Monday, May 28, 2012

174. He Has Different Priorities


You know what the biggest problem in your spiritual life is, right? Or at least, you think you do, don’t you? In other words, if you were going to prioritize all the places in your life where you need to grow spiritually, what is the one thing at the top of the list? Here’s an even more interesting question: Have you gone to Jesus to find out what He thinks your biggest spiritual problem is? Have you taken the time to ask Him what is really holding you back? Have you prayed and waited and listened and then prayed some more so that the Lord has a chance to tell you where He wants you to grow? You see, every single one of us needs to grow in a ton of different ways. We all have bunches and bunches of struggles and the thing is, there ought to be a priority to working on that list of hurdles. The real problem is that most people never bother to find out what Jesus thinks about it. Most folks just point out the most glaring, obvious and embarrassing sin in their life and then try to work on that. The only problem is, what if Jesus has different priorities than you do? What if the thing topping your list is not as pressing to Him as something else? One time, four friends brought a paralytic to Jesus to be healed. Jesus told the guy his sins were forgiven. Everyone else was confused because they thought his biggest problem was the paralysis. Jesus had a different list. What does Jesus want to work on in your life right now? What tops His priorities for your spiritual growth? What if the answer surprised you?

Sunday, May 27, 2012

173. He Had A Secret


Have you met those kinds of people who never seem to complain about anything, ever? It doesn’t matter how bad it is, these folks will grin and bear it. Now, I’m not one of those people. If I have a hang nail, you’re gonna hear about it. If I start getting sick, I want folks to know, because I want them to treat me in a certain way. I guess I’m just not as strong as those other kinds of folks. I have to admit that those people who never complain about their pains amaze me with their toughness. Jesus endured so many things and never complained once. He didn’t gripe about the trials of being poor and homeless. He didn’t grumble about the many sleepless nights His ministry forced upon Him. And somehow, amazingly, He never made a fuss about the torture He endured surrounding the cross. The Bible says He never uttered any threats and never opened His mouth in complaint during the worst physical treatment human minds have ever conceived. Peter said He was silent. Here’s the thing, though: Jesus didn’t endure the pains of the cross in silence as a show of bravado or great strength. (Don’t get me wrong - He was the strongest and bravest of men) But no, His silence was about something else. See, Jesus was holding on to a beautiful secret. Even though He was being physically destroyed in every way and emotionally torn down, He kept His peace. What was His secret? It was this: He was winning. He was dying as a substitute for me and for you. That pain won the hearts of those He loved. He endured our death gladly so that we could be His.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

172. He Knows What You Want Him To See


Do you have any of those relationships where you can never seem to win? You know, this person always remembers your mistakes and screw-ups, but the good stuff you’ve done never seems to be good enough or somehow never seems to count. It’s like you’re taking a test with this person, only you never know what the questions are, and you always fail. Some folks are just impossibly hard to please, but Jesus isn’t one of them. I think that most folks assume that because Jesus is God in the flesh, He would be the hardest person to please, ever. They think that Jesus is probably constantly shaking His head at our efforts toward goodness or else completely discounting everything we do because it all seems so trivial. The truth is that most people have Jesus figured out all wrong. He doesn’t have some kind of impossible standard of friendship maintenance where your good intentions and hard work don’t register on the scale. On the contrary, He knows every movement of your heart and sees all your motives as plain as day. When you pray for someone who’s down or make a sacrifice of time or money to help someone in need, simply because you love them and you want to show them the love of Jesus, the Lord sees that. In the book of Revelation, Jesus dictates seven letters to some churches and in the very first one He says, “I know your deeds.” No matter how small it may seem to you, Jesus knows and sees everything good and sweet in your heart. When you act out of love for Him to please His heart, He knows it and He’ll never forget it.

Friday, May 18, 2012

171. He Can Change What You Feel


Do your emotions ever get the best of you? Do you ever lose the ability to think your way through a situation you’re going through simply because you are feeling so much? Maybe the stress of a moment has you so completely tense and strained that you can’t do anything but panic; or else you’re so heartbroken, low and sad that you just feel trapped in the dark. Do you know what that’s like? People get ruled by their emotions because they believe their emotions are the truest thing about them. Their thinking goes like this: “My emotions are just an honest, direct result of what’s happening to me, so I can’t change them. They just are what they are.” The result is a person who is completely out of control of their own feelings. Did you know that tons of the prayers in the New Testament were about emotions? The Apostle Paul was always praying that God would give people peace and hope or fill them with joy and love. Jesus would take it a step farther. He would simply tell people to change how they felt. He told the women of Jerusalem not to feel pity for Him. He asked a bereaved household why they were wailing. He once told a grieving widow not to cry when her son was dead. How could He expect people to change feelings like those? Luke says that Jesus’ heart went out to that mother and then he raised the boy from the dead. You see, we don’t just change our emotions for no reason. We can change because Jesus feels for us and He is actually able to change everything. His love and power are bigger than our emotions.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

170. He Pursues Us In Our Shame


There is a theory going around in some Christian circles that we need to change the message of the Gospel because people are changing so much. These folks say that so-called post modern people no longer respond to the message of a God who became our Substitute and gave His blood in sacrifice to pay for our wrong. They say this message doesn’t work anymore because people don’t feel guilt or shame like they used to. The truth is, people haven’t changed at all since God made the first couple. We’re just like they were. We’re sinful and we know it. We feel shame over our wrong just like they did. When we feel ashamed of ourselves, the number one thing we want is to be alone. It’s embarrassing to have fallen again, right? It’s humiliating to still be working through the same old things. Shame makes us want to hide. It’s the very same thing that happened to Adam and Eve after the very first sin. Their instinct was to run and hide. We know we deserve to be punished. We immediately recognize that part of our punishment should be isolation. It’s as if we should be quarantined from the rest of the human race. Shame makes us afraid to face anyone, especially God. It happened in the garden. It happened when Jesus showed up. Peter looked at Jesus and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinner!” Our shame makes us want to run and hide, but Jesus doesn’t listen to our shame. He pursues us. He refuses to leave us alone. We’re the same and the message is the same: Sin brought shame and made us hide. Love defeats sin and conquers shame. 

