Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Read It For Yourself

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11

Think back to when you were a child, sitting in Sunday School, listening to the teacher tell you about all the best Bible stories: Adam & Eve, Noah & the ark, Moses & the Red Sea, Abraham & Isaac, Jesus & the 12 Apostles...the list goes on and on.
Now think ahead a little...you're sitting in church, listening to the preacher tell you those same stories, and many others, just a more "grown-up" version of them. Now let me ask you this: has most or even all of what you know of the bible and of God been told to you by someone else? Or, have you read and studied the bible for yourself, drawing your own conclusions, and asking God to reveal His truth to you?

For most of my life, the former question was true of me. Most of what I knew about the bible and God came from what other people had told me, only occasionally reading the bible for myself. It wasn't until the past couple of years that I actually started really reading the bible for myself, asking God to write His word on my heart, and help me to understand what the text is saying. How many times have you been reading a passage, and you just breeze through it without actually taking the time to understand what it really says?

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a big fan of Christian books. Not that they are bad, and that they shouldn't be read, but I am very wary of them because they are just one person's opinion and interpretation of something. Anyone can write a book. My problem with books is that often, people will place higher importance on those books than on the bible itself. Just because they read something they happen to like or agree with, then it must be the truth. This is a tremendous mistake. The only absolute truth out there is the written word of God - the Bible.

Reading the bible for ourselves also helps us identify false prophets. If we know what it says in the Word, we will know when someone is misinterpreting or misusing it. It will also help us to be able to respond when people ask about our faith. 1 Peter 3:15 says "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

God's word tells us everything we need to know. But we have to read it for ourselves. We cannot go through life depending on other people to feed it to us. Not your parents, not your siblings, not your friends, not even pastors. It's good to listen to your pastor, and to others, but ultimately, we answer to the one who resides in heaven. Reading the bible is one of the best ways for us to grow closer to God. It helps us understand his character, and how we should be living. If you are doing something that doesn't line up with what it says in the bible, you know you are not behaving the way God wants you to. Bottom line: read it for yourself.

Friday, August 20, 2010

What's Mine is Yours....or is it?

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:19-20

I recently had a conversation with a coworker about having kids, which morphed into a conversation about having someone to whom you can pass your stuff and your money to when you pass away (i.e. your kids). We were talking about having kids vs. not having kids, and she said something to the effect of, "I like to know that I have someone that I can pass on my things to when I die, and that it doesn't go to just anyone, like my next closest relative or something." She then asked me if I agreed.
I immediately answered, "I really don't care. When I'm gone, I'm gone, I really don't care what happens to my stuff. It's just stuff anyway - even the money."
She seemed a little taken aback by my response. Nevermind that she was trying to convince me to have kids, I think she was shocked that I would have such a blasé attitude about my stuff. While I didn't get a chance to get into a whole spiritual discussion with her, I tried to explain that stuff is just stuff. I can't take it with me when I die, and when I do die, I'm not going to care either way who gets my stuff because, well, I'll be dead and partying with Jesus up in Heaven!
She then replied, "Yeah, I know it's just stuff, but it has memories attached to it." To that I said, "The memories are in your heart and in your head. Even if that thing that has the memory is gone, the memory is still within you." Now, I know a lot of people like that sentimental value that certain items have, and I do too, to an extent. There are things that I have saved from my past because they are tied to a nice memory, or someone gave it to me as a gift and I don't have the heart to throw it out or give it away. But in the end, what is it really worth? Will my life be any worse if I were to give those things away, or throw them out? There are plenty of things I have thrown out over the years that had great memories attached to them, but I do not wake up every day regretting that I ever got rid of them. Life goes on, and I am not ruled by my stuff. In fact, Evan and I are getting rid of a lot of our stuff (DVD's and CD's especially), because we realized that we don't need them. Sometimes what we will do is sell the DVDs and CDs back to a store or on Amazon, and then give the money we get to someone else who needs it. We're not trying to brag, we are just doing what the bible says: "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" - 1 John 3:17 and "Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need." - Acts 2:45
Stuff is just stuff. There are so many people in the world who hardly have anything, so who are we to worry about where our stuff will end up when we are gone? I have more in my cubicle at work than some people have altogether. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that having stuff is bad, but I am saying that ultimately Jesus is all we will ever need. There are people who have literally risked their lives just to have more of Jesus. There are people who have died because of their belief in Jesus. Do you think those people are concerned about stuff? I doubt it.

Heavenly Father, I pray that we would all recognize that our stuff is just stuff. I pray that we would realize that YOU are all we need to survive, and that you provide for us everything that we need. You have said that we are much more precious and valuable than the birds of the air, and yet even they are not worried about food, clothing or shelter. Thank you for all that you give to us, and thank you for the opportunities to help those who are in need. In your most holy and precious name, amen.

Monday, August 09, 2010

My Dog Ate My Homework

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20

I heard someone say recently that when we and/or if we get to heaven one day, God is not going to ask us to give an account for everything we did while we were on the earth, but rather, He is going to ask how many people we brought with us.
So, I ask you, how many people are you bringing with you to heaven? Because that, friends, is the assignment. Jesus gave us a very clear assignment to complete during our short time here on the earth. We are to make disciples of all nations, not just a few of our closest friends.
But what does "make disciples" mean exactly? Well, a disciple is defined as "a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; a follower." So based on that, we are supposed to get other people to follow Christ, just as we do. But let's not ignore the second part of this command, and that is to teach them to obey everything I (Jesus) have commanded you. Did you catch that? Teach them to obey EVERYTHING. Not just some of God's commands, ALL of them. And those commands are clearly laid out for us in the bible.
Matthew 28:19-20, known as "The Great Commission," is the last thing that Jesus tells us to do during his time on earth. To me, that signifies that it is one of the most important commands that he gives us.
Imagine that one day you were walking along, and you found a key on the sidewalk. Attached to that key was a note that read, "This key opens a door to the greatest and most valuable treasure known to man, and it can be yours absolutely free. If you open the door, you will never have a need for anything ever again. Everything you will ever need is behind that door. However, once you open the door and see what is behind it, you must share it with as many people as you can and invite them to come with you." How would you respond? Would you keep it to yourself? Would you share it with others? Our society has bred us to be very protective of our valuables. What's mine is mine, and I don't have to share if I don't want to. But God's word tells us quite the opposite. What God has to offer us is the greatest and most valuable treasure known to man, and that is salvation. It is given to us for free, but the catch is that we have to tell everyone about it. That is our homework.
So, how many people will you bring with you en route to heaven? One is better than none, but none is unacceptable. Greater things have yet to come...but let's not keep that to ourselves.