Growth - Jeremiah's Vow

Integrity on the Cheap

This morning I was making a deposit at the bank. It was a personal trip. I had written out the deposit slip and was patiently waiting for my receipt. I don’t know if other people do this, but I try to always check the deposit to make sure it’s right. It’s not that I don’t trust the folks at the bank. I just know that mistakes can be made. Well, this morning a mistake was made, but it was made in my favor.

I was about to pull off and I noticed that there was too much money on my receipt. I had a decision to make (well, not really. I knew what I needed to do). I pressed the “call” button and asked the cashier to double-check the checks I had given. She looked slightly confused. Continue reading “Integrity on the Cheap”

Spiritual Starvation: The Reason Many Christian’s Struggle

Ok, so here is the deal. When I get hungry, I eat. When I get tired, I sleep. When I get discouraged, I eat. Just kidding on the last one. I usually go watch a movie or watch my kids play.

On a serious note, though, if hunger is the sign that something needs to be put in our stomach’s, what are we supposed to put in our spiritual belly when we are spiritually hungry? This is a question that I have been trying to get my head and heart around over the last couple of months. I do not have this all figured out, but I think that I am going in the right direction. So, let me share with you what I have been thinking.

There are two places in the Gospel’s were Jesus says something about spiritual food. What makes these two instances interesting is that one has to do with consumption and the other has to do with activity. I am by no means the symbol of fitness or dietary excellence, but I know that if I want to be healthy I have to eat well and exercise or stay active.

This is what Jesus said. The first he said to the devil and the second he said to his disciples.

But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4, ESV)

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work….” (John 4:31-34, ESV)

Continue reading “Spiritual Starvation: The Reason Many Christian’s Struggle”

Eat your way into heaven!

Over the last several years I have struggled to lose weight. I know that I can’t continue to eat like it will be my last meal and expect to maintain a healthy lifestyle and weight. But, eating is so good. If there were a way to keep eating, but not get full, I think that many of us would probably eat all of the time. Food is a gift from God. We were designed to eat so that we could live and not the other way around.

So let me ask you a question: if food is needed to sustain your physical life, what do you need to “eat” in order to sustain your spiritual life?

It can be so easy to think that the physical and the spiritual are in the same condition, but that would be a mistake. The problem that many of us have is that we are very good at diagnosing where we are spiritually. I would strongly recommend Donald Whitney’s book Ten Questions to Diagnose your Spiritual Health. I can read the questions and some of my thoughts on each here in Part 1 and Part 2.

Back to my question, what do you have to “eat”? I have found that the only spiritual food that God has provided for us is his word. Listen to what Jesus said to the Devil after forty days of fasting,

³And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

(Matthew 4:3-4, ESV)

“Every word that come the mouth of God” is what provides the nourishment that we need in order to feed our spirit. One of the things that we have to realize is that we do not truly know how spiritually malnourished we are until we have fed our spirit healthy food. The more junk we take in the weaker we become. I would challenge you to begin reading scripture on a daily basis, three times a day even, and see if your spiritual life does not improve.

There is no way that you can eat too much of the word of God. And, there is an added benefit to eating scripture, you will grow more healthy with each bite!

The Reformed Wesleyan, Part 1

Enjoying the Journey

Last year (2010) I was invited by a friend to attend a minister’s meeting in another town. It was an interesting assortment of folks. This group was made up of pastors in our local area. I was the only participant from the Wesleyan tradition. All the others were senior pastors of their churches and I the sole youth pastor. Did I mention that they were all Baptists? The name on the front of a church has never really mattered to me, but it is amazing how these distinctions can create boundaries between people.

I felt (and still do feel) a strong affinity to those guys because I grew up the eldest son of a Baptist minister. He was also a military chaplain which imprinted in my mind an informal concept of church structure that has always remained. I may talk about this in later posts, but for me the hierarchical nature of the military appealed to me as I was growing up. This led to me feeling very comfortable and “at home” within the Methodist church when God opened that door in the fall of 2006. While the structure of the Methodist church appeals to me, its principles and theological history has also been instructive over the last few years. (Which is why I bring it up and why I see myself as a Methodist.) John Wesley was an amazing individual. I will definitely be writing about him and what he had and has to teach the Church of today.

I think, that to a large extent, we all are the products of our experiences. We should not be governed by them because some of them may not have been healthy, but they do inform what we believe. The hard part of this is that there are events, circumstances and experiences that color our perspective and our perception that may need to be amended. By this I am thinking of both positive and negative experiences. What we should do is to take the time to consider and evaluate the impact these experiences have on our choices and beliefs. Being raised Baptist there are certain “Baptist” traits that I carry with me, i.e., preaching a certain way, primacy of the Bible for faith development, generally more conservative, etc. But, with each new experience new opportunities for growth happen. This is the case for me as I have moved out of the Baptist tradition into the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition.

This change has brought some interesting and needed changes to what I believe. I have realized that I was not as accepting as I once thought. I jokingly told a friend that, “I used to be judgmental.” That is just a silly thing to say, but I was trying to describe how my capacity to receive people as they are before I decided how to feel about them has changed. Another area is in the practical application of Gospel convictions. While I am not saying that Methodists get it right and others don’t, I have found a “structural and organic” approach to living out what one believes in the Methodist church. This is part of the DNA of the church, even if not lived out perfectly everywhere and at all times. One critique that I have is that there is a lot of emotion, but not enough affection in this work, but that is another subject for another day.

The Worst Methodist Ever!

