My Great Elopement With Jesus: March 2017

Monday, March 27, 2017

2 Samuel 11:11-13

Okay so if you don't know the context of these verses, they make absolutely no sense. Basically, David was being a dumb guy and he didn't go out to war when everyone was supposed to. Instead he sent all his men out to fight and stayed home. In verse 2 of chapter 11 we're told that David got out of his bed one evening and went walking on the roof. Now honestly what on earth was he doing? David was definitely not in the place that he should have been. I don't know how he rationalized staying home from the war, but I'm sure he was convinced in his own mind that it was a good idea. That night he saw a woman bathing and long story short he ended up getting her pregnant. Instead of owning up to his mistakes, David tried to hide them. He called the woman's husband home from the war and tried to send him home to her to cover up his sin. Potentially he could trick the man into thinking that the baby was his and ta-da! David's mistake would go away for forever. Unfortunately for David, God doesn't let us hide our sins by covering them with bandaids. Uziah, the man who's wife David got pregnant, was probably one of the coolest guys in the Bible. He got a night off of war but he chose to stay uncomfortable to be in unity with his fellow soldiers. What a guy, honestly. Rest is needed, we all get tired and need a day off. But, Uziah knew that his day off was when the rest of the army got to go home. He didn't quit early and enjoy a night at home even when he could have. The self control that that must have taken is insane.

Mark 1:35

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.”

Its pretty well known that I don’t like mornings. My poor family had to deal with it for almost 18 years as each morning I would wake up and glare at anyone who tried to have a conversation with me. My mom once told me that everyone had decided to not talk to me for the first hour after I came out of my room. Yikes. Honestly, it’s the dumbest thing. I mean, what reason do I really have to wake up and immediately be mad? The Lord’s mercies are new every morning and that alone is reason to have a good attitude about being awake. But if I’m being totally honest, I think the biggest reason why I hated mornings so much was because of their focus on me. I didn’t want to wake up, so I snoozed my alarm as many times as possible. I didn’t want to face the responsibilities of that day so I stayed in bed until I absolutely could not avoid getting up. I didn’t want to be real with people so I used social media as a way of escape before I even got out of bed. The list could go on, but that’d be boring. My point is that my mornings were so filled with self that I could never just enjoy the life the Lord gave me. The joy I should have had wasn’t there simply because my eyes were on myself and not my Lord. Doing a devo every day was a habit before Ignite, but it was never ever done early in the morning. Ever. And considering that in my house, 7 people live together, “desolate place” is a foreign concept to me. No matter which room you’re in, at least one other person could walk in at any second. However, since being in Ignite, the Lord has been changing my heart towards mornings. While I still don’t like them and would rather start my day later, I now see value in being up early in order to spend time with the Lord. For any reason other than being with Jesus, I still think being up early is dumb. But like I said, there is value in waking up to spend time with the Lord before your day starts and the benefits of that far outweigh the cost of losing some sleep.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

Yikes. Where do I even start? Okay, so I’m gonna do my best to break this down in a way that sort of makes sense but honestly who knows how this will go down. First things first. We’re all running a race. For Christians, the race is run on the path that God chose for us. He set up the track and the dates of the race, all we have to do is show up and stay on the path. Now, running isn’t passive or lazy. When we run, it has to be a whole-hearted effort. No half-hearted running allowed! Correct me if I’m wrong, but, to run a race and not try to win is a waste of time. It doesn’t make any sense to enter a race and then not give it your all and try to win the prize. For Christians running the race, what is the prize you’re trying to obtain? Paul tells us that our goal is not a perishable crown made by human hands but an imperishable crown in heaven. I think the coolest thing about these crowns is that they aren’t going to stay with us in heaven, we get to throw them back down at the feet of Jesus, giving Him all the glory and honor for what He has done. Because, while we may be given a crown… it wasn’t really our strength or efforts that allowed us to obtain it. So, to keep it for ourselves makes no sense. Okay and then we’re told that Paul doesn’t run with uncertainty. He knows the steps he has to take, the obstacles he’s going to deal with, and what’s waiting for him at the other side. The fact that Paul kept running the race is pretty incredible, honestly. Life for him was kind of awful a lot of the time. And yet he saw the eternal perspective of his sufferings in a way that allowed him to have joy and peace that couldn’t be explained in earthly terms. He knew how to be uncomfortable and still have joy. His life preached the gospel whether he was comfortable or uncomfortable, safe or unsafe.

