If you don't find yourself in a compelling story you'll be captured by a lesser one.

Where moth and rust destroy

March 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Do you believe you’re living a life that lasts forever, or are you only preparing for the next 30, 40, 50, or 60 years?

We’ve been trained to use the first twenty years of our lives preparing for the next forty. Then we use those forty years to prepare for the last fifteen or twenty, if we’re lucky.

What if eternity has already begun and your life isn’t about preparing for retirement? Would that change the way you live? Would that be a radical, compelling way to live?

The concept that we live forever is tough to grasp. We are surrounded by objects and items that are destroyed by moth and rust, where wealth runs out, and things don’t last. The world around us seems temporary and we’ve adopted that view for our own lives too. We’ve started to believe we have temporary lives here, so why not spend it preparing for the last few years.

But there is that small inkling inside your soul that tells you otherwise, right?

There is a tiny voice that is whispering to you about the future.

That voice is the eternity that God has set in your heart (Ecc 3:11). When we tap into that we begin to shake off the temporary and put on the eternal. We begin to invest not in retirement, but in the currency of God’s Kingdom – a Kingdom that is eternal, a Kingdom where moth and rust do not destroy.

My father in-law keeps a large old rusty bin by the door on his front porch. He painted the words “Moth and Rust” in bold letters on the side of the bin. It stands as a reminder to him of what is temporary and what is eternal.

This life matters. It matters because this is the time where we begin to invest in the currency of God. This is where we begin to build stock in the things of God. Challenge yourself to grasp the concept of living forever. Use this time, right now, to prepare for the eternal. Believe that your life lasts forever and see how your perspectives and desires change. Dare to be radical. Dare to be compelling. Dare to be eternal.

Don’t invest in the things that are destroyed by moth and rust. Remind yourself to throw them in an old rusty bin where they belong.

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This post is part of the One Word at a Time blog carnival that is being hosted over at Peter Pollock’s blog. Go there to read all the other amazing posts on the theme: Future.

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Filed Under: Blog Carnival, Worldliness Tagged With: ,

I’ve got my eyes on something bigger

February 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment


A local pastor was invited to a country club to play with a group of very wealthy business men. He was not invited because he was a pastor. In fact, the business men didn’t know he was a man of the cloth. He was invited to play with them simply because he was a good golfer.

(Its common thought that majority of pastors are good golfers. There probably has been a study on the correlation, but I would conclude that pastors are good golfers because they pray more.)

Being a good golfer and a pastor has its advantages. Besides the countless sermon illustrations that can come from the game, pastors often find themselves in great conversations during a round of golf. This round proved to be one of those conversations.

On the third hole the business men realized the pastor was not only a good golfer he was a great golfer. They had been chatting about the latest stock exchange news, business headlines, and swearing about all their bad shots when one of the business men asked the pastor, “What do you do for a living?”

The pastor knew all too well this was the question that had the ability to stunt all conversation. What he did for a living was often met with one of two extremes, warm acceptance or dumbfounded silence.

The pastor, however, didn’t shy away from a response and proclaimed, “I’m a pastor.”

“Hmm,” grunted the business man, “What does that mean? What do you do all day?”

The pastor could tell this was going to be an interesting round as he teed up his ball for yet another 300-yard drive right down the middle of the fairway.

After the pastor hit his shot he turned and started to explain everything in life that gave him passion. He spoke about the Kingdom and the story of God. He talked about loving others and the mission of the Gospel. But it was as if it was all insignificant to the wealthy business men who could not comprehend what the pastor was saying. The pastor got three odd looks and the conversation went silent. The three wealthy business men were impressed by the pastor’s golf game, but nothing more.

Still in silence, each of them landed their drive in the fairway of the sharp dog leg left seventh hole. As they approached their balls they came around the bend to see the most extravagant, exquisite, all-the-bells-and-whistles mansion sitting high on the hill beside the green. All four of them stopped and gazed upon the massive house in all its glory.

One of the business men turned to the pastor and said, “Well pastor, you’re never gonna have anything like that.”

Without missing a beat the pastor replied, “Yeah you’re right. I’ve got my eyes on something bigger.”

Pulling their eyes away from the beautiful mansion, each of the business men stared at the pastor.

“Have you ever seen a sunset or the Rocky Mountains? Have you ever seen the stars on cloudless night? That mansion is beautiful and attractive, yes, but that was made by the hands of mere men. I’ve got my eyes on something that is infinitely more splendid than anything men have made. I believe that what God has created for me is quite a bit bigger than that.”

The pastor was fine with the business men not understanding what he meant. He too has a hard time believing in the reality of the unseen and passing on the pursuits of the world.

He looked at the wealthy business men and smiled. At that moment he knew that he too was wealthy, for his investment was in an eternal currency where moth and rust do not destroy. He also knew that he, and these three business men, were the joy that was set before his Savior – a Savior who also passed on the mansions of this world.

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Filed Under: Kingdom of God, Worldliness, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Will it Blend?

