Sunday Prayer: Keep My Mind Focused

Father in Heaven,

I come to you today with a grateful heart, knowing that I have been raised with Christ and that my life, along with everyone who follows Jesus, are hidden with Him in you. I thank you for the hope and promise of appearing with Jesus in glory when He returns to make everything right.

Help me to keep my mind set on things above, Your will and character, and not on the temporary and deceptive things of this earth. May I continually seek after you and your will for my life, knowing that you are the ultimate source of all that is good and true.

Guide me in all that I do, and help me to live my life in a way that pleases you. Give me the strength to resist temptations and to remain focused on faithfully following Jesus in all that I do.

Thank you for the gift of your Son, who died and rose again, making it possible for all your people to experience eternal life. May I never forget the sacrifice that was made on our behalf, and may I always strive to live in a way that honors Jesus, my King and Savior.

In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

Should We Listen The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill?

 

This tweet popped up on Twitter last week. It got me thinking about listening to a podcast like The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, because I do think there is a danger to it.

1. We need to avoid treating in like gossip. This might be my #1 issue with it, because after listening to an episode I want to Google “Mark Driscoll” to see what he is up to now. So there is a fine line there between the journalistic storytelling the podcast is and gossip.

2. We need to see the big picture. This isn’t just about Driscoll and Mars Hill, it is about Evangelicalism and celebrity. How we justify certain behaviors if we believe they are getting the right results. There is a parallel here with the Evangelical support of President Trump. Evangelicals were okay supporting Donald Trump, in spite of his treatment of women, because he promised them things they wanted. They believed he would deliver the results they wanted. People justified Driscoll’s behavior because he appeared to be getting good results.

3. We should remember that in the midst of bad that happened at Mars Hill, God still brought about God. Remember, we worship God, who is so powerful that He is able to bring good out of bad and life out of death. This is what Paul wrote; “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28, NLT). Yes, the Mars Hill story contains tragedy, but it also contains examples of God’s grace and transformation. This is one of the great lessons from the podcast.

Should we bee listening to The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill?

I think it is something worth listening to as long as we avoid the temptation to use it as an excuse to cast judgment on Mark Driscoll. This podcast gives us the opportunity for self reflection and consider the question: In what ways am I using God and His Kingdom to build my own platform?

More than Just Words

 What we believe matters. Our beliefs have the ability to shape our thoughts, world views, and behaviors. This is why we need to make sure what we believe is true.

With that being said, we have to recognize that understanding certain doctrines doesn’t mean we have faith in God. We can intellectually affirm that God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, but that doesn’t mean that we actually have faith in God.

What is also true is that we can understand what those words mean, but still not understand God's character. If our relationship with God is based purely on definitions and doctrines, then we will miss experiencing God for who He truly is.

To gain a better understanding of God requires moving away from the intellectual pursuit of knowing about God to the pursuit of actually knowing God. That can only happen as we trust our lives to Him.

It is one thing to say that God is the great provider, but it is another thing to experience God providing for our needs. 

We can say that God is the Great Physician, but it is another thing to experience God’s healing power in our lives.

Our ideas of God fall short of who God is.

Hebrews 11:29-31 (NLT)

It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.

It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.

It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

Each of these examples mentioned in Hebrews 11 remind us what made the difference was the response of faith that allowed people to experience God’s power. Because of faith God parted the Red Sea, because of faith God tore down the walls of Jericho, and because of faith Rahab was rescued from Jericho.

All these people had an incomplete understanding of God, but because of their faithful actions they experienced God in a real way. This allowed them to see God in a more true sense then a careful study of Scripture is able to do.

Living by faith adds a real dimension to our understanding of God that our academic and devotional study are not able to provide.

Sunday Prayer: Set My Mind

Heavenly Father,

I humbly confess that I allow the things of this world to distract me from the life You have called me to live. The distractions politics, entertainment, fun, and pleasure prevent me from truly setting my mind and my heart on those heavenly things which lead to life.

Renew my heart and mind so I will desire heavenly things. Strengthen my will so I can say no to the things of this world. Give me eyes to see from an eternal perspective. Empower me to live a life that glorifies you. This is the true desire of my heart. Help me Father to pursue You with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Amen.

Thoughts about the Future Post 2020

 I shared this earlier on Facebook and thought I might expand on it here.

Just a few thoughts I have had about the future as we approach the end of 2020:

1.  Historians will use 2020 to make the beginning of the end for the United States. I think in the next 15 years we will see at least one successful secession movement, which will change the make up of the country. The United States will continue to be a major player in the world, but things like debt and division will cause things to start to fall apart.