1 Timothy 4:8

“For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

Honestly this verse is just so practical, its amazing and a bit ridiculous. So last night 3 of the guys were working out and yeah, that effort is going to profit them. Their bodies will be stronger and healthier because of the work put in to build up muscle and the endorphins that kicked in made their moods temporarily go up. The effects of working out are ones that you generally want. But, when they’re old men sitting in their rocking chairs on the front porch, is the exercise they do now going to serve them? Probably not. As much as they hate to admit it, by that time their bodies will be weaker and not able to do what they do now. But what I do know is that these guys aren’t just seeking to build up their physical bodies. They are seeking the Lord and storing their treasures up in heaven before they ever think of working out. So, while the physical exercise is good… the godly character they are building is the more profitable thing. Those 75 year old men will still be able to draw from the spiritual lessons they’re learning right now. So what does this mean for my life? I don’t really like working out so its not like there’s some huge danger of that becoming an idol in my life. But, there are plenty of other things that I love doing that require time and energy to be good at. For example, I love painting. But if I don’t do it regularly my ability to do it well goes down. I have a choice to make. Take the time I have to pour into painting or take that time to draw closer to the Lord. Again, I am not saying that having hobbies is sinful. But motives behind these things can be. So if you work out, do it in a way that honors the Lord. When I paint, it needs to be to honor the Lord. Because, if these things are done for the sake of me… they’re pretty much useless.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Philippians 3:11

“…If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

The longer I do daily IBS’s the more I am convinced that the essence of the simple gospel is the most important thing. I’ve always known it, but complex doctrine definitely interested me a lot more than simply knowing Jesus more. I would do random word studies for fun or read different peoples’ opinions on certain doctrinal issues just to see different sides to things. While there is nothing wrong with knowing these things, it is so easy to get caught up in the details that you forget who they point to. Its almost like using a microscope to look at Van Goh’s “Stary Night (is that how its spelled?)” Yes, you’re going to learn a lot about the tiny little brush strokes and how the paint blends together but you’ll never experience the beauty of the full picture. What a tragedy to never just sit back and enjoy the beauty and splendor of the big picture. In Philippians 3:11 Paul and Timothy are saying that there is no price too high for the sake of following Jesus. Not that there is no price too high for Calvinism, arminianism, old earth theology, or any of the million other things the church divides over. “Any means” is a statement that covers everything. It includes leaving home, your comfort zone, family, friends, job security, etc. “Any means” includes persecution and tribulations. Resurrection from the dead is Christianity’s war cry because if the victory over death has already been won, no other victory is impossible.

Philippians 3:10

“…That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…”

This verse has two aspects to it. In the first half you see this incredible victory that was given to Christ when He resurrected. He defeated death once and for all, not just for Himself but for humanity. No longer is death and end but merely a beginning. Death in the law meant separation for eternity, but through Christ it is the beginning of perfect communion with God. God is just. This is so evident even in that Christ’s death is the only substitute for our sin. His perfection is just that: perfect. If perfection is the standard then the only thing that can be offered in our stead must be perfect. I feel like this makes no sense, so to sum it up… Perfection is the requirement. We can’t offer that, so Christ came to offer the only thing good enough: His perfection. I know I’ve said this a million times, but the power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. We belong to that same God! Okay, second half of the verse doesn’t really have the same mood. But its still so important! When we suffer for the Lord, we are not left on our own to wallow in a self-righteous misery. He meets us in the wilderness with words of promise and comfort. Yes, suffering is inevitable. If we are passionately pursuing the Lord, we will experience it. But that doesn’t mean that we are being punished for that time we messed up. Suffering is how we are “conformed to His death.” When we know what it is to die with Him, we can know what it is to live with Him. Through death comes true life.

Philippians 3:9

“…And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”

This verse reminds me of chapter 11 of Hebrews. This chapter is well known as the hall of faith which is fitting since, well, its all about people’s faith in God. The second verse of Hebrews 11 tells us that it was by faith the elders obtained a good testimony, not by their righteous works or obedience to the law. The God of the Old Testament is the exact same God of the New Testament, so just as it was Abrahams faith that was accounted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6), our faith in Jesus is what makes us righteous. It is a humbling thing to have God show you your lack of righteousness. We know in our heads that there is nothing good in us, but to have that knowledge become a reality is completely different. Everything in our human nature wants to do it on our own and prove how capable we really are. We act as if going to church and doing outreaches is enough to live up to God’s standards of perfection. But to give up even trying to acquire righteous and taking Christ’s gift of righteousness instead is the ultimate sacrifice of control. You aren’t just giving up your ability to be enough, you’re giving up your ability to pretend to be good enough for God. Once you’ve accepted Christ’s righteousness, all masks have to be dropped. Deceiving yourself is no longer an option as your own sin is revealed to you. Pretending to be anything other than what you are with other people isn’t possible. Being real becomes the only option.

