Archive for 2014

So...

finals.

Yeah.

It's pretty stressful for us students.
That pressure... well, maybe you've resorted to screaming as those late nights just keep turning into early mornings, gotten lost in your sea of notes, or maybe even tearfully considered moving to a different country and starting life over again.
Reality can seem pretty harsh.
Something good still remains for us, though; we have hope because we still have Jesus, and God's word can offer us more hope during this intense time.

Here's three things that you should know about finals' week:

1. Don't ask why; ask why not.

"...and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..." (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Why am I doing this? Is all my effort even worth it? Why is it so hard?

Sometimes, these questions can be helpful. At other times, they're just not. They can get us focused on all the negatives.

Instead of asking why we have to keep going, maybe we should ask why not?

Why not throw your heart into this thing? Why not see it as a challenge you get to rise to?

Why not see it as an opportunity to see Him more?

The reason that should be driving what we do, anyhow, is centered on Him - centered on knowing Jesus more and making Him known through whatever He puts in our path.

This is obviously part of His plan right now; what more motivation should we need?

2. Look up.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses..." (Hebrews 12:1).

It looks like those receiving the letter of Hebrews needed a little inspiration, too. They need to throw off sin and to persevere, yet what is given as an impetus for them to do this?

The cloud of witnesses.

Other people had gone before them, and the example of those before could give inspiration.

Maybe we need to get and give inspiration, too - especially when we are feeling terrible.

First, we need to look to who we want to become.

I've heard it said that when the going gets tough, we should look at where we want to go. That can be great, but maybe that seems a little too far off, sometimes. Maybe we should focus more on who we want to become because that will enable us to get where we want to go. Gain inspiration from looking at the lives of people who model what you want to become.

Second, we need to look to what we can do for others.

Maybe we can provide the inspiration someone needs today. We can give the smile, provide the laugh, or simply just do the being of life with someone.

That could be the pick-me up they need, and so often I've found it gives the pick me up I need myself.

3. Hey, it's not gotten bloody.

"Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood" (Hebrews 12:3-4).

Finals could be making it feel like life's going pretty badly.

Our sin of {ahem, occasional} laziness is a struggle.

Our sin of {ahem, also occasional} anger can feel like a never ending war.

Things haven't really gotten that bad, though.

We are still "suffering" - as we so often seem to treat it - under the "burden" of so much education.

Shouldn't we view this as being privileged to have such a gift of learning that so many people have fought and sacrificed to have?

There are so many harder things we could be doing - running for our lives because our nation is war-torn, being present as an underground church service is invaded, or living a life of forced human-trafficking, to name a few.

Ultimately, our sacrifices for our education - sacrifices of free time, other activities, etc - haven't brought us to the place of shedding blood.

Jesus did that for us.

That alone should give us reason to be thankful no matter how terrible finals' week is seeming.

So...

Hang in there champ.
It will all be over before you know it,
and - really - maybe it's not as bad as it seems sometimes.

When’s the last time you stopped doing and thought about being - thought about being with?

We’re all with a lot of the time.

We’re with family, with friends, with co-workers, with schoolwork, or we’re surrounded with people, with images, with thoughts, with feelings, with ideas.

We can get so caught up in doing that we forget how to do the being; we forget to look around us. We forget to see who and what we are with and how that’s influencing us.

We communicate with our family because that’s just what we’re supposed to do, yet how often do we think about enjoying being with them?

We do our school or go to work because we need to do it, but do we think of how we’re influenced by what we’re being surrounded with – the lyrics in the restaurant or that overheard conversation?

What about God?

My pastor posed an interesting question this last Sunday: “Are we so caught up in doing for God that we forget to be with God?”

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).

“…to walk humbly with your God” Yes, our God wants us to do right things. He wants us to love kindness. He just doesn’t want us to do those actions, though; He wants a walk with us.

Let it sink in.

God doesn’t just want what we do; He wants to be with us.

The God of the Universe loves us enough to not only want our holiness, but to want our heart; He wants to walk with us through life.

If we choose to walk with God, are we going to benefit?

“… with God all things are possible’” (Matthew 19:26, emphasis added).

When we choose to come to God, listen to Him, and seek Him, we are going to have benefits! Anything is possible for the Lord, and walking with Him shows us new possibilities. We’ll see new opportunities. We’ll see opportunities to love; maybe we’ll see that our mom just needs a hug. We’ll see opportunities to help people; maybe our brother needs someone to challenge him to become who he can be. When we are walking with God, He’s not only going to show us what other things are possible for us to do with our lives, but He will, also, make things that seemed impossible become possible.

If we don’t choose to walk with God, who else might we be walking with and what does that mean for our lives?

“… don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4, emphasis added).

Being friends with the world means that we’ve got enmity against God. Enmity is “the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.” When you find yourself forsaking God and pursuing the world, stop and ask yourself this question: do I want to be opposed to the Almighty? We can learn even from this verse’s specific phrasing: we are the ones who actively choose to be a friend with the world. With this choice are going to come consequences; we become enemies of God. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to be an enemy of the Creator.

Ultimately, here’s what it comes down to: Who are you going to choose to be with?

Who you’re choosing to be with is going to affect who you are.

Who you are is going to affect what you do.

What you do is going to affect what kind of life you have.

If you choose to walk with God by seeking Him and obeying His word, new possibilities are going to be found and impossibilities are going to become possible.

If you choose to be friends with the world, you’re going to be God’s enemy.

Choose wisely.