Wednesday Morning Devotional

A pleasing aroma

I have been trying to put together some thoughts that have been on my mind for a year now. Adam has prompted me several times that it is about time for me to do a “WMD”. I have tried and tried to tie all of these thoughts together and this morning it happened for me.  Adam had an appointment and I cleaned the refrigerator out while he was gone. He is very faithful about taking out the trash and pushing the cart to the street on Tuesdays. However, I wanted to get rid of this bag of trash before it started smelling up the house.  I pushed the cart out to the street and on my way back up the driveway, I was overwhelmed by the aroma of our crepe myrtle trees….it is intoxicating when they are all in bloom. I looked over to our pear tree and noticed a beautiful spot of yellow peeking out of the leaves….a ripened pear ready to be enjoyed.

When you read Leviticus, it repeatedly talks about burnt offerings being a sweet smelling fragrance to the Lord.

When God Created us He wanted a relationship with us.  But when sin entered the world we became a trash smell in His nostrils.  He loved His creation but couldn’t be near us.  So He gave Moses the Law and that is wehn sacrifices were offered in payment for the sin of His people.  These sacrifices were descibed as”an aroma pleasing to the Lord”. He no longer requires a need for continual sin offerings, because Jesus was the ultimate and final sacrifice for sins. Because of Jesus, we who are believers are living sacrifices to God. My question though, is do I smell pleasing to Him? Romans 12:1 tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. The next verse tells us to not be conformed to this world but to be transformed through the renewing of our minds.

About a year ago, one of my dearest friends and I decided to do a Bible study together. She and I both have dealt with issues of anxiety and we chose a book called Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. It helped both of us transform our minds. I have watched her transform throughout the year, but it is harder to see the transformation of your own mind. The problem with me was that I used to complain about most everything. And when a problem arose, I immediately tried to fix it myself instead of giving it to the Lord. And when I started to write a WMD, I compared myself to Adam and felt like I wouldn‘t do as good of a job as him. And I worried a lot about things that were coming up that I was not in control of. This created anxiety in my heart and mind. I was not presenting myself as a sacrifice because I wasn’t allowing God to be the Blessed Controller of my life….I wanted that control and that stinks.  Proverbs 23:7 says “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” A passage from the book we read says “Looking back, I realize I did desire to trust God, but sometimes He was very slow. When He was moving at what I thought was a snail’s pace, I unconsciously decided He needed my help….When we take over and try to control what happens, we take our focus off of the One who is control and put our eyes on our circumstances.”  Contentment only comes when we accept from God what He sends us because we know that He is Good and therefore anything He gives us will be good.

I learned the lesson of being content with my life a long time ago and am so thankful for that. I watch too many people in my life that constantly compare themselves with others, either to make themselves feel better or to try to be more accepted. It hurts me to watch this. I see mothers trying to out do each other trying to be super moms. I see men working way too many hours and missing out with their families in order to provide them with “better” things. Too many marriages that crumble because they depend on each other to provide their happiness instead of relying on their relationship with God to bring joy into their lives. This quote by Rev. James Hufstetler resonated with me when I read it and I hope that if you live a life of trying to be someone other than what God created you for, that you will receive this nugget of truth. “You will never really enjoy other people, you will never have stable emotions, you will never lead a life of Godly contentment, you will never conquer jealousy, and love others as you should until you thank God for making you the way He did.” Learning to be content is a huge step toward loving others the way God loves them.

I want my life to be a sweet smelling fragrance to Him. So I am learning to pray and give my anxieties to God. I am learning to pray specifically. I am trying to be thankful in all things, and to stay positive. I want my life to be to Him as my driveway was to me today. Bearing fruit and a sweet aroma. If we make the choice to pray instead of worry, we will experience God’s peace. Dwell on these verses when you start to compare, or worry, or handle things on your own. Phillipians 4:4-8. “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

Pressing on,

Tonya

The Neighbor’s Dog

He who knew no sin became sin for us, that I through Him might become the righteousness of God.  — 2 Corinthians 5:21

The neighbors and I have worked out a deal.  When I am away, they will feed my cats.  When they are away, I will feed their dog and cat.  The day that I am writing this happens to be one of those days that I fed their animals.  I have learned that their dog gets extremely excited when he sees me.  He basically runs circles around me, jumps on me, licks me, play bites me, the whole nine yards.  Sometimes I am about to go somewhere so I know how to maneuver around him so that I don’t get slobber or dirt on me.  However, this morning, I chose to do something different.  I got up, put on some already dirty clothes and headed on over.  I let the dog smear dirt on me, slobber on me, get fur all over me, we just had a great time for about 30 minutes.  As I left him, I could tell that he was just so thankful and content.

