You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
Psalm 51:16-17, NLT

This is one of my favorite Psalms. It shows King David’s more “human” side. His repentant heart poured out to God after his sin has been discovered and revealed by a close friend. In the middle of his confession to God, he utters the words above.

They are very much like Hosea 6:6, which I have blogged about before. This question about what God really desires is intriguing to me. Even in the Old Testament God demands a sacrifice, but here again someone who knows God intimately knows that the ritual of the sacrifice (just following the rule) is not enough. God wants more. God requires more.

God wants more than just our obedience (although He wants that too). God wants more than our “just enough” religion. He wants more than a piece of our lives.

He wants it all…He wants our heart, mind, soul, and body (I think I read that somewhere).  This is not an easy God we are dealing with here. He doesn’t let us off the hook easy. He requires sacrifice…and then some. Giving Him my time, money, and skill is one thing. Giving Him everything is something else. And that’s what He wants. He wants me…and He wants you.

During my devotional reading this morning I had a “light bulb moment”..two actually…

Here was the first:

We see a strange phenomenon in our culture: Jesus is almost universally respected as a “good teacher,” yet His actual teachings—many of them, anyway—are almost universally reviled.

There is a lot of truth in that statement, and I had not noticed the oxymoron before. How can people say Jesus was a great teacher and then throw out everything he taught? Here is number two:

Much of Christian life is tension between two impulses: the desire to be liked and respected by the world, and the desire to know God and be like Jesus.

That’s toe-stepping stuff right there. I must admit to being guilty of this fighting this tension often in my own life and spiritual journey. I wish I could even say I think I am usually on the right side of the tension. Once again, more to work on in my walk with God.

In case you’re interested, the passage that these two quotes are in reference to is Matthew 10:17-25. And the devotional itself is At His Feet. I highly recommend this devotional if you are looking for one.

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”
-Alexander Pope

The themes of hope and peace have been front and center this week. God has been speaking them into my life in more ways than one. Through His Word. Through others. At church. In my devotions.

Our times certainly call for a measure of hope and peace—we are getting enough fear and anxiety to last a few lifetimes lately. But this idea of hope and peace is not so simple as it might at first appear. It’s not so easy to shut out the world and simple decide to have hope and peace.

We have to hope in something. And we we need to get peace from somewhere. The good news is that both of these come from the original author…God Himself. He doesn’t just give peace and hope. He IS Peace. He IS Hope. And He promises to give them both to us if we will simply turn to Him…walk with Him…trust in Him.

Sounds simple right?

That’s another theme I’ve been working on recently…making things simpler. Simple does not mean easy, it just means getting rid of the clutter and the complicated. Focusing on what’s important.

I’m working on it…

I pray that God, the source of hope,
will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him.
Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13, NLT

I have had some technical difficulties this last week with my blog (couldn’t load the page where I actually create a post)…but I’m back…and then I’ll be gone until this weekend on the hunt.

I have actually had a topic on my heart for the past few days that I’m glad I finally get to share…I’m so impatient, but it has given time for God to continue to work on this area in my life. It comes out of John chapter 12:

Those who love their life in this world will lose it.
Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
John 12:25, NLT

On the surface seems pretty innocent, but it’s anything but “innocent”. This is hard teaching here from Jesus. Think about the implications…if we love our life in this world (at all) then we will lose eternity. We have to “care nothing” for our life in this world—we are supposed to be “other worldly minded”. I don’t know about you, but that’s not always the way I walk and live. Quite often I am very “this world” oriented.

But what Jesus is really getting at here is whether we are a believer or a follower of Christ. Do we just believe His words and teachings OR do we actually follow them? Are we really developing a relationship with Christ or are we simply “practicing Christianity” (do we even know the difference)? Can I honestly say that I hate my life in this world and that my full hope is in the eternal life that’s coming?

Where is my heart? Where is my mind? What’s my focus?

Am I “All In” or am I holding a little back for the next round?

These are the hard questions God is working on in my life…

As I have said recently, my life is a little crazy right now with a weird work schedule for the next month and school in full swing. So blogging has taken a little bit of a backseat…but I’m here today!

In my devotions this morning I read this passage:

Then when they were alone, he turned to the disciples and said,
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen.
I tell you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you see,
but they didn’t see it.
And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.”
Luke 10:23-24, NLT

This is one of those passages that usually rolls by unnoticed…and today would have been no different if it weren’t for the devotional book that said this about the passage:

Are we casual about our knowledge of Jesus and His Word?
Have we been so saturated with the message of the gospel that we take it for granted?

In the passage Jesus is telling His disciples that they are a part of something huge…something few people would get to experience but that many people had looked forward to. I thought it only applied to them. I was wrong. The question above are great questions that step on my toes too much.