2. A viable 3rd party will emerge. Not from the place you expect. The Republican Party will become more conservative as it looses the Neocon wing of the party. The Neocons will join the Democrat party which will be viewed on the centrist party (and dominate elections). The progressive wing of the Democrat party (Bernie Sanders, AOC, and company) will break away and form a truly progressive/socialist party.

3. The average church size will continue to decline. There will be a time of transition for many local churches as they try to discover how to do ministry in a post-COVID reality. This isn’t a negative, because it will force churches become more creative in how to make disciples, but it will be difficult to say good bye to programs and ministries that we have come to believe are essential for church.

4. Denominational lines for churches will become increasingly irrelevant. There will be a greater emphasis and on “what the Bible says” and “Mere Christianity” with a diminishing emphasis on systematic theologies, Calvinism, etc.

5. Bivocational pastors will become the norm. Because of smaller church sizes most pastors will have to look for multiple streams of income to sustain their ministry. This can be a benefit as pastors get creative in how they leverage their “day job” for ministry.

6. The Church will have to be prepared to deal with ever evolving questions concerning sexuality, gender, race, and even things like transhumanism.

We are going to look back on 2020 as the year that everything changed. Some of those changes were already happening, they were accelerated because of what happened. Other things will change as a direct result of what happened this year. 

Whatever the case, it is time to accept whatever change the future has for us and remain faithful to the calling God has given to us.

Move in the Direction of Who You want to Be

Change is constantly happening. 

That is why we can say the above quote shared by Dave Ramsey on Instagram is incorrect. Time, experience, and other forces of life are at work in and around us. No one stays the same.

Yet, these forces are often indifferent to who we would like to become. They are simply the result of life.

The point of the quote and what I think we should all consider, is that we are not going to become the person we want to be without intentional effort. If we just go along with the flow of life, we will experience change, we will be different, but we probably aren’t moving closer to the goals we have for our lives.

Two of the greatest influences we have in life that are able to determine that direction of our lives are what we learn (reading was the primary source of learning a generation ago, it is not longer the case) and the people we are around.

Reading books, listening to podcasts, watching lectures, and hearing sermons all have the power to direct our thoughts and to get us thinking in ways that we wouldn’t on our own. When we seek to go in a specific direction in our lives it pays to hear from people who have already gone done that path. To neglect the discipline of learning means we will miss out on reaching our full potential.

This is why the New Testament tells us direct our thoughts (Romans 12:2, Philippians 4:8, Colossians 3:1-4, 1 Peter 1:13). To change our worldview and our behavior we first have to change our thoughts. 

We are going to be thinking, it is one of the things God designed our minds to do, and so we have a great responsibility to direct what we are thinking about. Don’t just passively allow the news, social media, and entertainment direct your thoughts. Instead, be intentional about what you put into your mind to think about so we can become more like the person you want to be.

If you are looking for a good book to read here are some recommendations:

1. Reading the Bible: When it comes to reading the Bible, here are two books I have found helpful: Scripture and the Authority of God by N. T. Wright and The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight. They are similar books in that they challenge us to examine the ways in which we read and interpret Scripture. N.T. Wright wants us to see Scripture as the way God works in and through us. Scot McKnight seeks to have us read through the lens of the Bible being God’s story.
2. Productivity: Here are two books about productivity/getting the most out of your time. Deep Work by Cal Newport and the Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. Deep Work (which is in my top 10 books people should read) focuses on the importance of regularly working distraction free, because distractions prevent us from truly getting the most out of our mental energy. The Slight Edge has a lot of content that is transferable to task of discipleship. The key is to develop little disciplines that help you accomplish your goals.
3. Church ministry: Wondering how the church can enter into a new time of ministry after Covid? Two books I have found helpful are Recalibrate Your Church by Dr. Troy Jones and Analog Church by Jay Kim. Recalibrate Your Church looks at the necessity of creating a church culture that is willing to evaluate and change the ministry of the church to impact the community. Analog Church, which is in the top 5 books I have read this year, looks at the importance community and relationships in following Jesus.
4. Leadership: Leadership is a tricky thing and we constantly need teaching and encouragement on how to do it. Ruth Haley Barton’s Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership is a good book for pastors, because it reminds us that our leadership requires a connection with God. John Maxwell’s Developing the Leader Within You is a classic book that focuses on the practical things we should pay attention to in our leadership.
5. Following Jesus: Here are three short books that provide a greater insight into what it means to follow Jesus. Imminent Domain by Ben Witherington looks at God’s Kingdom and our place in it. Life in Christ by John Stott explores how we are connected to Jesus. Following Jesus by N. T. Wright explains what it means to follow Jesus.
6. Prayer: How about prayer? Here are three I have benefited from reading: With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray (one of my favorite authors), Moving Mountains by John Eldredge, and Seeing is Believing by Greg Boyd. With Christ in the School of Prayer is divided up into 31 lessons (a month long) that conclude with a sample prayer. Moving Mountains provides an encouragement to pray as well as some ideas of how to pray (Daily prayer, praying Scripture, Warfare Prayer). Seeing is Believing focuses on using our imagination in prayer, especially as we seek healing and restoration.

