A Mind to Serve

The one thing that continues to hit home with me on this Christian walk is that this life is not about me. For longer than I care to remember, I made everything about me, even as a Christian. I was totally self absorbed. I know some of you may be thinking, "Well, it's about time you figured that one out. That's Christianity 101." It took me far too long to reach the conclusion that everything does not revolve around me. My old perspective was, "What about me!" Notice, I ended the question with an exclamation point instead of a question mark. That's because I didn't ask the question, I demanded it. I demanded that everyone take notice of me and my wants. If I was tired and didn't feel like cooking I thought... If I changed the baby last time, I thought...If I couldn't get a new outfit, I thought, "What about me!" I was totally consumed by thoughts of myself. I put me first, and I expected everyone else to put me first too. It's been a process, but I've learned that this life is so much bigger than me. Once I got the revelation that God has my complete back... that my life is in his hands... that he has good plans and intentions towards me, and that he has plans to prosper me, I realized that He had me better than I could ever have myself. I had to take the trust that I had in myself and place it in him. Since I reached this understanding, I've had to beat my flesh and consider others, not just when it was convenient, but at all times. I had to actually practice putting the needs of others first. Believe me when I tell you that this was by no means easy for me to do. Talk about painful, my flesh was so uncomfortable with putting the needs of others first that it wailed under the pressure. Honestly, doing this right thing felt so wrong to my flesh. Boy, I had to talk myself into it. While serving someone else, " I'd have to tell myself, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me." From time to time, my flesh would attempt to rise up and whisper, "What about..." I wouldn't let it finish. I'd stomp it right back down again. Over time, it became less and less difficult to do. I can now say that serving is a way of life for me. Instead of saying, "What about me!" I say, "What about you?" I know that my role in the kingdom of God is to serve others. That's what I do. I am a servant of the Lord. This is what all Christians are called to do. We are to imitate the number one servant, Jesus Christ. In Matthew 20:26-28, Jesus shared with his disciples, "Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." If Jesus came to serve, without consdering himself, then who was I for all those years to only consider myself? Who was I to think, "This serving thing is too hard." Jesus came to serve. Imagine being born to serve. As deep as that is to me, that's exactly what I and all Christians are called to do. The nerve of me. I placed my self in the position of being great without the work of servitude that was involved. As a Christian, I have the mind of Christ. Since Christ had a mind to serve, we should too.

The Easy Button

I love that commercial where individuals find themselves in tough situations and get themselves out by pushing the easy button. Man, I can't count the number of times that I wished for an easy button. When my husband had the nerve to ask for peanut butter cookies at 10:00 at night as though I really want to trudge down to the kitchen and put them in the oven, when I bounced a check yet again and my husband reminded me yet again to tell him when I wrote a check so that he could transfer funds from one account to another, when I was teaching Sophomore Comp. & Lit. my back was turned to the class while writing on the board and a student walked in late wearing a Spiderman mask and matching web attachment but acted as though he didn't know why the entire class erupted in laughter, when my youngest cut up in church and upon her removal screamed at the top of her lungs, because she didn't want the punishment that she knew would ensue, I thought the use of an easy button was highly appropriate at times like those. I liked the idea of an easy button, because it would have totally taken me out of any messy and uncomfortable situation where I would have had to crucify my flesh, where I would have had to think and reevaluate what it was I was doing and why, and where I would have been forced to question if my present set of actions were valid. I would have been avoiding situations that I must face and endure for my own good to bring about necessary changes in my thoughts, attitudes, actions, and speech. But rather than go through this, I could just press a button... a button of escape...a way out of the hot seat. It is tempting, isn't it? Imagine if an easy button had been in existence throughout the Bible. The Bible would surely tell a different story. We wouldn't have to "...look to the hills from which cometh our help..." We would all just look for the easy button. What if Moses and Aaron had an easy button when they went to Egypt to discuss with Pharoah allowing the Israelites to make a three day journey into the desert to worship their God. Moses and Aaron could have just hit the button and deliverance could have immediately come to the Israelites from Egypt? There would have been no plagues, no Passover, no crossing of the Red Sea, nor would there have been an opportunity for the Israelites to see the miraculous works of their God that would lead to their growing trust in him. What if King Nebuchadnezzar had an easy button at his disposal after Daniel interpreted his dream? Although, it would have saved him from living like a wild animal for seven years, it would have prevented him from learning humility and that God is in control of all. What if Abraham and Sarah used their easy button instead of waiting on the Lord to give them Isaac? How would he have learned to trust God that he would be a "father of many nations?" An easy button may seem like an appropriate fix for a bad situation, because it's quick, fast, and in a hurry, but it doesn't allow its user to look to the Lord to learn, to grow, and to be patient in their present situation. It negates the learning process associated with these situations. See, with one press of the button you transcend the obstacle that you're facing and are placed on the other side of it. It's instant deliverance from the situation without the benefit of the wisdom that comes from working through the situation. We would be a bunch of immature, paper thin Christians who never realize our full potential in Christ. We'd never have to reach our full potential, because we wouldn't have to rely on it, because with one press we'd simply find everything fixed. Once again, I'm reminded that there are no short cuts in Christ, for there is much to be learned through the process... the process of putting down the flesh, the process of being patient, the process of gaining wisdom, the process of growing faith, the process of becoming more and more like Christ. Right now, it's easy for me to feel this way about the easy button, because I'm not in the hot seat. Right now my husband isn't asking for cookies, I no longer teach high school English, and my little one now behaves just fine in church. However, I must remember that I should treat my husband to cookies in bed every now and again. He deserves this simple treat, because he does work hard. I must remember that kids will be kids no matter the age or the place. Just because I didn't find the Spiderman costume entertaining, it gave my second hour class quite a laugh and provided them with a little mental break from the lesson (I now find it hilarious everytime I think about it). I am reminded that children must learn to sit quietly in church and this usually doesn't happen over night, so I should have been more patient with my little one. Although I don't intend on finding myself in the hot seat any time soon; however, if ever I am, I'll have to remember my sentiments today about the easy button.