Walking back home, the Lord just filled my heart with His Presence.  He didn’t actually say words to me, but He spoke to me.  I realized that for a while, in the Old Testament, God attempted to feed people without getting dirty.  He basically gave His People the essentials only.  But, in the New Testament, God didn’t just feed His people, He put on a his “dirty clothes”, a human body, and came down here to love on me.  Not only that, He lets me jump on Him when I am angry and need to vent, He lets me slobber on Him when I get all crying and snotty because of the thickness of His Presence, He lets me wipe all of my sinful dirt on Him, and here’s the cool part…we both enjoy it like crazy.

There is nothing like having a relationship with God.  I can honestly say, He is the best friend I have.  There is nobody that could possibly love me more extravagantly or give to me more extravagantly.  Sin sought to destroy my life, for that is what sin does.  I forget how awful and vile sin actually is.  Sin makes God so small, and me so big.  It is so vile, that sin has to be punished.  It will not be allowed in God’s Holy presence.  To think that God took my sin, smeared it all over Himself, and allowed that sin to be killed along with His sinless, perfect body makes me want to serve Him and give Him the best that I have for the rest of my days.  There really is no one like Him.  There is no other story that has ever been told with this kind of power.

Have you been made righteous through the Lord Jesus Christ?  If not, confess your sin to Him, receive Him, and place your trust in Him.

Later

Adam

Rest

He makes me lie down in green pastures . — Psalm 23:2

I hate it when I can’t sleep.  I never feel the need to post the fact that I can’t sleep on Facebook, but it bothers me nonetheless.  I have learned to evaluate the factors while I am not sleeping at 3 A.M.  Sometimes the reason in simple.  Maybe I went to Walhalla Steak House and downed 5 cups of tea.  I might go to sleep, but when I wake up in the middle of the night, I am not dozing back off.  Sometimes the reason is work related, I may be having to deal with “that” parent.  I try to push work stuff out of my mind and deal with it only at work, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

I remember reading Phillip Keller’s “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23.”  He talked about how proximity to the Shepherd is so important.  At the time, I remember feeling so far away from Jesus.  I imagined that I was a sheep among many sheep.   There was a shepherd along with a wolf in the distance waiting to pounce on one of the sheep.  Which one will he get?  The answer is kind of obvious…the wolf will get the one that is furthest away from the shepherd.  No wonder I was a defeated, fearful Christian.  I was trying to live in this place where Jesus was simply “in sight.“  My goal was to do the “worldly” things I wanted to do, but always be able to nod my head at the Shepherd and think we were “cool“ with one another.  I had no idea that this was the place of unrest, not to mention the place where you get eaten.  The sheep that stay the closest to him are perfectly comfortable lying down in the pasture the shepherd led them to and sleeping peacefully without fear.  In fact, while the sheep are sleeping, they are completely unaware that the shepherd is keeping the predators away.

Money can buy sleep, but it cannot buy rest.  I’ve taken pills that “knock me out.”  I always feel horrible when I wake up from “pill sleep.”  The best, most consistent sleep comes from a consistent, trusting relationship with the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.  So, why did I get up at 3:30 this morning and write this WMD?  Well, I am anxious about a few things.  The new school year is right around the corner.  I am preaching this Sunday at Golden Corner Church (there is ALWAYS an increase in spiritual battle a week or two before I preach.)  I have one last week of on-line schooling to complete the last of 3 graduate level classes that I have taken since January (and hated all along the way).  When my mind starts thinking about all this stuff in the middle of the night, it is just impossible to sleep.

True rest comes from being at total peace with God.  He MAKES me lie down in green pastures.  I can honestly say, if not for the Lord Jesus Christ, I hate to think about the junk I would dwell on  and I know I would never truly be at rest.  If I ever can’t sleep, at least now I know where to go.  Now that I know the Good Shepherd, I may lay there for 30 minutes or so and let my mind go a thousand different directions, but I’m not going to let this continue the rest of the night.  I will get up, grab my Bible, and go to a quiet place (which happens to be everywhere at 3:30).  In doing so, I am not only moving away from the wolves seeking to devour my mind, but I am moving toward the safety of the Good Shepherd who wants nothing more than for me to trust in the fact that He meets every single one of my needs.

