Application

I had the chance to go to a ministry conference last week with some of the other staff and an elder from Crosswater. In fact, in my short time as a pastor I have been fortunate enough to attend several conferences (of varying quality). Do you know what the worst thing is about these conferences? Time away from the office? Time away from the people we are supposed to minister to? The time it takes to get there and back? The amount of money it costs to attend? No. For me, the worst thing about these conferences is the application of what I have learned, or should I say lack of application. I do a pretty good job of paying attention and a pretty good job of taking notes, but, I don't usually do a very good job of applying what I learned.

I have the same problem with books that I read. I don't particularly enjoy reading but I try to make it a point to read in order to learn new things and to expand my skills. In fact, last year, I had a goal of reading an average of 1 book per month. I was successful in meeting that goal because the goal was to read 12 books, nothing more. You might have guessed that I frequently have the same problem with books that I have with conferences. While I am pretty diligent in highlighting the books (if they are mine) and my assistant does a great job of writing up the highlighted portions to make it easier for me to reference the things that stood out, applying what I read does not happen naturally for me.

I can attend all of the best conferences and read all of the best books, but without application, am I really learning anything? It is good to have the knowledge but unless I am going on a game show or playing board games, the knowledge by itself isn't enough.

Why do I talk about all of this? First, it is a reminder to myself to apply what I learned at last week's conference. Second, I think that reading the Bible is a lot like this for many people (including me sometimes). Reading God's word is always a good thing, but sometimes that's all we do with it. There are a ton of people in the world that can tell you all sorts of things about the Bible. They can quote scripture, tell you the stories, give you context/background, yet they are far from God. I do a pretty good job of reading God's word, but lately I have had some moments where I have struggled to apply it. What about you? Let's work together this week to read God's word and then to live it out!

Wanna Trade?

If you know me at all, you know that I am a big sports fan. As a sports fan there isn't a lot that matches the excitement, worry, hope, frustration, or at least the possibility of those things (all rolled into one) like trade rumors or an actual trade. Trades can be a quick fix or hope for things to come in the future. Sometimes trades work out for both teams, but, usually one team gets the better end of the deal. If you are a fan of the Mariners you probably feel that the M's seem to be on the short side most of the time.

Did you know that the Bible talks about the worst trade ever made? Romans 1:21-23 talks about trading the biggest superstar ever for a flash in the pan minor leaguer that never even made it to the show, it says; "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."

The best was available, yet it was traded for something less. The creator of the universe was available, yet He was traded for created things. We still do this today! We have the opportunity to have a relationship with the God of the universe, the one who created each of us, the one who sent His son to die for us because He loves us so much, yet, we trade Him for lesser things.

What are you trading God for? We all do it in various ways and at various times. We trade Him for fame, for money, for power, for our kids, for our spouse, for stuff, for our career, etc., etc. Like the minor leaguer with lots of potential, we think these things are going to pan out and lead to our ultimate success, happiness, fulfillment, or whatever else we are looking for. The difference is that in baseball, sometimes the minor leaguer does end up doing what the executives thought he would or even more. In life, all of these things that we trade God for end up failing, disappointing, or otherwise leave us unfulfilled. Don't be fooled by the empty promises of more or better from anything other than God, He's untradeable.

The Real Life

You have probably all seen bumper stickers, buttons, signs, t-shirts, etc. that have the saying; "No Jesus, No Peace, Know Jesus, Know Peace". I remember seeing a church reader board that had that written on it many, many years ago and thought that it was pretty clever and over the years have certainly found it to be true. Now, like I said before, that saying is on all sorts of things and has probably lost some of it's impact because people have seen it so many times and in so many places.

I bring this saying up because I thought of it this week as I was reading 1 John 5:1-12. Actually, I thought of a revised version of it made from verse 12, it is; No Jesus, No Life, Know Jesus, Know Life. Everyone that is alive obviously has a physical life but as William Wallace says in the movie Braveheart "all men die, few ever truly live".

Life is hard, there is a lot of pain, a lot of disappointment a lot of hurt. I think most people just try to get by the best they can, they try to endure. Most people are trying to make the most of this life, after all, it's the only one we've got, right? But, if we are just living for now, for this world for the 0-80ish years we have on this planet, we are missing out. What most people are missing is verse 12 of 1 John 5. Without Jesus, we never truly live because it is through Him that we have real life, abundant life. Following Jesus has a negative reputation in some circles as something that limits us or puts restrictions on us. The opposite is true. If we are living for Him, that is when we truly have life, life now and life beyond what we know and can see here, eternal life.

Who or what are you living for? Are you living for this world and what it has to offer, or are you living for Jesus who offers you real life? To quote another movie, The Shawshank Redemption, "Get busy living, or get busy dying".

In God We Trust

The phrase "In God We Trust" is printed on our money, does that make it true? Of course not! At some point in our history this may have been true, we as a country may have trusted in God (obviously not every single person literally but generally as a nation). I think you would probably agree, however, that this is no longer the case. Now a days it is hard to even get a consensus on who or what God even is, let alone all trust in the same God. The reality though, is that we all trust in something or many somethings whether it is a person (or people), things, ideas, organizations or institutions. Every time you sit down you trust that the seat you are going to sit in can support you. When you climb the stairs, you trust that you won't fall through. When you jump, you trust that you will not float away because gravity will bring you back down.

Over and over we make seemingly little and/or subconscious decisions that require us to trust in someone or something beyond ourselves. The big decisions/choices in our lives also require us to trust, yet, we seem to do a poor job of choosing what we are going to trust in. We put our trust in money, our job, our government leaders, ourselves, our family, our pastor, our kids, etc., etc. The problem with ALL of these things is that they will fail us, they will let us down.

As a pastor it is easy for me to tell you that you should trust in God, THE God, the creator of heaven and earth, after all, that is what I am supposed to say. It's true, but I don't always live like it myself. I struggle with putting my trust in the wrong place(s). Mostly I struggle with trying to do things on my own, in my own strength. This may come as a shock to those of you who know me, but, I am not able to do everything. I am not able to do all that I want to do or even all that I have the ability to do (which kind of sounds like an oxymoron). I, like everything else (other than God), fall short. The good thing about my failure is that it causes me to look back to God and adjust where I put my trust. We have it right on our money now it's time to make that reality in our lives - IN GOD WE TRUST

"I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever." - Psalm 52:8