Wholehearted devotion to the Lord

If I summarized the book of 1 Corinthians I might say, 'Do your absolute best to serve the Lord with your whole life. Paul deals with a diversity of issues throughout the book. He addresses the Christ centeredness of life, divisions in the church, the wisdom of God as opposed to the wisdom of the world, lawsuits among believers, marriage, ministry salaries, eating different types of foods and doing everything to glorify God. Paul writes in an all encompassing way.

This is how our lives  should be lived. Our relationship with Jesus Christ saturates all of life. There is nothing in our life the Lord is not a part of. In fact, if Jesus is Lord of our life then he is Lord over every part of life.

When I think through my life and how I live it I see some areas that are fully submitted to the Lord and some that aren't. I don't do this legalistically, judging my eternal state based on performance. I do it because I desire to please the Lord and experience the joy of intimate relationship with him. 

1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

1 Corinthians 9:27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 10:23 All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. 'All things are lawful,' but not all things build up.

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Taken from reading 1 Corinthians 6-10

My hope is in the Lord

What do you take hope in? In what is your strength? Is it in your wisdom? Your creativity? Your power? No. Your hope is in the Lord your God, sovereign over all creation. 

2 Chronicles 32:7-8 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles. 

You could gather all soldiers and weapons on earth but the Lord determines the victor. 

What does this change? How do we respond? Do we become nihilists? Do we cast off restraint? No.

We grow in our relationship with the Lord. We trust in God and him alone for our salvation and provision. Know the Lord. Trust the Lord. Love the Lord. Worship the Lord.

We shall not fear. We shall not dismay. We shall trust the Lord and him alone for our lives. He is king. He holds the nations in the palm of his hands. He owns it all.

He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. We are his children. He loves us. He promises us eternal reward. He promises blessings in his presence. He has told us there is joy in his presence. 

This is where I chose to put my hope and future, in the presence of the Lord. He is God. He is King. He is almighty. To know the Lord is better than riches. To be in his presence is far more joyful than any worldly pleasure. He is the answer. He is the solution.

Why failure can teach me an eternal lesson

It goes back to my heartache. I failed planting a church. Let's just get that out of the way. I am hurting. I am in pain. I feel abandoned by my best friends of the past six and a half years. I feel like a complete and total failure. Now that this is established we can discuss how this relates to everything else.

The heartache I am experiencing prompts me to yearn for something. I need to find my identity in something. I need to pour my life into something. Now I always have a heart to know the Lord more and to spend time with him. That is nonnegotiable. But when the church crumbled I needed to spend my time doing something more to provide for the family, therefore I decided to pour more time into our real estate business. I took on that cause for our family. I mean, if I can't pastor the church I started then maybe I can work hard to be a great provider for Karis and Hank, right?

Wrong. It seems like the harder I work the worse our business produces. The more consistent I am marketing and working the business the less busy we are with people who need to buy and sell houses. When I came to this realization I was simply crushed. Why? Why do I fail at everything I try to do with all my heart?

I spent about a day and a half just whipped by life. I hurt and felt like an absolute loser. But last night while we were on our way home from Oklahoma I came to a realization. I was driving, just watching the road come at me at 70 mph. My mind was racing through why God would allow me to endure failure after failure when I realized something. When I fail I lose hope in what I was attempting. I find one more thing that will not satisfy. Yes, it is painful. Yes, it crushes me. But it also teaches me.

My hope is not being a pastor. My hope is not being a realtor. My hope was never in being a baseball player. My hope is built in nothing less that Jesus's blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame than wholely lean on Jesus' name.

My failures should drive me closer and closer to the Lord as my only hope in this life. He is it. There is no other. I know this because I failed at everything else. Nothing else satisfies my soul. Nothing else brings joy and meaning to life. 

Strangely, failure can be a blessing. Failure teaches you what success may not. While experiencing success it is tempting to keep success as paramount in your life. Success can prop you up temporarily. Success can exist as a barrier between you and complete dependance on the Lord your God.

It's over for me. I have nothing else that tempts me. I have tried it all. I pray nothing else ever does. I will simply do the best I can and leave it up to the Lord how he provides. I can do nothing to cause success. The more I try the more I fail.

I will worship the Lord. I will enjoy his presence. I will love him. I will enjoy him. And I will do this forever. Joy in the Lord is better than any worldly success anyway.

Blameless toward him...

The Lord is true. The Lord does not mistreat people. He gives what they deserve. He does what is right. He is the almighty creator and judge of all. 

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

But what is judgement? Is judgement distributed in this life? Is it postponed until the great judgement? I look at my life and see good, bad, and ugly. Which parts of my life are the result of faithfulness? Which parts are the result of disobedience? Is that question even relevant? 

I know one thing. You reap what you sow. You sow good things and you will reap good things. You sow evil and you will reap evil. Reaping and sowing is a wonderful principle of life,. This principle, however does not answer all questions of failure and victory. Sometimes you go out to pursue the will of the Lord and you fail. Sometimes you succeed. 

