Take off the bib.

"Take off the bib." I ran across this quote while reading the book entitled, "Move" by Hawkins and Parkinson. The premise of the book centers around the lack of spiritual growth that occurs within the church. What's interesting is that this lack of spiritual growth doesn't find its' epicenter in the new believer or even those who attend and are just exploring Christ. The crux of the stagnated and stalled spiritual growth is provided by those tenured saints who populate the pews faithfully and make up the core of the church committees. That's right, a tremendous lack of spiritual growth is occurring in those that attend church regularly and have even made church a priority in their lives.

What we've known all along but are perhaps are just now re-discovering, is that just because someone attends church and even serves in the church doesn't mean they are growing spiritually. You see too often we associate the wrong things with spiritual growth.

• Attendance doesn't equal growth.
• Serving doesn't equal growth.
• Giving doesn't equal growth.
• Leadership doesn't equal growth.

Why are we quick to serve, but not as quick to open the Word for private study? Why are we quick to voice a prayer in the public setting but not as quick to whisper a prayer for the stranger on the street corner? Why are we quick to lead when we haven't really developed ourselves as followers? Why are we still struggling with the same secret sin that we've been dealing with for 10 or even 15 years? Why have we not yet committed ourselves to an accountable relationship? Why have we not yet joined a small group and immersed ourselves in those relationships? Why have we settled for the belief that spiritual growth equals attendance at a church service once a week? 

Jesus makes clear that growing up in Him is more than a weekly commitment. In Luke 9:23 He says that it requires a daily sacrifice. Why are we still wearing a bib?

Snow Piles

I admit it: I'm a people watcher. I love just watching people travel to and fro from stores, walking at the malls, or just walking down the street. Today, during my lunch hour, I dropped through the drive thru and parked in the parking lot of the local grocery store to enjoy my lunch and participate in a little people watching.

While wrapping up my chicken sandwich and preparing to tackle my chili with hot sauce, I noticed these huge piles of snow that were deposited all across the parking lot. With all of the snow that we've had in the area, snow plows have no where to go with the snow other than to mound it up in huge piles all across the parking lots. It's like someone deposited little white mountains all over the city.

What's interesting to me about these piles of snow is that they seem to last forever. Even with the slow onset of warmer weather, these piles of snow seem to be unaffected. They take absolutely forever to melt largely because they keep themselves cold. There is so much snow piled on top of other snow that the inner core of that pile remains below freezing long after the surrounding temperature has risen.

Those piles of snow reminded me of the risk that you and I run. We have a way of surrounding ourselves with people that keep us "below freezing" for as long as possible.

If we tend to be pessimistic, we surround ourselves with others who are also pessimistic.
If we tend to be a gossip, we surround ourselves with other gossips.
If we are negative and whiny people, then that's who we gravitate towards.

The Bible gives us some pretty clear instruction on this idea in Proverbs 13:20 and 1 Corinthians 15:33.

What if, in an effort to really honor God with our lives we "unpiled" ourselves from those that were keeping us wrapped up in sin. If we find ourselves in a pile of negativity, gossip or whatever, let's choose to spread ourselves out and let the Son melt us down.

Have we really outsmarted the Creator?

With the recent debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye many have been giving more thought to all things "Creation" oriented. Questions such as, "How do science and the Bible mesh?", "Shouldn't we be thankful to God for science?" and my personal favorite, "Can't we love and appreciate both God and science?"

Social media has been littered with comments, personal analysis and private theologies now made public for the world to see. Allow me to couch this entire concept and each of the above questions in a phrase that all Christ followers would do well to remember: God Created Everything!

Check out what Colossians 1:16 says.

That's all things. Everything. All of it. You, me, them, us, that, this, things above, things below, things seen, things unseen, everything that is and ever will be or ever has been was and is and will be created by God. Period! And that includes science. Yes, God made science.

If you look up the definition of the word science you get this.

1. a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws.
2. systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.
3. any of the branches of natural or physical science.
4. systematized knowledge in general.
5. knowledge, as of facts or principles; knowledge gained by systematic study.

