I AM Is Committed to You

The electronics company, Toshiba, put a statement out recently on it's commitment to social responsibility.  It says

"We believe our Group slogan "Committed to People, Committed to the Future" is an integral part of our corporate ethos & we have designated corporate social responsibility as one of our company initiatives."

Truth be told, Toshiba can't really make a claim to be committed to people, because

1st) they have laid people off.  They aren't committed to their former employees.

2nd) they can't possibly be committed to ALL people ALL over the earth.  That's just impossible.

Now before I get too far, this is NOT a bash Toshiba segment on my blog.  In all honesty, I can only assume that Toshiba is a great company to work for... but their commitment to people can only fall short.

Such is all of our stories. 

The command is there to be committed.

To Christ.

To our spouse.

To our kids.

To our church.

...but we fall short...

In the last few days the following verses have been a comfort to me personally.

Romans 8:35-39

    "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'

    No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

And here lies the twist.  In all of the areas that we fall short - in our commitments... Christ stands committed.

He is committed to
Us.
Me.
You.

This is a promise that cannot be broken.  His Word is sure and true and right and it cannot be repealed. 

Dear friend, when your world seems to be falling apart, remember that Christ is committed to you.

Everything Falls - Fee

you said
you'd never leave or forsake me
when you said,
this life is gonna shake me
you said
this world is gonna bring trouble on my soul
this i know

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
you're the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
i find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on

when i see
the darkness all around me
when i see
that tragedy has found me
i still believe
your faithful arms will never let me go
and still i know

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
your the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
i find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on

sorrow will last for the night
but hope is rising with the sun
(its rising with the sun)
there will be storms in this life
but i know you will overcome
but i know you will overcome

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
your the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
i find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
your the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
i find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on
-Steve Fee

Naked and Unashamed

John8 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came again to the temple. All the people came to Him, and He sat down and taught them.  

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do You say?” 

 6 This they said to test Him, that they might have some charge to bring against Him. Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more He bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him.  

10 Jesus stood up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said,  
“Neither 
do 
I 
condemn 
you; 
go, 
and 
from 
now 
on 
sin 
no 
more.”

The tables were turned.
She was no longer the one naked.
All of her accusers were exposed.  Holding onto their sin.  The call was to repent and they refused.  The call was to bow before the One who fulfilled the law of sin and death. 

Battling Sin

What are you tempted by?  

Lust

     Anger

               Money

   Power

                    Jealousy

           Success

                              Resentment

Which of these do you bring into your marriage?  Which of these do you bring into your home?  Is your spouse safe?  Are your children safe?

Hebrews 13:4

Let marriage be held in honor among all,

and let the marriage bed be undefiled.

None of us are exempt from sin.  We all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.  It's true.  We just need to look in a mirror and see it for ourselves.

The other side of that coin is just as true.  For those of us who are in Christ, we are new creation, the old has gone away, the new has come.  We have been justified by faith through Christ.  Just as if we never sinned.

So how do we go through this life as a sinner/saint?  How do we walk with Christ, dealing with sin?  Many books have been written on this subject alone.  Seminars, CDs, DVDs, you name it, it's out there.  Below are some steps that I have found to be good in battling sin.  Please when you read this, don't think that I don't struggle with sin. I certainly do struggle with it, but I am learning where the true battle lies.

Regardless, I hope these help.

I know you don't feel like this, but you are a good man.  God has created something in your heart that is good.  He is moving you in a new direction.  The battle is sure (Romans 7 reminds us of that), but the grace of God, through the Spirit, is shaping you to be more like Christ.  That is a promise.

A few things to ponder:

• Recognize what temptation is and how it works.
• The devil will not just tempt us not with sins to just bring us down, but also with sins to help us boast of our self righteousness.  
• Remember not to give into the temptation to boast of your sinlessness.
• We walk by the Spirit - in humbleness, both the good days and the bad days.

Galations 5:25

If we live by the Spirit,

let us also walk by the Spirit.

• Remember not to listen to the devil.
• he is a liar. 
• he is a thief.  
• he wants to destroy you.  
• he would love for you to listen to him tell you how horrible you are.

