Life Here and There

Paul went from persecuting the church to being a persecuted apostle of the church. After his arrest in Jerusalem, during his first imprisonment, he wrote a letter to the Philippians in which he boldly declared this short but profound line…

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (1:21)

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Yesterday at Bethel, we kicked off a four-part sermon series on the story of David and Goliath called Killing Giants. I took a slingshot to church and picked up five smooth stones along the way. We had fun. Nobody argued with the sermon… no one dared!

This morning, I woke up with a semi-profound thought on my mind… slingshots don’t hurt people, people hurt people. David used his slingshot to bring down a giant. Goliath was a 9 foot, 3 inch mountain of a man, covered in brass, carrying steel, and guarded by a shieldsman. David slung a rock an hit a target the size of a post-it note, thereby putting all of the Philistines to flight. Awesome story! We’re learning a lot from it already.

Here’s the thought that hit me, however. How often do we take our slingshots and aim them at the wrong target? In fact, do we sometimes aim our slingshot back at our own army? It occurs to me that it wasn’t the weapon that really mattered to the story, it was the aim of David. And if his smooth stone took down a giant wielding an iron spear, what do our words do to those at whom we sling them?

You might say that all of us have a tendency to reach for stones when we feel defensive. David was defending the honor and glory of God, but I wouldn’t dare presume that my motives are always that pure when I’m slinging words around.

I know that this post, even by its very title, might offend the crowd in favor of slingshot control, but maybe we just need better tongue control?… or maybe we just need better aim!

In my last post, I talked about how God sees deeper than the skin and today, I want to carry that thought further (based on my message from last Sunday) about how God sees beyond today.

I’m busy today. I have a lot of things up in the air that are all happening at once. Your day is like mine, isn’t it? Catching up isn’t really an option. And maybe catching up isn’t what it’s cracked up to be anyway. After all, if we were caught up, we wouldn’t be necessary in the moment. So we keep living by the clock… tick, tock, tick, tock.

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God’s vision differs from our vision. He sees people, the world, and truth through different eyes. His thoughts are above ours, as are all of His ways. I wanted to elaborate.

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One of the most powerful phrases in the New Testament is found in Acts chapter 12… “but prayer was made.” James was martyred, killed with the sword, and Peter was thrown in prison, “but prayer was made without ceasing by the church of God for him.”

The result? Freedom for Peter. Imagine how some of the church’s powerlessness might be remedied if we followed every difficulty with “but prayer was made.”

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“People never crumble in a day. It’s a slow fade.” ~ Casting Crowns

How true! Failures of a spiritual or moral nature happen as we chip away at our own integrity, as Satan gains one little foothold after another, and as sin creeps up behind us. It happens little by little.

Everybody, but especially ever man ought to watch this teaching video by Casting Crowns explaining how their song, Slow Fade, illustrates Psalm 1.

Or here’s a link to Casting Crowns – Slow Fade Teaching Video.

One of the most common questions among human beings is, how do I know God’s will? Or sometimes we’ll simply ask, how do I make right and wise decisions?

Christians sometimes want to make this issue mystical. In fact, we can be downright superstitious, seeking signs and waiting for audible voices. But what if it’s more simple than that? When someone comes to me asking these questions, I offer up three tests. These three tests are, in my opinion, the ultimate way to discern what to do next…

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There are two things that will test a person’s character more than anything else: criticism and praise. Here’s the thing you probably don’t know about me. I’m pretty good at being pretty good when things are pretty good. But when the pressure is up, I sometimes fall apart. Ever happen to you?

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I flew out of northwest Arkansas yesterday, one half hour late because of the 1 inch of snow on the grass around the runway… landed in Atlanta and had 25 minutes to get to my terminal – T-03. After taking the subway to T-03, I saw that the flight had been moved all the way back to B-31. Both of these gates are at the far ends of their respective terminals. Needless to say, I arrived at the gate just in time to see my plane take flight.

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In our journey through the Word at Bethel, we’ve come up to the historical books of the Old Testament. We jump right into the first two kings, Saul and David, who could not be more of a contrast. I’ve always been struck by the supreme difference between the two of them Saul would do anything for the approval of man, including live in direct disobedience to God. David, on the other hand, was crushed anytime he didn’t have God’s approval and obeyed God even when it cost him the approval of man.

My how we need to learn this!

And here’s a Youtube link to To Become A Man After God’s Own Heart.