Got Fruit ?

Yesterday evening ended up being a little off track from my usual Friday night laundry routine, due in no small part to getting in from work and taking an extended "nap".  Once I did finally manage to awake and shake the cobwebs from my noggin I got busy.  With the laundry in the wash I did a little house cleaning followed by a run to Wal-Mart.

On the return from the shopping trip, I ran into my next door neighbor, and we got into a  conversation.  Turns out that he just ended a relationship, that by his own admission wasn’t the most healthy of circumstances to be in.  As we were talking I couldn’t help but notice the similarities of his situation to what I had gone through myself a few years earlier.  In both of our cases, we saw the writing on the wall regarding the relationships, and knowing that they were counter to God’s word, we walked away from the respective relationships.

After about 20 minutes or so I made my way into my apartment and began cooking dinner.  While prepping my gourmet meal I happened to take particular notice of the one and a half loaves of bread sitting on my counter.  No, I don’t love bread that much, nor am I that big a fan of sandwiches. :)  (Go ahead, say it: "man does not live by bread alone " )   :)  The reason for the 1 1/2 loaves of bread is that on the rare occasion to actually remember what to shop for with out a list,  a  loaf was bought last weekend while my kids were over, thinking that with 4 folks in the house we’d surely go through the 1/2 loaf  already there, call it  preemptive shopping.  Anyway, so I’m looking at all of this bread on the counter, and I notice that it’s not moldy!  Yeah the things that a fella gets excited over.  The reason for amazement I suppose is that bread used to be one of those items bough that would inevitably go bad before getting full use.

Thinking about the bread, I also thought back to the early years following my divorce, particularly how I needed to make some changes.  An obvious change is financial.  But what I was thinking about at that moment was recollection of shopping habits, and just trying to be more frugal (?) about my resources (food, money,time etc).  This need for change was realized after having gone through several instances of finding in left overs in the refrigerator that looked like some science experiment gone completely wrong.  Note: meatballs are not suppose to ever have green hair!

So between the instances of green haired meatballs, spotted pasta, 1/2 gallons of milk having the consistency of engine sludge, and bread that looked more like blue-green velour covered arm rests, it became clear that I needed to make some changes. Part of the problem comes from not having a feel for coking smaller meals.  So instead of opting to cook different meals as often, it became more practical to cook a meal, then settle for a few days worth of having the same leftovers.  Yeah variety is thrown out the window, but not as much food. 

So all of this recollection of food gone bad and conversation with my neighbor about his soured relationship brings to mind how God streamlines the believer’s life.  Perhaps some of you readers recall stages of your walk with Christ that called for a rethinking of priorities, activities and associations.  I don’t know if there’s a specific order to this, but in my experiences I’d have to say that God’s Holy Spirit addressed my activities with a certain regularity, of which I ignored Him with equal regularity; "Oh" is he persistent though. Once the time wasting and God distracting activities were addressed, a renewed sense of priorities rooted.  Now none of these changes were discrete, meaning they were dependent upon one another, but some things in retrospect did seem to require a higher precedence.  The gist of this ramble is that God does speak to our heart on all matters, often attempting to get us to draw closer to Him by removing life’s distractions.  Our part is to be receptive to God’s constructive and purposeful guidance.

John 15:1-2
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Grace and peace be with you

Why is it opportunities always look bigger going than coming?

Source: “An Apple a Day: Treasured Selections from Apples of Gold” by Jo Petty

Grace and peace be with you.

I’m having trouble coming up with a more intellectually sounding way of introducing this piece, so let’s just go with a plain ‘ole straight to the point approach.  In doing so,I’m going to disclose something about myself that I usually don’t hold in high regard as being of any significant importance to how I truly identify myself which is as a Christian.

In the latter part of 2007 I was nominated for the role of deacon.  Sometime in the early months of this year, I was "officially" designated as such.  The short answer to being a deacon is that he is simply a servant.  Much to my disappointment, there were no funny hats to accompany this new responsibility.

Taking a cue from an elder and friend, I try to not get wrapped up in titles, instead looking at the purpose and of even being honored to be called to serve.  That said, titles can be useful in maintaining an order of authority and accountability, when speaking in terms of a business or conducting business.  The flip side is that people can also go to such extremes in their fascination with a title that they lose focus of the purpose behind the title.   Titles should help affirm what one’s job, duties or responsibilities are.  Titles in general  however; shouldn’t identify who we are. An exception is to follow after this brief sidetrack…

Not quite  a week ago I visited a site by a professing believer.   The site was well put together and had a certain artistic flair to it.  The guy that runs the site has an obvious creative touch, but that’s not really the point of all this.  As I was exploring, I checked out blogger’s snippet about himself, which reads:

Web designer and developer. Loud discerner. Software engineer and programmer coder. Conservative. Musician. Christian-follower. Nuclear engineer. Libertarian. Jovial cynic.

