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Giving It To Get It

Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of writing time this morning.  So today will be a quick glance at a thought that has been swirling in my head this week.  I have been thinking about how to live a life of service, instead of doing “service projects”.  This is another one of those puzzlers – especially giving the frantic schedules that we attempt to maintain.  So I was doing a little bit of channel surfing the other day and I stopped on one of the “religious” channels just to see what was up.  After a minute of watching a bunch of teens worship – which was a very interesting thing as well- this dude pops up on the screen and reads this verse:

34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Mark 8:34-37 NIV

So the thought that has been swirling is how do we do that?  How do we give ourselves? How do we lose our lives?  Any ideas?  Post them in the comment section.

34-37Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for? (Mark 8:34-37, The Message)

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Feeling Pioneering

Last night I was listening to some stuff from Francis Chan and is this particular piece he tells of a professor who once asked him “What are you doing today that requires faith”?  That’s a stumper of a question, but one that we should consider.

And since today is Daniel Boone Day, I think its even more appropriate.  Just think about Mr. Boone, heading off into the Transylvania wilderness (that is what he wanted to call Kentucky) way before the Interstate Highway System was even a sparkle in someone’s eye.  That took some faith!

So to honor ol’ Daniel,  lets get that good time pioneering feeling going today and step out there on faith.  Don’t be held back by the fear of the unknown, and the thought of what might happen.  But your faith in the creator of the universe to help you and get to it.

1-2The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. (Hebrews 11:1-2, The Message)

1-3Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (Hebrews 12:1-2, The Message)

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Can’t Kick the Habit

I can tell that summer is here.  I was able to sleep in a little ( like 20 minutes) and take my time in the morning and the house is completely quiet.  Where are those people that live with me?

Anyway, yesterday I received an email about a band call Family Force 5.  They are a  Christian crunk rock band. That’s usually not my type of music, but it’s still intriguing to me to see people use so many different ways to spread the message of the Christ.  One of their songs is called “Love Addict” and the music video has over 3.5 million hits on YouTube.  This song contains the following lyric:

Hold Up! Wait a minute! Put a little love in it!

That sort of reminds me of Paul in 1 Corinthians

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. ( The Message)

I mean really, if I have everything, but I don’t have love what do I have.  And that is the message of the Christ.  Check it in Mark:

35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Mark 8:35-37 (New International Version)

So today, whether you like crunk rock or not ( and I think I am starting to!), sing it out:

Hold up, Wait a minute, Put a little love in it!

Can’t kick the habit,

I’ve got to have it,

I’m what is called a

Love Addict

Love Addict

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Mission

A few months ago I read a blog that was title something like “Help Me, I’m Stuck IN My Church”.  The gist of the post was that some times followers of Christ get so caught up in the “work of the church”, that we forget that our goal is to follow Christ.  Last night I watched one of Rob Bell’s Nooma videos titled Sunday.  Again the message here was plain and simple – make sure you are following Christ, not Christianity.  It’s such a good reminder especially when you see how hard Jesus was on the “religious leaders” and how much compassion he had on the “sinners”.

So today, remember the ways of the Christ and remember our mission to follow him.

27He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Luke 10:27 (New International Version)

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Where’s the lightning?

This morning is tough for me.  My body is craving the warmth and comfort of the bed, my mind is dreading the day the lays in front of me and me ear already hurts from the prospect of a having a headset on my ear all day!

But really what sort of life is it when you dread the day? The day is more than that, and so I starting thinking about how to refresh and renew on a day that my eyelids seems stuck together!  And since I could not conjure up a lightning delay that would stop the clock from moving toward the start of the day,  I needed to find a way to light myself up!  So, I took a look over in 1 Peter:

22Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24For,
“All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.  1 Peter 1:22-25 (New International Version)

Hm, its not about conference calls, its about loving those around you, because you have been born again.  Man, its amazing how changing your perspective can help you get you game face on.  Born Again – each and every day, because there are only few of them.

Let your light shine!