First I want to thank….

Their seems to be a big trend it award shows and sporting events that whenever asked people like to say the famous line, “First I want to thank God,”. While I love to hear God getting the shout outs, deep down inside part of me is a little bothered by this. It isn’t that I don’t think God deserves all the glory, because the truth is nothing happens without God. I just get the feeling that sometimes we are missing the point of God and simply using His name as just any other everyday name. 

Before I get into this I want to point out that I am not calling out people on their faith in any way, shape or form. I don’t know everyone’s relationship with God or their religious beliefs. A lot of the people who are giving God glory are probably fully giving Him the glory and 100% mean it. So with that said here is my issue.

The issue I have with these statements is that I often get the feeling that not everyone fully means it. At times it sounds more like something we are supposed to say. It sounds like an empty statement that people are required to say when they win an award or win a race. And God isn’t a person who wants us to offer up empty words of gratitude. 

When we go around and talk about God and aren’t fully living out His life, we aren’t giving Him the glory He fully deserves. Anybody can thank God, but being a Christian requires a lot more than a public thank you here and there. Owning a Bible, going to Church on special holidays, having the Jesus fish or Ichthus on your car, or even wearing the What Would Jesus Do gear doesn’t mean we are a Christian. If being a Christian was measured by how much God Swag we have, than Jesus teachings would have been a lot shorter. 

To sum up being a Christian briefly isn’t something one can necessarily do, but I will break down it real quick. To be a Christian means you live a life like Christ, which means we are called to love ALL people, be forgiving, accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, accept that Christ is the Son of God, believe Christ died for our sins and rose again in 3 days. If we are living life like this, than you are probably living the Christian life pretty well. 

When we aren’t living life like Christ, but yet go around proclaiming His name, we are making a HUGE mistake. We can’t say we are Christians, but hate certain people. When we aren’t fully embracing Christ and living the life He laid out for us we will come to a time in our life that will shock us all.

Luke 13:27 says, “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!” 

If we aren’t living our life’s like Christ has called us, when our time comes to stand before Him at the gates of Heaven, Christ will say He doesn’t us. This should cause some concern for those of us who call ourselves Christians yet don’t fully live it out. We should be driven to change our lives to look more like Christ and less like society. 

So when you are given the chance to give God glory remember that while He does deserve our words of praise, our actions will always speak louder than words. People are always watching what we do, but aren’t always listening. Don’t miss the opportunity to live out your thankfulness in both words and actions. 

Unequal equality

 

Last night I watched Anderson Cooper and he did a story on a pastor in North Carolina who is against same sex marriage. In all honestly saying he is simply against same sex marriage isn’t even close to how this man feels. In the story Anderson showed a clip of a sermon the pastor gave. In it he said that he thinks all lesbians should be put in a big electric fenced in area and all gays put in another electric fenced in area. This same pastor once said that 40 years ago gays would have hung from a tree. Upon watching this news story, my heart started to hurt and I actually got a bit angry. Angry at the fact that a pastor is up on the pulpit basically preaching hate.

I know that Leviticus 18:22 says, "’Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.”  I’m not going to argue for or against same sex marriage or get into my thoughts about it. Rather I want to talk about how we as Christians are called to treat others.

Galatians 5:13 says, “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.” The last part of this verse is what I want to focus on. We are told to use our freedom to serve one another in love.

To me this verse means we are to treat everyone with love and respect, no matter what. This verse should carry an even larger amount of wait when we call ourselves Christians. To be a Christian means to live a life like Christ, and I am pretty sure the Christ I read about in my Bible wasn’t walking around treating people with no respect. Jesus talked to anyone and preached love to all. So if we are to be like Christ, doesn’t that mean we should be doing the same?

Being called into ministry myself, I fully believe that every single person deserves the right to be treated with love. I will never treat somebody different because they are gay or straight. While I agree with the Leviticus verse, I am not going to treat somebody who may be gay different. I am called to love everyone and leave the judgment of sins to God. If we judge people because they are sinners than wouldn’t we have to judge everyone? We are all sinners, even those of us who have accepted Jesus into our lives. The difference is that we are saved by God’s grace.

So here is my challenge, how about we stop pointing our fingers and casting judgment. Instead what about living a life of love? When we call ourselves Christians yet don’t live out what it means to be Christian, we are only hurting the Church. If we want to draw people into Church maybe we should stop preaching hate or displaying anti-love and start actually living like Christ. There is only one real judge who can condemn us of our sins, and we aren’t Him.

