The Big With

God with us. That’s what Jesus is. The baby in the horse trough. 

Beyond the absolute revelation (in so many ways) that God became like one us is the promise that He would with WITH us.

It never really hit me as much as it did last week when I was preaching the good news once again. God is with us. He promised He would be and our confidence in the future should be based on that promise. But I hadn’t quite seen the promise quite like the way that the Holy Spirit revealed it to me last Sunday. I didn’t see it this way before. I know Satan doesn’t want me see it this way. Who else would teach me such a lesson, but the Holy Spirit. Not a new message. Just helping me to understand the message He had already given to all us in His word.

Yes, God came to be with us in a shared humanity. He came to set up residence, not next door, but in our very homes. He came to take up residence in our very bodies through that precious gift He gives to each of His people, His precious Holy Spirit.

But He didn’t just promise to BE with us, He promised to GO with us. “… go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, … And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”” Matthew 28:19, 20.

He would send us into this broken, decaying and unredeemed world and He promised to go WITH us. Then He did just that. To a broken apostle, caught up in fear at the prospect of once again proclaiming Christ in that cesspool of a city, Corinth, God would say this. “… “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no-one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”” Acts 18:9, 10. God didn’t just send Paul. Jesus didn’t just commission and stay back behind the front lines. No He goes WITH us.

And when we are working though a terrible day … when the pain of life is just too much. … you have those days, don’t you? When the only thing you can do is cry and pray and then cry some more. When the question starts to rise up from your grief stricken soul. What is God doing?

Then, it dawned on me. Maybe, everyone else knew this and I had just not put it together. When I am grieving, when I am hurting so bad, when it feels like I’m at the bottom of bottomless pit of despair, what is God doing? He is WITH me. He is with me in my pain but what is He doing. He is crying. He is hurting for me. The almighty, holy and perfect God is bent over crying WITH me.

That’s why He told me to “… mourn with those who mourn.” Romans 12:15. Because that is what He does. “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. … Jesus wept.” John 11:33-35.

Real parents do that, don’t they? When your child is so upset, does it upset you? Real marrieds do the same. When your wife cries does it rip you apart? It is the same with God. When He sees His children in pain it tears Him up. He feels it because He is WITH us.

One thing I love about preaching Jesus is that right in the middle of a message that I am preaching, God can be teaching me a lesson. He did that last Sunday. And what did I do? I did what every preacher does. I preached it.

Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. Do not be silent. God has many people in this city. " I am with you"

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Here We Come Sydney

God's plans. Our plans. So often the two do not match up. Our return to Sydney has been a constant series of adjustments to God's will. As I read the New Testament this process has always been a significant part of the kingdom of God.

We anticipate being back in Sydney February 2nd, Lord willing. The Glendale Church has committed to partially support us for 18 moths. As yet we have only secured 50% of our funding but we are pressing on in the sure hope that God will provide in HIS way and in HIS time.

We are busily making preparations, packing up the stuff to ship, selling of the rest of our stuff. It is a challenging to leave a country but we feel that we are getting on top of it. Leaving the Glendale Church family is such a difficult thing emotionally. This past two years with them has been such a rich and fulfilling journey. I truly love them and they constantly remind me of their love for me. I am so glad that Bryan Schackmann is taking over from me in the pulpit. God has prepared this young man in a very special way. I have a lot of confidence in Him and his willing to let God work in his ministry and life.

Despite all the adjustments etc. associated with this move, I have this deep seated confidence that God is going to work through us to bring about a great result for the kingdom in Sydney.

We are so looking forward to being back close to our family once again. We are very excited at what we think the Lord will do with us at the Northside Church. We will be happy to be back in our home land. No more worries about visas and work permits. I do leave my beloved Lakers behind but somehow I feel that they will make it back to back championships in 2010. Will still get to watch their exploits on TV.

If you are willing please say a little pray for us. For more information on what the Lord is calling us to please go to http://www.northsidejesus.org or go to the project:northside Facebook page.

My friend, James, had us listen to the Gaither Vocal Band's version of the old favorite, O, Love That Will Not Let Me Go. The words of that song really reflect the way I feel. I know God loves me because of what Jesus did for me. Now, I know and love Jesus and that love that God has for me will not let me go. Praise God that it won't.

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. You don’t hear it as much as you used to but, Merry Christmas.

Our culture’s increasing aversion to anything Christian is something I don’t like but it is there and we need to deal with it.

Some Christians have responded with outrage, petitions and protests at the increasing removal of Christ from Christmas but can I suggest that I think that they are missing a couple of key points.

This is a symptom of people moving away from Jesus and that is the real problem. Christmas as a celebration is a total cultural choice. It is not a biblical imperative. The reason the season is becoming secular is that so many of our friends, co-workers, neighbors, family are moving away from God and becoming secular. That’s the key issue. You can get to heaven without Christmas but you can’t without Jesus (John 14:6). So let’s get upset about the real issue. Not your sense of loss of the Christmas of old that you grew up with but the real loss of some many to the godless and powerless philosophies of the age.

Every one us have been sick. We know we are sick because of symptoms (fever, runny nose and various other gross things our bodies do). We also know that, if we just treat the symptom like a fever and don’t treat the cause of the fever, we are never going to heal. Trying to restore Christmas is a bit like that. Where should our energies be focused? On restoring Christmas or restoring Christ? That brings me to the second key point.

As Christians, we have been charged with the proclamation of the good news of Jesus. We can read all the verses (1 Cor. 2:2, 15:1-5, Romans 1:16 etc.) but we also have to apply them to our lives. We have an obligation before God to call everyone back to Jesus as their savior. We have the charge from God to call his wayward children but to Him. This is the labor of love we are called to. This is the only real thing that will truly remedy the ills of people caught up in this world. You see, even if we can get everyone back to saying, “Merry Christmas”, if they aren’t giving their lives to Jesus then their place before God is still just as bad as before.

God puts it this ways, “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Romans 10:9, 10, NIV. What we say is important but only if it comes from the heart.

This world will probably keep taking away reverence and honor of Jesus but we shouldn’t be surprised. We can be upset and feel slighted but let’s not be surprised when the ungodly do ungodly things. That’s only natural (terrible but natural). But once we have taken our egos out of the mix, we have got to face up to the fact that our friends, family, neighbors and fellow countrymen are not going to be saved by Christmas. Only Jesus can save them.