November 30, 2010 by Leave a Comment

This week I’m having a few ordinary men write some extraordinary posts. I’m honored to have Tony J Alicea write today. Tony is a technology geek, music freak, movie junkie, traveler, dreamer, reader, writer and most importantly…a lover of Jesus. You can find him on his blog, Tony J Alicea, or on twitter at @tonyjalicea. Enjoy his writing today…..

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The company Blendtec made a huge name for themselves online by launching the viral site called “Will It Blend“. On the site they take various objects not normally put in a blender (conspicuously labeled “Don’t Try This At Home”) and put it to the test. They ask the question “Will it blend?” and drop in the object to meet its untimely demise in their industrial strength blender. Sure enough, seconds later they pull out a homogenous heap of dust.

Most recently they blended a bottle of Old Spice. Talk about Internet meme overload in this video! Epic win!

Sometimes I feel like Christianity has been put into a Blendtec blender. In an effort to “be all things to all people”, sometimes we justify being just like the world. Rather than relating to people where they are and pulling them up, we meet them where they are and camp out there with them. We blend Christ with the things of the world and it becomes one homogenous blob we call “relevance”. When people can no longer tell the difference between the holy and the worldly, something is very wrong.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15

John gives us a pretty sober admonishment in this verse. I think John knew that blending in with the world is a pretty slippery slope and he didn’t want to see people going down that path.

I know I’ve been guilty of justifying things I do in order to “reach the lost”. I’ve laughed at an offensive joke, I’ve seen some pretty raunchy movies, I’ve listened to some pretty questionable music. From time to time I’ve had to do a serious gut check and ask myself “Do I love these things?” It’s not an easy thing to do but so necessary. I don’t want to be found without the love of the Father in me.

Today I challenge you to stand out. Refuse to conform to the world. Make a stand for righteousness, even if you’re the only one doing so. Resist the temptation to blend relevance with Christianity to where the two are indistinguishable. Don’t find yourself in a place where you drop into the world and ask yourself “Will I blend?”

What are your thoughts? Have you ever found yourself at a point where you couldn’t distinguish yourself from the world?
 
 

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Filed Under: Guest Blogging, Scripture, Worldliness

Fighting Worldliness

October 29, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Since Jesus has taken my place and absorbed the Father’s holy wrath on my behalf so that I can “approach the throne of grace with confidence,” how does that impact my selfish tendencies, my desire for control, and my lack of repentance?
Basically, how does the saving grace of Jesus Christ satisfy my deepest longings and daily needs so that I can experience the power of the Kingdom of God?
Or, how do you make a powerfully divine connection to the finished work of Christ in your daily perspective?
Essentially, how does the gospel help you identify the idols in your heart?
Actually, how do you combat worldliness?
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Filed Under: Worldliness

As for me and my house

September 10, 2010 by Leave a Comment


Charles Spurgeon said these words as he preached on April 18, 1875 during a sermon on Joshua 24:15:

“The great guide of the world is fashion and its god is respectability–two phantoms at which brave men laugh! How many of you look around on society to know what to do? You watch the general current and then float upon it! You study the popular breeze and shift your sails to suit it. True men do not so! You ask, “Is it fashionable? If it is fashionable, it must be done.” Fashion is the law of multitudes, but it is nothing more than the common consent of fools.”

On the wall in my kitchen we have these words written, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (the end of Joshua 24:15).

It’s a nice little saying that most people have in their homes somewhere. But how often are we taken captive by it? How often do you set the path of your family and your household fully on serving the LORD? Charles Spurgeon suggested that our tendency was to “look around at society to know what do” and to “study the popular breeze and shift our sails to suit it.” Let me remind you that he said this in 1875. If pop culture, fashion, and worldly standards were tempting back then, how much more are they tempting to us today?

The things of the world can seem so firm and stunning to us at times when scripture fades into an abstract thought. We cannot let ourselves be guided by the winds of the world. We must set our sails on the winds of the Holy Spirit and the will of God. But, how do we do that?

How do you keep the world from being more desirable than serving the LORD? How do you keep from setting your heart on what is “fashionable”?

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Filed Under: Quotes, Scripture, Worldliness

Shortcuts

June 29, 2010 by Leave a Comment

God doesn’t like shortcuts. He isn’t interested in easy.

In Joshua chapter 1, God tells Joshua this starting in verse 3:

“I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Sounds good huh?

Sounds like Joshua has it made. God will never leave or forsake him. He will be given every land where he sets his foot. His territory will extend over numerous nations, and no one will be able to stand up against him the rest of his days. Not bad. But I thought God wasn’t interested in easy?

When you read on through verse 9 you see that God tells Joshua to be “strong and courageous” a total of three times. Whenever God does or says something more than once, you better pay attention. So why does God tell him to be strong and courageous even though it sounds like he can’t be defeated?

Reading on in the book of Joshua to the end of this part of the story you find out that he had to conquer all the kings and nations in the region. 31 kings in all! (Joshua 12:24) Yes, God will deliver on his promise, but Joshua has some tough work to do first. There isn’t a shortcut.

