Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

priorities

Black Friday Stewardship

by

Looking through the so-called “Black Friday” sale circulars a couple of days ago left me nearly breathless. The sheer volume of deals to be had was stupefying. Certainly I was not immune to the emotion of the occasional, “Wow, I’ve got to have that” reaction. A few years ago, I probably would have joined the Friday morning crazies, credit card in one hand and mace in the other as we all convened with the same goal in mind: be one of the lucky 25 to land the deal of the day. I’d like to think I’ve progressed in my walk with Christ over the years, and now certainly material things have far less of a grip on me as they once did. It’s a battle to be sure. Every now and then I see something I’d really like to have – not a need you understand – and I have to remind myself that I manage God’s money. I carry a card in my wallet to remind me of that fact. It’s not that God doesn’t want his followers to have the occasional nice things, but rather that he desires to bless us with far more timeless gifts like grace, mercy and love.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the frenzy of holiday shopping and all of the “must-have” bargains. This year, more than any year in recent memory, it’s all a bit surreal. The latest numbers on unemployment are over 10%, and the combined number of unemployed and underemployed is over 17%. Where are these people getting the money to shop? As a volunteer financial counselor I admit that the lack of logic in all of this makes me cringe. If you didn’t budget for this shopping day at the beginning of the month, if you don’t already have the cash set aside, you have no business being out there! All this, of course, focuses on the practical side of money management. If we’ve learned nothing else from the recent financial crisis, we should have learned that you simply can’t spend more than you have. That’s just common sense. But there’s an even greater principle that we as Christ followers must examine: the principle of managing God’s money.

As followers of Jesus, we have no money of our own. All that we have is provided by God. He blesses us with money and loans us possessions so that we might use these things to bless others and further His kingdom (Matthew 25:14-30). Everything we have is only ours temporarily; all that we have been entrusted with is to be used to serve God. Instead of asking the familiar “What would Jesus do?” question this year, instead start asking “How would Jesus spend?” Every time you pull out your wallet ask yourself if what you are about to buy fills a need or affirms love for someone. Yes, a $300 gift for someone can show them that you care, but so can a $10 gift. Why not purchase a little for those who already have a lot, and spend more on those who have nothing? Are you spending more on gifts for friends and family than you are on the homeless, the widows and the starving? I can pretty much assure you this is not how Jesus would spend. He chose to devote Himself to the outcasts rather than the well to do. The gifts He gave (through healings and miracles) were generally done for the poor and not for the wealthy. We should act in kind.

This is the time of year in Western society where we buy gifts for one another, supposedly in honor of God’s greatest gift to man, His son Jesus. But I don’t see mention of that in any advertisement. I see flat screen televisions, GPS units and video games. I don’t see any items for sale that would further the kingdom of God. I don’t see any of the Black Friday ads announcing how they will feed the homeless or clothe the shivering poor. Yet we will spend and spend, spurred on by the flashy ads and we will not think twice about the disheveled hungry person we might see along our travels. Is your spending in line with that of the kingdom or have you bought into the lies and deceit of Satan? Are you convinced that you need the latest and greatest gadgets or are you content with the greatest gift of all? This is a dangerous and telling time of the year for we who claim to follow Christ. Think twice next time you pull out your wallet. How are you managing the finances God has entrusted to you?

Are You a True Follower?

by

What is your motivation?  Why do you do what you do?  As followers of Christ, our answer to those questions must simply be ‘Jesus’.  Any other answer is unacceptable.  If any part of us seeks to glorify ourselves, we cannot call ourselves a follower of Jesus.  Following Christ is all or nothing.  We must give everything we have for Him or it simply isn’t going to be enough.  Can you say that in the depths of your heart, even when you falter, your one goal is to love God and follow the way of His Son?

If you can answer yes to the question above, welcome to the greatest adventure.  But before we embark, let’s make sure we’re being honest with ourselves.  Two simple tests will determine if we are indeed who we say we are.

The checkbook test: The first test is to take a look at your checkbook.  Where are you spending your money?  If you are spending more money on entertainment and comfort items than you are investing on building the kingdom, you cannot honestly call yourself a follower of Christ.  Followers of Christ are generous with their money and think more of others than themselves.  How can we say we care about the poor and homeless when we live in homes with four flat screen televisions and three cars?  It makes no sense.  This is why Jesus said it was so hard for a rich person to enter heaven (Mark 10:17-31).  Sometimes when we have a lot, we forget our responsibility is to give even more.  If we can’t honor God with our finances, we can’t honor Him with our life.

The time diary test: For two weeks, keep a time diary, a journal of how you spend your time.  Record, in thirty minute intervals, how you spend your time.  Feel free to adjust the time interval to suit your personality; but recording shorter intervals can be tedious, leading to frustration and eventually giving up.  Recording in longer intervals pretty much guarantees you will lose details and leave out some forgotten items.  At the end of your two weeks, add it all up and see where you are spending the majority of your time.  How does God rank?  Where do you spend more time, with God or with your television?  Do you spend as much time helping others as you do playing video games or playing sports?  Do you spend more time eating than feeding others?  Remember, following Jesus means sacrificially giving up our lives to love and serve others.  How does Jesus rank in your time diary?