Sunday, May 13, 2012

169. He's What You've Been Waiting For


Do you ever look around at the mess that this world has become and the difficulty and problems of your own life and feel like you want to wring your hands of the whole place? Have you ever just mentally zoomed out enough to survey the whole human experience and then decided that you’re totally over it and tired of it? Are you sick of the news stories about starving kids and oppressed people groups who are longing for basic needs and are being denied aid by rich, twisted and seemingly unstoppable 3rd-world overlords? Are you fed up with the pain and suffering of people in the last stages of diseases so cruel that their progressive symptoms sound like the stuff of horror movies? Are you tired of the pointless drama that comes from the rampant selfishness that’s in basically every heart, that breaks friendships up, tears families apart and ruins ministries? Have you gotten to the place where you look around at the problems of this world and the people in it and you’re so overwhelmed and frustrated that you just want to toss the whole place in the bin and start over? If you’ve ever felt like that, I have good news for you. Jesus is your answer. An ancient prophecy promised the rising of One who would bring good news to the poor, freedom to the prisoners, sight for the blind, release for the oppressed and the favor of the Lord. Jesus said He is the fulfillment of those ancient promises, and although His kingdom is growing slowly, it’s growing. Every heart that trusts in Him quickens the day when He will make everything right and new. Keep believing in Him. He’s our answer!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

168. He Celebrates The Best In You


Have you ever been completely misunderstood? You know, you did something or said something with good intentions and (as far as you could tell) with a pure heart, but someone misinterpreted what you said or did and then saw the worst in you? I once had a really close friend stop speaking to me for years all because of a total misunderstanding! Seriously - years with zero communication. And I gotta be honest here: It messed me up. It broke my heart that my friend defaulted to the worst possible explanation of my actions and then shut me out. It was hard. If you’re anything like me and you know how it feels to be completely emotionally rocked by someone else’s negative opinion of you, you have to check this: I was reading the first chapter of John this week and was arrested by the part about a guy named Nathanael. Jesus walked up to this dude, and without even introducing Himself said, “Here is an Israelite in who there is nothing false.” Wow. Jesus picked the sweetest, truest part of who this guy was and brought it out into the open to publicly celebrate it. Nathanael had just gotten back from having his quiet time under a fig tree and he really was trying to walk this thing well. Jesus said, “Dude, I see that in you. I know you’re trying to be real and I love that about you.” Immediately, Nathanael called Jesus his teacher, God and King. In other words, if there’s someone who sees all of me and chooses to highlight the best parts, I want to give my heart and life to Him. I want to care about His opinion and forget everyone else’s. 

Sunday, May 6, 2012

167. He Is The Good News


Have you ever had people in your life make you feel like you are always on thin ice with God? You know what I mean, right? These folks tell you about the holiness of God and how incredibly close we were to being blasted to smithereens in the wake of His wrath and then they continue the thing by saying that if your life isn’t lined up and on point, you’re on shaky ground even now. The problem with this kind of thinking, is that you never quite feel secure. You never really know where you stand with God. Am I accepted? Is He mad at me? Am I a disappointment? Now, Paul calls our message Good News, and that’s important. You see, our faith isn’t based on a set of principles. We’re not grounded in following rituals or teachings or some moral code or tradition. No, we have been given Good News. In other words, something has happened in history that changes everything. And here’s the thing: It’s not just Good News - it’s Good News about God. You see, something has happened, and because of that something, God loves you, period. He accepts you completely. He isn’t disappointed in you. He isn’t frustrated with you. He isn’t waiting on you to fall. You aren’t on thin ice, ever. You are seated in heaven with Him and it’s all because of Jesus. You see, Jesus isn’t just part of the story of the Good News about God. He is the Good News. He is what has happened in history. He is God who came down and gave His life to make a new deal with you that will never break. He is our assurance. Jesus Himself is our guarantee. 

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

166. He's Not Doing Me Wrong


Why does God allow so much suffering if He’s so good? Why do good people sometimes have to endure so much pain and heartache if God supposedly loves them so much? These are the oldest questions in the book. Some folks have endured so much pain and have lived through so many problems in their life, that the idea of a loving God who watches over every moment like a tender Father is just a hard concept to get their heads around. Now, the only thing that’s worse than those unbelievably perplexing questions is a person who thinks they have the answers to those questions. You’ve met these folks, right? The situation goes like this: A person you know and love experiences some incredibly difficult tragedy or loss and then some other dude will come alongside them and tell them that “the reason this happened was so that God could use this situation to glorify Himself or bring people to the church.” Not cool. The truth is, no one has idea why God works the way He does. We don’t know what He’s up to, and that’s part of our faith. The only thing we know is that one day, when we’re in heaven, every single one of us will look at our lives and tell the Lord that everything He ordered or allowed was good and right and exactly what we needed. Once, Jesus said, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” We don’t know why He’s doing what He does, but we know He’s good. The heart of faith says, “Lord Jesus, you’re good. Somehow, this is the best thing for me. I don’t know why it’s happening, but I know You and that’s enough.