A dating couple rented a bicycle built for two and went out for a ride. After a few miles, they came to a long steep hill. It took a great deal of struggle for the the two of them to complete what proved to be a very stiff climb. When they got to the top the guy in front turned to his girlfriend and said, “Man, that was a hard climb.” The young girl in back innocently replied, “Yes it was! I was so afraid we’d roll back down that I kept the brakes on all the way up!”
Are you peddling forward or riding the brakes?” This could be asked about a number of areas of you life.
What about your marriage? Are you peddling forward or riding the brakes? Are you an encourager? Are you looking for every opportunity to compliment, praise, and build up? Or do you look for every opportunity to “win”, or to “get even”, or “show her how wrong she is”? Do you spend as much time expressing appreciation as you do displeasure? How you answer these questions reveals a lot. Many spouses will say things like, “There’s not much good to be said.” When they do, the questions are answered – You are riding with the breaks on. Your marriage problems are not your spouse’s problem, they are yours!
What about work? Are you one of the most dependable employees the company has? Are you the one to turn negative conversations into positive? Do you turn the gossip into praise? Are you happy that the company makes money off of you? Or do you look for what you can get out of them. Are you the secret sore spot who sows discord in the lunch room? I hope you are not riding the brakes.
Do you see how this concept can be applied to most areas of life? Are you peddling for the church or riding the brakes? Maybe this could be a new theme question in our circles. A great test question in just about every situation could be, “Am I peddling forward or riding the brakes?” Or how about this one, “Am I be the kind of person I’d want riding/peddling with me?”
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
What does it mean to “Walk with God”?
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Micah 6:8 – “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
I could make a number of observations from the verse, but would like to focus on the last phrase, “to walk humbly with your God.” What does it mean to walk with God? In the Old Testament, the phrase is normally worded as “walking before God” (Ge 17:1 1Ki 2:4 2Ki 20:3 Ps 56:13 116:9). It was first used in Genesis 17, with God telling Abraham that he was to walk before him, and to be blameless. Each time it is used, it seems to be emphasizing our need to live in such a way that we are continually aware of God’s presence with a desire to please Him.
The Apostle John spoke of this concept as “walking in the light,” and it is the Greek New Testament equivalent of walking with or before God. In John’s word picture, the sense of a willing and open exposure before God is conveyed, much like the phrase, “walking before God” in the Old Testament.
Micah's reference is related, but adds the word, “humbly” as a qualifier. Walking with God is maintaining a focus on him, enjoying his grace and presence, without any air of self-righteousness. While the phrase implies an ongoing awareness of His presence and living accordingly, we can't miss the important component of discourse inherent with two walking together. People walk together to enjoy each other's company, to talk and to listen.
If you are walking with God, not only are you living (to walk is a euphemism for lifestyle) with an awareness of his presence, you are also conversing with him, talking and listening. That's why it's best to read our Bibles daily, it's how we listen to him. That's also why we pray. It's how we talk to him.
So are you walking with God? Do you live with an ongoing awareness of his presence (even when you are doing wrong)? Are you talking to him? Are you listening to him? Are you enjoying his presence? Is he enjoying yours?
After all, that's the reason he made you in the first place!
I could make a number of observations from the verse, but would like to focus on the last phrase, “to walk humbly with your God.” What does it mean to walk with God? In the Old Testament, the phrase is normally worded as “walking before God” (Ge 17:1 1Ki 2:4 2Ki 20:3 Ps 56:13 116:9). It was first used in Genesis 17, with God telling Abraham that he was to walk before him, and to be blameless. Each time it is used, it seems to be emphasizing our need to live in such a way that we are continually aware of God’s presence with a desire to please Him.
The Apostle John spoke of this concept as “walking in the light,” and it is the Greek New Testament equivalent of walking with or before God. In John’s word picture, the sense of a willing and open exposure before God is conveyed, much like the phrase, “walking before God” in the Old Testament.
