UNDER THE WEATHER

"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." -Romans 3:23

There is a problem in this world common to us all; it is that each one of us are infected with the highly contagious disease of Pride. This condition is serious, it spreads subtly, infecting every part of our body and if left untreated and can even be fatal. Pride alters the mind, making you and I think that we are good moral people, when the truth is that we're really selfish and conceited at the core. Pride damages the heart and deceives it into thinking that things in this world, be it love, success, accomplishment, or fame, are worth living for and chasing after. And worst of all, pride spits in the face of God, causing us to live self centered lives, set in our own prideful ways, ignoring the fact that we were created to love God so that we can love ourselves instead.

If man could take credit for his own creation, then living for his own purposes would be one thing, be he can't. The only reason you and I are here today is that a divine being continues to push breath into our lungs and pulsate the cells that keep our heart beating. At any second, yes even this one, these organs or any other could stop working and there is nothing that you or I could do about it. Sure modern medicine can treat people sometimes and keep them alive longer, but not always. Even the successes of medicine are because of God's doing.

Created by God, but living for ourselves. There is an independent attitude in our culture today. One that worships making yourself into something and following your dreams. Each person deserves what they get for how hard they work right? Or do any of us deserve anything? Is life all about having fun and being comfortable or is it about helping others? How much should you help others. Once a year, once a month, or all the time? Pride would tell us that every now and then is good enough but is it even right for us to set a limit on our service? If we can't take the credit for own creation and our life is not our own, maybe we should ask God and let him decide.

The most dangerous things about being infected with pride is that most people who have it don't realize it. Pride tells us to do good things like raise talented kids, get involved in the community and even go to church. The problems is that we often do these things for the wrong reasons. The good things we live for, the nice house in the safe neighborhood, our kids that are talented in sports and school, our involvement in the community and even our attendance at church many times are just attempts to look good and false indicators that things are okay. Everything can look great on the outside while there's a horrible infection within. If we're not parents who want our kids to do well but love them just as much when they don't, we're missing it. If we're not people who want a safe house to live in, but aren't okay with driving a used car or giving our money away, then we're missing it. If we're not people who can be there for a friend of a neighbor, even when it's not convenient for us, then we're missing it. And if our attendance at church is motivated more by who we'll see so who will see us than how it will change our life, then we're missing it. I'm afraid that lots of us are missing it, and I'm really afraid that lots of people who call themselves Christians are missing it.

The worst thing a doctor can do for a patient who has signs of an infection is to ignore it and say that everything will be okay. The same is true for you and I. The worst thing we can do for our own infection within is to dismiss it and pretend like everything's fine. Jesus taught that you and I were created not to live for ourselves but to live in a way that makes God proud. In John 8:31-32 Jesus said anyone who understand this teaching and hold's to it "will know the truth and the truth will set them free." Tired of living for yourself? Want to be free from the raging cancer of Pride that permeates your life? Believe in the truth that you were created to love God and share his love with others and make that your primary goal. If you're anything like me and feel like you've been to prideful for God to give you a second chance, don't worry. In the Bible, Jesus forgave drug dealers, prostitutes, murderers and rapists. He will also forgive you and I. Don't let the infection fester any longer. Will you allow the truth of God's forgiveness and purpose for your life be the prescription for a different way of living today? Spend some time today thanking God for the life he's given you and thinking about ways you can live for him.

WHAT IS GOD LIKE

"Jesus is the image of the invisible God....God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus." -Col 1:15 & 19

The idea of God is a strange one isn't it? We say that he is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfect and but we cannot physically see or touch him. How is a person supposed to "believe" in or "follow" a God so mysterious?

From the beginning of time, man has attempted to make sense of this invisible yet powerful God and we have largely failed. Our understanding of God today is incredibly splintered with more variations of God to choose from that there are colors of the rainbow. Belief in God right now is viewed as an every man for yourself activity where choosing what to believe is no different that choosing what to wear. We try on traits of God for size and analyze how they feel much like we mix-match outfits to wear. If we don't like God's justice in sending people to hell or disapprove of his sovereignty because of something bad that's happened, we either throw out those parts of God, try another religion, or throw out God altogether.

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his divine nature and eternal power - have been clearly seen, and can be understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." - Romans 1:20

Although there are many aspects of God that are difficult to wrap one's mind around, his unequaled power and the fact that he's not human like us, but divine, seem indisputable. If you disagree, I challenge you to go stand on the top of a towering mountain or sit on the shore of a roaring ocean and ponder God. Any man who can do these things and still believe that man is the greatest being in the universe is either lying or a fool. Psalms 19:1 says that "the heaven declare the glory of God the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Ever looked up into a star filled sky? What more evidence of God could you ask for than that? While there are no doubt parts of God such as his bigness that we will never fully understand, our inability to define God's boundaries or limitation should never get in the way of us seeking to know him. Hebrews 11:6 says that "without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists." This makes me think that not having all the answers is the way it was meant to be from the beginning and that choosing to believe in God bases on logic and reason alone is virtually impossible. God doesn't operate on human logic but on a greater logic that we don't understand. We need to either come to grips with this or stop talking about the idea of God altogether. It is because of this obvious evidence for God present everywhere we look that there will be no excuse for unbelief when we stand before God one day.

God doesn't ask that you and I come to him with all our ducks in a row and everything figured out. Actually he prefers the opposite, those who have lots of issues, questions and doubts, these were the people Jesus spent time with. Being a Christian though, or a Christ follower, requires more than a halfway belief in God or belief in only parts of Him. Jesus said in Luke 9:24 that "whoever holds onto his life [ a.k.a. his reputation, his status or whatever he cares about more than Christ] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." It's hard to give up your life for something you only partly believe in.

Who are you following? Are you following a mix-matched God of your own making, a religion that man made up, or the one true God? God might be invisible, but Colossians 1:15 reminds us that God has given his son Jesus to portray exactly what he's like. "Jesus is the image of the invisible God." The way that Jesus lived, loved, how he forgave and the compassion he had on people demonstrates the way that God loves, forgives and has compassion on you and I.

Want to learn more about God? Look to his son. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, located right in the middle of the Bible, tell us exactly what Jesus was like. Will you spend some time reading about Jesus so you can better know God today?

FOLLOWING

Following Christ is not an affiliation to a cause where you donate what you want, he's asked you to give up your life.

