commitment - Jeremiah's Vow

Getting Committed

Every year we are encouraged, and maybe even motivated, to make some changes in the new year. There is something almost mystical and the process of preparing to finish one year of our lives and begin another one. Many of us make resolutions about areas of our lives we want to improve or change. I am no different. I am just wondering if I will follow through on those things I want to see happen.

There are some things I would like to change this next year. However, I am afraid of falling into the same old traps of these kinds of resolutions. If I am being honest, I am not really all that resolute when I write these wants and desires down. I almost feel obligated to do something because that is what you are supposed to do at the start of the year. Right?

It may be the word itself, I am not sure. How many people really know what it means to resolve to do something? And even though I feel pretty sure I do, these resolutions are more reminders of what is wrong with my life and what I failed to do in the past year. I do not want to make resolutions about this year about things I half-heartedly wanted to do anyway. I guess I am just tired of doing things because I can’t think of anything else to do.

That’s why I have decided to make New Year’s commitments. I want to do somethings this year that I know I can do and I want to do. This list of commitments is rather short, mainly because I am lazy, but more importantly because it is not about trying to impress anybody. I want to commit to these things because I feel strongly about doing them.

So, what are my commitments? I want to read more, write more, play more and love more.

I want to read more. There are some books that have been gathering dust for far too long on my shelves. I love books, but I am not the best at reading the books I get. I want to change that.

I want to write more. There are a few subjects that I really enjoy thinking about and would like to put them down. I may or may not blow anybody away with what I write, but it is a discipline I want to develop.

I want to play my guitar more. I pick up the guitar seven years ago. I am okay. I can play songs and figure somethings out, but I want to become more proficient. I am not trying to be famous, I just want to be better.

I want to love more. I have a great family. A beautiful wife who loves me and puts up with my craziness. And two great girls who love me better than I deserve. I want to be more intentional about making memories with them. I will have to enlist some help with these, but that is part of the journey.

What are some of your commitments for this year?

Are We “Pro-Jesus” or With Jesus?

Our pastor has been preaching a series of sermons on the difference between being a fan and a follower of Jesus. This Sunday we looked at the difference between having a knowledge of Jesus and have an intimate relationship with Jesus. While you need to have a knowledge of Jesus in order to have an intimate relationship, you can have knowledge of Jesus and completely miss the intimacy. The Scripture reference was the story of the Sinful Woman that came and washed Jesus feet with her tears and hair. This is a powerful story. (Read it here.)

As Pastor David preached he said something that was funny at first glance, but after I gave it more thought really made me think. Am I “Pro-Jesus” or am I with Jesus? I will be splitting the proverbial hair here, but it just struck me odd after thinking about it. It can be so easy to be satisfied with being around Jesus, being near Jesus, being close to Jesus that we never push forward to being with Jesus. The idea is that we can be in the same room, but never engage in the conversation.

I don’t want to just be someone who is known for liking what Jesus stood for. Or knowing everything there is to know about Jesus. I want to be known by him. This is the idea that Paul is getting after when he says that there will come a moment when all of this will change.

¹² Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. (1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT)

There it is. God’s way of knowing will becoming my way of knowing. That is going to be a glorious day. When we are “Pro-Jesus” we are only interested in the exterior. How does this look? What do other people think? This was the problem with the man who invited Jesus to have a meal with him. He invited Jesus, failed to pay customary courtesy and then becomes indignant when another, the sinful woman, outshines the host, even when it was completely inappropriate. Simon the Pharisee missed out on the greatest opportunity of his life, and for what? He missed it because he was looking at the wrong person.

The sin of religious piety and of false humility will always lead to a skewed perspective of how things ought to be. As soon as the woman came in and began to worship Jesus, because that is what we have to call it, the “holiest” man in the room had this thought, “If this man [Jesus] were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner” (Luke 7: 39b, ESV). And, as if on cue, Jesus answers the mans thoughts and puts him in his place.

The bottom line is that we should never be satisfied with being mere acquaintances with Jesus. We should be willing to go the ends of the earth for Jesus. Even if, or better still, especially when it costs us our dignity and self-respect. The sad reality is that for many of us who claim to be Christians, if Jesus asks us to give up our dignity and self-respect, we would rather have him move along until he comes to his senses.

