Saturday, January 28, 2012

A DISCIPLE HAS RELATIONSHIP PRIORITIES


“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”
(Luke 14:26)

My wife, Deb, and I had just scheduled a date to see downtown Denver when the phone rang. It was a friend of mine who needed my help in Colorado Springs. I promptly canceled the date with Deb and headed down the road. WHAT?! You canceled a date with your wife?! It seems outrageous until you know the circumstances. All of us experience tensions with relationships. Who gets priority – family, friends, co-workers, the boss, a stranger? As you already know, it’s not as easy as “focusing on the family”. That’s why I let one relationship govern the rest. When I put Jesus first, His principles instruct and guide me in all my relationships. And in case you’re wondering, we date often (even as a married couple) and Deb has the same relationship priorities that I do.

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

A DISCIPLE IS NOT OWNED BY POSSESSIONS


“So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”
(Luke 14:33)

The luxury car commercial boldly statedThis is the first car that will own you.” Although people have been owned by their cars since they were invented, the announcer was expressing a startling truth: possessions can possess us. How many times have we come to realize that our car, house, clothing, or other stuff was dictating where we spent our time, money, and affection? It’s startling, isn’t it? Jesus warns us against such dangers. He knows that we could actually go as far as making our possessions an idol – an object of worship. Here are some simple test questions to see where we stand with our possessions. What things am I unwilling to share with others? What things get in the way of spending time in prayer or the Word? When is the last time I gave something of great value to someone in need? How much time do I spend maintaining my things? Do those things take priority over people?

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Thursday, January 19, 2012

A DISCIPLE IS SALTY


“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
(Matthew 5:13)

“Your blood pressure is too low. When you feel dizzy, just eat a bag of chips.” Not exactly the advice you would expect from your cardiologist, but hey – it was the silver lining in my dark little diet. His recommendation had nothing to do with eating potatoes. It had everything to do with the salt. The sodium raises your blood pressure back to a normal range. Can you imagine what potato chips without salt would taste like? I’m not sure I’d be so excited about following my Doc’s instructions. Jesus wants us to be salty – not too much, but to have the kind of flavor that causes people to want more. We are to be seasoned in such a way that we make people thirsty for the Living Water in us. But if we have no spiritual salt in us, then it’s like eating a bag of saltless potato chips – nasty. Be salty!

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Monday, January 16, 2012

A DISCIPLE IS DYING TO LIVE


“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
(Luke 14:27)

An old Green Beret was explaining their attitude toward the possibility of death during the Vietnam War. He told me the way they were able to operate so efficiently in some very dangerous situations was to count themselves dead already. They saw themselves as dead to their futures, families, and fame. They had only one driving value – complete the mission. In a real sense, this is the same attitude we need to adopt in our relationship with Christ. He calls us to place our lives on the cross, an instrument of death. Like the Green Beret, we also die to our futures, families, and fame. We die to all except one compelling value – Him! We are to love, serve, glorify, and become like Him. But there's a big difference between the follower of Jesus and those who are fighting this world’s wars. The disciple’s death leads to eternal life, abundant life, real life. This is the way of true discipleship – we die to live!

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Sunday, January 08, 2012

A DISCIPLE IS A REFLECTION OF THE LIGHT


Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12)


I did a lot of “hiking” at night when I was in the Army. We didn’t normally use lights, so it was great when the moon gave us a little illumination -- the fuller the better. But there where nights when the moon did us absolutely no good. The earth was blocking the sun and the moon was completely blacked out. We were left to grope around in total darkness. We all know why: the moon has no light of its own. It merely reflects the light of the sun. This parallel is so true for those of us who follow Christ. The disciple has no light of his own to shine in this world. And the more the world gets between us and Jesus, the less the Savior’s light can be reflected. But when there’s nothing between us and the Son, man oh man, does that light shine! Of course it’s not physical light that we're reflecting, but spiritual light. The attributes of God Himself are being reflected in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We look like the Son to a dark, dark world. Reflecting with you!

I'll be off the net for about a week. Back to blogging then!