One more thing, I started this post out by saying “I hate when I can’t sleep.”  I was about to go up there and delete that sentence, but I don‘t want to miss the lesson here.  Be careful what you think and say about the frustrating moments in your life.  More than likely, these events are simply the Lord drawing you closer to Himself.  You get to choose how you respond to these moments.  I don’t always choose correctly, but as it turns out, I haven’t hated these past couple of hours at all.

If you are not resting lately, how close are you to the Shepherd?

Later

Adam

It’s Time for True Conversion

“Who are you, Lord?”  Saul asked.  — Acts 9:5

Occasionally, I get asked if murderers go to Heaven.  I always lay out the fact that according to the Bible, I am a murderer, yet I am going to Heaven.  1 John 3:15 says “anyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.”  Yes, I have hated people before.  I have certainly thought about killing certain people.  I have learned to take those thoughts captive and give them to the Lord (or at least give them to my wife).  Thank God I have learned to do this!  I feel so sorry for the folks on Facebook that post everything that comes into their minds.  It reveals so much about their character…or lack of it.  Had Facebook been around 15 years ago, I know I would have been a drama king.

Here is the problem with sins such as gossip, greed, and hatred:  If these are your sins, you don’t realize it.  If someone points them out to you, you can easily rationalize it.  A gossiper never thinks they are a gossiper, they’re just “telling it like it is.“  I’ve never heard a greedy person admit they are greedy, and haters don’t get mad, they get even, right?  I don’t know about you, but I’m glad Jesus didn’t “get even” with me.  He took my punishment and simply said “you are free from the punishment and bondage of sin.”  Remember?  Christ demonstrated His love for me in this…while I was a sinner, Christ died for me (Romans 5:8)  I understood the punishment part, but I didn’t have a clue about the bondage part.  There are many, many Christian still living in bondage.

After I got saved, I thought I could just clean right up.  On my own, I thought I could clean up my mouth, stop going places I shouldn’t, stop hanging out with people I shouldn’t, and stop looking at things that I shouldn’t.  I also did not even have a clue that I had idols in my life.   I can see clearly now that I had God replacements:  golf, guitars, and girls.  Here is the major problem with all of this:  I had people point all of this out to me, but I rationalized every bit of it.  I was in bondage, but didn’t know I was in bondage.  How does one get out of bondage that he or she doesn’t even know they are in?  How does one get truly converted?

It all comes down to what you choose to focus on after salvation.  Saul was a Christian murderer before Acts chapter 9.  When he encountered Jesus, the first thing that He asked was “Who are you, Lord?”  I wish this had been my first desire after receiving Him.  I wish I had asked this question over and over.  I wish I had read the gospels immediately and figured out who this man was that gave His life for me on that cross.  I wish I had taken the time to get to know my Lord and my Savior.  Saul had a desire to get to know this man who just knocked him off of his high horse.  

Here is the deal:  If you have no desire to spend time with the Lord Jesus Christ, you might be saved, but you have not been converted.  I lived “saved” for about 5 years.  But, after realizing I couldn’t change on my own, I wanted to be converted.  Therefore, I made it my goal to read through the entire Bible in a year.  I did it in 15 months.  I can’t explain it, but somehow during those 15 months, things changed, I changed.  My mouth cleaned up and I didn’t even try to clean it up.  I didn’t have to go to church anymore, I wanted to go.  I had this really intense sick feeling in my spirit when I was somewhere I didn’t need to be or doing something I didn’t need to be doing.  I looked back over the last 15 months of my life and even though I wasn’t’ even close to where I needed to be, it was clear that I was heading in that direction and I was different.  I now felt like I “knew” Jesus!  I understood that it wasn’t a religion, it really was a relationship.  I now had confidence in my salvation that I didn’t have before.   

I say all that to say this:  There are a lot of people who have been saved, but have not been converted.  I believe saved people are going to Heaven, but they don’t help others get there.  I believe saved people do more harm to the kingdom of God than good, at least I did when I was “saved only.”  If you believe that you are in this group, it is time for true conversion.  If you don’t know if you are in this group, consider these questions:  Do you spend time with the Lord?  Is it ever just you and Him?  Do you take a minimum of a few minutes everyday to simply thank Him, talk to Him, or just get to know Him more?  Are you completely honest with Him?  Are you any different as a result of His forgiveness?  If not, let Saul’s question guide you for the rest of the year…

Who are you, Lord? 

