Short and sweet.

I love you. Because you are valuable. You are worth being a friend to. You deserve my attention. You deserve my ears to listen to you. You are important. You are precious is God's eyes. And because He loves me even though I am not worthy of it, He has allowed me to love you. Have a good day today; will you?

On millennials (personal thoughts)

This has been in my drafts for some time and I've contemplated whether or not to share it. After reading this, however, I felt this may add some value to the entire "millennial" conversation.
So, if you please, read on.

I know, I know... I'm very late to the whole "millennial's" thing, but I just can't stop thinking about my fellow peers and the whole conversation about our generation.

I guess the reason I feel I need to write is because I believe that the future can only possibly become greater with this next generation taking the baton and running onward in this journey we call life.

I hope that through time we can all see that, yes, we do have some general problems, but "let him without problems cast the first stone". I don't believe it is fair to lump an entire generation into a stigma that may only be the case of a few individuals, or a small groups of individuals.

So, the reason I write you may ask is because we need your help. That's right. We really need your help. Naturally those older than us will tend to be in positions of leadership, and authority. Statements made about millennials not wanting authority isn't totally true; mis-used or abused authority, however, we have a tough time accepting. To help us we don't need mis-used authority to condemn us for asking why, we don't need to be corrected over personal preferences that those before us have elevated into moral obligations. What we need is your patience and gentle nudge to a more biblical based Christianity. I have personally been involved in conversations with young millennials (15-18) who are seeing discrepancies in what we proclaim vs. what we actually do. This MUST change if we are indeed to progress to a truer meaning of being Christ-like. The biggest issue that we face as millennials is that there is an "us & them" situation where there is a wall between generations whose philosophies differ.

Unity must be reached. In order to unify that may mean that each generation is going to need to learn to compromise personal preferences and to unite on our common goal; Christ.

I write this not for my own personal benefit or gain, but I write this for my young friends who will eventually become the leaders of all of us. Cut them some slack and try patience with them. Listen to them. Don't just hear them, but truly listen to them. They have needs that must be met in order for growth on their part. They truly do desire an authentic relationship with Jesus, and more than likely, with you.

True Religion (but not the jeans)

We often see throughout the gospels where the Pharisees, (religious individual) would challenge Jesus’ teaching’s. The fact that the religious had gotten so distracted by their religion and laws to keep that they missed the point of everything has bothered me for some time now. I would read the passages of these religious people and the burdens they would put on others, the judgment they would pass, the self made rules, the pride and the wanting to be seen of others, and I would ask myself, “how could they have possibly been so blind to what was going on”? It would enrage me to see the fact that these people were literally witnessing the Son of God in their midst, and His grace and mercy and teachings, and when it comes down to it they became hung up on “rules”. Choose your word as you please, rules, laws, commandments, or what have you, but at the end of the day, they are still rules. So, in my frustration at how someone could possibly miss the BIG PICTURE it dawned on me that I myself was not far off from just being another hypocritical Pharisee. 

And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "'This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men." And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

Mark 7:6-9 (ESV)

And this hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to repent and ask God for forgiveness for rejecting the greatest commandment of all which is loving God, and also to love others. I know, I know, it is wishy washy to talk about love all the time. But seriously, I am holding to what I’ve always known, “the traditions of man” and I am forsaking His greatest purpose for each of us; just LOVE Him, and love others.

The problem I then had to sort through, (might I add, still am) is all the laws.

What about all the laws? What about the rules? Yes, indeed we are to live a regenerate life and we are new creatures, therefore we must put the old man to rest. 

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions,puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations--"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" (referring to things that all perish as they are used)--according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Colossians 2:6-23 (ESV)

By putting the old creature to death and becoming a new creature we must allow the fruits if the Spirit to grow and flourish through our life. Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And though there may be an appearance of wisdom in man made religion and asceticism let us fight that urge to follow it. I strongly suggest you read the entire chapter of Galatians 5 at this point and ponder whether you are following the true religion. Love. Feel free to share any thoughts or opinions with me. And if you would like to talk further with me regarding this topic please, please do not hesitate. Let us journey nearer to Jesus together!