Following Christ is not a bunch of rules, it's a loving father telling his kids the best way to live

Following Christ is not about a church full of moral people, but about a community around the world filled with crazy love for others

Following Christ is not about how much you do but about what you do with what you've been given

Following Christ is not easy, but life sure becomes easier when you make Him your everything

Following Christ is not about following only when you feel like it, it's about being faithful to love and follow him everyday

Following Christ is not about getting your way or getting to look good, it's all about God's glory

Following Christ is not about hoarding what you need to be happy, it's about giving your life away and having joy even in the face of hardship

Following Christ does not fly in the face on intelligence, there's actually incredible evidence for belief in the savior

Following Christ is not about just being good, it's about a just God giving us second chance through Jesus

Following Christ is not about keeping a list of dos and don'ts, it's about keeping God's word close to your heart

Following Christ is not a lazy endeavor, sometimes it means losing and leaving valuable things in order to love him more

Following Christ is not about man trying make himself good enough for God but about God making another way

Following Christ is not about needing to try harder or be better, it's about nails in a cross and a new outlook on life

Following Christ is not about overcoming the odds, it's about owning up to the fact that on your own you can't and that you owe him everything

Following Christ is not to be pursued like any other pastime, that's because all parts of your life should point to him

Following Christ is not a quick fix or an instant solution, changing a person's heart can be quite painful and takes time

Following Christ is not about religion, it's about a loving relationship with the God of the universe.

Following Christ is not a short sprint to the finish, it's a sweet journey that gets sweeter every second

Following Christ is not meant to be done on a tentative timetable because time is running out to tell others about Him.

Following Christ is not about understanding all the answers, it's about knowing there's a God who does when we don't

Following Christ is not validating yourself by what you accomplish but about realizing that nothing else can satisfy like he can

Following Christ is not a walk in the park because he wants all of you and sometimes you have to walk by faith

And lastly, following Christ is not about YOU - it's about God loving YOU even though you don't deserve it and about YOU loving him back with everything YOU are

Will you choose to be this kind of follower of Christ?

WHO GETS ETERNAL LIFE

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever BELIEVES in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16



I'm almost certain that these words are some of the most common and well known in all of the Bible. Why do so many people know John 3:16? I think it's because we as humans have this terrible fear of dying, and eternal life provides us an amazing solution to the problem. We love the idea that in order to "receive" this eternal life, all we have to do is believe in God's son. This isn't a bad deal really because Jesus is a super moral guy, really loving, supposedly died on a cross and set a really good example. On top of all that, most everybody likes the guy and believing in him keeps us out of hell, if there even is such a place. No one knows for sure, but better to be safe than sorry right? Believing in Jesus seems to be relatively painless and doesn't cost a whole lot. You have to go to church every now and then sure, and you can't cuss or drink too much, but other than that, it's a pretty good gig.

With that line of thinking, who wouldn't want to be a Christian? The real question is though, what does "believing" in Jesus really mean. Jesus answered this for us before he died? Let's look at what he said:

MATTHEW 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day (the day of judgment), ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘Depart from me, I never knew you!"

It says here that just knowing Jesus' name or knowing about him is not good enough to get a person into heaven. But he even goes further to say that people who do moral, kind and nice things won't be allowed in either. That doesn't sound right. Jesus says that only those who "do the will of the Father" will be allowed in. So that begs the question, what's the will of the father? Check out this verse:

JOHN 6:29
Jesus answered, "The work (or will) of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

Okay, great, so we're back to this idea of believing again. We've established in the previous verse that just saying you believe or doing things to prove you believe is not good enough to enter heaven. If this is the case, what does it mean to really believe? Let's look at another verse:

JOHN14:15
“If you love me, you will obey my commandments."

So it sounds like believing has something to do with loving God. Notice that Jesus doesn't say we should follow his commands in order to prove our love, instead he says that our obedience is a byproduct of it. Love comes first in this verse. Love for God must always come first and the obedience will follow. But where does love for God come from?

It comes from understanding that God is powerful, perfect and just and that every man at their core is dirty, selfish and disobedient. Man shows his dirtiness all the time, either blatantly on the outside or more subtly on the inside. Either way, if you look closely, you'll quickly begin to see how broken and wicked all people really are. To summarize, a perfect God created the world, put man in it and gave him the ability to choose how to live. Each one of us has chosen to live wickedly and selfishly and are deserving of punishment at the hands of a just and perfect God. Now to you, your faults might not seem especially wicked but remember that you are comparing yourself to a imperfect, human standard and not a perfect, Godly one. It's always easy to look around and find somebody whose worse off than you are, but that's not the point. The real question is how we size up against the holiness and perfection of God. Compared to God's perfection, the things you and I have done make us look like rapists and murderers, deserving of death. But the amazing thing is that instead of the harsh penalty we should all receive, God, out of his love, has sent his son to take the death penalty we deserved. And as we know, by believing in Jesus, God allows us to be forgiven of what we've done so that we can spend eternity with him. Understanding this reality, the reality of our brokenness and God's amazing forgiveness is where crazy love for God comes from.

So it seems that believing in Jesus is not just acknowledging his existence or trying to do good things to make him happy, it's loving him. Loving him by keeping him commands. I don't feel that it's ever my business to try and determine who really believes in God and who doesn't but I will say that you can tell a lot by the way a person lives. There is a very distinct difference between a really, really good person who only knows about God and a second person who knows they've been forgiven by God. The second individual does things in life not to look good but out of a grateful heart and a desire to please and love the God who has given them so much. Is there anything more valuable than God's forgiveness that frees us from the guilt of our dirty past in this life and gives us an incredible promise for eternal life in the future? There not, but this brings us to a huge problem.

If millions of individuals around the world claim to be "saved" by the blood of Jesus, how come so very few of us are living like saved people. How come most of us skate through life loving God's forgiveness and the security of salvation, but fail to love God himself or care at all about his commandments? God will be the final judge one day I know, but I'm gonna go ahead and say that if a person is not burdened by the commands of God, they probably do not really believe. If Jesus came back today to take his followers away, I'm sad to say that there would be many "Christians" who were left behind. We each need to examine our lives and the belief we claim to have in Jesus closely. Following him is not an easy thing, it's actually very costly, and will cost a person everything.

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." - Matthew 10:36-28

How is your love for Jesus right now? Is it casual and convenient or have you counted the cost and committed to love him, obey him and follow him no matter what? If you want to know what God's commandments are, Matthew 22:37-39 spells it out best.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."

Loving God and other people this way is an extremely high calling and not for the faint at heart. It's not easy and will look different for every person. We must remember Paul's words in Ephesians 2:10 which says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." God has prepared different plans for each of us and so following and obeying will look different for every person. What things has God asked you to do today?

Whatever it is, I hope that your belief in Christ and what he has done for you on the cross will be motivation to love and serve him not halfheartedly, but wholeheartedly. Will you listen, obey and follow him with everything you are today?

TASTE AND SEE

There will always be things we don't fully understand about God. That's just part of God being God and us being human but this should never prevent us from pursuing him. John Piper said in his book SEEING AND SAVORING JESUS CHRIST that believing in Jesus "is like seeing the sun and knowing it's light and not dark, or like tasting honey and knowing it's sweet and not sour." There's just something different about Jesus compared to everything else in the world. Every person in one way or another, at some point in their life, must make a decision about who they believe Jesus to be. He boldly claimed to be the son of God and "the way, the truth and the life" which makes him out to be either a crazy man or something really special. I agree with Mr. Piper that taking the time to look upon Jesus, what he said, and how he lived is the best approach to figuring out if he's really real.