Later

Adam 

The Heart of the Lord

Jesus replied “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood….”  — John 6:26

So, it is Tuesday and I’m wondering what to write about for WMD tomorrow.  I have plenty of ideas, but I’m just not sure if it is from the heart of God.  I decide to take a long walk and talk with the Lord.  As I start my prayer, I start it in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever done before.  I simply say “Lord, how are you doing?”  Instantaneously, for just a second, I think I felt a fraction of the heart of God.  There were so many thoughts.  I want to try to write one of them down for you today.

A few weeks ago, Caroline asked me a hard question out of the blue.  She said “Daddy, who do you love more?  Me or Jesus?”  Hmmm…are we really about to go here?  I tell her that I love Jesus more.  I could tell this was a shot to her little heart.  I quickly sent a prayer up to Heaven begging for a simple explanation.  So, I said “baby, what is something you would really like to have?”  She spouted off a ton of items:  A new American Girl, an iPad, a laptop computer…you know, all these inexpensive items (all I wanted was He-Man action figures when I was 6).  So, I said “what if I bought you a new iPad, and then you spent all your time with it and never talked to me anymore like we are talking right now?  How would that make Daddy feel?”  She said “like I loved the iPad more than I love you?”  I said “exactly.” “Baby, you are a gift from God.  He gave you to me.  I can’t love any gift more than the giver.”  Praise God she understood.

That conversation is the best I can do to help you understand the heart of God.  I believe that He revealed to me that He feels His people, especially Americans who carry the name “Christian,” they love His gifts more than they love Him.   Today, I am much better at giving Him immediate thanks for the good things in my life.  I am much quicker to recognize that all good gifts come directly from Him.  This has not always been the case.  I remember asking Him for a particular girl to be my girlfriend.  When He granted my wish, I don’t think I gave Him a second thought for at least a year.  I’d sure like to go back and have a talk with that ungrateful young man.  I remember asking Him to help me save for a guitar.  When I finally got a brand new 1993 Gibson Les Paul Standard that was onyx black, I thought I had already made it to Heaven.  For 3 solid years, playing that thing was the number one priority in my life.  Did I ever tell God “thank you?”  Not one time.  I also remember getting rejected by that girlfriend (possibly because she felt replaced by a guitar).  She went with another guy and didn’t even bother to break up with me first.  I hated seeing them together.  I wanted to be the one she spent her time with.  I realize now that I have the power to make God feel the same way by choosing stuff over Him.  No, He doesn’t NEED Adam Hopkins for anything…no more than I NEEDED that girlfriend.  But, the God of the Universe wants me and is constantly choosing me.  The only thing He wants is for me to love Him back.

I guess I say all that to ask you this:  are there things that you love more than God?  I mean, this can be anything.  You could love something good like playing music on the worship team more than you love God.  You could love your spouse more than you love God.  It is very easy to love your kids more than you love God.  It is very easy to love money, sex, and power more than you love God.  You could love revenge and “paying people back” who have wounded you more than you love God.  You could love food more than you love God (I think I did this yesterday).  You could love the many forms of technology that we use for entertainment more than you love God.  Am I saying  never go to the movies or out to feast?  Not at all.  But, I am asking you to think about what you frequently and naturally gravitate towards.  God is asking “who do you love more?”  The answer is not given with words from your mouth.  It is given by the choices you make in your life.

What if you had a Job-like experience?  What if today you lost it all?  You lost your stuff, your family, and then finally your health.  Believe it or not, this is all going to happen to us eventually.  Your stuff won’t always be your stuff, family members die eventually, and even at 38, I see that my body doesn’t heal nearly as quickly as it used to heal.  Job just happened to lose it all very quickly.  When this happens, there are only two responses.  The first type of response is very common:  “Where are you God?”  “You could have prevented this!”  “I just don’t know what You are doing!”  “Are you even real?”

Or, you could have the response of Job.

“I came naked into this world from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave.  The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away.  May the name of the Lord continue to be praised in my life.”  — Job 1:21

God loves you.  You don’t earn His favor by keeping a set of rules.  He is unimpressed with your religious rituals.  The Bible even says that the righteous acts we do that we think are so wonderful and impressive are nothing more than filthy rags in His sight (see Isaiah 64:6).  He wants you to love Him back…not because of what He can do for you or what He can give you, but because of who He is.

