The Season of Lent

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent. Lent is a 40 day period of preparation before Easter (Jesus’s resurrection). It is meant to be a period of fasting and praying, preparing out hearts to be right before Jesus on when we celebrate his resurrection. I want to challenge you guys to be fasting something seeking the Lord these next 40 days.

A great website that has a Lent devotional each day is Journey to the Cross. These devotionals walks you through this season of Lent.

I’d also ask each of you to consider fasting something significant to you. I think I may be fasting coffee, since it is a daily thing that I lean on to give me energy instead of the Lord. Let me know if you have any questions about Lent or any of this.

2 Peter 1:5-9

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
2 Peter 1:5-9

Man, the seriousness of this passage hit me today when I read it. One of my first observations about the passage is that there are certain steps that must be taken in order for a Christian not to be ineffective and unproductive in our faith. We must do something; we can’t just float on by without being intentional about our faith in Jesus.

The second thing that I made note of was that Peter considered the person who didn’t have these qualities growing in their life to have effectively forgotten that God has saved us. Holy crap! To forget that we have been cleansed from our past sins is the same as not believing that Christ died for our sins. That’s about the worst thing possible. I don’t want to be the person who is essentially not saved!

So, how do I avaoid that? Pray that the Lord would help develop these qualities (Christ-like character) in my life. And make every effort to act out these qualities.

Which of these qualities do you need to be working on today? What steps can you take to nuild these qualities up in your life?

Monotony of Life

I just read a great blog post about the monotony of life. This guy is a pastor in Tennesse. Check it out: http://withoutwax.tv/2009/01/30/celebrating-monotony/

James 2:8-13

I really struggle with the Book of James. I used to love it, but there are parts that I have a hard time really understanding and reconciling with other parts of scripture. In this specific section, it speaks about acting and living according to the law.

“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom…”
James 2:12

This is just hard for me to grasp. As I understand it, Jesus came to fulfill the law. Which means bringing completion to it. However, we aren’t bound by the law, which Paul talks about. The other aspect of it is that the law is a guideline for us in how to live in a way that honors God.

I think the thing that I have a hard time with now that I have talked it out a little is that it feels too emphasized by James. Yet, it is important to emphasize that for Christians. We need to remember that our faith requires actions to go with it. And a list of the sort of actions really helps.

Spiritual lessons I learned from my dog (part 1)

It’s funny how God speaks at times. This morning I was spending some time reading the Bible and feeling really distracted.First, Gracie (my dog) decided that she had to be in the same room as me. I don’t know why she didn’t want to be out with Rachelle, but she didn’t. So, it took me at least ten minutes of telling her “No!” and creating barriers to protect me feet from her ever-licking tongue before I could start focusing and reading.

The whole time I was reading, I couldn’t focus and was getting frustrated. I wasn’t “getting” anything out of the chapter. As I finished, I sat for a minute wondering why I wasn’t able to learn something or find something to apply to my life. I was looking at Gracie, who had curled up in my lap and was sleeping, when I noticed a song by Rita Springer playing in the background. The song talked about resting in God’s presence. At the moment, something just clicked.

Gracie loves to snuggle and just sit with us. She doesn’t do it to get a treat or to get her back scratched. She just wants to be with us. And she’s perfectly content doing that. I think we ought to view our relationship with God a little more like that. Every time we read the Bible or pray, we shouldn’t be just digging for what we get out of it. We should be happy and content just being with the Lord. Like any healthy friendship or relationship, it’s not about receiving, but being together and sharing life together.

However, when we are simply in the Lord’s presence, we are changed; our lives are made better in the end anyway.

2 Corinthians 10:5

“… and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:5

Often, it is not that we go looking for ways to sin or do wrong. It seems to sneak up on us and we screw up. In hindsight, though, we see that it started with a simple thouht.

James 1:14 says that we are tempted starting with our own sinful desires. It’s not that we just get tempted, but the desire to do what is wrong is within us. Where does that desire come from? Most often it is from the things we think about. That’s why what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 is so important!

Our thought life is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) spiritual battlefields. The notes in Fire Bible give some real practical steps to fighting this battle. I’ll summarize and list them below.

1. Be aware that God knows every thought.
2. Be aware that your mind is a battlefield.
3. When a thought comes into your mind, take hold of it and measure it up against the standards God presents in the Bible. If it doesn’t match up, ask God to take it and make a point not to dwell on it.
4. Replace the bad thoughts with good thoughts (see Philippians 4:8)
5. Focus on Christ.
6. Be careful what you are seeing and hearing (e.g., music/movies/tv). What you let yourself watch and listen to influences your thoughts more than anything else.

For more reading on this topic, see the notes on 2 Corinthians 10:5 in the Fire Bible (pg. 1678).

Hebrews 13:5

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have…”
Hebrews 13:5

This passage really spoke to me today. God has been reminding me that how much money I make or the sort of things I have are enough. He provides all I need. Too often, I find myself wanting more and more, spending too much time thinking of how I can get it or what it would be like to have new or better stuff.

God is the God of plenty. He will make sure we have what we need, but we need to be thankful for what we have.