I am sure most of my readers have seen the first three Star Wars movies that were made. In those movies Darth Vader was the villain. We tended to loath him, thinking him inhuman- some kind of evil robot or something.
The question I would pose to you- given the prequels, how do you see him now? And how differently would you look at him, if you had known his history when you first watched him?
True, he did a few very nasty things in the third prequel. No doubt he is still a villain. And yet, I think it changes the way we look at him when we realize that he too was once a kid. He was a hero at one point. He was someone else's child. He had, in a sense, a kind of innocence that most kids have. Yet we might never would have thought of that without the prequels.
We should be careful how we look at people. We don't know where they came from or how they got where they are. There are always reasons why people make the decisions they make- even if the reasons aren't necessarily that good, or justification for their actions, they are reasons- and it helps to remember that we have not stepped in their shoes. We don't know how the world looks to them. Grace must be applied liberally, as we all hope to be looked at with the grace-healed eyes of Christ, instead of the judgement of perfection. My hope is that we all learn to love those around us that we don't get, remembering that we are hoping Christ will love us as we are and accept us into his kindom inspite of our not living up to the model set by Christ.
In short, we all need grace-healed eyes. Remember to judge people the way you wish to be judged by Christ...
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Monday, October 23, 2006
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Assumptions
I just had an epiphany. It came as I realized the reason for why I spent so many hours trying to solve a particular problem here at work. The problem, ultimately, was that I made an assumption that I did not question, leading me to hours of unnecessary work.
Assumptions can be very dangerous. Their danger is in the fact that we rarely realize or question the assumptions we are making, which allow us to hopelessly spin our wheels trying to work our way out of a jam that was created, in part, because of one or more assumptions we made that we didn't question. I would argue that a high percentage of issues that go unresolved for awhile are unresolved because of a bad assumption. The question, then, is: How do we catch these assumptions?
I think catching these assumptions begins with realizing that what you are currently doing is not working. This requires a fair amount of humility, because we all like to think that we know what we are doing and that we can solve our problems by ourselves. We assume that perseverence is the answer, when just maybe it isn't. A good set of questions to ask: "How many times have I tried this particular solution? How successful have I been with it?" That might betray a loyalty to a particular solution that might be faulty. Another assumption: this solution worked for someone else, so it should work for you. Remember- there is often more than one way to solve a problem.
Here are some example assumptions that people make.
"You are the solution."
One case where this assumption gets made is when you assume that Christ is going to use you to lead someone else to God. That may be true. However, often times the best thing we can do is just share our testimony, and pray that God will bring other Christians into that persons life that will minister effectively with them. We may not have the approach that best works for that person, or they may not be ready yet. Either way, we need to hear from God what our role is, and how we can best influence them.
"Our role in the solution is small or nonexistent."
I see this assumption in addictions and in all sorts of temptations. Just so you know what it looks like... picture this: you have a song stuck in your head. Let's assume that this song isn't the best song to be bouncing around inside your noggin. What sometimes happens is that we give up trying to get it out of our head. Now it is possible that this is the best thing that can be done- all you doers out there that think you can solve any problem need to know that you aren't the whole solution. But there is another temptation- to believe that we are stuck and will just have to live with the problem until God does all the work for us. This attitude is completely antithetical to the gospel. Christ came to heal us and change us from the inside out, but also with our cooperation. Now that doesn't mean he will in every situation- we do need to ask God what he is doing in the situation in front of us. Never forget, though, that it was perseverence that was rewarded in the bible, and that rather than just giving up or trying the same solution over and over, that maybe a different solution is the answer.
As you can see, attitude is a big part of the solution. If we think that between our ability to hear from God, seek out counsel from people more developed than ourselves, be introspective enough to find and question the assumptions we are making, and seek for a way out, that God will provide the door. We have to believe that our God loves us and that as long as we have an understanding from him that we are to win this fight, we should press on to victory. Remember- very often the reason we struggle is that we made a faulty assumption that is holding us down, so make time often to step backwards and question the assumptions you are making.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
PS If you email me through the link in "View my complete profile", I will try to send a message to you when I update my blog. It would also be cool to know people are reading it.
Assumptions can be very dangerous. Their danger is in the fact that we rarely realize or question the assumptions we are making, which allow us to hopelessly spin our wheels trying to work our way out of a jam that was created, in part, because of one or more assumptions we made that we didn't question. I would argue that a high percentage of issues that go unresolved for awhile are unresolved because of a bad assumption. The question, then, is: How do we catch these assumptions?
I think catching these assumptions begins with realizing that what you are currently doing is not working. This requires a fair amount of humility, because we all like to think that we know what we are doing and that we can solve our problems by ourselves. We assume that perseverence is the answer, when just maybe it isn't. A good set of questions to ask: "How many times have I tried this particular solution? How successful have I been with it?" That might betray a loyalty to a particular solution that might be faulty. Another assumption: this solution worked for someone else, so it should work for you. Remember- there is often more than one way to solve a problem.
Here are some example assumptions that people make.
"You are the solution."
One case where this assumption gets made is when you assume that Christ is going to use you to lead someone else to God. That may be true. However, often times the best thing we can do is just share our testimony, and pray that God will bring other Christians into that persons life that will minister effectively with them. We may not have the approach that best works for that person, or they may not be ready yet. Either way, we need to hear from God what our role is, and how we can best influence them.
"Our role in the solution is small or nonexistent."
I see this assumption in addictions and in all sorts of temptations. Just so you know what it looks like... picture this: you have a song stuck in your head. Let's assume that this song isn't the best song to be bouncing around inside your noggin. What sometimes happens is that we give up trying to get it out of our head. Now it is possible that this is the best thing that can be done- all you doers out there that think you can solve any problem need to know that you aren't the whole solution. But there is another temptation- to believe that we are stuck and will just have to live with the problem until God does all the work for us. This attitude is completely antithetical to the gospel. Christ came to heal us and change us from the inside out, but also with our cooperation. Now that doesn't mean he will in every situation- we do need to ask God what he is doing in the situation in front of us. Never forget, though, that it was perseverence that was rewarded in the bible, and that rather than just giving up or trying the same solution over and over, that maybe a different solution is the answer.
As you can see, attitude is a big part of the solution. If we think that between our ability to hear from God, seek out counsel from people more developed than ourselves, be introspective enough to find and question the assumptions we are making, and seek for a way out, that God will provide the door. We have to believe that our God loves us and that as long as we have an understanding from him that we are to win this fight, we should press on to victory. Remember- very often the reason we struggle is that we made a faulty assumption that is holding us down, so make time often to step backwards and question the assumptions you are making.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
PS If you email me through the link in "View my complete profile", I will try to send a message to you when I update my blog. It would also be cool to know people are reading it.
Monday, July 17, 2006
God's Timing
Recently I got a picture that relates to God's timing. Hopefully you have seen "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." There is a scene in it where Gandalf is riding into the Shire on a horse-drawn cart. Frodo runs up and jumps on the cart and tells Gandalf that he's late. Gandalf's response is priceless: "A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He always arrives precisely when he means to." This line has enormous spiritual experience, as God is the same way.
Sometimes we think God is late. We desire God not to stretch us in his timing. And yet it is clear from scripture that God often arrives "precisely when he means to". A few passages to consider in this: when Abraham is waiting for the promised child, when Saul is waiting for Samuel to come and make the sacrifice, and the death of Lazarus. In all three cases people expected something to happen sooner than God planned. We expect God to be on our timetable. Yet here we see that God has his own plan and does things when he desires.
My prayer for us is that we would learn to trust God. Difficult circumstances are designed with this in mind, that we would bloom into mature believers that can really trust God in all things. God wants to make us promises, and have us patiently abide in Christ while he prepares to fulfill the promises made. Hopefully we won't create an Ishmael through unbelief. May your faith and trust in God grow in leaps and bounds in this season.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Sometimes we think God is late. We desire God not to stretch us in his timing. And yet it is clear from scripture that God often arrives "precisely when he means to". A few passages to consider in this: when Abraham is waiting for the promised child, when Saul is waiting for Samuel to come and make the sacrifice, and the death of Lazarus. In all three cases people expected something to happen sooner than God planned. We expect God to be on our timetable. Yet here we see that God has his own plan and does things when he desires.
My prayer for us is that we would learn to trust God. Difficult circumstances are designed with this in mind, that we would bloom into mature believers that can really trust God in all things. God wants to make us promises, and have us patiently abide in Christ while he prepares to fulfill the promises made. Hopefully we won't create an Ishmael through unbelief. May your faith and trust in God grow in leaps and bounds in this season.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Get What You Need From God
Here is a specific challenge that faces all of us, either through difficult circumstances, unstable emotions, or even boredom with its accompanied temptations. That is- getting what we need from God.
I am all for conferences, bible studies, etc. However, I do think there is a genuine temptation to expect to use these to solve whatever current dryness currently exists in our lives. When it comes down to it, we really need to be self sufficient in our ability to come to God when we need him and get whatever need is there met. Too often we think that meetings and conferences are what we need. Were there conferences in the early church? No. And while they did have meetings, I think they were more for sharing with each other what God has done. Ultimately, God is our source and supplier, not other people. Come to God to meet your needs.