We can know how deeply our commitment is rooted when we consider how far we are willing to go to show our devotion and faithfulness to God and his Son. Until we know how far we will go, we will not truly know or understand how valuable Jesus is in our lives.

http://youtu.be/FBNfkZKnsaw

Word to the Wise | “Words Reveal Our Beliefs”

Have you ever noticed how careless we are with our words? Sometimes, I think that we do not even know what we are saying. But, do you know what is the biggest problem with our words? We do not realize that our words should be an expression of what we really believe. Too often they are spoken without considering the impact they will have in our souls.

Allow me an example. Most people in the United States have, at one time or another, said these words: “Our Father who art in heaven, hollowed be your name, your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Let me ask you a question. Do you know what you’ve just said? You have said that you want for God to rule in your life in the same way He rules in heaven. We say it, but we don’t really mean it, because if we meant it we could not wait to hear from God and follow Him. The next time you recite the Lord’s Prayer, ask yourself, “How willing am I to actually act upon the words I am about to declare?”

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/04/09)

Where to Begin…

If I had to summarize what is different today from one year ago I would say that I no longer see my faith as something to be serious about. Being a disciple of Christ is something serious and if it is serious then there must be an equal sign between my life and my talk. Faith = Life = Speech.

A Year for the Ages

I guess that the best place to start any story is in the beginning.

The year 2010 was for me one of the most spiritually vibrant, challenging and devastating of my entire life. It was vibrant because I experienced so many points of growth that I am not sure that I can count them all (or even remember them). I am not talking about major moments of radical transformation, even though a couple of these took place. I am talking about my ever increasing awareness of God’s moving in and around me. The ever increasing sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s leading has grown in ways that I cannot explain. Have I perfectly walked in all of this… Not even close! But I have found myself growing in areas I have long wanted to see it in.

This period has also been challenging and devastating. I have seen that I still have areas of my life that I have not fully surrendered to God. When you see this, as I have, you come away from these confrontations of conscience and, if you are honest, you know that you will never be the same. I attended a spiritual retreat in February 2010 that, as far as I am concerned, broke the dam of God’s renewing purpose for my life. I would not realize what God did that weekend until the year had come to an end. But, as I look back that was the point that I can identify where God broke through to me.

An Unexpected Friend

Connected to this event was the convergence of two lives. God brought a man into my life that would become my brother. He gently demonstrated the love of Christ to me and prayed with me and for me. He discipled me and taught me what discipleship could be and should be. The lessons that I learned at home from my father specifically, and my family in general served as the underlying foundation that God has used to bring me to where I am right now. This is a process. In no way am I trying to say that I have arrived at anything. If anything I have come to realize that any talk of arriving is to miss the point all together.

A New Desire

Basically, what I believe has to find expression somewhere in my life. Otherwise I am only playing lip service to what I read in the Bible. This has been the cumulative effect of what God has brought to my attention this past year. As a result, I hope to share some of those lessons here. These are not the perfected statements of an academic. At times they may resemble the ramblings of a searching soul. In the end, I just want to put what I am learning in a place that I can come back, reflect, pray, correct and try again.

Faith, like a fire, must be fed properly and stoked to keep the winds of doubt, fear and error from siphoning the life God has promised away from us. I am tired of being frustrated at God, when the truth is, many times, I am the source and root of my anemic and feeble faith.

Father, I ask that you would be with me, as you always have been. But, now allow me the strength to not see the circumstances of my life as coincidences or happenstances. Father, you hear your children. What I ask is that I might pray in such a way that your name would be foremost in my mind and in my heart.

Remove distractions that would hinder me from seeing you. Renew desires that are pleasing to you and replace the ones that I have lifted up out of selfish and fleshly motives. You alone are worthy of attention and affections. May it be true of me. Father, help me to practice this each day, leaving the future in your sovereign plan.

Father, may anybody that reads these and future words be challenged to turn to you. For you are supremely, uniquely and solely worthy of our praise, worship and honoring. May we all seek to lift your name up higher above all others. Amen.