What Really Matters

We are pulled in so many different directions.  Our minds race to try to keep up with the world around us, and our bodies scurry from place to place trying to meet all the demands of our busy schedules.  It can be a little overwhelming.  Wouldn’t it be great if we had some sort of filter we could pour our lives through in order to sort out what’s really important?  We do.  The Apostle Paul writes,

“And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that [comes] through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-10, HCSB, emphasis added).

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians was that they would have the wisdom to sort out what really matters in life.  In other words, he prayed that they could set godly priorities.  With everything pulling us in every direction imaginable, we too really need discernment to determine what really matters.  May we pour our lives through the filter of God’s Word and His guidance.  And then, may we have the commitment and diligence to live it out.

Temple Life

After Solomon finished building the Temple, he offered up a dedicatory prayer.  God responds, “I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever.  I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart” (1 Kings 9:3, NLT).  While we do not worship in a physical temple anymore, our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  Subsequently, we need to live in a way that is set apart and honors His name in all that we do.  Paul reminds us of this when he writes, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?  You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.  So you must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NLT).  May we live in a way that does so today.

Inside Out

You ever hear someone say, “do as I say, not as I do?”  It’s not all that uncommon for children to hear these words from their parents.  All of us should want to strive to be consistent in the way that we live.  Hopefully, our words and our actions bear testimony to God’s presence in our lives.  Tragically, however, that is often not the case.  We are surrounded be people who advocate one thing and practice another. 

What’s true in our day was also true in Jesus’ day.  As a matter of fact, He warned people not to follow the example set by many of that day’s religious leaders.  The Bible says, “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.  So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach” (Matthew 23:1-3, NLT).  In other words, Jesus says “do what they say, and not what they do.”

The Pharisees were guilty of good teaching and bad living.  Many of us have the same struggle.  We have access to the clear instruction of God’s Word.  Perhaps we are even teachers ourselves.  Yet we do not live what it says.  Rather, we practice our own form of righteousness.  We follow our own standards.  We do our own thing.  All at the expense of what God has to say.

Tragically, the religious leadership of Jesus’ day had developed their own route to God.  They had neglected the inside of their lives in favor of the outside.  They had created a list of dos and don’ts with the understanding that as long as you kept them, motives and attitudes did not matter.  They failed to appreciate that changed behavior comes through a changed heart.  As a result, their hearts were far from the God they professed.  Jesus goes on to say, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.  Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity.  Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27-28, NLT).

God is not impressed with our human, fleshly efforts to get to Him.  He is concerned about our hearts.  He knows fully that if our hearts our in line with Him, our behavior will follow.  We need to let Him change our hearts, knowing that a changed heart leads to a changed life.  We must understand that God is not looking at our church membership or our baptismal certificates as proof of our relationship with Him.  He’s not looking for our giving records or even our ability to spout sound doctrine.  He’s looking for lives that are changed from the inside out.

Thinking Twice About Conflict

Conflict is a part of life.  We turn on the news and we hear of tension in the Middle East.  We get on-line and we read of the rancor of partisan politics.  When we get a little closer to home, we all have felt the sting of conflict where we live and work.  We see such tensions all the time in our homes, offices, or classrooms.  Personalities, egos, and agendas rise up and create schisms.  And, as tragic as all of this is, it’s even more tragic when conflict seeps through the walls of the church, and into the hearts of those that follow Christ.

From where does such corrosiveness come?  The Bible tells us that conflict is not the work of God.  It is rooted in the selfishness of our hearts and our own earthly desires.  The Scripture says,  

“Who is wise and has understanding among you? He should show his works by good conduct with wisdom’s gentleness. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t brag and deny the truth.  Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy.  And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace” (James 3:13-18, HCSB).

James reminds us that this evil has no place in the life of a Christian.  Sadly, too many who claim to follow Jesus are agents of conflict.  And, far too often, the body of Christ bears the scars of their handiwork.  How can we profess Christ with one breath, and destroy a fellow believer with the next?  Such behavior is unattractive, unbiblical, and un-Christlike.  It is completely inconsistently with the faith we profess.  

Are there times when conflict is necessary?  Of course.  We must always contend for the truth and for righteousness.  But, we all know that those usually aren’t the battles we wage.  We fight over music.  We find over friends.  We fight over budgets and power.  All the while, besmirching the name of Christ and the reputation of His church.  The next time we get the itch to fight, we might want to think twice.  We might want to be sure we are contending for a major point of biblical doctrine, or making a stand for the righteous behavior of His people.  We might want to be sure that our desire to flex our muscles has nothing to do with our own selfish ambition and enviousness nature.  Because if it does, we would do well to remember from where such a desire comes.