There is a weapon that is not well known outside of charismatic circles for repositioning one's self when the need is great. It is called "praying in the spirit" or "praying in tongues". It works as a form of spiritual exercise, enabling you to hear God better and to be spiritually aligned. If you are able to do this, I highly recommend it when life presses down hard. If you don't have this, it is worth pursuing and will change your life. Other tools include crying out to God, meditation, fasting, and other disciplines as mentioned in Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline".
Ultimately, there will be times in our life where there will be great need. My prayer for you the reader is that when trials and tests come you will reach out to God and get your needs met directly from him. People can help, true, and that has its place, but living a disciplined, holy life requires that we are able to get our fix from God when no one is available. It shows real maturity in Christ that we can come to him with our open hands and let him meet our needs.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
I am all for conferences, bible studies, etc. However, I do think there is a genuine temptation to expect to use these to solve whatever current dryness currently exists in our lives. When it comes down to it, we really need to be self sufficient in our ability to come to God when we need him and get whatever need is there met. Too often we think that meetings and conferences are what we need. Were there conferences in the early church? No. And while they did have meetings, I think they were more for sharing with each other what God has done. Ultimately, God is our source and supplier, not other people. Come to God to meet your needs.
There is a weapon that is not well known outside of charismatic circles for repositioning one's self when the need is great. It is called "praying in the spirit" or "praying in tongues". It works as a form of spiritual exercise, enabling you to hear God better and to be spiritually aligned. If you are able to do this, I highly recommend it when life presses down hard. If you don't have this, it is worth pursuing and will change your life. Other tools include crying out to God, meditation, fasting, and other disciplines as mentioned in Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline".
Ultimately, there will be times in our life where there will be great need. My prayer for you the reader is that when trials and tests come you will reach out to God and get your needs met directly from him. People can help, true, and that has its place, but living a disciplined, holy life requires that we are able to get our fix from God when no one is available. It shows real maturity in Christ that we can come to him with our open hands and let him meet our needs.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Deliberate Living
Hi!
God is giving me a new challenge, and even though I am still processing it I thought it would bless you to hear about it and be challenged as well. The challenge is to live a directed life, living with a sense of purpose.
As I see it, it is really easy to get sucked into our daily lives with little in the way of purpose directing our overall direction. In general, we are doing good if our daily lives are disciplined and there is some degree of ministry in our lives. The problem with all this is that we will tend to dream small within this framework and not really branch out and follow any real dreams God might have for us.
I'd like to say that I know what dreams God has for me, but truthfully I don't. I could see myself writing for a living, but I sense that for that to succeed, I would need some life experiences to give me a foundation to write from. I really am not sure how to get this foundation correctly. All of this is somewhat foreign to me anyways- up until recently I thought I was going to be programming for a long time. It seems to me that God has other plans for me in the next several years. Now I just need to know where to begin! So I write this post not feeling confident how to move forward, except realizing that change is needed, even while not knowing what change that is.
I think the key for me is praying for a plan. Taking time to think about what God might lead me into is key as well. I might need to fast also- I have found fasting in the past to be an effective weapon to help you hear from God. At least I have a starting place- I want to write about the Christian life and I think I might be gifted enough to succeed. Hopefully you have an idea of what you would like to do with your life.
My prayer for you is that you would begin to look at your life carefully and the goals you set. Are you becoming the person you want to be? Are you impacting the world the way you hoped to? Is your life the way you want it to be? These are questions I am asking myself, and because I don't like the answers I am getting, I am starting to rethink my strategy. Please think on these things as well. God has great things in store for us if only we would reach for them!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
God is giving me a new challenge, and even though I am still processing it I thought it would bless you to hear about it and be challenged as well. The challenge is to live a directed life, living with a sense of purpose.
As I see it, it is really easy to get sucked into our daily lives with little in the way of purpose directing our overall direction. In general, we are doing good if our daily lives are disciplined and there is some degree of ministry in our lives. The problem with all this is that we will tend to dream small within this framework and not really branch out and follow any real dreams God might have for us.
I'd like to say that I know what dreams God has for me, but truthfully I don't. I could see myself writing for a living, but I sense that for that to succeed, I would need some life experiences to give me a foundation to write from. I really am not sure how to get this foundation correctly. All of this is somewhat foreign to me anyways- up until recently I thought I was going to be programming for a long time. It seems to me that God has other plans for me in the next several years. Now I just need to know where to begin! So I write this post not feeling confident how to move forward, except realizing that change is needed, even while not knowing what change that is.
I think the key for me is praying for a plan. Taking time to think about what God might lead me into is key as well. I might need to fast also- I have found fasting in the past to be an effective weapon to help you hear from God. At least I have a starting place- I want to write about the Christian life and I think I might be gifted enough to succeed. Hopefully you have an idea of what you would like to do with your life.
My prayer for you is that you would begin to look at your life carefully and the goals you set. Are you becoming the person you want to be? Are you impacting the world the way you hoped to? Is your life the way you want it to be? These are questions I am asking myself, and because I don't like the answers I am getting, I am starting to rethink my strategy. Please think on these things as well. God has great things in store for us if only we would reach for them!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Life Satisfaction
One challenge that meets me every so often is the challenge of being content with what I have where I am. I see this challenge in particular when someone I know graduates from college with better grades than I got or when I watch someone I know get married. I am sure you have experienced it too.
When it comes down to it though, I can take solace in one truth- every day I get to experience the presense of God. Every day I get to receive his love, as long as I choose to. I am going to be in heaven! You must understand something. In a sense, heaven isn't just for when you die. You were meant to delight yourself in God every day, which in some lesser sense is experiencing heaven right here on earth. When I remember the love God has shown me, and I feel his kindness with me, it brings tears to my eyes. I realize that I have found what is most important in my life, someone who doesn't care how immaculate my grades were in college or critisizing me for still being single. The love of my life really just loves to be with me, and ultimately getting to know this love takes away any envy I might have of others. Why should I envy others when I know the love of God? It would make no sense.
My prayer for you is that your relationship with God would be all you would really need to be satisfied with life. God can be everything you need, and in knowing him you can experience heaven every day. Delight yourself in the Lord every day and discover what it really means to be satisfied!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
When it comes down to it though, I can take solace in one truth- every day I get to experience the presense of God. Every day I get to receive his love, as long as I choose to. I am going to be in heaven! You must understand something. In a sense, heaven isn't just for when you die. You were meant to delight yourself in God every day, which in some lesser sense is experiencing heaven right here on earth. When I remember the love God has shown me, and I feel his kindness with me, it brings tears to my eyes. I realize that I have found what is most important in my life, someone who doesn't care how immaculate my grades were in college or critisizing me for still being single. The love of my life really just loves to be with me, and ultimately getting to know this love takes away any envy I might have of others. Why should I envy others when I know the love of God? It would make no sense.
My prayer for you is that your relationship with God would be all you would really need to be satisfied with life. God can be everything you need, and in knowing him you can experience heaven every day. Delight yourself in the Lord every day and discover what it really means to be satisfied!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Monday, May 01, 2006
Be God's Friend
On this occasion I am going after the attitude that God is your critic, always wanting more.
You must understand that there is a spiritual reality that says everything we do is to be lived out of relationship. The truth is, God doesn't need our help. If God wanted to, he could either do it himself or send an angel to do it or even send someone else. What God really wants is to get close to us. How close you are to God is the true measuring rod of how successful you really are. You could be doing lots of stuff and calling it ministry and all the time becoming more and more distant from God. It was for this reason that Jesus said "I never knew you" in Matthew 7:23.
When we get close to God, and experience his kindness, it begins to redefine who we are. This redefinition is the work God must do in our hearts in order for us to truly be effective in ministry. Discovery of grace is crucial to spiritual development. Without discovering grace, we will be prone to a works oriented religion and believe God is never satisfied. You need to know grace for yourself, but the way to grace is through admitting your need and weakness before God and others.
Let me put it to you this way. Outside of writing here, there isn't a ton of ministry in my life. I have multiple close friends and I hang out with a teenager once a week who doesn't have a dad and play Netrunner and talk. From a purely quantitative perspective I am not much to speak of. Unfortunately, due to my disabilities, I think this might be my max for the time being. I am doing good to be taking care of myself, and admitting my own weakness has been hard. And yet it is the fact that I have come to grips with grace, really knowing the love of God, that has helped me accept where I am, and let me live at peace with the fact that I probably don't live up to other people's standards about "what I ought to be doing". Please hear me out- grace means that we live out of relationship with God and let him set the expectations for our lives. There are times when I wish I could be more like someone else, who is doing more. I am glad though, that God gave me this weakness or I might not have been so profoundly impacted by grace, so completely transformed by the love of God.
My prayer for you today is that you might discover the depths of the love of God. That you might admit to yourself, to God, and to others your own weakness and come to realize how great the grace of God really is. He really is the kindest person you will ever meet, and he really does accept us for who we are, regardless of faults. Let God's love touch you and change you today!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
You must understand that there is a spiritual reality that says everything we do is to be lived out of relationship. The truth is, God doesn't need our help. If God wanted to, he could either do it himself or send an angel to do it or even send someone else. What God really wants is to get close to us. How close you are to God is the true measuring rod of how successful you really are. You could be doing lots of stuff and calling it ministry and all the time becoming more and more distant from God. It was for this reason that Jesus said "I never knew you" in Matthew 7:23.