Do you love Him?

Later

Adam

The Indecisive Man

Still another said, “I will follow you Lord, but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”  Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”  Luke 9:61-62

I will follow you Lord, but…

This story could certainly be used to make Jesus sound insensitive.  Once again, He knows hearts…we don’t.  Something about his family made him waver back and forth between serving God and serving his family.  Maybe they were involved in some sort of dishonest activity…I don’t know.  Whatever the case, the response of Jesus tells us what we need to know.  The guy was willing to work for the kingdom, but then his old life was constantly calling him back to his old ways.  He was indecisive.

I can’t help but remember my “looking back” days.  I was in college and had just begun to really make the attempt to give my life to Jesus.  I had left my old party crowd and stopped pretty much all of my bad habits I had been developing.  Here was the problem:   I would go to church and totally enjoy it.  But, my old crowd constantly beckoned me back.  I would say no to them most of the time, but I wanted to say yes.  I would find myself “just hanging out with them.”  I figured I could still go…just not drink.  I could still go; maybe I could be a “good influence.”  I had an epic battle going on in my heart.  I knew what serving God looked like.  I knew what being worldly looked like.  The constant question was:  which am I going to choose?  Most of the time, I chose Him.  But, sometimes I chose the world.  Sometimes I looked back.

I just want to point out the difference between what the world says and what Jesus says.  Most people would look at my life when I was in college and say “everybody makes mistakes,” or “everybody goes through that.”   Jesus, in the Bible, says “no man who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”  If nothing else, we should learn from these 3 men that though Jesus does not demand perfection, but He does demand the total and complete surrendering of our lives to Him.

Today’s version of Americanized Christianity says it is completely fine to be worldly and be a Christian at the same time.  We like to dismiss sin as “mistakes.”  We like to engage in sinful behavior and say “God understands.” In many ways He does understand, but He obviously wants us to understand that there is a clear choice to be made.  It is a conscious decision.  You and I are to put our hand on that plow, go to work, and never look back.  I like the fact that he uses the analogy of work.  Following God takes time and effort, two things most Christians in America don’t want to give.  If you are a fairly young Christian, you are going to struggle with this.  Do you really think that the devil will give you up without a fight?

Today, I just want to tell you that the reward for following God is tremendous.  I’m not saying that I do everything right…I don’t.  But, when it comes to major decisions in my life that boil down to being “my way” or “His way,” I have been choosing His way for quite a few years now.  At first, it was hard to choose His way.  But, the more I choose His way, the more blessed I become.

I just want you to consider one question:  Are you currently receiving God’s best in all areas of your life?  If the answer is no, could it be that you are looking back?  Could it be that you are wavering between putting your hand on that plow and taking it off?  If you are wavering, what makes you look back?

I found a verse that I want to memorize and completely hide in my heart over the next few weeks.  I thought you might like to do so as well.  It is the second half of Psalm 84:11

“No good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”

Lord, I want all of the good things you offer in life.  Help me to walk blamelessly for the rest of my days so I might know what those good things are and receive them with joy.  Help me put my hand to the plow and never look back.  Help me to walk away from anything or anyone that would ever tempt me to take my hands off.  Help all who read this to make a clear decision either for you or against you.  As for me…I choose You!

Later

Adam

The Reluctant Man

He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

Jesus said to him “let the dead bury their own dead, but you go proclaim the kingdom of God.  — Luke 9:59-60

Unlike the impulsive man who went to Jesus, Jesus came to the reluctant man.  This man received an amazing invitation from Jesus Himself to follow Him.  However, there was something about his dad that made him hesitate.  Perhaps dad was a Pharisee who didn’t agree with the teachings of Jesus.  Maybe the man stood to lose an inheritance if he accepted the invitation of Jesus.  Whatever the case, I don’t believe the guy’s dad was actually dead.  Jesus was not being insensitive here.  If it had been a simple funeral to go to in a day or two, or even a week, then of course he could have gone.  Dad was living.  Something about dad was an idol in this reluctant man’s life.  He felt he could not follow Jesus.