This Christmas proclaim Christ. Proclaim Him in your conversations. Proclaim Him with your life as you love the helpless, hopeless and unlovely. Proclaim Him as you give. There is so much power in generosity. Give Jesus the glory and keep on being His redeemed child. Keep on loving God and loving people.

Every time the people of God do this amazing things happen. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20, 21, NIV.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZw4fEFuTVA

5 Minutes with George - Episode 3

Are you crazy?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbftTKGzprU

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5 Minutes with George - Episode 2

or click on this link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yau62_D3sGE

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Video Ministry

I must admit I am not a fan of TV as an effective medium for the story of Jesus. That's just my opinion because it doesn't really speak to me. I know it does speak to many. Not that it has really been issue with my ministry because no one has ever wanted me to do TV work. As the old wise crack goes, I have a good face for radio. HD and closeups are just too honest. Check out this week's 30 Rock episode for some fun about HD

Anyhow I say all that to say that I am going to have a go at video ministry via the internet. My reasons.

1. I can. For an investment of one hour a week i can share Jesus with a lot of people. Almost no dollar cost. 
2. Many people watch internet video. I want to minister to them if I can. 
3. It may actually help someone on their journey which for a lot of people today is a digital journey. Do you know that Facebook now has 350 million users. That's bigger than most countries, even the big ones. 
4. I think I have a message from Jesus that actually helps people in finding God. 

My parameters

1. Get out of "preaching" mode. That's tough for an old preacher. 
2. Keep message to around five minutes. You talk about tough!
3. Speak to real people in real situations with the real Jesus
4. Don't get overly caught in production values. This obviously isn't a professional production, so why try to make it look like it. 
5. Do it for 2 months and see how it goes. 

Well, here's the first attempt. Don't worry. It will get better.

http://georgelittlejourney.blogspot.com/

Church = What?

Church is not what most people think it is. Given that church is one of the key representative words for faith in Christ, this is a disaster. No wonder so many outside the family of God misunderstand what being in the family is about.

In modern English the word church refers to a building devoted to Christian worship. That is the primary meaning in dictionaries and in common usage. As such it is a terrible translation of the word that Jesus and Paul used. Just over 110 times in most New Testaments you will find the word church. Not one of those times is it referring to a building.

The original language of the New Testament was Koine Greek. The word translated church is ekklesia. It was a common word in the first century and had no religious significance. There were Greek words that did describe religious groups (agora, panegyris, synagoge etc.) Warning: Word studies can be a little dry (euphemism for boring) but hang in there, there is an incredible truth here that you and I need to be aware of.

So, the Holy Spirit took a secular word, ekklesia, and used it to refer to groups of Christians. It’s meaning had its origins in the combination of ek which means out of and kaleo  which means to call. It referred to any group of people called out for a special purpose. It was also commonly used of a group of people (usual mature) who served as a caring influence on a community.

This is the word the Holy Spirit chose to use when He spoke of God’s people.

And what have we done with it? We translated it into a word that mainly refers to “holy” buildings or to massive Christian bureaucracies (OK I know “we” didn’t do it, but you know what I mean). No wonder there is so much confusion about God’s people.

Because of this I have decided to stop using the word, church, when referring to God’s people. Instead I will use body, family, ekklesia. Anything but church.

The Christians we read about in Acts were not an institution, nor a location. They were the people of God. They were disciples of Jesus. They were the ones who God had called out of the world. Called out for a purpose. A special purpose. God’s purpose.

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you should proclaim the praises of Him, who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God”.  I Peter 2:9.

As you can see there is a lot more to being Christ’s ekklesia than being a called out people. However the ekklesia is a group of people. A group Jesus promised to build. A group that He bought with His own blood. A group who are described as HIS body and HIS bride.

This not just a semantic point, a mere detail concerning word meaning. Next time you read all those verses which have the word church in them, substitute it with family of God, or body of Christ, or ekklesia or called out by God people. You will be shocked at how it changes what you hear from those verses.

Think about it for a bit. When has an army been mistaken for a barracks? When has the congress been mistaken for the building it meets in? Hardly ever. When has God's people been mistaken for a building? All the time. No wonder so many are confused before we even begin talking to them about Jesus. 

But, what can we do? Actually it is something we should stop doing. Stop assuming people know what you mean when you use the word church. Tell them about the wonder that is God's family with the risen Jesus at its center. 

http://georgelittlejourney.blogspot.com/

Sydney Bound

While my wife, Julie, is in Sydney with out family and I am in LA with my cat and my church family I find my heart wondering to Sydney.

We will be returning there in April 2010. I do not like traveling. It has just lost its appeal. I really enjoy living in Burbank and I love the church I am working with. But after considering all of what God is saying to me in my circumstances I can hear even more clearly now His voice and in it His desire for Julie and I to return to Sydney.

The next three months will be extremely difficult. Organizing the move. Raising funds for the new work that we will be partnering with in Sydney. Saying good bye to people I love dearly. It is a challenging transition.

I pray the Lord gives me wisdom and strength to navigate this difficult path. I know He will.

While my heart is full of anticipation for the Glendale Church and their renewal my heart is also full of anticipation for the new work in Sydney. My heart's desire is that God will help me fulfill the dream I have of leading an effective ministry in my home country. I can't help but think that He has been preparing me for this very thing in the last 33 years. God's kingdom is the greatest ever and it needs to get the glory deserving of it's king. God has many people in the city of Sydney. I pray He uses me (and that I let Him) to reach those precious ones with Jesus.

Looking forward to seeing what God will do.

http://georgelittlejourney.blogspot.com/

Why the names?

At my connect group last night we looked at the many instances in the New Testament that people's names are mentioned. They aren't the main characters in the letters. They aren't teachers, preachers, missionaries, pastors or protagonists. Just names. Most are only mentioned once, with very little (if any) background on their life. Romans 16. Philippians 4.

The question I asked was, "Why did God bother to have these names as a part of His Word to the world of the love He has for that world. Someone suggested jokingly that it was to give us a list of names we could give our children and claim them to be "Christian" until we noticed that very few of them are used even by the most devoted parents.