I hope that this post doesn’t bring up a lot of problems, but this issue has been bothering me for a bit now. I pray that we, especially Christians, can start fully living the life we are called And yes this means to love and treat everyone the same, regardless of the sin they may live in. Cause lets face it, we are all sinners.

Godly man of Today

Most of us, whether we claim to be Christians or not, have heard a lot of the stories from the Bible. We can recall stories of many create people such as Noah who heard God’s call to build an ark, Abraham who longed for a child, became a father in his old age and was willing to offer his only son as a sacrifice to Go. We read about Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers but rises up to great power and believes that everything that happened to him was a result of God putting him in his right place. And almost all of us know about Mary who was told she would have a child even though she was a virgin, yet believed that God’s words would come true and she would be the mother of the Messiah.

The Bible we read is filled with such great and amazing stories of faith and devotion to an all powerful and loving God. People who never say God face to face, yet fully believed He was there and were willing to answer His call no matter what it was. Such amazing faith and belief like this can sometimes be hard to find today. I’m not saying they aren’t out there, but sometimes finding people who express their faith in such an amazing way can be hard to find.

Well what if I told you I know of a man who lives out his faith in such an amazing way? Would you believe me? What if I told you this man lived in Evansville Indiana, would you believe me still? And what if I told you that I just so happen to be related to this man? While I know most of my readers are probably still with me, for any new readers that may be reading I will tell you that this is very true. This man is in Evansville, Indiana and is related to me. Makes me a pretty lucky guy, wouldn’t you say?

The man I am talking about is my grandfather, Mr. Allen Dean Woodruff, the original Allen Woodruff that started this great family and name. My grandfathers has lived a life of great faith for as long as I can remember. And I’m sure if I asked my dad he could tell me that my grandfather has been living this life a lot longer than I know.

What makes my grandfather such an amazing Christian and great example of faith is that he never stops living it. He is constantly reading something that helps him study the Word. His Bible is full of bookmarks, notes, highlights, and any other kinds of note keeping things you think of. Next to his favorite seat he has a table and shelf that is filled with books about Christian living, Bibles, devotions, concordances, magazines, journals, fliers, pamphlets, stickers, and anything else that he can find to help him learn more about the Word of God. What I love about that is that this man can rattle off a piece of scripture like he wrote it himself. He knows more about the good book than anybody I have ever met, yet he continues to daily be studying it.

Another thing I love is that the man prays like he is talking to a friend he has known his entire life. He opens his heart and soul and powers it into the loving hands of our Father. When he prays out loud you can feel the honesty, love, and comfort in your own heart. His words hit you harder than anything you could ever dream of. He pours his emotion into every prayer and if tears fall from his eyes, he gladly lets them roll not ashamed of people seeing a man cry. His heart and his soul beat to the love of God and his prayers reflect that daily.

My grandfather also shows his emotions when he feels God’s sprit in him or when he see’s or hears about a loved one accomplishing great things for God. Several years ago he and my grandmother opened their home for me, my sister, and 3 cousins at the time to have Sunday school. None of us were really regular church attendee’s ,but we enjoyed every Sunday at our grandparents home. My grandfather would always have some lesson ready for us. We would read scripture, listen to worship music, pray, and each have to give a Bible verse. After a few years he told us that he had planted the seed and it was up to us to either continue to help it grow or leave it be. I personally started going to church here and there, but didn’t really get involved into church until later on. And while it may have taken me awhile to figure out things, I can fully say that my grandfather is the one to thank for guiding me on the right path.

But life hasn’t always been so wonderful. You see like many people both today and in the Bible, my grandfather faced many things in his life. He has lost loved ones, struggled with illness, and many other things that tempt us in our lives. But no matter what has been thrown his way he has never given up hope and faith in God. He pushes through everything that comes at him, even when most of us would just give up, he pushes harder and focuses more on God. His faith grabs him by his hands, says “Hold on Dean, this may get bumpy” and he comes out of it a better man.

While I love to read and study the Bible and read about all the great men and women of faith, I love the fact that I can drive a few miles down the road and sit face to face with the man who has helped change my life. I know God has done many things for me and I give Him all the glory, but I can fully say if it wasn’t for my grandfather I don’t know where I would be today. And I know I am not perfect and that I make mistakes just like any other person, but I hope that one day my faith is shining bright like my grandfathers. I hope that one day my grandkids will look at me and say, “Granddad you’re such a great example of what being a Christian is all about.” I know I have some work to do to get to that point, but I know that I have a great teacher who is always willing to help me.

