pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: faith


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The Tools in Your Toolbox

In the “New Beginnings” series we have looked a lot at the call to share our faith. Peary developed the idea that once we come to know Christ within, then the journey becomes outward as we seek to serve Christ. Keihwan continued the concept with the idea that our call is to make a difference in our world, one person at a time, one moment at a time. Last Sunday we looked at Jesus being our new BFF. The overall idea was that we so grow in our relationship that Jesus is our best friend and that through this we share Him with those in our worlds.
The primary means through which we can share Jesus are prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. All of these are important to have in our ‘toolbox’ of faith. All of these need to be ready to be used. After all, a dull tool will not cut anything very efficiently. Similarly, a jumbled up and rambling story of faith will not be effective. So… which do you need the most practice at? Or, put another way… If you were presented with an opportunity to share Christ with someone desperately in need and I were to randomly draw one of these five out of a hat and you had to go with that means, which would you really hope I did not draw?

If you are like me, and I believe like most people, you were hoping that ‘witness’ was not the one drawn. So that is the one you and I need to work on, to hone into razor sharpness so that when presented with that opportunity, we can nail it.

The natural means through which most of us share our faith is presence. We try to live out our lives as a loving, caring person. We often back this up through our prayers that we follow up a situation with. Many share their faith through their gifts – be that time volunteering at church, through financial support of the church, as so on. And some are natural witnesses. Some are able to naturally work God and their faith into a conversation as easily as some of us talk about the weather!

But to wrap up, again, it is about being prepared to use whatever tool the opportunity requires. If someone is hungry and you have $5 in your pocket, don’t tell them you will pray for them. That’d be like using a screwdriver to cut down a tree! But if someone needs to hear your faith story at that point in their lives, you better be ready to share it. If they just need you to be there to listen, you better pull up a chair. Practice each of these means and be a willing and faithful servant. The world needs Jesus and we are the ones to bring Him to them.


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All Those in the Middle

“He must become greater; I must become less.” That really is the crux of the matter for us as followers of Christ. How do we come to be able to say that about everyone – that our wife, our kids, our friends, that homeless person – that they get considered before we consider ourselves? To know that as Jesus becomes the Lord of our life, we become less and less?

That’s hard to do! But we see in John 1 an example to follow. John the Baptist drew people out into the wilderness to hear his message of repentance. Lots of people. Many who heard him stepped out into the water to be baptized. Pretty heady stuff! I wonder if I could be so humble. I wonder if I’d drift off into the “Look how well I am doing!” mentality and become self-absorbed. It is hard to keep a humble perspective when we are successful and popular.

Yet in spite of the crowds John continues to proclaim Jesus and continues to point toward Him. John realized his call in life was to draw people toward Jesus. He also knew that as Jesus’ ministry grew his own would decline. “He must become greater; I must become less.” And John was absolutely, 100% happy to say that. And he meant it!

As our faith deepens and the relationship with Christ becomes THE relationship in our life, we too can come to say those words of John – I must become less. As we humbly kneel at the foot of the cross and look up into the loving eyes of Jesus, we ask, “What can I do for you today Lord?” As we enter our worlds today, may we seek to be the lesser – to treat all as somewhere between Christ and ourselves.


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Held to a Higher Standard

Last night at the young men’s Youth Small Group we prepared to study the book “Not a Fan” by discussing the difference between being a fan and being a follower. We talked about what a sports team fan may look like – wears a team jersey, catches the game on TV, reads about his team in the Sunday paper, … and about what the Christian fan might look like – wears a cross, sits in church on Sunday morning, respects/loves others, reads a Bible and/or devotional…

Then we moved into talking about what a follower would look like. How it would be different. If I were a follower of the Vikings instead of just a fan – I would know lots of statistics and facts about the players, I would be reading about who the next coach could/should be, I would be reading lots of blogs about who they should be looking at for the draft, … I would be invested in my team. What would it look like if you were a follower of Team Jesus?

As a follower it does involve things like being in church, reading and stuyding your faith, and treating others well. But isn’t it more than that? Lots of ‘fans’ do these things too. As we talked about the idea of being a follower, the idea that we must move into a relationship with Jesus became a necessity. Sam stated that you just don’t believe in Jesus but come to live for Jesus. Jesus becomes a part of who you are and becomes what makes the decisions you face in life. People come to see Jesus in you and come to see you as a new creation. They see what it means to be a Christian.

I asked the young men if their classmates look at them differently because they are Chritians. Dean told the story of a policeman that saw a lady angry in traffic – she had been cut off and was screaming and shaking her fist at the offending driver. After the officer checked her license and registration he returned them to her. She asked why she had been pulled over. He replied that when he saw her being so upset he also noticed the Jesus fish on her bumper. He had assumed the car was stolen and thought he’d better check it out.

The young men stated that others hold Christians to a higher standard. My reply was, “Shouldn’t they?”


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The Reality of God’s Love

As Christians, is it even possible to be God’s light to everyone we encounter? Can we really extend the love of God to everyone we meet? I know the theortical answer is ‘yes’ but… I even know what the answer SHOULD be, but I also know my reality.

Jesus surely set the example for us and Mother Theresa did an excellent job of loving everyone. Pope Francis probably loves almost everyone he meets too. I am sure there are others close to the ‘perfection’ end of this continuum.

We are all God’s children. We are all loved equally by the Father. Yet to begin this walk toward loving all we encounter, we must first acknowledge our role as a child of God. For all are called, but not all answer. As a Christian we begin this journey first by claiming a personal relationship with Jesus and then cultivating that relationship. As we come to know Him more, we come to love Him more. As we come to love Him more, we come to serve Him more.

And soon we are on that road to loving all we encounter. In my reality, and maybe in yours, there are bumps on the road. There are times when I don’t feel like loving the person God has placed in front of me. There are times when I would rather not be around ‘that’ person. In those times I need to lean more into Christ so that the love of Christ may be shared with another.

We are all children of God. Some people just don’t know it yet. It is our call to bring them to the way, the truth, and the life. To end, a favorite quote: “Share the gospel always; use words when necessary.”