Why did God take up precious space in scripture for names when these people didn't appear to be significant? Maybe that's the answer. In our worldliness we may be looking at these lists with the values of our world and not the values of God. We started to think about whether the fact that God did include these names was to tell us that those individuals, along with everyone else God has created, are significant to Him.

We get caught up with idea that we are just one among millions. Faceless people in a crowd with no great story or significance. God whispers to us that He knows our name. He even knows the number of hairs on our head. God uses my name. Wow. God speaks to His angels and one day (maybe many days) He uses my name. Scientists would speak of DNA as the source of our uniqueness. God simply looks at us and calls our name. Wow. No double helix. He uses my name as a shepherd calls to the sheep he knows individually. I hear His voice and it sounds familiar. I know that voice. Tell me, why is He using my name?

Have you every Googled your name? Okay, you don't have to confess it but I know you did. Did absolutely no reference to you show up. There were lots of people with your name but they weren't you. Was that a little disappointing?

Well, know this. If you were able to search the conversations of God, you would find many references to you. Not someone with the same name as you, but you. God knows your name. He's keeping a follicle count. He uses your name. He speaks about you.

God gets personal with us when He uses our name. He wants to get personal with us. We often speak of us having a personal relationship with God and we focus on our side of the relationship. We speak of our need (and rightly so) to reach out to God personally. Not religiously, institutionally or mechanically. But, personally. But we also need to focus on the fact that God almighty, the Lord God, the creator of all, wants to relate to us on a personal level. He doesn't just want you to join a church or do good. He wants you to relate to Him personally as your Father.

Father is not just God's title to be used only at the beginning of prayers. It is who He really is and it is how He wants you and I to relate to Him. Father. Abba, Father.

How do we know that? Because our Father sent us Son to live among us, not as a tourist, but as one of us. To live as a servant. And to die for us. Words don't seem to convey the significance of that. Is there anyone for whom you would send a child of yours to a foreign land in the full knowledge that they would die for that person. And no glorious death but a shameful, disgraceful death. Is there anyone? My answer is no. There are some people in my life I would die for but there is no one I would ask my sons to die for. Yet, that is what exactly God did. He has that much interest in you. He has that much love. Crazy love.

And all this from a list of names. Yes. Isn't God amazing? He reveals so much to us about Himself in such an unsuspecting way. How much more is there in His word that I have been missing? I expect a lot. Now, this is going to be interesting.

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Incomprehensible, Crazy

When we love ….

We picked the cutest, healthiest puppy

We pick the good looking person

We pick the talented one

We pick the perfect

We pick the comfortable least painful path. We often pass by.

We avoid the tainted, the imperfect, and the ordinary

We pass on the unhealthy and the flawed

When God loves ….

He invites “… the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,” (Luke 14:13) to His party

He hangs out with the embezzlers, prostitutes, and blowhards (Matthew 9:11, 16:21-23, 21:31) and tells us to do the same (1 Corinthians 5:9-10)

He deliberately allows Himself to be hurt (Romans 5:8-9)

He fills His church with “the sexually immoral … idolaters … adulterers … male prostitutes … homosexual offenders” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

Crazy love. Yes, crazy love. Love that surpasses knowledge. Love that you and I need to have and do. 

Amazing love. Sing it church. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dooif2-yAoI

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What Language Do You Speak In?

I don’t know why, but as I was speaking to him, it occurred to me that we were not speaking the same language. So as not to appear to obvious, I waited until another time to ask him the question that I wanted to ask immediately.

“Karl, what language do you think in?”, I said to him as offhandedly as I could. Without missing a beat he said, “Austrian.”  Karl had lived in Australia for 20 years but had been born in Austria (two very different countries who are geographically or unobservant of precise spelling). He wasn’t that old but, when he thought about something, his mind would be processing his thoughts in Austrian, not English, the language he had been speaking every day of his life for the last 20 years.

It made me think of Jesus oft repeated challenge, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:9, 23, 14:35, Matthew 11:15). Isn’t Jesus saying that for effective communication to occur the hearer must be listening in the same language of the speaker? We know that the Lord is not speaking of human languages as they were both speaking and hearing in the same language. He is speaking of understanding the message you hear.

This is the same truth that applies when we try to communicate in English to someone of a different generation. The King James Bible is an extreme example of this. It is written in English, but it is often very difficult to understand. For example, in 1611 when it was published the word, “let”, meant to stop. Now it means to allow. Its present meaning is almost an exact opposite of its original meaning. Do you think that might change the message of a few verses? Oh yes. So what is the solution? I think the easiest one is to use a translation that uses 20^th or 21^st century English. Most of us do that.

This really highlights a very important principle in our efforts to communicate the good news of Jesus to a lost and dying world. We must try as hard as we can to speak in the language of the people. Now, don’t get me wrong. No one has the right to change the content of the message, not even an angel (Galatians 1:8-9). That’s not what I am saying. I am saying that we must use our best efforts to speak the unchangeable gospel in the changeable languages of the day.

Paul specifically mentions this in 1 Corinthians 9:22 “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” Becoming all things to all men involves speaking to them in their language, their style, and their images.

You see, different people and generations listen in different ways. I think we generalize too much about the generations, but I do think that there are fundamental differences in the communication that occurs today as compared to the 1950’s. I won’t go into all the differences but they are huge. OK, I will go into one difference. Today most people, especially those born since the early 1960s get a lot of their information visually (TV, movies, video, internet, etc). So, because of that I use references to movies and occasionally movie clips to connect with the audience. However if you are one who doesn’t communicate this way much, then you will get little from a lesson like this. However when I preach with extensive quotations of scripture and with lists of points you might hear the message clearly. The problem is that there are many who don’t hear the message clearly when I use that style.

This is important. When we are trying to communicate we must not only pay attention to the language and style we are speaking in, we must pay attention to the language and style that the people are listening in. You see, I can’t change the language they listen in, but I can change the language I speak in.

The gospel has been given to us and we have welcomed it into our hearts, minds and lives. God has blessed us with the task of taking this gracious gospel into all the world. We are not called to do this haphazardly or without care. We care enough to make sure that the hearers have the best chance we can give them to connect with the message. What does that mean?

