Is it good enough to just be good?

Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.

Isaiah 1:17

These are the guidelines that God put out for all of humanity to uphold, yet He had to remind His chosen people about it because of their direct defiance. I personally can't remember the last time that I did all 5 out of 5. It is not because I didn't want to, or that it was asking of too much. It is because I came to a place of comfort in my life. It was a place where I had convinced myself that I had done enough so I must be a good person and in good standing with God.

The problem is we are not called to be good people. We are called to do the above. Now I am not saying that we are to make it our life's mission to master each of these areas, but rather if presented with the opportunity we do our best to achieve each of these instructions.

God loves each and everyone of us beyond what we can comprehend and He knows that because of sin, either self inflicted or inflicted upon us, that we would need others to love us. He wants us to understand that it is not a point system. That if we do enough good things in the world we can cruise through the rest of life. We are called to do good even when the world around us isn't good at all. Seek justice when justice isn't given to us. Rebuke the oppressor of others when we might be oppressed ourselves. Help the poor when we might not have anything to give.

So its not about being good and thats it. Its about constantly recognizing our purpose on this earth. That all stems out of our relationship with the One that upholds all of these things. He is good all the time because all the time He is good.

How big is your "but"?

We all have those moments in life when we get fed up with living a mediocre life. Whether it is with our health, our relationships, or our spiritual life. We decide that we need to make changes. We will get gym memberships, end "unhealthy" relationships, start a Bible reading plan or some other form of spiritual development book. The problem is that there are big BUTS connected with these things.

We start to work out, BUT we don't change our eating habits. We stop hanging out with certain people, BUT look for new friends at the place where we met the old ones. We try to have a spiritual awakening, BUT we don't change any other parts of our lifestyle. Why is that?

In the Old Testament, there are 4 books written about the kings of Israel and Judah that show this theme of wanting to get right, BUT they don't go the whole way. To me it seems that they just do the bare minimum so that they appear right in the eyes of the people that they are leading. There is no real heart change, but rather an image that they want to uphold. Because they know they should do it. Not that they want to do it.

Are we guilty of this as well? I know that for me I have always had good intentions when it comes to making changes in my life. But there must be more. There must be such a great discontent that leads to a 100% life change. We should not be content with starting something for the sake of starting it. Rather we should be determined to complete whatever it is that we start. It should drive us to point that people take notice. People should see the change. That is where we have the most opportunity to convince people that we are serious.

Don't let your "BUTS" get in the way.

SORRY. Its not just a kids game

Earlier this week I tweeted "Repentance is not saying you are sorry and then continuing forward. It is STOPPING what you are doing and then going the other way." I posted that after a God moment in which I felt that I was guilty of just saying sorry for my sin, but not really doing anything to change. Doing this in our lives is a lot like the playing the kids game Sorry. The point of the game is to get all your players around the board. If you happen to land on a Sorry slide, it is customary for you to say in a real sarcastic tone "SORRY" and then proceed forward taking out anyone in your path. The game is all about progress of moving forward. I can relate to that in my life when confessing sin to God. Sure I say sorry, but I have no intention of changing anything. I just want to move forward with my life.

The problem is that by just saying sorry, you are playing a game. You are not serious about who you are in Christ or what He wants for you. Sometimes saying sorry can be more harmful than good.

By truly repenting, you are making a decision to lay down what sin you have and turning from that and going in the complete opposite direction. It could be by setting up boundaries, limitations, or accountability. It is most times done with other people involved. In James 5:16 it say to "Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed." Repentance should be relational.

So if you are playing the game of "sorry", stop! Repent before the Lord so that you may know what it is to have freedom from your sin. Because if you don't then you will really be sorry.

An Epic Fail

King Solomon was known to be the wisest man ever to live. Because of this wisdom he became the richest and most sought after man in the world. Even the Queen of Sheba sought him out. He wrote and contributed to several books of the Bible, but upon his death the split of his kingdom happened. His nation was in ruins. How could the kingdom of the wisest man alive disintegrate upon his death? If someone who is historically renowned for his wisdom and riches, how could in one foul swoop it all fall apart? Why did his kingdom experience an epic fail?

A transition of a dependence on God to one of a dependence on self. While God gave Solomon wisdom, Solomon slowly began to turn away from God because of this grand curiosity that caused him to need to know everything about everything. He began to entertain his selfish desires. He had 700 known wives and then 300 on the side for crying out loud. Who needs that many relationships, let alone romantic ones? All we need is one relationship and this is with God. Solomon forgot that and he passed that on to his descendants.

Don't let your epic failure be because you once knew the truth and then decided to be selfish and focus on yourself. God has greater things for you and wants you to discover that and return to Him with expectation that He will give you all you need.

At the end of his life, Solomon realized he screwed up and wrote about that here. It was too late for his legacy. Don't let it be for you.

Identity Resolution

This past weekend my beautiful bride preached a sermon called Identity Resolution. Her main theme was that we need to find our identity in Christ and not in our circumstances or what we have been told growing up. I may be a little bias, but I think she did an amazing job.

I think for too many of us, we approach the New Year with this thought that we get a clean slate that gives us this special power to change our lifestyle from the previous year. We somehow think by changing some habits or starting new ones that we are going to be better than the year before. Oh how I wish this was true. Because in theory, if we all stayed true to our resolutions we would by the end of our lives be perfect. But unfortunately it is not true.

The only truth that we do have is Jesus Christ. He is the one that we should be changing for. He is the one that we should be trying to be like. We need to find our identity in Him. Not in whether we can quit smoking, lose so much weight, be a better spouse, or a better parent. Those things will come from a relationship with Christ.

So if you want to experience a new life in the new year, then seek out Jesus and all of His truth for your life. Because He chose us.

Ephesians 1:4,7 (AMP)-

4. Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

7.In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor,