I look at my life, and the lives of others around me who bear the name “Christian”, and wonder what it means to really be “committed”.

There’s an old saying that says “Commitment is like a ham and egg breakfast. The chicken was involved, but the pig was COMMITTED!”

Well, I have to ask myself the question: “Robert, are you truly committed to living a life of grace in a true relationship with God?”

Woe unto me, my friends. As I look at my life and my own personal walk with God, I must say that I am a willing participant in many of the goings-on of Christianity, but “committed”? I am shamefully lacking.

They say that the first step in changing for the better is to come to accept the reality that you need to change. Well I’ve accepted that reality, and it puts me in a dangerous position with God. For to know what the right thing to do is, and not to do it . . . .

James 4:17

I went off by myself on a motorcycle trip this last week and had a few days to think about life in general. As I was traveling and enjoying the mountains, I got to thinking about all the things that I have going on in my life.

The hardest thing I had to do was “slow down”. I wanted to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible even though I had no agenda, no schedule and no one to have to “come into agreement” with about what to do next.

Isn’t that just the way “life” is? We have so much to do! And even if all of it (or most of it, anyway) is “good stuff”, we are always in such a hurry to get all the stuff done.

Ballgames, dance practice, church, meetings, work, mowing the grass, playing golf, spending time with the family, throwing the ball with David, writing my book, reading the bible, praying,  . . . .need I go on?

So this is the question: Are all the things in “life” ruling you? Are they pushing you hard to the point that you rush through life to get all the stuff done?

Or are you “living life” – enjoying each day for what it affords you and cherishing the moments as they come?

I’ve purposed that I will no longer be ruled over by life. But that I will, instead, live life to its fullest. Smell the roses. Feel the wind in my face. Actually notice the beauty of a sunset, the smell of the rain, etc.

How about you?

How many times have we heard the “prosperity” message debated in the body of Christ? Well, last night I was involved in one of these conversations for the “n’th” time. It still rumbles in my heart, so I decided to blog about it.

There are two different views that are predominant about this topic: one is that God wants His children to be blessed financially. Many churches teach this prosperity message in a way that seems (to me) to communicate that Christians ought to have the best of everything – from cars and houses and jets to clothes and bank accounts.

Another view is the opposite: God wouldn’t have His children to be wealthy when so many around us are hungry or doing without – especially when it comes to the “preacher”. A comment that was brought up last night was “I have a problem when a pastor drives a car that’s nicer than the ones that his congregation has”.

So which one do I agree with? Neither.

I believe that one of the church’s greatest problems is what I call “extremism”. Webster defines this as “advocacy of extreme measures or views” and gives the synonymn of “radicalism”.

The church seems to migrate to one extreme or the other, and then launches verbal nukes at each other – making more important an “issue”, or “agenda” than it ought to be.  And innocent bystanders catch the fallout.

I believe in a “middle of the road” approach. I believe that God can truly reconcile these differences if we would simply open our hearts and minds to receive His heart on the matter and quit judging people solely on what the two orbs in our heads can see on a natural basis only.

Do I believe God wants all His children to be prosperous? ABSOLUTELY! Do I believe He wants all His children to be wealty? I would hope so. The key issue to me is “what in the world is your definition of ‘prosperity’?

I believe Mother Theresa was one of the most prosperous folks ever! I know financially wealthy people who I would also call prosperous. My definition of prosperity is totally what a person has in his/her heart, but for the sake of this argument let’s leave it at financial wealth.

So why aren’t we all rich? It’s because our hearts aren’t right. If the LOVE of money is the root of all evil, then can we not say that the LOVE for God is the root of all holiness? I believe God truly makes certain people wealthy because they have a heart to love Him more than the money, and would love Him and serve Him the same if they were poor.

But the issue that is always brought up is the financial prosperity of a “pastor”. Pastors just don’t get to be rich. Why is that? If the preacher drives a Lexus, BMW, Escalade he is judged by one extreme as “getting paid too much” or “selfish/greedy”. The other side judges that he is blessed of God.

How can we “justify” either one of these views if we don’t have a true and intimate relationship with the preacher? What if he makes 200K a year, but gives over half of that back to the church or to others? What if he was given that as a gift, and takes what that car payment would be and gives it monthly to a missionary? Who knows?

This is one of my pet peaves, folks. We judge so easily based on what we see with our natural eyes – something we are commanded NOT to do: II Cor. 5:16 tells us 

Therefore, from now on, we regard (or perceive) no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.

Yet don’t we do this? If we judge a man’s spiritual condition and heart according to how much money he has or what he drives or lives in . . . . or according to how much he doesn’t have . . . . .

What was the cross all about?