Along similar lines, Psalm 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who trusts in him." There's absolutely nothing wrong with doing a taste test of God or seeing what it feels like to trust in Him. The gospel of Luke tells us there was a man named Zacchaeus who did just that. Zacchaeus was wealthy and had everything a man could ask for but he was looking for something more and climbed in a tree one day to catch a glimpse of Jesus walking by. Zacchaeus wasn't the greatest of guys, he was dishonest and a crook by trade but none of these things mattered to Jesus. The two men become great friends and Zacchaeus' life was forever changed because he took the time to taste and see what Jesus was all about.

Just as Zacchaeus had to climb a tree to learn more about Jesus, tasting for you and I requires some time and effort. In order to do this, one must be willing to examine the whole story of Jesus' life, really think about the things he said and also be brave enough to examine the depths of their own soul. Man coming to believe in God is a two-way street that involves both God showing himself to those who ask and us searching for him. Searching for God takes time and is rarely something that can be done overnight. To do this, one must commit to withholding judgment on the matter of belief until the complete picture of who Jesus is can be seen. This means that reading a few Bible verses or looking up Christianity online doesn't paint the full picture and that patience is required. Dismissing Jesus or the concept of God because of one reason or one unanswered question is not really searching at all, it's looking for an excuse not to believe. There's a difference. We often want a quick fix to our problems but the the decision to believe in Jesus is life changing and is one that should be considered carefully.

Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." -John 6:35

Will you take the chance to taste or re-taste what believing in Jesus is really like? I hope that for you, considering Christ will shed some light on the dark parts of our world and the darkness of the human heart and I hope that in a taste of what He's like you will find something sweeter and more satisfying than anything this world has to offer. Some of us have tasted before but need to do so again in a fresh, new way. We have forgotten the "abundant life" (John 10:10) and "rest for our souls" (Matthew 11:29) that only Jesus can give. Will you taste the sweetness of God and thank him for being so good today?

"I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." -C.S. Lewis

BOTTOMS UP

"You have spent enough time in the past doing what godless people do - living for immorality, lust, drunkenness, orgies and idolatry." - 1 Peter 4:3


Here's my question. Is it bad for a Christian to drink alcohol? In the verse above, Peter associates drunkenness with a pretty nasty laundry list of other activities, but on the other hand, there are also verses like Ecclesiastes 9:7 that say, "Go, eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God approves of this." That seems confusing doesn't it?

Although on the surface the Bible seems to be in conflict on this issue, I think closer examination will show that it provides some very clear cut directions on drinking.

For starters, it's important to remember that alcohol, just like everything else, is good because it was created by God. Psalms 104:15 says that "God made wine which gladdens the hearts of men." There is nothing God has made that is not good, but problems arise when man takes a good thing created by God and abuses it. It seems that you and I have this tendency to become so obsessed with the good things that God has made that we fail to worship the creator himself. This is what we have done with alcohol. We have turned drinking into an experience we look forward to because we know it will be an escape from reality and from the pressures and weight of this world. Hosea 4:10-11 gives us a vivid picture of problems God's followers had hundreds of years ago and I'm afraid we're not much different today. "They will eat and still be hungry, they will play the prostitute and not multiply, all because they have forsaken the LORD to cherish whoredom, wine and more wine, which rob them of their senses."

I feel pretty strongly that God gave us our senses for a reason and that they are meant to be kept, not thrown by the wayside on the weekends. In Matthew 5:13-14, Jesus instructs his followers to be "salt and light" to the rest of the world. He tells them they should talk different, live different and look different that those who are living life for themselves and any follower of Christ today should do the same. Living like this isn't an optional thing for a believer, it's expected, and it's tough to do this when one doesn't have their senses isn't it?

I think this is why Peter and the rest of the Bible speak out strongly against drinking to the point of getting drunk. While there's certainly nothing wrong with drinking, as long as it's done legally, there is no reason for a follower of Christ to be drunk.

Two important things to remember when drinking:

1. Romans 13:1 says, "Everyone must submit to the governing authorities because there is no authority that God has not established." This means that God expects his followers to obey the law of the land. Since the current law says it is illegal to drink before the the age of 21, it is wrong for any person under this age to drink. No exceptions. In you are a follower of Christ under the age of 21 and you're drinking, you're wrong and need to stop.

2. Romans 15:1-2 says, "We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive to things like this. We must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord." A believer who is of legal age to drink, should always be careful of the setting in which they do. Minors and friends who have a tendency to abuse alcohol are likely not as "strong" as you are when it comes to drinking responsibly and so you have an obligation to do what is in their best interest, not your own. Be careful!

HOW GOOD IS GOOD ENOUGH?

You and I are each going to die and it's only a matter of time, but the real question is, what happens next? Here are three common views to choose from:

1. Nothing - There are those who feel that there is no God, and therefore, no life after death. The thing we all must do when choosing whether or not to believe in God is to look around and pick the belief that makes the most sense in light of the reality we see in our world. Personally, I think this thought process of denying a god strongly contradicts the incredibly intricate and complex world that we live in. Whether the world was created in seven literal days or over thousands of years, it seems obvious to me that the world was created by someone. Some higher being set the foundations of the world in motion and governs its existence today. Just because we don't fully understand God and maybe have problems with the way he runs things doesn't make it right to retaliate and deny his existence. Doing this gets us nowhere. Adhering to a belief that nothing happens when we die is making the biggest gamble ever known to man. What happens if you're wrong? This is the least common of the three views.

2. Reincarnation - There are a large number of people around the world who believe man, upon death, is reborn back into this world to right the things they did wrong in the previous life. When a person finally achieves perfection, they enter nirvana, a stage of ultimate self actualization and bliss. The problem with this belief is that it's impossible to know where you went wrong the first time around and so you are left with the pressure of having to play the perfect game and execute the perfect routine on your very first try. For most of us, it takes only about .5 seconds to blow something important when the pressure's on which makes this idea of living a perfect life utterly impossible. This is the second most common view.

3. The Scale Model - This view is extremely popular in America and is held by many who would call themselves Christian. I think virtually all of us would agree that every person has inside them a great capacity to do both good and evil. This dichotomy of the human soul is what drives the continual battle of right and wrong that we witness everyday in our world. On top of all this, most people in America also believe in a god that will one day judge us for how we have lived. We believe that God will weigh our good and our bad and admit us to either heaven or hell based on our motives and actions. This way of thinking puts most of us in great position because, at least generally speaking, we're all really good and nice people. We do the right thing most of the time and usually choose to not do the wrong thing when we have the option or feel like doing it.

One problem with this set up though is that we will never truly know how the scales are weighing. Most of our actions are good, sure, but what if God counts our thoughts too? There's no way of knowing how we stand and now things start to get a little scary. But that's not the worst of it. The biggest problem with thinking about God in this way is that it makes Him out to be incredibly unjust and wicked. Let me explain. Is it right for a man who commits rape and murder to be let off scot-free because all things considered he's a great guy? Or to a lesser extent, is it just, right, or fair in any way for a young kid who steals to not be punished for his actions? Justice just doesn't work like that. Neither can a perfect God. In order for God to be righteous, loving, just, and fair like we would want any god to be, he has to punish man for the things he does wrong. This means that every single one of us, when The Great Judge considers our scales, will be found guilty. So the answer to the question of who's good enough for heaven is that none of us are....at least not on our own.