Desiring a Burden

A daily prayer of mine is to “find a burden for my generation, and fulfill it”. I have been spending more time as of late painstakingly pondering the direction and purpose both of myself and my peers. I am a millennial and thus identify most with millennials, and also have the greatest desire to reach and connect amongst my fellow generation. I suggest you pause here, go read this, written by my great friend. If you don’t understand millennials, this will help.

As I pondered fulfilling a desire to be burdened for others it dawned on me that by simply desiring a burden for others proves we already do have that burden. So what does it even mean you may ask to have a “burden” for others? I would define the term burden as “feeling a responsibility for the well being of others in all aspects of their life," i.e. spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional well being. So then the questions progress to ask, how, and why? To answer this is not entirely simple. The why should be fairly clear to the Christian, because it is our mandate to care for, and love others. We ought to be concerned about others well being at least as much as we care for our own selves. Love your neighbour as you love yourself; the second commandment only next to loving God with all of our being. To answer the “how” will definitely vary based on each unique individual. I can most effectively seek for my own individual burden and how to fulfill that, however, I also feel as though that a part of my burden is helping others find their vocation. 

I greatly desire a time where we can put away our fears of being criticized and judged by others, and will fully pursue the well being of those all surrounding us. I don’t claim to know everything or to have all the answers, but I do claim that through honest and authentic community we will find the answers together, and further our fulfillment within our Christian lives.

If you also have been praying and seeking fulfillment of a burden for others, I welcome your comments, your company, your thoughts. Let’s move forward together. Let’s seek community. Let’s seek the purpose of each of our lives.

Weakness.

I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not with the Lord's authority but as a fool. Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.  Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. (2 Cor. 11:16-30)

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:9-10)

When I really cant find the words or thoughts to express my feelings I always know His word will comfort and lead us. Not that I am great, but in fact am truly the least among us (where I most identify with Pauls teachings). Not that I have accomplished anything great, or even deserve to become something great, but I sincerely desire to put away from me any self gained strength. I desire to be weak and humble. I desire to be content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. I desire to fully trust in our Saviour. If I want to fully trust in our Savoiur I MUST be weak. If I must boast, let it be that I depend entirely on Christ; truly I can do nothing of my own power.

This post isn’t so far off my last post, and this post isn’t anyting special or fancy or revelatory, but I really feel this is one of the greatest things that God is working on me at this time.

If you think I'm a decent chap, do NOT read this. I repeat, absolutely DO NOT continue. Go to YouTube instead.

Whilst driving with my wonderful wife we began talking on character traits and who we desire to be. In short, you missed a great discussion. I semi longer-ish, let me attempt to be what I desire to be.

I am flawed. I am a sinner. I am far from being what I need to be as a Christian. But you know what? People think I am great. People think I’ve got it all together. (Or maybe I am wrong all together). I am in fact far from being great and having it all together, furthermore, I hope I never am great or have it all together, lest I may boast of myself and not of His grace.

What my point is, is that, as a character traits I desire honesty, integrity, love, and vulnerability. 

Vulnerability is what I am working on thinking through at this point, and I will in the future examine the other traits, but do understand, these traits work much better as a team than they do on their own.

So what does it mean to be vulnerable? I’m not entirely sure of the definition of what it means to be vulnerable, but I would imagine that it would look something like just as quickly as showing our strengths, we could show our weaknesses. And that is what I am becoming more comfortable with. 

My weakness, I told my wife, is allowing me to be much stronger than the artificial strength that sadly so many portray. As a young(er) man, a teenager, I struggled with the thoughts that I was the only struggling one. It appeared to me that others that surrounded me never had any issues or problems. I would condemn myself for feeling or thinking the ways I often did. I spent critical years living with condemnation, some of it justifiably so one may argue. Years have passed and I still I am realizing what I knew all along. I am indeed a flawed, a sinner, and far from what I need to be as a Christian. BUT, I am closer to being what I need to be as a Christian by realizing its not what I do or how I act or how I feel that makes me a great Christian, lest I may boast, but the grace and mercy of Jesus who is teaching me and flourishing the spiritual gifts within me to allow me to be weak in order that He may be strong. So, I choose to be vulnerable. If you are also human, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you will struggle, and fail, and not be who you ought to be. But, through His mercy, and our willingness to be broken, vulnerable, and weak, He will give us strength. He will clothe our actions and lives, with love, mercy, generosity, service, sacrifice, and humnility. 

