Nesting

Maybe you are, have been, or have been around a pregnant woman near the time she is supposed to go into labor. Maybe you've smelled the intense aroma of bleach, seen the clothes cleaned and reorganized fourteen times and been forced to move furniture until it is just perfect. All because of the nesting instinct. Apparently nesting, though it doesn't happen to all, happens to women before labor. It is a natural instinct found throughout the animal kingdom in which a mother fully prepares herself (as much as possible) for the arrival of her baby. I went on a cleaning spree the other weekend and decked out my house in fall decorations. I never decorate and who likes to clean? But let me tell you, for about 72 hours all I could think about was cleaning and reorganizing. Think of OCD on steroids. It was certainly entertaining to behold.

But as I was cleaning and thinking about how there is so much to do to prepare for a baby, I grew somber. You see, there is so much to do to prepare for the coming of Jesus, but we rarely even consider it. First and foremost, we need to be saved. We need to take that step that recognizes God's love and saving grace through his son Jesus, who died for our sins so that we may be forever reconciled with God. We deserve death for any foul thought, harsh word or prideful notion. We deserve to pay for our sins. Yet, Jesus, the perfect man and son of God who never committed a single sin, died the death of a criminal and paid a price we could never pay. Once we acknowledge that, knowing he died for us and was resurrected on the third day so that we might have eternal life, we can ask him to move and work and change our lives. Once we invite him into our hearts and proclaim him as Master of our lives, we can have peace knowing that our eternity rests in him. However, it does not stop there.

What should come pouring out of our hearts is gratitude for the sacrifice of Christ. And that outpouring is often showcased by how we share and show the love of Christ to others. Our response to his love and grace is to live it out so that others may also come to know him. As we live our lives for him, we show him to others in hope that his Holy Spirit will work in their lives to help them prepare for eternity.

Basically, we need to prepare our hearts and then work to prepare others. It's kind of like that deal on the airplanes. First put your mask on your own face so that you will be better able to assist others in coming to safety. Then we must hold on to the faith we have claimed and, through the grace and help of God, grow in our relationship with him. Yet, when we think his coming is far off and extremely distant, we tend to get lazy in our growth. We begin to make excuses and think, "Oh, I'll obey him tomorrow." But Jesus has some very strong words for that thought process. Check out Luke 12:42-46:

The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

Ouch. Do you see how important it is for us to constantly be preparing ourselves for the coming of Christ? We cannot get lazy in our walk but we must hold on and continue to follow Christ in the way his law commands. Yes we will fail, but through God's grace and our repentance, we can turn back to him again and again when we stumble. But we must be prepared. So today, prepare your hearts, walk in his ways and teach others to do the same. Get your nest ready and then look forward, with anticipation, to the beautiful rewards God will bestow upon you.

Trash Can Reminders

Because Jason is in the Army, he randomly leaves for weeks on end to do training exercises, gun ranges and other things. All jobs require on-the-job training, Jason's is just overnight for extended periods of time. Because of this, something terrible often happens in our house: I have to remember to take out the trash. It becomes so habitual that Jason will see to this task that when he is gone, I almost always forget. I won't forget for just one week either, we're talking three weeks. That was a bad month. For his last field training, however, I became ferociously determined to remember to take out the trash. I had reminders everywhere. Alarms were set, sticky notes were stuck. I was going to take out the trash. And I did. Most nights I didn't remember until I had already gone to bed, but remember I did! Through this I found that if you write enough reminders, you're likely to stumble upon one.

I bring this all up because recently I gave myself a challenge. That challenge is to memorize the Sermon on the Mount. For now, I am working on Matthew's version which is only three chapters. This is the first time I have ever sat down and tried to memorize a large, continuous scripture. I have lots of memory verses, but I really have felt the need to study and memorize the actual words of Jesus. I figure, the better I know what he says, the better I can understand him and the better I can explain him to others. I was really inspired by the Psalms and how often they call us to know God's word. Check out Psalm 119:97-104

Oh how I love your law!

I meditate on it all day long.

Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,

for they are ever with me.

I have more insight than all my teachers,

for I meditate on your statutes.

I have more understanding than the elders,

for I obey your precepts.

I have kept my feet from every evil path

so that I might obey your word.

I have not departed from your laws,

for you yourself have taught me.

How sweet are your words to my taste,

sweeter than honey to my mouth!

I gain understanding from your precepts;

therefore I hate every wrong path.