Philippians 3:8

“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ…”

Giving things up for the sake of knowing Jesus is something everyone in Ignite has been learning how to do. We all left our normal lives to live a radical one for a year(but the idea is that this radical life will never end). A prime example of giving something up is giving up ownership of our personalities. I realized today how much we’ve all changed since we first got here and how much more we’re going to change during our 6 months of field time. For me personally, I was so sure that who I was is who I would be for the rest of my life. I acted like God isn’t big enough to change me and mold me into His image. “Me” became what was normal. But now I have no clue what normal is for me. I don’t know what personality traits make up “me” anymore. I used to know, but God has completely stripped me of all of it. When I surrendered my life to God’s plan, part of that was giving up my right to define myself. I am not what I think I am or what I define myself as. I am a child of the God who made the heavens and the earth. I am chosen and accepted only by the power of His blood. He knew me and set me apart before I was even born in order to love and serve Him. In light of what he has declared me to be, how dare I try to decide that I’m something else? To live as anything other than what He has made me to be is the biggest tragedy I could ever cause. Nothing else would leave me as lost and purposeless. So yeah, Jesus gets to define me. Not me. Because I just mess it all up.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Amos 3:3

“Can two walk together unless they are agreed?”

Well, the answer is no. Two cannot walk this life together unless they are agreed. In order for a team of two to function properly, they have to have a common goal. If they are going different directions, unity will be broken. This should never be found in the church since we have the same God. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have in Costa Rica with Abby to get a taste of what it is to be committed to one person, serving the Lord and just doing life together. Honestly, I know how I like to do things and I know why I like to do them the way I do. But, I think a big part of walking in agreement is realizing that the thing that unifies us is more important than the method of completing the work we are doing. For example, does it really matter what craft you do with the kids during church as long as Jesus’ name is proclaimed? If our goal is to teach a truth about Jesus, the little details should be things we are flexible on and hold loosely. Yes, serving the Lord faithfully is what we aim to do, its why we’re in Ignite, but if He isn’t our one thing then we aren’t serving Him. The vision of what I want or what I think should happen is something that should never be held with white knuckles. Holding onto my ideas/vision/methods/etc will only cause tension where it doesn’t need to be. Being “right” is something I need to be ready to sacrifice for the sake of unity. We serve the same God, we are heading to the same place, that is enough to walk unified.

Matthew 18:15

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.”

Every single time field time is brought up, interpersonal conflict is the next thing to be talked about. I don’t think any of us expected to always get along perfectly, but I none of us came here thinking “wow, I just can’t wait to fight with my teammates!” But, considering that we aren’t perfect, expecting perfection is really not realistic. Looking for sin is foolish but so is expecting it to not be there. Working through conflict in a godly way is so difficult because just about all the time, it means dying to self and putting on new life in Christ. In the heat of the moment, there is nothing I want less than to give up my rights and be the peacemaker. Especially if I’m convinced that I’m right. In the flesh, giving up my rights is humiliating and completely ridiculous. My nature says to stand up for what I want and think with ever fiber of my being. But man, when I’m walking in the Spirit and I choose to just do as He says, the outcome is incredible. Instead of the problem becoming even bigger, it is worked through and unity is rebuilt. Now, I don’t expect to be able to just start living this verse out perfectly. It would definitely be nice, but that’s not how life works. But, what I can do is ask the Lord to teach me to humbly go to the one who has wronged me and work through the problem before it gets bigger. This cannot be done in my own strength but in the strength that God offers to those who trust in Him.

2 Corinthians 13:11

“Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”

I like to fight. Arguing is a hobby of mine and if I can start a debate, I will. For a very long time I only used this ability to debate any topic imaginable for evil. If you give me a side, its not hard for me to argue that side passionately. I fought with everyone about everything and I enjoyed it. My stubbornness is through the roof at times and it makes me someone that I wouldn’t really like. Even though I knew it wasn’t godly, my attitude made an appearance as often as possible for years. But here I am told to live in peace. In one of the psalms (I think) we are encouraged to seek peace and pursue it. Peace is not something that just happens, it has to be cultivated and fought for. Wait, fight for peace? That doesn’t sound right. Bear with me for a second, though. Our nature is to divide and be at odds with one another and with Christ. Left on our own, we fight. What if instead of fighting each other and God, we fight against our sin nature? The victory has already been won, but the daily battles still have to be fought. Choose your battles. Fight against the temptation to sin and instead live for the Lord.