Romans 5:8 says, "God has showed us his great love by sending Jesus to die for us, even though we are sinners." The beautiful, wonderful thing about Christianity is that even though none of us are good enough for heaven, God has made a way. He sent Jesus to take the death penalty that we deserved. By merely acknowledging our need for forgiveness, the scales will forever be tipped in our favor.

PORNED

"Men weren't made to have sex with bodies, they were designed to make love to souls." - Matt Chandler

Today is an incredibly tough topic, but nonetheless an essential one. As we speak, pornography, sexual addiction and infidelity are running rampant through our country, ripping families and marriages apart. The family unit is on the verge of extinction and absolutely nothing is being done about it. Before you tune me out or dismiss what I'm about to say because porn, sex addiction or extramarital affair doesn't apply to you, I want to plead with you not to. Every one of us, and I'm talking mainly to guys, are at fault in this area and need to make some radical changes in our life. Let me explain.

The concept of love and of marriage was not invented by man, but created by God who made both sexes. He made them uniquely different in such a way that they need the other and function best when together. He made our bodies unique as well, as a perfect fit when combined, and gave us sex as a gift and a way to bring us closer. Since God created us, I think it's safe to say he knows us best and only fitting to see what his word, the Bible, has to say about sex.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, we read about the wise king Solomon who God has given us as an expert on the topic. The dude had 700 wives, 300 hookers and got more action that any man could ever imagine. Let's fast forward to later in his life and see what he has to say about women.

"I find more bitter than death, woman, who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains....While I was still searching and not finding - I found one true man among a thousand, but not one true woman among them all." - Ecc 7:26 & 28

Sounds like our man Solomon is pretty bitter. This certainly isn't what you would expect from a guy who had 1000 women at his beck and call. The last part of what he says about finding one true man but no women is extremely important for us to understand. I think Matt Chandler said it best in one of his talks. He said, "Solomon experienced how tough it is for guys to have deep relationships with other guys. Every now and then you find one guy that you really click with on a personal, soul level and you become great friends. But he didn't find this connection with any of his 1000 women. That's because when Solomon sat down to dinner with a girl and she started to unpack her dreams and passions, all he could think about was her breasts and what it would be like to get her in bed."

Solomon was addicted to sex and so are we. In making his relationships with women all about their body and what they could give, he stripped them of their soul. I want to argue that you and I are no different. Any time we choose to look at a women who is not our wife or entertain a lustful thought about one, we trample her soul and become more and more addicted to merely bodily sex. Years of thinking about women in this way, only concerned about the wonder of their bodies, will leave any man, single or married, severely addicted and completely incapable of making love to the most important part of a women, her soul. It's no wonder we fail at marriage.

Nowadays, bodily sexual experiences can easily be had at a moments notice either in person or on the computer but they can never satisfy, just ask Solomon. We give Solomon a hard time for his 1000 women but in our own mind are we any different? The typical course of most marriages seems to be that men enjoy bodily sex with their wife for awhile and then grow bored. Once that happens, they will either secretly pursue some new sexual experience or treat their wife poorly to chase her off so they can do so out in the open. Intimately knowing a women both in body and soul is extremely rare and takes time, but this is how sex was meant to be.

So what should we do? Single guys, if you don't start right now "taking every thought captive" (1 Corinthians 10:5) to think about women in the right way then you will dig yourself into such a hole of bodily addiction that you'll never get out and your future marriage will be subject to failure before it even begins. If you even think to yourself for a second that you'll have fun now and not regret it later, you're wrong. The damage that you will cause to yourself and to your future wife, family and to countless others won't be worth any temporary satisfaction or pleasure you experience, I promise. Married guys, we can in absolutely no way "give the devil a single foothold" (Eph 4:27) and must "flee from sexual immorality" (1 Cor 6:18) at all costs. There is nothing more wonderful or pleasing to God than a godly marriage and a godly family, and there is nothing that Satan despises more. The devil will stop at nothing to ruin your current or future marriage, but will you fight for it? Our world has been porned, sexed, and seduced into thinking about women in the wrong way, will you fight to be a man that loves both body and soul today?

To listen to a great talk on this topic by pastor Matt Chandler CLICK HERE

DEAD MAN STANDING

The other day I was running past a cemetery in our neighborhood and it really got me thinking. I've probably passed hundreds or thousands of these in my life without a second thought but what happened the other day for some reason was different. As I passed by, I couldn't help but stare at tombstone after tombstone and it suddenly hit me that each one represented a life just like mine. Each of those buried people were once alive and like me, grew up, probably went to school, got a job, were married, raised a family, and then eventually died. Sure everyone's story is a little different, but the reality of this thought was humbling to me. That's because there is this tendency I have, and maybe you do to, to think that I'm super important, that my life is the one that matters the most in the world, and that the things I'm doing and thinking are earth changing and have never been thought or done before. Prideful and selfish I know.

The crazy things is, if we stop to think about the millions upon millions that have lived before us and all the great men and women that currently reside six feet under, one cannot help but be humbled and feel incredibly insignificant. I realized the other day that the people in that cemetery lived amazing lives at a level of greatness I will likely never reach but even if I could, would it make any difference? What if I did become famous for doing something great one day and they buried me in a prestigious cemetery with a big headstone so that people could drive by to see where Drew was buried? It wouldn't matter because I would be no different than any other person in any other cemetery anywhere else in the world. What I do in life, the discoveries I make, the money I earn, the awards I win, and any status or reputation that I have when I die will go with me to the grave whenever that day comes. None of that stuff matters when you're dead. The worst part is, that regardless of how I live or what I accomplish in life, some twenty-four year old guy will one day run by the cemetery where I'm buried with his dog and have absolutely no idea who I am.

This makes you and I nothing more than dead men standing and it's only a matter of time until the inevitable fate of death overtakes us all. Listen to how the wise King Solomon came to this same conclusion:

"So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and all they do are in God's hands, but no man knows what awaits him. All share a common destiny - the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who do religious things and those who don't....for the same fate of death overtakes us all." - Ecc 9:1-3

There is nothing you or I can do to add days to our life. Eating our veggies and exercising can't promise that we won't drop dead to the floor at a moments notice. And the crazy thing is that really good people die unexpectedly sometimes while really bad and mean people get to live a long and prosperous life. How does that work out?

