Renewal of the Mind

November 28, 2008 · Filed Under thoughts · Comment 

I’ve really been thinking a lot about this concept of renewing our minds. You hear it quite a bit in churches, sermons and Christian teachings, but I want to know what that looks like. What does it mean to renew your mind and thoughts?

Here are two scriptures that stand out the most:

    Ephesians 4:21-24
    Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

    Romans 12:1-2
    And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice–the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Both of them talk about renewing our thoughts and mind, but I just realized something interesting about those two scriptures. In both of them, Paul encourages us, pleads with us, to throw off our sinful ways and surrender our bodies to God before the renewing can happen. We must rid ourselves of this carnality and give our bodies (our mind, our soul, our emotions, our decisions) to God.

Right now in my life, I am so desperate for a spiritual renewal. I can’t really describe it in detail, but it comes down this–I’ve been a Christian since 1991, about 17 years now. Early in my faith walk, I was on fire for God. I was passionate, zealous, hungry to learn as much as I could. I devoured the Word, I prayed with passion, I sought God with all my heart.

Today, I don’t. I don’t pray with passion as I did. I don’t devour the Word as I did. I don’t pursue God as much as I did in the past. And, that bothers me. I really want to chase him with even more passion than before, but something in me is just complacent in my walk with God.

A lot of that may have to do with my current financial and familial position–they are phenomenal! We are out of debt, and my business is thriving! My family is awesome. My marriage is strong, my teenage son is a joy to be with and I love spending time with my family. All is well. And I know that’s a gift from God. I know it is. It just seems so easy to get complacent, lazy and spiritually lethargic when all is going well.

My deepest pursuits of God have always been in the darkest times of my life. And now, this lack of passion, this lack of enthusiasm, this lack of self control is driving me into this spiritually dark season in my life, and I don’t like it.

I want to passionately pursue God with all my heart.

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Destiny and Purpose

November 23, 2008 · Filed Under purpose · Comment 

I’m one of those destiny and purpose kinds of people. I love thinking about the bigger picture. I love doing what I was created to do, so I’m driven by my destiny. What am I supposed to do? I think it’s a question that all of us needs to answer, and not just once, but continually.

Back in April of 2004, I read a book called “God is My CEO“, and in the appendix, there was a template for your personal business plan. So, I spent a month writing out my personal business plan. Forty pages later, I landed on my three goals:

  1. To get completely out of debt, mortgage and all.
  2. To make a feature film.
  3. To step full-time into ministry work.

Those were my goals. Interestingly, by the end of 2004, a big project came in and we paid off our mortgage. Wow, that was fast. Goal 1 is done.

In 2005 I resigned from my job to start a production company, and by the end of 2006, we had all of our funding for a feature film. In 2007 we shot the film and by the end of 2007, I had made my first feature film, Fissure. Goal 2 was done.

At this point, you may be thinking, that must feel wonderful, having completed your goals so quickly. Yes, kind of. Another part of me is, “what now?” I kept thinking “full-time ministry” would be in my late 50’s, early 60’s, not my early 40’s. I didn’t quite expect it to happen that fast.

This past week, our church kicked off a beta run of a new program called Emerge. It helps you focus in on your strengths by using a variety of tools. One of those tools is Gallup’s Strengths Finder 2.0. That alone has been wonderful!

Then, with these strengths in mind, you begin to map out your calling and destiny. Using key action words that define your drive, and mapping those into your passion and the people who stir your heart the most, you develop and shape your mission and vision statements.

Let me tell you what I’ve discovered so far. (I say “so far”, because there is so much more to be discovered.) Let me start by mapping out some of the things I discovered about myself:

STRENGTHS

    1. Learner - People strong in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them. 

    2. Relator - People strong in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.

    3. Responsibility - People strong in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.

    4. Individualization - People strong in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.

    5. Belief - People strong in the Belief theme have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life.

These descriptions are found the the Strengths Finder’s book. I grabbed these descriptions off of someone’s blog about Strengths Finder.