James 4:7

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal

and kill and destoy

• Remember your depravity. 
  
• As long as we are on this earth, we will never know how deep our sin is.  How horrible our sin is.  How base our sin is.
• Jack Miller used to say "Cheer up.  You are a whole lot worse than you are.  God's grace is a whole lot bigger than you can imagine."  We will never know the depth of our sin, nor the richness of God's mercy.  I praise God for the one and increased knowledge of the other.

Romans 7:24

Wretched man that I am!

Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Revelation 3:17

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered,

and I need nothing,

not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable,

poor, blind and naked.

• Confess your sin.  Repent.
• This is not a little thing.  Confession is good for the soul for a reason - it ushers in a promise, a response from a loving and forgiving Father.
• Repenting from our sin sets us straight again.  It realigns our sanity.  

Psalm 32:5

I acknowledged my sin to You,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,"

and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

• Serve Christ.
• Nothing helps to get your mind of off sin like submitting yourself to the service of Christ.  Commit yourself to get out of your comfort zone.  
• Spend time with someone who does know Christ.
• Serve at a food pantry.
• Give stuff away.
• Give your time away.
• Don't do this out of guilt, do these acts of service as true acts of worship.

2 Corinthians 5:20

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ,

making His appeal through us.

• Worship Christ alone.
• Submit yourself to God and His glory.  Commit yourself to worshipping Him.
• In song
• In reading the Word

Psalm 95:6

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker!

• Find someone who will disciple you.
• I have had the privilege of having many men speak into my life. 
• Contact your pastor, elder, friend or me.
• Walk with someone else in your journey.

 Hebrews 10:24-25

Let us consider how to stir up

one another to love and good works,

not neglecting to meet together,

as is the habit of some,

but encourage one another,

and all the more as you see

the Day drawing near.

• Put on Christ today.
• The Gospel calls us to war.  War with the devil and war with our sin.  When Paul instructs his followers to put on the armor of God, he is not merely suggesting it to them as a good idea.  This is a command, for we are at war.

Ephesians 6:13

Therefore take up the whole armor of God,

that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,

and having done all,

to stand firm.

• Remember to rest in the active work of Christ.

Ephesians 1:7-8

In Him we have redemption through His blood,

the forgiveness of our trespasses,

according to the riches of His grace,

which He lavished upon us.

Colossians1:13-14

He has delivered us from the

domain of darkness and transferred us to

the Kingdom of His beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption,

the forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness is found at the cross and empty tomb.

THAT IS GOOD NEWS!

 

Men Want Spiritual Help With...

Found this on the Family Builders Inc website:

Men Want Spiritual Help:

1. With their marriages—the number one request on men’s surveys.
2. Battling sexual temptation—the temptation men struggle with most.
3. Getting control of their anger and becoming more patient.
4. Managing their personal/spiritual lives, sticking to the right priorities and spiritual disciplines.
5. Investing their lives, not just for success, but for significance.
6. Being the spiritual leader in their homes and effectively training their kids.
7. Seeing their job as a calling from God and finding encouragement and motivation for the daily grind.
8. Knowing how to reach out effectively to their lost friends and work associates and take a stand for Biblical truth in the culture.
9. Finding a brother for encouragement, strength, and accountability.
10. Knowing how to satisfy their hearts more by delighting in God.

The Root Need:

True discipleship is not behavior modification; it is heart transformation. It is not piling more discipleship tasks on the tired backs of men; it is leading them to the feet of Christ, in whose presence the inner desires and motivations of his heart are changed. The root need of every man is the gospel of grace deeply taking root in his soul.

Many men today are tired of the constant demands upon them to perform. They can’t provide for their family as they want to without working long hours. Instead of his home being the place where he feels appreciated and refreshed—it is full of exhausting demands to perform more. In many ways he feels better suited to performing at work. He finds it very difficult to figure out what his wife wants and what his children need. He is supposed to tell his wife how he feels, but if he does, it often ends up hurting her or leading to a fight. He righteously fights to keep his sexual appetite directed towards his wife, but is often ridiculed about the way God has hard-wired him—“All you ever want is one thing.” He is challenged at church to work hard at meeting his wife’s needs but wonders why she is rarely challenged to love him the way he wants to be loved.