It may mean …….

1.    Feeding some physical food before getting the opportunity to feed them the Word. Didn’t Jesus do that? See Matthew 15:29-39

2.    Holding someone’s hand through a crisis and in that love get the opportunity to truly be heard.

3.    Submitting to someone long before we get the opportunity to speak the word. Isn’t that what Peter asked wives to do? See 1 Peter 3:1-2

4.    Learning a new language so they hear the gospel in their native tongue.

5.    Speaking to their felt needs before speaking to their eternal needs.

6.    Listening to my child’s terrible music so as to find a point of connection with him.

Why go to all this trouble? Because many will not hear the story of Jesus without it. What are you willing to become to get the message of Jesus to the people in your life and your community?

http://georgelittlejourney.blogspot.com/

Messed Up

We spend so much time trying to give the impression that we have got our act together, in control and on top of things. The reality is that, even on our best days, we are pretty messed up. No, we are not a pool of blubbering tears, but we are still a mess.

Every day we make bad judgment calls. We sin. We fall over. We forget what is important. We zig when we should have zagged. We look down when we should have looked up.

We do lots of good things. We often get things right but we are like the best baseball player who is doing pretty good if he bats 300. That's getting a hit 3 times out of every 10 times at bat. And they give millions of dollars if you can do that.

Now this disparaging picture of ourselves is no cause for beating ourselves up. As disciples of Jesus we have had the messed up life of ours made holy. Not just right but holy. God's grace towards us is abundant. If we continue to follow Him in faith He continues to fellowship with us. Reminds of the song Broken Things

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so_VRTb-HWQ

Being messed up has implications for our relationships with others as well as with God. We are all broken people but that doesn't mean that we can avoid the consequences of our bad decisions.

I am so glad that God still uses messed up people in His kingdom. Otherwise I would be of very little use in the kingdom. I realistically think that I am not that useful to God but I am so grateful that He still wants to use me.

There is a song that says it well

O, Lord, who uses broken things;
Who through broken clouds gives us sweet, sweet rain;
Who gives us bread from broken grain;
O, Lord, make me stronger through broken things


Don't know who wrote it but they got it right. 


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project:northside Website Launch

After a lot of preliminary planning and prayer I uploaded the website promoting my future work in Sydney Australia next year. Here it is.
project:northside website!

Hey, Someone's Burning My Bible

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FkbgeR8LKs
Just when you thought it was safe to go to church. I wish I was surprised by this video. Some believers are just plain uninformed and boy does the media love to give them a platform. It's crazy Christian story time again.

How's Your Day

Days come and days go. “How’s your day?” so many ask. We very rarely say anything other than it is fine, even when it isn’t. That makes our days sound so ordinary doesn’t it? Yet life is made up of these days and life in Christ is far from ordinary. However, many say, “Seems pretty ordinary to me.” Sometimes it might seem that way but the reality is very different.

Each day we live as disciples of Jesus is packed full of potential. How? Firstly, by what God brings to each day.

Consider the woman at the well (John 4). As I was teaching about her recently I couldn’t help but feel that she experienced a pretty special day that day at the well. But how did it begin?

I expect it was a day like any other for her. She woke up, cared of her household and then started on her daily journey to the well to fetch water. No hot and cold running water in Sychar. (In fact, no water at all.) She had to, along with everyone else I the village, walk some distance to the well and carry the water back in a big jar. Sounds like a difficult job as well as a tedious one. Every day, walking to the well, and carrying back that heavy load.

But this was no ordinary day. Today she would meet the messiah who she and her people, the Samaritans, had been looking for for many centuries. She would not only meet him. He would change her whole life. Yet the day began as hundreds had before. She had no warning that today would be the pivotal day in her life. It would be the most important trip she had taken to the well.

What’s the point? Simply this; every one of us will have days like this in our lives. They will be special days to which God will bring something extraordinary. Most of our days He will rely upon our obedience to his word and our responding to the leading of the Spirit to set the agenda, but on some days He will do some things that have the potential to change us completely.

What are your special days? For me it was the day a preacher knocked on my family’s door in 1974 and set a Bible study up with my mother. My whole spiritual journey can be traced to that day. It was the day I first saw Julie. From that day on my life would be incredibly blessed because of her. It was the day each of our sons were born. It was the day I first preached at Glendale. It was the day I first heard Jim McGuiggan preach. There have been so many special days.

For some of these special days we have some warning but for most of them we don’t. God springs them on us, usually when we least expect it. Today could be one of those days. So could tomorrow. Consider it. Today could be the day in which, while you are taking care of the mundane (yet important) things of life, God will bring someone into your day who will change your whole life or at least change your year.

This is why the ancient songwriter sang, "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24). No matter what day the Lord gives you, rejoice in it. It may be a day of waiting. It may be a day of work. It may be a non-descript day. It may be a day of fulfillment. It may be a day at the well. Expect it. It is coming every twenty-four hours and it is loaded with potential because of what God can bring to it.

What can He bring to it? Amazing things. Challenging things. Glorious things. Tragic things. Life-changing things. This isn’t just a matter of a positive mental attitude. It is a matter of God’s intentional planning for you and me. "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us," Ephesians 3:20.

What has God got planned for you? According to his clear word here in Ephesians, it is more than we can imagine with all the positive mental attitude in the world.

And when is He going to do this? He doesn’t say. He does say He is going to do it, but the timing is His. It could be today.

As you go through your day, today, doing all the things that you should do and need to do, keep an eye out. Keep an eye out for that man at the well, that knock at the door, that email, that sermon, that phone call from a friend, that birth, that death. This could be your day at the well and you wouldn’t want to miss it would you? Imagine if the woman at the well had ignored Jesus’ question. Imagine what would if she had followed the custom of the day and chosen to be offended by this uncouth single man.

Our days are full of potential because of what we bring to them as well but that’s for another article. Remember the Psalmist proclamation and make it your own. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

http://georgelittlejourney.blogspot.com/

Australia on My Mind

Last Sunday the elders of the Glendale Church, where I labor for the Lord, and I announced my intention to return to Australia in April of 2010. Family issues have precipitated our return. We have been talking and praying about this for 4 months now and have kept it confidential but now it is out there and I can speak publicly about it.

