Category: Christian Living

Christian Living

Stop Loading Others with Baggage You Don’t Understand

Chris

My favorite people are those who really want to know all there is to know about God and His Word. They aren’t trying to better than anyone else. It isn’t a Bible Quiz competition or a “good Pharisee tactic.” Their heart just wants to get closer to God and serve Him the best they can.

One of my best friends is like that. He’s so hungry for more of God. He posts his daily reading completions on Facebook, more to keep on eye on himself than to impress anyone. Because he continues to learn and wants to understand better, we have some really interesting discussions.

Recently we sat together and he brought up one of my sermons he was listening to online. Since it was one of those rare occasions where we get our families together for a couple of days, we had one of those long talks. These are my favorite opportunities to find out if people really know what kind of baggage they are burdening people with.

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Christian Living, Ministry

When the Leader Speaks

Chris

After a recent meeting with our leadership team, one of them mentioned how he thought we had a good group. He had heard about church board meetings that involved a lot of yelling and screaming and said with confidence that we should not have to worry about that.

Another team member told a couple of stories from his experiences in those meetings, and agreed with the first’s assessment that we currently have a great group. He also mentioned how one of those big boardroom fights led to innocent families being pushed out of the church.

That’s when I gave the same two-cents I usually share in a discussion like this. It’s the pastor’s job to make sure those situations are as close to non-existent as possible. One way to do that is to be a strong leader, willing to put your foot down. Some things just aren’t up for debate. The senior leader, whether it’s a pastor in a church board or the chairman of a business organization, has to be willing to say so.

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Christian Living

The Number 1 Way to Impress God

Chris

Were you ever introduced to someone who expected you to be far more interested in them than you were? Maybe you bumped into them at a special function or a mutual friend introduced you. Surely you’d heard of them, or from know on you would be glad that you did.

I remember working on campus the summer after my first year in Bible College. It was a weekend afternoon and I had been practicing the piano in a common room. A young man I’d never seen before walked into the room and sat down nearby. After I finished playing he introduced himself and handed me his business card, where he was kind enough to point out the title under his name: “Prophet”. Apparently I was supposed to be impressed.

Many of us don’t really care who is impressed with us. We dress the way we want to, speak the way we want to, and do the things we want to. If some random person we’ve never met before doesn’t like it, “it’s their problem, not mine.” But there is one Person we should want to impress. And though some folks think they’re already doing it, they are actually failing miserably at impressing Him. There is only one way to impress God, and it isn’t what you think.

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Christian Living

Are You Adding Too Much Sugar?

Chris

This morning I drank coffee that could have tasted better. A lot better. Though I drink this brand a lot and make it the exact same way each time, today I left a little something out: a spoonful of sugar. You might not think a spoonful sugar is a lot to leave out. To put it into perspective for you, I once posted to Facebook a picture of a pallet of giant sugar bags at a warehouse store with the caption, “Now I can drink my coffee.” Friends who have seen me make a cup of coffee couldn’t help but laugh.

Why cut back on the sugar? Like many people, I’m trying to eat better. I gained some winter weight that I could really do without. So one step is to gradually cut back the spoonfuls of sugar I put in my coffee. When I tasted my coffee this morning and it begged me to put in another scoop of sugar, I resisted.

Sugar

While some folks can take a cup of coffee black and strong, most of us doctor it up a little. I make fun of my wife because of the amount of flavored cream she puts in hers. A ministry friend of mine once joked that people who use more than two teaspoons of sugar don’t like coffee, only the idea of coffee. I didn’t tell him what my regular sugar amount was.

Just like Mary Poppins told us, “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” It helps with coffee, too. But when it comes to God and His Word, we have to be careful. We might be adding some of our own stuff to it to make it palatable. A lot of trouble can result from that.

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Bible, Christian Living

Can You Really Take Advantage of God’s Grace?

Chris

Some people wonder why I do what I do. Those familiar with me and my ministry are aware of how I sometimes say or do things just to “mess with” people or challenge their preconceptions. It doesn’t always jive with the other person very well, but there are those times when gears start grinding that haven’t moved in a long time, if ever.

While I could stand on a stage and preach all the time, I really enjoy the interaction of small group discussion. I love seeing the light bulb come on in someone else. For them, there’s a new understanding or possibility to grapple with. And I offer my help in that journey.

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via http://www.wallpoper.com

One of our home group discussions recently resulted in a spiritual “light bulb moment” for me. This particular discussion was about Grace. It was the last night of an incredible video series I had chosen to accompany my preaching series about The Narrow Road Paradox. The videos were by a pastor from a different denomination as our own, and his teaching from a different perspective helped us expand our view of God, and especially Grace. One of the last questions we talked about that night was this: Can you really take advantage of God’s Grace?

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