When we get close to God, and experience his kindness, it begins to redefine who we are. This redefinition is the work God must do in our hearts in order for us to truly be effective in ministry. Discovery of grace is crucial to spiritual development. Without discovering grace, we will be prone to a works oriented religion and believe God is never satisfied. You need to know grace for yourself, but the way to grace is through admitting your need and weakness before God and others.
Let me put it to you this way. Outside of writing here, there isn't a ton of ministry in my life. I have multiple close friends and I hang out with a teenager once a week who doesn't have a dad and play Netrunner and talk. From a purely quantitative perspective I am not much to speak of. Unfortunately, due to my disabilities, I think this might be my max for the time being. I am doing good to be taking care of myself, and admitting my own weakness has been hard. And yet it is the fact that I have come to grips with grace, really knowing the love of God, that has helped me accept where I am, and let me live at peace with the fact that I probably don't live up to other people's standards about "what I ought to be doing". Please hear me out- grace means that we live out of relationship with God and let him set the expectations for our lives. There are times when I wish I could be more like someone else, who is doing more. I am glad though, that God gave me this weakness or I might not have been so profoundly impacted by grace, so completely transformed by the love of God.
My prayer for you today is that you might discover the depths of the love of God. That you might admit to yourself, to God, and to others your own weakness and come to realize how great the grace of God really is. He really is the kindest person you will ever meet, and he really does accept us for who we are, regardless of faults. Let God's love touch you and change you today!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Living the Disciplined Life
Our lives are filled with habits. The challenge is how do we keep good habits and lose bad ones?
I have thought about discipline a fair amount. I am often trying to improve the way my life works and am daily putting in effort to hold on to habits I am trying to acquire. There is always a period of time where certain habits require real work to make them a part of our life. It is during this time period in which most people lose the fight. It requires mental toughness it add a new habit to your life.
I like talking in concrete terms so I will share where I am seeing success and where I need to do some work. I have succeeded in making exercise a fundamental part of my morning routine. The truth is, the way I am wired, I need 45 minutes of aerobic exercise every morning in order for my life to work properly. At this point this habit takes very little mental toughness to keep, as I just do it five days a week without thinking much about it. I am also doing well about spending time in the word every morning and praying as well. These habits seem to be critical to my overall success, so I am glad to have them in place. Hygiene has become a higher priority in the last couple of months, as in brushing my teeth a second time during the day and flossing, as well as adding palmade to my hair to make it look nicer. They still take a little mental toughness- there have been a few occasions where I have had to drag my rear end out of bed to brush my teeth and floss, but I haven't missed days and I am pretty happy about how it is going.
As far as habits that need changing... my work affords me a lot of flexibility as far as when I work, so I struggle getting to work as early as I like. My diet could use to have more fruits and vegetables in it. It would be good if I did more cooking - I admit it, as far as the food I eat, I am little lazy. I do some cooking for breakfast, but it really isn't anything elaborate. I don't eat out too often, which is good, but still my diet could use some work. It would be nice if I made a habit out of cleaning out the interior of my car. Yes, I am going to try and change these things over the months and years to come.
The number one secret to making change is to do it slowly. You can try to change it all at once, but once your emotional fervor dies down you probably won't have the capacity to hold on to it. Pick the most critical habit for your success overall and go after it. The key here is consistency. You need to retrain yourself so that doing whatever this habit requires every day becomes standard procedure. If it was reading your bible in the morning, just read for 15 minutes to start with. Don't try to read for a really long time at the beginning; you don't want to set the bar so high that it disuades you from following through the next day. A little bit of patience goes a long way- don't expect to get amazing results right off the bat.
My prayer for you is that you will put the effort in to add new disciplines into your life. Good habits go far toward helping you sustain success when it comes. And the habits you have will dictate the character that is in you. If you are single, you will bring joy to your life through good habits and it will help you attract a mate. If you are married, upgrading your habits will help sustain your marriage and make your mate more content that they chose you. You might even like looking in the mirror more, enjoying who you are becoming. I pray that you will agree with me that the disciplined life is the way to live!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
I have thought about discipline a fair amount. I am often trying to improve the way my life works and am daily putting in effort to hold on to habits I am trying to acquire. There is always a period of time where certain habits require real work to make them a part of our life. It is during this time period in which most people lose the fight. It requires mental toughness it add a new habit to your life.
I like talking in concrete terms so I will share where I am seeing success and where I need to do some work. I have succeeded in making exercise a fundamental part of my morning routine. The truth is, the way I am wired, I need 45 minutes of aerobic exercise every morning in order for my life to work properly. At this point this habit takes very little mental toughness to keep, as I just do it five days a week without thinking much about it. I am also doing well about spending time in the word every morning and praying as well. These habits seem to be critical to my overall success, so I am glad to have them in place. Hygiene has become a higher priority in the last couple of months, as in brushing my teeth a second time during the day and flossing, as well as adding palmade to my hair to make it look nicer. They still take a little mental toughness- there have been a few occasions where I have had to drag my rear end out of bed to brush my teeth and floss, but I haven't missed days and I am pretty happy about how it is going.
As far as habits that need changing... my work affords me a lot of flexibility as far as when I work, so I struggle getting to work as early as I like. My diet could use to have more fruits and vegetables in it. It would be good if I did more cooking - I admit it, as far as the food I eat, I am little lazy. I do some cooking for breakfast, but it really isn't anything elaborate. I don't eat out too often, which is good, but still my diet could use some work. It would be nice if I made a habit out of cleaning out the interior of my car. Yes, I am going to try and change these things over the months and years to come.
The number one secret to making change is to do it slowly. You can try to change it all at once, but once your emotional fervor dies down you probably won't have the capacity to hold on to it. Pick the most critical habit for your success overall and go after it. The key here is consistency. You need to retrain yourself so that doing whatever this habit requires every day becomes standard procedure. If it was reading your bible in the morning, just read for 15 minutes to start with. Don't try to read for a really long time at the beginning; you don't want to set the bar so high that it disuades you from following through the next day. A little bit of patience goes a long way- don't expect to get amazing results right off the bat.
My prayer for you is that you will put the effort in to add new disciplines into your life. Good habits go far toward helping you sustain success when it comes. And the habits you have will dictate the character that is in you. If you are single, you will bring joy to your life through good habits and it will help you attract a mate. If you are married, upgrading your habits will help sustain your marriage and make your mate more content that they chose you. You might even like looking in the mirror more, enjoying who you are becoming. I pray that you will agree with me that the disciplined life is the way to live!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Friday, April 21, 2006
Perspective
I think a great challenge in life is to keep perspective. The problem with perspective is that it is internal- it is hard to tell when we've lost it and have got sucked into some problem or circumstance in our life that has wrecked our perspective. It often takes an outside source to point out to us that we've lost perspective.
The beauty of perspective is that it allows us to relax. The truth is we should live in a restful state with God that keeps life in a right perspective, even when difficulties do come. We should be able to enjoy life, realizing that our true treasure is in heaven and everything good that happens to us on this earth is just icing. Or maybe it is less than icing- maybe it is just the frosted writing on the cake that says "I love you" from God. Regardless we should remember that heaven is our home and that God loves us passionately. We can just allow God to work through our lives and let go of any desires that aren't necessary for our calling.
My prayer for you today is that you would give a quick glance at the way you are looking at life and ask "Have I lost perspective? Am I living in a restful state? Are the fruit of the spirit evident in how I am conducting myself, or is it some other kind of fruit? If it is some other kind of fruit, why is my perspective out of whack or lost?" Please take some time and think about this. You never know what might come to the surface. Regain your perspective today!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
The beauty of perspective is that it allows us to relax. The truth is we should live in a restful state with God that keeps life in a right perspective, even when difficulties do come. We should be able to enjoy life, realizing that our true treasure is in heaven and everything good that happens to us on this earth is just icing. Or maybe it is less than icing- maybe it is just the frosted writing on the cake that says "I love you" from God. Regardless we should remember that heaven is our home and that God loves us passionately. We can just allow God to work through our lives and let go of any desires that aren't necessary for our calling.
My prayer for you today is that you would give a quick glance at the way you are looking at life and ask "Have I lost perspective? Am I living in a restful state? Are the fruit of the spirit evident in how I am conducting myself, or is it some other kind of fruit? If it is some other kind of fruit, why is my perspective out of whack or lost?" Please take some time and think about this. You never know what might come to the surface. Regain your perspective today!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
How to Build Closer Friendships
For some reason I seem to have a knack for building close friendships. For whatever reason, I think I am generally the exception- at least as far as men are concerned, I can't speak for women. If you would like to build deeper friendships, I might be able to help.
There is a skill involved that I am not sure I can give complete justice to. I think it is the timely ability to share personal information as the relationship deepens. I think this means it is okay, at least between people of the same gender, to admit struggles that are common to that gender relatively early on in the friendship, probably in a general fashion. This amount of transparency gets the ball rolling and allows for deeper discussions later on.
As I talked about in my friendship wisdom post, it also makes sense to be selective about who you make friends with. Some people aren't very good at sharing who they are, where they came from, etc. And some people will always be that way. A good way to see where a person is at is to experiment talking about something closer to the surface, like politics or theology, something where a personal opinion is required and there is some risk of disagreement. If they can handle this, then there is hope. If not, then there is reason to believe this person might find it quite difficult sharing anything really personal. I wouldn't try too hard making it work if after hanging out several times all you can talk about is sports or a common hobby.
