Wednesday, November 28, 2012

226. He's Making You A Deal



Have you ever made a deal with God before? Have you ever said to Him, “Oh Lord, if you’ll just take care of this situation, I’ll never ask you for anything again.” or, “If you get me out of this mess, I will give up such and such for the rest of my life.” Most of us have done something like that in our hearts before, but we’ve all broken those promises. We’re not very good at keeping our word, and God knows that. In fact, He’s not upset about it. The truth is, He doesn’t even want us making any of those big promises to Him.  We don’t have to make deals with Him because He made a deal with us. On the night Jesus was betrayed, He took a cup of wine and said that it represented His blood of the covenant. The word ‘covenant’ just means ‘deal.’ Jesus was saying to His disciples and to us, “Let’s make a deal.” So, what are the terms of Jesus’ deal? He is offering you a chance to start over in life. You can be totally forgiven for everything you’ve ever done or ever will do for the rest of your life. He’s offering you a new heart that feels and wants new things. He’s offering you a restored relationship with God where you get to be His kid and He takes care of everything for you and He’s offering you a place in heaven forever. Wow! That’s a pretty good deal, but what is your part of the contract? Well, that’s the really great thing: Your part is nothing. Jesus paid for everything, and you don’t have to pay anything. This deal is an absolutely, eternally free gift.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

225. He's Looking For Faith



What is faith? Is it just clenching your teeth and your fists and believing something really, really hard? Most of us probably think (or have thought) that faith is all about just ramping up the sincerity of what we believe to the max. Our mindset is, “If I just believed this thing is true, but believed it a little bit more, then God would respond and act.” Of course, the big problem with this mentality is that we’re not seven years old anymore and this isn’t the Disney channel. You can’t actually fly if you ‘think enough happy thoughts’ or whatever. One time, four dudes had a friend who couldn’t walk. They had heard of Jesus and the things He was doing in people’s lives; and when He came to their town, they got together, grabbed their paralyzed friend by the corners of his mattress and took him to where Jesus was. The place was jam-packed and there was no way in through the front door. These friends didn’t stop, though. They simply had to get him to Jesus. They managed to get this dude and his bed up to the roof of the house and just as he was probably thinking, “Now what?” they started tearing back the roof tiles till they made a hole in the house! The very next verse says that Jesus acted when He saw their faith. There it is - their faith! They knew they couldn’t do anything. They knew they needed Jesus, but they didn’t just sit around and ‘believe in Him real hard.’ They did whatever it took to get to Jesus. Faith changes you. Faith makes you dig and claw your way to the only One who can actually help you.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

224. He's Looking For Gratitude



How does a person really change their emotions? What does it take to make a heart shift and feel new things that you weren’t feeling before? For instance, let’s say you’re really down and just sad - what’s the traditional wisdom on how to change that feeling? Change your circumstances? Fix the thing that was bringing you down in the first place? Well, I guess that sounds like it would work, but what if you have no control over those circumstances? What it the situation is out of your hands? Most people think that they way they feel is just an unchangeable reality you have to live with. They see their own emotions as an unassailable fortress that can’t be approached. I used to feel the same way until one little thing changed everything - gratitude. You may not believe it, but gratitude is the most powerful thing in your arsenal right now. Saying a prayer of thanks can change everything. Once, Jesus healed ten lepers with a word. He told them all to go show themselves to the priest, and as they went, they realized they had been cleansed. One of the ten came back to Jesus and thanked Him. Jesus said this man was ‘made whole.’ All were healed - but only one was made fully well. The gratitude did something for him that the healing alone couldn’t do. The thankfulness changed the way He saw Jesus, which changed and filled his heart with joy. When you’re down, you don’t feel thankful, so it seems hypocritical to pray a prayer of thanks, but try it anyway. It’s an easy prayer to say, and the more you do it, the more you will change. Gratitude is the most powerful emotion you have.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

223. He Doesn't Make You Grow Up



First you learn to use the bathroom by yourself. Then you start brushing your own teeth.  You buckle your own seatbelt, you dress yourself, you tie your own shoes. Before long, you’re opening up a checking account, changing the oil in your car, signing a lease and paying your bills. I still remember the day my mom taught me how to use the washing machine by myself. I can remember reminiscing back over all the years of not having to wash my own clothes and thinking, “Oh well. That was nice while it lasted.” It’s fun to grow up and to become more capable, but at the same time, there’s something hard about saying goodbye to the innocence of childhood and the freedom of not being responsible. It is right and good for people to grow up and mature and become more accountable for the moving parts of their lives; and yet, in the spiritual realm, there are ways in which we are never supposed to really ‘grow up.’ One time, Jesus’ disciples asked him “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” and to their shock, He didn’t tell any Bible stories from the Old Testament about Moses or David or even Daniel or Job. The disciples probably expected that kind of speech and hoped in their heart of hearts that they could one day be like one of those old heroes. Instead, Jesus held a little child in His arms and said, “See this child? Unless you change and become like a child, you can’t even get in.” Children are helpless, irresponsible and totally dependent. Jesus doesn’t want you to ever grow out of being like that. You don’t ever have to really grow up.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

