Rules, Rules, Rules

There are a lot of rules in our lives. From the time that we wake up, to the time that we go to sleep, we are subject to thousands of written and unwritten rules. The social rules; that say that we need to brush our teeth and look presentable. Go to work on time, be pleasant, and responsible. The legal rules; ones that say that we need to drive the speed limit (whether we choose to follow that one or not), drive safely, and even to not steal our morning coffee but pay for it. 

Yet we know that these rules have been put into place for a reason. If we drive dangerously, or on the wrong side of the road, we know that we are likely to cause an accident. We brush our teeth because we know other people expect us to if we want to engage in conversation. And it keeps up from getting cavities. If we decide to line up and drag race through town after church today, we may gain a reputation for being a fun church; but we would also be putting ourselves and other people at risk.

In this morning’s scripture, Jesus is again being confronted by the Pharisees. Always trying to knock Jesus down, this time they are trying to discredit him by highlighting that some of his disciples aren’t following an ancient ritual of hand washing before they eat. I believe that it’s important to say that in this context, they are not saying “Hey Jesus, your guys aren’t washing their grungy hands before they eat!”This is not the case. It’s not that the hands of those disciples were particularly dirty. Rather, the people were offended that these disciples hadn’t fulfilled a man-made tradition that was considered customary in the day. They felt CROSSED that these disciples had the AUDACITY to break the rules! To go against the grain. And though the Pharisees were in the midst of the SAVIOR OF THE WORLD, they just could not get past it. They could not see what was going on RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM, because they were fixated on the rules, rather than what is possible with God.

Jewish tradition has been one of many rules; since long before Jesus. Hundreds of rules had been established at the time when Jesus physically walked alongside of us. Around 613, set, mainline rules had been enacted for members of the Jewish faith on everything from justice to eating food. These rules were set to maintain and accomplish purity among the people. To set the people apart. And so much of faith was determined by the rules you kept or didn’t keep. Utter devotion to the code was demanded.  In fact, the Pharisees of Jesus’ time spent a great deal of time debating the rules- and ascribing “weight” to them; based on the offenses. This is what it MEANT to be Jewish- what it MEANT to be a person of God. How you attended to the rules was to some regards the very essence of faith. But then God changed everything. And we can begin to understand those changes, by looking at how Jesus responds to their accusations.

As the Pharisees attempt to rip into Jesus on the rules, Jesus responds with a call for inner purity. Real purity….. Not obedience to rules, but for a heart that is truly right with God. That truly yearns to be with God.

The Jewish people had a good and thorough understanding of God. I would argue that it was better than many people today. They understood that God was pure, God was holy. Unblemished. Perfect. And they understood the need for atonement. For reconciliation for sin. And so the goal of the laws was to make themselves pure. Hoping that THIS would make them acceptable to God. This would pave the pathway to God and eternal life. In fact Jesus isn’t saying that the rules are necessarily wrong in their intentions. But they are misunderstood. Jesus is saying that God cares less about the fact that we are making all of the right motions and following a code, than he does that He has your heart. God doesn’t care that you are perfect in the eyes of other Jewish people. Or even today in the eyes of other Christians. The point is this: If we aren’t giving God our heart- our all- its meaningless. THAT is where he makes us right. That is where we gain our inner purity.

In that moment, they didn’t know the mission of Christ. They didn’t understand that the final sacrifice to put us right with God was on the horizon. Jesus was about to fulfill the law. Jesus demonstrated it again and again during his ministry. In Matthew 22: starting in verse 37 Jesus tells us: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A Second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself.”  He said that the most important law of all was a law of love. You want to find purity in God? Then you must love Him. Then you love His people in the same way.  That is how you come into the favor of God.

Jesus fulfilled the rules. It doesn’t mean that the rules have no purpose. They are there to guide us. But God changed everything through Jesus by demanding more- our hearts. Jesus took the rules to a new level.

Since I have made several analogies to driving, and the road this morning, I implore you to think of the rules that God asks us to keep as guardrails. God knows we are broken. That we are going to break the rules. They we will sometimes swerve to the right or left. So he gives us the direction that we follow in the Bible as a means of guiding us. Protecting us.

