RT @jasonkovacs: Boldest prayer I've heard all day, "Empty out the foster care system into the church!" Wow. R we ready? // Let it happen!! #2010/01/29
Thanks for checking out my blog! Please know this blog is a reflection of my own thoughts, opinions, and pure randomness. Hopefully the blog will offer insight on student ministry and additional unique creative elements to reach students. Enjoy.
T.V., Internet, iPod, Cell Phone, Work, Money, School, Video Games, Drugs, Alcohol, Addictions. We are consumed.
We live in the day of age where nothing seems to satisfy. We strive to have the best everything. We want more stuff. We covet our neighbor’s stuff. We buy stuff. Sell stuff. Accumulate stuff. We are consumed.
We want and want and want but are always left empty. Why is that?
Materialism is a false freedom.
As a nation of consumerism we have bought into the lie that the more we have the happier we will be. Reality is…the more you make the more you spend. The more you spend the more in debt you go into, continuing the vicious cycle of unhappiness. Our possessions will one day break or go out of style or even a huge bank account can disappear in a blink of an eye. Then everything we are consumed with and find identity in is ……gone.
What are you consumed with? What would your life look like if you were consumed with something that never broke, never went out of style, was always the same.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
Not enough time. I can’t. I don’t have enough money. I am not smart enough. I’m to busy. What will people think.
We are a generation of excuses. As people we come up with every excuse in the book for not doing something that we know we should do. I’m guilty. You’re guilty. We are all guilty of making up excuses to get out of taking the next step of our lives. So the question is when? When will we begin to stop making excuses and become a ‘do’ generation? What if the excuses stop and the action started? Imagine if you began to take a stand, to take the next step and cease the excuses. What would it be like?
Yesterday I was able to experience a small glimpse of what it would like. I witnessed 126 people get rid of their excuses, throw away what is holding them back, and take a new step. A bold step. These people decided to publicly confess to the world that they were pursuing life in Jesus by being baptized. It was awesome. Coming to church not knowing what laid ahead became an opportunity to stop making excuses and take this life changing step.
What excuses are you making? What is holding you back?
Friends are the most influential people in our lives. Our friends shape us like no one else can. In a way we become like the people we hang out with. We adopt their opinions, are interested in the same music, and sometimes even begin to look alike! The problem is…our desire to just have friends is so great we let the first person who accepts us and gives us the attention we need for our friendship “void” to be met.
If our friends shape us like no one else and play an important role in the direction of our lives shouldn’t we spend more time thinking about who are friends are? Building quality, close friendships really comes down to one thing: being smart about the people who are closest to you.
It doesn’t matter how many friends you have on Facebook, how many people follow you on Twitter, or even how full your calender is. What matters is that the people who are closest to you influence and challenge you beyond yourself.
Who are you allowing to influence you?
Who are you influencing?
“He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm” Proverbs 13:20
Everyone on the face of the planet is somewhat judgmental, right?
We look at people and make judgements about them, their friends, their families, and even their situation in life. The truth is we have no earthly idea who they are and the story behind their life.
Imagine if we looked at people the way Jesus looked at people.
The prostitute.
The leper.
The paraplegic.
Do you need Jesus’ eyes?
Ask Him to see people with them. To see people differently.
You have leaders and you have followers, but have you ever thought that you have to be a follower before you can become a leader?
Think about the 12 disciples of Jesus with me for a minute.
You have a group of knuckleheads, were not the sharpest tools in the shed, and did not have prominent jobs on church staff. They were your common blue collar men, with no professional seminary training, a little rough around the edges…ok ok…A LOT of rough around the edges. Yet Jesus saw in these simple men the potential of leadership for the kingdom of God. These men might have been “unlearned and ignorant” (Acts 4:13), but they were teachable.
The very essence of Jesus time on earth was to teach these men and let them follow him so they could then lead others. In his presence they could learn all that they needed to know to become the leaders of the world. The disciples probably thought to themselves the same things that run through our head when it comes to leading people…”I don’t know enough”, “I really don’t have any talents”, and “I’m just to busy.”
These simple men led where they were. They pursued life in Jesus as their greatest passion. They walked with him daily, asked questions continually, and even went through the school of hard-knocks, but these men would eventually lead others to pursue life in Jesus as their greatest passion as well.
What if you pursued life in Jesus as your greatest passion and in return led others to do the same?
Dad you led your family to pursue life in Jesus. Mom you did the same. You led your spouse. You led your son or daughter. You led your friends and co-workers. You led others and impacted the world.
We can all agree whether you are a parent, want to be a parent, or have parents, parenting is tough. We can all agree whether you are a parent, want to be a parent, or have parents, parenting is tough. It is hard-work with no guarantees. It doesn’t come with a manual attached or a one-size-fits-all approach. It is overwhelming.
If your like most parents, you think your doing an okay job based on your own standards. You look at other parents and the way they parent and you know your doing a better job then they are. You work hard to provide you children with the best possible life. Your committed to giving them everything you had growing up and more. You want them to feel loved, be safe, have good friends, be well educated, and plugged into church somewhere.
The invisible problem that has hampered our children is that we have taken Gods standards out of our homes and have built our family on what American says is significant as parents and your child’s well-being. We have replaced God with ourselves. As a result we have diminished our children’s potential.
So what is the parent’s primary role in the lives of their children?
A parent’s primary job is to gradually transfer dependence away from them until it rests solely on God.
Mom and Dad, it is your responsibility to transfer dependence. Overtime it you’re your job to teach you children how to depend on God in their lives. Depend on God with school, relationships, a career, sports, etc. Depend on God.
How are you transferring dependence for your child?
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