Getting High Off Christ or Taking a Hit of Jesus

Everyone has faith.

Everyone is putting their faith in something.

Everyone is putting their faith in something they hope will save them.

What are you putting your faith in?

Faith is popularly associated with religion, but it’s narrow-minded to seclude faith to those areas alone. People don’t just put their faith in God. People also put their faith in the nonexistence of God.

Or Wall Street.

Or a relationship.

Or a job.

Or a political party.

Or beauty.

Or an opinion.

Or a feeling.

What are you putting your faith in?

I have grown up in church-world. It’s a realm filled with choir robes, hand bells, pews, Sunday and Wednesday worship gatherings,vacation Bible school (worst summer activity title EVER), ties, dresses, flannel graph, hipster clothing, Sunday school, moving lights, puppets, Veggie Tales, and potluck dinners. Amidst this fascinating (and at times odd) sub-culture is the zenith of activities…church camp!

I’ve been to a bunch of church camps over the years. You go to play pranks on your bunk mates, get your first kiss, and ask Jesus into your heart…again. (I always got pranked, never got kissed, and asked Jesus in so many times He took up all the spots in My Circle.) You had to work at the first two but the last one was impossible to avoid. It was the combination of extended singing, intense message, bonfire by the lake, and girls crying that made asking Jesus into your heart unavoidable.

Most everyone who has left church camp leaves on this incredible high. It’s as if they put a little speed in the haze machines or in the Kool Aid on the final day. You leave jacked to read your Bible more and not fall asleep reading the book of Numbers, pray for 24 hours a day, and save everyone you meet.

And then you get home. And camp’s not there when you wake up the next morning. And you didn’t get pranked, but the girl you had a crush on lives 3 states away. And the high starts to fade.

And then we meet the faith dilemma face to face.

What did we put our faith in?

God?

Church camp?

Or a feeling?

When our feelings are telling us, “All systems go,” it’s easy to follow suit. But when our feelings don’t feel as energized we begin to doubt or disregard the faith we were so certain about.

Here’s another example for the non-church-camp-going-type. Consider when people fall in love with one another. Love is one of the strongest feelings experienced. But like all feelings it can fade away. Many couples break up and or get divorced because they just didn’t love their partner any more. When this happens were people committed to a person or a feeling?

What did we commit to? What did we put our faith in?

This doesn’t just happen, or always happen, at church camp (it’s just an easy example) or with love. It can happen at church one Sunday morning or after a late night conversation about God with a friend. It can happen after viewing a inspiring movie or hearing a invigorating speech. It can happen with a particular routine you love or Bible study you’re a part of. It can happen with a promising opportunity, “success,” or a great expectation. It can even happen the moment you decide to surrender your life to God and follow Jesus.

All these moments and experiences can super charge our feelings and cause us to believe that our faith will bring about these feelings every time. Instead of putting our faith in the One who gave us our feelings we place our faith in the feelings. In the emotion instead of the One who gave us our emotions. Feelings are a gift from God but He never intended them to be worshiped and permanently trusted in place of Him. A.W. Tozer writes, “God’s gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.” It’s easy to get high off Christ without putting our actual faith in Christ. Jesus didn’t suffer and endure agony, pain, and death on a cross so we could put our faith in our feelings but so we could put our faith in the One who gave us feelings.

When the feelings fade or confuse what will become of our faith?

Feelings, the high and the low, are but a catalyst, an igniter, to greater dependency and faith in the one who gave you feeling.

Will your feelings be just another high or a jump start to faith?

When _____________ Happens

I doubt and question God’s promises and His provision constantly even though I have experienced, received, and seen them regularly.

I believe that all good things come from God yet I doubt that God is good. He may have provided in the past but I’m unsure if He’ll do the same in the present. When things are going well I’m certain that God is in control. When life gets jostled I have the tendency to believe that my certainty was just a mirage.

Do the “good times” depict God’s provision?

Do the “bad/hard times” occur when God relinquishes His sustenance?

Does He want to help?

Does God get tired of providing?

Do I grow tired of depending?

The book of Exodus is a story about freedom. The Israelites become slaves to the Egyptians and God calls a man named Moses to lead His people out of their captivity. God sends 10 different plagues on Egypt that lead to the release of the Israelites. On their journey out of Egypt Pharaoh changes his mind, rallies bunch of chariots, and chases after the Israelites. Though free they become slaves to the land, their route blocked by the Red Sea ahead of them and plan B shut off by determined Egyptian army.

What does God do?

“Good luck Moses!”

“Back stroke is less tiring.”

“Gotcha.”

“Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.” And Moses responded, “That’s just what I was about to do. How’d you know?”

Moses spread his hands across the sea and God separated the sea setting the Israelites free to walk through on dry ground. Once they got to the other side Pharaoh’s army plunges in after only to be swallowed by the sea at the wave of Moses’ hand.

