Expensive Commitment

Having a hobby can be costly. Whether the hobby is golf, scrap booking, painting, collecting, etc., there is money involved. To be really good at the hobbies the more money that will need to be invested. Golf, for example, will take buying your own clubs and then spending money on the sport of golf to improve your skills. Buying all the special punches, decorative paper, and books for scrap booking can add up as well.

Christianity is not a hobby that one can pick up from time to time and it have much of an impact in your life. It is one that needs to be practiced and used. Too often Christians want to say they are in the "Christian club" but they only are involved "on occasion." They like to take advantage of the benefits, but they do nothing to improve their skills or have any involvement. They forgot to realize that there is a cost involved to being in the "club" and the price is not cheap.

Sunday we looked at Matthew 8:18-22 where Jesus is challenging a couple of men in their quest to follow Him. This is no light challenge from Jesus. He may even come across as insensitive to some. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week...

• Get Real ~ Have you ever looked at something in your life with such a thick filter that you didn't realize you needed to improve? I think there are times when we need to take a hard look at re-evaluate our commitment to our Christian life. Are we willing to be second to others? Are we willing to forgive? Are we willing to share our faith? Now that you're willing...do it!
• What's Your Master? ~ We all have something or someone that masters us. The master may not control you at all times, but they have a heavy influence on you. Generally when that master demands something, you are going to respond. That response may even be consuming your mind with thoughts. If any of those things that may "master" you are pushing away your commitment to Christ, you need to change your focus.
• Comforts versus Commitment ~ What is your priority? Will the comforts of avoiding contact with someone who needs to have a "light" of good news in their dark world take priority over your commitment to be a follower of Christ?
• Cautious, but Not Overcautious ~ To need to get to the other side of a busy street you are not going to simply dart across. Instead, you will make sure it is safe to cross. To follow Christ does not mean that every time we are going to not think about what we're doing. So to be cautious about what you are about to encounter is one thing, but to be so cautious that you do not engage in your commitment to Jesus is how we miss the mark. Or as Jesus says, "let the dead bury their own dead." cf Matthew 8:22

Being involved in Christianity is an expensive commitment. Are we willing to pay the price?

Now it's your turn...what "expenses" have you had to consider in your Christian walk?

Wondering What Happened

Have you ever returned to a town you used to live and noticed that in your time of absence things changed? Changes like: Businesses closed, buildings torn down, town expansion, etc. We reflect back "in the day" when we lived there and the way the environment used to look. I remember taking my wife to a town where I used to live. It was very small and it only took about 15 minutes to "tour". I enjoyed trip down memory lane of returning to the "Prairie Chicken Capital of the World", with a population of 130 (in 2000), according to the Wikipedia website.

Change is happening in our world all the time. In order for change to take place, someone must be willing to work and carry out the work that creates change. For those that do not put in the work, they may wonder what happened while "they were gone". This brings us to a quote that challenges me as I think about change and the effort it takes implementing change...

There are those that work, there are those that talk about those working, and there are those that wonder what happened. ~ DudLee Brennfoerder

Which category do you generally fit into? Are you a "get involved" kind of person, a "talk about whose getting involved" person, or a "when did this change" kind of person? As a society we are infected with this mentality. It affects us in various facets: communities, jobs, churches, etc.

Usually those in the latter two categories have a difficult time seeing the purpose in a project. The more we're a part of a project the more we see the purpose and develop a passion in the project.

As you look around your community, workplace, or church, think about how you will be involved with a project/program. If there isn't a work going on that you want to be involved in, think about an area that you are passionate about and see what might happen. Your passion will may end up being magnetic to others, causing them to desire to be involved, also.

It is very enjoyable to be involved in areas you feel strongly about. It motivates you so much that you may find it hard to quit or not look forward to the time when the project is finished. Get involved...who knows what fun adventures are right around the corner that you never would have known about if you didn't pursue your passions.

Energized by being involved...
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Picture came from: http://www.thelope.com/2006/09/three-meals-in-kansas.html

Monday Mentionings: Fertile From Fertilization

Family ~

What a great day it was to be with the family! I left excited, uplifted, and ready to start my week!

My life has changed dramatically since I started asking God for “surprises.” It seems that more often than not, He is showing me something that I didn’t expect. Today was just all the “connections” that I got to be involved with as we went to eat, shop, and Baccalaureate. I enjoy reacquainting myself with people that I know from the community – a way to “cultivate” relationships.

As we looked at causing a heart to become “Fertile From Fertilization”, taken from II Timothy 2:6, today and expanded on Paul’s principle of the hardworking farmer, think about these additional applications…

1. Break Open the Soil – Who is someone who you need to break open their “heart-soil”? Someone who you haven’t even thought about “disking” their heart. May God grant you an open door to break up their “heart-soil” and may you recognize when that door opens and have the courage to walk through it. Remember the question of “I wonder what God is doing right now?” If you don’t already have an ice breaking question, try that one – see what the person’s “heart-soil” is like.
2. Work the Soil – The size of the “clods” in the soil will depend on how much working over you need to do to the soil to get it ready for planting. The main emphasis in this passage is that the farmer is “hard working”, and so that application falls back on us by being involved! This is the fun part; you get to team up with God and get a piece of the action.
3. Apply Fertilizer to the Soil – As different types of plants need different types of fertilizer, and then decide what the person you are connecting with needs to make it a good environment for the seed to grow. We talked about how some plants, like corn, will need a certain amount of potash to make the yield ideal. Though you may not know what a person’s “heart-soil” is deficient in, right away, you can always give a good dose of kindness because that never hurt anyone. In other words, actual chemicals might have a poison point, where too much of something may actually cause death to the plant. However, when dealing with people, there isn’t much of a risk involved in giving too much of something – like love, joy, peace, patience, etc… So, whether you are fertilizing with one of the elements from the Fruit of the Spirit or if you are adding something like encouragement, you have little risk of “over doing” it. Our big challenge is the “doing” in the first place.

I have prayed that God surprises you today! Share any “surprises”...

Have a great Monday!

Looking for the “Surprise of the Day” ~
Jarrod