If you are reading this and you are fearful of your own flaws, do no worry. It is going to be okay. I suggest you talk with someone who will allow you to be vulnerable and love you and count you as a friend despite your flaws. There are others who will care, listen, and love you. I would strongly suggest you spend some time talking with the one man that helps me the most. He will take time to listen to you. He will acknowledge you may have flaws, but He will help you work through them by His grace. Go ahead, ask Him.

I'm gonna' check myself before I wreck myself.

In November I wrote on decisions and on living deliberately. Little did I know I was actually preparing myself for the months, and I believe years to come. Almost immediately after posting that blog I found myself needing to act on what I had been working over in my mind for a while. And now, once again, I am faced with another situation that calls for a decision. I can choose from several different paths, one being, the path of least resistance which is, “go with the flow” “do what I have always done”, or I can choose to diversify myself, and become more dynamic with my life. 

I am finding change is not always comfortable. It can be very intimidating with uncertainty in the future. No one really knows what tomorrow holds. No one knows the last breath they will breath. That is why we MUST do the things, and BE the people that will cause us to be fulfilled and to flourish. At the end of each our lives we will look back on our lives (if given enough time) and we can assess what we have done, what we have accumulated, where we have gone, who we have known and who we have loved, we can assess our family and friends and our relationships with them, and we can assess what we spent our time worrying about. Sadly, I fear that too many of us spend our best years held back by worrying of finances, or the lack thereof. I fear too many of us will spend our time worrying about our job. Too many of us will spend our time attempting to accumulate our entire life just to enjoy a short retirement where money is no longer an issue, but we all know very well even retirees worry of their money. So again on this fine day in March 2016 I am challenged again to not allow the menial rigour of life to consume me or my family. I refuse to allow the “daily problems” to keep me from being the Christian, husband, and friend that I desire to be. 

My great friend, MK, described flourishing recently in a way that rings so true in my ears. Flourishing is sacrifice, service, care, patience, gentleness, and most of all pure love. In general we spend our lives searching for the love of pleasure, but to truly flourish we must learn to find pleasure in love. So, it is my goal for today, and tomorrow, and this year, and my entire life to learn to find pleasure in love and in all that love is. 

Change is coming. What I once always knew may be different tomorrow than in the past. What is most important is how I handle the change, and ideally, how I can create and determine the change that happens in my life to become a better and stronger Christian.

Humility

C.S. Lewis once said, 

“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”

How often we all struggle with our own pride. To assert that we have no pride is in itself prideful. Now, I don't personally know of a single individual who thinks that their opinion, point of view, beliefs, and generally speaking, their actions, are wrong. We could all agree that if someone thinks that their own opinion, beliefs, etc are wrong that this particular individual might need to be checked in to a mental institution. I would argue that pride in its essence, or purest form, is simply thinking to highly of oneself or of ones own actions, thoughts, or beliefs. The issue with this is that someone, if not most people, if not you and I, will eventually have to admit that our position may have been wrong. What's most important is how we will handle ourselves knowing we have done or said wrong. Pride is knowing this and refusing to change and apologize, and right what was wrong. The difference between truly "repenting" or just feeling bad, saying sorry, and continuing in our sin against others or God. 

As of late, one passage of scripture that has been challenging me regarding humility is found in Philippians 2:1-4 (ESV) “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

The NIV says v.3 “Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,”

So, back to C.S. Lewis’ quote, “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” If I could add at all to this wise mans words I might say, True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less, but also, to think more highly of others.  Maybe now would be a good time to stop and consider my actions and my opinions of others. Maybe I should value them and their opinion at the same level I value my own. Did Jesus himself not say to “love your neighbour as yourself?” 

Feel free to share your thoughts, beliefs and opinions in the comments; I promise I will do my best to practice what I preach.