I don't know all the specifics of how God works all thing for the good of his glory (Romans 8:28) but I know that he does. I also know that when King David prayed to God, "My times are in your hands," in Psalm 31:15, that he was right. Our times and our lives are ultimately in God's hands and while we don't have any say as to how long we'll be around, we can make choices while we're here to invest in things that matter. Money, fame, and recognition have never been able to satisfy the human soul and they never will. So what should we do about all this craziness? How should we live in this world where few things really matter? Let's see again what Solomon says:

"Go eat food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart...Enjoy life with your wife whom you love, for this is the lot God has given you under the sun. Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there are none of these things." -Ecc 9:7-10

To elaborate on the idea of working with all your might, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31 that "whether you eat, drink or what ever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

And in Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as if working for the Lord and not for men."

God, for some reason, has created this world and placed you and I in it. He hasn't put us here to enjoy life like a theme park where we play all the games, try all the rides and cash out on our tickets at the end for some great prize before we leave. That's just not how it works. He's put us here so that we can enjoy the life he's given us, thank him for it and tell other people about how great and glorious our God is. Investing your life in the things of this world will afford you no gain on the day that you die. On the other hand, investing in the kingdom of God by sharing with others and about the peace, hope and love that he offers will leave a mark on this world that will last for eternity. What's you motivation for living today?

WHEN DIVORCE IS OKAY

Wow! This one word has probably caused more pain and hurt to the hearts and souls of people today than maybe anything else that exists. This in an incredibly tough and sensitive topic to discuss but it has to be brought up. That's because marriage, which was designed to be a solid and wonderful foundation for life is not that anymore and it's no wonder that our world and relationships feel so shaky at times.

I have to say before going any farther that I don't know first hand what divorce is like. But I have talked with several who do and I have talked to even more kids who have been gracious enough to share their stories with me. In a second, I would like to lay out what the Bible says about divorce as far as when it's okay and when it's not but I want to quickly say this first. Knowing what God's word says on this subject will do our world zero good until the time comes when we start to revere God and his word for what they really are. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says that God's message and his way seems foolish to those who don't know and love him. So the real problem is not that we don't know what God says, but that we don't know God, and frankly we don't care to. As you think about your own experiences with divorce or about the experiences of others, will you please pray with me that the hearts of our world will be mercifully changed and drawn to God.

HISTORY
Divorce has been around for ages and dates all the way back to Bible times. Let's fast forward several thousand years though to a more recent event that changed the landscape of marriage forever. In 1969, the governor of California at the time, Ronald Reagan, signed into law the first bill allowing for what was called a "no fault divorce". This law allowed couples to divorce for virtually any and every reason and has played a huge part in the popularity of divorce today.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
Divorce was never and will never be part of God's ideal plan for mankind. God didn't create us for divorce and he didn't create marriage to end in failure. But, because of the the selfishness, greed, and pride of mankind, it is a big part of our world that needs to be dealt with.

In the Bible, divorce is never mandated or required of anyone, but it is permitted in two scenarios:

#1 - UNFAITHFULNESS
In Matthew 19:9, Jesus says, "I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." So the first and one of the only times divorce is permitted is when an affair of some kind has taken place. Unfaithfulness doesn't mean that a couple should get a divorce, it only means that in this scenario, the loyal spouse in no longer at fault if the marriage fails. This concept of adultery is interesting to think about especially in light of what Jesus says in Matthew 5:28. "I tell you that any man who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

By this definition, almost everyone, and certainly all men, have a nasty record with adultery and this begs the question where does lustful thinking and pornography fit into the concept of unfaithfulness? Gregg Matte, whose recent talk on divorce was the inspiration for much of what I'm writing, uses three key parameters to answer this question: Habitual, unrepentant, and resistant to confrontation. So then, any person be it man or women, who is habitually involved in adulterous thinking or activity and who refuses to repent or respond to confrontation is being unfaithful.

#2 - ABANDONMENT
In this scenario, the apostle Paul is writing in 1 Corinthians 7:13 and 15 about a time when a believer and an unbeliever are married and considering divorce. To this he says, "If a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to leave her, she must not divorce him.... But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances." Is it never right for any believer to ask for a divorce or for them to act in any manner other than out of love that might drive their spouse away or towards infidelity. If a person has done everything possible to love their spouse and they still leave, then the fault is not on that person. An important point to consider along of the lines of abandonment is that of abuse. If a spouse is abusive either verbally or physically to the extent that their partner or children are at risk, and if they are like this habitually and resist confrontation, then that spouse has abandoned their spiritual responsibility to that family and divorce may be considered.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE DIVORCED OR ARE ASKED TO GIVE ADVICE ABOUT DIVORCE
If a person is divorced then they should stay that way until one of three things occurs. Until their spouse remarries, dies or until reconciliation happens. That spouse should pray and try to reconcile (notice that separation is not the same as divorce) but should not remarry unless either of the above conditions are met. This principle comes from Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:32 that "whoever marries a divorced woman causes adultery to be committed." So adultery doesn't occur when people get divorced, it happens when they remarry after getting divorced for a reason other than unfaithfulness or abandonment.

What if a person has already remarried after getting divorced for the wrong reasons? First, that person should confess their wrongdoing to the lord and to anybody else that needs to be talked to and secondly, they need to commit to making their current marriage last for life!

Divorce is incredibly hard. In the words of Pastor Gregg, "It's like a bullet that goes in small but comes out big and and rips things apart on its way. We look at divorce often as a solution to our problems but usually only end up exchanging them for new ones." Is divorce the real issue here or perhaps is it something deeper? Could it be that our incessant obsession with having things our way and getting rid of things we don't like could be a result of our nasty, selfish, prideful problem with sin? I think if we as a culture deal with the sin problem then divorce will no longer be an issue. To quote pastor Gregg again, "Our sin is like a tangled ball of yarn that we can't undo no matter how hard we try." The harder we work at it, the messier it gets. How about if you and I stopped trying to fix our lives or exchange things like spouses and instead went to Jesus and asked him is we could exchange our messy, tangled life for a new one? Try it. He'll grant your request every time because he loves you died so you could be forgiven and have a fresh start.

SNAKE CHARMER

In Ecclesiastes, the king Solomon is giving out wisdom on life. He says, "If a snake bites before it's charmed, there is no profit for the charmer."
-Ecc 10:11

What's in the world does this mean? I think we would all agree that a snake bitten charmer is a dead charmer and that's a bad thing right? The obvious aside, I think what Solomon is getting at here is the idea that talk is cheap. You and I can say we're gonna do something and we can have the best intentions in the world to do that thing but unless it actually happens, what we say doesn't matter. Like the phrase "put your money where your mouth is" alludes to, following through on one's intentions is a big and risky commitment.

If you had to name your three biggest goals in life, what would they be? Here are mine:

1. Share the love and wonder of God with other people through whatever platform God gives me.
2. Be an amazing husband to my wife and love her always in an incredible way.
3. Raise kids that love God and other people.