God provided. He sent plagues to set the Israelites free. He guided them out of Egypt. He guarded them against an ensuing army. He opened and closed the sea. He eliminated their captivity.

If we stood on the banks opposite of the Israelites we would have heard them worshiping God for His tremendous provision and unbelievable salvation.

The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him.

God is the hero and the people praise Him for His provision.

But something changes. “Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What are we to drink?’”

Over the span of three days God goes from hero to zero. The people from wonderers to grumblers. Have they already forgotten? I know it’s three days but is it plausible to think that God will spare your life amidst excess water and then kill you for a lack of it? They complained to Moses, but they failed to cry out to God. Moses led them, but God provided their freedom. Would He not provide their water?

I’m an Israelite.

Crying out to God usually isn’t my immediate response, and sometimes it even isn’t a last resort. I turn on the radio, blame others, take the helm of my life, supress everything, get frustrated and angry, retreat, or tune God out instead.

He provided in the past, will He not provide for the present?

If things seem out of control is He not in control?

I believe we’re all Israelites. We need help remembering and depending on God when ______________ happens.

We have an abundance of options when ___________ happens but they all narrow down into two choices:

1. Turn towards God in dependence.

2. Turn away from God in rejection.

When your world falls apart. When everything is overturned. When you’re afraid. When your feelings are hurt. When you lose your job. When your heart is broken. When you’re offended. When there’s no water. When division occurs. When nothing makes sense. When people disappoint us. When picture perfect becomes the perfect nightmare. When you don’t know which way is up. When there’s no easy way out. When the hero disappears. When you’re trapped between a bunch of chariots and a large body of water. When ______________ happens.

Turn towards God in dependency and cry out for His help.

Everyday is January 1st

What if the last day of every month was New Years eve?

Would we celebrate?

Would we continue to over play “We’re gonna party like it’s 1999″?

Would we make more resolutions?

Why do we equate the beginning of a new year with fresh starts? We all know that the changing of a number from 2009 to 2010 doesn’t change the pattern and regularity of our days. Tommorrow is the same as today, it’s the content of each day that makes them different. Mondays are the dreaded day for most because the weekend is over and we have to go back to work or school. We look forward to Fridays because when the “whistle” blows or the bell rings, we’re “free” for a couple days.

There’s no power in a new year.

Everyone acts and thinks as if there is though. What if our calendars only consisted of days but never any years? We not only could party like it’s 1,999, but also like it’s 19,999.

If there were no years but only days, would we still make resolutions?

Why do we wait till the ball drops to start going to the gym, attending church, or paying off debt? Gyms are packed in January, but empty by Valentine’s Day. Church participation skyrockets at the beginning of the year but gradually decreases as the weeks progress.

Some people maintain their resolutions, but it appears as if the majority gives up, resorting to old routine. What causes this? Guilt for missing a day? Eating the whole cake?  Laziness? Or fear of the challenge?

There are numerous factors and excuses we give that hinder us from starting over, picking ourselves up off the ground, and moving again. But why wait?

Our confidence in resolutions may reveal something about our mentality. A new year promises a fresh start, a clean slate, but it demands we attain it on our own.  We believe we can fix ourselves, and  the new year, the new semester, the new job, or the new relationship is our opportunity to make it happen. All it takes is a little discipline, right?

We trust our resolutions will change our lives. Our faith is in our ability to fix ourselves. Our resolutions expose the condition of our souls – our internal lives that influence our external living. We are inconsistent and unfaithful people, convinced we can do it ourselves. Self-confidence is a soul issue.

In Lamentations, one of the most difficult and depressing books of the Bible, captures the sorrow and shame of those who have turned away from and disobeyed God.  Their temple was destroyed. The land  made desolate. They have experienced loss, pain, judgment, and suffering.. Observing their circumstance and analyzing their despair, a voice from among the physical and spiritual wreckage professes,

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

We’ve screwed up. We’ve journeyed off course. We’ve lost our way. We have actually put our faith in our unfaithfulness.

But the Bible reveals that we can’t right our wrongs, and that we don’t have to.

We’ve been offered a new start, not with every new year, but with every new day. We have been invited to place our faith in Jesus, who is faithful to heal our unfaithfulness.

2010 offers us no mercy, neither do our resolutions.

The cross was God’s way of being faithful to an unfaithful people. Even though we deserted Him, He has never deserted us. In the midst of our broken attempts to repair our lives and our souls God offers us His faithfulness. Faith in a faithful God results in faithful people. His mercy is new today, why wait for 2011?

:: The French Pressed Four ::

: My Sweet :: Happy Birthday

:: PF Changs, Sherlock Holmes, and Ben and Jerrys :: Thanks Big T and A Boom!

::: Wilco :: Yankee Foxtrot Hotel

::::  Plaza Fiesta :: Chuck E Cheese on steroids