Thanks for all you do Granddad. I love you more each day. You are an amazing man, husband, father, brother, friend, and Christian. The Woodruff family couldn’t ask for anything more. You are a blessing to this family and to all you meet.

Tebow Time

By now I am sure almost everyone has heard the name Tim Tebow. But just in case you haven’t he is a professional quarterback in the NFL playing for the Denver Broncos. He has been in the NFL for 2 years and this is his first official year as the starting quarterback. Many people both in the sporting world and everyday life think he won’t last as a professional quarterback. They say he isn’t a great quarterback and that he will never be as good as some of the other quarterbacks of today. While I don’t fully agree with that, this post isn’t going to be about me defending my stance on why I think Tebow is a great quarterback. It is about his faith and how he expresses it to the world.

This season a lot of pictures and videos of Tebow kneeling on the sideline have popped up online and all over sporting news. It has even become a popular pose for pictures called “Tebowing”. “Tebowing” is defined as getting down on one knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different. It is pretty crazy how one man’s act of praying has caused an Internet frenzy. I actually think it is pretty awesome that people are taking notice of his faith and prayer. However I do find it a bit sad that it has gone so crazy, to the point where people make jokes of it. Since when did pray become something to joke about?

In today’s society where we see things like drugs, sex, alcohol, partying, stealing, rape, and so many other things that go against God, it is awesome to see somebody expressing their faith so freely. It is amazing to see a Christian on t.v. who doesn’t care who he is around, doesn’t care who is watching, and doesn’t even care if he just won his first ever playoff game; hit his knees and thank God for all he has. Tebow has become a great role model for both kids and adults. Showing people that they shouldn’t be afraid to display their faith, even in front of millions.

But the question that comes to my mind is why aren’t more of us Christians doing this already? Why aren’t we displaying our faith on a daily basis? And I am not casting blame or trying to make myself look holier than anyone, because I know I am just as guilty as the next person. I know that at times my faith may not be shining as bright as it should and I am not proud of that. My every move isn’t being watched by millions or captured on camera and yet I don’t share my faith like I should. And when I see a man like Tim Tebow giving God all the glory it makes me realize that I am not living they way I should at all times.

I love God with all my heart and am so thankful for EVERYTHING he has given me. I should be showing this daily. I, like Tebow, should be hitting my knees and sending my praise up to my Father in heaven. For without God I have nothing and I am nothing. How can we not stop what we are doing, regardless of what the world around us is doing, and give thanks? It isn’t a hard thing to. There are no magic words we need to say. We just need to be honest and open our heart and talk with our Father. It’s that simple.

I pray that we Christians, and yes myself included, will be more willing to display our faith daily if we aren’t already. Who cares if people look at as differently or maybe even talk about us. As long as we are giving glory where it is due than the One that really matters will never look at us differently. And he will lovingly look down at us and say he love us and is well pleased. We don’t have to be Tim Tebow to live a life like this. Because Tebow is living a life of Christ, just like we are called. If he can do it in front of millions, we should easily be able to do it in front of a few less.

The silent supporter.

I have been part of youth ministry for 2 years now and have realized that I have a supporter that doesn’t get enough credit.

My wife supports me more than she will ever know. Now I know she tells me how much she loves my heart for youth ministry and tells me she supports me, but this weekend really brought things a lot deeper for me.

My wife, daughter, and myself along with 2 others from church came to the National Youth Workers Convention. For my 9 month old this was her first big trip and we were a little nervous. But much to our surprise she handled the long car ride perfectly. Once we got here and had our first night, things got rough. She started to get more teeth which meant she wasn’t feeling so great, plus being in a new place and not sleeping in her bed didn’t help. She didn’t sleep much so neither did we. However she pushed through and lasted the first day. The second day she was still pretty fussy and not her usual happy self. Naps werent happening so my wife and I were nervous for another sleepless night.

As I went to the big room meetings my wife stayed back with my daughter. That night she slept in our bed with my wife sleeping at the foot of the bed. Addyson, my daughter slept better but still woke up early crying. So again we had little sleep.

Today I went to the morning big room while they tried for a nap. After that we did lunch then came to try for another nap. This time she slept for an hour and half which made her WAY happier. Then at night I did big room again and Addy was asleep by the time I left.