I was impulsive when I got saved.  I said I would follow, but then did not.  The reluctant man does not follow, but at least is man enough to admit it.  In my opinion, it is much better to say “no” to Jesus, and then not follow Him, than it is to say “yes”, and then not follow Him.  People who say “yes“, like I did, and then say “no” with the way that they live do much more harm to the kingdom of God than good.  Ask any non-believer that you know why they don’t buy in to Christianity.   More than half the time, the response will have something to do with those “hypocritical” Christians…people who said “yes”, then didn’t follow.  The bad thing is that there is little defense…they are right.  There simply are a lot of people who say they are Christians who don’t even make an attempt to live like it.  I’m not saying you have to be perfect, you can’t be perfect, but you do have to be all in.  You do have to make the effort to spend time with Him…it is the only way your heart will actually transform into His.

I can think of several other people that fall into the “reluctant” category, but for different reasons.  The reluctant teenagers that I know are simply putting Jesus off for now.  They believe, but they want to be able to do the things they know Jesus would not approve of before they give their lives to Him.  Basically, they are saying “let me live in sin like I want to right now, when things settle down, I’ll start giving Him some consideration.”  This is like having a gift for someone you know, then using that gift for yourself until it is wrecked and pitiful looking, and then still offering it as a gift.  The good news is that Jesus will still accept the broken, battered gift, but you certainly wouldn’t want someone to do that to you.  We are all broken in different ways when we come to Him, but there is no sense in completely destroying yourself.  Give Him your life NOW.  Today is always the day of salvation.

The other reluctant men I know simply believe they have to give things up before they can come to Jesus.  They can’t stop cussing on their own, they can’t stop drinking, and basically have things in their lives that they know are wrong.  They feel they can’t stop, and honestly believe they have to say “no” to the invitation of Jesus.  I can only tell you this…there is absolutely no person in the last 2,000 years that didn’t bring sin to the cross in order to say “yes.”  Part of receiving Jesus is handing him your sin.  You can’t get rid of it.  Where are you going to hide it?  It does not just disappear.  If sin is to be atoned for, it must be brought to the cross.  Give it to Him.  Then, follow Him.  If you could get rid of your sin on your own, there would have been no reason for Jesus to come and do what He did.

If you are reluctant, Jesus says “give all that stuff to me, I already took care of it…you have one assignment, and one assignment only…

“Go proclaim the kingdom of God.”

A man who is immersed in proclaiming does not stay immersed in sin.

Later

Adam

The Impulsive Man

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay his head.”  — Luke 9:57-58

In the context of these 2 verses, Jesus has fed thousands, healed people, and driven out evil spirits.  The man in this verse sees all of these good things and wants in on it.  So he sees Jesus and makes an impulsive decision.  He says “I will follow you wherever you go.”  We know this decision is impulsive because of the response of Jesus, who could see inside the man’s heart.  I have heard preachers make the response of Jesus sound pitiful, but I believe Jesus was simply saying “following me is not what you think it is.  I don’t give a flip about the worldly stuff everyone else seems to care about, I am here to serve my Father and please Him.”

Looking back, I was very much like this impulsive man.  My friends were saying they were “getting saved.”  I was listening to some pretty powerful preachers that were drawing crowds.  The church seemed to literally feed me just about every time I walked through the doors.  But most of all, they said that there was this place called Hell where souls were destroyed, but not to fear because a man named Jesus made everything alright for those who “receive” Him.  I took it all in and made the decision to be “saved.”  Every Christian I knew simply acted like it was all over and done with and simply said “good job.”  Unlike them, Jesus didn‘t have this response.  In fact, it looks to me like He was talking the guy out of it…making sure that the guy was making an informed decision.  I know if Jesus had been there in person with me, He would have said “this isn‘t the end…it’s only beginning.”

I wasn’t just impulsive about receiving Jesus.  I was impulsive about nearly everything: the music I listened to, the movies I watched, and the activities I did.  If crowds were heading in one direction, I just kind of took my place in line to see where they ended up.  I found out that impulsivity simply led to this lonely, meaningless place.  Sure, I could go to the football game and have a blast, but the game eventually ended…then what?  I could go to the bar and have a great time, but “last call for alcohol” eventually came…then what?  I could be completely entertained by the movie or the concert…but eventually the lights came on and eventually the credits rolled.  There had to be more to life than these temporary “highs.”

I guess I say all that to say this: when I felt the initial call of Jesus, I didn’t think of it as an invitation to a completely new way of live.  I didn’t realize that He wanted to transform my life so much that all of my thoughts, all of the time would simply be to bring honor to His name.  I’m not sure as an immature 16 year old that I was capable of completely understanding this, but I could have understood a big pause.  One simple pause to say “are you sure you are ready to take on this kind of commitment?”