We know that on the other side of the guardrail, something exists that is worse for us than staying on the road. The guardrail guides us when we stray, when we get off course- whether intentionally or unintentionally. It keeps us safe from what is on the other side. And so it is so with the commandments. With the directions that we find in the Bible. The important thing- is that we don’t lose track of where we are going.

God cares that he has our hearts. We are his children, and he loves us. Yet we fall away. We drive through the guardrails. We worship other gods. We are idolatrous. Often our idolatry is not in the sense that we go to a strange temple and offer sacrifices to Malek, but there are indeed other gods in our lives that we worship! So Jesus calls the Pharisees of the past, as well as his people of today, to examine our inner purity. Our hearts towards God. To find out where we stand.

I would like to share some ideas on idolatry found within the book Living Our Beliefs: The United Methodist Way, written by Bishop Kenneth Carder. Carder describes some of the major things that are idolatrous, yet widely accepted by Christians and society everywhere. He talks about the three major “gods” of today. So let us examine and go through them to look behind the curtain of our outward faith, and determine where our hearts are:

The first god is Success. God bless America. Yet isn’t the “American Dream” synonymous with success? Millions of people focus on success to the detriment of everything else in their lives. As sad as it is- our society values PEOPLE in terms of possessions, having, titles, looks, degrees, or power. Yet this is not a theme of the Bible. Jesus emphasizes living as servants. Of dawning meekness. Undoubtedly when you apply the diligence and conservative principles taught to us by the Bible, you often come to have greater wealth, this is not the issue. The issue is when you make your success a bigger focus point in your life than God. Or your family. Or your neighbor. Do you know someone who might be worshipping success? 

The second god is Consumerism. Our market economy is completely based in consumerism. A god that contends that everything from goods, to people, to institutions is marketable. Sellable. Which reduces our relationships down to utilitarian function and cost-benefit considerations. Relationships are based upon what one receives from them. How is Consumerism a god, you might ask?  Let me throw a couple lines at you. I will start the sentence, and I want you to finish. So go ahead and shout it out or sing it with me if you know it-

“Everything tastes better, with a dallop of …..” (Daisy)

“A 1. A 2. A 1234- Give me a break, give me a break, break me off a piece of that ….” (Kit kat bar)

“I want my baby back. I want my baby back baby back. I want my baby back baby back ribs” Chilis, …. “ (baby back ribs)

This next one is a game. Hungry hungry Hippos, Hungry Hungry Hippos!

This one is coffee- “ The Best Part of Wakin’ Up- Is Folgers in your cup!”

We could do this all day. Want to know the crazy part? There are adults that were born after these commercials came out. The Kit kat commercial was from 1995, Chilis from 1995, Folgers from 1994. These commercials were from TWO DECADES AGO- yet we still know them by heart. How do you know if consumerism is one of your gods? When you remember jingles from two decades ago but can’t tell someone a line of the bible. Something from the word of God. I am not trying to make you feel guilty- If consumerism were a charge you could have locked me up and throw away the key.

The third god is Hedonism. I am sure everyone knows what that is. Well Websters defines hedonism as the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole of chief good in life. Statements like, “If it feels good, do it”. “If it feels right, it must be right” are examples of hedonism. Is pleasure wrong? No. But living for pleasure is dangerous. Its dangerous because ethics and morality become a matter of subjectivity. It limits God to being a celestial “Dr. Phil”. I believe that it is a driving force of why so many marriages are failing. If it is not going well, people just throw it out in pursuit of something that will "make them happy", rather than working towards biblical happiness and then sharing it with their partner. And as bishop Carder says, church becomes a “religious spa”. Being happy is not the problem, but the biblical understanding of what happiness is- becomes lost. Happiness in the Weslyan tradition is a by-product of our relationship with God. With feeling his blessing, and with participating in our relationship with Him.

So in reflecting together today, I ask you- “Where is your heart”? Has it been in a place of rules and duties that you have been following? Does your faith, that maybe at one time felt strong and alive, feel more like “going through the motions”?