Obviously, the better we know God's law, the better we can follow it and implement it into our lives.
That being said, memorization is hard. And in all honesty, I have often forgotten my goal to memorize. Yet, when I lay down at night and remember, I often mumble a small prayer of forgiveness (without feeling much guilt), roll over and fall fast asleep.

How sad is it that I will jump out of bed to take out the trash, but will not even sit up and turn on a light to memorize God's word? The worst part is that it is so easy to tell myself, "Maybe tomorrow." I think this is so easy because I am taking advantage of God's grace. The trash men will not come around and pick up my trash if I call them, but God will always allow me to take out my trash, and that is how I rationalize it. This is so wrong and so sad. Rather than being humbled and moved by the sacrificial grace of Christ, I use it as an excuse to not do what he has called me to do. Please do not fall into this trap!

So if you have trouble remembering to read your Bible, remembering to pray or remembering to do something God has asked you to do, don't allow yourself to be distracted. I truly believe the Devil will work against you in this, as he has me, so we need to start fighting back. Ask God to help you remember, and then put up reminders. Put verses in your house, stick sticky notes in your car, write it on your calendar, put a reminder in your phone. Eventually, you will forge the habit and no longer require the reminders. But please, please take this seriously. Will God forgive you when you fail? Certainly. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't do everything in our power to more effectively follow his will. So break out the reminders and alarms and refuse to give into the excuses. I promise you, your hard work, diligence and faithfulness will be rewarded.

When I Accidentally Poisoned My Dog

The other night I needed to give Lacey medicine to prevent heart worm, ticks and all the other joyful things the South has to offer dogs. Mind you, for those of you that don't know, Lacey is a Husky/German Shepherd mix. Lacey hates these pills (even with peanut butter) so I have to shove it down her throat and close her mouth and force her to swallow. Lacey, however, is quite smart. The other night, she fake swallowed and spit the stupid pill out. As I groped around for it in the dark (Jason was sick so he was sleeping and I figured if I snuck up on Lacey in the dark she would take the pill easier. Wrong.), I realized that Chloe had shot out from under the bed and eaten the pill. Chloe is not Lacey. Chloe weighs about thirty pounds, whereas Lacey is 60, requiring a much larger dose. Not to mention, Chloe had taken her own version of this medicine about 2 days prior. According to the labels, I had just poisoned Chloe.

I'm going to be honest, until this happened, I didn't even know I loved Chloe. I always thought she was just okay, but kind of annoying. And yet, there I was in tears, frantically waking up Jason and begging him to figure out how to make a dog throw up. Side note: if you ever find yourself in this situation, give them a teaspoon or two of hydrogen peroxide. So we did this and waited, all the while I was throwing a fit and questioning my aptitude at motherhood and Chloe was mortified. She looked at us like we had betrayed her when we made her feel that way. She dry-heaved for about fifteen minutes and finally spit up the pill. I was pretty relieved. But during the whole time and for a long time after, Chloe wouldn't come near us. She couldn't understand why we would let her get sick, even more, why we were the ones that made her sick. 

Have you ever felt this way about God? In most discussions I've had with people that don't follow Jesus, their reasons often revolve around "If God loves me, why did x happen to me?" And that is a fair question. Like Chloe, we want to know why we had to throw up. But what if God allowed us to be sick in order that we might avoid death? What if, like Chloe, we need something that will help get the poison out of us? What if God knows that we will never recognize our sin and our need for him if we never face troubles in life or consequences for our actions? And what if God loves us so much that he will watch us go through that in order to keep us from dying from the poison we have ingested called sin?

I would argue that this is precisely one way God uses the pain and the troubles of our lives to draw us close to him. I'm not saying he causes them (that is a whole different theological debate that I won't get into here), but I promise you he uses them. And please don't think God takes joy in our pain. Rather, I think it breaks God's heart to see us hurt. After all, he wept when Lazarus died and was troubled when he saw his friend Mary weeping (John 11). 

As silly as it may be, I think I understand a little more just how painful it is for God to watch us struggle after this situation with Chloe (I dread how realistic it will be when this baby of mine arrives). I think I understand it better because, though I suppose I do love Chloe, it is nothing compared to God's love for us. And still, in my tiny amount of affection for Chloe, I was devastated to know that we were going to allow her to drink something that would make her sick. Well, in her case, it was forced and I couldn't even do it, I made Jason do it. I know during this time Chloe didn't feel loved by what we did and yet, had we not made her sick, she would have died. I ask you: which outcome reflected a greater love from us? Sick for the night or dead forever? 

