Live A Revolution... Every Day

Messin Me Up Part Two

Philippians 2:3: "... don't try to impress others. Be humble..."

How many of my tweets or my blog posts have been written in the hopes that people will think I'm funny, smart, cool...

Too many to count. 

It's all about motivation... what's in the heart. 

If what I do is simply to impress others, then it's not worth anything. 

Messin Me Up

Over the last week, I've decided to just focus on Philippians 2:1-11. To memorize it. 

And it's messing me up.

Check out verse 1: "... are your hearts tender and compassionate?"

Is my heart tender and compassionate towards my wife? Towards my kids? Toward my friends? Toward the people who are hard to love?

What does that even look like... to have a heart that's tender and compassionate.

It's a question that we have to ask. Because God's heart, the heart of Jesus is full of compassion. It's tender.

And that messes me up.

Lost and Found... But Not Cut Up

The other day I went to pay for lunch. I always keep my check card in the same spot in my wallet. So when it wasn't there, my heart dropped... I had lost my check card. So I did a retrospect and came up with the last location I used my card...

PF Changs.

So I called PF Changs, and turns out they had my card. Score! The only thing is... it's 3.5 hours away from home. 

So I had three choices. 

1. Drive down to Indy and pick the card up. Not gonna happen.

2. Have them mail the card to me. Not the smartest choice. Or...

3. Have Changs cut up the card and have B.O.A. issue me a new one.

So I had Changs cut up my card and had B.O.A. issue a new one. Kind of like a do-over. It just wasn't worth driving 3.5 hours to get the card I had lost.

I'm just glad God doesn't view us in the same way. Check it out:

"If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.'In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven't strayed away!

I Can't Shake It... Changing My Thinking

I can't shake a phrase that Paul wrote in 1 Timmy 3:15: ..."This is the church of the living God..."

"... the church of the LIVING GOD..."

If you believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, you belong to the church of the LIVING GOD.

If you claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you ARE the church of the LIVING GOD.

The LIVING GOD who conquered death. The LIVING GOD who raised the dead. The LIVING GOD who healed the sick.

The LIVING GOD who conquered sin.

What are you struggling with right now? We each have them. Some are bigger than others.

But none is bigger than the LIVING GOD.

What in your life do you need to overcome? We all have and create for ourselves obstacles to overcome.

But none is bigger than the LIVING GOD.

What god are you serving or are enslaved to that you don't want to be?

The same LIVING GOD who came, who saw, and who kicked butt, is the same LIVING GOD who can save you.

When you think about God, is He just God? Or is He the...

LIVING GOD

!

"Deeper" - Scuba Diving and Spirituality

 

A couple of weekends ago, myself and a few friends were certified as Advanced Scuba Divers - which means we can dive deep... like 130 feet deep! It was an awesome experience. But it's also more work.

If I want to dive deeper, I'm required to do more. It's a bigger responsibility. It isn't simply just diving to 80 feet, or 100 feet, or 130 feet then return to the surface. When I dive this deep, there's some action steps I need to take. I need to be more aware as to whether or not I'm feeling loopy. I need to be more aware of the nitrogen levels in my system. And on the way up, I need to do a safety stop so I don't get decompression illness. Diving deeper means paying more attention to your buddy and his/her well-being. These are just some of the things that are required of someone who dives deeper than just a recreational diver. It's advanced baby!

I love the word deeper when it comes to diving. It means I get to see more things. But when used in the church context, it drives me nuts. It makes me want to crawl out of my skin because most of the time it's said in sentences like these below:

"I want to go deeper."

"I need deeper teaching."

"I need a deeper church."

"I want a church that has depth."

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Most of the time, when I've heard someone say these phrases, it involves sitting in a room wanting to be taught some deep theological principle.

Is it wrong to want to go deeper? Heck no.

But when going deeper is limited to no action, it's completely off and is completely frustrating.

Going deeper really has nothing to do with what church you attend or what book you are studying.

And the more I think about it, the more I'm realizing that going deeper is just like being an Advanced Scuba Diver. If you and I want to go deeper, it's gonna require more from us. It means that we're going to have to be more aware of the needs of those around us. It means that we're going to have to be more aware of the condition of other people's lives. Going deeper is action oriented. Going deeper means being the church and not simply going to church. Going deeper means paying more attention to the well-being of your buddy.

If what you're learning isn't put to action, you're just as shallow as the day you got saved - probably even shallower. Going deep isn't the understanding of hard theological principles. It isn't teaching verse by verse. Going deep is simply doing what Jesus taught and acted on Himself.

If you want to go deep, feed the hungry. If you want to go deep, befriend the friendless. If you want to go deep, GO and SERVE.

If you want depth, put to use what you are being taught.

Only then will you...

go deeper.

Drowning in the Pool of Excuses

I love the story of Moses and the burning bush.

After God gets Moses' attention, Go tells Moses that He's seen the suffering of His people and is going to rescue them.

At this point, Moses has got to like, "Ya. You go God. Whip the Egyptians!"

But God's got a different idea. He tells Moses that He's going to send HIM to Pharaoh.