According to this definition "Science" is just our human interpretation of what God created. Science isn't adding to God's creation. You see we've confused "science" for something that it isn't.

• Cancer research & treatment
• Heart valve replacement
• Men on the moon
• Cell phone technology
• Brain surgery

The research of those human genomes to help isolate cancer cells are genomes that God created. The replacement of a heart valve is done by the hands of a doctor that God knit together in the womb. The understanding of how to allow a cell phone signal to communicate with a satellite in space and then transfer halfway around the world in a split second while making a phone call is done with the brain power that God gave us as humans.

These are all things that we say, "Science" is responsible for. Friends, science is nothing more than our human attempt to fully understand the complex world and bodies that God gave us at Creation. 

As a result of our misconceptions about what science really is, we say things like, "Can't science and God both exist" or "I am thankful for science because without it...". 

When we say these types of things, what we're really saying is that somehow, science is outside of God. Are we really suggesting that we as the created have outsmarted the Creator?

Slow Leaks (Part #2)

So here's the good news about this whole idea of slow leaks: Jesus has more than just a little experience in dealing with slow leaks in the lives of His followers.  In fact it was one of Jesus’ closest followers that became the epitome of what a slow leak looked like in the life a follower of Jesus Christ.  Check out this passage...

Luke 22:31-32 says...

So here’s Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ closest followers.  Even from the twelve that Jesus did life with, Jesus seemed to have three, Peter, James and John that He interacted with at a different level.  Now to be fair, I don’t think you could have been a disciple and not had an amazing connection with Jesus but Peter’s connection must have been so much more amazing.  But in these verses above, it sounds like Jesus is alluding to some sort of defect with Peter, it’s as if Jesus was already aware of a leak in Peter’s life.  This must have made zero sense to Peter.  I mean after all, Peter absolutely loved Jesus. 

Think for a minute about Peter’s calling as a follower of Jesus.  He’s been fishing all night long, they’re wrapping up for the day, they’re washing the nets out, they’re exhausted and all they’re thinking about is going home.  And here comes this stranger who gets into his boat and says, “Why don’t you drop those nets one more time?”  Are you kidding me?  Who is this guy?  But for whatever reason, Peter obliges Jesus.

• Had Peter been a little more than casually interested as Jesus was teaching there on the beach?  
• Had Jesus’ reputation preceded Him?  
• Had word of the coming Messiah been spreading around the fishing industry?  

For whatever reason, Peter agrees and drops the nets one more time and hauls up a net busting catch of fish.  So many in fact that the other boats have to come over and help haul in the load.  

Can you imagine leaving everything you know, everything you’ve come to depend on for your livelihood, can you imagine walking away from all of that to follow a guy that seemed, at least at this point to deliver on what He promised but in fairness, made some pretty outrageous claims? 

It’s important as we think about these slow leaks in our lives to understand just how radical Peter’s decision to follow Jesus really was.  He wasn’t a casual on-looker to the ministry of Jesus.  

• He jumped in at the ground level.  
• He bought stock in the company.  
• Peter was in it to win it with Jesus.  
• He bet the farm on the claims of Jesus.  
• He pushed all his chips to the middle of the table. 

But for some reason, all of that passion and commitment and excitement slowly leaked from Peter's life and ended with Jesus saying, “Peter, before the rooster crows you will have denied three times that you even know me.”  

Can you imagine Peter’s shock at Jesus’ statement?  I wonder if there wasn’t a little indignation or resentment or frustration on Peter’s part after Jesus makes this comment.  I mean, Peter might have been thinking, “I left everything for you”, “I walked away from my own business to follow you around the countryside and do anything and everything you’ve asked me to do”. And now you’re telling me that I’m going to deny that I even know you.”  Peter was convinced that he could hang in there no matter what happened.  

Peter was confident...in himself.

God maps out pretty clearly that we have absolutely nothing to boast about except for the fact that we know Him.  Peter boasted that he would stay true to Jesus and even die for Him. But his boast came from personal pride and confidence, not spiritual power and boldness.

