Follow?

What does it mean to be a follower of Christ. Often I interact with others who claim to be Christians, but their actions and their words show that they are indeed not followers of Christ. Yes, we are known by our actions. This does not mean that we are perfect, but it does mean that our actions will continue to conform to the life of Christ and not be conformed to the world. Our faith, our beliefs, our teachings should be offensive to the world. The world doesn't understand the truth of the Gospel and they don't want to. Jesus told us that the world will hate us because it hated Him first. Sounds fun doesn't it?

Step Out

The past year or so has been a rollercoaster ride. For a while I have been praying that God would either get me into politics or take the desire away from me. I am a republican working for a democrat so it was impossible for me to be involved with the party of my choice.

I decided that politics was out of the question and I have become uninterested in the whole game. So, over this past year I have felt God tugging on my heart. I was sure that the upcoming change that I knew was coming wasn't going to be getting involved in the political field. Melissa and I then began to look at going overseas as missionaries. I have never struggled and wrestled with anything in my life. After months of discussing and praying we decided to begin the process of going to either Austria or Germany.

We started the process (filled out applications and contacted the necessary people) and even began to look at airline tickets for our first visit. Although this is still an option and something that I am still interested in God began closing those doors.

While He was closing those doors He was opening other doors. Judge McKenney wanted me to be his staff attorney and to head up a big project that he is starting. The job has a 12 month "certainty". After 12 months, depending on which party wins the election I may be out of a job. So accepting the job is a step of faith. I decided against it. I still wanted to pursue going overseas.

I was then asked again if I wanted the job. Melissa and I talked one night and she said "you have closed that door so many times and it keeps opening, maybe you just need to walk through it." So I did. Is it a step of faith? Yep. Is it more uncertain that it would have been had I stayed at the prosecutor's office? Maybe from a temporal perspective but we must remember that God is in control of all things. We all (believers) want to follow Christ. We all want to do what He would have us do. But actually following is not an easy thing. If it was, we would all be doing it.

Does all of this mean that things will work out exactly as I want them to? Nope. Does this mean that the right party will win the next election and I will keep my job? Nope. Does this mean anything other than the Creator of the Universe has asked me to step out of my comfort zone and follow Him? Nope, but that sure is comforting.

One Step

"And I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days"

I have heard this song many times. I have listened to the lyrics many times and I have marveled at the truth behind these lyrics. Apparently I never really knew what they meant.

I have always thought that as we seek out God things for our lives become more clear. I have always thought that as we know God more He makes our destination (earthly, not eternal) clear. I have always thought that...

Apparently I have been wrong. As I struggle to learn where God is leading I have come to understand that God doesn't always reveal everything at once.

The Psalmist said that, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." The great thing about lamps and lights - they help you see...for a short distance. The thing that sucks about needing lamps and lights - you can't see anything else that isn't illuminated.

What does this mean? Is God a God of misdirection? Is God a God of confusion? By no means. What it does mean is that I am continually called to trust God and to continue to seek Him. I am sure that if I knew where He was leading my family and me that I would end up taking us there and I would leave no room for Him. Kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it?

While I was trying to process more information and to figure things out a thought came to me - Take it a step at a time. Use the lamp and the light - He will illuminate what needs to be seen and when it needs to be seen. Trust Him. I trust Him with my eternity shouldn't I be able to trust Him with my earthly dwelling as well?

Calling

I feel the calling but I feel unworthy. Who am I that I should be able to proclaim the Gospel or do anything for the Kingdom?

I feel the calling but I have screwed up in my life so many times and so badly that I know that God could call somebody much more qualified than I.

I feel the calling but I am so afraid.

I feel the calling but what about my family? Does this calling mean that I need to take my wife and children away from their extended families? Does this mean that my children will be raised in an unfamiliar culture with an unfamiliar language that they must learn?

I feel the calling and I want to answer but I am unsure as to how and not confident that I really want to. I do want to but I am afraid. I am afraid for all of the reasons I have already mentioned. I am afraid because what if people find out who I really am? What if they find out about the things that I struggle with? What if they find out about the things that I have done - some things that only I and God know about. Can I be effective? There's the issue...

I cannot be effective. I cannot be the light into the darkness. Why? Because I am continually running to the darkness. As a child of light I am still drawn to the darkness. We are to let our light shine before men but I am afraid that if my light shines then others will see the defects and that's a scary thing.

I cannot be effective but I know the One who can be and He lives in me. I am afraid to go but I know the One who will give me, and all of my family, the support and comfort that we need.

I have often wondered what the world (or our faith) would be like if men like Edwards, Calvin, Luther, etc. remained comfortable and they ignored the calling of God. I am sure that He would have used somebody else. I am sure that if I don't answer this call then He will find somebody who will. Is this the faith that I want? Is this the way that I show my love for my Lord and my God? By no means. Jesus didn't remain comfortable and neither should I (or you). It's time to answer that call...Now I just need to learn how.

Blessings

Today is Julia's 4th birthday. She was so excited this morning. She woke up early and came downstairs with a big smile on her face. I can't imagine life without Julia. I can't imagine a day without her.

5 years ago we found out that Melissa was pregnant. The doctor told us that she was approximately 5 weeks along and all looked good. We then went back for another check up and learned that there were some problems. The baby was not any bigger. After a series of tests and doctors appointments we were told that Melissa had a miscarriage and the baby did not survive.