After 7 years, and almost 8 by the time Julie and I head back to Sydney, living in Southern California, I am meditating on our lives in Christ. Julie and I have been on a wild ride since our first years of ministry at the Eastside Church in Sydney in 1979 which was also our first year of marriage. My main thought is that I am so glad that the ride through God's kingdom continues with all the unexpectedness that has characterized our journey so far. The years advance but God continues to use this wreck of a life of mine to His ends in the kingdom.

I am so excited about the Glendale Church. God has lead them into a closer walk with Him in these past few years. They have strengthened in faith and are maturing in Christ. They have allowed God to work in their lives and wow, how He has worked. They now understand that Jesus is the center of the kingdom, not the church. They now believe that our message to the world is Jesus Christ, not ourselves. They now see their primary spiritual relationship as being with Jesus not with a church schedule. They have grown in their appreciation of God's grace and see their lives as motivated by that grace (rather than an effort to secure that grace). I love this church. I really do not want to leave but I will. Lots of mixed feelings here. Better bite my lip before I say something stupid.

I am also excited for our future. God will keep us connected with Glendale but He is opening up doors to a new enterprise in His kingdom. More on that at another time.

Lord keep us close to your heart and to your will.

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Right and Wrong and Right

Some Christians have given the impression that their main job is to be the arbiters of morality. They rant (and then rant some more) about how immoral the world is. Preachers seem to have the idea that their main job is to point out the moral shortcomings of people (especially those who are not Christian).

And as though that wasn't bad enough some of these moralists bemoan the loss of morals as a sign of what a terrible world we live in and they we are all "going to hell in a hand basket".

God certainly has revealed that there are things we should not do. True morality is centered in His will. The central focus of the message Jesus gave us to proclaim is that there is an escape from our immorality and sin. It's called grace. It's not cheap. It cost a lot not. Not for you but for God.

Yes, we must oppose any attempt to justify sin or to make any sin a righteous thing. In fact I am preaching on that this Sunday. But to do so without talking of the lavish grace God wants to extend to all sinners is just as wrong as the sin that is condemned.

It's like a doctor diagnosing you with a life threatening illness and NOT telling you of the cure that is readily available. That is wrong.

Some of us Christians have got to get off our moral high horses and get about the task Jesus has given us; telling everyone that God loves them, is desperate to forgive them and wants to adopt them into His family. Yes, God is our judge, but He also is our justifier (Romans 3:26). Let's warn people of judgment but let's also reveal to them the cure

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Branding Your Church

I hate some things. Here are some of my thoughts (aka: rant) about one of my pet peeves.

For ages people have had their say. It’s okay to get their name wrong but it is NOT okay to call them late for dinner.

Shakespeare expressed doubt that getting a name right has any great consequence in his “a rose by any other name would smell the same” quote.

However we have grown up in a culture where it is vitally important to call things by their right names. Let me challenge you with this idea, actually, question. In the kingdom of God, which is more important, right name or right practice?

Your first thought is probably the same as mine. Let’s do both. But, lets think a little outside of our usual idealism. If you had to choose, and believe me we often do, which would you choose? Calling things by their right name. Or doing the right things.

Here are some observations of mine. Yes, just George’s opinion. I have seen some argue strongly for the use of the term deacon but are unconcerned when a deacon is not actually serving anybody. Evangelists who are correctly titled but who do not preach good news. Shepherds who we insist must be called a certain title and who haven’t visited the sheep in years.

You see, we do choose. Too often we choose right name over right practice. Is it because we are superficial? Maybe. I know I often am. Is it because it is easier to get the name right than getting the practice right? Maybe.

I have heard strong worded arguments for calling the church by the “right” name. And that name, they argue, is the Church of Christ. Some argue for a small “c” on church but they all come from the same point of view i.e. that we must make it a priority to call the church by its right name. They claim biblical authority for this. Yet, the do not apply that same level of intensity to the church living out its purpose.

Yet, the Bible I read (I’m sure it is the same one I read) never uses the phrase, Church of Christ. It actually uses others when referring to a church, but I digress. My point is this; we put so much energy into calling the church by the “right” name and we put very little energy on actually being the church that Christ is building.

I would rather have a church that calls itself the Glendale Church (for which there is clear biblical authority) and actually practices what the Bible says members of the church should be doing rather than one who has the “right” name and acts like a bunch of unbelievers.

We have let our culture change us too much. We, too often, have become just as superficial as our society in trying to make everything look good in name and have ignored the more important things. Didn’t Jesus say something about this? ““Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” Matthew 23:23, NIV.

Get the practice right and get the name right but if you have to choose, get the practice right. Let’s BE the church that Christ is building.

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Geeks

I was not born into geekdom. My mother and father never even saw a computer. I didn't use one in high school. I was too much of a sports jock. Not that there was anything around except very early Commodores (computers not a singing group). I went through Bible College without a computer. I had my trusty Smith Corona typewriter that had an "L" that wouldn't work (Hey, it was electric and used carbon ribbon!!!). It was not until around 1993 that I first touched a personal computer and its was an IBM compatible, twin floppy XT with 640K of RAM and a 20 MB hard drive (added a year later). Monitor was one color. I chose yellow. Could have had green but had to choose something. Isn't she a beauty. Cost me $1500 and now my watch has more grunt than it did.

Little did I know that this future doorstop was to evolve into a device that has become the center of my communication universe. And little did I know that I would evolve into what appears to be a geek. Seriously underneath this soft (some would say flabby) pear shaped exterior beats the heart of a sports jock.

Little did I know that it would be an incredibly effective tool in the ministry God has called me into. (Leave my prepositions alone. I like to leave them dangling)  It helps me study, prepare lessons, write articles, publish publications, create graphics, and communicate with my church, my family, my friends all of the world. Lucky it can't preach, otherwise I would be out of job.

All this from a device that was invented in 1981. The time framing on this incredible paradigm shift in how we receive and process information is amazing.

So, I now email my friends, Facebook my acquaintances, and blog for anyone unfortunate enough to stumble across my blog. I do it on my Macbook Pro and on my Blackberry. Yes, I may not have started out as a geek but I am now full blown, card carrying, and fully paid up member of geekdom. Hey, at least I'm not in the hall of fame like some of you.

