Facing Your Fears While Chasing a Lion

For the past two weeks, our college Bible study group has camped out in the third session of our book, Chase the Lion by Mark Batterson.  The title of the study comes from a story in 2 Samuel 23:20-23:

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was the son of a brave man from Kabzeel, a man of many exploits.  Benaiah killed two sons of Ariel of Moab, and he went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.  He also killed an Egyptian, a huge man.  Even though the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went down to him with a club, snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and then killed him with his own spear.  These were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who had a reputation among the three warriors.  He was the most honored of the Thirty, but he did not become one of the Three.  David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

We have been talking about facing our fears, because if we’re not careful, our fears will become huge lions that take over our lives.

I don’t care how battle-tested or battle-scarred you are.  I don’t care how crazy or courageous you are.  You don’t come face-to-face with a 500-pound lion without experiencing sheer terror.  But one thing sets lion-chasers apart – they don’t run away from the things that scare them.  Normal people don’t chase lions, but lion-chasers aren’t normal.

Lion-chasers chase their fears. (p. 45)

Has God put something in your path that you would rather run away from?  You can run away, you can go kicking and screaming (not a pretty sight, no matter what your age), or you can run straight toward the thing that you fear and face it head-on.

What fears are you facing, and how will you respond today?

 

How Are You Investing Your Talents?

Then the man who had received one talent also approached and said, “Master, I know you.  You’re a difficult man, reaping where you haven’t sown and gathering where you haven’t scattered seed.  So I was afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground.  Look, you have what is yours.”

But his master replied to him, “You evil, lazy slave!  If you knew that I reap where I haven’t sown and gather where I haven’t scattered, then you should have deposited my money with the bankers.  And when I returned I would have received my money back with interest.”

“So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has 10 talents.  For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have more than enough.  But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.  And throw this good-for-nothing slave into the outer darkness.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Matthew 25:24-30

In the first chapter of Chase the Lion: Stepping Confidently into the Unknown, Mark Batterson says,

These are some of the harshest words in the Gospels, and they were spoken to someone who broke even.  Evidently, breaking even isn’t good enough.  In the context of this parable, wickedness is equivalent to burying your talent in the ground.  It is the by-product of the fear of loss. (Emphasis mine.)

I don’t know about you, but those are pretty convicting words to me.  What the author is saying is that God considers it a wicked sin for me and you to “play it safe” with what He has given us.  That’s not a particularly welcome topic in lots of church circles.  We don’t want to put pressure on people.  We just hope that folks do well enough just to get by.

It steps on our pride to talk about excellence.  We don’t want to make others uncomfortable because we want them to try a bit harder.

But God demands that we do the best that we can with all that He has given to us.  We are not to waste anything – talents, abilities, spiritual gifts, finances, possessions, family, friends – not anything!

As the author says, “It’s playing to win.”

What has God given you that you need to use more faithfully?

 

Waiting and the Christian Life

I had lunch yesterday with a good friend who was talking about the concept of “waiting.”  All our lives, we find ourselves waiting for something – waiting to finish school, to get married, to have children, to find the perfect job, for the test results, to retire, to die…

Because I was an English major (Once an English major, always an English major.  What was true in Narnia is true for English majors, too!), as I thought that afternoon about the idea of “waiting,” I couldn’t help but think of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.

In Beckett’s play, Estragon and Vladimir are always waiting for the unseen Godot.  The thing is, Godot never comes.  At the end of Act One, a young boy comes to tell the pair that Godot has been held up but will surely come tomorrow.  The same thing happens at the end of Act Two, which ends the play.

As Christians, I think that sometimes we feel like Estragon and Vladimir – caught up in a life of non-sense but constantly waiting for God.  We find ourselves surrounded by foolish people and events, and wonder where the meaning and purpose is in our lives.

Yet, in our waiting, may we be more like King David in Psalm 40:1-3

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.  He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.  He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.

 

Glorify and Enjoy God

What is the chief end of man?  Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.  (Westminster Shorter Catechism)

When we look to God’s Word, the Bible, we find the only objective source of Truth available to us.  Other people may try to influence us with what they believe is the truth, but they can be deceived by their own desires and ideas.  The media will try to influence in ways that benefit the bottom line.  We are even deceived by our own sinful natures that seek to glorify ourselves rather than God.