Listen to the words from Jeremiah 9:24...

I wonder how often we live in the confidence of our ability to stay true to the things of God?  We see stories of people falling into moral failure or people who experience major spiritual blow outs in their lives and we think:

• How can people do that, that would never happen to me.  
• How can she leave her husband, I’d never.
• How can they be so addicted to alcohol, I’d never.
• How can that person completely cash in the chips on their relationship with Jesus, I’d never do that.  

In our effort to stay true to the calling that God has placed on our lives we place the weight of our relationship with God on our shoulders alone. 

Hear this and believe it: “Our shoulders simply aren’t strong enough.”  

Peter has this idea that he was somehow above the possibility of spiritual blowout in his life, and by focusing all of his energy on avoiding the blowout, he missed the leak.

God calls us to stay humble.  He calls us to put all of our trust in Him and realize that without Him, we’re leaky people.

Slow Leaks (Part #1)

Several years ago my entire family took a weekend to visit to Michigan to visit family. Picture a caravan of vehicles each representing different families, my parents and each of my two brother's families, four cars in all.  We had a great weekend of seeing family and sight-seeing but on the way home, a mini disaster struck. Just as we were merging onto I-75 for the straight shot back home, the front driver’s side tire of the van we were driving blew. 

If you've ever had this type of experience, you know that moment of terror that strikes you. I didn’t know if a bomb had gone off or if my engine had just blown up, I didn’t know what happened.  Almost immediately the car lunges to the side, and I realize, we blew a tire.  

A blown tire at 60 or 65 mph has the potential to turn bad in a quick way.  Blown tires can quickly lead to some serious situations. But I got to thinking, even in the midst of the bad, there's a glaring positive with a blown tire and that is, you always know when a tire’s blown.  

There’s never any question.  You’re never driving down the road, hear an explosion, as the car lunges off to one side, followed by the unmistakeable, "thump, thump, thump, thump" and wonder, "I wonder what that was?"  You never mistake a blown tire for being out of windshield wiper fluid. You never mistake a blown tire for a busted tail light.   You always know when you’ve blown a tire.  

I mean think about a blown tire as compared to a slow leaky tire.  Just recently Sarah and I had a slow leak in one of our car tires.  This thing absolutely sucked the life right out of me.  There would be days, even weeks where this thing would be totally fine.  I’d pump it up and nothing, no problems at all.  It would only leak, and this is not an exageration, on the days that I was in a hurry or it was super cold out.  That’s it, it would be totally fine otherwise.  

If you think about it, slow leaks are always harder to catch.  They're harder to catch, they're more difficult to perceive because they happen so slowly.  As I think about the ups and downs of my spiritual life, I realize it’s a lot like my driving record.  I kind of feel like I’ve never totaled my life.  I’m certainly not perfect but just like I’ve been a pretty good driver, I’ve been a pretty good, “spiritual driver”.  I mean I’ve certainly hit my fair share of “mailboxes”.  I’ve had more than a few “fender benders” spiritually speaking, but I can honestly say, “I think I’ve done okay.”  I’ve managed through the grace and forgiveness of God to at least keep the car of my life on the road.  

I often wonder if at times I’m too focused on avoiding the major accidents, I wonder if I’m too focused on avoiding the major blow outs that I miss all of the slow leaks.  Slow leaks are always harder to catch and I sometimes think that I’m missing some. 

Think about your own life...

Maybe it’s the occasional secret sin that’s developed into more of a lifestyle.

Maybe it's the increasing lack of patience with your spouse or kids.

Maybe it's the compromising stances that you've taken at work or at school.

These aren’t blowouts, this is just the reality of our busy lives.

These aren’t blowouts, this is just you and I trying to pay the bills or get a passing grade in that class.  

These aren’t blowouts, this is just you and I trying to make it through a day without strangling one of our kids or screaming at our spouse.

These aren’t blowouts, these are slow leaks.  

And slow leaks are always harder to catch.