Start being intentional about the person you are becoming. Read a book, listen to a lecture, and hang out with the right people. These are intentional actions that will point us in the direction we need to go.

Vital Importance

I have been trying to write this pondering for many days now, but it just hasn’t come. 

So to move on from it, let me bullet point my thoughts on this quote:

• Many Christians see the main benefit of salvation and following Jesus as “going to heaven” when they die. This causes them to miss out on the difference Jesus makes for our lives today.
• When we believe that faith is mainly about believing the right things and that believing these things is the key to salvation, then we have little to no motivation to change the way we live. Instead we become concerned about having the right doctrines and less concerned about living the right way.
• It is crucial for us to understand what God is up. God doesn’t need to save us so we can spend eternity with Him. Remember God created a good universe. He created human beings in His image so we can rule this world along side of Him, displaying His goodness and demonstrating His character along the way.
• Jesus is the perfect sacrifice because He alone was able to display God’s goodness in the way He lived. For us to live out our design, for us to be true to the image of God, we need to be conformed to the life of Jesus.
• To be conformed to the life and teachings of Jesus takes intentional effort and time. This is the role the spiritual disciplines play in our lives. The disciplines are like the drills during basketball practice or the scales that are rehearsed during piano practice. The drills are not the game and the scales are not the performance, but they help the player and the musician be better prepared for the game and the concert.
• It is vitally important that we take following Jesus seriously and don’t just sit around waiting to go to heaven. God created us for so much more. In fact, we prepare for eternity with God by conforming to the life of Jesus now.

Just some quick thoughts on this passage.

Hopefully they were helpful to you. If not, you got a peek at how my mind works.

What We Think About Most

 

On Thursday I wrote a post about being a persuader.

Last year I had a Barnes and Nobel gift card and one of the books I bought was Win Bigly by Scott Adams.

Win Bigly is a look at President Trump’s ability to persuade. Whether you like him or not (I personally do not support President Trump, but I am willing to admit he has done some good things).

After writing the post I Thursday I took Win Bigly off my shelf and flipped through it, looking at the  highlights I made. The above quote caught my eye.

In persuasion it is important to get people to think about things you have said. The more they think about what we say, the more it influences their thinking. 

This is why repetition is not a bad thing. When we repeat something there is a better chance of it getting lodge in the mind of someone. 

There is a secondary reason why I shared this quote with you. It reminds us that we need to be mindful of what we allow ourselves to think about.

Remember, the key to transforming our lives is changing the way we think:

Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Changing our thinking is key to changing our behavior.

This is the reason that I am concerned about the person who shares only political posts on Facebook or the person who only talks about sports. This reveals that their thinking is dominated by “the behavior and customs of this world.”

One of the key disciplines that God’s people have practiced over the years is the discipline of meditation. In earlier times meditation was crucial because they did not have access to their own copy of Scripture. They had to rely on what was said during their times together, and then remember what was said.

In this way they were able to memorize God’s word and bury its wisdom in their hearts.

Because of our easy access to the Bible the practice of meditation has fallen by the wayside. We are content to get our daily Bible reading in so we can move on to the next thing on our agendas. In the process we are not really thinking about what we read and how it applies to our lives.

I have found it helpful to do a longer reading of Scripture (I have been reading the the New Testament in 90 days, which is about 3 chapters a day) and then a shorter reading, which is just a few verses. With the shorter passage I can take time to think about it, ask questions about it, and even pray it. That way it has a chance to become a part of  the way I think.

I challenge you these next few days to pay attention to what you are thinking about. 

Are your thoughts godly and loving? Are they based behaviors and customs of the world? How can you be more intentional in directing your thoughts to things that are good, noble, and pure (Philippians 4:8)?

Understanding persuasion can help us be better persuaders and it helps us to identify things that are working on us.

Be mindful of what you let persuade you.

 

Face Reality

I am an introvert. That is one of the reasons why I spend so much time pondering.  

All my pondering often leads to introspection. I am constantly evaluating my life.

One of my goals is to live as consistently as possible. I am always examining my thoughts and my actions to see if they line up with what I claim to believe. 

This is both good and bad. 

On the one hand, it helps me to live with integrity, which is a key part of following Jesus. 

On the other hand, it puts a lot of pressure on me, because I can see all the areas where I fall short of my ideals.

When it comes to following Jesus it is good to spend time evaluating the condition of our hearts and the way we live. 

