all, Christmas is a time for us to respond to God’s great gift in the only way that makes any sense – by giving ourselves to Him. Paul said it like this:
Romans 12:1 (NLT) - And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
So, as you “hustle and bustle” your way through this Christmas season searching for the perfect gifts to give to the people you love, don’t forget the One who has been supernaturally generous with you. You have within your power to give Him the perfect gift. The one thing Jesus really wants for Christmas is you. As far as He is concerned, that’s the perfect gift.