What are your thoughts?

 

I stopped by a store this morning for a biscuit on the way to work, and this lady behind the counter was really being rude. I have this thing about customer service (especially since I do it for a living), and she was just mean!

So I was about to land-blast her, but instead of saying what I wanted to say, I said “Are you having a bad day or something? ‘Cause you’re just being plain ugly.”

She teared up and started telling me that she has an 11 month old boy who’s been sick for almost a month – throwing up, coughing and not sleeping. She’s worried sick about him. She pulled out two perscriptions that she’d been giving him that she had to refill today, and said they just weren’t working.

So here I was  making a judgement about a lady I had never seen before by what I could see with my eyes, and I was totally wrong.

How often do we do this? How often do we “kill” a person according to what we see in front of us without having the grace to “offer” something instead?

I got half of it right. I asked if she was having a bad day. But then I just HAD to throw that thing about her acting ugly in there.

I encouraged her to take that child to the doctor again, and told her to be strong and give it to God. I was able to turn it around this time. But what if I’d just land-blasted her, and added another weight to what she already had?

We’re to bear one another’s burdens, not be so self-consumed and “me oriented” that we pile up more on a hurting person’s shoulders.

God help us to see this and change the way we respond to people in our daily lives.

The bible talks about what has been called “five-fold ministry” in Ephesians 4:11

   And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers . . . .

Let me say up front that I believe in the validity of these five ministry positions, or “offices” of ministries in today’s church. I believe that we are in desperate need of all five veiwpoints, or “perspectives” of ministry in the modern-day church.

What I have a problem with is “titles”. No one seems to have a problem talking about pastors, teachers and evangelists. We all are very familiar with this terminology today. But “apostles and prophets”??? Most people in the main-line denominational churches today are scared spitless by the very mention of these “titles”. Many believe that these died out.

So what’s the answer?

Lay aside the “titles” and just flow in the gift that God has given you to provide the body today. I have seen way too many ministers who I believe to be legitimate apostles and prophets spend more time defending and/or “proving” their “office” than they do giving their gift.

And you know what? Denominational folks just aren’t comfortable with that. They shut out the very gift God has given them because they don’t understand the validity of the “title”.

And you know what else? They are every bit as righteous in the sight of God as the ones who understand and are comfortable with it.

I believe we need to quit talking “titles” and start ministering out of the abundance of our hearts. “Titles” will pass away one day, but the Word of the Lord will last forever. Just give what you have away. Quit calling yourself a prophet and simply prophecy!

And what about “prophets”? You know that they used to stone a man who prophesied and it didn’t come to pass? And nowadays so many folks are claiming to prophesy and are missing it altogether. What does having a “title” do for a prophet’s validity when so many are missing it?

I want to see the whole body of Christ receive five-fold ministry. But it just won’t happen as long as we keep throwing lofty titles around. I believe there will come a day when titles will be used again – especially in the last days. But for now, we need to lay such self-exalting things away and just give it away.

What do you think??

Hello to all who still come to listen to the rantings of a man trying to find his way in this topsy turvy world! It’s been a while.

The reason I haven’t blogged in so long is because I have been going through more “stuff” in my own heart than I care to mention. Most of this “stuff” is going back and re-examining what I believe and why I believe it.

I’ve done this on several occasions in the past, but I am really amazed at just how often one needs to do this. With age comes wisdom (for most people), and when wisdom – especially God’s wisdom – is applied to what one believes, it strengthens that belief immensely. My faith, my beliefs, my hopes, dreams . . . . all have been seeing a very slight (but extremely life-changing) change in the what and why.

Now I feel like the proverbial “long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs”. I don’t fit in anywhere. I certainly don’t fit in anymore in the charismatic setting that I was born again into. I certainly don’t belong in the Baptist, Methodist or other “main-stream” denominational settings.

So I think I’m just going to set a few things out there for you in the weeks to come. The things that I have pondered and the conclusions I have come up with in my time alone with God. Things that some of my friends will gasp at with a sigh of relief. Some my family will shout amen – others may pray for my poor condition.

Among these things will be some of the items still on this blog site. Some may directly contradict something I wrote a year ago, but let’s face it . . . . who remembers? Not me!

So it’s been a while, but the journey officially continues now. . . . .  so stay tuned. It can get pretty interesting around here – especially if folks who don’t see the same things I do leave comments!!!

 

Ramblings from the air . . . .

Sounds like waht this election year’s slogan should be. I am sick of hearing it, folks.

Bottom line? We have two people running who have good ideas each, and neither one would be willing to admit it. I wish it weren’t so. I hate politics. I hate parties (reps and dems). I hate lies and false promises. I hate elections like THIS!