I can't stress enough the value of listening. It is something that we don't realize how much it is worth until we begin to wonder why people don't really enjoy hanging out with us. Learning how to be a good listener is really governed by motivation. When I realized that listening was the only way I can learn anything new, that was a big help for me to stop thinking about what I want to say next and just pay attention to what they are saying now. If you want deeper relationships, listening will be instrumental in your success.
I think one skill that has been very helpful to me is the ability to ask good questions. When you ask about their week, ask "What happened this week? Did anything new happen? Why was it a good week?" Any question that requires more than a one word answer will help. Even talking about our lives and how things are really going in something more specific than "fine" is progress towards getting to know each other. The goal is to get the other person to share about themselves whatever they feel comfortable sharing so that the bonding process is moving on.
I wish you all blessings as you go try to build deeper friendships. If anyone out there has some thoughts on this, please post in the comments as I would love to hear other people's thoughts on this one. Maybe my repertoire could be expanded! I would love to get even better at building good friendships, and I hope you feel the same way.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
There is a skill involved that I am not sure I can give complete justice to. I think it is the timely ability to share personal information as the relationship deepens. I think this means it is okay, at least between people of the same gender, to admit struggles that are common to that gender relatively early on in the friendship, probably in a general fashion. This amount of transparency gets the ball rolling and allows for deeper discussions later on.
As I talked about in my friendship wisdom post, it also makes sense to be selective about who you make friends with. Some people aren't very good at sharing who they are, where they came from, etc. And some people will always be that way. A good way to see where a person is at is to experiment talking about something closer to the surface, like politics or theology, something where a personal opinion is required and there is some risk of disagreement. If they can handle this, then there is hope. If not, then there is reason to believe this person might find it quite difficult sharing anything really personal. I wouldn't try too hard making it work if after hanging out several times all you can talk about is sports or a common hobby.
I can't stress enough the value of listening. It is something that we don't realize how much it is worth until we begin to wonder why people don't really enjoy hanging out with us. Learning how to be a good listener is really governed by motivation. When I realized that listening was the only way I can learn anything new, that was a big help for me to stop thinking about what I want to say next and just pay attention to what they are saying now. If you want deeper relationships, listening will be instrumental in your success.
I think one skill that has been very helpful to me is the ability to ask good questions. When you ask about their week, ask "What happened this week? Did anything new happen? Why was it a good week?" Any question that requires more than a one word answer will help. Even talking about our lives and how things are really going in something more specific than "fine" is progress towards getting to know each other. The goal is to get the other person to share about themselves whatever they feel comfortable sharing so that the bonding process is moving on.
I wish you all blessings as you go try to build deeper friendships. If anyone out there has some thoughts on this, please post in the comments as I would love to hear other people's thoughts on this one. Maybe my repertoire could be expanded! I would love to get even better at building good friendships, and I hope you feel the same way.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Monday, April 17, 2006
Being Filled With the Love of God
I must confess, there is something I have a passion about. Don't be surprised if you see more posts along the lines of the topic of this post.
I know the reason why we struggle. Oh, we may not be disciplined. We may not be spending the time necessary with God, or whatever. When it comes down to it, though, ultimately you will only really have success in the Christian life as much as you believe and have received the love of God.
I am not talking about whether or not you believe God is loving. People the world over believe that, in some kind of theoretical way. I am saying you need to live off of it. You need to experience it. You need to be transformed by it. When it comes down to it, what we do is based on what we really believe. If you believe that God is your critic you will always be trying to impress him by doing more, which really doesn't impress him at all. If you believe he is distant you will always wonder what he's thinking and will be trying to get his attention. If your life isn't deeply rooted in the love of God, your life is likely to go one of two directions: you will either fall to some kind of addiction, depression, etc. or you will become increasingly religious with little tolerance for the weakness in others. Either way you are on dangerous turf.
Having got your attention, I have thought long and hard about how best to convey God's love to you so that you can experience it for yourself. You see, I am talking about the ultimate lover. This is a person who can turn someone who is as wounded as I was and make him into something of a minister. In order for you to believe that my life is something of a miracle, I need to tell you a little about my history. You see, when I was growing up I was serially abused by my peers in school. I learned to hide behind my intellect and my pride. More than anything in the world, I hurt. Badly hurt. And then in came this wonderful man Jesus. There hasn't been anyone in my life like him! He is just so gentle. No matter where I was, whether I was angry or crazy he has always been there. He is just so patient. At last I met someone who accepted me at face value, who loved me with my ideosyncracies, who just enjoyed hanging out. The truth is, he is the love of my life. Through him I received a ton of healing and that has helped me become a much better friend to my friends. Through his love I have matured tremendously.
The truth is, you have to experience it for yourself. You need to hear his voice on your own. A good book to read is "Dialog with God" by Mark Virkler. It will teach you the fundamentals. It is possible I may decide to reread that book and do some posts on hearing God's voice- if you are interested in this, send me an email and that will show me it is worth the effort of rereading it. If there is anything I can impress upon you, it's that knowing God intimately, hearing his voice, and knowing his love is absolutely critical for you to do what you are called to do. Don't live another day without it!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
I know the reason why we struggle. Oh, we may not be disciplined. We may not be spending the time necessary with God, or whatever. When it comes down to it, though, ultimately you will only really have success in the Christian life as much as you believe and have received the love of God.
I am not talking about whether or not you believe God is loving. People the world over believe that, in some kind of theoretical way. I am saying you need to live off of it. You need to experience it. You need to be transformed by it. When it comes down to it, what we do is based on what we really believe. If you believe that God is your critic you will always be trying to impress him by doing more, which really doesn't impress him at all. If you believe he is distant you will always wonder what he's thinking and will be trying to get his attention. If your life isn't deeply rooted in the love of God, your life is likely to go one of two directions: you will either fall to some kind of addiction, depression, etc. or you will become increasingly religious with little tolerance for the weakness in others. Either way you are on dangerous turf.
Having got your attention, I have thought long and hard about how best to convey God's love to you so that you can experience it for yourself. You see, I am talking about the ultimate lover. This is a person who can turn someone who is as wounded as I was and make him into something of a minister. In order for you to believe that my life is something of a miracle, I need to tell you a little about my history. You see, when I was growing up I was serially abused by my peers in school. I learned to hide behind my intellect and my pride. More than anything in the world, I hurt. Badly hurt. And then in came this wonderful man Jesus. There hasn't been anyone in my life like him! He is just so gentle. No matter where I was, whether I was angry or crazy he has always been there. He is just so patient. At last I met someone who accepted me at face value, who loved me with my ideosyncracies, who just enjoyed hanging out. The truth is, he is the love of my life. Through him I received a ton of healing and that has helped me become a much better friend to my friends. Through his love I have matured tremendously.
The truth is, you have to experience it for yourself. You need to hear his voice on your own. A good book to read is "Dialog with God" by Mark Virkler. It will teach you the fundamentals. It is possible I may decide to reread that book and do some posts on hearing God's voice- if you are interested in this, send me an email and that will show me it is worth the effort of rereading it. If there is anything I can impress upon you, it's that knowing God intimately, hearing his voice, and knowing his love is absolutely critical for you to do what you are called to do. Don't live another day without it!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Friday, April 14, 2006
Think about it...
I want to challenge you, the reader, to think more.
You see, there is an epidemic in the church today. It is called "Dogmatism". It is the art of taking other people's thoughts and calling them your own. This kind of thinking isn't thinking at all- it is thought avoidance. The truth is, people are lazy. Maybe you aren't, and maybe I am not, but there are plenty of people out there who believe what they believe because it is popular, or because someone they admire thinks that way, but not because they came to the conclusion themselves. This sort of cop out from genuinely testing information to see if it holds up under scrutiny is for those who don't really want to invest the time and energy to come to unique conclusions. After all, if you think something different than your friends, you might become an outcast, or who knows? Your simplistic view of life might be disturbed.
You wonder what the harm is, in believing something for some other reason besides being firmly convinced through research and thorough thinking about it and finding it is true. There are several issues at hand. First of all, you won't be able to relate at all to people who spend lots of time thinking. True thinkers hate dogmatism; it is really an escape from reality. Another consequence is the inability to see things from other people's perspective. Dogmatism tends to trap the person being dogmatic, so that they can only see one point of view. This will deeply hinder a person's ability when relating to someone with a significantly different viewpoint.
The truth is, we live in a very complex world. Dogmatic people, I think, ultimately are trying to evade this simple truth. They want to believe the earth is only 6,000 years old because that keeps everything within reach, understandable. The truth is often too complex to be fully understood, and rather than face the ambiguity they want to keep it simple enough a child could understand. This is wrong. And you should care enough about what you choose to believe to put the time and energy into considering various viewpoints on topics too complex to understand at first glance. Please do us all a favor and really think about what you believe.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
You see, there is an epidemic in the church today. It is called "Dogmatism". It is the art of taking other people's thoughts and calling them your own. This kind of thinking isn't thinking at all- it is thought avoidance. The truth is, people are lazy. Maybe you aren't, and maybe I am not, but there are plenty of people out there who believe what they believe because it is popular, or because someone they admire thinks that way, but not because they came to the conclusion themselves. This sort of cop out from genuinely testing information to see if it holds up under scrutiny is for those who don't really want to invest the time and energy to come to unique conclusions. After all, if you think something different than your friends, you might become an outcast, or who knows? Your simplistic view of life might be disturbed.