You see, sometimes our pains and troubles can act like antidotes for the sin in our lives. When things finally blow up, it is then that we often look to God. Does it taste good going down? Not a chance. But if, in the end, it saves our lives from the pits of Hell, I would say it's worth it. Wouldn't you?

Do You Blend In?

I don't know about you, but in the Bible and theological books, I am a highlighter, an underliner, a writer-inner, and a circler. I like to mark up pages. And the other day I was doing just that while checking out Colossians, but things were a little different. Jason was already asleep and I didn't want to wake him up, but I also really wanted to lie down as I read, so I broke out the flashlight. Now Jason has this super-military flashlight that I was using and it has a red lens. The lens was perfect for the least amount of disturbance to Jason, but terrible for me when I realized that my pen of choice that night had been red. Before I noticed the issue, I didn't know why I couldn't see my writing. I found myself going over everything I had written to embolden it, if you will, and then when I removed the red lens realized just how bold I had made my letters.

This is something that I think is paralleled in life. We have this tendency to shine our red light on red ink. We have these comfort zones in which it becomes much easier to be a Christian around other Christians. Therefore, many Christians steer clear of anyone who doesn't share their beliefs. We fear having friends that believe other religions as though they are contagious. We shun the people who love the nightlife and bar scene as though we would become guilty by association. Rather, we stick to our little circles where we meet little conflict and can always feel safe. I recognized this issue in myself the more people I met in the Army. The Army tends to draw a rough lifestyle and, in the beginning, I found myself really uncomfortable with the talk and the actions of the people. But then I began to develop relationships. Then I began to see the hurt that so desperately needed to see Jesus in someone. And it was then that I started to step out of my comfort zone and get a little "unsafe." All because I don't think Jesus was safe.

Jesus certainly didn't make it a point to hang out with the "church crowd." Certainly he went to their houses (Luke 7), and he spoke with them a lot, but take a look at his almost-constant crowd. He hung out with the roughest of rough. He touched a leper in Matthew 8 (which was about the worst thing he could do in that culture), chatted up a Samaritan woman alone at a well in John 4 (taboo for a Jew and inappropriate for a man), called a tax collector to follow him as a disciple in Matthew 9 (only the embodiment of the greatest evil in Jewish eyes: Rome), and acknowledged that because of the crowd he hung out with he was called "a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners" (Luke 7:34). Jesus certainly knew how to get people talking about the crowd he ran with. Please know that this would have been so radical in that culture. He was called Rabbi. He was a teacher of the law and he walked around with what the culture saw as riff-raff. To our eyes he would have walked with hookers, anarchists, drunks and sick people. So why are we so slow to do the same?

I think most of the time we assume that if people see us with that crowd, they will believe we do what that crowd does and our reputation will be shot. Hey, that's what happened to Jesus, right? For outsiders, this will most likely be true. To outsiders and people who do not know us, they will probably assume that we do what our friends do. But I promise you, to those that are a part of that crowd, you will be a white light to a red pen. When we only hang out with people like us, everything starts to blend. But when we let our light shine on a crowd colored differently from Christianity, we illuminate so much more. Jesus himself said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" (Mark 2:17). So let's take our light to the sick.

All of that being said, I do think I need to point out two things. One, people that know you should know where you stand. Outsiders may make assumptions of your reputation, but your friends should know the truth. As a Christian, you should certainly not act the same as your non-Christian friends. Be in the world, not of it. Two, this does not mean that men should go to strip clubs in order to reach strippers for Christ. Let a woman do that. By all means, use your common sense. If you're a recovering alcoholic, don't hang out at bars to tell people about Christ. Don't throw yourself into a situation where you'll be tempted to forsake what you know. But don't just sit in your comfort zone of Christian friends and miss out on all the great relationships you could have with people who do not yet know him. It is in these relationships your light will shine the brightest, and maybe, just maybe, your friends will come to know him through your words and example.

The Mask

Yesterday, I was blessed by some friends as they threw a baby shower for me. It was thrown by some of the people in Jason's company, so there were both men and women there. At the baby shower, there were football games on in the background and I knew the woman who hosted it to be a die-hard sports fan so I felt no qualms about wearing my Eagles jersey to the shower. It turns out, that isn't really standard. Don't get me wrong, most of the men there were rocking some for of a sports jersey, but most of the women were dressed up and looking extremely cute. Oops.