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Alone and Babies

One of my son's just recently got engaged. Besides be so happy for him and his bride to be, it made me think about a couple of things.

I don't know about this, but it seems to me that people do better in the context of a close personal relationship with at least one other person of the opposite gender than on their own. God's stated motivation for creating Eve for Adam was what? “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”” Genesis 2:18, NIV.


To put it in the language of my sons, being alone sucks. God has designed us to live life with someone. Marriage isn't just a baby making enterprise. It is relationship in which we function at our best. God is revealed to us a Father, a Son and a Holy Spirit who live together. We are like Him in that we function at our best, and have the potential to live life to its fullest, when we share that life with someone else. For every Adam there is an Eve.

However, many of us find ourselves alone. It may be divorce, death or just the progression of life whereby our children leave home. The result is the same. We often feel alone. And we do not do well with that feeling. It is often so hard to find another partner after losing one.

When the dust settles we always seek companionship, partnership, relationship and any other ship that takes us away from "alone". As a man, I do not practice what I preach (or at least blog) here. I, like countless other males of the species, head for my cave and think that the solitude actually helps me. For a while it might, but overall it just a childish and self centered way of avoiding whatever life is throwing at me. A little too judgmental? Maybe, but it rings true in my life.

In all of us God has planted within us the innate desire to not be alone but share our lives. We just get distracted or discouraged some times.

On a similar but totally different tack, why are we so fascinated by babies? Think I will leave that to another time. The USC game is about to start

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But Rabbi…

Why do we followers of Christ always try to correct Him? Is that we have become a little to familiar with Him and forget who we are dealing with? I don’t know for sure but I do know that it is not a new phenomenon.

But Rabbi……

The disciples of Jesus did it as they walked the roads of Israel with Him. Jesus, on one occasion, told them that it was time to return to Judea. Their response is not, “Yes, Lord. We will go wherever you want us to go.” No, they say, “But Rabbi, a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?” (John 11:8). Do they really know who they are talking to? It doesn’t appear so. Don’t they know that this is Jesus and He knows what is going on and that they need to trust Him? Maybe. But they don’t know it enough to stop questioning His judgment.

But Lord ……

Martha loves Jesus. Jesus loves Martha. They are close friends and Martha is a dedicated disciple of Jesus. She shows the proper respect for her friend and calls Him, Lord. Yet, when Jesus asks for the stone covering Lazarus’ tomb to be rolled away she says, “… “But, Lord, … by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”” (John 11:39). Despite her love for Jesus, her faith in Jesus and her intense desire for her brother, Lazarus, to be returned to her, her first thought when Jesus begins the process of taking care of Lazarus is to question His judgment. She is really saying, “I know that you are Lord and Christ and the Son of God, but have you really considered how bad the smell is going to be?” Seriously, Martha, you are going to question Jesus about the smell?

Jesus is patient with His disciples and with Martha and once again provides them good reason for them to get rid of phrases like, “but Rabbi” and “but Lord” out of their vocabulary. He fleshes out their understanding of what it means when you call Jesus Rabbi and Lord.

Are you and I a little like Martha? Are we questioning God? Are we second-guessing Him? We have got to learn a little more about trusting God. We have got to trust God with our family, our finances, and our work situations. We have go to turn it all over to Him. No more, “But, Lord blah blah blah..” If your prayer begins with, “But Lord”, then swallow it and start again.

How serious is this?

Jesus talks to His disciples and tells them, in detail, that he is going to be killed and be raised from the dead. He says to them that this MUST happen. Peter immediately reacts and not in a good way. “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:21-22).

Wait a minute. I’m not too far along this journey with Jesus as a disciple of His, I know that there are two words that should never go together and they are, “Never, Lord.”

This time Jesus will not hold back. It is time for some tough love. Peter has got to learn what it really means to be a disciple. “Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”” (Matthew 16:23). Jesus is tough on Peter but He knows that He can take it.

This is a vital lesson for Peter and for you and for me. If you acknowledge Jesus as Lord, then do what He tells you to do (Matthew 7:21-23). Stop talking back to God. Stop questioning Him and start trusting Him. Stop thinking that you know what is going on. Get in the habit of saying, “Yes Lord”.

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What Makes the Church Grow?

God wants His church to grow. He didn’t create it as a static group of people that only consisted of a select and predetermined number of people. Isaiah 2:2,3

God created the church. It wasn’t Paul, Constantine or some conspiratorial faceless group. God, right out in the open, brought the church into existence through his own power in Christ. Matthew 16:18, Acts 20:28

God put the church into the middle of this corrupt world. He didn’t cut it off from the world. He put the church, His holy bride, right in the middle of this unholy mess called the world. Ephesians 5:25-27

God planned that His church would grow through the rescuing of people from this lost world. The future Christians will be the sinners who presently resent, oppose or ignore Him and us. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

But what makes the church grow? Experts (I am always a little bit suspicious of people who speak as experts in the kingdom. Is that just me?) tell us there are many factors. They list them. Researchers conduct surveys and write books and explain to us why the church grows when it does grow. These are helpful but they are not the authority on this question. God is.

Here is what He says.

“ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:16). The church grows as it functions together in a healthy way (love) just like our bodies. “As each part of (the church) does its work”. Hmmm. Each part.

It is up to each part to do its God ordained job (1 Corinthians 12:18). Some have strayed from this principle. They talk of some parts being more important and how that we need to hire the right people and that will make the church grow. No part is more important than any other. They all have their part. That’s why they are called parts. Is it that obvious?

It seems to be common in churches today to give the preacher all the credit for the growth of the church. I am a preacher and I wish I had that much control but it is not true. The preacher has his part but without the other parts working with him, he would be preaching to empty seats. For a church to grow preachers need to preach, deacons need to serve, inviters need to invite, encouragers need to encourage, teachers need to teacher, cooks need to cook etc. etc. Do we get the point? I don’t know, but God keeps trying to get through to us.

Paul, in considering the growth of churches reveals to us more detail of how God causes the growth.

“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:6, 7).  He goes to great lengths here to make it clear that it is not the planters of the seed that cause the growth. We may idolize teachers, scholars, preachers and authors (Paul was every one of these) but God doesn’t. He claims the power for growth of His church is God, Himself.