He is supposed to suck it up, rub it out, and keep performing. He carries a 100 lb pack on his back called his responsibilities. Some Christian men are so weary of the pressure to perform that they one day just chuck it all, and run off with another woman or resort back to their drug days. Others look for escape in the secret pleasure of viewing Internet porn, gambling, or having a secret affair.

The answer to the constant pressure to perform and the feeling of not being valued can only be fully met by the gospel of grace. Basking in God’s unconditional love, letting our failures drive us to our savior, is the only way the soul of a man can be refreshed, his strength renewed, and his heart re-energized to follow his calling. The bigger the demands upon us, the more we need to shun the myth that men should be self-reliant and let that pressure drive us to Christ for help. In his presence, we see that some of the pressure comes from our idols of success, respect, pleasure. In his presence we realize that God specializes in impossible situations and our faith is renewed. When we do fail, we remember that the greater our sin—the greater is the love of our savior in forgiving us.

Only the gospel of grace can transform the heart of a man—and that is the ultimate goal of discipleship.

Remembering Easter

So it's been over a week since Easter.  Is it still fresh in your head or are you already thinking about the next holiday?

When Jesus cried out with a loud voice "It is finished," one thing he was saying was that the task that he and the Father had agreed upon in eternity, before the world began, was in this sense completed. Nothing more was required for the salvation of believing mankind. The requirement of perfect obedience in order for man to inhabit heaven had been met. The covenant of life broken by the first Adam was "mended"—met—by Christ, the last Adam.

The above is from a fantastic article written by Paul S. MacDonald and it's published in New Horizons Magazine.  Read the entire article found here on the OPC website.

(The author, an elder at Penobscot Bay OPC in Bucksport, Maine, is a member of the Committee on Christian Education. He quotes the ESV. Reprinted from New Horizons, April 2010.)
 

What Does Grace Look Like to You?

The Little Tiny Bug

The other day, after I was working in my garden, I was sitting by our dinning room table enjoying time with our family.  After sitting there for a while, I felt something crawling up my leg.  Now living here in the South, the possibility of getting a "carry-on" from outside is pretty common.  Regardless of what it was, I am glad that it was on my leg as opposed to being on my head or some place worse.

As I looked at the little fella, I became a little curious by him.  He, I am sure it was a he, was quite small.  Round-ish, with some sort of black "armor" type of exoskeleton thing.  He was not biting me, just sitting there in the hair of my leg.

I picked him up.
He fell on the floor.

I picked him up again.
Again, he fell on the floor.

Almost like he was playing dead.  Or playing with me.  Not like a dog plays with his owner, but like a cat plays with a mouse, and I was the mouse.

I think to some extent this was his defense mechanism.  Almost a "if-I-fall-to-the-ground-no-one-will-notice-me" attitude.
"Just forget about me."
"Don't think about me anymore."
"I am nothing."
"See, just a speck on the ground."
"Don't worry.  It's almost like I am not even here anymore."

Hmmmm.  Doesn't that remind you of someone?

Here is the truth.  The devil doesn't want us to believe in him anymore.  He wants us to just forget about him.  To not worry about the little stuff.  Because if we forget about him, then we won't be surprised by the fact that he has taken over so many areas of our lives.

Remember, satan is a beautiful creature, and he can disguise himself incredibly well.
What are you being tempted by right now?
Is it beautiful?
Is it valuable?
Does it sound good?
Can it make you feel good?

Let me remind you of something.  Satan has no power over you.  If you are in Christ, you are free.  Keep in mind that "our adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).  We have to keep our eyes open to really see him.  So the call on our lives is to "put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Eph 6:11).  The choice here is will you give into the temptation or not. 

So what happened to the bug?  He is gone.  Forever.  After the fourth time falling from my finger, I brought him to the porcelain bowl.  Flushed down the drain.

That's Real Love

From Central Christian Church