What does your spiritual growth have in common with an old Nike commercial?  Everything!  Remember the commercial series years ago, “Just Do It!”  The athletic shoe company urged the public to “Just Do It,” take action and strive toward the goal.  Do you want to grow closer to God?  Do you want to experience more of him flowing through your life?  Then you too must “Just Do It!”

Just Do It

Spiritual growth does not just happen to you.  You must pursue it.  It is true that God pursues you, but you must respond.  If you are not growing spiritually, you cannot point the finger of blame at others.  You must own it.  You are responsible for progressing in your obedient love relationship with Jesus.

There are two kinds of people in this world.  Those who are…

1. Action Inclined.  When they see a need or sense a calling, their bias is toward action.  They do something about it without letting the grass grow under their toes.

and those who are…

1. Action Adverse.  When they see a need or sense a calling, they shrink back from taking action.  Their reasons may vary from fear to indifference.

You can think of yourself as positioned somewhere on the continuum between being action inclined and action adverse.  Few are entirely one or the other.  Are you someone who has more in common with an activist?  Or, are you more inclined to respond with passivity, resisting action.

Sometimes examples of inactivity can seem harmless, like the slightly overweight couch potato who simply watches the world go by.  But sometimes an example of inaction can be downright evil.

Consider March 13, 1964 in Queens, New York, when Kitty Genovese was stabbed and sexually assaulted for upwards of thirty minutes while, as many as 38 looked on, but did nothing.

The Apostle Paul taught believers to be action inclined when he said, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)  There are commands of Christ to be followed, ministry to engage in, and the gospel to share.  This takes action.  The days are evil and fleeting.  Time is not to be wasted.

What about in your life?  Are you engaging in your spiritual development or are you letting opportunities to engage pass you by as you say, “Maybe tomorrow.”

The problem with that is tomorrow may never come.  But even if it does, you risk losing today.  You risk missing God’s spiritual appointments.

Is there something that you know God is placing in your path today?  Maybe it is something he wants you to do, a fear he wants you to face, a person he wants you to help, an unbeliever with whom he wants you to share the gospel.

Why are you waiting to take action?  If God has put this before you, “Just Do It!”  Get started.

I know, you have some fears, some concerns.  What if I am not good enough?  What if I fail?

Jon Acuff, in his best selling book, Start, says, “As you stand with one foot still on the road to average and one foot on the road to awesome, you’ve got to kill those concerns.  Fortunately, there’s a trick that will take care of them both.  Just start.”[1]

Starting, taking action, is the trick to growing in Christ and making a difference in the world.

So say “yes” to that opportunity.  Set aside that time for prayer.  Invite that friend to church.  Help that friend who feels so alone in their trouble.  Give to that great cause.  “Just do It!”  And you know what?

You will find your day to be an adventure, God to be your strength, and your life to be significant.

Question:  What is it that God is calling you to do TODAY?  You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Everybody has problems!  The problem with problems is how we think and feel about the problems.  Did you catch that?  Read it again if you need.

Look Up

Life is made of problems.  At school they teach you math and show you how to solve problems.  If you didn’t have problems at work, your employer wouldn’t need you.  Problems are job security.  You are going to face them.  You are hired to solve them.  The question:  How will you think and feel about your challenges?

Often we feel dread when encountering a problem.  We can get so down that paralysis creeps in and we don’t take action.  This isn’t good.  We are not thinking with faith in a powerful God.

Consider Elijah.  He was a great prophet who stood for God, spoke God’s Word when the nation rejected the LORD’s message, he faced off with the false prophets and won, but those are the good things.  Elijah also had problems.  He lived to point the people to God, but saw little evidence they were submitting to the LORD.  The Queen threatened to kill him and he was on the run.  He was tired, hungry, and lonely.  He had problems.

Consider negative ways we often view our problems… We often think things like…

*My problem is greater than God.  We might not actually say this, but we act like it is.  Elijah had great faith in God’s ability.  He stood alone against 450 false prophets and believed God would vindicate him.  But then the Queen threatened to murder him, all of a sudden he sees the problem as bigger than God and runs.  Sometimes you can have great faith in one area of your life and be weak of faith in another.