222. He Loves You When You're At Your Worst



What if Jesus was standing right in front of you? Most of us would absolutely love to be in that place right? I mean, how many times have you thought or said something like, “If only He just appeared to me and told me exactly what He wants me to do, then I wouldn’t have any problem doing it.” Here’s the thing: Jesus did a lot of that. He showed up and stood in front of people. He appeared in the flesh and told people exactly what He wanted and yet, people still disobeyed, turned their backs and even hated Him. Lots of Christians think that our big problem is that we’ve never had that “undeniable experience” type of moment. We’ve never had the life-changing, mountain-top experience, so we aren’t the saints we wish we were. If you’ve ever felt that way, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is, having a face-to-face with Jesus wouldn’t be the answer to your problems. You’d still be you and you’d still struggle and sin - even after that amazing encounter with the Lord. The good news is, it doesn’t really matter. Jesus still loves you, no matter what. One time the Lord of all stood in front of a dude and told Him one thing to do. This young man looked God Himself in the eyes and then turned and walked away. My favorite part of that story is that it says that Jesus looked at him and loved him. This man got to see the Maker of heaven and earth in the flesh and dropped the ball, but Jesus loved him at his worst. He feels exactly the same about you.

Friday, November 9, 2012

221. He Was Mostly Anonymous



Tons of people think that in order to have a life that really means something, you have to be well known for it. They think you have to make your mark in an obvious and public way. In other words, we equate fame and celebrity with importance and meaning. Some people have even drawn this conclusion when looking at the popularity of Jesus’ earthly ministry. I mean, everywhere He went, there were crowds of people hanging on His every word, right? Well... not always. Did you know that the information we have about Jesus’ life only covers about 10 percent of His time on earth? He lived on the earth as a man for 33 years and His public ministry was only about 3 of those years. The rest of the time, He was a completely unknown, and totally ignored blue-collar peasant from a small, hick town. He didn’t deliver any brilliant sermons or perform any miracles. He just lived a normal, anonymous life, loving God and loving people right there where He was. The cool thing is, that when Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan river, God the Father spoke from heaven and said, “This is my Son, whom I love; With Him I am well pleased.” Up to that point in His life, Jesus had never done anything memorable or noteworthy, and yet God said that He loved watching our Lord live. You don’t have to be famous to be important. You don’t have to get a lot of attention or have a lot of followers to have a meaningful life. Apparently, you can live a completely anonymous life and totally please the heart of God. Even if no one else is watching, He is. 

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

220. He's Going To Win Your Heart And Will



There are things in your life that Jesus doesn’t want there. That’s true about my life as well. There are attitudes, habits, motives and opinions in every heart belonging to Him that He wants to get rid of. That doesn’t mean He doesn’t love you, because He all-the-way loves you. That doesn’t mean that He doesn’t accept you, because you couldn’t be any more accepted by Him. That doesn’t change the fact that God has declared you totally and completely righteous in His sight, because if you have trusted in Jesus, He has most definitely declared you not only forgiven but completely righteous in His eyes. What we’re talking about here is the ground-level, everyday work of sanctification - which is just a big, fancy word to describe the process we are all in of being actually changed by Jesus into different people who are more like Him. He loves you just the way you are and accepts you totally today, but He doesn’t want to leave you there. One of the sweetest and most encouraging verses in Scripture is Philippians 1:6 which says, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Now, that is a beautiful and comforting promise that assures me that no matter what, God isn’t finished with me yet; but it isn’t just a promise. You see, it’s also a threat. Jesus isn’t going to let us stay the way we are. He’s coming after the hate, the prejudice and selfishness of my heart and yours. He will win and we will love the result. The only question is, how long and painful will the process be? 

Sunday, November 4, 2012

219. He's Right Behind You



Have you ever heard someone say that you need to ‘follow Jesus,’ and then just felt a huge wave of guilt wash over you because, whatever that means, you're pretty sure you aren't doing it? Jesus is calling you to follow Him, But what does that mean, exactly? Does it mean you have to be perfect, or that you have to follow all the rules? Nah. There's no one like that. To 'follow Him' has to be something a real person can actually do, or else it just winds up being one of those things religious people talk about to make everyone else feel bad, but no one is actually doing, not even them. Whatever it means to follow Him, it has to be possible for normal humans, and it has to be something that happens in your will. When spiritual movements begin in your mind and heart and then come to life in your will, everything in your life begins to change. I think for a lot of folks, the command to follow Jesus is intimidating because, although they want to do that, they basically think it's too late. In other words, they think about following Jesus like a train that's moving down the tracks. Maybe at one point they were on it, but they messed up and a had a few bad weeks in a row. In their mind, the train is so far away now, they could never get back on. Here's the truth: You may have walked away, but Jesus isn't miles away down the tracks. He's right behind you. No matter what you've done, you can follow Him today. No matter how far you've run away, all you have to do is turn around.