The apostle Paul wrote:

Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. (Romans 12:3; NLT)

Paul taught that we need to have the proper understanding of who we are. 

This requires that we take time to honestly evaluate ourselves. The warning Paul gave is that we don't think of ourselves better than we are. We shouldn't put a positive spin on things, rather we accept our strengths and victories as we admit to our weakness and failures. 

For a healthy life we need to do both. We need value the positive things and confess the negative things.

Too often people fail to examine their lives and ask the tough questions. They try to keep the status quo and not rock the boat, and the result is that they remain stunted in their maturity. Some of our most profound times of growth occur when we take stock of our lives and begin the hard work of making the appropriate changes.

What is true on a personal level is also true on a group level. 

Churches stagnate and die because the members don't want to take time and to face reality. The crisis the Church in the United States is facing right now is, in part, due to the reality that we have wanted to keep the status quo rather than seeking ways to connect with people living in a post-Christian internet age.

This failure to honestly examine things is also true in the nation as a whole. We can talk about a health care crisis or a financial crisis, but we never ask the tough questions that need to be asked that help us understand the root of these crises. We don't want to know what truly caused the problem, we just want the government to make it go away.

My point in all of this is to remind us that as long as we are dealing with superficial issues we will continue to miss the core problem. Whether it is in our personal lives, in our churches, or in our nation, we need to look beyond the superficial and examine what really matters. 

While this is harder to do in the short term it will pay huge benefits in the long run. Effective solutions are those that actually deal with root problem.  By not addressing the real issue, we are just wasting time doing things that ultimately will not matter. 

We need to face reality if we hope to become the people, the church, or the country God created us to be.

Set Your Mind

We live in an information age.

The amount of information that is available at our finger tips through the internet is amazing. There is no library in the ancient world that can rival what is available online.

I am sure that our ancestors would be jealous of the tools and the information we have at our disposal. Many of them had access to only a few books, which they read dozens of times.

The problem we have with this constant access to information is that it can give us information overload. Much of the time it is hard to discern what information we should pay attention to and what information we should ignore.

Our constant online connection is like having a buffet available for every meal. Sure there is good stuff there, but it is easy to binge on that junk that seems tasty.

In other words, because of social media and entertainment outlets, our information consumption tends toward the junk food side of the buffet. The consequence is that the information that fuels our thoughts is just empty calories. It brings a little big of enjoyment, but it isn't going to change our lives.

Even though our ancestors had access to far less information, they were able to use what they had to develop a more robust way of thinking. They knew Latin, Greek, and could talk about different philosophers. They developed a philosophy of limited government and individual rights. They knew Scripture and applied its lessons to their lives. What they thought about not only changed their world, but continues to influence us today.

Always remember: Out thoughts determine the direction of our lives.

It is no wonder that the Bible has so much to say about our thoughts. For instance:

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:2; NLT) 

We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5; NLT) 

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8; NLT)

To follow Jesus requires that we change our old ways of thinking. Transformation begins with changing the way we think.

Changing the way we think takes work. Our entire lives, you and I, have developed ways of thinking that have shaped the way we see the world. This means our thought patterns are second nature to us, we don't give them a second thought, but they are responsible for our moods and our outlook on the world around us.

We need to change the way we think! How do we do that?

Colossians 3:1-4 gives us a couple of insights into what we must do.

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.  And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. (NLT)

In this passage there are two steps we must take in order to change the way we think.

First, Paul told us to "set our sights", or to focus on, what is real. The reality that Paul wanted us to focus on is that we have new life with Jesus. Through our faith, repentance, and baptism we have been raised to a brand new life with Jesus. He is our life, the way we are to live. He is our life, our hope of what is promised to us. Our focus is to be on him. To change our thinking requires us to shut out what is happening around us and focus on Jesus. This is why worship, prayer, and Bible reading are crucial to Christian spiritual formation. These disciplines help us to focus on Jesus.

Second, Paul told us to "think about the things of heaven." The "things of heaven" are not gold streets and eternal life. The "things of heaven" are the values, the rules, the standards, and the morality of heaven. In short, they are the qualities that make up God's character. We think about these things and how they apply to our lives. Instead of basing our standard of truth off what the world says is right, we hold fast to what God has revealed to us. We think about His promises, His word, and His truth and let these thing form our world view.

Taking responsibility for our thoughts allows us to develop new and healthy ways of thinking. It gives us a chance to create a world view that is more in line with God's truth, and it allows us to live with hope and faith.

Failing to take responsibility for our thoughts means we will continue to respond to the world through the old thought patterns we have adopted. These thought patterns often lead us to wrong conclusions and cause us to spend our lives in ways that are not beneficial.

We can change the way we think, but it takes the effort to set our minds on God, His purposes, and His ways. This is the starting point of our spiritual formation.