Our God is a Holy God. A righteous God. A pure and unblemished God. But he is a loving God! He desires our actions, yes, but more than that- our hearts! He wants us to love him, and to daily follow Him alone! So let us live in that understanding. Put aside all other Gods, and put our intentions and focus back onto the one that is the giver of true life. Would you pray with me?

Heavenly father,

We praise and thank you. For coming down into this world, and making something new of faith. For taking our hearts of stone and replacing them with hearts of flesh and love. We are yours alone, God, and today we rededicate ourselves to your word and your way, chasing after you, as you have been chasing after us. So use us, Lord. Guide us, and keep us in your everlasting arms- this day and everyday. And its in our gratitude of the sacrifice of your Son Jesus that we pray, Amen. 

Spiritual Transformation: Part III- Sustenance

                                          “Sustenance”

By Alan McCormick 8/14/2015

Well good morning again brothers and sisters! And thank you for joining us on this 12^th Sunday after Pentecost, that day so long ago when God set his spirit upon the people and the church was born. We are in week three of a series on spiritual transformation. A necessary component of our lives if we want to truly experience God in new and exciting ways. What we need to do if we want to break free from an anemic faith. To look for and discover what God calls for us and wants for us to be. And to not only experience all that is found in God and through Jesus Christ, but to sustain it- to hold it close, and keep it; always. 

In week one we talked about that “one big obstacle that we need to overcome”. The demon or demons that each of us need to conquer to begin to turn our lives in a direction that leads towards God. This was a lesson on what we must do, to experience a transforming faith. 

In week two we talked about taking steps into becoming what God wants and has called us to be. We took a look at the scripture in Ephesians, at spiritual gifts, and examined ourselves to ask: “Where do I want to be?” “What kind of relationship to God can I aspire to?” We talked about taking tangible steps to move towards God, and what that might look like in our lives. 

This brings us to part three- the final part- about sustaining and keeping our promise and commitment towards our relationship with God. For those of you who have been in the church circle a long time and know all of the “church lingo”, you could call today “backsliding prevention”. 

Let me start by saying that it is great to be a Christian. can I get an amen on that? I talk a good game about being a Christian. I encourage everyone to become Christians. Why? Because having faith in Jesus Christ changes lives. I have been a Social Worker a long time now. I have witnessed transformations (small and large), but I can say that I have NEVER witnessed transformation in my secular job like those that I have witnessed when someone embraces Jesus Christ and starts living for him. There is nothing like it!

But- and there is always a but- It is not easy to be a Christian. And it’s getting harder and harder too. Being a Christian will right countless wrongs in your life- and you WILL be blessed by it. But you will never hear me preaching a prosperity gospel up here. If you accept Jesus, imitate him and live out his gospel- your life will not suddenly become only rainbows and you will receive every new truck you like at the dealership because you are now blessed by God. That’s not how it works. Will your life improve? I’m sure of it. But like the military, once you are in- you have a duty to do. It’s tough! Sometimes it feels like the world is on your shoulders. And a lot of times- somebody’s world IS on your shoulders. And then we Christians have a tendency to wear each other down on top of it. Concerning ourselves with details and trivial nuances- attacking each other over such little things- fighting a microscopic civil war- when just outside our church doors is World War III. A battle for souls! A Battle for love.

 So it’s easy to cave. It’s easy to throw in the towel. It’s easy to back out; you stumble into a hard rock on your journey of faith, stub your toe; then cry out “I’m NOT PLAYING ANYMORE!” When you lose your job, your car breaks down, or even worse, you lose a loved one. Someone dear to you- who was your rock. When life must go on but it hurts just to get up in the morning. What do you do THEN?  What will you do? And the truth is- we can’t make it through these parts if we aren’t always and continuously seeking God. Seeking his sustenance. Putting our weights and troubles on Him, and trusting that he will deliver.

We are talking this morning on a piece of scripture that quotes Jesus on a remarkable statement. A statement that is profound, and was even alarming to the people listening to him. This morning Jesus says, starting in the book of John in Chapter six, beginning in verse 51:

                                    “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

                                    Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread,

                                    Which I offer so that the world may live, is my flesh”

This is a PROFOUND thing to say. This is why it fired the people up. Jesus links himself to the manna that the Israelites ate while in the wilderness. The manna that needed to be sought after and collected every day. Manna that sustained people during the hard times. 

