Bargaining With Jesus?

Again I find myself sitting here, thinking about lessons that this world teaches us from the time our baby bottoms hit the cradle. From success to eating our vegetables we're taught so much. I remember sitting with my little buddies when I was 6 or 7 and trading toy cars. Bargaining with them, "I'll give you this, if you give me that.", I would plead. By the end of this recess the cars would be banged up from our "playtime" crashes and the cars would have been traded and swapped from hand to hand more times than I could keep up with.

As humans we bargain with everything. We give time and work so we can get money and turn around and give money so we can get a product. We bargain with our family members to see who gets the TV remote, when and which brother or sister gets to ride in the front seat. Life is full of what I like to call, "Give-Get" situations. There are two questions I hope you ask yourself when coming away from this blog. What are you giving and getting? The other, more important question is, which one are you doing more?

Galatians 2:20

20 My old self has been crucified with Christ.* It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

When you look at this scripture it doesn't seem to say much about bargaining. That's because you can't bargain with Jesus! You see here that Paul speaks of crucifying himself with Christ, as Christ did for us. Paul basically says he no longer lives but Christ lives for him, in him, and through him. This isn't only because Christ gave himself for us and we should give him ours back in return but he realizes that Christianity calls us to give our life as an offering. I know that this seems wordy but when it boils down to it what I'm trying to say is Christianity is not about "Get,Get,Get" but its about "Give, Give, Give".

Do you "believe" because eternal life or do you believe because the truth and the one who gives eternal life? Do you try to be a "good person" for blessings from the Lord or do you serve the Lord out of love, humility, and a true life of consecration to Christ? Do you "love" God so you can get, or do you Love God because you recognize who he is and so you can give unto the Lord what is his? Oh, and did you accept an invitation to a salvation because you could have eternal life or because you got a glimpse of the Glory of Jesus and saw that you could have him and serve him with all you have.

Are you Giving your life to the one who created it or are you trying to bargain with him by giving bits and pieces so you can get all that you seem to want? Quit trying to do the least you can, just be a Christian, simply Christ-like and give it all just like Jesus did on the cross.

True Tophies...

GO! FIGHT! WIN!... Those are the words shouted and heard from football stadiums around the nation. I can't believe its already that time again. Whistles will blow, pads will pop, and coaches, daddies, mommas will all scream. Why? Is it the love for a game, is the excitement of a last minute, game winning drive? No matter how the scoreboard reads at the end of a football game, two kinds of people walk away. We call those people winners and losers. One teams hopes and dreams, blood and tears are lost, and the others found and accomplished in the eyes of all who watch. It's sad, and you'll see exactly why here...

If you didn't know, I try to be an athlete. For so long I'd put all of my hope and my dreams on a field with white lines and numbers. I'd score a touchdown here or there and my day, my game, and what I called my "life" would be made...for a while. I loved to see my dad proud and hear my mom saying, "Yep, that's my boy". It was my everything. Then there is the other side of the coin. The loss. When I fell, I fell hard. I'd walk to off the field slinging my helmet like a brat, pout all the way home, and eventually make everyone around me miserable. Win or lose on the field, it's just a win, or just a loss. It sounds pitiful or cowardly to some that I say this and still call myself a competitor, but winning is not everything.

After a while my body began to break, the wins got old, and the losses, well they got even older. I began to search for something else. Something to give me victory, something to give me satisfaction. Something to give me success. I had already tried sex, alcohol, drugs, and anything else, and like football, they amounted to nothing but a broken heart. As I searched for personal glory and fix, I found more empty space because the trophies couldn't fill it.

Today when I "lose" a game my head points north and my fingers point high. When I win I don't speak of I or me.. but I speak of him. See I found something that would fill the space and my cup would overflow. The "student-athlete of the year" plaque and popularity couldn't fulfill me but he could. He is Christ. He is Success.