Nothing unusual about using a strike through.  I’ve used it myself to make sarcasm of a situation, or to show that I have revisited a thought and edited accordingly, and I’ve used it to make a point about something by coyly drawing attention to that which is to be "disregarded".  For some strange reason though, seeing the strike through used in the word "Christian" to downplay the word and I assume magnify Christ struck me as an odd thing to do.  Don’t get me wrong here please, anytime we can get out of the way to allow Christ to be magnified in our lives is great!

As I’ve become acquainted with the Christian blogging world I’ve seen "Christ-follower" (minus a strike through of the trailing i-a-n) used several times, and even then the term has always struck me as an odd way to identify oneself.  It’s as if when one goes to the trouble to differentiate, they’re begging for separation not differentiation.  I guess the question I have is, "When did it become "in" to be ashamed to be known by the title "Christian"?"  I mean seriously, the early church thought it an honor to be known as such for whom they identified in (Jesus) to the point of willing to die for the true purpose behind the word.

Here’s something to think about… Did Jesus ever change His message of who He claimed to be or what His message was when it got a little uncomfortable for Him in His association with God the Father?

Matthew 26:59-66
59 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 60 But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.  Finally two came forward 61 and declared, "This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’ "

62 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" 63 But Jesus remained silent.
      The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."

64 "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. 66 What do you think?"
      "He is worthy of death," they answered.

Mark15:1-2
1 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

2 "Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate.
      "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.

Notice that Jesus didn’t waver in His encounter with Pilate, perhaps replying instead: "King!?!? Hmm , king of the Jews carries way too much implication and discomfort, nah…. more like a historical model for man to "follow". No, I don’t see where Jesus was concerned about how the world perceived Him concerning His claims of who He is.

Acts 11:26
26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

Now, I know that there have been many instances throughout history where people have done things in the name of Christianity that we’re not Christ-like when compared to what Scripture says.  The Crusades for example.  In recent history we have scandals and vandals that have the name Christian attached to them, be it the likes of Juanita Bynum, Benny Hinn, Todd Bentley or the way out in left field Westboro Baptist Churches of the world to name a few.

Acts 26:28
28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"

Hopefully I’ve been able to articulate that if Jesus wasn’t ashamed of who He was, then we shouldn’t be ashamed to be known by the very name that the early church founded to identify with its creator.  In closing I leave you with a final verse concerning the word Christian and an invitation take 5 minutes to watch and listen to what Ravi Zacharias has to say (select the Video titled: Postmedernism: is it a new idea?).

1st Peter 4:16
16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

Grace and peace be with you.

As I was preparing for work Friday morning, a conversation from Wednesday evening with the Young Adults group popped up.  We we’re in the "Why study and discuss discernment?" section of our study and discussion and as additional food for thought,I bought up the notion of being able to pick up on subtleties of what’s said with regard to doctrine, beliefs etc. 

As a very generalized example, I used Democratic presidential nominee Obam’s call for "change", and the frenzied response of supporters.  The idea being that those (not all inclusive) that are in support of Obama seem to respond (emotionally and in an almost cult-like following) to his message of change, but the question remains… "What change is proposed?".  Saying you want change is one thing, saying you have a vision or plan for change is another.   In another way think of someone professing: "I’m Christian", yet their life merely reflects being a "good person" by man’s standards of morals and conduct rather than being Christ led and thus Christ-like in attitude,behavior, etc.  Essentially it’s just a word with no godly weight or sense of Holy Spirit led conviction to it.

Updated 20080907 at 2:33 pm
Hmmm!?… reference the statement:  "In another way think of someone professing: "I’m Christian", yet their life merely reflects being a "good person" …"  My Pastor practically said the same thing in today’s sermon.

The thought that finally impressed upon me however was that regardless of a Christian’s political interest or involvement, we ought not to think of political figures as messiahs that will bring about moral change through the political process.  The Jews seemed to have made a similar mistake in their assumption that the messiah would free them from the occupation and influence of the Roman Empire.  They thought that political reform was His mission, at least in part.  I’m not discounting the possibility of a godly man or woman being used by God to address this country’s moral deficit however, I think that the call by God is for each of us to fix our eyes on Him and His Word, to be ambassadors of Christ that are an effective catalyst for spiritual change at a localized level.

By influencing those people in our immediate sphere of influence (family,friends,co-workers,employees,neighbors,etc) we can effect a change that works from the bottom up versus putting too much stock and energy in hoping for politicians to employ God’s message and values to the people from the top down.

Grace and peace be with you.

Character is property - it is the noblest of possessions.

Source: “An Apple a Day: Treasured Selections from Apples of Gold” by Jo Petty

Grace and peace be with you.