Wow. This hit like a ton of bricks. A lot of thoughts went through my mind. Confusion. Frustration. Sadness. Hope. Rest. No matter what I did I couldn't understand. And I still don't. And I don't have to.

Today is Julia's 4th birthday. If we didn't have that miscarriage Julia would not be with us today. I wouldn't trade that for the world. Sometimes you have to go through sorrow to understand joy. Sometimes the difficult times of life are there to make the other times better.

This isn't to say that every difficult time is followed by blessings. Often times we can't see the eternal purpose of events in our lives. But sometimes we can. But when we realize that God is in control and He loves us more than we can possibly imagine things get easier. When we combine that with our experiences of seeing blessings through the storms of life we remember just how much God loves us!

If you're happy and you know it

God wants His people to be happy. This theology is based on the same type of teaching that says "God helps those who help themselves." One would be hard pressed to find anything in the Bible that comes close to resembling such a statement.

The church today is filled with people who believe that God wants us to be happy. These people teach the "health and wealth" gospel that has riddled the church during my lifetime with heresies and false promises.

God wants us to be happy...Tell that to the Christian in China who is persecuted for his faith and to his congregation in the house church who meet in secret because they could all get arrested if they were found out. Tell that to the believer in Sudan who was executed for his faith. Tell that to the Christian who gets ridiculed at work because she is a follower of Christ and follows His teachings. Are these people happy? Is God letting them down by allowing them to be unhappy? Have they somehow offended God and so God is punishing them by taking away their happiness? By no means.

He wants us to be happy...Was Jesus happy? A quick perusal through the Gospels tell us that He was not. He was constantly ridiculed; He was hated; He was betrayed by a close friend; He was denied by an even closer friend; He was flogged, spat upon, crucified, mocked, ridiculed...Happy? I doubt it.

No really, He wants us to be happy. Let's look at Paul's life. Paul: flogged 5 times, beaten with rods 3 times, stoned once, shipwrecked 3 times - adrift at sea for a night and a day, in constant danger, in prison multiple times, without food, in cold and exposure, constant anxiety for all of the churches, imprisoned multiple times and finally executed. Happy? I doubt it.

Didn't Jesus say that He wants us to be happy? Jesus sent his disciples out as sheep among wolves. Think about that statement - does that sound like He was setting them up for happiness? We will be hated by all because of Him - happiness? To the man who wanted to first bury his father Jesus told him to let the dead bury their own. To the rich young ruler Jesus said that he had to sell everything he had before he could follow Jesus. Happy?

Does God want us to be happy? By no means. God wants so much more for us. The problem is that we do not have an eternal perspective as to what God really wants for us. We think in terms of this life. We don't think in terms of eternity. God wants us to find our meaning in Him; to find our purpose in Him; to find our identity in Him. Will this make us happy? Perhaps on some days it will but I guarantee that it will make our lives better and far more fulfilling that we can possibly imagine.

There is a hymn that makes me very unhappy to sing, At the Cross. The chorus goes like this:
At the cross, at the cross,
Where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away -
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day.

I get it. I understand that this idea is appealing. Perhaps we should stop living a faith that is appealing and start living a faith that is real, that is biblical, that is eternal.

It's Complicated

God hates divorce. Jesus allows for divorce in situations of marital unfaithfulness (and that only because of the hardness of our hearts). This seems pretty simple doesn't it? Don't do it. Don't get divorced. This is one command that we are clearly given in Scripture. The Bible is full of things that we should not do - not in order to earn salvation or God's favor but in order to live the life that we were designed to live - but this is one.

During a recent discussion with some peeps I was told that while the Bible says that God hates divorce sometimes it is more complicated than that. Sometimes people stay married but hate each other and their kids grow up to resent the fact that the parents stayed together. (Of course, I would argue that the kids resent the fact that the parents didn't live their marriage according to the biblical commands that Paul gives numerous times - Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church...etc.) Sometimes people fall out of love (whatever this means). Sometimes...(insert excuse here).

The argument was that human affairs are too complicated to follow biblical commands strictly. The Bible can't be the standard bearer in my life because life is complicated. Have human affairs over the past 2000 years have made the Bible less relevant? Have human affairs become so complicated that God's clear commands can't apply in the same way anymore?

This is a symptom of a much deeper problem. Self proclaimed Christians; people who claim to be followers of Christ; people who claim to believe the Scripture refuse to follow Him and refuse to believe what it says.

As a christian society we have made God fit into what or who we want Him to be. We read about God predestining (a word used more than once) the elect (another word used) and say a God who chooses some can't be fair so we don't want to believe that. We read about the eternal damnation for those who aren't covered by Christ's blood and we think that that is inherently unfair so we, at best, ignore the doctrine of hell and, at worst, we claim that all get to heaven apart from Christ.

It's time that the elect, the true followers of Christ stand up for what the Bible says. We don't need to apologize for saying that divorce is wrong, that filthy talk is wrong, that homosexuality is wrong, etc. Why? Because the Bible says so and the Bible is the inherent Word of God. God made the rules - we need to live by them and allow Him to deal with the fall-out. Something tells me that He can handle it.