It’s easy to be a slave; it’s hard to be a Son.

I love talking circles in my head about the concept of freewill. If we have freewill, but God had our lives planned out before we were created, do we really? Questions like that are fun discussions with my friends but they really end at the same place they started. I don’t know. I do believe we have the freedom to choose whichever lifestyle we please, and every single choice we make is solely our own. But the key to being happy is finding what God would have us choose.

Ephesians 6:1-9 talks about the relationship between children and parents as well as the relationship between slaves and masters. Pay special attention to the difference in the commands for children and slaves. Children are asked to HONOR their father and mother while slaves are told to OBEY their masters. Which one of those things is harder to do?

Honor means to regard with respect. Obey means to do what you are told. I do not know about you, but just being told what to do is much easier than making a decision on my own that honors the one who gave me the right to make the decision. So many times we just want an answer, something clear cut that screams “GO DO THIS MY CHILD, ITS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO” because that would be easier than spending time loving and respecting our Father enough to know what will disappoint him and what will really make him proud.

Children are also told to obey their parents, because honor does not come naturally. I had to learn to obey my parents before I could honor them because I had to find out what they valued and what they thought to be trivial or ignorant. Honor is not something that happens immediately, it has to be developed through relationship and struggle. I did a lot of disobedient and stupid things when I was a little kid, but when I became a teenager, the mood shifted from disobedient to dishonor.

Our Middle Eastern and Eastern brethren have a much clearer idea of honor and shame than we do in America, and I think it would do us all well to learn something from them. Honor is paired with long-life (see Deuteronomy 5:16), especially to those who honor their father and mother.

My dad does not tell me what to wear every day, he didn’t tell me where to go to college, what sports to play (or not play), what girls to date (or run screaming away from), etc. because he gave me the freewill to do so. I am very grateful that I had my dad as the first glimpse of what God looked like and that he treated me like God would treat a son. It may be harder to be a son, but it is well worth the struggle and reward for pleasing my Father in Heaven.

Take this with you. You are a son or daughter of Christ. If you’re still new and learning, then obey God with all your heart. Do what he wants and find out what makes him click so you may honor him. If you know what honors your Father and what shames him, live accordingly in a way that honors him. And most importantly, if you have a son or daughter, remember this: You are their first perception of God. They worship you from the very beginning because you gave them life. Make sure your lives are pointing to the Father and your standards of honor and shame match up with His. 

Home is Where God Makes It

“In the beginning” has almost as magical a connotation as “Once upon a time” to me. I had a great conversation with a great friend and brother in Christ tonight about Genesis 1 and 2. It was most definitely inspired by God and it would be a shame not to share about it. The two questions he asked me were this:

Are they two different stories, or the continuation of the same story?
If so, how does that change the way you read Genesis 1 and Genesis 2?

Here are the links, go check ‘em out.

Genesis 1: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1&version=NIV
Genesis 2: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+2&version=NIV

Here are my answers.

Yes the chapters are the same story, but Genesis 2 is a more specific story to man, and Genesis 1 is a broad creation of the whole world. It’s like God created the heavens and the earth, but he spent a little extra time thinking and deciding and making absolutely beautiful the place to create man. God created the world, but God really created Eden just for Adam and Eve. It was the perfect place for his most perfect creation.

This really changes the way I’ve thought of these passages because it made it so much more personal to me. A lot of who I have become is because of the place God created specifically for me to grow up. Paradise, Texas was created in 1989 just for me to live there and grow up. ACU was designed to my specifications by my Creator so that I might grow in His image. Eden was his great first example of what he has done for all of us.

I know sometimes things like this spark lengthy and needless debate on creation vs. evolution and all that kind of mess, but I looked at it different this time. Up until yesterday evening, I had no idea where I was going to live come August. Plans changed and things arose that left me homeless. But I wasn’t worried because I knew God would provide. And he did, I now have somewhere to live and it opened my eyes to this revelation. He has been designing all the places he has taken me to be exactly what I needed, just like he did for Adam in the garden.

Home is where God made it. He took special time and deep thought in designing the perfect place for you, just for you. What kind of love and personal attention is that?! How awesome is our God?!

Special thanks to Tyler Sheppard for the inspiration and conversation. Love you brother!

I Get Rewarded for Doing Right, Right?

I just graduated from college, major life accomplishment, and for some reason I feel that sense of accomplishment, but not like I did anything extraordinary? I thought I was wrong for this at first. 38% of people in the United States 25 and older have some sort of degree (US Census Bureau), and on top of that I finished it in four years. This is for some strange reason an oddity? Doing what I am supposed to do and what I was raised to do is all I did, so what is the big to do about it?

Most of the cards I got told me how proud people are of me and the whole stereotypical congratulations and all that, but one card humbled me yet again (like this person has taught me so well to do)and reminded me of the real perspective on my situation. Here is what the card said:

Way to do what you were expected to do… we sure didn’t expect you to quit or anything.

