“Actions speak louder than words.” You have heard it before. In a similar vein St. Francis of Assisi stated “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” We all agree that what we do in life, our actions are very important.
I live in the music world. Specifically, the Christian music world. You would be hard pressed to find anyone in Nashville who knows my name. You can live in a world and not be noticed or known.
I have been a follower of Jesus Christ for most of my life. For this, I am grateful. God used a Sunday School teacher to show me the importance of the written Word, the Bible. Thank you, Fred. The study of the Bible has been a key element for my faith. I have stories of God’s faithfulness and Him working in the lives of people.
In spite of all this, sometimes a lingering doubt tries to creep in. The lingering doubt wonders if God is really there. The lingering doubt tries to sabotage what God has planned for me. The lingering doubt hammers on the truth, with Jesus this life can matter.
“For freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1 ESV). I love how this chapter in Galatians begins. “For freedom Christ has set us free…” Christ did not set us free so we could pick up the yoke or weight of religion. In the context of the Galatians, Paul is telling them that the Jewish ceremonial laws and regulations are not a weight that the Gentiles(a non Jew) have to pick up by accepting the freedom of Christ. Please remember that the Bible has been written for us, but it was not written too us. Even though Paul had the Galatians in mind when penning this letter, the principles behind what he writes are for us.
We have all heard the term “Rainy Day Fund.” In case you have not, it refers to saving money for emergency situations. It has also been called the “OGK Fund” (Only God Knows). These days it might be referred to as the “Emergency Fund” (thanks to Dave Ramsey for making it popular). In the context of money, the “rainy day fund” is a very wise thing to have. When life brings an emergency it is quite common for us to cry out to God for help. God wants us to trust Him in times of need and even in times of plenty. What God does not want to be is a “Rainy Day God.” He is not interested in being Lord of our lives only in times of crisis, when we need a bail out. God wants to be Lord of all of our life.
I have been reading Jeremiah. Jeremiah is one of those books in the Old Testament that is long and can seem confusing. For some reason I have been compelled to read Jeremiah. God has His ways. Reading Jeremiah is like reading a description of the day we live in. I think you could pull certain passages out, have someone read them not knowing where it’s from, and they would guess it was modern day commentary. Israel (which by this time had been divided into two nations) had a constant history of turning their back on God, get in trouble, go back to God and be saved. Israel had essentially used God as a “rainy day fund.” God had had enough of this and used Jeremiah to give the final warning to return to God and stay.
The other day I was listening to a podcast interview of Pastor Mark Driscoll. If you are not familiar with Pastor Mark, I would encourage you to get acquainted. He pastors Mars Hill Church based out of Seattle, WA. Pastor Mark mentioned that over half of Mars Hill is young single men. This blew me away. The ratio of men to women in church is down to 39% men and 61% women. This means Mars Hill is not going along with the cultural trend. I understand that statistics do not tell us everything, but they do tell a story. The research says if the father is a Christian, then there is a 93% probability that the household will become believers. If the mother becomes a Christian, 17% of families follow in that belief, and 3.5% if the child becomes a Christian first. Based on this research, where we put our resources for ministry does not correlate with what will give us the best results. Do we realize that ministering to men equals ministering to women or ministering to men equals ministering to children? When we disciple men we are discipling people who will be the ministers of there own home.
I am not fond of excuses. I am pretty sure God is less fond of them than me. Remember in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back when Yoda says “Do or do not. Their is no try.” When it comes down to it, we do or do not. No excuses. One of the lamest excuses for sin is “I know I struggle with ______, but everyone struggles with it.” No matter what our influences are or who is pressuring/tempting us, you can only point in one direction when we mess up. I am responsible.
Do you spend a lot of time in bookstores? I do. Amazon definitely gets my business, but nothing beats browsing a bookstore. Especially a used bookstore. You truly can find a book about anything. I always find the way books are categorized very interesting. Like the time I saw a Deepak Chopra book right beside Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest. Though they both talk about Jesus, their beliefs about Him are not the same. Or when I saw Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion in the “religion” section. In case you do not know, Dawkins is a renown atheist.
In today’s Christian publishing world, it is common to brand an edition of the Bible. Examples include: The ESV Study Bible, The Archeology Bible, The Ryrie Study Bible, The Apologetics Bible, The Student Bible, and I can go on and on and on and… you get the point. As you might have guessed by now, I found one of these branded Bibles that I felt the need to talk about.
“Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” John 6:35 ESV
I have always thought songs sung in church speaking of hungering and thirsting for God a bit awkward. In John 6, Jesus is speaking to a difficult group of people (sounds like a church gathering). He makes it clear how we can never hunger or thirst (spiritually) ever again. By choosing the “Bread from Heaven” (v32,33) our souls can be permanently satisfied. In John 4 Jesus spoke to the Samaritan women about drinking the water He gives will cause you to thirst no more.
Why do we hunger and thirst so much? Sounds like we should be singing songs about how we are satisfied. If you do hunger and thirst spiritually, is it possible you are drinking and eating the wrong things? Serving in a “church” is a good thing, but it will not curb your hunger. Listening to “Christian” music is a good thing, but it will not make you less thirsty. Doing good “things” is not bread from heaven. A proverbial “to-do list” of things to please God with is not a big, tall, and cold glass of water which to quench your spiritual thirst. If you hunger and thirst, then you have not been partaking the “Bread of Life” but the bread of good things or bread of the world.
“Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Nothing more, nothing less. Do not over complicate it. Be satisfied.