You wonder what the harm is, in believing something for some other reason besides being firmly convinced through research and thorough thinking about it and finding it is true. There are several issues at hand. First of all, you won't be able to relate at all to people who spend lots of time thinking. True thinkers hate dogmatism; it is really an escape from reality. Another consequence is the inability to see things from other people's perspective. Dogmatism tends to trap the person being dogmatic, so that they can only see one point of view. This will deeply hinder a person's ability when relating to someone with a significantly different viewpoint.
The truth is, we live in a very complex world. Dogmatic people, I think, ultimately are trying to evade this simple truth. They want to believe the earth is only 6,000 years old because that keeps everything within reach, understandable. The truth is often too complex to be fully understood, and rather than face the ambiguity they want to keep it simple enough a child could understand. This is wrong. And you should care enough about what you choose to believe to put the time and energy into considering various viewpoints on topics too complex to understand at first glance. Please do us all a favor and really think about what you believe.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Joy
Joy can be an elusive fruit of the Spirit. If you are not experiencing joy, then it might be a good exercise to see if you can find out why.
Now when I say joy, I don't necessarily mean that you are in a great mood or that you are happy. Even in difficult emotional struggles, if your relationship with God is in a good place joy can be there too. While it is true that not every reason for not having joy is necessarily bad, I would say that at least 75% of the time, if you aren't experiencing joy it is either because there is sin, or you did not get what you needed from God in your time with him. Joy is generally a sign, therefore, that there is peace between you and God and that you are have received the love you need from God on that day.
Not having joy is a signpost, a warning. Please take it seriously. If you live seperated from the joy that comes from God long enough, you may try to fill this need some other fashion- either through overdoing your hobbies, placing extra unnecessary expectations on friends and the people you live with, or giving in to addictions. All kinds of sin are readily available to the one who isn't filled with God, and what you might consider an unlikely temptation now might easily beguile you in an unexpected attempt on your part to meet unmet emotional needs. And just because the sin you choose is socially acceptable doesn't mean you will get off scot free with God...
May your life be filled with the joy that comes with surrendering to God and living in the presense of his love. If you have some sin in between you and God, please take care of it now. It will take time to get your joy back, and you owe it to yourself to get your joy back.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Now when I say joy, I don't necessarily mean that you are in a great mood or that you are happy. Even in difficult emotional struggles, if your relationship with God is in a good place joy can be there too. While it is true that not every reason for not having joy is necessarily bad, I would say that at least 75% of the time, if you aren't experiencing joy it is either because there is sin, or you did not get what you needed from God in your time with him. Joy is generally a sign, therefore, that there is peace between you and God and that you are have received the love you need from God on that day.
Not having joy is a signpost, a warning. Please take it seriously. If you live seperated from the joy that comes from God long enough, you may try to fill this need some other fashion- either through overdoing your hobbies, placing extra unnecessary expectations on friends and the people you live with, or giving in to addictions. All kinds of sin are readily available to the one who isn't filled with God, and what you might consider an unlikely temptation now might easily beguile you in an unexpected attempt on your part to meet unmet emotional needs. And just because the sin you choose is socially acceptable doesn't mean you will get off scot free with God...
May your life be filled with the joy that comes with surrendering to God and living in the presense of his love. If you have some sin in between you and God, please take care of it now. It will take time to get your joy back, and you owe it to yourself to get your joy back.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Monday, April 10, 2006
The Normal Christian Life
Have you ever wondered what the normal Christian life is like? That is the subject of one of my dreams. Not all my dreams are so spiritual- last night I dreamed that my father was teaching me how to rob banks- and no, my dad doesn't really know how to rob a bank. :-P Where that came from, your guess is as good as mine. Anyways, I woke up thinking about the normal Christian life. What is the normal Christian life? How hard is it supposed to be? What exactly would my life look like if it was normal, based on what God defines as normal?
I think my blog so far in many ways is an attempt to show what should actually be normal. It should be normal that we would be placed in positions where God had to follow through or we would be in trouble. It should be normal for a person to be building their relationship with God every single day, without ever taking a day off. These things should be normal. Spiritual gifting should be normal. I should even be excited about how God might use me on any given day. Maybe I'm off on this, but I'd like to think that every day we could have at least small adventures, where we could discover new facets of God. Although, I am also convinced there is definitely a place for discovering that our emotions don't have to be titillated and we don't have to "feel great" all the time in order for things to be going right in our life. There are seasons where we just need to follow God inspite of not having all the emotions there to help us do what we are called to do. Can the two of these things mesh together and both be true? I am not sure, though in some respects they are two different things and not necessarily mutually exclusive.
I also have another question. Could my life be just a little bit boring in part because I am not allowing myself to be in faith-challenging circumstances? Places where there is real need. I'm not saying there is no ministry in my life, that is not true. The truth is that I am doing very well with what God has given me, and I am always trying to improve. But maybe you, and definitely I am little bit bored because there isn't enough ministry in our lives. I'll have to think about how to fill that gap... and maybe you should too, if that is where you are. It is nice to make a difference in someone's life...
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
I think my blog so far in many ways is an attempt to show what should actually be normal. It should be normal that we would be placed in positions where God had to follow through or we would be in trouble. It should be normal for a person to be building their relationship with God every single day, without ever taking a day off. These things should be normal. Spiritual gifting should be normal. I should even be excited about how God might use me on any given day. Maybe I'm off on this, but I'd like to think that every day we could have at least small adventures, where we could discover new facets of God. Although, I am also convinced there is definitely a place for discovering that our emotions don't have to be titillated and we don't have to "feel great" all the time in order for things to be going right in our life. There are seasons where we just need to follow God inspite of not having all the emotions there to help us do what we are called to do. Can the two of these things mesh together and both be true? I am not sure, though in some respects they are two different things and not necessarily mutually exclusive.
I also have another question. Could my life be just a little bit boring in part because I am not allowing myself to be in faith-challenging circumstances? Places where there is real need. I'm not saying there is no ministry in my life, that is not true. The truth is that I am doing very well with what God has given me, and I am always trying to improve. But maybe you, and definitely I am little bit bored because there isn't enough ministry in our lives. I'll have to think about how to fill that gap... and maybe you should too, if that is where you are. It is nice to make a difference in someone's life...
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Thursday, April 06, 2006
One day at a time...
I am having the dawning realization that success in the Christian life requires daily work. You know, I have heard plenty of sermons about reading my Bible every day and praying every day and although the fruit of this message might involve that, this message is not about that directly. It is about this- the idea that we can take even a single day for granted, or let up even for a moment.
The truth is our enemy is always at work. Our enemy, the devil, doesn't take days off. It's almost as if we think he does- like we can fool around with an undisciplined attitude because we don't feel like taking our relationship with Christ seriously on some given day. I am telling you- if you want to succeed, you are going to have to fight on your hands and knees every day to have it. If you slack off, our enemy will shred you to pieces at an unexpected moment, like a farmer waiting for a pig to get fat before the slaughter the enemy will wait for just the right time to destroy you. Beware- the Christian life is fraught with peril. It is a daily fight that does not ever really let up. It seems to me the reason why the church has so many problems is simply because we let down our guard on some days, not walking with God every day, not seeking the grace we need to live sin free every single day of our lives. If you want to see victory in your life, you need a persevering perspective of taking each day by the horns and not letting up until you are completely asleep... then wake up the next morning and start all over. Don't be caught asking God for longterm success- that can be just another way to dodge the responsibility of following God today. Daily grace is needed to win this fight...
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
The truth is our enemy is always at work. Our enemy, the devil, doesn't take days off. It's almost as if we think he does- like we can fool around with an undisciplined attitude because we don't feel like taking our relationship with Christ seriously on some given day. I am telling you- if you want to succeed, you are going to have to fight on your hands and knees every day to have it. If you slack off, our enemy will shred you to pieces at an unexpected moment, like a farmer waiting for a pig to get fat before the slaughter the enemy will wait for just the right time to destroy you. Beware- the Christian life is fraught with peril. It is a daily fight that does not ever really let up. It seems to me the reason why the church has so many problems is simply because we let down our guard on some days, not walking with God every day, not seeking the grace we need to live sin free every single day of our lives. If you want to see victory in your life, you need a persevering perspective of taking each day by the horns and not letting up until you are completely asleep... then wake up the next morning and start all over. Don't be caught asking God for longterm success- that can be just another way to dodge the responsibility of following God today. Daily grace is needed to win this fight...
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Friday, March 24, 2006
Handling Frustration
I don't know about you, but my work subjects me to a lot of frustration. It seems that there are periods I go through where as soon as I solve one problem, another raises its head- and sometimes these problems take a whole day or more to solve. This frustration, left unchecked, could leave me very vulnerable to impatience with other people, any kind of escapist sin, and all kinds of temptations that otherwise wouldn't have a chance of getting my attention.