This may seem rude or offensive to most people, especially at first glance, but knowing the man it came from it was a great compliment and yet another of the many teaching moments I gave. Being rewarded for doing what is right and doing what is expected of you is an easy trap to fall into, especially when so many people around you aren’t doing their share. The first part of Galatians 6 talks about bearing one another’s burdens and carrying your own load. We are quick to let someone else take care of us, but so many get so caught up in that half of the scripture; they forget to pull their own weight. Doing what is right doesn’t deserve some sort of special recognition or reward because doing what is right is what we are supposed to do. Check out Chapter 6!

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+6&version=NIV

I recently had an interesting conversation with two of the football coaches at ACU about this sort of thing. One was wondering why we didn’t reward the defense for everyone executing a play perfectly, but we punished them if one of them did it wrong. We came to the conclusion that we didn’t want to sell them short giving them rewards for doing what they are supposed to do because we have a higher standard of expectations for that. But it is hard to keep a standard that high and keep the morale of a team high as well. People are so easily discouraged.

I am not going to pretend like I know anything about the military or what sort of sacrifice it takes, but all most of those guys do is what they are expected to do. The Congressional Medal of Honor is not awarded to everyone that follows orders; it’s just for those proud few heroes that go above and beyond the call of duty. Answering the call of duty, while laudable and deserving of congratulations to some, is just another day of doing what one is expected to do for a person in the military. They expect no praise and reward and special treatment because of it, they understand the highest standard to which they hold fast.

From what I’ve seen or read, we don’t deserve to be rewarded for doing what is right, but people really do catch some crap for it. Ask Moses, or Abraham, Joseph or Amos, Jeremiah, Stephen, Paul, Jesus. And if you really want to hear a story, ask Job about it. All of those men did nothing more than what God expected of them, and they all suffered mightily for it. Some reward for doing what is right? Look further into history and the same story rings true: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas Gandhi, Viktor Frankl, Miep Gies, the list goes on forever. All of these people were so deeply convicted of what is right and so committed to doing it, they didn’t care what repercussions and suffering they had to go through to attain it, much less ever think once about some great award that would be given to them or named after them some day.

Dig around on this. Think about it. I may be wrong and I want to know if I am. But until then remember these two things:

1. God saved you from eternity in hell, the least you can do is what He and what your family expects you to do and to do what is right. Don’t do anything for the glory and fame you may see from it.
2. Next time you’re ridiculed for doing what is right; join ranks with all of those heroes I mentioned above and thank God for it instead of whining about it.

Humble pie is delicious. And sweetest when served soon after a feast of a life accomplishment.

I Deserve Happiness

Selfishness is the nastiest disease known to the human condition. We are born with it, we live our whole lives battling it, and we die never having conquered it. For some reason our nature has us convinced that if we look out for what’s best for ourselves, then we will have everything we need and we’ll be happy. Of course the opposite is right and it is also true. Selflessness is the key to true happiness, just ask Jesus.

The most blatant and believable lie our selfishness tells us is that we deserve happiness, right here and right now. And not that deep contentment that everything is going to be alright happiness, but that everything should go right and I shouldn’t have to hurt or feel pain happiness. Last time I checked, the only thing I deserve is to spend eternity in hell. Nobody is holy enough to deserve to always be happy. How mediocre would heaven feel if we never felt pain and suffering here on Earth. There is a reason we aren’t happy here, we weren’t created to be here forever! Praise God we weren’t! The more time I spend here, the less like home it feels, and the more thankful I am for it.

Many characters throughout the Bible knew happiness wasn’t the most important thing. Qoheleth teaches in Ecclesiastes that happiness is a chasing after the wind just like anything else. Fearing God and keeping his commandments are the two most important things and our only purpose in life. Job also understood his happiness was second best to what God desired. Joseph spent three years in prison innocent, but never lost his faith. Paul and Silas sang God’s praises from prison. Jesus came down from heaven and emptied himself as a man and walked among us for crying out loud! (Philippians 2).

I dare you to dig around and find a sin that does not take root in selfishness. It can’t be done. And putting the desires of our heart and our happiness ahead of pleasing God and serving others is sinful. It is not right. I am not saying mope around and be sad all the time at all, just don’t think of happiness as your birthright. It’s a privilege to be enjoyed on occasion just like pain.

Finals are coming, as well as summer. The grind of school is almost over and it will be a lot easier to have time to focus on serving others because there will be less obligation and stress. Instead of focusing on what I can we can do or buy or who we can date or what do I need, try instead to just make someone else smile. That is when we are at our happiest.

I do not deserve to be happy, but I thank God for every second of happiness he blessed me with. Every one of them is just a small sampling of the grandeur of heaven and how great it will be!

You Can't Win 'Em All

Every time I’ve lost a game, my dad has always at some point in the postgame conversation said, “Well, you can’t win ‘em all.” As most short words of wisdom he has shared with me (as is his style, concise and to the point, but profound usually) I disagreed with it and didn’t like it at first. But the more life experience I gain, the more I see that it is true, and the more I see that you’re not supposed to “Win ‘em All”. I watched 18 basketball games this weekend, at the end of the tournament there were 6 champions, and 18 teams who lost, the last 18 of the hundreds of schools who “didn’t win it all.” Thousands of athletes did not get to feel their ultimate goal come to fruition.