Micah's reference is related, but adds the word, “humbly” as a qualifier. Walking with God is maintaining a focus on him, enjoying his grace and presence, without any air of self-righteousness. While the phrase implies an ongoing awareness of His presence and living accordingly, we can't miss the important component of discourse inherent with two walking together. People walk together to enjoy each other's company, to talk and to listen.
If you are walking with God, not only are you living (to walk is a euphemism for lifestyle) with an awareness of his presence, you are also conversing with him, talking and listening. That's why it's best to read our Bibles daily, it's how we listen to him. That's also why we pray. It's how we talk to him.
So are you walking with God? Do you live with an ongoing awareness of his presence (even when you are doing wrong)? Are you talking to him? Are you listening to him? Are you enjoying his presence? Is he enjoying yours?
After all, that's the reason he made you in the first place!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Summertime!
Next week is Memorial weekend and summer is here. What do you have planned?
In previous cultures, summertime was a time of hard work and production. Schools break for summer even today because in the old days, families needed their kids at home when farm chores were especially work intensive (that and the hot days with no air conditioning made school unpleasant). But as we have become less and less dependent on the family farm for our economic well-being, summers have shifted to family vacation time.
If you have school age kids, I hope you get a break this summer. (If you don't, you may enjoy vacation more during an off-peak season.) Getting at least an annual break from work and responsibilities at home is healthy. Moses built it into The Law for God's people to take out-of-town breaks for family time, fellowship, and worship. So schedule some kind of a vacation away from home. It's healthy!
But can I make a couple of helpful suggestions?
First, don't take a vacation from corporate worship. Ya, I know, I'm a pastor and you'd expect me to say that. But would you expect to hear anything different from Yahweh, Himself? You know, the God who required Israel to worship together on The Sabbath, instituted the feasts for celebration, time off, AND corporate worship, and said, "Do not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing" (Hebrews 10:25). Summertime is not only a great time to worship with your brothers and sisters at home, but also away. It is a wonderful blessing to meet and worship with fellow Christ-followers with whom we will eventually spend eternity. So when on vacation, go to church!
Second don't leave your Bridge family stranded! We need you helping with the family chores in the summer more than ever. Summer is a time when our work expands. Among other things, we will have a number of community outreach projects, VBS, the July 4th parade, etc. Some of our Solid Ground workers give of their time every single week through the year and deserve a summer break (especially those with school-age kids). So for those who have not yet taken on a ministry, this is a good time to explore. By filling in Solid Ground for the summer, you can see if that is a good fit for you, without having to make a long term commitment.
Third, this is a good time to show that your giving is not just a “pay-as-you-go” thing, as though going to church is like going to a ball game (you only “pay” if you are there). Going to church is not going to a show. We are a family, and our needs do not drop during the summer. Actually, they increase. So if you have not yet started giving based on a percentage of your income, and doing so regularly (1 Corinthians 16:2) regardless of your attendance, this summer is a good time to start. Giving online or through our new app is a good way to do that. You can even set it up to automatically deduct from your bank account as often as you like, the same as you do for many of your bills.
Finally, make the most out of church and community relationships, and combine the two for outreach. Host a backyard cookout or two and invite both neighbors and church friends. Be creative with your Life Group and have some summer fun together (i.e. Cubs game, biking the River Trail, Lake Michigan beach, zoo, etc.). The value of a break, in a big way, lies in our fellowship with those who refresh us and our taking opportunity to reach out to others. That was what the Old Testament Feasts were all about.
So have a great summer! And the way to do that as in all things in our lives, is to keep God at center, letting everything else flow from Him.
In previous cultures, summertime was a time of hard work and production. Schools break for summer even today because in the old days, families needed their kids at home when farm chores were especially work intensive (that and the hot days with no air conditioning made school unpleasant). But as we have become less and less dependent on the family farm for our economic well-being, summers have shifted to family vacation time.