All things considered, nothing else in life matters more to me than these three things. What are your goals like? Are they God honoring goals? And maybe the bigger question, what are you doing to make those goals a reality? Being a godly person, loving husband, or great parent doesn't just happen overnight because you get out bed one morning and it finally clicks. A person can have great plans to be more disciplined in a part of their life, they can know how and even be on the verge of doing it, but until planing turns into action, they are no better a snake charmer than the guy who walks up and intentionally gets bit. In Matthew 12:50 Jesus says, "Whoever does the will of my father is part of my family." Notice he doesn't say "whoever knows the will of the father" or "thinks about the will of the father," but whoever does the will of the father. A few chapters earlier in Matthew 7:21 Jesus tells his disciples, that those "who do the will of the father" will be the ones to enter God's kingdom. I think lots of us know things we should be doing differently in life and ways that God is asking us to grow, but few are really doing it. What's holding you back?

In verses 7-9, just before Solomon talks about charming snakes, he reminds us why there is no better time to start acting on our goals and on who God wants us to be than right now.

"Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; who ever splits logs may be entangled by them." Ecclesiastes 10:7-9

What Solomon's saying is that unexpected things happen to unsuspecting people just going about their business all the time. Death, disease and hardship give no regard to age, health, diet, or socioeconomic status. Nice, healthy, young, and successful people get sick out of the blue and die everyday. The reality of life is that you and I don't know what tomorrow may bring which gives us all the more reason to make the most of today. Don't wait to charm your snakes. There is certainly some risk, effort and commitment involved in becoming a godly man, women, parent, husband, wife, brother, sister or friend, but there is no greater way to live.

SWAGGALICIOUS!

Texas monthly recently quoted Fort Worth native and gospel artist and author Kirk Franklin as saying, "My main message is to preach God's word, pure and truthful, but also to make it swaggalicious."

Swaggalicious? That's a new one on me. According to urban dictionary, swaggalicious refers to something that is tight, fresh or cool. I think Kirk is onto something with his approach to sharing the gospel and there is something here we can all learn from.

Is there anything more exciting or wonderful that the gospel of God's good news that he has sent his son to offer you and I forgiveness, peace and joy? There's not, that just can't be beat! As Christians, we have the most wonderful story of how the God of the universe loves us more than any person can imagine and it's our job to take that story to the world.

Our world is changing though and we must be able to change with it. There was a time not too long ago when faith and God's story were normal and accepted parts of everyday life. That time has come and gone. Today, we live in a postmodern age where choices about God are no longer viewed as important or relevant. Faith has become more or less a spiritual grab bag where people choose part of a religion to believe in or even put different faiths together in a way that fits and pleases them. All the while we are expected to be tolerant, to not hold anybody in contempt for what they believe and to be accepting of all.

The problem with this whole scenario is that it completely ignores the concept of truth. Some argue that absolute truth does not exist but that statement in and of itself is an absolute. The reality is that if you and I look around, there is a not a one of us who would say that things in this world are the way they should be. Injustice, pain, evil and wickedness take their toll on a daily basis and we are forced to feel the effects. But in addition to the darkness, we also see goodness, kindness and joy which stand out in stark contrast. Why is this? Where exactly did our concept of right and wrong and good and bad come from?

As we both know, mankind, regardless of how hard we try, is and will always be incapable of doing right all the time. This means the real definition of goodness, truth and justice must be found outside ourselves, in the form of God. So it seems that the concept of a good, holy, perfect God is not bogus or irrelevant after all but rather essential and necessary.

The point of all of this is to say that God's story, the gospel, often no longer falls on open ears but still needs to be told. Most people today don't go to church and don't read the bible but Jesus' command to go and make disciples still applies to every believer. If you and I as God's messengers only quote bible verses and sing praise songs, most people will never understand our message. Fifty years ago they might have but not today. We must be able to share God's story in a manner and language that people relate to and understand.

Like Kirk Franklin, the apostle Paul also understood the huge responsibility we have in how we share God's story. Listen to what he writes in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23. "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do this all for the sake of the gospel." Paul was willing to do whatever it took to communicate how much God loves the world. He lived out God's love in a way that people could see there was something tight, fresh and cool about what he believed. He also took the time to customize God's story each time he told it so that those who were listening at the time could understand.

I'm not saying that we need to ever add or take away from God's story or embellish it in any way but we do need to tell it in a way that people can relate to. Our job is not to convince a person to believe in God, only God can change a heart, but we are responsible for accurately communicating the message in a way that is truthful and reaches people where they're at. When we share and live like this, other people get to experience the aroma of Christ which is totally different than anything else the world has to offer.

2 Corinthians 2:15-16 says, "We are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To one we are the smell of death, to the other the fragrance of life. Who is up for such a task?"

We know that our message will not always be received well but that should never stop us from sharing. I Corinthians 1:18 says "the message of the cross is foolishness to those to are perishing," but we should never take rejection of God's story personally. Donald Whitney reminds us of this with a great analogy. "In regards to sharing our faith, you and I are most like the postal service. Success is measured by the careful and accurate delivery of the message, not by the response of the recipient."

So how about you? Is your life and the story you tell about God filled with the coolness, freshness, tightness, and newness that should be true of a person whose life has been dramatically changed by a loving God? Go live swaggalicious today.

Some musical stylings from Mr. Franklin:

WHAT'S YOUR HOBBY?

HOBBY - [hob-ee] - noun, an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation: like wood carving or stamp collecting.

"For millions of Christians, nevertheless, God is no more real than he is to the non-Christian. They go through life trying to love an ideal and be loyal to a mere principle. They have never bothered to think the matter [of God] out for themselves, but have heard about him from others, and have put belief in Him into the back of their minds along with various other odds and ends." A.W. Tozer

For many of us, God is a hobby and nothing more. We have reduced our relationship with the God of the universe down to a comfortable and cliche belief in him that lacks both love and devotion. Our tolerant culture today has made belief in God no different that one's preference for drinking coffee. "Some like God and some don't we say," and whatever your case may be, that's fine as long as it works for you. Those who do choose to acknowledge God, like Him made to order, just like our mochas, so he can fit comfortably into our busy schedule and be there to relax us when we're in need.

Notice how Tozer said MILLIONS live this way. He's not just talking about about one or two people, he's saying that the majority of people who claim to believe in God live like this. That means that you and I need to take a good hard look at our view of God and the devotion with which we follow him. Is our devotion limited by convenience, practicality and our own selfishness or are we really throwing aside all hindrances and running hard after God like Hebrews 12:1 talks about.

Jesus said is Matthew 16:25 that, "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." It doesn't sound like he's asking for a hobby-like commitment to me? The real question is how can we treat the God who gives us life each day and allows us to live completely free from all sin and guilt like a hobby? That just doesn't sound right, and it isn't. God tells us in the book of revelation that the lukewarm believer who rides the fence when it comes to really following makes him sick with vomit.

The Christian life and belief in God is no hobby. It was never meant to be. If If we want to find joy, peace, and fulfillment in this life, we must value following God, loving him, and growing in our faith above all else. Will God for you become more than a set of good ideals and principles? I hope that you'll make following God your main occupation today.

DON'T LOOK BACK

Here's the scene. Jesus has just asked a group of people to commit to following him. Two men show interest but both say they have matters to attend to first. One leaves to bury his father and the other asks Jesus if he can go say goodbye to his family. Listen to what Jesus has to say to these two mean as they walk away.

