Just Try Harder???

Many times in my life when I have been struggling in a certain area, I have been advised to just try harder to be holy. I grit my teeth and determine that I will not do that thing again but before long, I find myself right back where I started. It seems like the harder I try not to sin, the more I end up sinning.

Last week I was reading in the book of Acts where Paul comes to the city of Ephesus and finds out that the people only knew of the baptism of John. He explains that the baptism of John was for repentance but that there was another baptism into Jesus that they needed to know about (19:1-7). Now, I am pretty sure he was not worried about what ritual they performed, what words were spoken, or how they got wet. He wanted them to understand a foundational fact about salvation. Namely, that salvation does not come from trying to be a better person; it comes from knowing and following a better person.

John’s baptism was all about trying harder. Repent you brood of vipers… That kind of thing. There was no grace. There was no forgiveness. There was just a harsh call to try harder. There was no hope. When Jesus came, things changed. He came to show us we can’t be good enough no matter how hard we try. He came to die in our place and take the punishment for our sin. He came to bring grace not rules. The message of Jesus could not have been more different than that of John.

I am not saying that Jesus told us we could do any sinful thing we want. I am saying HE made provision for our failures and offered to lead us in the ways of righteousness. HE could have been like John and said, “go do better.” Instead HE said, “Come follow ME.” There is a huge difference between rules and relationship. John said “don’t do this or that or God will smite thee…” Jesus said, “don’t do that because it will destroy you and harm our relationship.” I am much less likely to sin when I focus on my relationship with JESUS rather than concentrating on not sinning. After all , the more I think about not sinning, the more I am thinking about sin. When I replace the thought of sin with love for JESUS I am much more likely to live a holy life.

I want to move from the religious baptism of repentance to the life giving relationship of grace. I want to graduate from trying to following. I want to go from fear of GOD to relationship with GOD. After all, fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, not the end.

Hanging Out In Painful Places

GOD has been bringing me back to a small, seemingly insignificant passage in the book of Acts. In chapter 16, Paul starts out on his second missionary journey: And, wait for it… Goes to Lystra! Wow! Do you see how exciting that is? No? Well, maybe if you realize that Lystra was the last place he visited on his first missionary journey. Now do you see it? How about if I remind you that it was in Lystra that a mob threw large stones at Paul’s head until they were all convinced that he was dead. They were so sure he was dead, they drug him out of the city and threw him in the dump. But God raised him up and he immediately went back into the city. Now, when he is ready to go out on another mission trip, he makes a beeline for the place where they almost succeeded in killing him.

So, why did Paul go back there? I don’t think it was the nice weather. He may have had some friends but he certainly had more enemies there. It wasn’t on the way to anywhere. I think he went back there to face his pain and his fear. It is human nature to avoid painful places and people. Paul was showing us how to confront the painful places in our lives.

Whenever the enemy hurts us, his goal is always to get us to quit. If he can’t get us to quit, he will settle for hurting us so badly that we will not walk in the fullness of God’s plan. He tries to create places in our lives that we are afraid to even think about. Paul refused to live in that kind of bondage. He confronted the very place of his greatest pain. We must be a people who will not back down. We must go forward and deal with the painful places. We might even need to go back and vacation there until the fear is gone.

Oh, another thing stands out about this. It is in Lystra that Paul find Timothy who become his protégé and friend for many years to come. Many times it is in the painful places of our life that we find the greatest blessing. GOD loves to build on our scars. When we confront our pain and let God heal us, HE just loves to use those scars as a foundation for blessing and future ministry. We will miss out on all of that if we run away and avoid our pain.

It’s Gonna Be Worth It

Well, this morning I stand convicted. I have allowed myself to slip back into a self-pity and borderline depression. Financial pressures have thrown me for a loop and all I have done for the past week or two is whine. Then this morning as I read Revelation 15, I was cut to the bone and convicted about my attitude. The verse 2 says, …those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of GOD in their hands. (3) And they sang the song of Moses, the servant of GOD, and the song of THE LAMB, saying “Great and amazing are YOUR deeds, O LORD GOD ALMIGHTY! Just and true are YOUR ways O KING OF THE NATIONS!…’

So what is the big deal about people in heaven worshipping GOD? Isn’t that what people do in heaven? Especially since they had conquered the beast, right? Then I realized conquered the beast didn’t mean they had a spectacular battle were GOD intervened at the last moment and smote the beast and then the saints got to go to a coronation ceremony and live happily ever after… Conquoring the beast means they did not bow down and accept the number and were subsequently tortured and killed. That is how they got to heaven…

Suddenly I am reminded how small and petty I am. I am whining about not getting to buy what I want to or go out as much as I would like. But I am not in danger of torture or having my head cut off. If those who were tortured and killed can worship the LORD, why can’t I? I know they are already there and seeing glory but I sing and preach and write all the time that I believe in God and in heaven, so why don’t I believe enough to believe all the pain in this world will be worth it when we see HIM? Every time something gets had, I whine and cry and act like there is no future and no glory. My lips say there is a heaven but my attitude says there isn’t. LORD, help me. Give me strength to live out my theology; to live out my faith…

Go After Jesus

Hey, for anyone who is interested, there is a new video of a talk I did recently on this blog page. Click on the video window in the right sidebar and check it out. It is about how one person can accomplish so much more than they ever thought possible if they will just worry about pursuing Jesus.

Too Weak For What?

As I read about YOU in the Garden of Gethsemane, I am struck by YOUR instructions to the Peter, James, and John. YOU told them to watch and pray that they wouldn’t fall into temptation. First YOU asked them to pray with YOU but then YOU told them to pray for themselves. YOU wanted company during YOUR time of struggle but even more YOU wanted them to be strengthened in their spirit so that they would have strength for the trial they were about to go through with YOU. In the midst of YOUR suffering, YOU wanted them to be strengthened.

In Mark 14:31, Peter said, “Even if I have to die with YOU, I will never deny YOU.” And the others agreed with them. That is what YOU meant when YOU said their spirits were willing. Their spirits were ready to die with YOU but their flesh was too weak to live for YOU. How different it would have been if they had prayed…

The interesting thing is that YOU didn’t want them to die with YOU. What YOU really wanted was to make sure they did not quit and give up completely. YOU told Peter he would deny YOU. YOU weren’t telling him to pray he wouldn’t do that. YOU were telling him to pray so that the failures of his flesh would not cause him to quit following YOU.

Satan does not just want to hurt Peter and YOU by making him fail. The enemy’s goal is to encourage Peter to go from failure to self-condemnation and guilt. He wants Peter to feel so bad about his weak flesh that he will avoid YOU. Then, if he avoids YOU long enough, he will wither up spiritually and YOUR life energy will dry up in him and he will quit following YOU.

That is the ultimate goal of the enemy in my life. He wants to see me fail; which will lead to feeling guilty and ashamed; which will lead to avoiding spending time with YOU; which will cause me to lose my joy, strength, and energy for life; which will make me quit following YOU. He does not just take joy out of hurting me, he wants me to give up. Lord, help me recognize and stop this cycle in my life.

Today, YOU are not so much concerned that I might fail to live up to my big promises to bravely follow YOU. You are more concerned that when I fail to live up to those words, I do not become so discouraged that I quit accepting YOUR grace. Help me remember that YOU have already dealt with my failures and the weakness of my flesh. YOU understand my weakness better than I do. Help me to not condemn myself and feel so guilty that I quit trying. Don’t let me be so ashamed that I avoid YOU. When I fail, remind me of how that is the time to run to YOU, accept YOUR grace and forgiveness, and let YOU restore my joy and strength!