When we think we have come across the magic bullet of church growth we need to think twice. God is clear on this. The planters of the seed and the seed are important but the real cause for growth lies in how God brings life from human actions and words.

Too often we try to take over God’s job. We want to be the judge of the world. That’s God’s job. We want to grow the church. That’s God’s job. We want. We want. We want. God give me the humility to realize that the kingdom of Jesus is about me doing what God wants and getting out of the way. Do your part and God will do His.

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Football & the Kingdom of Christ

I love football. Almost any kind of football. With the exception of soccer I really think you have to be crazy to play it. Don't get me wrong. I like a good bit of orchestrated violence as much as the next man. I just don't like it when the violence is directed at me. I am willing to suffer but really don't think moving ball over a line is a worthy enough cause.

Players are so passionate. Watch them. Often putting their bodies on the line. It should be this way in the kingdom of Christ. We have a cause that matters. Moving our ball, the gospel, across the line will change people's future, improve their marriages, give people purpose. Their celebrations will not last for just a week. They will rejoice for a lifetime because they have come to faith in Christ.

Servants of Christ! Serve him with passion, enthusiasm, power and purpose. Let nothing distract you. It is God who is at work in you. Let your faith in Christ move you the "so much more" He has planned for you. Get in the game and realize it is no game at all.

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What Time Is Good For You

The Facebook instant message thingi popped and I was communicating with a friend of mine is Australia. I noticed he was up early, 6 am his time. I made a joke about it and he informed me that he had already delivered a truck to the repair place and done his 8 km run for the morning. Oh, is that all?

I love people who rise early and seem to get so much done before I am even thinking of lifting my head off my pillow. I am just not that sort of person. My brain really doesn't start working until 10 am. Some of my best time for studying and writing is late afternoon and evening. I rarely go to bed before midnight. I guess I am a night owl. Us night owls do feel a little intimidated by the early birds. Maybe we should call them up at 11 pm and ask them what they are doing. We won't because they are asleep. While we are working late they are sleeping.

No matter how I look at it, they look more righteous than me. Lucky I don't care that much about it. At least I don't whine about it on my blog. That boat has sailed. Us night owls are pretty messed up people but I am sure God can use us in His kingdom.

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Bring My Scrolls

Paul asked his friend and co-worker, Timothy for a favor. “When you come, bring ... my scrolls, especially the parchments.”,(2 Timothy 4:13). When I look at my library, which I have culled ruthlessly over the years, it covers a wall of my office. I use it a lot and I especially like the way it impresses people who visit me. Only kidding but you would be surprised how many people judge preachers on this basis. I certainly would ask a friend to bring to me when they visit me in some far away country.

Timothy wouldn't be able to lug my library to the next room let alone across the country. He could, however, lug my laptop.

It occurs to me as I get more and more into the digital world, that having one of my main resources in paper form that weighs of pounds (kilos as well), is a little too first century and is pretty impractical. "Print is dead", prophesied notable researcher, Dr. Egon Sprengler. (Okay, I know it was in Ghostbusters 1 but that's okay, isn't it?) It then occurred to me that it sure would be handy to have access to my most needed books via my ever present laptop and even my mobile phone. I carry thousands of songs, tons of videos, photos. Why not my library.

After doing a little research (euphemism for running a google search and looking at 3 pages) it appears to still be in the "too hard" basket. I am not so easily discouraged so I have come up with some ideas to transform my library from its intimidating size to small percentage of my hard drive. My ideas .....

1. Decide to not buy another paper books for my professional library
2. Determine which books I want ready digital access to. Others that I might want irregularly can be left on the wall to impress visitors or stored in Julie's sewing room. I'm sure she wouldn't mind.
3. Check Google Books to see if PDF versions are available either free or for sale. 
4. Kindle - so many books are being published in Kindle versions but this necessitates the purchase of a Kindle and the use of said Kindle when wanting to read these books. Is there software around to read Kindle files on my Macbook? Can I read Google books on the Kindle?
5. I will not spend endless hours scanning the books. If I had that much time free I would be playing golf.

Any suggestions or answers out there. 

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What Does God Want?

So many in the kingdom talk about their vision. That's a good thing (I think) but maybe we should also take time to consider what God's vision is for His people. After all it is His kingdom, not ours. It is His church not ours.

Literally thousands of years ago God revealed the scope and nature of His vision.
“... and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”” (Genesis 12:3). He wanted to touch every single person on the planet and He wanted to bless them and He was going to do it through a descendant of the man He was speaking to, Abraham. Now that's a vision. Given who Abraham was at this point, it was a crazy impossible vision

About 2500 years ago God would predict the establishment and scope of His coming kingdom in a vision to Daniel. ““In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure for ever.” (Daniel 2:44). "Those kings" refers to the Roman emperors and His kingdom would be eternal and swallow up all other kingdoms.

No one could ever accuse God have having a small vision. And I think that is the point that we should really focus on. God is concerned with the individual but we have to understand that this includes all individuals and magnifies His vision to unheard of proportions. He doesn't just want the church where you are to reach out to the disconnected and grow. He wants all of His churches to grow.

We, too often, get tunnel vision and think that God really only needs to be concerned with our neck of the woods. His vision is so far beyond that.

And we have seen part of the fulfillment of God's vision. In their day who were Abraham and Daniel? Crazy "one God" believers who really thought God spoke directly to them. And yet through both of them have come millions and millions of believers in Jesus, the King of Kings.

Yes, we have got to start somewhere. We are limited by geography. But, God isn't. At the same time as He is reaching someone in New York, He is touching the life of a barely literate woman in a desert somewhere. At the same time as He is calling one of your friends, He is calling a young man in a back water of China.

I can't help but think that if we took on more of the vision of God, we would be transformed in what we do in our little part of the world.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

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Do Christians Talk Too Much?

Christians have a habit of talking too much.

Often I am accused of talking too much. I know I can talk under wet cement  and I do love the sound of my own voice just a little too much but that is not what I am trying to talk about here.