I like shortcuts. Americans like shortcuts. We are fed shortcuts every day. We take shortcuts every day. Shortcuts are the backbone of all advertisements. There is a common misinformation in all these ads though, and it’s that we can GET A LOT FOR A LITTLE – or even better yet, WE CAN HAVE IT ALL FOR NOTHING. We are obsessed with cutting corners and getting to the destination without any effort in the journey. And that is what these messages are trying to sell us on. Whatever that destination may be, we are always trying to achieve it the easiest, fastest, least complicated way….. I do. Do you?

The entire country has bought in to them and advertisers cater their products to this. For us as Americans, cutting corners seems to be the key to progress, success, or results….THE TRAGEDY OF THIS IS THAT GOD’S PEOPLE, CHRISTIANS, THE CHURCH, HAVE ADOPTED THIS SAME VIEW TOWARDS FAITH. The world has slowly snuck this lie into our hearts and we have become slaves to the world. We are affected and influenced by the world’s messages but stand dormant and unresponsive to God’s message.

“The biblical notion of worldliness is a sleepiness of the soul in which the status, pleasures, comforts, and cares of the world appear solid, stunning, and affecting while the truths of Scripture become abstract – unable to grip the heart or guide our everyday activities.”1

Think about that. Do the messages of this world affect you more than the messages in Scripture?

God wants our hearts captivated by His voice. He isn’t an abstract God! He wants us to be strong and courageous in our faith to point where the truths of Scripture become solid, stunning, and affecting.

It’s not going to be easy. We just might have to conquer 31 opposing “kings” along the way.

What “kings” stand in your way of taking possession of God’s promises, are you conquering them? Do the truths of Scripture seem abstract to you?

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1 Quote from Unfashionable, Tullian Tchividjian

This post is part of the ‘One Word at a Time’ Blog Carnival hosted over at Bridget Chumbley’s blog. Go there to see all the other great posts about ‘Strength’

[Note: This post is a revised version of the original Shortcuts post from 12/15/2008]

Filed Under: Scripture, Worldliness Tagged With:

How much death do you want?

June 23, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Habakkuk 2:4 (MSG, emphasis added)

“Look at that man, bloated by self-importance—

full of himself but soul-empty.
But the person in right standing before God

through loyal and steady believing

is fully alive, really alive.”


I love how the MSG translation reads on Habakkuk 2:4. I wouldn’t study in this translation, but it does at times provide an imaginative way of reading. God is speaking here to Habakkuk about two different kinds of people: the proud, self-righteous, and worldly in contrast to the humble, righteous, and faithful.

It really doesn’t take much for us to be worldly these days. The world is clever. C.J Mahaney writes, “A love for the world begins in the soul. It’s subtle, not always immediately obvious to others, and often undetected by the people who are slowly succumbing to its lies….Today, the greatest challenge facing American evangelicals is not persecution from the world, but seduction by the world.”1

We are being seduced by lies and we slowly, often willingly, begin to believe the lies. We fill up with the lies until we can’t fill up anymore only to find ourselves empty, void, hollow. Our souls become empty, but we can’t tell because we are bloated with self-importance. We don’t realize that we are actually filling ourselves with death. Death is empty, death is void, death is hollow.

In Habakkuk’s time, idols were carved of stone or wood and covered in gold or silver. They were made by the hands of man. Today, idols are not in the form of sculpted statues, but the lies these idols tell are no less seductive. They are created by man for man. The nature of man is what John Calvin would call, “a perpetual factory of idols.”2

God continues his narrative to Habakkuk by saying this (in the MSG translation again):

Habakkuk 2:18-19 (MSG, emphasis added)

“What’s the use of a carved god

so skillfully carved by its sculptor?

What good is a fancy cast god

when all it tells is lies?

What sense does it make to be a pious god-maker

who makes gods that can’t even talk?

Who do you think you are—

saying to a stick of wood, ‘Wake up,’

Or to a dumb stone, ‘Get up’?

Can they teach you anything about anything?

There’s nothing to them but surface.

There’s nothing on the inside.”

Worldly idols are dead. They have no meaning, no substance, nothing on the inside. They offer nothing but death. The world is selling death and we are buying. How much death do you want? You get to choose.

We have to ask ourselves, where have the lies gotten us so far? If we seriously consider what influence the world has on our souls we will be able to see just how empty we are. Then we can stop buying death from the world and start investing in the alternative, and there is an alternative. The alternative is life, the alternative is glorious, the alternative is Christ. Christ came to give us life, abundant life. C.J. Mahaney also writes, “Worldliness is so serious because Christ is so glorious.”3

How much death do you want? Will you listen to the lies, or will you listen to the truth?

Habakkuk 2:20 (MSG)

“But oh! God is in his holy Temple!

Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!”

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1 Worldliness, pg 20, edited by C.J. Mahaney

2 John Calvin, Institutes, Book I Chapter XI Section VIII

3 Worldliness, pg. 35, edited by C.J. Mahaney


Filed Under: Habakkuk, Scripture, Worldliness Tagged With:
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