"Jesus replied, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.'" - Luke 9:62

The very next words from Jesus recorded in Luke further elaborate at what he's getting at. "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field." - Luke 10:2

Part of me can really relate to the practical thinking of the two men who left to tend to family matters before following Christ, but on the other hand, what can be more important that joining with up with the God of the universe and his plan to show love to the world. Many times, I think we respond to Jesus' invitation to join in what he is doing in the very same way that these two men did. "Jesus I want to spend time with you," we say, "but let me just send this email first." Before we know it, one email leads to something else and then our day is over without giving a thought to God or what he might have had in store for us along the way. Or we tell God we are going to start praying more or sharing about him more with others but we get so consumed by our busy lives that nothing happens. We make excuses, procrastinate and treat our spiritual life-line to God like a school project on the bottom of our to-do list. We let everything else crowd out our time and service to God so that he is left with next to nothing and before we know it we are dying spiritually instead of growing.

There will always be emails to send and we will always be busy. There will never be a good or convenient time to follow God, so the question then is not what must I do to free myself up for following him, but whether or not we will commit today to the Lord's service and to making everything else secondary in importance.

Can you name anything more important than helping share the story of God's love with the rest of the world? I can't, but this is a huge job! Our world and our culture is quickly moving away from God, and as of now, we're losing ground. The claims and credibility of Christians have become laughable in our country because so many of us live lives halfway serving God. When we claim to live for God and "push his plow" but spend most of our time looking back instead of ahead because we're distracted by other things, we do a bad job of plowing and make a pretty good mess of things. We either need to start giving our all to pushing the plow for God's kingdom by living lives that are radically defined by our love for God and others or stop plowing all together. To plow while looking backwards because our attention and affection are focused on something other than our God is careless and the reason why Christian hypocrisy is so rampant and disdained today.

My Grampa would always say, "driving a car is like driving a bullet," to remind people of the lethal potential driving has to kill and damage if one is careless or reckless. Driving a plow for the Lord's kingdom is no different. If you and I don't watch where we're going or how we're living, and if we don't take our stewardship as ambassadors for the king seriously, we may find ourselves sending bullets headlong into the reputation of God until he is so humiliated and embarrassed that nobody would want to believe in him. The writer of Hebrews reminds those of us plowing where our focus should be. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross..." (Hebrews 12:2).

I can't think of any better motivation to keep on plowing and to keep living in a manner that glorifies the Lord than to think upon what Jesus has done for us. He gave up everything, including his life, so that we could experience forgiveness, freedom from guilt, joy and peace. I wouldn't trade anything else in this world to give all that up and neither would you. Will you follow Christ without regret, make his name and glory your first priority, and push the plow without looking back today? The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

LIVING LIGHT

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:29-30

I don't know about you, but sometimes being a follower of Christ to me feels neither restful nor easy. When we look at Jesus' life it seems that he was always helping or serving someone, shouldn't we be doing the same?

The number of people in our world who need to see and experience the reality of God's love is enormous and it can be incredibly tiresome to try and live with the weight of the world's problems on one's shoulders. I don't think God wants us to live that way. While Jesus did give sacrificially and to the point of exhaustion at times, he also knew when to say "no" as we can see in the following excerpt from Mark.

"That evening after sunset people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed, "Everybody is looking for you!"

Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else - to nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." -Mark 1:32-38

If anybody had a busy schedule to keep, Jesus did. With diseases to heal, hurting people to help, and demons to cast out, there was never a shortage of things to be done. As we see in Mark, the disciples come to Jesus early one morning confused as to why he has disappeared when so many people are looking for his help and healing hand. Instead of heading back into town like we and his disciples might have expected, Jesus tells his disciples it's time to pack up and leave.

We can learn lots from how Jesus responded when the world begged for his attention. One thing is that our relationship with the heavenly father must always rank in importance above our commitments or service to others. If we do not take the time to be refreshed and reconnect with the God of the universe, our mission and ministry on his behalf will be compromised. Trying to a be a godly spouse, parent, employee and friend all at the same time can feel like a daunting task and is virtually impossible on our own power. This is why we must turn to the one "who is strong when we are weak" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Spending time with the savior is a choice and one that always requires putting other things on hold. This isn't easy, especially when you have a busy day ahead, but I think you'll actually find that you get more done when you do.

Jesus also reminds us that we shouldn't be afraid of saying "no". The great thing about the body of Christ is that one person doesn't have to be everything to everybody. Jesus didn't have one disciple, he had twelve, and sent them all out to reach different people in different ways. He sends you and I in the same way, as one messenger of many, to impact a select group of people. Trying to make an impact everywhere, all at once, and being stretched to the max will almost always prevent us from being effective at all. Paul reminds us in 2 Thessalonians 5:24 that the God who calls us to serve in a particular place or particular way will be faithful to take care of everything and everyone that we're not. Being part of God's team should never be a burden because we know that what God doesn't do through us, he will accomplish through another.

Where has God called you to be a light and example for him? Focus on that today and on being faithful with the opportunities that you've been given.

IN THE BUSINESS

During the 1st century, every Jewish boy was expected to enroll in school at a young age so they could try their hand at learning the Hebrew religious tradition. By the time the teenage years rolled around, the top performers who showed the greatest proficiency moved on to further Rabbinic training while the remaining kids were sent home to learn a trade from dad.

So when Jesus calls a group of young fisherman to be his disciples in Luke 5, everybody in that day would have known that these weren't the brightest of dudes. There were the dropouts from religious training school and just your typical, normal, everyday average Joes. There were hundreds of bright, up and coming religious leaders that Jesus could have asked to be his followers, but he didn't. Instead he chose to spend his time teaching and molding these humble fisherman into the pillars of the early church that would turn the world upside down. Luckily for you and I, Jesus is still in the business of training and using humble, normal, average, everyday people who have no business being used by God. All he asks is that we're ready and willing to learn. Are you?

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are...It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus... Therefore let him who boasts boast in the Lord." - 1 Corinthians 1:27-30

NEVER SATISFIED

"So they asked him, 'What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see and believe in you? What will you do?'" -John 6:30

These words came from the people of Israel less than 24 hours after Jesus fed five thousand people with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread and then walked on water. What more could they ask for? These people had seen and heard about all that Jesus was doing yet they were still unsatisfied and unwilling to believe or follow him. In alot of ways we're no different today.

We know all about Jesus, we've read about his miracles and have even seen the power of God radically change the life of somebody we know, yet we're still wanting more. We have questions about God and doubts about him that we use to excuse our unbelief or lack of following through with what God asks us to do. "If only I knew the answer to question X" we say, then I'll believe and give my life to him. If we want to be his disciple we must follow him like his disciples did.

