"Follow me." A Call to Action.

Jesus said, "Follow me."

This is a call to action.

"Follow."

To follow, we must DO...yet more often than not we DON'T.

Sure, we might think we are following Jesus, IE we GO to church, we GIVE to charities and the church we READ our Bibles. etc.

And while those are all well and good - are they really examples of FOLLOWING Jesus?

Certainly they are disciplines that we as Christian's work on...but how are they "following" Jesus.

They aren't.  And maybe that's why we like them!

Now, I'm not saying that we are AGAINST Jesus and don't want to follow him - we do!  However, the list above most times is EASIER than following Jesus.

Oh, it's not complicated, it's not a heavy burden to follow Jesus - even he promises us that - but change is hard at times and THAT'S what Jesus is calling us to do, via Following Him.

The rest of the world follows itself.

It doesn't take much study to see this.

The western world runs and works differently than the Kingdom of God.

Money is a god in the western world - as I've pointed out before, there are people who are celebrities and deemed IMPORTANT simply because they have money!  They are popular and people watch shows on them and the only reason they are known is because of their MONEY.

Is this a Kingdom philosophy?  Of course not.

God calls us to something different - "Follow ME"

Not follow your friends, family, culture, church (yes), society, the next fad, the hottest celebrity, but "ME."

This is tricky too, because it's quite abstract - exactly WHAT does it look like, feel, seem, appear, etc. to Follow Jesus?  Can any of use truly put a finger on it?  If we can, I doubt we are correct.

And Lord knows we like things CONCRETE, black and white, straight-down-the-middle, up front and clearly defined.

God doesn't always, in fact rarely, works this way - for a very good reason too: we are to TRUST Him.  Trust is easy when you know all the facts...it's quite different when you can't see two feet in front of you.

What's worse about following Jesus? Well, like many of His teachings: He gives us NO EXCEPTIONS.  No way to back out - yet we still try to figure out ways around this.

Thus, we read our Bibles MORE.

We DO more "Christian" THINGS - of which I am a culprit of doing!  Sure, we might be doing good - but WHY are we doing good?  Because Jesus called us to it or because WE chose to do it?

The problem with following Jesus is that he doesn't call us to comfort.  He IS comfort, and we will find such IN HIM - but he doesn't call us to do that.  No, he calls us to follow him into areas of our lives we'd rather not go.  He calls us to do things (or not do things) we'd rather not.

Instead, we get more pious - as if THAT will be a fine replacement for what Jesus is calling us to.

Sadly, it's not.

While it's a lot of ACTION at time - it's more or less just spinning our wheels.  Waiting to see if Jesus forgets that he asked something of us...of course that's silly.

He NEVER forgets...and that calling will haunt us until we finally do, put EVERYTHING down and follow.

Yes this means we will have to give some things up that we love.  However, this also means that we will be expected to do MORE of what we love also - which oddly, is just as "bad."  As with doing, comes responsibility and cost: time, money, etc.

But if we truly trust Jesus, as we claim to, then we must trust that Jesus is leading us to where WE should be.  By "we" I mean, individually.

For where Jesus is calling ME is not the same place to where Jesus is calling YOU - and sometimes that is hard to accept.  There are things I am called to do, that (if I am honest) I sometimes feel others should be as passionate about - however, just because I am being called to it, doesn't mean that others are being called to something else.  And because I am passionate about it, doesn't mean others have to as well.

Jesus calls us each onto our OWN path as well - and that's another reason we might not follow as often as we should: sometimes that path is lonely...often times it is...and it's supposed to be!

Those lonely times on that path are to help us get closer to Jesus, depend on Him more, so he can call us into deeper and more challenging places.

While reading the Bible, attending church, giving to the poor, even helping the poor, are great things to do - they can never, NEVER get in the way of the most important thing we are called to do:

Follow Jesus.

God Doesn't Want Your Money

New podcast (again, finally) posted.

You can check it out HERE.

Take care!

Been Too Long

It has been far too long since I have posted much of anything on here.  Hopefully that will change soon.  I have been working on a personal project as of late and haven't had much left over for here.  However, as I said, it should be changing soon.

