Three Things

I often get asked about the things that I do for the Lord. People ask for a great reason. They see God on my life and want Him on theirs. Many people want to copy the things that I do so they will be blessed like I am. Writing that statements feels awful to me. I know it sounds like I’m saying “be like me,” I promise that’s a bad idea. But, I have to admit that God is on my life. I also have to admit that I’m blessed way beyond what any man should be blessed. I can’t help but believe that it is because I turned my heart towards Him. If there was a real Jesus, I wanted to know Him. The more I sought Him, the more I learned about Him. The more I learned about Him, the more I wanted to do for Him.

The very fact that someone would ask me about the things that I do means to me that they have begun that heart turn towards the Lord. In fact, I would say that if you actually care enough to take the time to read this WMD then your heart either has turned, or is turning towards Him. If your heart has turned toward Him, then I believe there are three things that you need to begin to do. I wish as a beginning Christian that I would have done these things every day from the very beginning of my walk with the Lord.

The first and most important thing you have to do if you want God is spend time with Him. Some might call it “seeking” Him. We live in the coolest day and age to spend time with Him. You can listen to Christian radio, watch videos like the “Lifehouse Everything skit” or “Cardboard Testimonies” on YouTube. You have access to the best Bible communicators (in my opinion) on the planet like Andy Stanley, Kevin Myers, and Jentezen Franklin simply by going to iTunes and typing in their names. You have awesome books written to help you like Francis Chan’s “Erasing Hell” and John Eldridge’s “Beautiful Outlaw.” (You do want to be careful here…there’s some crazy “wolf in sheep’s clothing” stuff out there too!) There are awesome starter Bibles that will give you the coolest pictures and give you the basic chronology of events since time began. My absolute favorite is the “Action Bible.” I read that thing in like one week…it was that good. Once I read that, the real Bible came so much more alive to me. We have unbelievable praise and worship like Hillsong, Jeremy Camp, and Kutless. I could go on and on. But the thing you have to do is block off some part of your day, at LEAST 10 minutes and deliberately fill your mind with something of God and talk to Him. Tell Him absolutely everything. Be completely honest.

The second thing you have to do is work “as unto the Lord.” You have to pour your heart into whatever it is that you have to do that day. If it is school, work at it with all your heart. If it is work, work with all your heart. I used to think this meant we had to grind it out and “do our best,” but you end up pretty frustrated when you do that. You simply have to put your heart into whatever needs to be done that day. If I’m teaching, I teach for Him. If I’m mowing grass, I do it for Him. Thirty minutes from now I will be playing in a Scrabble tournament. I will pour my heart into it while I’m there and be ever so mindful of honoring the Lord while I’m trying to “Bingo.” Figure out what work needs to be done today, then do it with all your heart like you are working for the Lord. One time I heard a student tell another student how to make all A‘s…“Just do it for Him!”

The final thing that you need to do is have a conversation with someone about God. You will find that this is the hardest of the three things. Mainly because you have an enemy who has one and only one mission…contain you. Satan can absolutely do nothing about your salvation, but he can do a whole lot about your salvation spreading to others. His mission is to keep you from seeking Him, keep you from working for Him (he loves bad attitudes at work), and REALLY keep you from telling others. When you pray, you must pray for opportunities. It may be that you get to tell someone the gospel…it has happened to me many times. But mostly it comes in the form of me and my wife talking about Him. It might come in the form of a student telling me about their weekend church service. It might come in the form of you and your best Christian friend encouraging each other by letting each other know what the Lord has been doing in your lives.

In the past 3 months, I have heard person after person tell me they have begun to do these three things and can already tell a BIG difference in their lives. In many of them, I can already see the difference.

This is the plan that I believe God has developed within me. It’s what I believe I’m supposed to do. Is it the only way? You know better than that. But I truly believe that a person who does these three things has no choice but to become more Christ-like.

Who wouldn’t want that?

Later

Adam