I felt bad and wondered aloud to Jason if I should've dressed up. Of course, his comment was that wearing an Eagles jersey is the fanciest clothing around, so he was little help. But I decided that it would've been sillier had I dressed up just for the sake of this party. I'm not a dressy person by any means and it truly wouldn't be me. So this all got me thinking about how often we try to make ourselves look a certain part in life. We have this tendency to dress ourselves up in different "costumes" for different people. With our church friends we tend to speak about Jesus a lot more. But with our coworkers, discussions range from reality TV to alcoholic beverages. We have so many different masks for different groups of friends, and this shouldn't be. The mask I want to talk about today is the mask of the religious.

Let me segway this in with a history lesson. Did you know that the origin for dressing up in church started because people wanted to "prove" to the world that they were elected by God? They wanted to prove that they were saved, and they figured one way to do that was to show off the ways that God had blessed them in their lives by providing them money for fancy clothes. To many people of the church, this became a way to say, "I am clean and put together, so God's hand must be in my life." And this is something I think the church still struggles with today.

Maybe we don't struggle with this in the way of what we wear (then again, maybe we do), but we certainly struggle with it in the way we present our lives. We want to offer up the squeaky clean, perfect version of ourselves so that others will know that God has saved us. Have you ever listened to people who have grown up in the church talk about their struggles? When testimonies are given, it is almost always stated, "I used to do this." Don't get me wrong, God changes us and does not leave us the same, all the while helping us to break away from our old sinful nature. But why do we always discuss struggles as if we had them once upon a time, but don't anymore? We have not been made perfect yet, but we want everyone to think we have.

This is so dangerous. It makes us completely unable to relate to people outside of the church when we give off the vibe that we have everything all together. Jesus knew it. That is why he called out the teachers of the law. They had all the rules down pat. They knew how to look the part and talk the talk, but inside they were dirty and sinful. Jesus said to them, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will be clean as well" (Matthew 23:25-26). You see, once God starts his work on our hearts, the rest will show in the evidence of our lives. But Jesus was always more concerned about the heart than the outward appearance.

I once had a pastor talk about how he used to have a drug problem because his parents drug him to church. After the congregation finished laughing he made a comment that broke my heart. He said, "Don't worry, no drug problem here, could you imagine if your pastor had ever had one of those?" I was devastated. Who are we to say that a pastor cannot have had a past that dealt with drugs? How much power is in the testimony of a pastor who can speak of the healing and redemptive work of God in his life to a point of where they turn from a drug addiction into an evangelist? If you're like me, those are the stories you love. The ones of a total turn around. The ones where God takes us in our greatest weaknesses and turns us into warriors for his cause. And he doesn't only do it once in your life. It is an ongoing process.

So let's have Bible studies in which we take off our masks. Let's meet with friends and be able to discuss what we're being tempted by on a daily basis, not just temptations God has helped us overcome. Let's share just how imperfect, yet completely loved we are by a God who knows us without our masks. Let's learn to respond like Paul and be proud of our own weaknesses. Jesus spoke to him and said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." And what was Paul's response? "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me" (2 Corinthians 12:9). You see, when we take off our masks and realize that we are weak, we can truly depend on Christ and see his power work in us. Until we recognize our dependence on him, how can we tell others to depend on him? Let's set the example and be vulnerable. Let's show people how it is possible for broken, hurting, failing people to love and be loved by the Lord of all.

Being Prepared

So yesterday, I was cruising. Two days ago I essentially assumed control of planning and executing a family event for the soldiers and families in Jason's Company. The event is tomorrow. Yeah. So yesterday I was moving, grooving and getting things done. From 5 am until 10 pm I was working on this and I realized that, even though I was accomplishing a lot, I really wasn't prepared for just how much time it would take. I agreed to it, but still wasn't prepared when the time came.

I have found that this is something that happens a lot in Christianity. How often can we talk about how much we love Jesus or go to church, but when someone asks us why, we blank out? This used to happen to me a lot. People would ask me why I went to church and I had no real reason. It was something I had always done. Certainly I enjoyed it, but why did I actually do it? I think a huge problem in Christianity today is that many Christians don't know why they believe what they profess. It has become habitual to a point where when asked the honest question, Christians draw a blank.

You may not even be caught off guard because you don't have an answer. You could have all the reasons in the world, but the question can still stump you in the moment. Perhaps it has been this way since Christianity began, urging Peter to write, 

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander" (1 Peter 3:15-16). 

