Hustle While You Wait

Last week I had the chance to visit a Christian college that I am considering attending.  I had so much fun with the girls in my dorm room!  They were such an encouragement to me. It made me so excited to be in college soon, and to be like them--always edifying others and constantly looking to what God has to say instead of what the world says.  Then it hit me: I can’t be that way in college if I’m not doing what God wants me to do in high school right now.

The title above is from a chapter in I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris.  This phrase perfectly defines what we should be doing with our lives.  There are certain times in our lives when we are in one realm but we are looking into another.  It’s kind of like how seniors in high school feel; they are physically in the high school realm but mentally want to be in the college realm.  These times in our life we are the most vulnerable to Satan’s attacks.  He would like us to get off track and start giving in to what our sin nature wants.  But we should do the exact opposite; we need to hustle while we wait!

What I mean by this is  that while we are waiting for the next big step in our lives, we need to be totally focused on doing God’s will right now. That means that we need to be respecting our authority, not having bad attitudes toward our families, and constantly reading our Bibles and praying. In the small areas that you think you have under control, Satan will attack there. We also need to guard our weaknesses as they are always a target.

Disciples in Waiting

This Easter, and the past few days leading up to it, has inspired many thoughts that I had never had before.  These past few months have yielded many lessons in waiting for me, as I have been waiting on some things to be decided that will determine the course of my life.  At times, trusting God has been a struggle, although I do know that He is in control.  


As I was thinking about Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday, some people came to mind who had a very difficult time of waiting.  They were Jesus' disciples.  When Christ was crucified, their hopes were shattered. They thought that He was their Messiah, but then He was tortured to death as a criminal.  And while we remember the crucifixion with the knowledge that the resurrection  was coming, they didn't know it was coming.  Sure, they had heard Jesus tell them that He would soon leave them, but would be coming back, but they did not know how it would all play out.  


In their time of waiting, they struggled with trusting that Jesus was even who He had told them He was--their Lord!  Now, we can look at that and say that we are at least a little better than that, because we "don't doubt that Christ is our Lord."  We know  that is true.  


We just doubt that He is....who He tells us He is. 
We doubt He is our compassionate Shepherd.  We doubt that He is our faithful Provider.  We doubt that He is our loving Friend.  We doubt that He is our gracious Father. . . .The list goes on.  We doubt that He is who He has promised He is!  Sure, we know it in our heads.  But the true understanding of His essence does not come until we are seeking His face (not His hand), and we experience these attributes for ourselves.

Heart Cry

Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; 

from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, 

for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.

Psalm 61:1-3

Higher Ground

Though Satan's ways would pull me down,

The Savior guides my way.

My steps are measured by His Word; 

A firm foundation He has laid.

I want to stand on higher ground,

to know His voice, the sweetest sound.

No turning back, I'm Heaven bound! 

Lord, lift me up to higher ground.

In Times of Triumph, Trials, or Temptation...

Consider Him

He left His throne to wear a crown of shame;

Forsaken Son when He our sin became.

In blackest night, He faced His death alone.

In brightest day, He rose and claimed His throne.

-

Consider Him who chose a lonely cross.

Consider Him and marvel at His loss.

Despising shame, Christ suffered in your place.

Consider Him, sufficient is His grace.

-

Though in the race of faith you seek relief,

Reset your gaze on Him who knows your grief.

Rejected by the ones He came to save,

Without complaint, His sacred life He gave.

Weighing Out Temptation

What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Philippians 3:7 

An easy way to remember the concept of Philippians 3:7 is to think of it like weight: gaining is bad and losing is good!

I read this verse in my devotions earlier this week and little things keep on popping up and making me go back to this verse. I’ve known this verse for forever, but it wasn’t till this week that I realized the full extent of this verse.

“What things I gain” not only includes what I do but what I THINK! Every thought toward any person that is not God-centered is selfish, and the only thing I gain is a small second of getting back at a person in our mind.

You see, whatever a loss is for Christ is essentially a loss for me as a Christian because I lose a chance to serve my Lord. Every thought that is not focused toward Christ-likeness is an egotistical thought that should not be in my mind.

This really hit me this week when I caught myself instantly start thinking bad thoughts whenever I saw a certain person that annoys me a ton! I would think about how rude they were to me and little instances where they had--in my mind--wronged me. Before I knew it, I would be very irritated at that person just by thinking of my past relationship with them. Then this verse came into my head, and I knew I was wrong--plain and simple.

The only way that I can stop myself from having these selfish thoughts is by replacing them with good. For me, that means every time I see this person I pray for him. Even If I don’t want to, I do, because just like Christ showed sacrificial love toward me, I need to do the same for others. (2 Cor. 10:7)

Bringing a verse to mind whenever a temptation comes your way is one of the best things you can do; it is a constant reality check of how are lives should be. The Bible tells us that none of us will be tempted without a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13), and keeping Scripture in the fore-front of our minds is an always-present, never-fail way of escape from any temptation (Psalm 119:11).