So, I simply ask you today:  Have you really surrendered your life to the Lord?  Have you really counted the cost?  Does He so influence your decision making that you would let the boyfriend break up with you before you would have sex with him outside of marriage?  Does He so influence your decision making that you would rather stay in the marriage and work things out simply because it would bring the most honor to His name?  Does He so influence your decision making that you would rather take the F on the test you didn’t study for rather than cheat and make a passing grade?   Does He so influence your decision making that you would completely forgive the one person you can’t stand?

This kind of Christianity is hard.  It is also the kind that He calls all people who choose to take on the name “Christian”  As soon as anyone today says “I will follow Jesus,” most preachers simply say “Heaven is rejoicing” then quickly add the hands so they can boast about the numbers next week.  I’m not saying that is necessarily a bad thing.  We can’t look into the hearts of men like Jesus could.  All I am saying is that I was impulsive about my initial decision to follow Him and I represented Him poorly for quite a while.  I didn’t deserve to be counted amongst the hands that went up because I had no intention of doing anything differently.

If you were impulsive about this decision like I was…take the time to really consider what it would look like if you really started to follow Him today.  Don’t do this halfway thing like I did for years trying to have the best of both worlds…that place is the most miserable place on the planet.

“If any man would come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” —  Mark 8:34

What has it cost you to serve the Lord?

Later

Adam

Sowing and Reaping

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. – Galatians 6:7

I remember when I used to think that I could live any way that I wanted and still have God on my side.  I acted as though I had found a loophole in the Bible.  I thought I could sin willfully, ask the Lord to forgive me, and all was just fine.  I got what I wanted, God was happy to forgive me, and if my life had ended…I would be with Him in Heaven because I had “asked for forgiveness.”  This is the way the majority of Christians choose to live in this day and time.  The devil does a good job at deceiving us. In fact, read the verse for today’s WMD one more time.

God put into place a law.  Like the law of gravity, this law works whether you are a Christian or not.   It is the law of sowing and reaping.   About a month ago, I put some watermelon seeds in the ground.  I don’t expect to reap corn from those seeds.  Why in the world would I expect anything other than watermelons at harvest time?  Of course, that example sounds ridiculously obvious.  However, there are people that do this with their lives all the time.  I know because I used to do this with my own life.  I see kids in school that never do their work, never pay attention in class, and could not care less about their education.  At the same time, those same kids expect for life to magically work out for them.  They expect that they will still have a high paying job and a high quality of life.  I have been a teacher long enough to see that there is a direct correlation to a kid’s quality of schoolwork and eventual quality of life.  You reap what you sow.  I love to see the students on Senior Awards day light up when they receive thousands of dollars in college scholarship money.  It is the reward they reap for sowing discipline in the classroom.

I see this in other areas of life as well.  I hate to see marriages disintegrate.  Every marriage had to start out fairly solid.  I mean, the two people dated, won each other’s heart, and decided that their next step was to spend the rest of their lives together.  So before God and family, they make a lifelong commitment to each other.  Yet, half of these marriages end in divorce.  What happens?  I don’t know the details of every divorce, but God does, and I would almost guarantee that it has to do with this concept of sowing and reaping.  A man gets a job that requires 80 hours a week of his time.  He never spends any time with his wife and she gets lonely.  They begin to “grow” apart.  Another man is addicted to pornography.  He is always critical of the way his wife looks because she can’t live up to the computer images he looks at every day.  He doesn’t see his wife as beautiful anymore and certainly doesn’t pursue her.  What good could possibly come out of this situation other than a few minutes of temporary pleasure?  People continue to find out the hard way that these seeds produce pain, hurt, and eventually divorce.  It NEVER says that on the package.  Other seeds of destruction include lying, cheating, laziness, illegal activity, addiction, gossip, hatred, and being unable to forgive as Christ forgave you.  If you have been sowing these seeds for a while…destruction is coming!  Being a Christian does not make you immune to the law of sowing and reaping any more than it makes you immune to the law of gravity.

What if a person chose to live a different way?  What if a person started off every day by reading the Word of God?  What if they prayed?  What if they sowed good seeds by simply asking their Heavenly Father to help them honor Him in absolutely everything they were about to do that day?  I believe God would honor that request.  I believe you would flee sexual immorality.  I believe you just might be inclined to work at your school work or your job like you are working for the Lord Himself.  I believe you just might leave work to go on a date with your wife.  I believe you just might start sowing good seeds that produce abundant life instead of the seeds of destruction.