The apostle Peter first met Jesus on a fishing trip. He and his buddies had been fishing all night with horrible luck when Jesus walks up and asks to go come on board. Peter agrees and upon meeting Jesus calls him Rabbi, or master, out of respect as was the custom when speaking to a Jewish teacher. As the men push out into the deep water, Jesus tells them where to cast their nets and orchestrates a record catch. Catching two boats of fish during daylight hours was unheard in those days since fish could easily see the bulky nets coming and avoid being caught, but not with Jesus. Peter and his buddies had witnessed not only a record catch but a miracle and they knew it. Luke 5:8 tells us that after all this happened, Peter fell to his knees in front of Jesus and said, "Get away from me LORD I am a sinful man." Notice that Peter no longer calls Jesus master, now he calls him Lord. Because of all that happened that day, Peter and his buddies "left everything and followed him" (Luke 5:11).

Peter didn't see much but he knew something special when he saw it. He wasn't the brightest of guys but he witnessed enough to know that no man could do what Jesus had done and that he had to be the Son of God. When will that reality fully set in with you and I? It seems to me that some of us have barricaded ourselves deep into a room full of doubts and what ifs for the sole purpose of keeping Jesus out. We lock all ten locks on the door and pile twenty pieces of furniture behind it. Each lock to us is a doubt and each piece of furniture an unanswered question about God.

How is refusing to follow Jesus until all doubts are settled and all questions answered any different than the Jewish people refusing to believe until they witnessed another miracles? How much more information does a person need? I say all this because I think doubts and questions are part of faith which the Bible says is required for any man to please God. If faith is part of life, that means we'll never have ALL the answers and there's no way around it. My fear is that some of us will spend our entire lives locked away and barricaded from the amazing truth and life of Jesus that lies just opposite the door we refuse to open.

In revelation 3:20 God says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Jesus is knocking, what will it take for you to open that door and consider the evidence that he's real? What will it take for you to invite him in?

Somehow we all have to make sense of this world. I find is hard to explain the complexity and wonder of creation without thinking that there's a God. I find it hard not to believe that the Bible is true given it's historical accuracy and numerous fulfilled prophecies that point to divine inspiration. I find it hard not to believe that Jesus really did live, die on a cross and rise from the dead given the large number of people that have voluntarily gone to their death for their belief. Some might say that people of many faiths die for what they believe, but not voluntarily. Suicide bombers and the like die because they believe their action proves their dedication and will ensure them a better place in heaven. Early Christians and even some believers today die because they have experienced the incredible power of God in their lives and they know he's real.

How will you make sense of the world? Jesus said in Luke 12:48 that, "To whom much is given, much will be expected." You and I have been given amazing resources like the internet and thousands of books that we can use to make sense of Jesus' claims and the possibility that he might be real while people of other countries do not have access to such things. Based on Jesus' words, I feel confident that when the time comes to stand before God's throne, both will be judged accordingly and much more will be expected of you and I. When will you unlock the door, examine the evidence for Jesus and do some investigating?

I hope that when you do you'll fall to your knees like Peter, overwhelmed by the greatness of our God. I hope He will be more than just a master to you, but your LORD instead, and one who is worth following even if it means leaving everything else behind.

STYLING AND PROFILING

"Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in Jesus. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God." - John 12:42-43

Every person on the face of the planet must at some point make a decision as to what they truly believe about Jesus. Was he just a good man, did he exist at all or was he really the Son of God who rose from the dead? I have written more in detail about this on an older post, click here to read why I think the later is true.

If we're all to be honest, I fear many of us or are like the religious leaders in John that ride the fence when it comes to Jesus. We know we badly need a savior and want to put our faith in him but we are so scared to do so for fear of what that would mean. We're afraid that choosing to believe and follow Him would change our life completely, putting our reputation and life of comfort at stake, so we decide against it. Instead we choose to spend our time worried about "styling and profiling" as Dr. Rick Rigsby likes to say, looking good for other people, buying stuff, getting recognized and showing off.

We are much like the rich young ruler in Luke 18 who asked Jesus what to do in order to receive eternal life. Jesus replied, "Sell everything you have and give to the poor....Then come, follow me." Jesus knew the young ruler and we as humans like to follow God with stings attached and that's exactly why he told him to let go before he could follow. He is telling you and I the very same thing today. Following Jesus doesn't mean we'll become poor but it does mean rearranging our priorities so that he always comes first. We give him control of our finances and give money away if that's what he asks. We give him our time and become willing to serve others and not just ourselves. When Jesus becomes of utmost importance to us, everything else from our reputation to finances is now of secondary importance and takes a back seat to God being glorified in and through our lives. Jesus' response saddened the rich young ruler and it is what keeps many of us from following God with all our heart, soul, mind, time, and energy. We hold out on Christ, giving him only the parts of us that are easy to give while holding onto the things we value most. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus reminds us what following him really means. "No man can serve two masters. He will always love one and hate the other." If we really believe in God's Son we are told to "follow Him" but before we do we need to give him free reign in our lives. Following God while holding onto the things of this world is the equivalent of bringing everything you own on a hiking trip through the woods. Our stuff and our possessions inevitably slow us down and hinder us from being able to follow our guide. Are you willing to lighten you pack so you can follow better?

Just like the leaders in John 12, our reason for holding out on God is usually the fear of what other people will think. "We are more concerned with the praise of men than the praise of God" and fear the opinions of people more than how we are viewed by the God of the universe. Now that's doesn't sound right. JR Vasser, a pastor in New York, uses the following list of questions from Ed Welch's book "When people are big and God is small" to help you and I identify whether we're living for the right reasons.

• Do you crave the compliments of others or ever say derogatory things about yourself so that people will correct you with a compliment?
• Do you spend you life managing your reputation?
• Are you overly concerned about your weight, the way you look or the way you dress?
• Do you feel unappreciated or that people don't notice all the things you do?
• To you make excuses for your mistakes, justify your actions or shift blame to avoid failure?
• Do you show favoritism to people who can do something for you or make you look good?
• Are you over committed because of an incessant need to feel that you matter?
• Do you get nervous about being or speaking in groups?
• Do you spend money trying and live the type of life you or others think you should?
• Do you compare yourself to others and feel good when you win and bad when you lose?
  

These things above all describe the fear of man and will hold a person in horrible, miserable bondage for as long as they'll allow it. The fear of man has no limit and viciously consumes until all the life and joy has been sucked out of a man. We must remember that God defines success, wealth and beauty much different than the rest of the world and all that matters is how we are viewed in his eyes.

In Matthew 10:33, Jesus reminds us that fearing man in the place of God has eternal repercussions. "But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." Choosing to follow Christ comes with a cost. It might change the way we live and will certainly change the way we are viewed by some by the reward is far greater. In choosing to fear Christ above man we are guaranteed an eternal inheritance beyond description and an abundant life while on earth full of the purpose and peace that can only come through serving God.

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his soul?" -Luke 9:23-25

Matt Chandler likes to say that Jesus has lots of admirers but few disciples. Will you continue to admire him from afar for fear of what it would mean to really follow or will you throw aside the opinions and values of this world in order to be his disciple?