Now, Listen to Me, Men - A message the challenges our call to follow Jesus

The life of a Christian or a God-follower has never been easy. From the fall, to Moses trying to rescue his people, to Peter denying Jesus, and the list could go on. There is not a place in the Bible that says following God is every easy. The Bible does say the life of a God-follower does come with benefits but they are not to be confused with an "easy" life.

What has been a challenge for you during your life of following Jesus? We've all had our fair share of challenges. Jesus told His disciples that they would experience some issues in their commitment to following Him.

Sunday, we looked at the last portion of the "directions" Jesus gives to the newly-called Apostles as they go out into the world to help complete the mission. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week...

• Innocently Shrewd ~ Sometimes Christians can come across as not "with it" and seem naive. There are things in this life that we must be more "with it" to understand how it affects faith and our lives. Keep up with the times by being aware of your culture. Be aware of what is affecting people of this generation. Be smart yet innocent!
• Pick Your Battles ~ There are two types of killings that can take place - the body and soul. Jesus tells that the one who kills the soul is the one who we must worry about. So keep your body guarded, but keep your soul even more guarded. Many of the "silent killers" to you are affecting your soul, they are the one to worry about!
• Family, Second; God, First ~ One of Jesus' seemingly harshest words to those who want to follow Him are the words that describe we must love family less. He didn't come to make our commitment "easy" and never made it sound like this lifestyle would be easy. The word "love" in Matthew 10:37 seems to throw people off, rather than seeing the word more as it is. It should be like a "brotherly love" or a friendship type of love. As much as we love family, they are to be second to Jesus and our commitment to Him.

As we go through our rewarding, yet challenging, life as a Christian, may we understand that it is not going to be the easiest. The rewarding part is that we will have some great outcomes in the end. Keep going and look forward to the "mission field" where you can share your faith.

Now it's your turn...what has been a challenging and rewarding part of your life as a Christian?

Going Green: "BE" Vitamins - Part 4

"BE" vitamins enhance our life. They make us better people, and this "BE" vitamin is no different. You've seen the caplets with two colors, that is what this week's "BE" vitamin looks like. It has two different parts that make it one.

Jesus sent his disciples out into a dangerous land. This environment was created by Jesus, both theoretically and literally. Literally, because He is the Son of God, who was here in the beginning of creation. Theoretically, because Jesus had done so much to cause a lot of stirring and strife amongst the religious people that they were out to get Him. This environmental setting caused the disciples to be in an area that was dangerous.

Jesus knew this was the 'temperature' of the land, so Jesus is letting them know that they are going to be "sheep among wolves", from Matthew 10:16. As they are sheep among wolves, they need to be sharp and innocent at the same time, so Jesus challenges them to be "shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves" - the two part 'vitamin'.

If we are on an extreme, then problems can occur. If we lean to much toward the shrewd side, we can become manipulative and controlling. If we lean to much to the innocence side, we can become naive and unrealistic. There must be a balance.

As we examined this passage yesterday, here are some applications to choose from to use this week...

1. Examine yourself - Do you tend to lean to one side or the other with situations? Be conscious of situations you're in and how you operate. Ask God to help you balance the two.
2. "BE" Shrewd - Be aware of the environment you are in and how you can share Jesus in that environment, knowing there may only be openings big enough for a "snake" to get in, so go through it.
3. "BE" Innocent - Be aware of the sensitivity of people to religious talk so that you can be harmless in your delivery
4. "BE" Shrewd - Be aware when the environment is one you need to walk out of or stand up for yourself.
5. "BE" Innocent - Be aware of how walking out or standing up for yourself may make you appear snobby or impersonal, so find a way to do it without drawing attention to the reason you are doing it.

Being shrewd and innocent at the same time reminds me of a detective. They are on alert to their environment while trying to blend in to the situation. They don't want to cause others to be too alarmed if they are spotted, but to appear nonchalant.

Though we often refer to a snake as a "scary" creature, but Jesus uses one of its characteristics to show how His disciples must be. Whereas a dove is not even close to a scary creature, but Jesus uses one of its characteristics to do the same thing.

We live in a malicious world, as did these disciples. We cannot back down from this challenge as we need to be as "shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves" as we go about carrying out the Mission which Jesus gave us.

Being shrewdly innocent...