*I am the only one with problems.  Elijah felt alone.  He said to God, “I am the only one left.” (1 Kings 19:10)  So many times I counsel with people who feel like the struggle they have, they have alone.  They come to church and look at the rest of the people and think they have it all together.  But they don’t.  We all have struggles.

*I have lost hope in my future.  This is what happened to Elijah.  He said, “I have had enough, LORD…Take my life.” (1 Kings 19:4)  Some have said he was suicidal.  But he wasn’t.  He simply lost his zest for life.  This can happen to us when we fail to see the bigger picture of our circumstances from God.

We need to stop seeing our problems in these ways and start taking the steps God gives to rise above those problems.

What did God lead Elijah to do?  He was commanded to take three steps…

1. Get up.  God sent an angel to the prophet to say, “Get up and eat.” (1 Kings 19:5).  Two important things here.  First is to get up.  Don’t wallow in laziness, get yourself moving.  When you feel overwhelmed by a problem, you might not feel like being active, but you need to anyway.  Secondly, eat.  That means, take care of your physical needs:  rest, exercise, eat well.  We are not mere spirits.  We have bodies.  We need to move them and fuel them if we are going to handle our problems.  Are you faced with a big problem?  Stay active and fuel your body with healthy food.
2. Look up.  God says to Elijah, to look up to God.  He takes him to the Mountain and reveals His Presence to him.  He is calling him to look to God and be reminded God is in control.  Psalm 121:1-2 says, “I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?  My help comes from the LORD.”  Perhaps today God is saying to you, “Look Up!”  “I am here!”  “I am in control.”  “I will lead you through.”
3. Link up.  We should never think we must face our problems all alone.  God has people he wants us to link up with as we walk through challenges.  He showed Elijah that there were people to help with his mission and even revealed that there were 7,000 who were following the LORD in Israel.  It is important that we link up with other believers on a continuous basis to encourage one another as we all work through our problems.

Question:  Do you have a scripture that encourages you to look to God for strength in your challenges?  Share it with us.  You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Remember the song we used to taunt one another with when in grade school.  It went…”First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in the baby carriage.”  The song was silly, but it did convey the logical progression of relationships God intended for men and women.  It showed love is not only for our pleasure, it’s meant to produce something that outlives us.

Marital Love

This post is being published on Valentine’s Day.  Today, I want to write something for those who are married or someday hope to be married.  I know this might not apply to everyone, but even those who are not married, and don’t intend to be, can still benefit from knowing God’s purpose for marital love.

Today, we celebrate romance.  Such a focus dwells on the mutually pleasurable feeling we all crave in such a relationship.  Marriage is meant for such feelings, but it is also about so much more.

It all starts with how God defines marriage.  He defines marriage…

1. As divinely instituted.  Jesus said, “at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh.’”  (Matthew 19:4-5)  Marriage is God’s idea.
2. As between a man and a woman.  God created the genders as stated above and did so to then ordain that they be sacredly joined.  Our culture has been debating other arrangements, but for God there has never been a debate.  Marriage is for a man and a woman.
3. As a relationship of oneness.  Jesus said, they are to “become one flesh.” There is to be a deep closeness that is in part expressed by sexual union.
4. As the foundation of a family.  Never was the marriage relationship meant to only serve to provide exhilarating experiences between couples.  To be sure that is one of the blessings, but marriage is the foundation of the most basic unit of society, the family.  Strong marriages equal strong families.  In the same way you would not want to build a house before you had set a firm foundation, it is dangerous to build a family without the foundation of a strong marriage.
5. As a covenant relationship.  The Lord refers to marriage as a covenant. (Malachi 2:14)  It is a promise for life that is made before God.  It is sacred and holy.  It is a big deal.

But there is more.  God’s plan is that he would be glorified through marriages.  How so?

1. Marriage displays God’s image in the world.  God created us “male and female.”  Marriage displays both of those dynamics of God’s image to the world.
2. Marriage is a symbol of Christ’s relationship to his church. The Bible speaks of the husband and wife relationship as being a reflection of how the church is to relate to Jesus. (Ephesians 5:22-23)  How you relate to your spouse is a witness to the world of Jesus and his love for us.
3. Marriage is also for the rearing of a godly generation.  The Lord wills that a couple would live for him, but also wills for those who can have children to have them and rear them to likewise live for God. (Malachi 2:15)

And for us, God’s plan is to provide a special kind of love through marriage.