If you have school age kids, I hope you get a break this summer. (If you don't, you may enjoy vacation more during an off-peak season.) Getting at least an annual break from work and responsibilities at home is healthy. Moses built it into The Law for God's people to take out-of-town breaks for family time, fellowship, and worship. So schedule some kind of a vacation away from home. It's healthy!
But can I make a couple of helpful suggestions?
First, don't take a vacation from corporate worship. Ya, I know, I'm a pastor and you'd expect me to say that. But would you expect to hear anything different from Yahweh, Himself? You know, the God who required Israel to worship together on The Sabbath, instituted the feasts for celebration, time off, AND corporate worship, and said, "Do not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing" (Hebrews 10:25). Summertime is not only a great time to worship with your brothers and sisters at home, but also away. It is a wonderful blessing to meet and worship with fellow Christ-followers with whom we will eventually spend eternity. So when on vacation, go to church!
Second don't leave your Bridge family stranded! We need you helping with the family chores in the summer more than ever. Summer is a time when our work expands. Among other things, we will have a number of community outreach projects, VBS, the July 4th parade, etc. Some of our Solid Ground workers give of their time every single week through the year and deserve a summer break (especially those with school-age kids). So for those who have not yet taken on a ministry, this is a good time to explore. By filling in Solid Ground for the summer, you can see if that is a good fit for you, without having to make a long term commitment.
Third, this is a good time to show that your giving is not just a “pay-as-you-go” thing, as though going to church is like going to a ball game (you only “pay” if you are there). Going to church is not going to a show. We are a family, and our needs do not drop during the summer. Actually, they increase. So if you have not yet started giving based on a percentage of your income, and doing so regularly (1 Corinthians 16:2) regardless of your attendance, this summer is a good time to start. Giving online or through our new app is a good way to do that. You can even set it up to automatically deduct from your bank account as often as you like, the same as you do for many of your bills.
Finally, make the most out of church and community relationships, and combine the two for outreach. Host a backyard cookout or two and invite both neighbors and church friends. Be creative with your Life Group and have some summer fun together (i.e. Cubs game, biking the River Trail, Lake Michigan beach, zoo, etc.). The value of a break, in a big way, lies in our fellowship with those who refresh us and our taking opportunity to reach out to others. That was what the Old Testament Feasts were all about.
So have a great summer! And the way to do that as in all things in our lives, is to keep God at center, letting everything else flow from Him.
Monday, May 7, 2012
How To Raise Your Kids to Hate Church
If you’re reading my blog, you don’t want to do that. You wouldn’t be on this page if you didn’t have some interest in church things. Even people who do not go to church are usually happy when their kids do. Church people...church people say they want more than anything for their kids to know and love God, and to be a part of a good church. But the trouble is, too many church people are turning their kids away. How?
“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things.” –Philippians 4:9
- By attending when it is convenient. Kids can be fooled for a while. But they pick up quickly on life patterns. They know what’s really important to you. So when you say that going to church is important, but you stay home when you were out late on Saturday night, out-of-town guests are in, or when there’s a big meal planned, a big game is on, or supposedly just because you need a break… they pick up on how important corporate worship is to you really. They know its not a big deal to you. So why would it be a big deal to them?
- By knowing more than the church leaders. Honestly, they think you do, at least right now. That’s supposed to be a good thing. But let’s face it, while you can sound to them like you do, you really don’t. But by critiquing the sermon, criticizing the music, minimizing the elders and gossiping about the youth pastor, you’re sending the message loud and clear that the church is led by idiots. So maybe they’re ok with going now when they are 9 or 10, but at 19 or 20? “Are you kidding? Waste time with a bunch of idiots? My dad didn’t raise no fool!”