Move Making Faith

In Matthew 20:29-34, "Two blind men were sitting by the road side, and when they heard that Jesus was going by they shouted, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us! The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, Lord son of David, have mercy on us!" The two men knew what they wanted and they knew who could give it to them. Their faith caused them to make a move. The pair didn't just sit there wishing for their sight. The pair didn't just sit there hoping for their sight. They made a move to get their sight. They did the uncommon. They got out of the boat! The two blind men acted on their faith in the Lord. They came forth boldly and became even louder. They stood in defiance to the crowd. They were full of faith and determination. It was their faith that gave them the courage to press forward. It caused them to determine to stop at nothing less than full sight. They would not be deterred. They knew that something had to give. They didn't care that the crowd rebuked them. They didn't care about what people thought. The pair was desperate for change. They didn't allow others to stop them from getting what they knew the Lord could give them. The crowd didn't understand what it was like to be blind. They couldn't have possibly have comprehended the despair the pair may have felt up to that point. The very thing that many in the crowd may have taken for granted was the very thing that both men needed. Now was the time for them to get it. The blind men were focused on the Lord, not the crowd, because they knew he was the answer. Jesus stopped and called them, "What do you want me to do for you?" he said. "Lord" they answered, "We want our sight. Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes, immediately they received their sight and followed him." What do you want Jesus to do for you? They stepped out on faith. The two received exactly what they came to get. Now, this story could have ended entirely different. The pair could have allowed the crowd to determine their fate. They could have given into the crowd. They could have become embarrassed by the crowd and stopped calling to Jesus. They could have quieted themselves before they received their sight. They could have left that day still blind and ashamed. However, their faith allowed them to stand in the face of opposition from the crowd. The two men lacked their sight. What are you desperately lacking? Will youget out of the boat and withstand adversity for it? Their faith said that Jesus could do it, and he did. What does your faith say?

