Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! -- 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
Here we are. 2010 is on it's last legs and 2011 is right around the corner. Have you been thinking and talking about resolutions for the new year or have you discovered what many of us know? It's a lot harder to live up to those resolutions than it is to make them. We have the greatest of ambitions when we resolve to improve ourselves, don't we? "This is going to be the year I lose 20 pounds" or "This time I'm really going to make sure I call my mother once a week" or maybe even "This is the year I find 'The One' and get married". Whatever they are, we usually shoot for the moon. It's a lot of pressure!
You wanna know the secret to realizing success? You have to come to the realization that the creature you long to be is already inside of you! God made you with a perfect design. It's just bursting to reveal itself and you are the only thing holding it back.
Let me put it in the form of a question or two. Can you pinpoint a time in your life when you are 100% sure you felt the presence of Christ in you? You can feel God's pull on your life to be certain, but I don't know that you can really feel Christ's presence inside of you until you get to a point where you need to feel it. Once you do that, you've unlocked your true self. You are free to live a life full of Christ. You are ready to begin the next part of the journey I wrote about this week.
We refer to that as you becoming a new creation, but it's really a matter of you realizing your potential in Christ. Instead of a new creation you become you discover your true self! I can think of no better time to dig deep and give that some thought than New Year's weekend. It's a new year, full of limitless possibilities and as yet untold stories. There will be good and there will be bad to be certain, but even a bad day with Christ is better than the best day without.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Your Mission
God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times. -- Romans 1:9-10 NIV
Candy Lightner founded MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) in 1980 after her daughter, Cari, was killed by a repeat drunk driving offender. Cindy Lamb—whose daughter, Laura, became the nation’s youngest quadriplegic at the hands of a drunk driver—soon joined Candy in her crusade to save lives. The organization has grown into one of the most well-known and respected non-profits in the world. Through legislation it has pushed, it has saved over 27,000 lives.
It started small. Just a few people fed up at a problem that had personally affected them. Thirty years later it has become something those charter members never dreamed...it has become what God called it to be.
Guess what? YOU have a mission too! In fact, you will have many missions over the course of your life. Some will take very little time. Some will require a life-long amount of effort. Your mission, right now, is the thing you are passionate about. It's the thing you can't seem to get away from. It is what is growing out of the latest trial in your life...and what you have learned from it. Who knows? Your mission could end up being the next MADD. But even if it isn't, your mission is God-given and sent to you because you are in a unique position to make an impact on the world around you. Relish it. Be content with it. Pray about it. Be blessed from it.
Candy Lightner founded MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) in 1980 after her daughter, Cari, was killed by a repeat drunk driving offender. Cindy Lamb—whose daughter, Laura, became the nation’s youngest quadriplegic at the hands of a drunk driver—soon joined Candy in her crusade to save lives. The organization has grown into one of the most well-known and respected non-profits in the world. Through legislation it has pushed, it has saved over 27,000 lives.
It started small. Just a few people fed up at a problem that had personally affected them. Thirty years later it has become something those charter members never dreamed...it has become what God called it to be.
Guess what? YOU have a mission too! In fact, you will have many missions over the course of your life. Some will take very little time. Some will require a life-long amount of effort. Your mission, right now, is the thing you are passionate about. It's the thing you can't seem to get away from. It is what is growing out of the latest trial in your life...and what you have learned from it. Who knows? Your mission could end up being the next MADD. But even if it isn't, your mission is God-given and sent to you because you are in a unique position to make an impact on the world around you. Relish it. Be content with it. Pray about it. Be blessed from it.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Smell The Roses
Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come? -- Ecclesiastes 8:7 NIV
As Anna stood atop a rock cliff overlooking the ocean at sunset, her true love on one knee before her asking her to be his wife, she couldn't help but think about how she got to this spot and laugh a little...on the inside, of course! It hadn't been all that long ago that she was hiring this very man to drive her across Ireland to Dublin where her soon to be fiance was waiting. It was one of those trips. Anything that could possibly go wrong did, from his car rolling back down a hill into a pond with her luggage inside to stepping in cow manure to rolling down an Irish hill in a rainstorm and ending up in a mud puddle (and she had missed her train on that one), even the time the two of them crashed a wedding. By the end of the night, she had spilled wine on the bride and puked all over her driver.
Looking back now, it seemed obvious that it wouldn't take very long for her regular life to seem...dull.
You see, the journey IS the point! Anna couldn't have dreamed up an adventure like that even if she had tried. We spend a lot of our lives, I think, waiting. We're waiting for things to get better. We're waiting for the next phase of our lives. We're waiting...for something good to happen. But great things are happening all over the place, and many times they come disguised as more trouble.
Embrace every day, every minute even, of your life! Appreciate all of it for exactly what it is (God's gift). Have peace during the middle of the harshest of times knowing that you will look back on them later and see all that you learned because of it. The roses are there to be smelled, not just to be seen and admired.
As Anna stood atop a rock cliff overlooking the ocean at sunset, her true love on one knee before her asking her to be his wife, she couldn't help but think about how she got to this spot and laugh a little...on the inside, of course! It hadn't been all that long ago that she was hiring this very man to drive her across Ireland to Dublin where her soon to be fiance was waiting. It was one of those trips. Anything that could possibly go wrong did, from his car rolling back down a hill into a pond with her luggage inside to stepping in cow manure to rolling down an Irish hill in a rainstorm and ending up in a mud puddle (and she had missed her train on that one), even the time the two of them crashed a wedding. By the end of the night, she had spilled wine on the bride and puked all over her driver.
Looking back now, it seemed obvious that it wouldn't take very long for her regular life to seem...dull.