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Friday, January 06, 2012

A DISCIPLE IS A LIGHT


“You are the light of the world.”
(Matthew 5:14)

I was holding a flashlight for my dad as we worked under the car. As my mind would drift to other things, so would the light. My father had to remind me to shine the light on the spot where he was working. Jesus reminds us that this is exactly what we should be doing as His disciples. Our spiritual job description is to illuminate where the Father is working. As we live our lives and do the good work of His Kingdom, it should be obvious to the people around us Who God is and what He's doing. The light that we shed is meant to illuminate Him and His glory. But just as I did with my earthly dad, we may also do with our Heavenly Father. We can get distracted and begin to shine the light on ourselves, pet doctrines, worldly philosophies, or even other people. It takes a certain kind of spiritual concentration and the power of the Holy Spirit to stay focused and to keep the light squarely pointed at His Kingdom. Let your light shine…in the right direction!

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Thursday, January 05, 2012

WHAT DO DISCIPLES DO ON REALLY BAD DAYS?


I’d like to take a break from my series “Reflections on the Great Commission” and share an excerpt from a prayer letter I recently received. Josh and Mandy Brown are missionaries ministering in a cross-cultural setting in Detroit, Michigan. In the letter Mandy describes a situation and response that’s worth being reminded of as disciple of Jesus. Let’s let her example sink deep into our minds, hearts, and actions.

“I came back to Michigan on December 26th to return to work while Josh has remained in WA with his dad and brother to continue grieving the loss of Diane. By the time I got home it seemed that anything that could be wrong was. I got a pretty bad cold, our heater was broken, my luggage was lost on the flight back, most of our friends were out of town, and Josh’s car was stolen & completely destroyed and our insurance won’t cover any of it, and my first nights back to work were miserable!

All I wanted was for Josh to be home to fix everything. I quickly became bitter with him for not being here to take care of his poor, pitiful, pregnant wife and allowed the frustration to continue to grow over the next couple of days. Thankfully in one of my quiet times our great God spoke to me with a strong rebuke…

Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." – Jeremiah 17:5-8

God revealed to me that the root of my anger and frustration was that I had been putting my hope and trust in my husband rather than in my God! I longed for a sense of security and protection but I was looking in the wrong place. God showed me that HE allowed all of this to happen, especially when Josh wasn’t home, so that I could really learn to trust in HIM rather than the strength of man!”

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Wednesday, January 04, 2012

BEING JESUS AS THE BODY


For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12)

A young disciple asked me an excellent question: “Is the Great Commission an individual or corporate responsibility?” To which I answered, “Yes”! None of us has all the gifts and abilities needed to thoroughly disciple others. That’s why we are to function as the Body of Christ. Together, we become like Jesus in the fullest sense and can disciple others more effectively. That’s one of our primary tasks as the “
Ekklesia” (the assembly, the church). I have benefited tremendously, both in being discipled and in making disciples in the context of the Body. I call it "discipleship by the village". But the assembly must understand that this is one of their chief functions before God. Are you assembling with those who have a vision for the Great Commission and are they able to train and empower others for the sake of making disciples corporately? It works a lot better together!

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Tuesday, January 03, 2012

BEFORE YOU SWING TOO FAR


“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”
(John 14:12)

“Well, He was God!” is a common response by some of the guys I encourage to be like Jesus. As I’ve mentioned before, there are certainly things that we'll never be able to imitate. But before we let the pendulum swing too far the other way, we need to take a harder look at the works we can imitate and the things we can’t. Miracles seem to be one of the bigger areas we dismiss immediately as “God’s department”. But we see several cases where others raised the dead, healed the lame, gave sight to the blind (all in His power, of course). But what about developing people? Can we be expected to teach the masses, train up laborers for the harvest, and invest in the next generation of spiritual leadership? It's certainly possible! And considering our great commission to reach the world for Christ, shouldn’t we at least try?

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Sunday, January 01, 2012

A DISCIPLE IS COMMITTED


But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)

As the legend goes, the Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez set sail for Mexico on a mission. Once safely ashore, he had some of his men return to the ships and burned them. There was no returning to Spain until the mission was accomplished. The requirement of this level of commitment for the disciple of Jesus is no mere myth. For the disciple, it's all of Jesus or nothing. There's no “Plan B.” When Jesus called His first disciples, they were fishing. Upon hearing the call, they left their business, their families, and probably their reputations to follow the Rabbi. What kind of leader demands such allegiance? A Leader Who knows Who He is and what’s at stake. He is the King Who holds our very eternity in His hands. He also knows the consequences of ignoring such a call. He invites us to be all in for Him and His Kingdom or not at all. (Revelation 3.15-16)

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