Note the always and everyone. Not sometimes to some people, but always to everyone.

So how do we do this? First of all, I would say that you need to always be building your testimony. Life experiences are a great teacher and it's something you know personally because it happened to you. So if you're confronted with the question of why you follow Jesus, talk about the impact he has made in your life. Talk about how you lived before you knew him and the change that has occurred in your life since. That can handle a lot of those questions and really make people think. However, maybe you're dealing with someone who knows all about Jesus but still doesn't buy into it. You may then be forced to turn to ethical arguments and theological truths. If I were you, I would start learning the art of Christian Apologetics. Learn to defend you faith on a personal level and also on an intellectual level and your argument will be strong.

As a side note, let me point something out. I think it is good to be prepared. It is something that has always been natural enough to me that I could've been a boy scout from a very young age. Prepare the best you can and know why you believe what you believe, but do not worry about your words. The disciples spent a lot of time with Jesus. They knew him and they had their reasons for following him down, yet Jesus still said to them, "'When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at the time what you should say'" (Luke 12:11-12). You see, we aren't left alone. 

Therefore, when someone asks you that question, say a little prayer for God to guide your words through his Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, our preparedness won't do us much good. Learn all you can, but in the moment, rest in the knowledge that God will not leave you on your own to defend him. Rather, he will send you his Holy Spirit to provide clarity and knowledge. So get out there and study up. Know with all your heart why you are a Christian and defend that belief by the power of the Holy Spirit. Do this, and watch how God moves in the questioner's life.

Your YAC Stat

This one is not an original idea, but the analogy was so perfect, I thought I would share it with you. Last night our church had a dedication ceremony for our new building and a man named Jerry Horvater spoke. He is from Texas so naturally he loves football. And since the NFL season kicked off this weekend, I thought I would expand on an analogy he made yesterday. He talked about the YAC stat. For you non-football fans, that means Yards After Contact. The stat is used to show how capable the athlete is of making further yardage when contact by the defense has already been made. It basically shows how long the athlete can stay up when people are trying to bring him down. As Christians, I think we should be concerned about our YAC stat.

In 2 Corinthians 11:22-29, Paul gives his YAC stat. He tells the Corinthian church all of the struggles he has been through in his effort to spread the gospel. He was whipped, imprisoned, shipwrecked, stoned and the list goes on. He was hit with more struggles than most of us could imagine, but he carried on. He gained a whole lot of yards after contact.

The difference in a Christian's life should be how long we can stay up after we've been blindsided. I could probably be an NFL running back if no one was ever going to touch me, and in all honesty, my efforts wouldn't be that impressive. But if I had someone like Clay Matthews coming after me to eat me alive, that would be the true test of my football skills. (A test I would fail miserably). The same is true with our faith. Our struggles can either trip us up and make us fall, or we can refuse to be tackled by them and allow them to strengthen us. It is the very reason Paul says to the Romans, "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know the suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit whom he has given us" (Romans 5:3-5).

In this world you will face troubles and conflict. Difficulties will try to trip you up and tackle you, but with God's help, you will not fall. David got it right when he said, "If the Lord delights in a man, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his righteous right hand" (Psalm 37:23-24). So be encouraged that you aren't facing the struggles of this life alone, you have a God that holds you steady. Remember that, and you will begin to develop perseverance through your struggles that will eventually lead to hope. Remember that, and you will have a pretty fantastic YAC stat.

When Your Brakes Go Out

Well, yesterday, I spent the day attempting to tow Jason's car to a shop while he was at work. Turns out, while he was in the field for the last three weeks, one of his brake lines rusted and snapped. Thankfully we figured this out before driving it. But there was a time when my brake lines snapped on me while I was driving. Back in high school I was heading to coach a softball practice and pulling into the parking lot. When I tried to park, I kept on going and slammed right into the concrete barrier. I wasn't even on the road or really in danger and it was terrifying. Have you ever had that experience? One where you couldn't stop? You knew the danger but you didn't know what you could do to fix the situation? 

I think these situations come up in life more often than we like to admit. Sure, there were warnings, just as there are warnings when your brakes are going bad. Maybe you start hanging out with the wrong crowd. Maybe a steamy love scene in a movie lodges in your head. Maybe you start with a little lie, not meaning to do harm. But as with all sin that goes unchecked and unrepented, it turns into a dangerous slippery slope. When driving, I notice having to push the pedal a little harder for the full stop, but if I don't do anything about it, it only worsens. The same is true with the sin in our lives. And then, before we realize just how weak our resistance has become, we are sliding into danger without any idea of how to stop.