You see, the journey IS the point! Anna couldn't have dreamed up an adventure like that even if she had tried. We spend a lot of our lives, I think, waiting. We're waiting for things to get better. We're waiting for the next phase of our lives. We're waiting...for something good to happen. But great things are happening all over the place, and many times they come disguised as more trouble.
Embrace every day, every minute even, of your life! Appreciate all of it for exactly what it is (God's gift). Have peace during the middle of the harshest of times knowing that you will look back on them later and see all that you learned because of it. The roses are there to be smelled, not just to be seen and admired.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Enslaved
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. -- John 8:32 NIV
If you've read this blog for any length of time, no doubt you've seen me quote this particular verse. It is one of my favorites, because I'm a big fan of the plain, simple, truth. Even at it's most uncomfortable it is still the truth and the key to freedom.
But that begs the question...freedom from what? Freedom from having to care anymore? Freedom from being broke? Freedom from having to say 'I'm sorry'?
The things each of us need to be freed from are unique to us. We all, of course, need to be freed from sin and Jesus is the one to help with that. But what do you call the things in your life that have you physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually trapped? It's time to speak truth and give each one of them a name. Call it out for what it is. Admit to yourself and someone else who can help keep you accountable what those things are.
When you give the problems in your life a name and enlist the help first of Jesus and then of those Jesus has put in your life, you start down the path of freedom that comes from truth. It won't always be a easy path, but it IS the truthful path and it leads to Heaven.
If you've read this blog for any length of time, no doubt you've seen me quote this particular verse. It is one of my favorites, because I'm a big fan of the plain, simple, truth. Even at it's most uncomfortable it is still the truth and the key to freedom.
But that begs the question...freedom from what? Freedom from having to care anymore? Freedom from being broke? Freedom from having to say 'I'm sorry'?
The things each of us need to be freed from are unique to us. We all, of course, need to be freed from sin and Jesus is the one to help with that. But what do you call the things in your life that have you physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually trapped? It's time to speak truth and give each one of them a name. Call it out for what it is. Admit to yourself and someone else who can help keep you accountable what those things are.
When you give the problems in your life a name and enlist the help first of Jesus and then of those Jesus has put in your life, you start down the path of freedom that comes from truth. It won't always be a easy path, but it IS the truthful path and it leads to Heaven.
Momentum
But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. -- James 1:25 NIV
The 1992 Buffalo Bills were coming off of 2 straight Super Bowl losses. They played the Houston Oilers in the regular season finale, losing both the game and their starting QB, Jim Kelly. They would play again in Buffalo in a first round playoff game the next week. The momentum Houston built the week before would carry-over...big time. They could do no wrong. The score was 35-3 very early into the 3rd quarter. Then everything changed and there were two reasons. Two things the Houston Oilers had working against them and their 32 point lead.
First, Coach Marv Levy spoke the words to his backup QB, Frank Reich. In front of the team, he told Reich "You're about to go out there and lead the greatest comeback in NFL history." Second, Reich had led his college team to the greatest comeback in NCAA history as a Senior, rallying Maryland from more than 30 points down to beat Miami. Reich did indeed lead the comeback, taking the game to overtime where Steve Christie kicked the game winner, making the final score 41-38.
It doesn't matter whether it's a relationship, your job, your faith, of yourself, the momentum of your life can turn and you can make the greatest of spiritual comebacks. It takes the belief that you WILL do it and to free yourself to do what you were built to do. If you went through December and moved closer spiritually to Jesus, don't let that momentum fade! Keep on reading your Bible and praying. Look for the opportunities before you to put your faith into action. But if you didn't really succeed this December, maybe now is the time to turn the tide. You've been getting creamed just like the Bills, but Jesus is the greatest coach ever and he's telling you that you are about to lead the greatest comeback in history! You have teammates who will stand with you and help you reach your goal. Momentum is a crazy thing...it is pretty hard to stop. Once you get it rolling in the right direction, feed it and it will grow into an unstoppable force. It's time to get out there and make it happen!
The 1992 Buffalo Bills were coming off of 2 straight Super Bowl losses. They played the Houston Oilers in the regular season finale, losing both the game and their starting QB, Jim Kelly. They would play again in Buffalo in a first round playoff game the next week. The momentum Houston built the week before would carry-over...big time. They could do no wrong. The score was 35-3 very early into the 3rd quarter. Then everything changed and there were two reasons. Two things the Houston Oilers had working against them and their 32 point lead.
First, Coach Marv Levy spoke the words to his backup QB, Frank Reich. In front of the team, he told Reich "You're about to go out there and lead the greatest comeback in NFL history." Second, Reich had led his college team to the greatest comeback in NCAA history as a Senior, rallying Maryland from more than 30 points down to beat Miami. Reich did indeed lead the comeback, taking the game to overtime where Steve Christie kicked the game winner, making the final score 41-38.
It doesn't matter whether it's a relationship, your job, your faith, of yourself, the momentum of your life can turn and you can make the greatest of spiritual comebacks. It takes the belief that you WILL do it and to free yourself to do what you were built to do. If you went through December and moved closer spiritually to Jesus, don't let that momentum fade! Keep on reading your Bible and praying. Look for the opportunities before you to put your faith into action. But if you didn't really succeed this December, maybe now is the time to turn the tide. You've been getting creamed just like the Bills, but Jesus is the greatest coach ever and he's telling you that you are about to lead the greatest comeback in history! You have teammates who will stand with you and help you reach your goal. Momentum is a crazy thing...it is pretty hard to stop. Once you get it rolling in the right direction, feed it and it will grow into an unstoppable force. It's time to get out there and make it happen!
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