Here is the deal:  Good seeds and bad seeds are eventually going to produce a crop.  Neither good seeds nor bad seeds immediately produce crops.  But, harvest time does eventually come.  Everyone will see exactly what you have been planting.

Today, examine the seeds that you are sowing in your own life.  What will they eventually produce?

God is not mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.

Later

Adam

Consume It All

Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water.  The whole animal — including the head, legs, and internal organs — must be roasted over a fire.  Do not leave any of it until the next morning.  Burn whatever is not eaten before morning.  — Exodus 12:9-10

Just before the Passover, the Lord gave Israel some specific instructions.  The instructions were to kill a lamb, put some of the blood over the door post, and cook and eat the lamb…ALL of the lamb.  They were to eat ALL of it!  That’s kind of gross.  At least if some of it was too gross…they had the option to burn it.

Now, I don’t read that ANYBODY said “I don’t feel like putting the blood on my door post.”  Nobody said “I’m going to boil the meat anyway…I like it that way.”  Nobody complained about having to eat certain parts.  It is pretty clear that everyone obeyed the Lord‘s commands to the best of their ability.  Being saved was obviously more important than their comfort.

Today, I don’t see a whole lot of Christians taking ALL of God’s Word seriously.  Don’t get me wrong, I think it takes some time to develop a reverence for God’s Holy Book.  I left mine sitting on my dresser brand new for years before I started to consume it.  Even then, I only read the parts I could halfway understand.  I read the parts I liked.  In no way did I attempt to consume the whole thing.

That is, until I just didn’t enjoy life.  I was all too aware that I was doing this halfway thing.  I fit in with the guys on the weekend when that was convenient.  I fit in with the church group when that was convenient.  I was trying to have the best of both worlds.  I was taking the parts of the Bible that talked about how good He was and hoping like crazy He was just winking at my sin…I know now that He wasn’t.

I hear quite often about God’s grace.  Most of the time it is misused by people who want to justify their immoral actions.  Most people want to be sexually immoral.  They want to be able to watch anything and listen to everything in the name of entertainment.   They want to be able to talk any way they want and do anything they want to do.  But most importantly, they want God to be okay with it.  Maybe this isn’t true with you…but it was true with me.  I made sure back then that I only listened to people who would make my sin sound justifiable, and most of all would say things like “God is okay with it…He knows we’re human and that we make mistakes.”  Mistakes are one thing…willful disobedience is entirely another.

I say all that to say this:  I don’t want God’s grace to mean that I can willfully sin and have Him overlook it and be okay with it.  I want God’s grace to be this ridiculous, massive amount of power that gives me strength to overcome the sin that is so prevalent in the majority of men today.  God delivered me from sexual immorality, so why would I want to go back to filth just “because I can still go to Heaven if I do” or “He will forgive me.”  I don’t want to sit around and watch movies that take His name in vain and say “well…He’s okay with it…everybody else watches this.”  I want to get this sick feeling inside my stomach when I hear His name being misused.  I want to want to turn it off.  I want to want to walk out of the theater.  I want to want to eat the whole lamb.  I want to eat the tasty parts that are easy to eat because I like them, and I want to eat the bitter parts that don’t go down so well.  If God wants me to do hard things…I want to want to do them.  If God wants me to forgive someone who has seriously wronged me…I want to want to forgive them.  In light of how He has so freely forgiven me…how can I not?

I know people get seriously turned off to this “holiness” stuff.  But, I have had many transitions in my walk with the Lord that I had to ask myself…am I going to do it my way?  A.k.a…the easy way that comes natural to me.  Or, am I going to do it God’s way?  A.k.a…the hard way.  In most of life‘s tough decisions that I have faced so far, I believe I have chosen God’s way.  Not one time…not ONE SINGLE TIME has it ever let me down.  Yes, I’ll admit that I complained about it in the short term…but in the long term it ALWAYS worked out for my good.  Anything God has asked me to do that was hard has only served to ultimately benefit me.

Today, simply evaluate your relationship with God.  Is there anything in your life that is keeping you from God’s best?   Are you feeling His Presence?  Are you being obedient to the best of your knowledge and ability?  Is there any area of your life that is not clean?  Do you honor the entire Word of God?  Or, do you pick and choose?

Only you and God know.

If you are going to consume God’s Word…

Consume it all.

Later

Adam