We have one more day left and I’m hoping both my wife and Addy will be able to make the big room stuff this time. That is if the night goes well. Then the event is over and we get to spend all night together.

The reason I break down the day is because I want you to see how awesome my wife is. For those of you with kids, when they aren’t happy and are fussy it can be a bit stressful. Yet my wife was willing to stay with her at the hotel so I could learn to better my ministry skills. Even though my heart and mind wanted be with them, my wife knew that I needed to learn. And learn I did.

The most important thing I learned is that in no way could I do what I do without her. Her support goes beyond words. I know I could never fully show or tell her how much her love and support mean to me, but I know I will give my all to try.

So with that I thank you Julie Marie Woodruff for being one of the greatest blessings in my life. You and Addyson mean the world to me and knowing you both support my calling is more than any man could ever dream of. I may not always be perfect, but I thank God he gave me the perfect wife and daughter for me. Thanks for all you do and for always pushing me to be a better husband, father, and Christ follower. You are the best and I love you with all of my heart.

(Sorry if I misspelled anything, I did this on my phone)

Not a fan of Jesus

     I am sure the title of this blog post has already caused some people to freak out. It may have even caused some of you to think a little different of me. Or maybe I struck a thought with many of you and you’re interested in seeing where this goes. I promise that I will answer your questions in this post, just stick with me. So don’t jump to any conclusions just yet. Hear me out and then see where your heart and mind lead you. Hopefully it will lead you into a deeper longing for a more intimate relationship with Christ.

    Lately I have been doing some reading from articles by Pastor and Author Kyle Idleman. Kyle has a book out called Not a Fan. While I have yet to read it, I have looked into it. From my understanding the book is about not being a fan of Jesus, yet being a true follower. While many of us will go, duhh. The truth is not all of us are living up to this.

    Luke 9:23 says this, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” This is a pretty powerful statement. Just the last 2 words alone, follow me, can be a huge challenge. In fact 20 times in the New Testament Jesus issues the challenge, Follow me. Jesus isn’t interested in people simply seeing Him as an entertainer. He is calling out for to us to follow in the same footsteps as himself. We are called to, in more ways then one, be a slave to him. We are called to follow are master in not only what He says, but what He does. To live life the way He lived it. Jesus statement, “turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me”, isn’t an optional thing. If we are to be Christians and be truly Christ-like, this statement is a must.

    Jesus was never interested in making sure people liked Him. He didn’t come to Earth to become the popular guy, or to have the most friends on Facebook. He was interested in finding completely committed followers. People who would do exactly what Jesus had call them to. People who don’t care what the World thinks of them. People who aren’t afraid to go out into the World and teach the Gospel and show the World who Christ is. People who aren’t afraid to step out of the comfort zone and face the challenges being a Christian brings. The fact is nobody said being a Christian was easy. I don’t recall Jesus standing on the mountain and telling everyone that being a Christian would be something easy. At least that part isn’t in my Bible.

    So this brings me to my title. The reason I am not a fan of Jesus is because I am not called to be one. I am called to be a committed follower of the man who came to die for my sins. To wash away the stains in my life and forgive me. Even though I, like all of you, didn’t deserve His sacrifice, He gave up to us anyways. Jesus came to not only forgive us of our sins, but to teach us how we can enjoy a lifetime of love with Him. Why would you only want to be a fan of a man like that? Wouldn’t you want to listen to His call and follow Him with all your heart? If so and you’re simply just a fan of Jesus, maybe it is time to change. Jesus doesn’t care what you have done, He cares about what you will do. We all have stains in our life, but when we add the love and grace that is offered to us by Jesus, we can make those stains nothing but stories. So don’t be another fan, because Jesus doesn’t need any more of those. Be a follower.

 

http://www.notafan.com

     

Christian Fashion “Show”

Over the years I have noticed something about how people embrace Religion, Jesus, and living a Christian lifestyle. People have taken the Christian Religion and made it into a fashion trend, which isn’t all bad, but sometimes these fashion trends seem to go to far. People take something that means so much and is so amazing and we as a society take that and run with it till it becomes more of a fad, rather then being what it is meant to be. Something Holy and precious in our hearts. Something that represents our love and faith in God. Let me explain.