Enough of the hates. I know that this post won’t be seen by many folks. It’s mainly here for me to prattle on about things that are important to me, or to simply vent or put my ideas down where I can actually see them.

But what do we have before us? I’ve never considered myself a racist. I’ve never really allowed the color of a person’s skin dictate what I think about them. It’s more about what a person DOES that defines them than what we can see.

I just haven’t seen much from either candidate. But what gets my goad is that Obama has (whether purposely or not I don’t know) got the racial card in his favor. I heard someone doing this on the radio but didn’t “trust” it. So I tried it on my own.

I asked five african-american people who they were voting for. All of them are for Obama. So I asked them if they agreed with all of his policies. They all did. Then I asked which ones they agreed with most? And listed two or three of McCAIN’S policies. They agreed with them all.

Finally, out of the five, three said that “Obama made the right choice in choosing Sara Palin to be his VP running mate and wouldn’t have a problem with a woman being the Vice President”.

So, you have people voting for a man specifically because of the color of his skin. And that isn’t right.

Oh I’m so frustrated!!!!

     Ok, so it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. To be totally honest with you I’ve been doing the facebook thing lately. And I plan to put this post on my facebook page as well because I really have the need to vent.

     I’ve been working dilligently on my book, even though I haven’t put any posts here. I am currently editing and formatting the second part of the book, all the while learning that I am going to have to go back and “re-edit” and “re-format” the first part as I learn a better way to present the material.

     Last night I couldn’t sleep. I have been having a real struggle deciding how I’m going to approach the third section of the book, and last night ideas began to flood me. So now that I’ve got a general idea of what I’m going to do, I must put greater pressure on myself to finish the editing so that I can give a couple of printouts to a select two or three people to read and give me their input. But that’s not why I need to vent.

     So why do I need to vent? I need to vent because of something I have seen in other people that now drives me totally nuts. I have seen this in others for a LONG time, and have just written it off to the wind. But in the last two to three years I’ve been re-examining what I believe and why I believe it. And through this process I’ve discovered that I can no longer write it off.

     The first thing I discovered about this thing is that I have been just as guilty as anyone. As a matter of fact, I (like the apostle Paul) could say that perhaps I was the “chief among them”. So I had to deal with it in my own life. I have endeavored to cut this thing out of my life with the intention never to allow it to rise up again. I don’t proclaim to have reached perfection in this at all, but one thing I do . . . you know the scripture (Phil. 3:12).

     So what is this thing? It’s when you speak to someone about something that isn’t right in their life, or something that they said that wasn’t quite “right”. And all you get in return is some form of justification, defense that you just didn’t hear them right, or “I didn’t mean to say that”. . . or how about this one? . . . “Well what about when YOU do THIS .  . . . “

     GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!! (My wife tells me that when you put all caps on words like that you are “yelling”) . . . . well . . . . I’M YELLING! I’M SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS!!!

     Alright then . . . perhaps you didn’t communitcate the best way. Perhaps only ten percent of the total discussion you released was not right. Perhaps 99 percent was right, and only one was wrong. . . . .

     Why can’t we take responsibility for the one percent? What is it about us that wants to refuse to receive, accept, take ownership and deal with the FACT that we are flawed? That we are going to mess up? And that God has put others here to help hone us?

     “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” (Prov 27:17). I guess that’s one of the verses in the bible that we just don’t like. Put it right up there with the promise that we’re gonna suffer and that people are gonna hate us just because we follow the Christ.

     We don’t like this because sparks fly often when iron is sharpening iron. I think we all need to just get over ourselves and accept that we’re imperfect (yes, I know you don’t think that you’re “perfect”). We need to know that we don’t always have to be right (yes, I know you would NEVER say that you are always right). We need to know that we need other sets of ears and eyes to help us see how we look and sound (yes, I know you would never disagree with that)  . . . . .

      But we kick against the goads until we’re bleeding! And then we blame the maker of the goads for hurting us, while all along we’re the ones who kicked them. Not only that, the ones around us were trying to tell us what we were doing and we were so busy justifying what we were doing that we ended up bleeding all over everybody.

      We just need to get over ourselves. We need each other. I need you to tell me when I have egg on my face because I don’t always have a mirror to look at myself! But we simply let folks that we say we love walk around with egg on their face because deep down we know that there’s a better chance than not that if we tell them about it they will tell us we’re wrong. “It’s not egg! I’ve just turned my face in such a way as to catch the sun and reflect it to the world”!

     Have I said the we just need to get over ourselves???

Reid Craft is a young man that goes to church with me. He has composed this poem recently and I can only wish that as many who will would pass this along. It’s so refreshing to see such a young man have such a profound understanding of something this country seems to have forgotten.