We are to love our spouse…

1. Emotionally.  Woman, your man hungers for honor and respect.  Men, your lady craves your affirmation and attention.
2. Physically.  Marriage is meant to provide the occasion for shared affection and sexual union.  These are important aspects that must not be neglected. (1 Corinthians 7:2-5)
3. With Provision.  It is in marriage that we promise to provide for each other.  It is all about working together to provide a home and the things we need to thrive.
4. With Protection.  Men, you can protect your lady’s esteem, by affirming her and not tearing her down.  Women, you can protect your husband’s honor, by lifting him up and not nagging him.

I challenge those of you who are married to engage in your marriage as an act of worship.  God is calling you to reflect his glory through your love of your spouse.

Question:  What are ways you suggest that you can better glorify God by loving your spouse?  You can leave a comment by clicking here.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that our world is going crazy.  Everything is getting faster and increasingly complex.  We are frenzied, over stimulated, techno crazed, media saturated, and over scheduled.  Perhaps more than ever before, we need to rediscover the art of a daily retreat.

Daily Retreat

Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m not on a crusade against busy schedules, media, or being connected to the information highway.  I am an advocate for activity, productivity, and being engaged in our world.  If you looked at my life, you would see that I love to work, from early in the morning into the night.

No, my concern is about margin.  The tricky dark side to our busy connectivity is that it can become addictive.  We can lose our ability to know when to turn it off so that we can find space for our souls to breath in the Spirit of God.

Jesus taught us a different way.  He didn’t teach us to avoid busyness or to ignore life’s demands.  But he did display for us the art of daily retreating.  He taught us to create space for God in the midst of our frenzied pace.  In Mark 1:35-39 we see Him model one of these brief retreats.  In verse 35, the Bible says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (NIV)

I see in our Lord’s brief retreat Five Components we can incorporate in our time with God.

1. Silence:  Jesus got up “very early in the morning, while it was still dark.”  He carved out time, before the demands of daylight.  How wise we would be if we would go to bed a little earlier so that we could get up before the rest of the world awakes clamoring for our attention.  I don’t think I ever regretted a time I got up early to fellowship with God.  But I know many times I have regretted staying up late glued to the T.V., only to have difficulty awaking the next day and missing my time with the Lord.
2. Solitude:  Jesus “went up to a solitary place.”  He got alone, retreated from interruptions.  There has to be a time, even if only for minutes, when it is just God and you.  This is a time to turn off the social media and pull away from the demands of others.
3. Sharing:  It was in this quiet place that Jesus “prayed.”  He spoke with His Father God.  We have great need to pour our heart out to the Lord.  Pray to Him about the day ahead, lay before Him your needs, and seek His wisdom and direction.
4. Scripture:  After Jesus had spent time with the Father his disciples found Him.  Jesus told them of His calling to travel elsewhere to “preach” God’s Word.  Jesus could preach because He knew the Word of God.  In our daily retreat, Scripture reading should be a central part.  Read a passage, ponder it’s meaning, and prayerfully apply God’s Word to your life.
5. Seeing our call to Serve:  After our Lord’s retreat we see Him continue in His ministry, even covering more ground, and reaching more people.  We must always remember that our time with God is never just about us.  God is preparing us to have impact on others.

The Challenge:  Plan today for a morning retreat for tomorrow.  Go to bed a little earlier and set your alarm to get up a little earlier.  Find that place of solitude, open up the Bible, and fellowship with the God who loves you so very much.

Question:  What are some practices you have found helpful in your daily time with God?  You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Spiritual parenting does not happen by accident.  It takes intention.  It demands making certain choices.

Family Choosing to Follow Christ

Leading your children to know and follow Christ is critical to their development and their eternal destiny.  It demands you make choices concerning the kind of person you will become and the kinds of things you will do.