We all know about the WWJD saying and bracelets that were seen all over the place and sold like crazy almost everywhere. Just incase somebody is lost on what WWJD means it stands for What Would Jesus Do. I think this is an awesome way to look at your life and the things you are doing. When you are about to do something that is a bit questionable, you should think about what Jesus would do in this situation. Would Jesus go against His own teachings to do something that makes Him seem cooler and popular to a certain crowd? Of course He wouldn’t, so why would we? Then something crazy happened, the big boom in the WWJD bracelets sell, which again isn’t all that bad, but it seems like people were buying them just to have them. They didn’t buy them or wear them for anything more than fitting in with the current trend. WWJD started out with such a beautiful and amazing thought we used to help us understand our actions, and ended up being the cool thing to wear.

The next thing I have seen take off with the Christian tagline is clothing, like shirts, hats, and other things. If you go to Google and type in Christian clothing you will get 5,160,000, that is 72 pages of links you can click on. That is unreal. While some of the shirts are pretty cleaver and actually pretty cool looking, some of then are just nuts. We have all probably seen the Jesus is my Homeboy shirt which is actually pretty funny to me. While yes I love Jesus, I don’t know if I would call Him my homeboy. Something about that seems….odd.I have also seen shirts that say HISWAY based off the Subway food chain logo, one that said Jesus died for MySpace in Heaven referring to the social networking site MySpace, and even a shirt about Jesus based off the Reese’s candy. When did Jesus become something we compare to candy and social networking? That is just really funny to me.

The final thing I will hit on is something that is currently pretty popular right now, I Am Second. If you are unaware what I Am Second is it is a movement that embraces putting God first instead of yourself like so many people tend to do. The website has videos of many people from athletes, movie stars, news anchors, and musicians. They talk about their struggles in life and how they have put God first in all they do. I love this movement and think it is an awesome way to live. God should always be first, no matter what. The thing that gets to me about I Am Second is their bracelets, shirts, and other items. People have started to make I Am Second into the second WWJD fad. I have seen people I work with wearing the bracelet and not actually knowing what it meant, they said they wear it because they just like it. If you go to the I Am Second Facebook page you can see pictures of people with I Am Second tattoos, license plates, and other random things. While some of these people may be really embracing this, I have a feeling that a lot of people are falling victim to the cultural fashion trends.

I am sure by now that most of you reading this, especially those who know me, may think I am being very hypocritical. I do have and wear Christian shirts, I have an I Am Second bracelet, and I even have tattoos of a cross and an Ichthus, so how can I say all these stuff when I fall right into this category. Have no fear for I am going to tell you why I have these items and why I feel the way I do about them.

Let’s start with what I started with, my tattoos. My first tattoo, which is a cross made of nails, is a reminder to me of how Jesus came to Earth, suffered the most painful and grueling death, all because He loved me and wanted me to be free and to have a life with Him. My second tattoo, which is an Ichthus (Jesus fish), is a reminder to me that I should never be afraid to show my faith. You see back in the early church years saying you were a Christian could get you into some very big trouble, or even get you killed. People took the fish symbol and made it so that it showed you were a Christian without having to say you were. So again this reminds me that I should never be ashamed or afraid to say I am Christian, especially since so many before me died proudly expressing there faith.

Now on to my t-shirt collection. I have a few shirts that express my Christian faith. Some of them are funny some are a bit more serious. One reason I love wearing them is because people always look at them and read them. I have even had people ask me about my shirt, which has made a great way for me to plug in the Good News of Jesus. I guess you could say they have become a pretty good conversation starter.

Finally on to I Am Second bracelet. I just got mine yesterday, but so far I have already had a few people ask me about it. This, like my shirts, has become a great way for me to share God’s love and God’s word with them. People are drawn into something they don’t know and want to find out more about it. When they ask questions about my bracelet I can tell them I Am Second because I put God first and without Him being first I am nothing.

I hope that after reading what I think about these Christian fades and then reading why I partake in a few of them you understand what I am saying. I am not against Christian apparel, I just don’t like how we as a culture have turned Christianity more into a fad rather then what it is. Being a Christian isn’t about what you wear, it is about how you act. It is about believing in God the Father sending His Son to die for our sins so that we may have an eternal relationship with him.