When I say success I don't mean getting that new car or raise you've been working for. I definitely don't speak of a prosperity gospel. Money will not bring you joy because I've never seen suitcases in or on top of a hearse. Wins on an athletic field add up to history and a high of any kind leaves you desiring more after the quick-fix is over and gone. I speak of a success that leaves you with a cross and eternal life. The definition of success is not a life full of accomplishments, but a life full of Christ.

See as soon as you gain the Championship or raise of this world you soon begin to desire more but Christ is the gift the keeps on giving. Christ comes in, does work, and satisfies. I no longer pin my life upon self-glory but the glory and grace of he who lives in me.

John 4:13
13 Jesus replied, "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life."


We're told from the time we are born, "make the grade", or "make the play", then as we age we're told to "step up", "be the man", "make the most you can". If you don't do these things I promise you, that you will be seen as a failure to the world. You will be seen as a disgrace or simply insane. I tell you today, don't work for this life but let him give you life, and live that life for him and you will have joy and peace that you could never imagine.

I have scored the touchdowns and gotten the trophies but none of those compare to what I have in Christ, you can have it too. Jesus is enough.

"Looking People"

People love to look. Don't tell me that you don't love the sight of beautiful beaches or gorgeous mountainsides. The Lord has blessed us with indescribable scenery so we could be left in awe by his power. Don't try and entertain me with the idea that you've never caught yourself staring at an item in a store that you would just love to walk away with. Oh and please don't lie and say that you have never been taken away by the sight of an amazing sunset.

People look, all of the time. David looked over the roof top, Martin Luther King looked at a world full of hate, and entrepreneurs look at a world full of opportunity. Often I'll run into a "searcher" or what I simply like to call a "Looking Person". The looking people aren't looking for just a beautiful sunset or mountainside but something more. Something else. See these are the people who are looking for something that gives them an identity or that "one" missing part. Rather their on an expedition for hope or love or even help, they are searching.

Guess what. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. Surprised? See if people never look, they never find. If I'm not looking for the quarters in the cushions, I may come up a few quarters short. Proverbs says to search for wisdom and to search for understanding. It is an actual biblical principle to search. Searching is not the issue but examine yourself and see what your looking for.

Recently, I have been searching. I decided to take a look at my life and saw myself standing still. I began to look more and more and eventually found myself searching for the call that God has placed on my life and searching for what he is asking for me to do next. I found an answer...

What I am, what you are, and what we as Christians are being called to do is search, not for help not for love, not for grace, and not for a map of our lives to come but search for Christ himself. See if we look into Christ, if we chase after him and him alone, in him we find promise, we find love, we find help, we find him. Because if we seek we will find and if we knock the door will be opened.

You don't need things, you need Christ. Are you waisting your time and looking at anything else?

Pleasant Conflict....

So last night I was watching a movie that I hadn't seen in seems like forever and a day. The Lion King. Filled with giggles, chuckles and soul calming melodies, it also contains all sorts of conflict and life lessons. The one that I watched most closely was the obvious, most important conflict between Scar, the twisted uncle that never shows to the family reunions, and Simba, the praised son of the King who grows into a solid ruler himself. See Simba was taught to love good, life, and righteousness by his father, to the point where he could not deny his love for the prosperity of Good. Scar on the other side was known for being against everything solid in foundation and sought after self driven goals that eventually led to his death. The story eventually comes down to an epic battle and division. Good and Love prevails as Simba claims his place on the throne by doing away with scar in an actually righteous way, showing that good and evil can't "co-exist" and share the same kingdom or dwell within the same vessel. This Disney animation may seem silly and I do sound like a dork making it so serious but it brings out a principle that most adults can't comprehend.Forget the Bumper Stickers, Jesus says, we can't co-exist.

Luke 12:49-53
49 “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! 50 I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. 51 Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! 52 From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.
53 ‘Father will be divided against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.", -Jesus

Who are you? Which team are you on? No riding fences.