Moses is like, "Ummm, what you talkin 'bout God?"

And he runs through every possible excuse he could come up with.

I don't know about you, but I've been where Moses has been. And I still find myself wading through the pool of excuses.

The pool of excuses is powerful - powerful enough to drown the very person God wants to use... because here's what the pool of excuses cause people to do:

1. Doubt yourself: Exodus 3:11, 4:10 - This is one of the biggest battles I face.
2. Doubt others: Exodus 4:1 - Moses started wondering if he Egytians would even listen to him. Ever been there? I have.
3. Doubt God: Exodus 4:13 - even after all the help God said He would provide, Moses still doubted and in essence said, "I don't believe You".

The pool of excuses sucks. If Moses gave in, it would have drown the very thing God called him to do.

But Moses didn't give in. Despite all of the excuses he came up with, despite all of the doubts, he obeyed God and followed the calling on his life.

I think that why I love this story so much... Moses eventually sucked it up and followed God's voice and pulls himself out of the pool o excuses.

Moses did. You can do it. And so can I.

Romans 8:15 (The Message)
2Timothy 1:7

Dirty Underwear and My Bible Study

I'm going to go out on a limb here... every single guy at some point in time has

worn

their

underwear

at least

two

days

in a

row.

This past weekend, I did it again for the up-teenth time. It's really not my preference. I would prefer to move on to a clean pair each day. A fresh new pair where I don't have to turn them inside out to get the most wear out of them.

New day. New pair. New day. New pair. New day. New pair. Boom. Boom. Boom.

I know... T. M. I.

But stick with me.

Cause I've noticed that I get caught in the same trap in my bible study as well. I pick out a book to read through. And it's...

New day. New chapter. New day. New chapter. New day. New chapter. Boom. Boom. Boom.

And sometimes, I miss things because I want a fresh clean chapter each day. And sometimes God wants me to

slow

down

and turn certain verses, certain chapters inside out to get the most out of them.

That's what God's doing with Romans 4:17, "...the God who calls things that are not as though they were."

That's the phrase I'm wearing all week... and turning it inside out.

What about you?

Spilling Our Dirt

This is one of the faces I get to see every day when I come home. Yesterday, he had the same expression on his face. Then Jami asked Morgan if she had something to tell daddy. She said no. At that point, Carter was more than happy to spill her dirt – the wrongs she had done. THEN Jami said, wait a minute. Don’t you have something you need to tell daddy, Carter?

You could almost hear the tires screeching to a halt in his head. Apparently, Carter and Mo got into a little scuffle at the store.

So I picked Carter up, and as he told me the story and accepted responsibility for his part, his little lip began to quiver and his 4-year-old voice began to shake. It wasn’t fear. It was complete sadness, brokenness. I could tell it was hard for him to tell his daddy that he did something wrong. But he sucked it up and told me anyway. His emotion was so pure. He was so upset because he had done something wrong. And, I was so proud of him in that moment.

The Bible talks about this. Check it out: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51v17

God, help me to be like Carter – to be broken in front of my Daddy – to have a complete, true broken heart about my sin - my dirt. Because God wants me to come to him, not in of fear of retribution, but in a spirit of brokenness – because he loves me. And in that moment, He is proud of me - and of you.

More Than Bedtime Stories

I love bedtime for the kids... for many reasons. :-) One of the biggest just started a few days ago. We've been reading short children's devotionals to the kids for many months. But just a few days ago, I committed to read through the Bible with Carter and Mo at bedtime as well. I love my church. They do a super-dooper, bang-up job in children's ministry. But they will not replace mine or Jami's role we play as spiritual leaders in our children's lives. 

I thought it would be a challenge to read through the Bible with a two and four year old. But with this tool above, it's been a blast. I love it!

After being in student ministry in some shape for the last 11 years, it's clear that parents play the largest role in a kid's life. My leadership, or lack thereof, will be either a catalyst for growth and development, or a catalyst for disappointment and hurt. I choose the former. 

There are a lot of things I do day in and day out. But the most important, (and sometimes the easiest forgotten) is to be the father Carter and Mo needs me to be.

I'm not perfect. I fail... a lot. But I'm working on it.

Exposed and Unrated

So Matt and I are in the middle of putting together a series called, “Unedited” or “Unrated” for Revolve. The idea behind it is this, we want students to learn to be committed to living an authentic lifestyle – to know that God accepts them where they are and that nobody (especially followers of Jesus) are perfect. We want to give them pictures of what it means to live authentically while following Jesus.

So here’s my question – how much authenticity is too much?

We’ve got students coming who outright cuss. I love it.

We’ve also got students who “slip” at cussing and apologize? I hate it. I hate thinking that the only reason they're apologizing is because they're at a “religious” event. I hate thinking that they're one person on Sunday night, and another Monday morning.

And as I strive to live an authentic life, running after Jesus, I long for students to do the same.

But, how much authenticity is too much? I mean, we want our students to be real… right? Or is there an invisible line that can be crossed?

What do you think? Take the survey or leave a comment.

Exposed & Unrated Survey