I did my best but failed. I tried and tried and tried but I did not experience the fruit necessary to continue on. We stand in the dust. We nurse our wounds. We know the Lord is God. We know he loves us. We know he has something for us. We just don't know what it is.

Our journey is stalled. We are refueling...healing...seeking guidance for our next step. What is it? What am I made for? How will I contribute?  I am torn between exhaustion and excitement. 

I carry a wound with me that will always be here. The scar will be here. The memory. The lost friendships. The wisdom will guide wherever I end up. 

I heard it said recently that success means standing on a pile of failure. Well I am climbing the pile. I will not give up the climb no matter how many times I lose my grip and fall down. I will find a way up. 

In the end faithfulness is the key. The Lord has given me a way to live wherever I am. This is my wheelhouse. Following the Lord intimately is the key. May I always follow him step in step.

Taken from reading 2 Chronicles 16-20

What is risk?

It is better to risk your life serving the Lord than to attempt security without him.

2 Chronicles 13:10, 16 But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him...The men of Israel fled before Judah, and God gave them into their hand.

Abijah served the Lord and stood before an army twice the size of his. He declared his loyalty to the Lord before both armies. Abijah might have lost his life and the lives of his warriors. He stepped out and risked everything in the name of the Lord.

What if he had lost? What if Abijah had died? Would it have been in vain? Would it have been wasted? I don't think so. You see, life on earth is temporary. Winning or losing in battle, career, love, or competition does not determine the value of our existence. 

We will press on after this life. We will live on in the presence of the Lord or we will experience the second death. 

What we do in this life matters not for our own glory and reputation. What we do in this life matters because it sets the course for our eternity. You can walk faithfully with the Lord your entire life and lose your job or get cancer, yet your life would not be wasted. You would die one day and go be with the Lord forever. 

The question this leaves us with is this: Are you eternally secure? 

This is the most important question in life. 

You see God loves you. He created you in his image. And though you have sinned against him he desires to show you mercy. He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to take the punishment for your sins by dying on the cross. He rose from the grave on the third day to secure your eternal life. Through faith in Jesus Christ you can be saved from your sins. God will forgive you, restore you, and give you his Holy Spirit to guide you in this life. 

Will you put your faith in Jesus Christ?

Taken from reading 2 Chronicles 11-15

Being right with God...

Being right with God. The blessing of God. This is what Israel sought at one time. And they received it. They experienced the Lord's hand on their lives. They were a people set apart for a special purpose. The Lord established their presence in the world with authority, wisdom, and wealth. He was with them. 

2 Chronicles 7:1-2 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house.

The writer of 2 Chronicles presents the kingdom under Solomon as powerful and blessed. Solomon was wise and wealthy beyond belief. The land had peace all around. What was it like to live in Israel during the days of Solomon? Peace? Prosperity? Joy?

How amazing it is to live in the blessing of God. How good it is to experience his peace and prosperity. This is what we all want, isn't it? We desire peace, love, joy, provision? 

But what happens when we experience this blessing? Do we remain faithful to the Lord? Do we give him praise for working in our lives? Or do we fall away from wholehearted devotion to him? It is easy to fall away during times of prosperity. Israel did it. Many people alive today do it.

My prayer and heart is for focused devotion during times of pain as well as prosperity. Worship and commitment in good times and bad. May we learn from the mistakes of the past. May we walk in humility and gratitude for all the Lord has blessed us with. And may he be glorified through our lives. Amen.

Taken from reading 2 Chronicles 6-10

Unholy familiarity

When we see something as old hat we tend to devalue it. Is this why Solomon, in his later days fell away from following the Lord? Did he become too familiar with the Lord?

Solomon made the Most Holy Place. He built the temple of God. This was a privilege to him. It was his calling. In his wisdom Solomon asked for wisdom. This was a wonderful choice. God blessed it. 

I can't help but wonder, though, if being the one who built the temple lead to an unhealthy familiarity with the Lord. Did Solomon devalue the Lord because he had seen the entire temple from inside out as it was being built?

2 Chronicles 3:8 And he made the Most Holy Place. It's length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and it s breadth was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents of fine gold.

The normal Israelite would never have entered the Most Holy Place. They revered the presence of God as all powerful and most high. Solomon, being the richest, wisest, and most powerful man on the earth could have easily been tempted to see the Most Holy Place and the presence of God as familiar and unimpressive. 

There is no way to be sure exactly why Solomon fell away. What I can say is that when I look around at our world I do see a devaluing of the Lord. For many reasons we have lost our awe of the Holy, Mighty God of the universe. We have lost our wonder and fear of God.

May we regain it. May we stand before the Lord and be awestruck. May we be amazed at the greatness of the Lord. May we follow him wholeheartedly. And may he lead and guide us to significance. Amen.

Taken from reading 2 Chronicles 1-5