24Jan
What do you do when you feel like you are running on empty? What do you do when you feel like your only option is to give up? What do you do when it seems like you have nothing more to give? This is a question that plagues us all; make no mistake, you’re not alone. The marines have a saying: once you feel like you have given everything you have (that is to the point of exhaustion), then you can give 10% more. They figured this out by conducting studies, and they did indeed learn that once we are to the point of running on empty, we have 10% more. I think this same mentality is given to us in Hebrews 12:1:
… Let us run the race with endurance.
Having run track in high school, I can tell you that endurance is a hard thing. I was a sprinter; I was fast; I was through after 10 seconds of running. The endurance runners had to go on for what seemed like hours. They could not simply give up once they got tired, they had to keep on going. And more often than not, they kept on going until they finished the race. Even if they told themselves they were through, they still finished. Such is the case for us. Keep on running! Don’t give up! Don’t let yourself give up…
17Jan
When are you really safe in life?
I think that this is a pretty good question; I think that this is a question that we all need to ask ourselves. We walk around pretending that our lives are ok, and that we are doing just fine: be it socially, economically, spiritually, or physically. This is dangerous for us to think, though. Because when the storms in life hit us, the fact that we thought we were invincible before only augments the troubles in our life. As a result we lose faith; we lose strength; we lose love; we lose just about everything. The storms in our life are inevitable. I know what you are probably thinking to yourself, “Neil is getting pretty depressing in his niche nowadays.” But I am not typing this to scare you, and I am not typing this to bring you down. I am typing this to reassure you. Continue reading »
10Jan
How easily can you display faith in a hard time? I know that it is really easy to talk about how great faith is when everything is going great. The good times usually roll, and we don’t realize that at some point in the near future, we are going to get kicked in the face by life. It’s at this point that I ask you, how easily can you display faith? It’s one thing to just say, “I have faith that God will get me through this,” But it is a completely different thing to actually live it. I find myself asking the same question over and over, “Do I have enough faith that God will get me through the tough times?” It’s so hard to see through all this darkness that the world is throwing at us, and to see the light that is heaven which awaits us. When Paul wrote,
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
I think of three things together that will get me through any tough time that I run into. I see three things together that “abide” (according to another translation). What a great word! What abides? Faith. Hope. Love.
These things “abide” within me, these things transcend all the mess that my life is and turns it into something great…something to look forward to. Remember that. Remember when you hit a brick wall, and you’re not in a good place, remember what abides. Help them to abide.
10Jan
In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Mt. 5:6). God is gracious, and he has freely given us innumerable blessings, but he will not “satisfy” those who do not desire his righteousness. A basic hunger must exist in the heart of the believer, an urge similar to the one shared by David:
As the deer pants for lowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? (Ps. 42:1-2)
Implied in Jesus’ beatitude is the notion that our hunger for righteousness is satisfied in the nourishment of God’s Word. When he was being tempted by the devil, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, which says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The Bible contains the essential spiritual nutrients for the soul. That is why Peter encourages us to desire the “sincere milk of the word” (1 Pet. 2:2, KJV). Without it, that innermost part of us that makes us who we are withers and eventually dies. Continue reading »
03Jan
As we approach the New Year, people are making New Year’s resolutions. Weight Watchers is seeing a bump in their enrollment, and Nicorette’s first quarter earnings are looking good. People are promising themselves that 2010 will be the year they pay off their debt or get more exercise or reduce their stress levels or stop focusing on themselves and start helping others.
The most common intention on New Year’s Day is to lose weight. One woman thought she caught her husband taking a shortcut to weight loss when she saw him standing on the scale in their bathroom, sucking and pulling in on his stomach. Bemused by all of this, she said, “Honey, you know that’s not going to help.” To which he replied, “Sure it is. This way I can read the numbers.” Losing weight is a good goal, but isn’t it a little shallow compared to some of the things Christians ought to be resolving to do in the next year? Continue reading »