My best friend, Paul, has been delivering a sermon series this month on this statement alone. It is loaded. A lot can be taken from it. But where I am going with it is this: we need to understand the manna. If we want to have a remarkable relationship with God, and be “full grown” in faith, we must approach our faith as the Israelites approached the manna:

The first thing that we need to know about the manna, is that it was food given freely to the Israelites during the time that they were awaiting the promised land. It sustained them, and was given out every day from the heavens.

Second, it couldn’t be saved. If they tried to collect extra manna and store it away, it would be rotted the very next day. Why is that important? It made the people seek it, made them dependant on God.

Jesus is our manna. Our position with God and our relationship with him is freely given to us. Yet like the Israelites we must go out and get it every day. We must keep ourselves dependent on God. We cannot get to proud to go to God in prayer. We must never think that we know enough of the Bible to stop reading or studying it. We must seek sustenance. We must daily pray to God, every day, and in every moment we can. We must live with gratitude towards him. We need to always continue to step up our bible knowledge, and come to an understanding of the fullness and completeness of Gods promises. We should seek out solid Christian friendships, where we can support each other and be transparent and open.

On the physical side of things we must not burn ourselves out. Our scripture in Ephesians makes some clear points about how we should live. Is that because God wants to restrict us? No! Instead it is because God knows that when we don’t take care of ourselves, or that when we drink, we start making poor judgment calls- and then before we know it we are back to our old ways or buried in another sin. 

I am no different from you… But if all the time we have spent together boils down to one thing, I pray that it is that you have begun to seek out and find opportunities and the degree of faith that God has in store for you. You are never to young, to old. Or too far gone. You are only loved.

Would you pray with me?

Heavenly Father,

We praise and thank you for blessing us. Blessing us with your word. Blessing us with your spirit. And for blessing us with the tools to change our lives. To live different. To be different. To have relationships with you and others like no other. Only you father give us these things. And with gratitude we come to you with hearts ready to receive it. In you glorious name we pray, Amen. 

Unlocking Spiritual Transformation- Part II "Full Grown"

Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-16, Ps 51:1-12
Thank you for joining us this week, for part two of our series on spiritual transformation. 

Last week was an interesting week. If you missed it or just plain ole’ forgot it, we discussed the story and trials of King David, and how his issue with lust got him into a lot of trouble; and how the sin that David committed quickly snowballed out of control, as sin often does.

We talked about how we all tend to have that “one thing” that holds us back. That major thing we battle with, that keeps us from truly growing spiritually and experiencing God and our faith in ways like never before.  We spoke about some practical steps to overcoming this barrier; and about laying down our lives before God and fully giving it all to Him.

Last week was about a major thing that we are to DO, if we are to truly be changed and be used by Jesus. 

There are things that MUST be done if we want a Christian faith that is more than a smile and a handshake on Sunday morning. We don’t necessarily always want to do it- I understand that. But they MUST be done. What happens if I put off staining the deck year after year? It ROTS! It becomes useless. Eventually it gets to a point when it needs to be torn down and rebuilt. And like we learned from David last week, isn’t getting torn down and rebuilt much harder; and costlier? The same is true of our spiritual lives! We need to put in the work to see the reward!

In taking a look at today’s scripture, we can see that today is about the next step. It is about what we want TO BE, and even more; what we are called to be. Today we are challenged by the Apostle Paul to “live a life worthy of our calling”. In the scriptures this morning Paul speaks out to us about the truth of Jesus in words shared by the Psalmist in Psalm 68 Verse 18:

When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives, and gave gifts to his people

Christ Descended to the world. He lived, he toiled. Like you and me he was tempted and suffered. But yet, when his work was done, he ascended and he is bringing you and I with him- but now we are No longer captives of what has been keeping us from God, from the heartbeat of true life, and the arms of Jesus.