If you failed either test (or even both), there is good news.  First, the very fact that you took the time to examine your life proves you have a strong desire to live your life as a true follower of Christ.  Second, it’s not too late to make the changes necessary to pass both of the above tests.  Do you want to be a true follower of Jesus?  It’s within your power.  Love God and pray for His power in your life to help you live it in a manner pleasing to Him.  Then, make the change.  Don’t wait, don’t put it off.  You only get one shot at living this life.  Make sure you live it as a follower of Jesus.

A Foundation of Love

by

What is it you really want out of life, what do you hope to accomplish?  In the end, what will it all matter?  I have a lot of dreams and goals, but none of them will count for anything if I don’t get one thing right; that one thing being how well I reflect the love of Christ.

Putting everything else aside for now, let’s focus on that one thing.  What do we need to do today to best reflect the love of God?  Have we become too busy, so much so that we don’t take the time each day to just stop and communicate with Jesus?  Many people set aside time at the beginning of each day to do this, and that’s great.  There’s nothing magical about what time you do it, the important thing is that you do indeed take the time.  You can choose morning, afternoon or evening as long as you don’t let anything get in the way of this time with Christ.

What inevitably tends to happen is that instead of scheduling a set time to be alone and focused on God, we try and squeeze this time amongst the other activities of our day.  This never works!  Adding God to your life will always result in a low impact and uncommitted walk.  We can’t add God to our life, He must be our life.  If there is room for anything else we can add that on, but life must start and find its centrality in Christ.

This one change, this one way of changing how we do life will prove revolutionary.  Let nothing get in the way of your time with God.  Once you have established the time, don’t let outside distractions cheapen it.  Talk to God, sit quietly in His presence, listen and dream with Him.  This may take some getting used to, but I assure you it is more than worth the effort.

Starting with God as the foundation allows us to build up other areas of our lives.  Should we face trial or failure, even if we lose everything, our foundation will remain.  Hard times never seem as bad when we realize we are defined by our foundation, not by anything else.  We are His and He is ours.  Before attempting any other drastic changes in your life, make certain your foundation is solidly set.  With Christ as our foundation, we cannot but help but pour out His love on those around us.  With His love as our foundation, it will simply permeate our entire being.  True love cannot be shaken and will never be defeated.  Set your foundation in His love, and then use that strength to encourage others to do the same.  Watch your life change as everything you do flows from a basis of love.  Reflect Him in everything you do.

Frustrated or Restless?

by

I’m tired of watching life happen to me.  The best laid plans seem to always go astray.  The many desires I have to accomplish more and more crowd out any peace that should be in my head.  Where is the peace of Christ?  Why this frustration and restlessness?

Have you been there?  Welcome to life in the Western world.  Convenience is at our fingertips, achievement is ours to obtain.  We are free to pursue any and everything this world has to offer.  Stop for a moment and simply ask, “At what cost?”  What have we lost in our hurried, results-oriented culture?  Look around your neighborhood; observe the affluence regardless of income.  What have we become?

As Christians we are called to live differently, we are called to a life of humility and love.  We are called to peace and selflessness.  Does your life reflect these attributes?  I know I have a long way to go when measured against these core principles.  We are supposed to be a peculiar folk, but instead we have learned to blend right in.  We have become Americans (if you’re a U.S. reader, if not fill in your own nationality) at the cost of being Christians.  We have lost our first love, in fact I believe we’re in danger of losing love altogether.

Christianity was never meant to be proper people attending large brick buildings where they are entertained for an hour or two each week before going back into the day to day drudgery of the “real world”.   We are to be a people in community with one another every day, and every day we are to be about serving the needs of those in our cities and our world.  When was the last time we left our church buildings and immediately began planning how we were going to love and care for the sick, homeless, widowed and orphaned?  More likely we start planning the grocery list or what our jobs will require of us over the upcoming week or even worse, what football game we will watch that afternoon.  Christianity as a whole has become hypocritical and pharisaical.  I cringe at the thought of what Christ would say of my life in particular and the body of the Western church as a whole.  We have become complacent, self-centered and blinded to those around us.

So how do we stop reacting to what comes at us in life and instead start dictating what our life will look like?  How do we quell the restlessness in our souls?  We get back to being the church Christ called us to be.  We return to our first love, Christ, by imparting His love to everyone we meet.  It is virtually impossible to find yourself frustrated with life when you are walking in step with Christ, doing the things he has commanded us to do.  Are you frustrated?  Serve Christ by loving others.  Does life keep slamming into you?  Take a break and find someone to love.  Do you want to impact the world?  Look like Jesus and love your neighbor, serve their needs.  Are you sensing a theme?  Life is easy, we’ve made it difficult.  Love Christ, love others.  Nothing else matters.

Are You On Mission?

by

I’ve been thinking a lot about goals lately, and how to make certain we accomplish all we can for Christ during our time here on earth.  So many things beg for our time and attention that it is all too easy to become distracted and pulled off mission.  Harder still to remain focused if we have never defined our purpose and goals.  I encourage everyone to develop a mission statement as well as some life goals for themselves.

[Read more…] about Are You On Mission?