Clearing The Way: Get Out Of The Middle

As I’ve been writing and rereading my recent posts a point that I hadn’t made keeps coming to mind: we often put ourselves as the center of everything going on. Much like the sun is the to earth we place ourselves as the center of the universe and don’t leave much room for God. What if even half of the time we put God at the center of what we have going on in our lives?

I’m sure that some of you are wondering what I mean on this, so let me explain. As a Christian we are to going out into the world and making disciples. A lot of times we’re so busy doing the things that we have to do to make it through the day that we miss a ton of opportunities to be a light in the world for HIM! Let’s think about something that almost everyone in the world has done, let’s walk in the front door of Wal-Mart for a minute. As you walk in what do you see? More than likely if your Wal-Mart is like ours in Norwalk you’ll probably have 2-3 people leaving, more people coming in along side of you, people in the aisles in front of you, a greeter, and some people checking out. Count those people in your mind and take a guess on how many of them know God in a personal way. Now, walk in a little further and start your way towards the toy section. How many more people have you seen? How often have we all been on such a mission of our own that as we walked through the store we almost ran over someone or just ignored everyone else around. Here is my challenge to you: next time smile at half of the people you see. That is right, I said just smile.

What did that smile do you may ask, right? Well, it’s just possible that you might have brightened someone’s day just by smiling at them. Maybe you showed one of them that not everyone in the world is hateful like they’d thought…maybe you gave them a glimmer of hope in a horrible day…and maybe, just maybe, God’s love for them shown through your eyes. Did you realize that just a smile could have that much power? How did this happen, because you were willing to move out of the center of your own world and allow God to be there instead. Now try something different the next time you go: hold a door for someone, help someone reach something they are too short to reach or can’t bend over to get, or just let them get in front of you in line because they only have 2-3 items while you have a cart load. No, it may not work for everyone, but even if you reach just one person in your 1-2-3 trips this week to Wal-Mart, was it worth it?

You see, it’s just that simple. I didn’t ask you to pay for their groceries, discipline their rowdy kids, or anything like that – I just asked you to start with a smile. In just that simple gesture you just might give someone hope that doesn’t have it. You may give them a glimmer of the love that God has for them. I know it’s not easy to do all the time as we all have so many things to do and places to be…but will getting out of the middle be worth it if we were able to touch someone’s life for Him with something as simple as a smile? To me, it’s worth the effort!

Clearing The Way: The Culture Of Sex

Sex Sells, right? I guess the proof has to be in the pudding as if it didn’t sell, they’d stop shoving it down our throats all the time, right? We’re told every day by the world that if we buy this product then we’ll attract the opposite sex, or if we use this product then our spouse/boy or girlfriend will be all over us, right? Do you believe the world, is what they are saying true?

I point the above out because I think that it’s become such a large part of our culture that it’s not even recognized at times. It’s become second nature for the people around us to be half naked showing off everything that in the past you had to “round the bases” to see. P.D.A. has become the norm, not the exception. Do we not realize that all of this is just causing problems in the world?

Why do more marriages fail now than ever before? Why are more and more kids having kids? Why is it so strange to see the mother and father of all 2-3 kids in the family actually being married and still together? Do we not realize what is going on here in the world? I think not.

I’m not one to normally say this or that is “from the devil” usually, however is there any other explanation for what is going on around us? Yes, God made both man and woman to be beautiful, but I don’t think he told us to make sure we flaunt what ya got all over the world! We are under attack, and in my mind this is one area that we are losing ground every day. The night before I wrote today’s blog I went and watched the new Transformers movie. Now I was a big fan of the animated series, yet I don’t remember there ever being a time when a robot could transform into a mostly naked female. Why did they add that to the movie, along with the already overly sexual female lead from the first movie? It is because they want to draw in many more young male viewers. (I personally will not be seeing another Transformers movie because of that and the language they threw around like no one would care, but that is another story) It does sell.

To conclude this section of the my clearing the way series, I pray that you are now even more aware of what is being thrown in front of you on a daily basis. This is just another way that you are being kept from God, and I didn’t even mention the porn industry until now. You need to be aware of what is there, and clear as much of it from your life as you can! If you want to fulfill your calling and promote God’s kingdom, then you need to be aware of these items, and clear as many of them from your life as you can.

Clearing The Way: Wanting It All

This is the 2nd part of an ongoing series, started last week with the intro.

People, we live in a society that tells you every day in every way that you should want more out of life. You should want a bigger house, a bigger TV (ok, I fall victim there, just ask Traci), the newest movies, etc. They tell you in commercials, on billboards, in stores, and even in movies. Is it ok to want “stuff” in your life? I’m pretty sure that is just fine…but it’s what you do to get it, or how badly you want it that can be the problem.

Are you willing to beg, borrow, or steal for the things that you want? I mean, when you use credit to buy the stuff, you are doing one of those, right? (We’ll get into that more in the future.) Have you ever begged your spouse or parents for something until you got it? If you have kids, have they done that to you? What happened right after they got the item they craved? Yes – we all find something else that we want.

Why is that we want something else right away you may ask. I would say that it’s partly the thrill of the chase. It’s fun to work towards getting something and have something you are shooting towards. The rest may be because we’re not happy with what we already have. I mean, I already have a 27” TV in my house, but it doesn’t have HDTV, and it’s not a flat screen. If you have the same, then you know that all sports are now broadcast for the people that have that stuff, not people like me. If it was for everyone, would I lose half of the graphics, or not be able to read the scores scrolling by on the bottom line? So, of course I want the full experience, and the only way to get it is to get a new TV, right? What an example, here I can live with what I have, but I want something else just to see the rest of the stuff, right? (Ok, I have to mention that our TV also has been dropped twice by the kids and now the DVD connectors don’t work, another annoyance….)

Ok, back on track here (enough of my complaining about my TV) and to the root of the matter: God will provide for you all that you need, and more, for your life. You have to trust in Him and, although maybe not in your time, He will get you what you NEED. I’m sure that when my TV dies, God will provide us with something else. You need to realize that you don’t need the brand new this or that just because it’s out. You don’t need to replace everything you have every year or two. Instead, clear your life of all of the extra “stuff” and allow Him to provide for you. When you and your wants get out of the way you just may find that your needs are being filled in ways you never imagined.

As our good friend Lep said when he proofread this for me: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you."

Time to Clear The Way

I'm guessing that a lot of the people that read this blog are not huge Hawk Nelson fans. They are a Christian rock band that I had heard a bunch of times on the radio, but really enjoyed live at both Winter Jam and The Rock and Worship Roadshow. But, although I enjoyed them, my boys fell in love with their style and because of that the music has been played a lot at my house, much to my enjoyment. I mention that because today I want to start examining some of the lyrics that are to be found in their song Let's Dance. Here is the chorus:

And I don't wanna look inside myself cause
Then I'll have to change somethin' else and
I don't want to live, like someone else
I'm happy in my skin, bein' myself
Let's dance

Now, if you've really let those lyrics sink in, you know exactly what they are saying, right? This could be the anthem for the majority of America today people! Instead of looking at ourselves we'd much rather point out the faults in everyone else. If we were to really look at our lives, wouldn't we find a lot of the same things that we point out as wrong in other people's lives?

Well people, over the next few blogs I'm going to try and make us start looking at these things that God wants us to change in our lives. We're going to look at the items that are in the way between us and God and keeping us from being all that he wants us to be! I hope you are ready to clear the way with me and to examine your life, because we have a fun trip coming!