You must…

1. Choose the right direction.  At every point in life you are at a cross-road of decision.  Will you live for yourself and your pleasures or will you live for the purpose of glorifying Christ?  If you are going to inspire your offspring to give their lives to Jesus, you will have to make a fundamental decision to live sold-out to God.  You can’t teach kids to give themselves fully to the Lord if you are only living for him part time.  They will see through the hypocrisy.  They will witness your partial investment and assume the Lord is not worth the price.  Moses said to the Israelites before entering the Promised Land, “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God.”  (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)  Leading kids can never be separated from your personal example.  Decide to live full on for Jesus.
2. Choose the right mentors.  How are we going to know how to naturally lead our children in the things of God?  It’s best to follow the example of those who have done the same in their own homes and have been successful.  These people might be close to you or people that you do not personally know, but their walk with Christ is real and you are inspired by them to walk with Christ yourself.  These people may be older than you, even younger than you.  They might be alive or they might have been dead for a long time.  I have mentors that are alive and I can phone them up, but some have passed and I can remember their example or read about them in books.
3. Choose a life of obedience.  There is only one sure sign that we are included in God’s Kingdom.  That is that we are obeying God’s will.  Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)  This is a frightening passage at first reading.  But to the one who is devoted to living out an obedient lifestyle before God, it need not be.  God is looking for people who will really live out their profession of faith.  And in the case of parents, is this not what the next generation is looking for?  They want to know, is this God real, can you really have a walk with Christ that is genuine?  They are looking to you to see if this LORD is really One who is worthy to follow.
4. Choose to lead your family.  It was Joshua who said, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”  (Joshua 24:15)  Like I said in the beginning of this post, spiritual parenting is not accidental.  You must be intentional.  You have to choose to lead.  That means first you must choose to lead yourself.  Determine to keep your spiritual life on a growth trajectory.  It also means you need to lead your kids into spiritual disciplines.  It would include things as simple as taking the family to church, involving them in church activities, reading the Bible and praying with your kids over dinner or at bedtime.

These simple choices can have incredible power in giving your children every spiritual advantage as they grow up in your home.

Question:  What are other choices that you have found important in leading your children spiritually? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

My father is suffering from bone and lung cancer.  He’s stage four.

Good Grief

We all know time with him is limited and that is sobering.  I call him daily, travel to see him often, and together we check off items on his “bucket list.”  We are making the most of each moment and sharing a lot of love.  Yet I know the day will come when I will have to grieve his loss.  The thought of that brings tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat even as I write.

Being a Pastor of a local church I both perform and attend numerous funerals.  Over the years I have walked thousands through the pathways of grieving.  And there are some things I have learned.

There are two sides to grieving…

*Letting go of what death has taken from us.

*Latching hold of what death can’t take away.

When a loved one dies, there are things lost.  For our own emotional health these are things of which we must learn to let go.  What are these things?

1. The person’s immediate presence.  We can’t call them on the phone, share a cup of coffee, or go for a walk.  We will miss this.
2. The person’s earthly future with us.   We won’t be building new memories with them in the coming years.  Future birthdays, graduations, weddings, and holidays will not be experienced together.
3. Our dreams of how our lives would be shared with them.  We have lived with expectations of how our future will be with this person in our lives.  All this has changed and we must accept that our future will be lived out without them as a present living factor.  We can sense their spirit, but they will not be physically with us.

When we sorrow over these losses we honor our loved one’s memory.  We are professing that they meant something profound to us and that is why they are sorely missed.

But, we must also remember, that when a loved one dies, there are things that death cannot take away from us.  These are the blessings that we get to keep.  Death cannot rob us of them.

1. Death can’t take away the memories.  They are yours to keep as long as you live.
2. Death can’t take away the love invested.  The love invested made you who you are.  The results of that love still shape your life.
3. Death can’t take away the connection you experienced.  That bond you shared you can still cherish.
4. Death can’t take away the laughter.  Those funny memories are still in your mind to replay and find yourself laughing again and again.
5. Death can’t take away the lessons learned.  The things you learned from your interaction with them are now a part of you.  They live on.
6. Death can’t take away the promises of God.  For those redeemed in Christ, death is not the end.  There is a glorious heavenly home.  And for those left behind, there is God’s comforting presence…”Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:  for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”  (Psalm 23:4, KJV)

No explanation of grief can take away the pain.  But I find it encouraging viewing loss from the perspective that there are things that death cannot take away.  Though we have lost the loved ones we miss, we realize we still have so many of the blessings that their living afforded us.

Question:  What are things that you will always cherish about someone you have lost to death?  You can leave a comment by clicking here.