Then, we were shown a list of “Action words”, and told to scan them quickly and see which ones stand out, which ones jumped off the page. I narrowed it down to the top six, and then then top three. Finally, I put them in the order that made the most sense to me.

Those three key Action Words were:

  1. Understand
  2. Communicate
  3. Inspire

Then, with our new destiny ingredients, we started crafting our vision statement. The first task was to identify a people group, or types of people that are important to us. Immediately, two groups of people came to mind–lost people (non believers) and hurting people (both believers and non-believers). Knowing that three of my strengths are relationship-focused (relator, responsibility, individualization), I knew my calling was to hurting people. That’s who I relate to the most, and that’s who I want to help the most.

So, equipped with this new information (at least new to me), I crafted my vision statement as follows:

    To understand and encourage the hurting through communication and inspiration.

I think that really sums up what I feel called to do.

And so, I challenge you–what is your vision statement for life? What has God called you to do? What is your destiny?

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Is God mad at you?

November 9, 2008 · Filed Under faith, righteousness · Comment 

While not spoken out loud, I think I lot of people ask, “Is God mad at me?”

We often think that admittance into heaven will be based on a giant scale. On one side, all the good things we’ve done, and on the other side, all the bad things. Then, whichever way the scale tips, that’s where we’ll spend eternity. More good than bad, then God is happy with us, and we’ll make it into heaven. But, if the scale tips too much towards the bad, then God’s mad at us, and then, it’s hell.

That’s not how it works. Righteousness, or right standing with God, is not based on having more good things in our lives than bad. Actually, righteousness is based on being perfect before God, having never sinned or never messed up. There is a scale in heaven, and on one side is all of the good things we’ve done, and the other side is perfection, having never messed up. That’s what God expects out of us, perfection.

That doesn’t sound very encouraging, does it? “All have sinned and fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). “There is none who does good, no, not one” (Romans 3:12).

But, there is hope.

Most people misunderstand God’s requirements for heaven. They think God’s attitude towards them is based solely on their performance. If I give more, help more, volunteer more, do more good than bad, then God will be pleased with me. Then, my prayers will be heard. That’s not how it works.

Under the Old Covenant, before Jesus came to earth, God’s attitude towards people was based on their performance. There were more than 600 laws to keep. Each and every law determined their standing before God. But when Jesus came to the earth and died on the cross for us, he fulfilled each and every one of those laws. He was perfect. He was the only person who lived a perfect life here on the earth.

Today, under the New Covenant, we have only one thing that we need to do to please God–to believe and trust in Jesus. In John 6, the disciples were curious. They asked, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” (v28). They wanted to know what was required of them. Jesus responded, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (v29).

That’s it. That’s the work that is required of us–to believe in Jesus. You see, he is our righteousness. All of his work can become our work through faith (through believing) in Jesus. Sin no longer matters. Sure, it has it’s consequences here on earth, but no consequences in heaven.

I’m going to make a bold statement here: Sin is not what sends people to hell. What sends people to hell is when they reject Jesus Christ. Sin has been dealt with. It’s done. It was nailed to the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, he said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). And, it was. Sin was finished. There was no more sin to be dealt with.

So how does that apply to us today? I’m a Christian, I believe in Jesus and I have put my faith in him. What does that mean to me, a believer?

First, it means that God is passionately in love with you. He is in a constant state of joy over you. He is never mad at you. He loves you. He’s passionate for you. He’s fighting for you with all of his power and strength. And, he’s wooing you. He’s calling you to him for relationship. He wants you to come to him confidently and boldly.

Today, we can do that. We can come boldly to God. Our sin is gone. Our righteousness shines in Christ. He is our new High Priest, our Mediator. He has made a way for us to come to God without sin. With God passionate for us and no sin to hinder us, it is up to us to come to God. “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it” (Hebrews 4:16).

What are you waiting on? God’s calling you by name. He’s ready to love on you passionately.

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