What Are You 'Showing Off'?

It's been a busy couple of weeks, packed with some good things, and packed with some things that can be a distraction from the great things. I battle just like you with making my life count for eternity . . . and I tell you this just to try to stay real.
Below is a journal entry I made a couple of months ago that I was reading again this morning and reflecting on. I thought that it might speak to some of you:


It seems like being sick - as I've been over the past week - always lends itself to contemplation. I don't know if it's the reality of wrestling with my mortality, the drugs that mess with my head (and make me feel tingly), or just the insecurity in not being able to 'do something.'

It's seems like recently as I've skidded towards my mid 40's I've dealt with this general malaise of being at (or beyond) the half way point of life . . . not necessarily the Billy Crystal kind from City Slickers of feeling the need to use Grecian Formula or buy a red Vette . . . But more of a spiritual discomfort.

This statement by Jesus jumped off the page at me today as I've been reading through Matthew and sent chills of reality up my soul: Matthew 10:32-33 "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven."

As I reflect on my own heart condition, my continual stirring is a great desire to glorify God - to 'show Him off' in every circumstance and moment. And yet it's so easy to live and breathe for self. What am I 'showing off' before people? Me? My strength & wisdom? My hard work and busyness?
O' how I want the next years - and remaining years - to count for the Kingdom of God! Help me God to resist the pull of the distractions of this world and the panderings of self that lead to isolation and darkness . . . and help me be firmly planted in the Vine and in the power of Your Spirit's control!


I pray that all of us would fight . . . that we would fight to 'show off' God to the world and for every moment of our lives to count for eternity!

Eyes on the Prize

As I've continued to read through Matthew with my discipleship group guys, some of Jesus' words in Matt 10 have hounding me the last few days:

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." (Matt 10:32-33)

I think about the amount of time, as I go through my day, that I ignore God. I just miss His presence. Sometime tells me about an occurrence in their life that is really a miracle - and I say: 'O that's cool.' No, that's GOD!
I have a prompting from the Holy Spirit to just go and start a conversation with someone. And I ignore it.
I'm with friends and see a side of the Creation that brings awe and fail to simply say: 'Praise God!'

I don't think these verses are just about wearing a sandwich sign that says: "Repent, the Kingdom of God is near!"

It's about this continual desire to hear God and follow Him. It's about the ever-deepening relationship that He desires to have with us.

I tell you what, that's what I so desire to keep growing in my life. And faster please! :)
That moment by moment I would acknowledge Him and follow Him. I've got a long ways to go. I just keep reminding myself: 'Eyes on the prize, eyes on the prize . . . '

Finder or Loser

I can't tell you how pumped I was last Sunday to talk about Discover. It's because I know that only as we discover God's mission for our lives, does life really become worth living. And living to the fullest.

I quoted Mark Batterson from Wild Goose Chase on Sunday: "I'm not convinced that the date of your death is the date carved on your tombstone. Most people die long before that. We start dying when we have nothing worth living for. And we don't really start living until we find something worth dying for. Ironically, discovering something worth dying for is what makes life worth living."

And then this morning I was pounded by what Jesus said in Matthew 10:39: "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Jesus is saying that if we settle on living this life on our terms, in our strength, in our wisdom -- If we become enamored with 'finding ourself' --- our life will be lost. It will be wasted.

BUT . . . Jesus says that if we are willing to surrender to Him. If we are willing to 'count our lives as rubbish' without Christ. If we are willing to forsake our ways and our wisdom and give our lives - moment by moment - for the Kingdom of God . . . Then we will find LIFE. Then we will find mission that will not only fill us up to overflowing, but will echo into all eternity.

The choice is yours: You can keep it, and lose it. Or, lose it, and keep it.