Courage En

“Christians are like the several flowers in a garden that have each of them the dew of Heaven, which, being shaken with the wind, they let fall at each other’s roots, whereby they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other.” – John Bunyan

One great purpose of God in comforting us is so that we can bring comfort to others. Often, we never receive the comfort God wants to give us, because He wants to give it to us through another person.  Pride often keeps us from revealing our needs to others, so we never receive the comfort God would give us through them.

Proverbs 27:17 tells us that “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” When reading this proverb, it’s important to understand that in the sharpening of iron with iron, both change…the sharpener and the sharpenee, if you will. When we encourage those around us, the result is encouragement for ourselves. When we offer comfort to those around us, we are comforted by the fullness of God’s love in freely giving what we have freely received.

Have you encouraged someone this week?

How has God comforted you so that you might comfort someone else?

Do you actively look for ways to be an encouragement?

Is God Great?

The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him--and of her. In all her prayers and labors this should have first place.

~A.W. Tozer
The Knowledge of the Holy

The Church is imperfect. Everyone would agree on this. On its greatest imperfection, however, some might argue. I'm beginning to see that near the top of the list, if not THE top, is our view of God. We are made in the likeness of God, but we're often too quick to view God in our image, but it doesn't really work that way. There are some reasons that I believe are the cause of our lessening view of God, so here are a few. Feel free to add more:

1. Prayer. Most of us are guilty of half-hearted, faithless prayers at times. In Mark 11 Jesus gives us instructions on prayer: a) pray...believing you will receive (v. 24) b) don't pray while having anything against anyone, forgive others that you might be forgiven (v.25). Those are just two simple examples of things we should be mindful of before asking God's blessings (whether physical healings or spiritual comforts).
2. Sharing. Not only has it come to the point of not sharing our faith with unbelievers, but we rarely share what God is doing in or through our lives with fellow believers. Our 'take everything to God' mentality has led us to shut everyone around us out. We forget that God called us to "consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." Part of our spiritual growth is knowing that we're not in this thing called life alone. It's about a lot more than a 'God is all I need' outlook. We need others as well and God knew this...that's why he didn't just create one person.
3. Priority. God is taken so lightly these days that it's scary. Very few people fear God. If we had a healthy view of God's character and how it is we treat Him, it wouldn't take a powerful sermon or touching song to get people to the altar, we would quickly realize our shame in light of a Holy, Omniscient, Eternal God and fall on our faces in sheer awe. But, work creeps in and begins to get us feeling dismal. Family problems occur. Our car breaks down. Then our attention is diverted from things eternal to things that will pass. God goes from being THE priority to just another one on the list.

What are some reasons you might have for a misplaced view of God?

Is He still great to you?

I Will Follow You.

Chris Tomlin's latest radio single entitled I Will Follow You has been out for a while now. The lyrics to the chorus are simply this:

Where You go, I'll go / Where You stay, I'll stay / When You move, I'll move / I will follow You // Who You love, I'll love / How You serve I'll serve / If this life I lose, I will follow You // I will follow You

I was privileged to have the opportunity to go see Chris Tomlin in concert this past year and this song stood out to me the most. It was already out on radio, but I'll be honest, I never really paid close attention to the lyrics. Until I was actually singing these words in a worship setting, they never meant that much to me. But it was at that moment that the seriousness of this declaration grabbed hold of my heart.

Just think about the last couple of lines of the chorus: If this life I lose, I will follow You. That's a bold statement to be making to a jealous God. So, my point is short and...well...to the point.

Are you aware of what you're singing while driving down the road in your car? Christian music is a great thing, but don't let it become another part of consumerism in your life.

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

~1 Peter 1

Is Christ in Christmas?

Everyone is aware of the 'Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays' battle that has been brewing for the past several years. Here are some things to remember before you so heartily defend your stance on "This is America and I'm keeping Christ in Christmas!!!":

1. Each time you lie to your boss to cover your mistake, you're taking Christ out of the workplace.
2. When you have lustful thoughts about that friend of yours, you're taking Christ out of your marriage.
3. When you catch up on that episode you missed and fail to spend 15 minutes in prayer, you're moving Christ further down your priority list.
4. When you spend every bit of your Christmas bonus and December paychecks on gifts for those closest to you that are in turn getting you gifts, you're taking Christ out of Christmas.

My point is this: most kind-hearted people in East TN are the first to defend the phrase 'Merry Christmas,' and I won't try to stop anyone from doing so. My worry is we're being distracted from the real war that's taking place. Take Luke 14 for example:

"When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

We are in a war between what Christ has told us God desires and what our flesh is telling us is perfectly fine and ok to do. It's confusing even to me...we like to say and think we believe that this holiday celebration is all about Christ, but the way our money is spent says otherwise. We give a few dollars we have (which is really just change from buying gifts for those that need it the least) to a smiling gentleman ringing a bell outside of our local shopping store and the weight of serving is lifted off our shoulders for a while. It almost seems as if our culture has become our god. We follow trends. We do things for our children because our parents did or didn't do it for us. Christmas consumerism has placed us in debt just like everyone else. And we're perfectly fine with it.

When does it end? Does it need to?

Contemplating Suicide.

We all have an end.

Death.

Much of our time is spent trying to live. A nicer home. A little more reliable car. Decent clothes for our family. Recreational toys.

Everything in this world is not evil - if kept in perspective. It's okay to have a nice home, a decent car, and presentable clothing...as long as that's not the point.

When we talk about 'surrendering all', I'm convinced that most don't even know what that means: myself at the top of the list. Think about it. When was the last time you remember 'surrendering' what you eat to God? "Bro, what are you talking about?" Allow me to explain:

I didn't eat breakfast and in order to do what I needed to get done, I just worked straight through lunch. Before I even realize it, six 'o clock comes. I'm starving. I have reason to be starving - I haven't eaten since this time last night. So, naturally, the first priority on my list when I get in the house (except maybe taking a shower) is to find something to eat. It would be hard to set a plate of food down in front of myself and just look at it, but you should try this sometime: the next time you feel as though your stomach is eating itself, just stop before you cram that cheeseburger into your mouth, and think to yourself, "I'm dying. This food will not keep me alive forever. I'm completely dependent on something so much more."

I used to tell people, "You don't have to be a crazy person and only think about spiritual things all the time...just live a normal life while loving God and others." I couldn't have been more wrong. I'm starting to understand what Jesus meant in Matthew 26 when he said, "...the flesh is weak."

Everything is a distraction. Though something may seem good to us, it's a distraction - part of our separation from God. Even the things that are meant to be spiritual a lot of times...take church, for example. We can get so focused on going to church, what we have to do at church, what we're going to wear to church, that we are distracted from WHY we're going to church by the things we do in getting there. Is church a bad thing? Most definitely not!

My hunger is weakness in my flesh. A weakness that distracts me from "seeking those things that are above." When I'm hungry, I focus my attention on feeding my body. I lose focus of Christ...though it may be just a moment. Yes, food sustains my body so that I can work for God, but it's a weakness, and until we realize how weak we are, we'll never be able to surrender all.

So, I've been contemplating suicide.

I'm ready to kill everything in me.

What would it look like if I did only think about spiritual things (read Colossians 3)? What if everything set my mind into motion about things above - from my hunger to the greatest joy to the deepest sorrow? Not just theoretically or hypothetically, but really living as though I'm already dead.

Because we all have an end...