AT (High School Junior)

Defeating Discontentment

I had just listened to an excellent lecture on contentment from the annual Shepherd’s Conference in California via Live Feed.  “This is great,” I thought, “...if I struggled with discontentment.”  Famous last words.

The next day, guess what I found myself struggling with? Discontentment.  Not discontentment regarding possessions, but discontentment regarding authority.  This discontentment could also be titled “a proud rejection of authority.” Ouch!  While I wasn't stomping around the house actively displaying my rejection of authority, my tone of voice and my thoughts showed that I was indeed rejecting the authority God has wisely placed over me—my parents.  By wishing I was further down the road of freedom than I am, I was essentially telling God, “God, I know You have great plans for me and that Your plans are best.  But right now I don’t trust that You know what You’re doing. Instead I want to trust myself. I think I should be further down this road than where I am right now.” 

Have you ever felt this way?

There’s nothing like sin to show you how weak you actually are apart from God.  I can identify well with what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31:

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.’

God has chosen me, a weak vessel, clay in the Potter’s hand (Jeremiah 18:6), to boast in Him (1 Cor. 1:31, Psalm 34:2).  He has chosen me to display His greatness to the watching world through my weaknesses.  I have many.  Thank God that He has a redemptive purpose in my weakness!

I know that I will sin.  That’s a fact.  I know that I will stumble with submission and contentment again—perhaps many times.  Instead of getting depressed about the fact that I’m a sinner, I can actively fight this sin and rejoice in God’s forgiveness. That’s not to say that I’m okay with continually sinning because I will be forgiven—by no means (in the words of Paul--Romans 7:15-25)!  It’s to say that when I stumble, I can repent and hop back on my feet, eager to respond in the right way the next time.  But, in order for this to happen, I need a plan.

First of all, I identified the root of this sin—pride.  It’s the root of many other sins as well.  If you find yourself struggling with the same sin over and over, you probably haven’t gotten to the root of it.  Dig down deep.  Find that root, no matter how painful it is.  You must dig it out of your heart and fill in the hole with biblical truth and biblical thinking. 

...What Now?

Ever wonder what to do in a difficult, confusing situation? 

"How is God going to get me out of this one?"

"I don't know how I'm going to get from here all the way to where I should be."

"I don't know how I will ever overcome who I am and become who I need to be--these bad habits are just so hard to break!"

"I know God's working, but just how long is this going to take?"

Do The Next Thing

(Saxon Legend)

From an old English parsonage down by the sea
There came in the twilight a message to me;

Its quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven,

Hath, it seems to me, teaching from Heaven.

And on through the doors the quiet words ring

Like a low inspiration: “Do the Next Thing.”

You Did it Again. . .

You did it again; even after trying your best not to give in, you did. You sinned just like every other time. You’ve been struggling with THAT SIN for as long as you can remember, and you just feel like you’ll never beat it. You’ll never win.


How many of us have ever been in this situation? Well let me just tell you this: If you haven’t, you will. I’m sorry to be the bad guy, but every single Christian on this Earth has been discouraged at some point, and you will be no different. Now the reason that I’m writing this isn’t to scare you, but to help you when you get discouraged.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.” 1 John 2:15-16 (NIV)

Well, let’s look at King David. Let’s see…he was a human being, who committed murder and adultery while holding the position of King and was expected by God to be a Spiritual leader for God’s people. That’s pretty hard to do when you’re caught up in sin! (This is an example of fulfilling the lust of the flesh!)  (2 Sam. 11, 12)


What about Abraham? He had Sarah tell the Pharaoh that she was his sister. In Abraham’s eyes, he was trying to save his own life because he thought that the Pharaoh might kill him to have Sarah as his wife.  Instead of trusting God with the situation, Abraham chose to sin. (This is an example of the pride of life!)  (Gen. 12:10-17)


What about the Apostle Peter? He denied that he was a follower of Christ. He had told Jesus that he would never deny him, and that he would die before he did (Matt. 26:35), but he broke under pressure. He just wanted to go with the crowd, so that he wouldn’t look bad. Ultimately, he cared more about what other people thought of him then what Christ expected of him. (That seems to be a pretty good example of loving the world, huh?)  (Mark 14:66-72)


So what’s my point in telling you that these guys messed up? Well, stop and think. How do you know the names of these guys? Oh…they’re heroes of the Bible, aren’t they? That’s right! King David sinned, and his sin was an abomination to God, but the Bible calls him a “man after God’s own heart!” (Acts 13:22) I tell ya, you have to be a pretty strong Christian to be compared to the heart of God! David was a man who put God first in everything, and when he sinned and messed up, he acknowledged his sin and asked for God's forgiveness! (Psalm 32)


Abraham sinned against God, but God fulfilled his promise of making Abraham the “Father of a Great Nation” (Gen. 12:2) because Abraham lived by faith. At the words of God ALONE, he moved everything to where God told him. He had unrestrained faith. He believed that God was true to his word and lived in light of that. Abraham lived by FAITH. (Heb. 11:8)