Way to go Reid!

THE DAY BEGAN:

 

The day began so calm and clear,
The buildings filled up high.
No person thought that later on
Americans would die.

No bombs or guns would be the tools,
Not knives or any blade.
It was the things that should be safe
That blew all the people away.

In the air from high up above,
Destruction rained on down.
The innocent people watched on
As planes made mighty sounds.

A ghastly roar and horrid crash,
The screams engulfed by fire,
The buildings soon were all ablaze
As they became a pyre.

And all at once across the land,
Americans looked on
To see what seeds of anger sowed,
Three thousand people gone.

The families wept and neighbors cried,
The churches were all packed.
Their fists were raised, their knuckles white,
This nation was attacked!

“For Freedom!” was the battle cry,
The army set for war.
The soldiers rallied under flag,
Metallic birds then soared.

But time marched on and they grew bored,
This war was not so quick.
Resolve was lost, their patience gone,
America grew sick.

The nation wants to stop the war,
They say they just want peace,
But peace isn’t easily obtained,
The freedoms all would cease.

The day began so calm and clear,
The buildings filled up high.
No person thought that later on
Americans would die.

By: Reid Craft
Sept. 21, 2008

     He sits now at the right hand of God the Father, where now He judges the quick and the dead . . .

     So what has Jesus been doing for the past couple of thousand years? What is He doing now? In Acts 1: 9-11, it says:

     “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you say Him go into heaven.’ “

    Jesus was taken up into heaven to take His rightful place at the right hand of the Father. (Matt. 26:64, Mark 16:19, Acts 7:55-56). Sitting at one’s right hand was a place of great honor in the days of Jesus. If one was invited to dine at an important person’s house and was allowed to sit at his right, it was a sign of great importance to all who attended.

    So Jesus has been sitting at the right hand of God, the Father, for over two thousand years for one of the most awesome purposes that I can even imagine. All this time He has been sitting there and making intercession for us. Romans 8:34 says:

     “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

    Romans 8:27 says “Now He who searches the heart also knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

    Hebrews 7:25 also says “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

    One thing that has always intrigued me about what Jesus has been doing is found in Acts, when Stephen was being stoned for his belief and preaching of Jesus. First of all every reference that I have found of Jesus being at God’s right hand have Him “sitting”. The above references are only a few. You can also look at Eph. 1:20, Col. 3:1, Heb. 1:3, 1:13, 8:1, 10:12 and 12:2 and finally 1 Pet. 3:22.

    But in Acts 7: 51-60, Stephen has been making a case for the Lordship of Jesus and calls the people “stiff-necked and uncircumcised of heart and ears” for not believing themselves. The people were “cut to the heart”, but instead of repenting they began to plan in their hearts the death of this man of God.

    In that instant, God opened the heavens up and Stephen saw a vision:

     “But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus STANDING at the right hand of God, and said ‘Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man STANDING at the right hand of God!”

     Well, the people didn’t repent. They rushed upon him and killed him. But the thing that really impresses me is that Jesus, who always knows what’s about to happen and is praying for us; who KNEW that Stephen was about to die for a cause more noble than any death can be for a man. He STOOD UP for Stephen. He HONORED what was happening to Stephen out of His love for Him.

    As far as “judging the quick and the dead” . . . I believe that this is a double-edged sword. “The quick and the dead”, in today’s language, would be written “the living and the dead”. One side of this sword would mean that Jesus judges those who die and go through judgement. Hebrews 9:27 says “And it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgement”. At the same time, He judges the “quick/living”. I believe that what this is saying is that He judges the actions of those who are still alive today through the work of the Holy Spirit. When we do something that isn’t right, hopefully we are “convicted” by the Holy Spirit to repent for our wrong and make things right with God and man. This side of the sword judges those who are either physically alive or dead.

     The other side of this sword is that Jesus judges those who are spiritually alive or dead. Those who have been born again are no longer “dead”, but “alive” in Christ Jesus. They who have not received their salvation for whatever reason are spiritually dead unto God, and haven’t been translated from “death unto life”. Jesus has pronouced and pronounces the judgement that those who have been made alive in Christ will inherit the kingdom of God, and those who haven’t will inherit the judgment of the devil and his angels – as an act and choice of their own will.

     Many would argue for one or the other of these arguments, but I believe in the validity of them both.  Jesus loves us, and all He does – night and day – is sit beside the Father and pray for us. When we mess up, Jesus says to the Father, “My blood covers that, and I have taken upon myself the judgement that comes with this action”. He will remain in this place until the fullness of time, when He will come back again to bring us home.