I think it is critical to see when we are vulnerable to sin, and to avoid situations that might lead us astray. Maybe when we are most frustrated is the best time to pull ourselves away from our lives, get connected with God, and remember that all this life we are simply visitors here and that are real home is elsewhere. Forgetting this important fact, we might take life a little too seriously, which despite the erroneous perception that to take things serious is to love God, we risk getting entangled in our situation and going astray. This ability to relax, to trust God, and let go of your circumstances and emotional struggles will keep you spiritually healthy, and sane as well. It seems to me that letting God into it gives me perspective, and perspective gives me peace- which we all need.
Hopefully I am not the only person whose work or life frustrating- and when life does get that way, hopefully you'll remember these words and they will bless you and keep you from sin.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
I think it is critical to see when we are vulnerable to sin, and to avoid situations that might lead us astray. Maybe when we are most frustrated is the best time to pull ourselves away from our lives, get connected with God, and remember that all this life we are simply visitors here and that are real home is elsewhere. Forgetting this important fact, we might take life a little too seriously, which despite the erroneous perception that to take things serious is to love God, we risk getting entangled in our situation and going astray. This ability to relax, to trust God, and let go of your circumstances and emotional struggles will keep you spiritually healthy, and sane as well. It seems to me that letting God into it gives me perspective, and perspective gives me peace- which we all need.
Hopefully I am not the only person whose work or life frustrating- and when life does get that way, hopefully you'll remember these words and they will bless you and keep you from sin.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Monday, March 20, 2006
Wisdom about Friendships
I want to talk about something from an angle that in my opinion doesn't get talked about very much, which is to arm the reader with relational wisdom.
The truth is, who we hang around plays a critical role in who we become. Do not think hanging out with people who don't love God or have a weak or stale relationship with God doesn't have its risks. You see, whenever we hang with someone, that person is in some fashion influencing us, and we them. The question is, how great is our influence with them versus how much an influence they are having in our own life. Do not deceive yourself- just because you are hanging out with an unbeliever does not automatically guarantee that you are leading them to Christ. We must be mature in this- and only let people with a similar or greater degree of maturity in Christ get close enough to us from an influencial perspective to mold our thinking in a positive way instead of away from God.
T.D. Jakes goes so far as to say that we should prune relationships where the other person isn't able to relate to you in terms of who you are becoming. The truth is we need people who can help us accomplish our destinies and often times we make the mistake of allowing people to get close to us for sentimental reasons instead of kingdome advancement reasons. These relationships can entangle us, and can be really hard to shake off- particularly if we have a hard time making new relationships. The key here is timing. Some relationships are so dangerous to our faith that we must do something about them immediately- where we are involved in circles of people who not only have no relationship with God but who are deeply entrenched in the world- these relationships, once recognized as problematic, must be removed quickly as they can entrench a person firmly in the world and quickly undercut and destroy a man's faith. Other relationships aren't nearly as dangerous and these (those that lack a common vision, that can't really help you press ahead in the seasons coming up) just need to be minimized as far as time spent, and allow God to prune it when needed.
Ultimately, as all of this is important, it is critical that you cultivate those relationships that can help you move into the seasons ahead. These are the people who will fight with you, either for a season, or possibly even for a lifetime. Invest in these relationships heavily, as they will make the biggest difference possible in your walk with God. And always keep an eye open for another person who can play this role- you never know where you might find it!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
The truth is, who we hang around plays a critical role in who we become. Do not think hanging out with people who don't love God or have a weak or stale relationship with God doesn't have its risks. You see, whenever we hang with someone, that person is in some fashion influencing us, and we them. The question is, how great is our influence with them versus how much an influence they are having in our own life. Do not deceive yourself- just because you are hanging out with an unbeliever does not automatically guarantee that you are leading them to Christ. We must be mature in this- and only let people with a similar or greater degree of maturity in Christ get close enough to us from an influencial perspective to mold our thinking in a positive way instead of away from God.
T.D. Jakes goes so far as to say that we should prune relationships where the other person isn't able to relate to you in terms of who you are becoming. The truth is we need people who can help us accomplish our destinies and often times we make the mistake of allowing people to get close to us for sentimental reasons instead of kingdome advancement reasons. These relationships can entangle us, and can be really hard to shake off- particularly if we have a hard time making new relationships. The key here is timing. Some relationships are so dangerous to our faith that we must do something about them immediately- where we are involved in circles of people who not only have no relationship with God but who are deeply entrenched in the world- these relationships, once recognized as problematic, must be removed quickly as they can entrench a person firmly in the world and quickly undercut and destroy a man's faith. Other relationships aren't nearly as dangerous and these (those that lack a common vision, that can't really help you press ahead in the seasons coming up) just need to be minimized as far as time spent, and allow God to prune it when needed.
Ultimately, as all of this is important, it is critical that you cultivate those relationships that can help you move into the seasons ahead. These are the people who will fight with you, either for a season, or possibly even for a lifetime. Invest in these relationships heavily, as they will make the biggest difference possible in your walk with God. And always keep an eye open for another person who can play this role- you never know where you might find it!
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Got Vision?
Obviously I am not talking about whether or not those eyes on your head work properly, but what kind of future do you see for yourself? Where are you going? I think the biggest challenge to vision is being able to set aside what we believe can be accomplished on our own. It is hard to see how God steps in and makes a difference. My own weakness has made it very difficult to have vision for my life. I am doing better than just subsisting, but I am not sure I could argue that I am strongly thriving. Since I am not "strongly thriving", it is hard not to be content with the success I have so far and say that maybe it is impossible for something truly great to come out of my life. What scares me is knowing that I may very well be capable of accomplishing some very great things- and my unwillingness to believe it possible makes it impossible.
Here's a good question: what does it take to improve the scope of our vision? I think part of it is investing time thinking about it. There are a couple of things that seem to be recurring for me as far as what I would like to do with my life, though they need to be prayed through to find what God is saying in the midst of this. Part of the problem is in our definition of success. The American definition of success is to make lots of money and be able to do whatever you want, have whatever you want, and live a pain-free life. I am convinced this is very far from God's definition of success. God defines success first and foremost by how close a relationship we keep with Him all the days of our life. So maybe the person who is most successful in God's eyes would never even grab the world's attention- their success has nothing to do with any kind of worldly definition of success. Now who we become is the result of being close to God, and if we really get close to Jesus we realize that servanthood is a really good way to devote ourselves to him.
I do wonder if it might actually be more important for us to build a vision of ourselves based on who we want to become, instead of what we want to do. For who we become is so much more important than what we do- what we do is the raw material by which we are built into what we become. I see myself developing a real servants heart, becoming patient in difficult circumstances, always leaning on God when things get tough. I see myself developing a deep trust in God to the point of being willing to take great leaps of faith simply because I heard from God first and I know the character of the one speaking to me. Now I see what real vision is- hopefully you can see as well as I that who we become is so much more important than what we accomplish.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Here's a good question: what does it take to improve the scope of our vision? I think part of it is investing time thinking about it. There are a couple of things that seem to be recurring for me as far as what I would like to do with my life, though they need to be prayed through to find what God is saying in the midst of this. Part of the problem is in our definition of success. The American definition of success is to make lots of money and be able to do whatever you want, have whatever you want, and live a pain-free life. I am convinced this is very far from God's definition of success. God defines success first and foremost by how close a relationship we keep with Him all the days of our life. So maybe the person who is most successful in God's eyes would never even grab the world's attention- their success has nothing to do with any kind of worldly definition of success. Now who we become is the result of being close to God, and if we really get close to Jesus we realize that servanthood is a really good way to devote ourselves to him.
I do wonder if it might actually be more important for us to build a vision of ourselves based on who we want to become, instead of what we want to do. For who we become is so much more important than what we do- what we do is the raw material by which we are built into what we become. I see myself developing a real servants heart, becoming patient in difficult circumstances, always leaning on God when things get tough. I see myself developing a deep trust in God to the point of being willing to take great leaps of faith simply because I heard from God first and I know the character of the one speaking to me. Now I see what real vision is- hopefully you can see as well as I that who we become is so much more important than what we accomplish.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Sunday, March 12, 2006
The Life of Faith
In the last few years, my definition of what it means to live by faith has changed. For the longest time I thought this was in regards to salvation- I believed that living by faith meant trusting God that I would be saved, and that this trusting in God would keep me in God's hand and make it so that I would spend eternity with him.
The thing is, a guy named Graham Cooke is challenging this belief. It is not that this belief is inaccurate, just that this belief is inadequate. Living by faith really means being placed in situations where you must actually trust God for your circumstances to work out. An example of this from the bible would be Abram moving to a foreign country purely in obedience to the will of God. He had no guarantees from a purely natural perspective- how would he know that he wouldn't be killed by the land's current inhabitants? All he had was God's word. This way of living, this experiencing the life of faith for ourselves, is what God had in mind. He wants to take us to a place in which in hearing God's voice, we would be willing to get into situations where essentially only God can get us out, so that we might be completely dependent on him. Let me give an example from my own life.
At one point I was forced to move out of this college guys house, for reasons that involve the fact that I was not a college guy. Anyways, I temporarily lived in my parents house while figuring out what to do. I distinctly heard from God that I was to get a two bedroom apartment, and that God would provide the roommate. Doing this would require faith though- a two bedroom apartment is more expensive and I would have great difficulty affording it for any length of time on my own. I did obey God in this situation, and God did indeed come through- within a few weeks I had a roommate, which I have lived with and for the most part, got along well with for the last 6 months. The truth is clear- if anything, God wants to gives us many experiences like this so that we can come to a place where we deeply trust God.
