live like you were dying

Country music artist Tim McGraw sings “Live Like You Were Dying.” What if you took that seriously? How would your life be different? Really. How would your thoughts change? How would your actions change? What trivial things would you just stop doing? What would you write to others if you knew you only had three months to live? What would you say to others if you knew you only had three months to live?

the God-idea

“Those who say that they believe in God and yet neither love nor fear him, do not in fact believe in him but in those who have taught them that God exists. Those who believe that they believe in God, but without any passion in their heart, any anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, without an element of despair even in their consolation, believe only in the God-idea, not in God.”—Miguel de Unamuno

are you paralyzed?

Leonard Sweet tells of one of his favorite West Virginia stories. It’s of a boy and a girl at the conclusion of their first date. Standing under the porch light of the girl’s front door, the boy looked at her and said, “Can I kiss you?” The girl smiled demurely and said nothing. The boy tried again. “I mean may I kiss you?” Again the girl smiled and said nothing. “Are you deaf?” the boy asked. The girl fires back, “Are you paralyzed?” That’s a question we in the church need to ask. Are we paralyzed? What’s holding us back? Even though at times the world may seem ugly and froggish, what’s keeping us from kissing it with the love of Christ and seeing it transformed?

what do you say?

This week I visited a man in jail. He was arrested for possessing a gun. His cousin had called him and told him he was about to commit suicide. The man went right over to talk his cousin out of it. After much talking, the cousin surrendered his gun. The man took the gun home; it was the only thing he could think to do. He knew he didn’t want his cousin to take his life because he had barely survived when his wife committed suicide, and he couldn’t imagine dealing with that again. His teenage son is still angry over his mother’s suicide. He called the police and told them his dad had the gun. Because his father committed a felony over twenty years ago, he now is looking at spending almost two years in prison. What do you say?

are you the owner?

This afternoon got a phone call. It was from a financial firm. Identified myself, and the rep said “And Mr. DuVal, are you the owner of Journey Church?” I answered “No, I’m not the owner, I’m the Lead Pastor.” “You’re not the owner?” “No.” There was a pause and then the rep said “Oh, okay” and hung up. The owner of Journey Church? I don’t think so!

didn’t do

Mark Twain wrote: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” More and more I’m grasping that I do not want to look back with regret. I do not want to allow fear to determine my course. I do not want to say again and again: “Oh, I wish I’d done this. I wish I’d done that.” I want to live freely and fully in Christ. All ahead, full speed!

radical obedience

A seminary president once said that every Christian is called to radical obedience to God’s program of justice, righteousness, and peace. A sociologist responded by saying that was a rather grandiose notion of radical obedience. He said that somewhere in a retirement home there is a Christian woman whose greatest fear in life is that she will make a fool of herself because she will not be able to control her bladder in the cafeteria line. For this woman, the greatest act of radical obedience to Jesus is to place herself in the hands of a loving God every time she goes off to dinner. God calls us to deal with the challenges before us, and often our most “radical” challenges are very “little” ones. It may mean patiently listening to someone who is boring or irritating, or treating a fellow sinner with a charity that is not easy to muster. C. S. Lewis was surprised to learn that his life after conversion consisted mostly in doing the same things he had done before, only in a new spirit. Eventually he concluded that being a practicing Christian “means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God.”

what’s that mean?

I regularly hear people say they believe in God, and I wonder—what’s that mean? Do they embrace God’s desire that they live for him and in him? Do they passionately attempt to align their hearts with the heart of God? Do they seek to become apprentices of Jesus, striving to pattern every aspect of their lives after him? Do they attempt to conform every thought, every impulse, every emotion, every action to the will of God? Isn’t that what it really means to believe in God?

so many things, and yet . . .

Material things don’t feed the soul. Since 1970 there’s been a 47% increase in U.S. consumption per capita, yet there has been a 51% decline in the quality of life during that same period. The bottom line bottoms out. Since 1960 our U.S. gross domestic product has nearly tripled. During the same time there was a 560% increase in violent crime, more than a 400% increase in illegitimate births, a quadrupling of divorces, a 200% increase in teen suicides. So many people have so many things and yet are so spiritually empty.

weenie

There was a hot dog commercial in which little children sang: “Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener. That is what I truly want to be. For if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener, then everyone would be in love with me.” How many people today want so desperately to be loved that they’re be willing to be a weenie if that’s what it takes? How many people want so desperately to be loved that they degrade themselves, humiliate themselves, disgrace themselves? What does that say about our need to love and be loved? And what will it take for us to understand that it’s only when we open ourselves to the unconditional gift of God’s love that we’re be able to give and receive love freely in the depths of our souls?

fasten yourself

The Old Testament contains words for “be strong” that mean “to fasten yourself to something.” It’s a picture of someone grabbing hold to what’s right and true and refusing to let go. For any of us to be strong in faith, we need to grab hold of Christ and hold on for dear life. That’s what will provide us with the courage to stand firm when we’re challenged to abandon what’s right for what’s expedient or easy. The courage to not give in to fleeting passions which compromise convictions. The courage to remain resolute in decisions that are led by God but are unpopular or misunderstood. The courage not to make excuses for failings but to learn from them and change. The moment we know what God wants us to do is the moment we’re to have the courage to actually do it.