Running Aimlessly

The world we live in today is a technological world.  The web is replacing the daily newspaper for a source of entertainment and information.  As newspapers die out, so do the comic pages.  When I was a kid, I would read the comics in the Sunday paper.    Peanuts, Beetle Bailey, Hagar the Horrible, Bloom County, and the like.  One of the comics I remember was “Family Circus.”  I never fully appreciated it.  What’s with this kid Billy running all over the neighborhood instead of going straight to school?  What’s with all the dotted lines?  Who does that?  Then, I moved from being a kid to having them, and the light went on.  That’s how kids go from point A to point B.

In life, we tend to be the same way.  We run here, there, and everywhere.  We travel fifty yards to move ten.  We live in a series of dashes spread all over the neighborhood.  Detours and distractions are everywhere.  The Apostle Paul understood the how easy it is to get distracted.  Paul wanted to stay focused as he ran this race called life.  He wrote, “I do not run like one who runs aimlessly, or box like one who beats the air.  Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27, HCSB).

Life is busy.  Things come along and pull us from where we need to be.  Sometimes they’re good things.  Sometimes not so good.  It doesn’t matter whether or not the distraction is inherently right or wrong.  What matters is how it pulls us from where we need to be.  It keeps us from doing what we need to do.  So often, we sacrifice the better for the good.  We get distracted and run aimlessly.  And, in the process, we wear ourselves out and get nothing done.  May we strive to discipline ourselves to run a better race.  Let’s learn to limit the distractions, and stay focused on the objective in front of us (Philippians 3:14).  No excursions on the neighbor’s tree swing.  No quick trips up the schoolyard slide.  No quick tosses of the football.  No dashes, no loops, no meandering.  The finish line is almost in sight.  It’s time to run straight.

Keeping Our Heads Above Water

So often in life, we find ourselves in over our heads.  Whether it’s our finances, our careers, our families, or any other aspect of life, we all can identify with the frustration that comes with being given a task we just cannot do.  One of the great things about life in Christ is the fact that God has given us everything we need in order to honor Him.  The Bible says, “For His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.  By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4, HCSB).

In other words, God enables us to do what He has asked of us.  When He comes into our lives, He empowers us to live for Him.  There is no reason for us to be stuck in neutral.  We have what we need to thrive in our life for Him.  In His grace, God redeems us (Titus 2:11-14).  He enables us to have a relationship with Him, and He empowers us to live a life that honors Him.  May we grow in our knowledge of the One who calls us (2 Peter 3:18), and in our application of the resources He has made available to us (Ephesians 1:18-19).

Getting Rid of Hinderances

A while ago in the state of Ohio, there was a campaign to encourage people to wear their seatbelts.  Everywhere you went, you would see the campaign slogan.  It was on business signs, billboards, t.v. and radio ads, and even signs along the highways.  It was everywhere.  The slogan asked one simple question.  “What’s Holding You Back?” 

The same question could be asked of us in regard to our Christian lives.  What’s holding us back?  In other words, what is keeping us from moving forward in our faith the way God desires us to?  What’s keeping us from progressing the way we should?  The author of the book of Hebrews writes, “let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up” (Hebrews 12:1, NLT).

In the ancient world, runners would remove whatever might hinder them in their race.  It’s similar today to the way modern sprinters strive for solid aerodynamics in their attire.  In our Christian ”race,” we allow so much to slow us down.  Stress, worry, anxiety, fear, bitterness, and anger are just some of the things that weigh on us.  We need to learn to lay these things aside.  They slow us down.  They hinder our progress.  We need to learn to trust God with these everyday aspects of our lives. 

Furthermore, it’s easy for sin to trip us up.  We all know what it’s like to wrestle with sin.  Even in our relationship with Christ, we struggle with aspects of the old nature.  We feed our tendencies and encourage the sin lurking at our door.  Then, just as we are about to hit full stride, it trips us.  It’s akin to a sprinter tripping over an untied shoe lace.  The result is disastrous.  And tragically, it could have all been avoided.  We need to be wise in regard to our weaknesses.  We need to do a better job of not putting ourselves in a position where temptation can bloom and take root.  We must understand the importance of allowing God to help us lay aside the sin that so easily entangles us.  Let’s remove the things that slow us down and trip us up.  Let’s move forward in our faith and live the lives God has called us to.  Let’s be sure that nothing holds us back.