Chris

Pardon The Mess

I will be making a few changes around here for a bit - so it might get a little funky for a bit!

Thanks.

Chris

Forgive us our sins...

The next (and I believe) toughest line in the Lord's Prayer is this:

Forgive us our sins AS we forgive those who've sin against us.

I highlighted the AS - it wasn't until recently that the "as" struck me.

Is is "as" as in is "while" or as in "like"?

The more I got to think of it - what if it's "as" as in "like?"

Then I might be praying for something I don't really want!  Because if God forgives ME as I forgive others?  I'm in trouble!  And here I am asking God to do just that.

This puts forgiving in a whole new context...

And one that more and more I am trying to forgive others as I want God to forgive ME.  Which means: absolutely and without reservation.

Am I ready for that?  Is that what I really want?

If I am to live how Jesus taught and lived, then yes.

If I want to do things my own way, then no.

Well, considering the trouble I have gotten myself into - I think I'll go with the former.

And while I don't completely like the idea that I am asking God to forgive me the same way I forgive others - I DO like the idea of forgiving others as God forgives them.

I'm not for rewriting the prayer, but one way to look at it might be: to THINK "Help me to forgive others AS YOU forgive us."

Daily Bread

The next line of the Lord's Prayer is this: Give us this day, our daily bread.

As many of us know (and for those of you that don't) this is a call back to the time when Israel wondered the desert for 40 years.  Each day, God would provide them with mana - which could be made into bread: hence DAILY bread.

In the Lord's Prayer, we say this.

But what do we mean?

Remember, Jesus also once said that man doesn't live by bread alone.  So, are we praying for our daily bread?  True bread?  Or spiritual bread?  Or what kind of bread?

I've heard it preached both ways...and that's exactly what I think it's supposed to be: both.

We are not only praying for our spiritual daily bread...that which we spiritually will live on, but also that we trust God will provide for us.

Exactly how?  That's up to God - that's what we are to trust him with.

But instead of asking God how, we should be asking ourselves if we ARE trusting God to give us our daily bread -whichever we may need daily.

Just today I put some money into my savings account - you know, for the future.  Of course, this means that in the future, should I need it, I am trusting that my BANK will provide me with this money.  But in reality: what might I need this money for?

Certainly I'm not putting it in the bank, under a savings account in MY name, for the poor.  That wasn't the reason for the account.  No, it was for ME.

I put away that money for when I need it.  But what might I need it for?  Car tires?  House payment? In other words: things of this world?

Will I use ANY of this money for someone who is in true need?

I don't know.  I would like to say, YES!  But at the moment, I really don't know.

But I know what I SHOULD do.

So am I really trusting God to give me my daily bread?  In any form?

If I am honest with myself, I have to say no.

No.  I make plans, just in case.  Even spiritually.  If God doesn't come through (as I believe he should) then I have my back up plans - just in case.

Money wise - I truly don't believe God will come through with what I need - after all, I NEED my movies and my car, and my house, and my....and the list goes on.  But do I really need them?

Does anyone?

What are we really praying for here?  Needs or wants?

Do we trust God to provide - however he deems fit, and with what he deems needed?

I don't know that I honestly say that I am.

But I do know that I want to.

And that takes quite a leap of faith - to trust God at his word.

So maybe I will try and change this part of the prayer.  Instead of praying for my daily bread, I will pray for accepting my daily bread.  Because, when it comes down to it -that exactly what I DON'T do - accept my daily bread.

I always want more...for just in case....

The Lord's Prayer - Part One (B)

In reading back, I noticed I failed to point out another, very key, piece to our prayer as well.

The FIRST WORDS!

Duh!

"Our Father..."

Very key words.

They are not, "Our God" or "Our master" or "Our Leader" or "Our Judge" or "Our Supervisor" or "Our Spiritual Police Officer" or "Our ANYTHING."

"Our Father."

Just those words denote something special, something different.  A Father.  A GOD as a FATHER.  This could be a whole different post (and maybe should be) as to what this truly means for us as believers.

A GOD as a FATHER.

No, A GOD as OUR FATHER.

I think this needs to be look at in more depth...