I recently had a discussion with a congregational leader who was bemoaning the prevalence of sports in the lives of our church youth. The leader believed our youth should spend more time in church than on the field. It’s almost as if we must choose to be a Christian in the confines of an assembly building or not at all. My response is a close look at the scriptures. The truth is, Christ intended for his follower to be disciples and spread the gospel everywhere at all times. A practical Christian will:
1. Go into the world. To spread the gospel we must go.
2. Serve as Christ’s ambassador. Ambassadors serve in foreign lands
3. Go where our gift influences the most. Don’t compartmentalize your faith into church and world.
4. Use every gift from God. What ‘s your gift? Use it to spread the gospel.
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 (NLT)
I love this video and you’ve probably seen it many times. As you watch it again consider if our culture has changed our self-image and devalued the love we have for ourselves. If we don’t love ourselves how can we love our neighbor?
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Practical Christian application:
1. We have confidence in an eternal reward through Christ
2. It’s impossible for us to fully understand God’s will
3. God wants us to have patience, know that evil will not prevail, and to fully place our trust in Him
Last week we lost a 15 year old family member after a lengthy battle with cancer. Her struggle was featured in a post by her grandfather last month. As I prepared to officiate over her funeral I thought it was appropriate to share on this blog the comfort our family found through God.
Over and over family members and friends in the community asked how God could let something so terrible happen to someone so young. A close friend who had lost his wife in a tragic car accident years earlier had great counsel to me. Part of his word he took from a message Billy Graham delivered on the National Day of Prayer, September 14, 2001
I’ve been asked hundreds of times in my life why God allows tragedy and suffering. I have to confess that I really do not know the answer totally, even to my own satisfaction. I have to accept by faith that God is sovereign, and He’s a God of love and mercy and compassion in the midst of suffering. Full message here
Our family found great comfort in suffering knowing that God is a loving God even though we may not know why such tragic things happen. We choose to trust God.
Practical Christian application:
- Rejoice in your Christian birth
- Fix your eyes on Jesus and strive to steadily grow in him day by day
- Be zealous, but avoid the emotional highs (peaks) and corresponding lows (valleys)
- Don’t be embarrassed, but don’t be satisfied about where you are as a Christian,
- More mature Christians should be patient and gently lead newer Christians to maturity.
Early in my life I remember a friend of mine who was a recent Christian convert and “on fire” for the Lord. He was constantly chiding me for not being a more overt Christian. He was a cheerleader for Christ wearing the right symbols, saying the right words, carrying the right books and confronting others to hold them accountable. I was crushed a few years later when I saw video evidence of this same person in a one of the most un-Christian like situations.
This memory came back in full force recently while reading Chapter 7 “Emotion is Your Enemy” in the book Wooden on Leadership by the legendary basketball coach John Wooden. In the opening sentences of this chapter he describes the beautiful peaks and valleys of the Swiss Alps but explained peaks and valley belong in the Alps not in temperament.