They too often try to nail down the nuances of every teaching in scripture. They compile their discussions into ever so scholarly publications. They categorize them and do masters and doctoral theses on them. The sell each books on the latest topic and in the end get no closer to answer the questions about scripture that they have had before.

How did we end up with so much verboseness in our attempts to be disciples of Christ? I have a theory. We are going to talk to someone about something. Far too many of us (preachers included) choose not to talk to unbelievers in their lives about Jesus. Maybe it's too confrontational or just too difficult or just not that productive (at least in our eyes). Yet, they still want to talk about Jesus so they start talking with other Christians. It's a great conversation and can be quite helpful but when it comes at the sacrifice of our Christ commissioned conversation with the lost then we have paid too high a price. We have abdicated our job as ambassadors of Christ and taken on the mantel of church savior.

The dynamic of being a disciple of Jesus is simple. You don't have to make it simple. It is simple. God loves you and me despite our sin. Jesus made that love into a human form when He chose to die on the cross for our sins. God raised Him from the dead to proclaim to everyone that He has accepted the death of Jesus. Jesus has now commissioned us to proclaim this message to all people.

We can argue about subtleties of hermeneutics, and nuances of meanings in words and the interpretation of John 13-17 with respect to the Holy Spirit but in the end, if you haven't shared the love of God with the disconnected you and I have failed at the basic challenge of Jesus for our lives.

The Bible is not a book of stats to be poured over and often quoted in discussions like we do with baseball. It is the message of God to lost humanity. It is God's story of love for the unlovely. How dare we spend more time debating each other than we do teaching those who don't know Jesus in the first place.

We love taking positions and defending them just a little too much. It is so human and so unhealthy for God's kingdom. Let's spend more time sharing the story of Jesus and less time trying to explain the truth to each other.

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Buying & Selling Christianity

For some time now I have had a growing feeling of revulsion at the marketing of resources for the gospel enterprise of taking the message of Jesus to a lost world.

This feeling was added to by the thoughts of fellow southern Californian preacher, TIm Spivey, in his blog on September 3, 2009.

It appears to me that every seminar I go to and most Christian websites I go are trying to get me to buy something. There is a balance in all this. I know it costs money to get resources to the point where they are readily available to me if I want them. I also understand that Christian authors have a right to live off the proceeds of their ministry just as Paul had a right to receive financial support while preaching (1 Cor. 9:1-14).

However it appears to me that the balance has tipped over into over-commercialization. It appears that the bean counters and investment entrepreneurs  have entered into this Christian ministry area and have discovered you can turn a tidy profit.

We have a situation now where there is a huge and hugely successful business in selling two of the primary components of our enterprise as God's people. Worship music, and Gospel teaching.

I know I am judging people's motives here but I also know that when it comes to the Gospel we need to be very careful to not appear as mercenary. We have enough trouble with the negative image of churches as "only after my money".

I was so moved by Rick Warren, an extremely successful Christian author, when he would not accept all the proceeds (millions of dollars) of the sales of his books etc.(90% of all the profits from The Purpose Driven Life goes to our Acts of Mercy foundation) and chose to live on the same middle class income he had always lived on. More details on this.  He was preaching, writing, teaching because of a fire within him, not to make a buck and he didn't want to be perceived any other way. 

It is the slick publishing houses and other engine rooms of getting product to market that are driving this. The man of God who pens a book is not the problem. It is the one who lives for the profit of the book, rather than the prophet of the Book. Terrible puns but they make the point.

So, the next time I go to a seminar, I don't want to be accosted by marketeers trying to sell me something like those guys around the islands at the mall. No, I don't want a free sample of moisturizer. And I suppose that is what is really bothering me and I acknowledge it may just be paranoid, over sensitive me. I am starting to feel like the target of a pitch man for some product.

I have worked enough sales in my life (to support my preaching habit) to recognize when someone is trying to pitch me or close a sale to me. I also know that I would feel a little helpless without my library that came through the same channels I am know criticizing.

So, I am conflicted, and that's par for the course for me. I just want to go to a Christian seminar without it feeling like a sales showcase. Preach to me. Rebuke me. Love me. Encourage me. Just stop trying to turn a buck in your ministry to me.

What Do You Live For?

There is this great old Dudley Moore movie called Arthur. Arthur was a rich 30 something drunk who was taken care of by his butler, Hobson, played by Sir John Gielgud. When asked to run a bath for Arthur, Hobson responds sarcastically, “It’s what I live for.”

Ever since then, it has been a running joke between Julie and I when either of us ask the other to do something menial. Would you like to take out the trash? It’s what I live for. Usually said with a snear.

But, seriously, what do we live for? What is it that moves us? What do our energies focus on? This is the central question that Jesus asks us. What are we living for?

Most of the time we don’t even have to think about it. Life just demands that we live for so many things. Our children. Our jobs. Our houses. Our sports. Our bodies. Our wives or husbands. Our friends. Our music.

We acknowledge that these are good things but they don’t seem to fully fill that part in us that needs filling. You know that part? You work and play and do the right thing and still there feels like there is something missing.

The wealthy and the famous seem to have it all and yet they medicate themselves to death (literally), or drink themselves into oblivion. The middle class family with a mortgage and 2.5 children seem happy but when you scratch the surface you find this black hole of dissatisfaction or despair.

Jesus says that this feeling comes from each of us not living up to God’s purpose for us. Read Matthew 6. Yes, the whole chapter. What else are you doing? He says that you don’t find your fulfillment in the good things in life. He says that you find it in living for Him.

Notice carefully the following words of Jesus. “… If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:24,25).  

We are designed to serve God. We are His children. We are His creation. He knows what the best life for us is. He says clearly that if you want to find life you have to lose it in submission to Him.

What are you living for? God says that it should be Him. When you start living for God, the things that you used to think were good get even better. Why? Because that is the way God designed it.

Church even gets better. When each of us is serving God rather than our own interests then church changes from and a religion into a family. Churches are full of Christians who are just proud, self-interested egotists. Yes, they are. Why else are there so many disputes? Read James 4:1-10 if you don’t believe me.

What are you living for? If it’s not God you have missed the point of being a Christian. If it’s not God you don’t stand much chance as a Christian. Rededicate yourself today to your Father. Choose to live for him and not yourself. Repeat with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). That is God’s plan for every single one of us.