- By separating your church persona from your home persona. “The Bible...that’s to be read in church. Let my kids see me reading it at home? Naa. I watch TV at home.” “Prayer? Ok, maybe at the dinner table, at least when family is in town. But let’s not take it too far.” If you want your kids to grow up hating church, you’re not going to want to pray with them before bed, or after a disappointment at school or struggle with a friend. Then they might think that church stuff is actually real.
- By focusing on the externals. Make sure they wear just the right clothes (after all, how they are dressed is a reflection on you). Make sure they behave just right in front of the other church people. And teach them how to hide what’s really going on at home––none of those embarrassing prayer requests in Sunday School. That way, they grow up learning that all church people are fakes, and they’ll hate it all the more.
“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things.” –Philippians 4:9
Friday, May 4, 2012
Time
Laptops, iPads & Android tablets, smartphones and GPS navigators, what would we do without them? You’d think with all these time saving devices, life would slow down. But I’ve never seen so many restless and hurried people. If our technology delivered what it promised, and did what we purchased these gadgets to do (at least the excuses we used when we bought them), we’d have the time to spend on the things we say matter.
But I’m afraid all we’ve done is added speed and noise. Dings, beeps, tap tap tap, sending messages about nothing to more people then ever. Rushing off to the next place, we get where we’re going faster, but we’re not all that sure of where that is. And when we arrive, we are out of breath. With all the time we’ve saved, why do we have so little for the things that are most important?
Maybe that’s where the real problem lies. Maybe we are unclear as to what does matter most. After all, what is most important to you this week is what you spend your time on this week. I didn’t write down who said it, but I copied this quote years ago, “What I am doing today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.”
That’s what our use of time comes down to.
In our Balancing Life series, I’ve been repeated the statement, “Clarify your values,” and then, “Set goals.” Because...values get fuzzy. If we don’t stop and remind ourselves periodically what should be important to us, the wrong things, often the urgent things or the tempting things, take precedence. When we clarify our values, we remind ourselves of the things that matter most. When we set goals, we take aim at those things that we’ve already determined are priority.
Donald Whitney wrote, “The more scarce something is, the more valuable it is. Gold and diamonds would be worthless if you could pick them up like pebbles on the side of the road. Time would not be so precious if we never died. But since we are never more than a breath away from eternity, the way we use our time has eternal significance.” John Blanchard said, “To waste time is to squander a gift from God.”
Every hour in every day is an hour that can never be reclaimed. How you use your time is not only important, it reveals what is most important to you.
So how do you use your time? What matters most to you?
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” – Psalms 90:12
But I’m afraid all we’ve done is added speed and noise. Dings, beeps, tap tap tap, sending messages about nothing to more people then ever. Rushing off to the next place, we get where we’re going faster, but we’re not all that sure of where that is. And when we arrive, we are out of breath. With all the time we’ve saved, why do we have so little for the things that are most important?
Maybe that’s where the real problem lies. Maybe we are unclear as to what does matter most. After all, what is most important to you this week is what you spend your time on this week. I didn’t write down who said it, but I copied this quote years ago, “What I am doing today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.”
That’s what our use of time comes down to.
In our Balancing Life series, I’ve been repeated the statement, “Clarify your values,” and then, “Set goals.” Because...values get fuzzy. If we don’t stop and remind ourselves periodically what should be important to us, the wrong things, often the urgent things or the tempting things, take precedence. When we clarify our values, we remind ourselves of the things that matter most. When we set goals, we take aim at those things that we’ve already determined are priority.
Donald Whitney wrote, “The more scarce something is, the more valuable it is. Gold and diamonds would be worthless if you could pick them up like pebbles on the side of the road. Time would not be so precious if we never died. But since we are never more than a breath away from eternity, the way we use our time has eternal significance.” John Blanchard said, “To waste time is to squander a gift from God.”
Every hour in every day is an hour that can never be reclaimed. How you use your time is not only important, it reveals what is most important to you.
So how do you use your time? What matters most to you?
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” – Psalms 90:12
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