What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?  The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.  (Westminster Shorter Catechism)

The world seeks to glorify itself, rather than God.  Even with the best of intentions, those around us may try to influence us in ways that do not bring glory to God.  At our core, we are all sinful and selfish creatures … but the good news is that through Christ, we can be made new!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  1 Corinthians 5:17

If you have a relationship with Christ – if you have repented from your sins and turned to Him in faith – then you (we) must live – think, act, believe – like it.  We must seek to glorify God with everything we do, say, think.

We must also seek to enjoy Him.  We rest in the comfort of His care, knowing that whatever comes our way is for His glory and our best.  Even in unpleasant circumstances, we can seek to bring glory to God and to enjoy His presence.

All of these actions require a deliberate choice on our part to change our ways of thinking and acting.  We must choose to glorify and enjoy God each day, in every moment.  We choose to reject whatever is convenient, comfortable, self-serving, or sinful in order to choose to obey God.

Are you enjoying your life as a new creation in Christ?  Are you glorifying Him in every moment of your day?

 

My Utmost for His Highest for June 11

I know that this is tomorrow’s reading, but I accidentally read it today – and I needed to share it:

“…and I will give you rest” – that is, “I will sustain you, causing you to stand firm.”  He is not saying, “I will put you to bed, hold your hand, and sing you to sleep.”  But, in essence, He is saying, “I will get you out of bed – out of your listlessness and exhaustion, and out of your condition of being half dead while you are still alive.  I will penetrate you with the spirit of life, and you will be sustained by the perfection of vital activity.”  Yet we become so weak and pitiful and talk about “suffering” the will of the Lord!  Where is the majestic vitality and the power of the Son of God in that?

 

Chambers on Mountaintop Experiences

If, during a prayer meeting, God shows you something to do, don’t say, “I’ll do it” – just do it!  Pick yourself up by the back of the neck and shake off your fleshly laziness.  Laziness can always be seen in our cravings for a mountaintop experience; all we talk about is our planning for our time on the mountain.  We must learn to live in the ordinary “gray” day according to what we saw on the mountain.

My Utmost for His Highest, April 16

 

Lord, Is It Me?

For the past several weeks, The Rabbit Room has been sharing an Easter sermon series delivered by Russ Ramsey, pastor of Oak Hills Presbyterian Church in Overland Park, KS.  You can find the most recent in this series here.

Even during this (for many of us) very busy week, I encourage you to take half an hour to listen to this sermon about the relationship between Judas and Jesus.  Completely out of context (so you’ll have to listen to find the context!), here are a few points from the message that really spoke to me:

1. We are all as capable as Judas of betraying Jesus.
2. Judas seemed to be a devoted disciple, doing the same things as the others.  None of the other disciples suspected him.
3. Jesus was gracious with Judas to the end.
4. Proximity to Jesus alone could not save Judas.
5. You can sit under solid teaching, you can spend time with other believers, you can participate in ministry, you can go on mission trips … and you can still be a fraud.  Being known as a Christian and loving Jesus are two different things.

 

Lord’s Prayer

I love Jennifer Knapp’s voice, and this is a beautiful arrangement of the Model Prayer found in Matthew 6.  Enjoy.

 

Lenten Sacrifice

Hopefully all of my Catholic friends out there will forgive me when I say that I have never really understand some of the crazy ways that I have seen people observe Lent.  I honestly can’t see how giving up red meat or chocolate or anything else can help me identify with the sufferings of Christ.  His suffering for our sins on the cross was so very much more than giving up a convenience or a desire.  His suffering was personal and agonizing and much more real than some of these “deprivations” seem to depict.

So, for the most part, I have never given any thought to observing Lent in my own life.  Some of these rituals just seem too … simple.  But today, I read this post at The Rabbit Room that discusses giving up so much more than a convenience.  Jason Gray has this to say about the way that he observes the season of Lent:

What we did that first Lent and have been doing since is pray that the Lord would reveal to us anything that has some kind of lordship or mastery over us, anything that is competing with the supremacy of Christ for our attention and affection.  As the Spirit convicts and reveals what that particular thing is, then that is what we give up for lent.

The idea of giving the Lord one of my besetting sins (and there are many) seems so much more sacrificial than giving up Diet Cokes.  You know those consuming sins in your own life – anything that the Holy Spirit reveals to you is standing in the way of your become more Christ-like.  Those favorite sins that are so easily excused, or that creep back into your heart time and time again.

Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!  Psalm 139:23-24

 

Escaping Temptation

I encourage you to listen to I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It, a chapel sermon delivered at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary by Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church.  Dr. York delivers a timely word on our culture of sexuality and the way God views our sin.