Romans 12:16

“Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.”

The body of Christ is relationship based. Without relationship, there is no body. But, as fallen humans we like to mess things up as much as possible. Because we have an enemy who hates unity, the attacks on the church are, more often than not, divisive. If the devil can pit us against each other, he has already won the war. A church united terrifies him, but when its divided it can’t do much against him. In verse 15 of chapter 12, Paul tells us to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Clearly, we must look beyond ourselves to do this. We have to look far enough outside of self that we are able to empathize with one another to the point of feeling their joy and pain in our own lives. Be of the same mind. Love the same God. Have the same goal. Be unified. Sounds simple enough until you read the next two verses and think about why they’re there. “Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble.” Well, there goes any and all ideas of elitism or Christianity only being for the scholarly. The saving gospel is simple. When we start to embellish or add fluff to what God has proclaimed to be true, we make Him out to be a liar by saying that what He did isn’t enough. Associating with the humble should not be a problem for Christians because we know the truth that we are all equal at the foot of the cross, we all need Jesus just as much as the next person. So why is it so hard to associate with the humble? Probably because we are wise in our own opinions. We fail to remember the magnitude of our own failure in light of God’s holiness. This generation is not without hope, the same God who created everything by speaking it into existence is alive today. Let us pray for revival in this world!

Matthew 20:26-28

“Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

A lot of the basic principles seem completely backward. How could being a servant make you great? How could being a slave make you first in the kingdom? How on earth could giving your life away allow you to gain eternal life? In an earthly mindset, this is completely backwards and illogical. But, maybe that’s the point. We know that our fallen minds cannot fully grasp the mysteries of God, and this just proves it. I am reminded of the verse that says it is better to give than to receive and how it really doesn’t make any sense and yet it is shown to be true when we actually live it out. The majority of these principles go against what our human nature wants, but man, the blessings that come from denying your flesh far outweigh the initial sacrifice it seems to be! Our example is Jesus, we want our lives to look like His did. But that doesn’t mean everyone is going to like us, life is easy, and then we get rewarded in heaven for living a good life. Press on, my friends. Dying to self isn’t easy but it is not something you’ll ever regret doing.

Luke 17:7-10

“And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”

Oh man, I see so much humility required to live out these verses. If I live these out, I don’t live for myself. I don’t get to demand anything in return for what I do or even feel pride that I accomplished so much. There is a common saying among Christians, “dead men have no rights,” and I think that it sums up this verse pretty well. When Jesus died, we became forever indebted to Him. Accepting Him into your heart is signing your life away and giving it to someone greater than you are. We can never truly pay Him back for what He did, but He asks for our heart and that seems reasonable to me in light of eternity. The only thing we have to offer is our heart and with our heart comes our life. We are no longer free to live as we please because we are “slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:18). Slaves have no rights, what their master commands they do or they suffer the consequences. American Christians seem to have a really hard time with this concept. We treasure freedom and the ability to choose what we want so much that it affects our relationship with the Lord. Instead of being Christians who live in America, we become Americans who are also Christians. We forget who is really in control and holds everything together by His power. I know I bring this verse up all the time, but in Romans 12:1 it says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” It is a reasonable thing to become a living sacrifice, fully submitted to the Lord.

John12:26

John 12:26

“If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”

Following is so simple in theory. Kids like to play follow the leader and honestly its one of the simplest games you can imagine, you don’t have to be creative or intelligent. There’s no independence or planning out the next step you’re going to take. You simply do what the leader is doing. That isn’t exactly how walking with Jesus is, but there are similarities. As messy humans, we like to complicate everything but in reality, the power is in the simple gospel, not complex doctrine. Actually, all the basic principles of being a Christian are simple. Something I’ve been learning the past week or so is that to simply love Jesus is the most important thing. More than our actions He wants our full devotion. Out of that devoted love stems the obedience to follow, but without the love, the following is just an empty action. C.S. Lewis said, “But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him, everything else thrown in.” When you follow Him with your whole heart, you get to be a part of amazing things. Just this last week the girls from Ignite got to see girls we had never met come to Christ. We were obedient to follow where the Lord led and because of that obedience, we got to see Him move. It wasn’t our amazing talents or gifts, but a desire to see the Lord use our obedience. Sure, being there required sacrifice. We gave up the home we’ve been at for two months and all of its comforts for smaller rooms, different beds, and earlier than normal mornings. But, we followed where God led and got to see Him use us in ways we could never have imagined. Following where the Lord leads is more than worth it.