 

 

Deep Sea Fishing

     “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,”Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered,”Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.” –Luke 5:4-11

  This passage of scripture was one thing Ben talked about at Church this past Sunday. As he read it and discussed it with us, I couldn’t help but be amazed. Simon had really just met Jesus and wasn’t one of His disciples just yet. He invited Jesus into his home and asked him to heal his mother-in-law. Jesus went to Simon’s house and did exactly that and I am sure Simon must have been in awe of Jesus at this point. Later on we come to the passage above. Just a few verses before Jesus asks Simon to row the boat out so He can talk to the people. After talking to the crowd that had gathered Jesus asked Simon to go into deeper water and cast out his nets. Simon could have easily said no, but instead he did as Jesus asked and once again Simon was blown away.

  While talking about this verse, Ben made a very awesome and heart hitting statement about so many people. When a lot of us accept Jesus as our Savior we get this feeling of just overwhelming love and happiness. We are on cloud nine so to speak. Then we stand there and ask the question “Now what?”. We get this awesome feeling so what do we do now? Far to often we do nothing. We stand there with our hands in our pockets looking off into space wondering we do now. WHY? Why don’t we continue to paddle out farther with Jesus?

   I believe that many of us are afraid to let our guard down and let the world know what and who believe in. We want Jesus in our life, but we don’t want to take Him everywhere with us. We want to be Christian, but yet we are scared of what it will cost us to go into the deep end and fully submit to Jesus. We don’t want to pay the price of calling Jesus our Master. We want Jesus to save our life, but when it comes time for us to answer the call of spreading His word we put down the paddles.

   Jesus has called us to do the same thing he called Simon to do. He has called us to go into the deep waters of this world and put down our nets. To go out and spread His word and make disciples. We don’t get anywhere by sitting in the shallow end. We have to row out farther into the deep and start putting down our nets. We have to go into this world and spread open our hearts and show the “fish” of this world who Christ is and how He loves us. We can’t be afraid of what others may think.

   I want to end with lyrics from a song by Jeremy Camp called “Not Ashamed.” In it he says “Even though few may stand and proclaim your great name. It’s the life I want to live. Cause I’m convinced there is none like you. I’m not ashamed of the Gospel, I’m not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I will stand and boldly say that this is my life.”

Being Christian(ish)

   Ever since I accepted Jesus into my life I have tried my best to live by His standards. I know I haven’t always gotten it right, but I knew that I wasn’t doing a horrible job either. I believed I was living my life right and the way Jesus wanted. I prayed, went to Church, helped others, read my Bible, was nice, and all that. I truly believed I was living my life for Christ. As I continued down the path of being a Christian, I felt that my life was a pretty good example of what a Christian was. Life was going pretty well for me……. or at least I thought I was. Then something happened that caused me to step back and think long and hard about my life. Something I didn’t really expect, I read a book.

   Now some of you know me well enough to know that I love to read. I find it relaxing and I actually find it fun. So hearing that I read a book shouldn’t be all that shocking. It’s not that I read a book that made me stop and think, it is what the book said that made me think. It was the stories and Biblical truths that the author stated that made me pause and look in the mirror. What I saw was something different then what I had seen in the past. I saw a person who needed to change. A change that would take work and time, but would be worth every moment of it. It wouldn’t only help to make me a better man, but also a better Christian.

   The book I read is called “Christianish” by Mark Steele. Now I have had this book for a while but never really got into that much. Then one day as I was looking at my bookshelf I felt the urge to read it. This was something that I would not regret ignoring.  The book talked about how many of us “Christians” live a life that is more christianish then Christ-like. The author makes a lot of great points and they all hit home with me.

  One issue the author talked about is how many Christians look for praise for the good they have done. How we often want somebody to tell us good job or to look at us like we are a celebrity for what we have done. We see Christians who help others and then turn around to see who was watching. We hear about Christians who reach out to those in need and then make sure they update their status so all their Facebook friends know they just helped somebody. We do things hoping to glorify ourselves rather then glorifying God. It’s sad to think about this, but the truth is that it happens. Some of us have done this very thing at least once in our life. To be honest, I know I have done this before and that make me sick. Why would I, somebody striving to be like Christ, want to make sure everybody knew the good I was doing? Why?

