Balance and Wholeness

I have had multiple people pray over me and tell me that I am a very balanced person. I have also heard others say that no where in the Bible did it say that Jesus was balanced. Their argument is that Jesus wasn't a little about serving the poor. He wasn't just a little bit about prayer. And he doesn't call us to be that either.

I would have to agree. However, since when was balance about being just a little bit about something. When I read the gospels, Jesus was all about prayer. He was all about the Kingdom. He was 100 Percent about poor and fully about his fathers business. He was balanced in the sense that he cared about these things equally and he calls us to the same standard. Perhaps balance isn't the vest word. Maybe wholeness fits better and is easier to grasp. Jesus was wholly about each one of these things.

As he calls us to wholeness, be have to examine how Jesus lived this "whole" life. First, each thing that Jesus was about was empowered by one another. Jesus didn't see prayer as one part of his spirituality and serving the poor as another part. They were married together. It was all one for him. The umbrella for all this was that He was all about his fathers business. Whatever He saw his father doing, Jesus did. That is how we should be. We should be "wholly" about our fathers business.

Social Justice and the Church

Social Justice is becoming quite the buzzword in Christian circles and churches today. We invite guest speakers in to talk about issues such and child soldiers, poverty, abuse and human trafficking. There has been a rise in NGO's (religious and non-religious) to combat these problems. People are choosing churches based on the social justice programs that it has and people are starting to come to church because of their support for these things.

First, I want to say that I am all for it. If anything the church needs to step up in a bigger way on these issues (And they are starting to). Micah and Isaiah talk about it in the Old Testament. Jesus, Paul, James, Peter all mention it in the New Testament. I love hearing people talk about their heart for the widows, orphans, homeless, oppressed and tormented. I want to ask a question though. Is our focus on Christ? What I mean is this:

Are we rescuing these people from their situations, but failing to give them something Eternal?

Now I am not suggesting that we force Jesus on people or cram a Bible down their throat. The decision has to be theirs and theirs alone, but are we making it clear that He is the driving force in our lives? Are we communicating that he is our everything and our savior both for now and eternity? The founder of Gospel for Asia makes the statement that we have given them relief, hospitals, water and food, but they have died and gone to hell. That is not the result that we are looking for, but the reality is true. If someone is delivered from their present situation but their eternal destination remains unchanged, we have done a disservice in the long run.

My prayer is that you will take this situation before God and wrestle with it with Him. We need both. We are not called to bring them life that starts in eternity alone, but neither are we called to give them life now without inviting them into eternity.

Invest Deeply

For my first blog post I wanted to start with something that has been on my heart a lot and I want to do a better job at. Many of the people around me have done a very good job at it, even if it hasn't been at the forefront of their mind. Its two words, but for the last fews months they have been very profound. Here it is:

Invest Deeply

We have heard the phrase, "you will get out it whatever you put into." The reality of it though has been rocking my life. Am I living with the intentionality on putting something significant into everything we do, especially relationships.

Invest Deeply with God

Invest Deeply with Family

Invest Deeply with Friends

Invest Deeply in Learning

Invest Deeply in you Dreams

I look at the people I admire in their walk with God and used to wonder what is missing in my walk that they have. Are they better at not sinning? No. Were they blessed with a gift to walk with Him that I wasn't? No. Are they more spiritual and less practical? No. It was the simple fact that they invested deeply into in the God that stole their hearts. It wasn't sheer discipline either. Mike Bickle once said that "Lovers outwork workers everytime."

Friends, in everything, Invest Deeply. The Bible says it this way, "What ever you do, work at it with all you heart..." Col 3:23

Thanks