My prayer is that you would come to a place where you trusted God like this. For then you really can perform miracles- the presense of God will be with you in a tangible way as you follow the leading of the spirit. We were born to know God's character, and yet we just give lip service to the idea of really trusting God. I hope we all develop truly mature relationships with the lord of all.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
The thing is, a guy named Graham Cooke is challenging this belief. It is not that this belief is inaccurate, just that this belief is inadequate. Living by faith really means being placed in situations where you must actually trust God for your circumstances to work out. An example of this from the bible would be Abram moving to a foreign country purely in obedience to the will of God. He had no guarantees from a purely natural perspective- how would he know that he wouldn't be killed by the land's current inhabitants? All he had was God's word. This way of living, this experiencing the life of faith for ourselves, is what God had in mind. He wants to take us to a place in which in hearing God's voice, we would be willing to get into situations where essentially only God can get us out, so that we might be completely dependent on him. Let me give an example from my own life.
At one point I was forced to move out of this college guys house, for reasons that involve the fact that I was not a college guy. Anyways, I temporarily lived in my parents house while figuring out what to do. I distinctly heard from God that I was to get a two bedroom apartment, and that God would provide the roommate. Doing this would require faith though- a two bedroom apartment is more expensive and I would have great difficulty affording it for any length of time on my own. I did obey God in this situation, and God did indeed come through- within a few weeks I had a roommate, which I have lived with and for the most part, got along well with for the last 6 months. The truth is clear- if anything, God wants to gives us many experiences like this so that we can come to a place where we deeply trust God.
My prayer is that you would come to a place where you trusted God like this. For then you really can perform miracles- the presense of God will be with you in a tangible way as you follow the leading of the spirit. We were born to know God's character, and yet we just give lip service to the idea of really trusting God. I hope we all develop truly mature relationships with the lord of all.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Thursday, March 09, 2006
The Fight
When it comes down to it, life is a fight. No, life isn't like a fight; it is a fight. Truth is, in all honesty those who have been walking with God long enough know that this fight has its ups and downs. Some rounds we win. Some rounds we get clocked. We all have our moments where we want to throw in the towel- the fight can be too much for us. We may not have anything close to the unbroken success we thought we would have going into this. I think viewing it as a fight can be a lifesaver to us- particularly when we realize that all Jesus wants out of us is to stay in the ring. He isn't asking you to not fall down, although falling down may make getting back up more difficult and so is better to be avoided. He just asks us to stay in the ring, and get back up after we fall down. It is nice when we can throw a few blows ourself, but as long as we are in the ring and we get back up after we fall down, and receive grace as needed, we'll be okay.
I want to encourage some of you out there who may be getting ready to quit. I know this walking with God thing can be tough at times and God can ask us to make decisions that aren't easy. Sometimes walking away from an addiction is the problem, sometimes we have dreams that are born out of selfishness that have to die. Sometimes our fears and doubts choke the life out of us. The truth is we were born to be loved by God. If you are on the brink of giving up, or even if you can tell that your frustrations with the Christian life are mounting, take a step back. Remember that while it is a fight, we all need those moments of just receiving love from the father and getting our own cup filled by the goodness of God. God will give you a time out of sorts where he will come to you and give you the ministry you need so that you can keep going, keep fighting. Just ask him. He doesn't hold back himself when we really cry out to him. My prayer is that you would come away from your special time with him rejuvenated and ready to fight another day. If you don't get what you need from God, what you try to get through other resources will eventually fail you and you may stop getting up- just going through the motions without fighting anymore. God's hand is outstretched- will you take it?
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
I want to encourage some of you out there who may be getting ready to quit. I know this walking with God thing can be tough at times and God can ask us to make decisions that aren't easy. Sometimes walking away from an addiction is the problem, sometimes we have dreams that are born out of selfishness that have to die. Sometimes our fears and doubts choke the life out of us. The truth is we were born to be loved by God. If you are on the brink of giving up, or even if you can tell that your frustrations with the Christian life are mounting, take a step back. Remember that while it is a fight, we all need those moments of just receiving love from the father and getting our own cup filled by the goodness of God. God will give you a time out of sorts where he will come to you and give you the ministry you need so that you can keep going, keep fighting. Just ask him. He doesn't hold back himself when we really cry out to him. My prayer is that you would come away from your special time with him rejuvenated and ready to fight another day. If you don't get what you need from God, what you try to get through other resources will eventually fail you and you may stop getting up- just going through the motions without fighting anymore. God's hand is outstretched- will you take it?
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Monday, March 06, 2006
Choose your pleasures wisely...
Hello!
Now I have had my share of high tech pleasures. To be sure, the occasional movie is fun and I recently bought season two of Quantum Leap which I have watched religiously pretty much two episodes a night. So I guess you might think it slightly hypocritical to wonder whether such pleasures should be the mainstay of our leisure time, but hear me out anyways. I am pretty sure I am right, even if I don't practice it to the degree that I would like.
I am convinced that the lower the technology involved in our leisure time, the less overwhelming and manipulating of the emotions, the more involved we are with someone else or God than the entertainment itself, the more life satisfaction we get out of it. When I get together with my friends, we talk. I have multiple rich relationships because I am willing to let them know me as I am and because I share myself, while getting to know them. There is something about simple pleasures that really remind a person about why it is good to be alive, why God is good- inspiring gratitude. I don't know about you, but I don't experience the same thing when I watch a movie; that is more of an escape than a simple pleasure. If life isn't satisfying to you and God seems distant and you need a change of pace, simplify your pleasures. Read a good book. Go for a walk- better yet, go for a walk in the woods. Pick pleasures that are closer to the pleasures originally invented by God for our satisfaction and see if you don't come away with a deeper sense of gratitude, a greater sense of feeling alive. And then, go and share what you experienced with someone else. Maybe if the world got what it needed from its leisure time, people would come to work more satisfied and content and less striving to get their next fix. Oh, you may experience some withdrawal symtoms- it may be hard walking away from your television fix, but just maybe you'll come away more joyous than you ever did coming out of that theater. If this works for you, maybe post a comment for others to read and let them know that simplicity, even in the smallest way, has its benefits.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Now I have had my share of high tech pleasures. To be sure, the occasional movie is fun and I recently bought season two of Quantum Leap which I have watched religiously pretty much two episodes a night. So I guess you might think it slightly hypocritical to wonder whether such pleasures should be the mainstay of our leisure time, but hear me out anyways. I am pretty sure I am right, even if I don't practice it to the degree that I would like.
I am convinced that the lower the technology involved in our leisure time, the less overwhelming and manipulating of the emotions, the more involved we are with someone else or God than the entertainment itself, the more life satisfaction we get out of it. When I get together with my friends, we talk. I have multiple rich relationships because I am willing to let them know me as I am and because I share myself, while getting to know them. There is something about simple pleasures that really remind a person about why it is good to be alive, why God is good- inspiring gratitude. I don't know about you, but I don't experience the same thing when I watch a movie; that is more of an escape than a simple pleasure. If life isn't satisfying to you and God seems distant and you need a change of pace, simplify your pleasures. Read a good book. Go for a walk- better yet, go for a walk in the woods. Pick pleasures that are closer to the pleasures originally invented by God for our satisfaction and see if you don't come away with a deeper sense of gratitude, a greater sense of feeling alive. And then, go and share what you experienced with someone else. Maybe if the world got what it needed from its leisure time, people would come to work more satisfied and content and less striving to get their next fix. Oh, you may experience some withdrawal symtoms- it may be hard walking away from your television fix, but just maybe you'll come away more joyous than you ever did coming out of that theater. If this works for you, maybe post a comment for others to read and let them know that simplicity, even in the smallest way, has its benefits.
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Friday, March 03, 2006
What the Holy Spirit is saying
Some people reading this have probably never heard God speak or received ministry from the Holy Spirit. I wanted to take this moment and let the Holy Spirit speak what he wants to say to me to give you a taste of what it is like to hear the voice of God for yourself.
Sean, can you see me smile? Can you see that I have such peace for you? Let the voice of the critic inside you, restlessly destroying you, die. Don't you know that I have the most wonderful plans for you, that I want to do some new things in your life? This next season is going to be marked by an increase in ministry. Some of the fights you've been fighting will be over with the victory won. You won't have anything to prove to me, as your Father I love you as you are. You have no idea how much I just want to embrace you everyday, letting my face of love just heal your wounds. Sean, you won't need to be afraid anymore. Not afraid of falling, not afraid of losing my love. You couldn't walk out on me if you wanted to. :-D I would love for you to be astonished and amazed by me everyday, to be surprised at the smallest of miracles- from every prayer answered to the new thing each day I wish to do in your life. Can't you see I am here for you? That I literally adore you, long for you every waking moment, am actively looking to bless you, and am out to get you- not in some fearful way but as a father is out to find his son in a game of hide and seek? :-) Please just enter into my rest every day. Forget yourself in loving me and let my peace reside in your heart, and there you will find the strength you need each day to be lead by God.