1 John says that we can't love Light and Darkness and if you say you do, you are calling God a liar. None of us would openly say that we love something else more than we love God but we have to remember that a Judge doesn't only look at the words of the defense but he looks at the evidence brought forth. Jesus has called us to salvation, and salvation calls us to live like we're saved. Jesus isn't merely a hobby but he is life itself and anything apart from him is death. When you accept Jesus, you also accept a cross and carry that cross not only to church on Sundays but you carry it day in and day out.



Preachers, writers, and other ministering Christians remember the Great Commission. Remember that the Great Commission calls us to build Disciples of Christ, not false hopes or illusions. I encourage you to present the Gospel, the full, true, Jesus filled Gospel. Preach the blood, preach the cross, preach the impact, and most of all preach Jesus.



Jesus is Love, don't forget it! Jesus came to save but we must not forget that there is a way to live and a way to die. Jesus is the way to life and everything else leads to death. God's Grace is awesome but so many people try to use it as a license to sin. Are you saved or do you just have a false hope? Jesus is love, Jesus is God, and God loves you. Accept Jesus, Accept Love, Accept the Cross, Accept Life.

P.S.
People who confess Christ with there mouth but deny him with their lives are the number one reason for atheism. What team are you on?

Just One Ring...

Humans have many, many habits and take part in many, many activities, rather good or bad. We seem to do these things to fill the spaces. That's why we hear so many professional athletes say, "All I need is a Championship, just one ring on my finger and my career will be complete". This is also why women say, "All I need is one more cute little thing from here and my shopping will be done for the day". This is why the "attempting to quit smoker" feels the urge while driving, eating, talking, or just simply empty handed. We have or seek these things that seem to make us "whole" but in reality just leave us searching for more. See because the professional athlete gets his ring and says, "Wow, two would be nice". The Woman finds that one cute little thing but shows up the next weekend and basically buys the entire store. What about the smoker? The smoker lights that one cigarette up at the stop light but discovers an hour later while stopped again in their car that the last one simply wasn't enough.

My point is nothing in this world lasts. We get caught up in these absurdities, trying to fill our cups full of anything we can find. We search and look under every rock and between every couch cushion but never find anything but more emptiness. See the athlete ages and can't play, the woman's pocketbook winds up empty and the all the smoker does is create a cloud of cancer. All of these things and everything this world has to offer will run out before the race is over and you be left short of the finish line asking yourself why nothing ever worked. Here is the answer...

Those things are not Jesus. See its very simple. Jesus is enough, and nothing else really matters. We see that Jesus never passes away and can't be defeated by his resurrection from and over death itself.

For so long I tried to fill my life with everything under the the sun. I looked for relationships based on sin and deception, I looked to athletics, I looked to recreational buzzes but all it got me was a broken heart and a false hope. I thought my popularity and social status had supplied me with all I needed but when I took a deep look into my heart all I saw was a deep, empty, and blackened whole. Then I found Jesus and let me tell you, when you let him take over, when you let him come within, and you give him complete lordship over your life, there is no room for anything else. He's so overwhelming that the cup, you were once trying to fill with the world but remained empty, is now overflowing.

I came to understand how and why Paul felt the need to sing praises to the Lord in Jail. Jesus is enough. Stop trying to find fulfillment from the world because all you will find is an eternity full of death and hell. Search for the Lord Jesus Christ, and there you will find everything, an eternity full of life and heaven.

Real Pollution...

One major focus of politicians, special concern groups, and the American people in general is pollution. The pollution of air, water, and everything else around us is seen by many as a large problem. Pollution talks have created the "idea" of "Global Warming" and has been blamed for cancer and death. Companies, organizations, and individuals have accepted a "going green" policy to try and make the earth (which was created by God) a healthier place for us to live.

Believe it or not there is type of pollution that I am more concerned about. It is the pollution of a perfect Gospel. A perfect Gospel that is based around a perfect Jesus. People have tried for centuries to pollute this message. We have preachers that stand in pulpits and speak opinionated messages and tell stories that relate to nothing but senseless humor, self-esteem, and the world. People have taken the word "believe" in the verse John 3:16 and replaced it with "think". I have heard sermons that talk about salvation but not the cross or Jesus Christ.

