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.

Live in STYLE!

On Mondays in my Chemistry class, I always give a verse of the week. Recently, after encouraging my students to live life with their eyes fixed on the Lord, one young lady asked this very thought provoking question. "How do you know if you're living that way Mr. Benac?" Many possible answers popped into my head, things like read the bible, or spend time with God, but none that I felt encompassed what it really meant to walk with God. I admitted my inability to answer and asked if I could dedicate the next week's thought of the day to her topic, she gracefully agreed.

During that week, my mind reeled with possibilities as I tried hard to identify the behaviors that a person walking with the Lord must have. To answer her question, I decided to don a pair of old plaid pants (similar to those in the picture above), and talk about living in STYLE. Here's the gist of what I said:

S-Studying the word. Jesus said in Mt 4:4 that "man does not eat on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." In the Bible we have the very word of God, protected and passed down through the ages. The growing believer knows that the word of God is the bread of life and it essential to spiritual survival in the same way that food is required for physical survival.

1 Peter 2:2 says that we need to crave spiritual food like a baby craves for milk and some of us need to posses a stronger desire for His word. Others of us need to graduate from the sippy cup to big boy food as mentioned in Hebrews 5:11-14. The Lord does not desire that you remain a spiritual infant for your lifetime, but wants you to grow into a bright light and messenger for Him.

I rarely, if ever, miss a meal during the day, but I have often gone days or weeks without sitting down to get any sustenance from God's word. No wonder our spiritual condition can feel dead or dry sometimes.
What kind of spiritual food have you been eating lately?

T-Telling your story. In Acts 26:15-18, the Lord tells Paul to "be a witness to the things I have and will show you." Paul tells the story of his conversion and the Lord's work in his life several times throughout the book of Acts and we should be no different. The Lord has given each of us a unique, wonderful story, one where new chapters are written everyday, and he wants us to share that story other people. We, like Paul, need to be a minister and witness to the Lord's work. Are you being a good steward of the story you've been given to tell?

Y-Yoked with believers. There is something to be said for finding strength in numbers and this is certainly true for the fellowship that exists among believers. Verses like Prov 27:17, "as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another," and Ecc 4:12, "a cord of three strands is not easily broken," remind us of the benefits that can be found in the company of others. A yoke is a heavy block of wood used by farmers to secure their oxen to the plow. It was heavy and cumbersome, a horrible task for an ox alone, and for this reason two were usually used. Life can be cumbersome as well and it sure helps to have friends beside to you help you along the way. I think this is while Paul wrote the following words in Galatians 6:2, "carry each others burdens, and in this way fulfill the law of Christ.

Not only does being yoked to believers provide support and company, but also an opportunity to be sharpened by the faith of others. Just as tough competition in sports results in an elevation of performance, a great deal can be learned when you surround yourself with more mature believers. Find believers that you admire for their walk and learn all that you can.

L-Listening to God. There is a big difference between listening and hearing. You and I can hear lots of noises and many voices but we can only listen to one. Mt 6:24 says "that a man cannot serve two masters." There is great truth is this statement, because, in order to listen one master's voice, a person must disregard the voice of the other. I think people today hear the voice of God more often than they think, the problem is that they are not listening. What is God calling you to lately?

E- Enjoying life. Being a believer in Christ is not about a checking off a to do list or doing everything right, it's about glorying the Lord while enjoying the freedom and abundant life that Jesus talks about in John 10:10. Jesus lived and died so that you and I could enjoy freedom from guilt and fear, find meaning in this life, and have a model to live by. King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, gives us the following recipe for enjoying life:

"When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad consider: God has made one as well as the other." (Ecc 7:14)

"I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad." (Ecc 8:15)

"Go eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with a joyful heart...Enjoy life with your wife whom you love...Whatever you hand finds to do, do it with all your might." (Ecc 9:7, 9, 10)

Don't get so caught up in all that you need to learn and do as a Christian that you forget to enjoy the journey of each day.

Well, the kids at school made fun of my pants but I hope they will remember what it means to live in style.

Need glasses?

A stigmatism is a eyesight condition where an individual's eye has a hard time focusing due to its abnormal shape. A stigmatic eye will focus on one point, then another, and then another, leaving that person with blurry vision and a horrible headache. You and I do the same with our spiritual eyes don't we? We shift our gaze to the Lord when we need him and them back to ourselves and our business when we don't. A Christian with this condition, who only gets glances of God from time to time, can't live the life of a God gazer (see previous day) without being fake. The constant pressure of trying to live like you love God without taking the time to gaze upon him, learn who he is, and what is is like, is difficult and would give anybody a headache. This is not how God wants us to live because we can't experience the fullness of a relationship with Him.

Check your vision. Are you suffering from a spiritual stigmatism that is robbing you from seeing God work in your life like you want? That can be fixed by putting on the glasses on remembrance. Hebrews 12:2 is a great verse reminding us of 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, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

In this week leading up to Easter, FIX your eyes on Him. What he did on the cross for you is absolutely amazing and greater that anything else in this world that you could ever gaze or think upon.

Heb 11:3

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

I love this verse in Romans 1:20 because it acknowledges that God is in fact invisible. Stop for a second to think about the rationality of the Christian faith. The fact that we as believers worship an invisible God who sends His invisible spirit inside of us, and that there is an invisible place called heaven and that these invisible beings called angels that protect us until we get there, is nothing short of insane! It's no wonder explaining your faith to a friend can be so difficult and strange at times.

Although God's physical presence will likely remain invisible until His return, His fingerprints and the evidence for existence surrounds us daily. If you look up into the heavens, God is there. Psalm 19:1-2 says the heavens proclaim the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands, day after day they pour forth speech." If you have even listened to the pounding of waves on the sand, you have heard God's power. If you have even walked though a forest of towering trees, you have seen his glory. Since the beginning of time, God's creation has been screaming out to you and I, "There is a God, there is a God, there is a God," and yet some people continue to deny that He exists.

Regardless of the advancements in science that will be made in years to come, there will always be things that our finite human understanding will unable to explain. The must fundamental question for the believer in regards to creation is not the age of the earth or the intricacies of how it was created, but the identity of the creator. Hebrews 11:3 reads, "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command." Don't wait until you understand all of creation to put your faith and trust in God or you never will. Simply look around you his fingerprints, his eternal power and divine nature, and you will find that a supreme being, not a man, set the world in motion. Even though you don't know how it all works, put your faith in Him, you full faith, and give the creator the worship He deserves