Get Out of the Boat

At some part in our Christian walk, we must reach that defining moment when we make the decision to trust God about a particular situation. That is the moment according to 2 Corinthians 5:7 that we must, "Walk by faith and not by sight." At some point we have to put our faith in the Lord and trust him to carry out his word. However, we must first walk out our faith, put our money where our mouths are, do the thing and move on our faith. The disciples were faced with that defining moment in Matthew 14:25. After Jesus and the disciples finished feeding 5,000 men not including the women and children, he told the disciples to get in the boat and to go ahead of him to the other side. Once he sent the crowd on their way, Jesus went to pray alone on a mountain. When Jesus finished, he caught up with the disciples on the lake. Jesus walked on water. "When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they said," and cried out in fear. "But Jesus immediately said to them, Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." "Lord if it's you, "Peter replied, "Tell me to come to you on the water." "Come", he said. "Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink cried out, Lord, save me! Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him." "You of little faith," he said, "Why did you doubt?" His own disciples didn't know who he was. They had been with him daily watching him do all types of miracles, healing, freeing, feeding, and raising. They had seen him do all of this, yet they didn't know him. Instantly, they put him in a box. The diciples may have thought, "Well, he can only do those things we've seen him do before. We've never seen him do this, so he can't. Walking on water, we've never seen him do this, so that can't be him. It must be a ghost. Although he's fed 5,000 men in addition to woman and children, raised the dead, healed numerous, released numerous from demon possession, fed the multitudes, taught everywhere he went, that can't be him." They only had a faith for what they had previously seen. If they hadn't already seen it, they didn't believe it. For them, seeing was believing. How was that faith? Faith is believing what you don't see. As they cried out in fear of him, he said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." Then Peter spoke up. Peter still wasn't sure it was Jesus because he said, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you." Peter said, "if." Now, Peter was a step ahead of the other disciples, because he was attempting to believe even with his "if." "Then Peter got out of the boat, walked on water, and came toward Jesus." At least Peter got out of the boat, none of the other disciples did. Peter did something. He was a willing participant in the faith process. Instead of sitting back and watching, Peter made a move on his faith. He acted by getting out of the boat. The Lord can work with little faith. He can't work or do anything with no faith but with little faith he could work with him. Peter's little faith allowed him to get out of the boat and walk on water too! What can our little faith cause us to do? His move of faith caused him to do something that none of the other disciples did. Look at what faith can allow one to do. In order for the Lord to reward our faith, we have to work it by doing. We have to attach our faith to an act, just like Peter did. He attached his faith to walking on the water with the Lord. It worked! He was actually walking towards Jesus. His eyes were set on Jesus. He had Jesus as his focus. He was doing it. We must do as Peter did and attach our faith to something. Sooner or later, we must act on our faith and get out of the boat. Some may think, "I'm staying in the boat. If I never get out of the boat, I'll never get scared and sink. I'mgoing to play it safe." If we never get out of the boat, we will never lead the supernatural lives that God has called us to live. We can only play it safe when we abide by the word of God. His word is a safe haven for us. His word abiding in us should cause us to act. To never get out of the boat is proclaiming, "Lord I don't trust you. Lord I don't believe your word is true." Our faith can't grow if we don't get out of the boat. We will never have a testimony to stand upon or recall for the next boat situation. But..."But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" What happened? Peter took his eyes off Jesus. "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" He lost his focus. He took his eyes off the Lord and saw the wind. He saw the wind whipping fiercely, and it distracted him. He became distracted and lost his focus. The wind looked menacing, like it might over take him. He may have thought, "What made me thing I could do this? I should have stayed in the boat with the rest of them. What was I thinking?" Distraction here is key. The purpose of distraction is to cause one to lose focus. Once focus is lost, it is inevitable that doubt will likely enter. Doubt may have caused Peter to wonder why he was doing what he was doing eventhough he had the OK from God. It was Peter's responsibility to remain focused. It was Peter's responsibility to say I will not be deterred. At times like this we need to proclaim, "Wind you don't have anything on me. If my God said come, nothing's going to stop me. Lord you have not given me a spirit of fear, but of love, peace and a sound mind. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." It is our duty to remain focused. We can't allow ourselves to get caught up in the enormity of the situation (self, stress, pressure, busyness) that we lose focus. Distraction was definitely doing its job effectively here. While Peter focused on Jesus, he was fine, full of confidence. The instant that he took his eyes off Jesus, he became afraid, doubtful, and started to panic. Don't allow distraction to enter. When he saw the wind he was afraid, and he started to sink. He said, "Lord save me!" Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "Why did you doubt?" Notice the doubt could only creep in when Peter took his eyes off the Lord. This is a valuable lesson, "Keep your focus on the Lord." Focusing on anything other than the Lord is a distraction which can lead to doubt, and doubt can cause sinking. We should wear spiritual blinders to keep us focused straight ahead on the Lord. Blinders will prevent us from seeing distractions (barriers, obstacles, snares, wind) to the right or the left. The wearer can only look straight ahead. This is how Christians should walk. We must walk a focused walk with blinders, so that we don't become distracted and sink. Eventhough Peter began to sink, Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him. He caught Peter even when he was sitting down on the job. He caught Peter even when he was doubting. Jesus caught Peter even we he had little faith. Get out of the boat and exercise your faith today.