Please realize how deceptive sin is. You won't see flashing billboards that scream out where you're headed, you'll simply continue on with what you're doing, finding it easier and easier to make excuses until you're too far blinded by the sin to see the light. So how do we stop it? Well, first and foremost, the better you know God's voice, the easier it is to avoid all those other voices that counter it. Get to know him through prayer and his word. Those are big helps. But there is another way to help stop the slippery slope of sin, and it's a little scary because it leads to an intense vulnerability. Find a friend, and tell them of your struggles.

Terrifying, right? Because all the sudden you will have to lose the mask that you have your life under control and admit to being flawed to another human being. But please know that in this step there is so much freedom. When you can admit your faults and struggles to another trusted individual, you take a huge step in overcoming the sinful habit you just couldn't seem to break. And usually, once you confess your struggles to a friend, you will find that they have them as well. You suddenly become a team that is willing to work to overcome the temptations of this world. 

This is in no way a new idea. Look at the people of the Bible. Moses had Aaron. David had Johnathon. Naomi had Ruth. Esther had Mordecai.  Caleb had Joshua. Mary had Martha. Paul had Barnabas for a while. And look at Jesus. In Mark 6:7 when he first sent out his disciples, he sent them out two by two. It's clear that this life was not meant to be lived alone, nor is our walk with God. We need help. We need someone to lean on, someone to talk to, someone to gain advice from. 

So if you're struggling with a sin that you can't seem to overcome, look to a spiritual mentor to help you on your journey. Sit down with someone you trust and tell them so they can hold you accountable. Usually the knowledge alone that someone is going to ask you if you have fallen back into sin will be enough of a reminder in the moment to not give into the temptation. And, if you do fall, they will be there to encourage you and show you the mercy and love of Christ. I think some of the greatest lies the devil tells us are that "no one will understand" and "I can do this on my own." We all need someone to speak honesty into our lives; to hold us when we crumble and celebrate with us in our victories. We were not meant to walk this road alone. So talk to someone. Face down your habitual sin once and for all, with a battle buddy standing beside you, ready to fight for your cause. Move past the shame of confession and find strength in numbers.

Looking Back

Last week marked the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington. Fifty years ago, MLK Jr. gave probably one of the most well-known speeches about a dream he had for this nation. To honor MLK Jr.'s and those who marched with him, people gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and many speeches were given. Of those speeches, most of them seemed to look back to where we were as a nation fifty years ago and where we are today. In a way, this anniversary was a chance to judge the progress we as a nation have made in reaching MLK Jr.'s dream.

When is the last time you took a look at your life and reflected on the progress you've made? I don't mean progress in your career or schooling, I mean progress in the maturity of your faith. During day to day life, we often forget to pause and evaluate ourselves. It usually doesn't strike us until we face a situation similar to one we faced in the past and realize the difference in the way we handled it. But if you looked back over the past five years, have you changed as a person for the better? Certainly you've made some mistakes and stumbled along the way, but is your general projection one of growth? This is something so important, but often overlooked.

The author of Hebrews talks pretty plainly about growth. He says,

"In fact we have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil" Hebrews 5:11-14

We aren't meant to stay the same. We are meant to grow, develop, and learn to recognize good from evil. Once we come face to face with the Creator and understand his love for us, we are not meant to walk away unchanged. Once we recognize him as Master and Savior, we should never be the same again. From that point on, through study, prayer, and incorporating him into every minute of our lives, he will begin to mold and shape us into who he truly intended us to be. He will start to kill off everything bad in us and begin to replace it with his goodness and his light.

So how is your faith? Has it grown over the past few years, weeks, days? Are you better at trusting him than you used to be? Do you have more compassion, more grace, more thankfulness in your life? Look into it. Maybe make a list if you need to see it in front of you. On the areas you've grown, thank God. Only he can turn our wretched selves into anything worthwhile. And on the areas you haven't grown or have fallen behind, ask for God's help and begin to consciously work on them. Then, when you look back over your list in a week or month, you can see if you've made progress. Please do not take God out of the equation-- when we try to do things on our own, we end up failing. But with his guidance, direction, and grace, we have the beautiful ability to grow into better people each day.