   The author also talks about love and how we are missing it. When Christ entered into this world, He came full of love. Love that he didn’t have to show us. Love that we didn’t and don’t deserve. He came into a world that was full of sin and evil, and yet He came ready to love. Christ offered His life to erase our sins so that we can be with Him forever. If that isn’t love I don’t know what is. And what does He ask of us? To love one another. Seems pretty easy right? Well yes and no. It is easy to love your family, spouse, children, friends, and maybe a few others, but Christ called us to more then that. He has called us to love EVERYBODY. To go out of our way to show love and compassion to those in need. Yet so many of us do the opposite. We go out of our way to avoid showing strangers love. We stop loving those around us we aren’t family members or friends. Why? What gives us as Christians the right to decide who we love? I mean what if Christ decided He would only love a few select people while ignoring the cries of others? And again I fall into this myself. I show my family and friends love and compassion, yet far to often I stay away from those I don’t really know. I don’t show love to those who surround me looking for somebody to just show them love and to show them that somebody in this world cares about them. People looking and searching for Christ, while the whole time I am standing there hiding behind my Christian title. And yes again this makes me sick.

    After finishing the book I couldn’t help but realize something. I was being Christianish. I wasn’t fully living up to what I had been called to. Even though I thought I was doing what Christ wanted me to, I was still missing the bigger picture. I wasn’t fully answering God’s call. I wasn’t loving in the way Christ had taught me. I wasn’t helping others in the way Christ had taught me. I was falling short of Christ’s example. I realized that I had to drop the ‘ish’ of my Christian title. Instead of being Christianish I have to start being fully Christ-like. I know it wont always be easy but Christ never said it would be. Yes I will have people who think I am crazy for showing them love, but it is what I am called to do.

    From this day forward I plan to turn away from being Christianish. To not make sure people know about the good deeds I have done or how much money I put in the offering, or how high I raised my hands during worship. From this day forward I will be what Christ has called me to be, and that is to be like Christ. All day. Everyday. Everyplace. To everyone. 

 

Reaching the Masses

 A few weeks back I was listening to the Relevant Podcast episode that featured Lecrae. For those of you who don’t know Lecrae he is a Christian rapper and is pretty darn good at what he does. They asked him about his life and what artists he likes. He said that he listens to people like Jay-Z and other current rappers who are at the top of their game. The guy interviewing him asked him why he listens to these people, who often talk about things like money, sex, drugs, and other things Christians avoid. He made by far the greatest answer ever. He said “If you’re a Christian architect you’re not going to just study other Christian architects, you’re going to study the best. It’s the same with rapping, if  I want to be the best I am going to the study the best.” I thought a lot about this and how I could apply it to my life. I actually talked to somebody about it and it went a way I didn’t expect.

 The person I talked with said they listen to a lot of Christian radio, which I do as well, but he went on to say that he feels bad sometimes when he listens to things like ESPN radio because it isn’t about God. Now I fully understand that, but for some reason it really bothered me. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about surrounding my life with Christ and being engulfed in His spirit, but I also think that we are called to more. For instance Matthew 28:19 says, “Therefore go and make disciples off all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

 So what does this verse have to do with listening to Christian radio stations or ESPN. I think it has everything to do with it and the quote from Lecrae. Christ has called us to go out and reach the masses and spread His word to the world. But how can I go out and spread the word and reach people when I don’t know where they are? How can I expect people to understand me if I don’t understand them? I believe people can’t and won’t understand me until I start to “study” them. Let me explain.

 I have been volunteering with the Youth Ministry at my home church, Blue Grass United Methodist, and it has been AWESOME. I feel like I have the kids respect and that I reach them at their level. But if I didn’t make an effort to find out what it is that interest them I would lost. I can’t expect to tell these kids about the glory of God and how much He loves them unless I know how to relate it to them. Granted I could easily get up there and let them know, but they would drift out and I wouldn’t be doing my job very well. I have to put myself where they are and interact with them. Just like Christ came down to us, to see us on our level and walk among us. If Christ can leave His throne in Heaven to capture our hearts, I should do the same. If I want to be the best possible Christian I can be, I have to study the best. And that is Christ.

 Pastor Doug Heiman said it best, we can’t separate the spiritual from everything else. Everything we do must be to glorify God. Yes I listen to ESPN radio and watch some shows that aren’t the greatest (and no it’s not Jersey Shore) but when I do I am still doing so to glorify God, or at least trying. 1 John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”

 I enjoy things that the world offers, but I do not love them. I do love my wife, my family, my friends, and most importantly God. The world can’t give me what God has and will continue to give me. It is easy to get wrapped up in things and forget the greatest treasure we have, God. If you are like me and enjoy ESPN radio or Sportscenter or Pawn Stars from time to time that’s alright, just remember where your heart is and should always be. The masses are out, you just have to be willing to do some work to get them.