The world has taken a cup filled with purity and tried to combine with something that has no resemblance of God at all. People have tried to pollute the purest words ever spoken! My question is, why would we try to fix something that's not broken. The answer to my question is that people would rather change something perfect to make themselves look better and more attractive or create any easier path to their choice of life. We have forgotten that the true Gospel doesn't only show the light but it brings it. We forget that Jesus and his life gives us life but often its not the life that we want. The life that many people want is one wrapped around themselves and sin which is death is disguise.

Jesus' death was a bloody one. The cross which he died on was soaked in his innocent blood. He chose to pay the debt of all people with that blood. Why are we trampling through it? Why do we deny the truth? Why do we deny him? Why we preach messages that make things seem easy to give false hope? Why do we forget that the great commission is about saving souls and making disciples and not just putting names on a church role?

While people are focused on going green, lets focus on going Jesus. How about, we call it what it is and accepting it as that. Salvation comes with a cross. A cross that we should be proud to bare because it resembles my Jesus. Preach The Truth. Preach The Gospel. Preach The Blood. Preach The Cross. Preach Jesus.

Between My Toes...

I love, love, love the beach. The water crashing into the shore while the wind blows the hair of many. It's a great oppurtunity to sit and talk with friends or have an awesome time fighting the waves with family. The thing that captures me the most suprises many, but it's the sand. I love leaning back, letting my feet sink and watching as the sand rises between my toes.
Sand can be beautiful but it can also be very dangerous.

'24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.' -Matthew 7:24-28

Often we get caught up in the beauty and magnificance of sand but I see here that it's better kept for vacation. As we hear the opinions and ways of pagan people we get entangled like strings on a shoe. We chase the world down this highway because the road is ride without speedlimits or restrictions. We build our lives(house) on the ideas(sand) of this world because we see no inspecter pulling in the driveway.
As we travel these ways and set this foundation we have no idea what they lead to. We learn in verse 13 of chapter 7 that the wide highway is the one that leads straight to hell and destruction but the narrow leads to God's Kingdom and eternal life. The narrow is led by the one and only messiah, Jesus Christ. His teaching may not be the easiest but he never promised easy. My king promised a cross to die on and eternal life. Build your house on the rock which is Christ because the sand which is the world will always come short and crumble under your feet when put under the pressure of judgement.
I ask my self today is any room, door, or even square inch of my house built on the sand. Jesus chose to give us a rock to stand on, live by, and shout from. Are we doing it or are we okay with gaing nothing now and still losing everything later?

Fire Ants...

I often ask the popular question..."why?". Why this and why that. It is a natural action of the human mind, most of them anyways, to search for reasoning or the "why" factor in most situations. I often ask myself and even God why about the simple or even silly things of life. Why was it Adam and Eve and not George and Martha? Or why do I find myself stumping my toe on things that seem to have been in the same place for a century? Oh and I always seem to question why god created fire ants while I'm dancing across my yard and swiping at my feet and legs.
Then again there are the serious, more impacting questions that we ask. It seems to me that every time something goes terribly wrong we seem to look at the sky, shake our heads, and say, "Why God?". I admit I am guilty of this insanity and often forget that, "It rains on the just and unjust alike". I am so quick to throw all of the blame into God's arms and tend to forget that the world we live in is an imperfect one.
I also often forget to ask God the question of, "Why did you bless me so much?". Or "Why do I have a place to live and enough food to eat". It's quite obvious that we're okay with the good but it happens to slip our minds to rest it upon the shoulders of the almighty one. We can curse the heavens when we have red insects running up our ankles but we forget to to praise the Lord when everything is right. Praise the Lord through everything, with all that is within you, and at all times, not just when its comfortable or the sunshine seems to be just right.
Tonight as I sit here typing away, I think about grace. Not just a song but the true grace of God. I imagine his nail pierced hands and his thorn crowned brow. I think about the words, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing.", that my Jesus prayed while he was hanging on that cross. Tonight I ask, "Why does he love me, the undeserving, that much?"....