I spent a great deal of time this week, in contemplation on spiritual transformation, on the decline of church in America, and what it is that I feel the Apostle Paul is getting at in this section of the letter. So I would like to share with you a story. Use your imagination with me. You can follow along, close your eyes if you want to- just don’t fall asleep. 

There are two men. They are young men in their early twenties, and they are neighbors, living across the hall from each other in an apartment building. They have built a friendship, mostly over a common interest. Both men want to become professional athletes. But both are living in the apartment building because, so far, it hasn’t gone well. Although both have been given gifts that could enable them to become great athletes, so far they have fallen short. They are doing decent in life, but the full potential of what could be has not been discovered.

One of the young men, Matt, we will call him, is an exercise fanatic. Early in the morning he goes off to the gym. After work he goes to the gym. He keeps up the neighbors up at night doing jumping jacks, pushups and pull-ups. He exercises so much that he never has time to eat. So to save time he often cooks ramen noodles, or something quick and easy. But regardless of how much exercise he does, it never seems to make much of a difference. He is weak, and he makes little or no gains.

John, on the other hand, dislikes exercises. He is often bored with doing repetitive exercise alone, so no longer bothers. Instead, John prefers to eat only healthy, nutritious food. Because of this, he feels that the exercise isn’t necessary. So every day John heads out to find the best organic, local ingredients and cooks the very best, healthy meals.

One day the two men meet in the hall, and discuss how they have been struggling as Athletes.

“Come over for dinner tonight, and we will talk more”, John says. So that night they get together over a healthy meal and give each other pointers on how to become better athletes. And the conversation becomes so interesting that John decides to join Matt on his nightly workout regime. The next day, both men have their best days as athletes yet. 

So what happened?

It’s obvious in these terms, is it not? When we are talking about wellness, its clear to see that Matt needs to eat better food and John needs to exercise. Its easy to see that in their friendship, they boosted each other up by supporting each other as athletes. Most everyone can tell you that if you want to be professional athlete, you need to have a good combination of healthy diet and lots of exercise. 

So how is this different from our Christian walk? How is this different from our relationship with God? With becoming a mature Christian? If you want TO BE something in Christ, you chase after God will all you have. You commit to it. You partner with other Christians to build each other up. You use the spiritual gifts that He has given you. If you want to use them well, you need to train yourself.

We train ourselves by taking in spiritual food. Like listening to sermons, reading your bible, meditation, learning about the theology behind our faith. I could go on and on. Exercising your faith, in contrast, is about employing your spiritual gifts, praying with people, chasing after God in every area of your life.

 If you don’t eat enough spiritual food, your faith is anemic. You become weak. If you only consume lots of spiritual food but never exercise it, you may become fat and happy; but it never counts for anything. You can’t score if you’re not in the game.  You may be the best at something that can be used by God, for the transformation of yourself and of the greater world. But like these men you haven’t met your full potential. In teaming up, like Matt and John, sharing our gifts, graces and knowledge, we become better equipped and better trained.  

Paul talked about much in this section of his letter to the church in Ephesus. But this is the key. BE what God wants you to be, BE someone different- through the gifts and graces that you have received. Live a life worthy of the calling. Grow and mature as a Christian, seeking to someday become “full grown”, and Christ calls you home.

This morning I want to challenge you to create a list of the “To Be’s”. A list of the areas of your life that you wish to improve on, or be remembered by. These items will symbolize both where you want your relationship with God to be, as well as your legacy once God calls you home. Where do you want to be? What do you want to be remembered by?

It might sound like this:

11.)  To be someone with a strong prayer life.  Who feels a very real connection with God while you pray.

22.)  To be someone who walks with humility and servant leadership.

33.)  To be someone who holds close the truth of Jesus Christ. Someone who stares down adversity and crisis situations and lives in a comfort and hope, even when faced with the toughest situations life has to through at them.

Get it out on paper. When its down on paper you are more likely to do it. Then take a real honest look at your items, and figure out, What do I need to do to get there? Who should I team up with? Take the next steps necessary to live like no one else, so that you can experience God in a real and true way like no one else.

