You probably read the title and might be wondering what in the world I am talking about.  Atheism was not as hard as what?  The answer is atheism was not as hard as Christianity.  At this point some of you are probably thinking I am crazy, but hold on.  Am I?  Do you find Christianity easy?  If you do then I simply have to ask which Jesus you are following.

I know, before some of you even say it, loving a wonderful, merciful, savior is easy.  Loving God as Father is easy also.  He is so very easy to love when you get a taste of His incomprehensible mercy, amazing grace, and unsurpassable peace.  The very real fact that He rescued me from the jaws of death, literally, and an eternal destination far from Him, and even from enslavement by sin and service to the enemy makes it easy for me to love Him.

But is that all Christianity is?

No, it is not.  Christianity, no matter how a postmodern society and church defines it, is really about or should be about, following, serving, and doing as that easy to love Savior-King, Jesus, commanded us.  And He commanded us not only to love Him but to love everybody else too.  We must love our spouses as He loves the church-His body and bride.  We must love our families by obeying our parents and caring and instructing our children.  We must love our brothers in the family of God because anyone that hates his brother is a murderer.  We must love our neighbors even as we love ourselves and we know that we love ourselves very dearly.  We must even love our enemies and show it by turning the other cheek and giving them our coat when they steal our shirt.

This is a love that goes against our very natures.  When someone does not love us like we love them we tend to draw away, to hold back.  But this is in direct opposition to our instructions.  When I am faced by someone that does not reciprocate the love I try to develop I must try even harder.  When I am faced with bitter words coming from a loved one I am to keep quiet instead of retaliating.  When I am faced by ridicule, slander, or hurtful invective I am supposed to pray blessing upon that person.  None of this is easy.  But it is necessary.

It is necessary if we are going to be effective in our mission.  It is necessary if we are going to help win some to the cause of the Kingdom.  It is necessary if we are going to achieve unity in the Body.  It is necessary if we are going to be like our King.

Yes, atheism was easy in comparison.  All I had to do was be self-centered and admit it instead of deny it like we seem to do when we are born again.  Joining Christ’s cause did not automatically take away my self-centeredness.  I also recognized that I pretty much hated everyone and cared little about anyone except sometimes in a self-centered way.  Hate is easy but the eventual destination is not anything I would wish on my worst enemy.  And that is what love is all about.  It is about being truly concerned for the eventual eternal destination of everyone we know or meet.  But loving everyone in a magnanimous, sacrificial way is so very hard at times.

Atheism was not this hard.  But where was the challenge in it.

Love you all

Tags: amazing grace, Atheism, Christian, Christianity, Church, Death, Enemy, Father, God, Grace, jesus, Kingdom, Lie, Mercy, mission, Murder, neighbor, Self, Service

We have it made.

I mean, sure economic times are not that great but we have a Sovereign God that not only has everything under control, He is using all this to increase and add to His own Glory.  Nothing happens outside of His will, so rejoice and praise Him that He caused all of this to happen.

There is a lot of evil being perpetuated in this world also.  That should really give us reason to praise Him.  It might seem weird to us that He would use something as vile as a mother murdering her own child to increase our awareness of His control, but who are we to question His mysterious ways.  Since He fore-saw and fore-ordained all that is or is to come, we just have to trust that He knows something we don’t.

Our president is already making great strides towards taking us down a path as a nation that we will not even recognize but it is for the best.  God placed Obama in that position so again, why question it.  Or Him.  He knows what He is doing.  Hallelujah.

We have it made.

Sure, our kids may not be doing what we perceive to be right or good for them or society, but remember, none of this can happen outside of His great will.  God is in control.  He is on the throne.  And for all of those that don’t believe it, then tough.  They don’t believe it because He does not want them to believe it.

We may not be seeing much growth in the churches we attend but really, does that matter.  At least we are there.  The seats are comfortable, we all like a few people and maybe even love one or two, the temperatures are comfortable, the messages are generic and not convicting or challenging like they used to be, and the worship is just the way we like it or we can fire somebody and get it that way.  Even if the growth is stalled, we can at least be sure that we are right with God because we are there.

