Your Bible Has Eyes!

"For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we realy are. Nothing in all creation can hide from him. Everything is nake and exposed before his eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done."
(from the Bible, Hebrews 4:12-13)

"I always feel like, somebody's watching me...and I have no privacy"
(from the song, "Somebody's Watching Me")

Give in today to your Bible's magnetic pull and read something from it.

IT'S ALIVE !

Mistaken Identity

“…for all of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:26-27)

Sometimes it’s fun to be considered something or someone that you’re not. While serving as a driver for Senator McCain's motorcade last week, I was mistaken on several occassions for secret service. As stated in a previous post, it was humorous to be perceived other than I actually was. And, when your own son is gets your identity wrong...that's really funny. I'll explain.

Once the drivers' photo-op with Senator McCain was done, three of us immediately followed a staffer out of the venue. We had to hurry up and get back to our vans...and wait. (The rhythm of the day). As we exited the Forum, we emerged quickly from behind the hedges onto the lawn, seemingly popping up to the public out of nowhere.

We were walking like blazes to our vans. Janis Creason (who was key to me having this opportunity), her daughter, Sandy, and my son, Jordan had found our vans, hoping to see us in action. (Jordan was a "Student-for-McCain" volunteer inside the Forum). Later, Janis told me that while they were waiting beside our vans, Jordan suddenly commented, “Senator McCain must be on his way because here come four secret service agents.” Janis got all excited, looking for the camera she forgot. Then my son said, “Oh...no he isn’t. That’s just my dad.”

As fun as it was to assume the mistaken identity of a secret service agent, there is, however, only one identity for whom I want to and should be mistaken: Jesus!

When I was baptized, I donned the "clothes of Christ." I stripped off my vices (Galatians 5:19-21) and put on Jesus' virtues (Galatians 5:22-23). So, what does that mean to me? In simplest terms it means that when people see me, they should mistake me for Jesus. Such a mistaken identity is a good thing. I can't think of anything more disappointing than hearing, "O look! Here comes Jesus! Oh, wait. No. It's just Todd."

If you've been baptized as a Christ-follower, let me encourage you to putting on the "clothes of Christ."

(Click here to listen to the message I shared with the folks at Devonshire. I think you'll be encouraged...and challenged).

Greater Than

"[Christ] must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less"

--(John the Baptist in John 3:30, NLT)

I was recently a part of a youth retreat at Ocean City, NJ. Eighteen students and 9 adults attended. I spoke 4 times on the theme, "Jesus Is Greater Than..." John the Baptist's life and words were the motivating message. My specific challenge was for everyone to commit to a life that makes Jesus famous.

So, following Saturday night's message, about a dozen students and adults came forward to commit something in their lives that they were making greater than Jesus. A relationship? Their iPod? Their Facebook or MySpace pages? Their career? Anything. The challenge just kept coming at them, "Who are you making famous with your life? Is it Jesus or you?"

I shared personally with them that my life has been a series of moments where I had to make Jesus greater than something in my life, i.e. my music, my relationships, my career, etc. I even shared that the purpose of this blog was to make Jesus famous. (That's why I have stopped blogging about my beloved Bengals...it just makes me too angry and negative when I think about their below-than mediocrity level to which they have sunk).

Well, the moments of their commitments were powerful as each student and/or adult came to the front of the room to physically turn a makeshift "greater-than" sign (>) that stood beside the hanging letters, J-E-S-U-S. With "lesser-than" pointing at "Jesus," each individual turned the sign so that "lesser-than" was aimed at them and "greater-than" was directed at J-E-S-U-S.

As a result of this retreat, I've heard students say that they needed to take a closer look at their Myspace & Facebook pages to make changes that will bring less attention to themselves and more on Jesus. Others are going to read a chapter a day from the Gospels and meet weekly to talk about what they are reading. Some were convicted about their movie/entertainment choices and are putting greater time into deciding if the movie is something that helps them honor God.

It was a great experience to be with Devonshire students. And we've got great adult-leaders who care about these students enough to join them publically in making Jesus greater than. Join me in praying for our students as they make the changes that God has prompted in them so that Jesus might become famous to those people around them.

Jesus Loves the Father More Than I Do

This confession may not be so shocking. In fact, you might be thinking, "duh!" But I had to admit it nonetheless.

Jesus does love the Father more than me. His words (and His example) tell me so: "I don't have much more time to talk to you [disciples], because the [devil] approaches. He has no power over me, but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father" (John 16:30-31).

To be honest, I'm usually motivated to obey God so that things will go well for me. Self-advancement, self-protection, self-promotion are my typical goals. But not so with Jesus. Obeying His Father meant self-denial, self-abasement, and self-destruction. Death would be the ultimate outcome for His obedience.

I believe that I'm called to become a mirror-image of Jesus. Every day that I live I am called to put aside my selfish ambition, shoulder my cross, and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). That means that every day gives me more and more opportunities to show the world how much I love God. Pray that I recognize and seize these moments. Pray that you will too.

How Are You Quenching Your God-Thirst?

I woke up last night to the sound of slurp, slurp, slurp.