Many, many times have I gotten into conversations with people and they have said “Well you know, I used to go to church but I never got anything out of it” or “It didn’t make a difference in my life”.  My answer to these folks is usually two questions- “What did you do to grow closer to God” and “Did you try to become like Jesus with every ounce of your soul?” The answer is usually silence or an unsure no. Somehow our society has bought into this idea that you just come to church and God transforms your life like a spiritual genie. Or not. But the truth is that although the transformation of life through Christ is a gift, yes; we need to go through the effort of unwrapping it. Who would leave a million dollar check in the mailbox but not go through the effort to get up, go out and check it? Don’t let a priceless gift go to waste by inaction. 

Unlocking Spiritual Transformation- Part 1

Scriptures: 2 Samuel 11:1-15, Psalm 14: 1-3

The last couple of weeks God has had a sense of humor with me, because I feel that he has challenged me to speak about difficult subjects within His churches. And with churches that don’t yet know me. I have been blessed the last few weeks with the opportunity to come into new churches on first impressions, all smiles, and then have to get up to the front and be like “thanks for having me, its been great to meet you, praise God, (NOW LETS TALK ABOUT THE GREATEST SIN YOU COMMITT THAT IS IN THE BIBLE) Little tough God… I will say that sometimes as we follow the lectionary we get some tough subjects. 

Today, as you may have noticed from our scriptures, is rated R. But God is good, and I just can’t praise him enough for using me. I am just a normal person- no different than anyone else here, really. Yet he keeps surprising me by letting me speak at churches- even though he knows how crazy I am.

But I sure am a lot less crazy today than I once was.  And that has a lot to do with what we are talking about today.  Today is special because we are talking about something that has the potential to change our entire lives. We are talking about something that if we embrace it, it will change our entire relationship with God and with other people. If you have been on a plateau with God, this thing will take you to the next level. Mastering this one thing can CHANGE EVERYTHING! 

Lets get into it by getting into the word of God this morning. Today we are focusing on the Good King David and the not-so-good things that David got himself into. Has any of you ever gotten into something they shouldn’t have and then had to suffer the consequences?                

Now in this part of the story our king David, a man that was once a lowly shepherd, with nothing, has been raised up.  God brought David from a place where he had nothing into being a KING. Into a place where he had ALL of the worldy things he could possibly want, plus some. Yet what happened? Well the same thing that happens to today’s celebrities, really. David wanted even more. David wanted what he couldn’t have. David got a little proud. Showed a little apathy towards God. David thought- I am KING! And when the king wants, the king gets! In the heat of the moment, David forgot who the real king was.

So David is looking out over the kingdom, oh so proud of the kingdom he has built. And he sees an attractive young woman. And so maybe the first time he looked out, or maybe over many times of checking her out he says to  one of his advisors-

Who is THAT?  And hes told- She is Bathsheeba. She is the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah of Hittite. Why is this important? Perhaps it is important because Uriah is known to be a dedicated and honorable soldier. What this should have told David is- don’t go there. These are honorable people that serve you faithfully. But David is caught up in the temptation. So he proceeds anyway. He takes the next steps. He has her brought in, has affairs with her, then a few weeks later, she gets pregnant.

Does he turn from the sin, does he fess up? No! He calls for Uriah to come home, then repeatedly tries to get him to go home with his wife so that he can cover it up by passing off the kid to be Uriahs. And I have heard people say that the bible is boring?!

Well unfortunately for David, Uriah, is so honorable as a soldier that he wont do it. Anyone know a soldier? I come from a military family so I sure do. And one thing I know is this- guys and gals CANNOT WAIT to get on home for some leave. What is better? But Uriah is soooo committed, he wont even go home. He literally says “Look, I can’t do that. My brothers are out there fighting. I owe it to them. I don’t deserve it when I know that they are out there fighting and dying. So he sleeps outside and wont even go home.

It only gets worse. Now King David is in a conundrum. Does he make a good choice here?? No- he digs himself even deeper, escalates his sin even more by sending Uriah back into battle with a sealed letter to his nephew and general Joab that says to get Uriah killed in battle. So as they rush into battle Uriah is on the front lines, then suddenly Joab pulls back the forces. And Uriah, a innocent and honorable man, is killed. And several other good men who are completely innocent, are killed as well.