I hope this gives you all a taste of what it is like to hear the Holy Spirit for yourself. Jesus died and went to heaven in part so that the Holy Spirit could reside in your heart and speak to you as intimately and tenderly as he just spoke to me. My request to you is to give him a chance. As one of my favorite teachers put it, "He is the kindest person I've ever met in my whole life." Let him be your healer.
Your companion,
Sean
Sean, can you see me smile? Can you see that I have such peace for you? Let the voice of the critic inside you, restlessly destroying you, die. Don't you know that I have the most wonderful plans for you, that I want to do some new things in your life? This next season is going to be marked by an increase in ministry. Some of the fights you've been fighting will be over with the victory won. You won't have anything to prove to me, as your Father I love you as you are. You have no idea how much I just want to embrace you everyday, letting my face of love just heal your wounds. Sean, you won't need to be afraid anymore. Not afraid of falling, not afraid of losing my love. You couldn't walk out on me if you wanted to. :-D I would love for you to be astonished and amazed by me everyday, to be surprised at the smallest of miracles- from every prayer answered to the new thing each day I wish to do in your life. Can't you see I am here for you? That I literally adore you, long for you every waking moment, am actively looking to bless you, and am out to get you- not in some fearful way but as a father is out to find his son in a game of hide and seek? :-) Please just enter into my rest every day. Forget yourself in loving me and let my peace reside in your heart, and there you will find the strength you need each day to be lead by God.
I hope this gives you all a taste of what it is like to hear the Holy Spirit for yourself. Jesus died and went to heaven in part so that the Holy Spirit could reside in your heart and speak to you as intimately and tenderly as he just spoke to me. My request to you is to give him a chance. As one of my favorite teachers put it, "He is the kindest person I've ever met in my whole life." Let him be your healer.
Your companion,
Sean
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Passing the test
Have you ever experienced one of those moments where you inadvertently passed a test of your character? It was one of those moments where you did what was right simply because it was the right thing to do? I just had one of those moments. I didn't do anything grand, all I did was point out that some of the hours I was paid for during the last month were vacation hours and not regular work hours. Yet this moment of honesty gives me ecstacy, knowing that in some unassuming way I still care about righteousness, that in my heart of hearts I still love God.
I'll tell you a secret. It is in these little tests that our relationship with God stands or falls. Ultimately little sins quickly amount to real distance between us and God. Usually we think that great sins are what lead to a person's downfall, but sometimes great sins are followed by great repentance- which leads to reconciliation. Little sins tend to mount, over time, and create a corrosive and distructive effect upon our relationship with God. We tend to trivialize them, not realizing the gravity of our own decisions. The truth is people who have sinned the worst have often been vulnerable to transformation- a glance at scripture will reveal to obvious cases of this, the king Manasseh, who was perhaps the worst king in Judah's entire history and yet repented and is with our Lord now, and Paul- who was leading the crusade against Christians everywhere as a murderer, who turned around and became a great servant of Christ. Even a cursory glance at Saul and David- a real argument could be made that David's sins of adultery and murder were worse than Saul's sins of disobedience, but clearly David lived in relationship with God, and Saul lived on his own. It is this "living on our own" that is the most dangerous to our hearts, for as the little sins mount they kill us by leading us away from the master. If only a sin would occur that would be great enough to wake us up to the whole game- then we might repent, and rebuild our relationship with God. As long as nothing wakes us up to our true position we might ever walk farther and farther away from God, all the while smugly believing that the true sinners are those who fornicate or murder or whatever. We may even still be attending church, for the church itself acts as a barrier to recognition of our true condition. My prayer is that if you see yourself slowly tolerating sin, slowly walking away from God, take this moment to beg God for forgiveness. Perhaps it isn't too late if you see yourself being snared...
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
I'll tell you a secret. It is in these little tests that our relationship with God stands or falls. Ultimately little sins quickly amount to real distance between us and God. Usually we think that great sins are what lead to a person's downfall, but sometimes great sins are followed by great repentance- which leads to reconciliation. Little sins tend to mount, over time, and create a corrosive and distructive effect upon our relationship with God. We tend to trivialize them, not realizing the gravity of our own decisions. The truth is people who have sinned the worst have often been vulnerable to transformation- a glance at scripture will reveal to obvious cases of this, the king Manasseh, who was perhaps the worst king in Judah's entire history and yet repented and is with our Lord now, and Paul- who was leading the crusade against Christians everywhere as a murderer, who turned around and became a great servant of Christ. Even a cursory glance at Saul and David- a real argument could be made that David's sins of adultery and murder were worse than Saul's sins of disobedience, but clearly David lived in relationship with God, and Saul lived on his own. It is this "living on our own" that is the most dangerous to our hearts, for as the little sins mount they kill us by leading us away from the master. If only a sin would occur that would be great enough to wake us up to the whole game- then we might repent, and rebuild our relationship with God. As long as nothing wakes us up to our true position we might ever walk farther and farther away from God, all the while smugly believing that the true sinners are those who fornicate or murder or whatever. We may even still be attending church, for the church itself acts as a barrier to recognition of our true condition. My prayer is that if you see yourself slowly tolerating sin, slowly walking away from God, take this moment to beg God for forgiveness. Perhaps it isn't too late if you see yourself being snared...
Your companion in Christ,
Sean
Monday, February 27, 2006
Confessions of a long-time friend of God
Hi!
The truth is, if we are in touch with our emotions at all, there are times when we are tapped out. There are times when I just wish God would take me home. I have experienced God enough to know that heaven is good, and that spending eternity there is just what the doctor ordered. Some days I find it most unfortunate being stuck in this place, which in my mind's eye is half way between heaven and hell... Nevertheless, there are moments when grace descends, and I realize that the lover I am being loved by cares not a wit about my performance, whether I become a great chess player, whether I pursuade someone to marry me, or what have you. That ultimately all he really wants is me, and I find that quite comforting. On those days when I am wise enough to just listen to him, I come to find someone who is slow to anger and quick to forgive- someone who really just wants to know me.
I have often thought that the strength God gives should be enough to make living for God not hard. I must confess that at this point I am unconvinced. For me, following the Nazarene who bled for me is definitely hard. It is just nice knowing that regardless of how difficult it may seem and how inept I am in following him that he is not my critic and even my stumbling is worth something to him. CS Lewis said something along these lines in the Screwtape Letters- that when God removes his hand and lets life get really tough, that if only the will to walk is there, even if we can't accomplish more than a just trying unsuccessfully, God is pleased.
Part of the issue for me is that I see what life could be like. Oh yes. I know that we were meant for experiencing the presence of God on a daily basis, getting to know the love of God in a rather intimate fashion daily. We were supposed to have a relationship with God that involved passion. I wonder how much of this was supposed to reside in our emotions. I guess there is a part of me that wants to believe that we all are called to see God work miracles through our lives, and one of those miracles is the miraculous daily transformation in our own lives that comes from being loved more deeply than we can even imagine. Who said the Christian life was supposed to be boring and unengaging, anyways? Ultimately, as big of a blessing ministry is for others, ultimately we should minister in part because we need to minister or we will find life highly unsatisfactory. And if on the off chance these babblings from a man who stumbles down the highway of holiness like a drunk who barely can stay on the path himself can help anyone, then maybe I too will get to drink of the cup of satisfaction, knowing that I am making a difference.
Thank you.
The truth is, if we are in touch with our emotions at all, there are times when we are tapped out. There are times when I just wish God would take me home. I have experienced God enough to know that heaven is good, and that spending eternity there is just what the doctor ordered. Some days I find it most unfortunate being stuck in this place, which in my mind's eye is half way between heaven and hell... Nevertheless, there are moments when grace descends, and I realize that the lover I am being loved by cares not a wit about my performance, whether I become a great chess player, whether I pursuade someone to marry me, or what have you. That ultimately all he really wants is me, and I find that quite comforting. On those days when I am wise enough to just listen to him, I come to find someone who is slow to anger and quick to forgive- someone who really just wants to know me.
I have often thought that the strength God gives should be enough to make living for God not hard. I must confess that at this point I am unconvinced. For me, following the Nazarene who bled for me is definitely hard. It is just nice knowing that regardless of how difficult it may seem and how inept I am in following him that he is not my critic and even my stumbling is worth something to him. CS Lewis said something along these lines in the Screwtape Letters- that when God removes his hand and lets life get really tough, that if only the will to walk is there, even if we can't accomplish more than a just trying unsuccessfully, God is pleased.
Part of the issue for me is that I see what life could be like. Oh yes. I know that we were meant for experiencing the presence of God on a daily basis, getting to know the love of God in a rather intimate fashion daily. We were supposed to have a relationship with God that involved passion. I wonder how much of this was supposed to reside in our emotions. I guess there is a part of me that wants to believe that we all are called to see God work miracles through our lives, and one of those miracles is the miraculous daily transformation in our own lives that comes from being loved more deeply than we can even imagine. Who said the Christian life was supposed to be boring and unengaging, anyways? Ultimately, as big of a blessing ministry is for others, ultimately we should minister in part because we need to minister or we will find life highly unsatisfactory. And if on the off chance these babblings from a man who stumbles down the highway of holiness like a drunk who barely can stay on the path himself can help anyone, then maybe I too will get to drink of the cup of satisfaction, knowing that I am making a difference.
Thank you.
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