This unusual, but recognizable sound belongs to my dog, Jazzmine. She was in our master bathroom drinking from the toilet...again. Her choice could only mean one thing. Her water dish was empty. It just amazes me that she would choose the water from a toilet. (It's this fact alone that makes Lisa scoff at the notion that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's). But, when Jazz is thirsty, she'll go anywhere to quench that thirst.

You know, I've been around long enough to see humans do the same thing; metaphorically, of course. I believe God has put in every human being a thirst-pocket that can only be quenched by Him and the righteousness of His Spirit. Yet, instead of seeking God to quench those life-thirsts, people choose to drink out of some unseemly places.

I've seen a frustrated husband drink out of the pornography-toilet instead of communicating and drawing closer to his wife. I've seen the lonely wife drink from the adultery-toilet instead of working things out with her husband. I've seen neighbors drink out of the gossip-toilet instead of showing compassion to parents who are hurting over their child's bad decision. I've seen insecure students drink from the alcohol and drug toilets instead of coming to terms with who God made them to be.

Jesus told us to "hunger and thirst for righteousness." Jesus is our righteousness. So, we are to hunger and thirst for Him. Anything else and it will be a disatisfying and disappointing slurp.

So, I guess the question today is: How are you quenching your God-thirst?

An Unlikely Prescription for Breaking My Spiritual Rut

The longest spiritual rut of my life has been broken! God did it with the most unlikely prescription...Diet Dr. Pepper.

If you've ever been in a spiritual slump, you know that your prayer life is stagnant. Worship is dry and stale. When you try to read the Bible, every page you turn feels like lifting 10,000 lbs, and every syllable sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher. No matter how creative or willful I tried to be, I just couldn't break the many-months-long slump.

But that all changed in May when I sensed God saying, “If you want to get out of your spiritual rut, you need to team up with Me and do something that will shock your system and disrupt your routine.” He had my attention. So, I listened for the usual, “Get up early, while it is still dark, and read the Bible and pray.” But, that’s not what I sensed God wanted. Instead, I got a directive to give up caffeine from June 1 to June 30.

God knew something that I would only realize later. Caffeine, my default thirst-quencher and energy-booster, had taken complete control of my system. I’d get awake in the morning with coffee by 7:00AM. By 10:00AM, I’d begin a day-long routine of cracking open cans of Diet Dr. Pepper. All this caffeine was making me thirstier and more tired. It was a vicious cycle that needed broken.

Traditionally, when you fast, you devote time to prayer. Usual mealtimes are your prayer-time prompts. I didn't quite understand how I was going to be reminded to draw near to God with a caffeine-fast. That's when the old Dr. Pepper slogan came to mind: Drink a bite to eat at 10, 2, and 4.

Here’s what that meant for me. During the month of June, instead of grabbing a Diet Dr. Pepper, I would open the Bible and read at 10, 2, and…you guessed it…4!

It worked. Stopping for fifteen minutes at 10, 2, and 4 to read portions of the Gospels was the prescription for my spiritual ills. I’m happy to say that the rut has been broken. All summerlong, I read the Gospels...three times through. The discipline and desire stayed with me.

I'm convinced the caffeine was symbolic for my actual spiritual thirst. I simply hadn't realized how “thirsty” I had become for God. As a result of doing something odd at God's prompting, He shocked my system, broke my slump, and helped me know Christ better.

So, if you are slumping, I encourage you to quit trying to break free on your own. Instead, ask God to suggest something that will completely shock your system. Cuz, if he asks you to do it, He'll give you the power to see it through.

An Epic Battle

Well, my softball season ended tonight. For the third straight year, Devonshire Church made it to the Championship Game of the Capital Area Church Softball League (CACSL). This year we came in as the "defending champs," having won it all in 2007.

In an epic three game battle (best of three series) we lost to a great team from CrossPoint Church. After winning 9-4 in the first game, the big bats from CrossPoint proved too much in the second game as they won by mercy rule (up by 10 runs after 5 innings). That brings us to the rubber game. We jumped out to a 2-0 lead. They quickly tied. Long story short, we were tied at the end of regulation (7 innings). In the top of the eighth, CrossPoint sent three runs across the plate. With our turn at bat, we had a chance with two out and two on but couldn't come up with the runs. CrossPoint is the 2008 CACSL Champs. Congratulations.

But here is the cool thing: we had a blast competing with the guys from CrossPoint. If you were watching our interactions you'd see us talking to each other; congratulating each other on great plays and hits; picking each other up when we got knocked down. Alot of times you get into these games and things get so competitive that relationships take the hit. Not in these games. The two teams simply played hard and enjoyed each other. High fives and hugs were shared after the game.

I like to think that our two teams made God happy tonight. We played all out, keeping in mind that even in competition we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength as well as love our neighbor as ourselves. If you observed our teams after the game, you saw men huddling together in their respective teams to pray and thank God for the opportunity to play the game regardless of the results.

The above picture is my favorite. It captures our devotion to God and to one another. I say it often to these guys, "I love playing with this team." Actually, we are more than a team. We are more than athletes. We are brothers in Christ and truly care about each other. With all this said, I can't wait until next year when we get a chance to grab that trophy back.