Well that really spun out of control, didn’t it? Did you follow it? This thing started with just looking at a woman through a window- and people are DEAD. Then the child born out of this tragedy DIES. How does this happen?

The truth lies in understanding how Sin works. The biggest sins NEVER start out that way. It starts out small. It starts out usually in a specific area of our lives that we struggle with. It sneaks in. We fall into a little area of it and before we know it gets OUT OF CONTROL. Its  becomes something we don’t intend it to. Its like the alcoholic that says that is just going to have “one beer”. It doesn’t work that way! You cant toe around in sin and expect your life not to be affected by it. When we do that we are limiting what our lives can be, what our lives can become. Sexual sins are some of the worst, but it could be anything. Jealousy, anger, pride, alcoholism, you name it.

In working in social work for ten years now, I can tell you definitively that I have watched people crash and burn from making the same mistakes THOUSANDS of times. Over and over people can make the same mistakes without even realizing it, or even worse, do realize it- yet keep doing it. We come to church for a reason. We no longer need to do this. We no longer are people who need to suffer from choices gone bad. We don’t need to get caught in the cycles.

EVERYONE has or has had that ONE THING that has been holding them back from experiencing that incredible life and faith. That one thing that kept them from a relationship with God like no other. What is yours? I bet you already know. What causes you to sin? What traps you? What is holding you back in your life and relationships? If you have already overcome it- PRAISE GOD. Be a light to that victory and help another through it. 

Even my son is a testament to this truth. Now I want to preface this story with saying that I have amazing, wonderful children. I have really been blessed with my kids. And I am so proud of each one of them. But they are human and make mistakes, and I try to somewhat gently guide and correct them when this happens. Recently, Ethan, my 8 year old, was entrusted to take twenty dollars to add to his lunch account at school. Some days later, he comes home with a bunch of stuff from the school store. I said “Ethan, where did you get the stuff?” “The school store” he says. And without skipping a beat he adds- mom gave me some money for the school store. Fair enough, I thought, and I go about my business. A couple days later mom asks about the money I gave Ethan to go to the school store. Wait a minute!. Well as it turns out, our sweet little innocent child, got a little tempted while passing the school store. And then lied, and then lied some more, and tried to cover it up. While making a mistake mis-spending the money that he was entrusted to bring for lunch was bad enough, some cover up lying compounded his problem. And what wouldn’t have been a big deal had he come clean about it- turned into a much bigger deal. Needless to say Ethan worked a very productive couple of days at a lemonade stand, just to turn over his profits as restitution. And in the meantime heard lectures from dad on honesty and integrity. An important lesson learned.

It starts early, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be this way. For that one thing that you struggle with, God teaches us through the bible three simple steps in overcoming our problem and having victory with our sins. I didn’t personally make them up- so you know that they are much more reliable. They really work.

11.)  First, Go to God in earnest prayer to help you stay away from the people, places, and situations that may tempt you. Of course this is to help you to break the cycle. The other piece to it is true repentance. I have found that in my own struggles, when I have approached God seriously with this from the bottom of my heart he has provided a way out that I then chose to take or not. But he provides it.

22.)  Memorize and meditate on portions of scripture that combat your weakness. I can’t stress that enough. Nothing else could possibly train you as well as this as when you identify your problem coming on. Its like a pessimist becoming an optimist. If they have really been practicing optimism, it is much easier to see the pessimism when it comes out.

33.)  Find another strong believer that you can share your struggles with. Those individuals who I mentioned earlier who have overcome their greatest struggles- its time for those people to shine. Seek out someone who has won your battle. Would you rather disarm a bomb with a hairdresser or a skilled demolition squad leader? 

  

    These simple steps can help us to begin to live life differently- in a way that will build up our relationship with God, as well as improve life in general. If we choose to follow them, who knows what God could have in store for us. We didn’t get into the outcome of today’s story with David, but after some solid discipline and David’s heartfelt repentance, God used David in amazing ways. After all, David was the ancestor of Jesus. And there is no greater honor than that.