A Life of Faith

This past Sunday I taught from John’s account of Jesus calling some of his first disciples (John 1:43-51). During that message, I explored the idea of how the human experience that forms our preconceived notions and prejudices can keep us from fully exercising our faith. As Phillip shared with Nathanael that he had found The promised Messiah, Nathanael’s skepticism was met with a simple invitation to “come and see” what he experienced in Jesus. 

Faith can be a bit of a funny thing. Faith requires hope and perspective in the face of life experience.  It gets tricky when we have to begin using our reason and intellect to see God in the midst of our circumstances, especially when those events seem to contradict what we think faith should be. What we’re left with is reconciling the gap between our reality and God’s potential for us, even when it doesn't seem to make sense. 

As Nathanael encountered Jesus, the Lord spoke truth into his life. This astounded Nathanael and helped him commit to follow Christ. In the midst of Nathanael’s excitement, Jesus told him that he would see greater things happen than these if he followed him.

Nathanael’s preconceived notions about someone from Nazareth, as well as his excitement for the potential of the future, were met in Jesus. As he contemplated his past feelings and future hopes, he could not overcome the magnitude of his own life experience. The same is true for you and me. 

Jesus wants to enter into your life and help you make sense of your past — regardless of how messy it is. Jesus also wants to invite you into an actual living breathing relationship to follow him and help you navigate your future — you guessed it, regardless of how messy it might be. 

Are you finding yourself at the intersection of your past, present, and future and trying to see God in the middle of it all? Are your preconceived notions based on your life experience clouding your vision as to what God can do with a life of faith? Are you scratching your head as to where you’ve been and left wondering where you will go next? It is true that Jesus doesn’t exactly lay out a roadmap to follow, but what He does promise to do is lead you along the way. 

Why don’t you give it a shot to “come and see” who God has given us in Jesus. He can definitely help you find peace with your past and make sense of your future. Follow Jesus and you will truly see greater things you can imagine!

The Arrow

I recently discovered the television show, Arrow. If you aren’t familiar with Arrow, it is about the DC Comics character, Oliver Queen, and his hero alter ego, The Green Arrow. Oliver was a billionaire shipwrecked on a mysterious island for five years where he learned archery and martial arts in order to survive. After his rescue, he returns home to the fictitious Starling City to fight crime and right the wrongs caused by corrupt leaders in business and politics.

Initially, Queen has no qualms about killing for the sake of his brand of vigilante justice. As the story goes, however, Queen’s friend is killed, and in his emotional recovery, he decides that he must go about his hero work without taking a life. This requires a tremendous amount of creativity and restraint on The Green Arrow’s part to find new ways to fight crime and subdue criminals. As the ne’er-do-wells realize that Green Arrow is no longer in the killing business, they feel somewhat emboldened, believing they have a leg up in their struggle for Starling City. This leads Queen to ponder the concept of sacrifice and he comes to the realization that he must be willing to lay down his own life if necessary to save the city and people he loves.

There is a very poignant scene that really struck me after The Arrow defeated his arch nemesis. Throughout their epic battle, the villainous Deathstroke was goading Arrow to end his life, saying that no matter what happens, he wins. If Arrow is defeated in the battle, then Deathstroke wins, but if Arrow is able to defeat Deathstroke (which Deathstroke only thought would be possible in his own death) then Arrow’s hero mantle would be lost. Spoiler alert: Arrow was able to defeat his enemy without murder, which led Deathstroke to declare that Arrow’s unwillingness to kill exhibited his weakness. Arrow replied to the effect that his restraint did not show his weakness, but revealed his strength. He then thanked Deathstroke for helping make him the hero he could never be on his own.

I loved that scene. As I watched it, I could not help but think of Jesus saying, “ ” (John 15:15) It also brought to mind Romans 4.25 where Paul wrote, “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.” Jesus willingly laid down his life to save us from our sins.

In the Greek language, ‘sin’ is actually an archery term which literally means, “to miss the mark”. If you’re familiar with The Green Arrow, you might know that he rarely misses his mark. Initially, his enemies feared him because of the lethality of his bow; what I love, though, is how he became a hero when he learned the power of sacrifice and restraint in order to save those he loved.

I had a seminary professor who once said something that stuck in my brain: GOD shows ultimate power in loving restraint. GOD has all the power and ability to strike us down when we miss the mark, but the fact the GOD does not – yet gives us grace for salvation through the forgiveness of sin – is evidence that GOD has a higher aim. We might feel that we get away with sin sometimes, but GOD sees it all. So to ensure that we are not lost in the sights of our enemy, Jesus laid down his life to save us.

If you have been missing the mark (and let’s face it, all of us have!), allow the Lord to take your hand, refocus your eye, and steady your aim. If you feel as though your empty quiver leaves you quivering through life, allow the Lord to fill it with love and assurance. If you need deliverance from the enemy, know the ultimate hero is nearby and never misses. May this encourage and embolden you to live your life with a new aim of faith, hope, and love!

On Setting Goals

Today is January 7^th. Much has been written and said about New Year’s resolutions that even the very topic seems cliché. Still, the New Year provides a wonderful opportunity – a clean slate, if you will – for us to make the intentional choice to do things differently and make this our best year yet.

Honestly, I quit making New Year’s resolutions several years ago. More accurately, I made four resolutions that I knew had to be more than something I did at the start of a new year…they had to become part of what I did at the start of each and every new day. These were my four:

1. Daily Bible reading apart from sermon preparation;
2. Get in control of my health;
3. Get in control of my schedule;
4. Make sure my family knows they are a priority.

It did not take long for me to realize that these were not just New Year’s resolutions, but new day resolutions that require my regular focus and attention.

When I made those resolutions a couple years back, it dawned on me that what I wanted to change was innate behavior. This is probably true for the vast majority of people who make New Year’s resolutions. You likely have a temperament trait or two that you do not like and choose to use the clean slate of the New Year to change them. What happens more often than not, though, is a few days into the New Year, we lose our will power and revert to comfortable behavior patterns. So now that we are one week in to the New Year, how are you doing with your resolutions?

As the calendar changed to 2015 – perhaps like you – I reflected upon my resolutions, realizing that to make real lasting change, I still have to work and focus on these each and every day. Without daily attention, I slip back into old worn out ways of thinking and behaving that caused me to want to make changes in the first place. There are a few things I definitely want to accomplish at the start of this New Year. So to help me with my goals for 2015, I am using these five tips for goal setting that I want to share with you. May these tips help you achieve positive and lasting change, not just for this new year, but for each and every new day:

• Set a specific goal – know what you want to achieve as opposed to some nebulous thought

• Make it reasonable – know what you can do, but also be mindful of your limits
• Set a timeframe in which to achieve your goal – know when you want to achieve your goal; this will help you in times of weakness when you might want to stray. This can also help you create margin for times when you know you will need to deviate from your plan.
• Make it measurable so you know when you’ve reached it, along with some touch points along the way to help keep you motivated.
• Be accountable to others who can help keep you on track, or get you back on track before you get too far off course.

I hope that these tips might be helpful for you to set and achieve your goals for 2015. Whether they are changing unhealthy patterns, or maintaining healthy ones, these tips can help you achieve great things not just in this new year, but in each and every new day!

Happy New Year,

Pastor Mark

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me…
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which
God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 3:12-14, NIV)