Again, we have it made and we don’t have much left to do.

We have it made because God has it all the way He wants it.  Our seeming self-centeredness is actually God-centeredness.  What else could it be because we can be assured that His purposes, His plans, His will can never be thwarted.  And since everyone, either in or out of church, is just doing as He foreordained, how much can we really have left to do.

RIGHT?

Love you all

Tags: Believe, Church, economic times, Evil, hallelujah, Murder, Obama, Self, self centeredness, Sin, sovereign god, Trust, War

I missed all but the last seconds of a news report about the legalization of gambling in my state, Alabama, a couple of hours ago.  What I did see was the statistics proclaiming that 67% of the residents here approved of it.  Gambling, to my knowledge is not addressed specifically in the bible.

I know there are arguments about the addictions and abuses of gambling.  I also know some people are addicted to and abuse other things like cheeseburgers and donuts.  So leaving the ideas about addictions aside I propose the following questions for discussion.

Is all gambling wrong in Gods eyes and why?

How do you justify your views?

If you were in charge would you receive offerings from the winnings of a gambler or lottery player?

What say you?

Love you all

Tags: addictions, cheeseburgers, Discussion, donuts, gambler, God, Knowledge, legalization of gambling, lottery player, offerings, state alabama, town hall, Tuesday

I have been praying and thinking a lot lately.  There are a few decisions that have to be made soon concerning life in general and my placement in the ranks of the army of God.  I have not written very much because I am very concerned about being a stumbling block or an instrument of offense.  Some seem to think I have been the instigator of division in the Body already.  So I have waited, prayed, and pondered.

I thought that I wanted to see my church grow.  I was wrong. What I really want to see is transformed lives.  My true desire is not just to see more people in church, not just to add more to the number of inwardly focused bodies sitting on pews, but to see instead a radical group of servant-soldiers interested in what God is interested in.  And willing to fight for it.

I want to see the arms of the Body of Christ reach out to grab, hug, hold and comfort a dying world.  I want to see the legs of the Body of Christ start running to get to the place where those trapped in service to our enemy are, wherever that may be.  I want to see the eyes of the Body of Christ constantly gazing beyond the walls surrounding our assembly to seek those desperately in need of a new Lord.  I want to see the lips of the Body of Christ speaking the words of love and acceptance that the lost and lonely want and need to hear.  I want to see the heart of the Body of Christ beating passionately for the mission that is being sidetracked by selfishness.  I want to see the tears of the Body of Christ that should flow from our current inability to effect change in the community around us.

I want to see the atheist become a believer, the sinner become a saint, the unchurched become attendees, and the disillusioned become enlightened.  But what I want the most is to see the self-centered become sacrificially concerned with the harvest of souls all around us.  We must stop being so concerned with our own comfort and desire and turn those concerns towards the ones that Jesus is concerned about.

When ‘church growth’ is mentioned anymore it is usually about figuring out how to get people to switch from church A to church B or how to get more people like ourselves in the pews.  We have become a double minded and apathetic church.  Double minded in our wonderful but empty words about growth and apathetic in our solicitude towards the lost.

I feel that I have not been effective in my service to the Kingdom.  As a teacher I believe that there should be a lot more evidence of transformation in the lives of those that have been entrusted to me than I have seen.  I believe it is time for me to re-evaluate my position in the Body to make sure I have not failed too badly and am in the right place.  I hope and pray that I have not caused irreparable damage.  I have no one to blame and am not looking for consoling words.  This is a struggle in me to determine what steps I may need to take next.

I am writing this to let all of you who do care know some of what is going on.  I am saddened but still at peace.  I struggle for answers but I rejoice in God’s grace.  Serving Christ is always sweet but I have to say, it is also sometimes bittersweet.

Pray with me.

Love you all

Tags: army of god, atheist, Body of Christ, Church, Grace, Hope, jesus, Kingdom, mission, Self, Selfishness, Servant, Service, Sinner, Trust, War