I am often too casual about my walk with God. Too often I take my spiritual walk for granted…I take God for granted. You and I have been given a unique opportunity and gift. Let’s not take it for granted.

I am currently, and slowly, reading through John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life. I must admit that the first couple of chapters have been a little on the slow side…but that’s because much of it has been background material. This morning the reading turned a corner. Here is an excerpt I had to share:

You don’t have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have to know a few great things that matter, perhaps just one, and hen be willing to live for them and die for them. The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by one great thing. If you want your life to count…you have to know a few great, majestic, unchanging, obvious, simple, glorious things—or one great all-embracing thing—and be set on fire by them.

John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life, page 44.

Now that’s something I can sink my teeth into. Yes, it reminds me a little bit of the scene from City Slickerswhere Jack Palance tells Billy Crystal he has to find”that one thing”…but there is often truth in movies…you just ave to look hard for it sometimes.

So what is that one thing…or those few things…that you are mastering in your life? What guides and directs your compass? What are you set on fire by? I hope that the first thing is Christ…knowing Him and walking with Him. If not, start there.

After that…therein lies the beauty. God made you and designed you for your purpose. Part of the fun is finding out what that is and giving yourself to it 100%. Happy hunting!

In Elder Meeting last night our pastor started of, as usual, with a devotional. Last night was from 1 Peter 5 and it was one of those times when something just sticks with you. As we read and discussed the passage this stood out for me:

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.
He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.
1 Peter 5:8-9, NLT

If you have a been a Christ follower for more than…oh….say…10 seconds, you know the truth behind this passage. We are all targets. Satan has it in for us. He is our enemy and wants nothing more than to see us fail and suffer. But that wasn’t what really stuck with me. What stuck with me…and is still with me this morning…is how God tells us to handle the fact that we are targets:

1. Stay alert!
2. Stand firm
3. Be strong

Not what I would have expected. I would have expected something along the lines of: “ask God to protect you, trust God to take care of the problem, let God handle this…” But that’s not what we get here (and that’s not to say we shouldn’t do those other things)…in this case God tells us to take some action…to have a Spiritual Backbone and stand up to the enemy who is bent on destroying us. To be sure, we need to do that with God’s power and strength…but we are called to take a stand and be strong in our faith. We need to lean on God, but we need to stand our ground too. Something to ponder…

It’s probably just me (I am a little slow), but God keeps repeating the same two themes in my walk with Him over the past few weeks. Life has been busy and stressful. School is out for a week and I am getting back on track (whatever that means).

So what has God been repeating? Two themes…

Theme #1: Turn to Him When Things Get Rough

I have said it before, but I have had the tendency in the past to turn to unhealthy things instead of God when the chips were down. This is a lesson that has taken, and is taking, time to really learn. God is undoing old, bad habits and teaching me how to turn to Him. Here’s the latest passage He has given me on the topic:

Dear children, keep away from anything
that might take God’s place in your hearts.
1 John 5:21, NLT

Theme #2: It’s All About Relationship

This one has been repeated in many different venues: Church, Men’s Group, School, Devotions, et al. And it’s the most exciting. Life is about relationships…it’s how God made us…it’s WHY God made us. And God wants to have a personal relationship with me and with you. That’s exciting! And it changes everything when I think about living my life with God as my friend…in relationship with Him. It came up last night in Men’s Group:

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God
because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Romans 5:11, NLT

So those are my lessons. How about you? What has God, or is God, continually teaching you? Are the repetitive themes in your life?

Time for a little confession. This past week has been especially busy (no, that’s not the confession). What has paid the price? Mostly my time with God (there it is). I have been spending “time” with Him, but not the kind of focused attention that He deserves…my mind has been on other things.

This weekend we took our usual Labor Day camping weekend trip up to Como. As usual, it was good time with family and friends. And it was relaxing…something I needed, but that I am paying for now since I still have a big paper due in my class. During the one good time I spent with God this weekend I was confessing how I have been neglecting my relationship with Him. And as usual, He gave me something to chew on in return. Here it is:

As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist,
so I created Judah and Israel [and David] to cling to me, says the Lord.
They were to be my people, my pride, my glory—an honor to my name.
But they would not listen to me.
Jeremiah 13:11, NLT

Yes, I made a little personal addition there…but that is how God spoke to me. I was made to cling to Him.

Do I always do it? No.
Do I often? Guilty again.
Am I learning? Yes.

So today, in the midst of the busyness and craziness of life I am trying to cling to Him and turn to Him more and more. How about you? Do you cling to God when life gets crazy? Or do you cling to something else?