Tag Archives: Philospohy

2013 – My desire to be a better servant for Christ

Posted on January 4, 2013 by | Comments Off on 2013 – My desire to be a better servant for Christ

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Each year, many of us around the world willfully make resolutions on how we are planning to improve ourselves.  We talk about how much weight we want to lose by next Christmas, or maybe how we plan to do more for the Lord in our home, church, or community, or maybe even how we plan to develop a closer and more meaningful relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  While these resolutions start off with the noblest of intentions, there are some things that both psychology and sociology can tell us about ourselves – if we dare to listen.

There have been numerous studies conducted to find out what drives us to make resolutions and why many of us fail to achieve them.  According to these studies, the average person will make between five to seven resolutions; the first of the resolutions never makes it past the middle of February and the last one usually ends by mid-March.  A little less than 13% of the 1,500 polled in one study actually kept their resolutions long enough to become life-changing habits.

For me, 2012 was a year that not only was full of spiritual battles but of personal challenges and changes as well.  I made my resolutions without putting much thought into how I planned to accomplish them.  Not once did I ask God to lay on my heart the areas where He wanted to see me grow nor did I ever ask God to give me the strength needed to follow through on the areas I had chosen for my resolutions.  The end result was that two of my resolutions never made it past February while the third continued to limp along.  Sure, my intentions were noble; I planned to lose 25 pounds, to finish a book I have been working on, and to expand the printing ministry we operate out of our church.  Needless to say, on New Year’s eve as we were participating in the watch-night service, I began thinking about my failures and shortcomings in 2012.

The next morning, my family and I had breakfast and went on a day-trip to celebrate New Year’s Day with my daughter’s godparents as we have done each year for the past five years.  As we were on our trip back I decided that this year, instead of making resolutions just to see them broken within a few months, I would spend time in prayer and ask God to help me to become the man, the husband, and the father He wants me to be.  Instead of making this a New Year’s resolution, I decided to make this a “new day resolution” each morning as I do my daily devotions; I ask God to mold and shape me .  After all, it’s recorded in Lamentations: This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness (Lamentations 3:21-23).  Instead of focusing on trying to make broad changes over an entire year, I will simply take things the way that God intended – one day at a time.

There is one thing that I now grasp that’s taken me nearly 25 years as a Christian to learn – I cannot do anything outside of God and that I must seek and totally rely on His will for my life; I must learn to wait for the Lord instead of taking things into my own hands. The book of Lamentations comes into mind as I began thinking about how I am approaching this new year day by day:  The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD (Lamentations 3:24-26).

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Off the cuff: a scriptural lesson from the kitchen

Posted on July 30, 2012 by | Comments Off on Off the cuff: a scriptural lesson from the kitchen

After being inspired by several television shows that my wife and I watch on the Food Network, I have really begun to sharpen my kitchen skills.  Having watched shows such as Chopped!, Restaurant Impossible, and Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, I have begun to pull cookbooks off the shelf and give new recipes a try.  It has been enjoyable but what amazes me is the small scriptural lessons that I’ve learned from this latest endeavor.

We all know the story in Jeremiah about the visit to the potter’s house.  Jeremiah watched as the potter worked the clay.  If the potter was happy with the results, the pot was baked in a kiln.  If the potter noticed a flaw or some potential problem with the pot, he would start over.  Well, there have been a few of these lessons that I’ve learned while trying new recipes and cooking techniques.  One lesson in particular that comes to mind is one that can be tied to Proverbs 20:23 Divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord; and a false balance is not good.

Michelle and I have two sets of dry measuring cups.  We have one set that is made of green plastic and a set that’s made of a heavier, more rubbery, black plastic.  While both sets look identical when it comes to measuring dry ingredients, they actually aren’t.  Last week, I did an experiment where I took a glass bowl and a postage meter and weighed half a cup of white corn meal using the two different sets of dry measuring cups.  The weights should have been the same with, at most, a quarter-ounce difference.  What I found truly amazed me – the green measuring cup did not hold as much of the white corn meal by narly a third of an ounce!

While I am not a professional chef by any stretch of the imagination, I have quickly come to appreciate the importance of having accurate measuring cups.  Anyone who enjoys cooking knows the importance of having accurate wet and dry measuring cups and spoons.  You must be able to know that you are putting in the exact amount needed – nothing more or nothing less – than what the recipe calls for.  There are some recipes where “close enough” does not quite reach the mark and where just the slightest variance in measurement can make the difference in a meal that really is wonderful or that ends in near-disaster.   The same can be said about how we view ourselves and how we view others.

Although I have already posted a few entries about the importance of not judging others, it is a topic that I honestly feel that needs to be continually evaluated in our daily life.  I have been on the receiving end of what I had explained to me by a church member of “wholesome and meaningful judgment” as well as judging others using my own set of standards.  In a sense, at some time in our lives, we all will experience both roles as the judge and as the judged.

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A challenge from Paul – act as if you work for God

Posted on May 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on A challenge from Paul – act as if you work for God

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).

 It’s the end of another semester at the local community college where I teach.  I enjoy the challenges that each semester brings, meeting new students, and watching the social trends that manifest themselves.  There is one social trend that almost everyone has been guilty of at some point in their lives and is a continual struggle to overcome – it’s doing the most minimal effort to get by.  Although it seems like a good idea at the time, it often causes more problems than it would have if we had just done our best to begin with.

Imagine, if you will, that whatever job you have – if it’s working at McDonald’s, 5/3 Bank, or even Wal-Mart – God was your employer.  Would it change how you did your daily tasks?  Would you go the extra mile to make sure you met all the expectations your employer set before you the day you were hired?  Would you make an extra effort to be on time each morning?  Would you gossip about other employees or your employer while on the clock?  Would you hear God tell you at the end of the workday as you clocked out, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things...” (Matthew 25:21).

Paul, in our highlighted passage for today, is reminding us that as Christians we are to do all things as if we are doing them for God.  With God, there is no “good enough for government work” standard. Paul wrote to the Colossians that whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men (Colossians 3:23).  Everything we do when we are at work we are to do it as if we are doing it for God; while in prison for his faith, Paul called himself an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly (Ephesians 6:20).  When others know we are Christians they have a tendency to watch us more closely, scrutinize our actions, and will judge our professed love for Jesus Christ by what they see us do.  If our work does not reflect the best that we can do then we are damaging our ability to be an effective witness for Christ!

As Christians, we should strive to serve Jesus Christ in all that we do.  This means we should not divide our existence between our Christian service and our everyday lifestyle – the two should be one and the same.  Our faith in Jesus Christ should be a very present factor in what we do at work, who we listen to for entertainment, and in our decisions at the ballot box.  Even during Jesus’ earthly ministry he taught about making a conscious choice about what we let become our “master.”  We can either choose and dilligently seek after the things of God or we must make the choice to be bound to the will of man (Matthew 6:24).  Even the apostle John warns Christians that If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: in other words, if we claim to be a Christian and our day to day life does not bear witness to what we profess, we are not demonstrating our faith (I John 1:6).

In a world where taking shortcuts and doing the bare minimum, doing your best can not only bring peace to your soul, but can bring about other benefits as well.  Solomon, a man gifted with wisdom that can only come from God, wrote that He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding (Proverbs 12:11). Although there are those that will claim this verse just applies to agriculture, this concept should be applied to whatever it is that we do for employment – whatever your job is that provides you with what you need to live.  If you are still a student, then do your assignments as you would do them for God.  If you are self-employed, conduct your business as you would conduct it for God.  If you work for another, then work for your boss as you would perform the same job for God.

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