So what is the point of me being a coach? A teacher? A Christian? I have been student teaching for several weeks now with a challenging bunch of students. Some of them I am not going to be able to win over. Odds are stacked strongly against me that only a handful of them will even graduate. So why try? Why, with that much failure rate, try and teach these kids about life, much less mathematics. Another realization I have come to is that you can never make anyone do anything, it is their choice. And when it comes right down to it these kids have to decide whether or not they want to succeed or fail. Not just in my classroom, but in general.

I’ve been flipping through pages of my Bible and I can’t find anywhere in it a place that Jesus forced his will upon another? Things like “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone” and “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me” and “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The world’s greatest teacher, the world’s greatest coach never ruled with an iron fist. He simply lived and said this is the best way, this is THE way, and the choice is yours whether or not to follow me. And because of that approach combined with living the best way, he has more followers than any other single human that ever lived. Jesus didn’t focus on the failure of the many, though he did his best to reach out to each and every one, he just did everything he could to save as many as he could, and that is all he asked out of any of us.

John Wooden, the greatest coach of all time in any sport, never had an iron will either. He just asked that players do things the right way, and they were free to play for someone else if they didn’t want to. Gandhi didn’t become one of the most influential people in the history of the world with demands, but by example and making simple choices. By contrast the most infamous and awful people in history were the ones who tried to force what they believed was “right” upon people. Their names will not get recognition here, but they failed to say the least.

I used to want to coach with an iron fist. I used to want to teach with such charisma and power that the students had no choice but to learn from almighty me. While I may “win ‘em all” over for that point and time in my classroom, there is no way I can make a lasting impact on a student’s life in a positive way with that attitude. The only way to teach, the only way to coach, the only way to live is to do it like Jesus did. Check out Philippians 2:1-11, it spells it out perfectly.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%202:1-11&version=NIV

Not every student you teach will pass. Not every child you mentor will reach their full potential. You may never coach a team that wins a championship. You will not have a perfect marriage. You might not even find the perfect spouse. You will not raise perfect children. Your career will not always be successful. Your government will never get itself together. And you most definitely not convert every person on this earth to walk as Jesus did. You can’t win ‘em all.

But you can win some. Some of your students’ lives will be changed forever. Some of your players will buy into your philosophy. Some of you will win championships. Someone will be led to Christ because of something you did for somebody sometime. It’s not about winning ‘em all. It’s about making the choice to try your best to reach your potential and help as many others to reach it as possible. Do not worry about changing someone else. That is there decision. Just do everything you can to give them every opportunity to do it. Then you have won.

Does God Change His Mind?

God was furious, the world was evil and he regretted ever making human beings. Genesis 6 is a dark time in the world and it is looking bleak for mankind and God’s plan. But something seems to change his mind? He sees Noah and his righteousness and his anger against all people subsides and it changes to most people. Fast forward to Genesis 18 and God again is ready to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, but Abraham tries his best and gets God to reconsider several times before totally destroying the cities. In the very next chapter Lot pleads with some angels to change his relocation place from the mountains to a nearby city, and they agree.

Go check out these stories, put together by John Piper, and ask yourself. Does my God change his mind? Read what he has to say. He is a much wiser man than me and I give him all credit for this research. Click on the link below the stories.

Hezekiah: Isaiah 38:1-5
Jonah and the Ninevites: Jonah 3
Turning from Evil: Jeremiah 18:7-8
God Repenting?: I Samuel 15:28-29, Genesis 6:5-6
Perhaps?: Jeremiah 26:1-3
Wrong Guess: Jeremiah 3:6-7
Abraham’s Almost Sacrifice: Genesis 22:9-12
Which of God’s Signs Are Convincing?: Exodus 4:7-9
http://www.ondoctrine.com/2pip1201.htm

Chew on it for a while. Does God change His mind? Piper masterfully crafted his argument to explain each situation. I don’t know much about the Boyd text he is contrasting, so that would be a good google tool too. I think that God will do whatever it takes to reveal his plan for our lives, even if it means giving us the perception that He doesn’t know what will happen next. I think we work with God and the deepest desires of our heart to shape the days of our lives and live them as selfless and happy as we can be and as benefitting to the kingdom for God we can be. I have struggled mightily in the last year with God seeming to completely change the course of my whole life, but in reality it seems like He was just better preparing me for what I knew to be true in my heart all along.

The whole trick of the deal is consistent and constant intimate communication with the Father. David had it down. Jesus knew it well. If we are constantly seeking and communicating with God, he is giving is signs and working with the plans we have for ourselves to make us the mightiest warriors we can be. I think if we are still looking to see if God changes His mind, we are missing the point. Sprint after the deepest longings of your heart and you and God will shape your life into the best it can be, wherever the train tracks take you.