This brings me back to the conversation that I had with my group of brothers. We were talking about something and one of them looks me straight in the face and says, “You are the worst Methodist ever!” Now, how do I take that? I said, “Thank you.” Every opportunity that you have to break through someone else’s perception of you is a good opportunity. I am thoroughly Wesleyan. I, however, do not take that as a whole-sale endorsement of everything that may be considered “Wesleyan” and yet may not fit what I have come to understand in the Bible. There are overarching principles and assumptions that the Wesleyan tradition has made and makes that, for me, accurately represent what I find in the Bible and in my faith journey.

Does that make them right, perfect or prescriptive for others? No. It does however provide me with a framework to work within so that as I engage the world, others and God I am not just randomly putting together belief’s and doctrines to suit me. These principles and assumptions do point in a particular direction. They do lead somewhere. It is one way of arranging the facts of the Scriptures. While for some there is a definite order for all the facts, that assumes too much (as far as I’m concerned) about my ability to discern and know what was going through God’s mind when He did what He did (I think that’s a third subject for another day).

If this makes me “the worst Methodist ever,” I am really not sure. As I strive to live my life in light of God’s word and in his presence I have come to the conclusion and conviction that God’s word must be the standard for anything and everything that I do in my life. The main reason we as Christian’s talk about the canon of scripture is because the word “canon” speaks of a measurement or standard that had to be met in order for a book of the bible to “make it.” Why should we hold each other to any less a standard.

I am a follower of Christ first. I have chosen to make my home within the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition because I believe that it helps me to organize my thoughts and beliefs in a consistent way. I have not thought everything through, but I am working on it.

So in good Methodist tradition: Join the Journey!

Next Time:
Where did the idea of The Reformed Wesleyan come from?

True Humility

True humility does not come from my actions, but from my relationship with God.

I recently had a conversation with someone about the nature of humility. The word itself seems a bit intimidating. I would like to think that I am humble, but in even trying to say it I lose the very thing I am trying to achieve. Or do we?

I have come to realize that true humility, not the stuff that makes you feel belittled or worthless, but true humility does not come from my actions, is seen in my relationship with God. The greater my understanding and acceptance of who God the closer I am to what God wants.

When I seek to grow in humility I am confronted with the awesome truth that I am unworthy of being in a relationship with Him at all.

God is holy. His holiness makes having a relationship with him impossible. But when I can appreciate the distance God had to travel to bridge the gap between my sin and His glory I am on the road to humility.

Humility is not a line to be crossed or a prize to be won. Humility is so much more than that. It is the final acceptance that God has chosen to come to this earth and provide a way for me to enjoy Him. And it is then when that vertical relationship is what it ought to be, then I can act toward those around me in a way that is both pleasing to God and beneficial to others.

Last Updated on March 4, 2023.

Jesus was a Human “Being”

What GOD is seeking in us as HIS children has very little to do with what we do.

Human Being vs. Human Doing

This post is not about the incarnation or the humanity of JESUS. Rather what I would like to explore is the idea that we as people, humanity as a whole, as created by GOD were not designed to be a “human doing.” What does this mean? The essence here is that what GOD is seeking in us as HIS children has very little to do with what we do. This is an important component of what salvation is. Salvation is not of works, but of faith. What this implies (and almost demands) to us is that there needs to be a clear distinction between what we do for others and what we are before GOD.

GOD wants us to be something with HIM and to do something for others. We can see how confused and confusing this gets when we try to be something, i.e., savior, lover, friend, confidant, whatever, for the people around us. GOD tells us to love our neighbors, that is an action. HE commands us to serve others, that is an action. But when it comes to what GOD wants us to be for HIM is HIS children (John 1:12; Romans 8:16; 1 John 3:1).

The Journey Home

The story of the prodigal son captures the essence of this most vividly. When the prodigal returns he never stopped being a son even though he felt unworthy of accepting the position. The FATHER never forgot who HIS son was. The FATHER even went a step further and reminded the entire house of who had returned “from the dead” (Luke 15:24).

The older brother had a similar problem to that of the prodigal. He never left the house, but he had never accepted the fact that he always had been the son and nothing he did would ever have changed that. “Son all that I have is yours, all you had to do was to ask” (paraphrase).

And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'” (Luke 15:31-32 ESV)

Be Transformed

JESUS helps us to better understand the transition that needs to take place in order for us to be what GOD wants us to be. Paul called this being transformed (becoming something we are not) into the reflection of JESUS (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Paul also called this being conformed (pressed into a mold) to CHRIST and not this world (Romans 8:29, 12:2; 1 Peter 1:14).

There is a two-part process here. We must first acknowledge that we are children of GOD. This can be hard for some of us to do. But second, we have accepted that this puts us in a very special place within the family of GOD. There is nothing that needs to be done for GOD to be pleased with us. And there is nothing that we can do that will cause GOD to cast us out, if we are HIS children. Distance between GOD and me is a result of my activity to move away and not HIS.

Everywhere JESUS went HE was the truest manifestation of a Human Being. HE did not need to be reminded of the frailty of those around HIM. HE saw it and was moved with compassion (Matthew 9:36, 14:14, 15:32; Mark 6:34, 8:2; Luke 7:13). JESUS did not need to be told about the problems in the church. JESUS confronted them head-on even if that meant standing alone. When you know who you are nobody can deter you from your path.

When we learn “to be” and not “to do,” then we will begin to understand The Christian Way.

Last Updated on February 9, 2023.