@elevationdurham: One Month to Live part 4... check it out http://t.co/gBVmDzcF

← Older posts

Attention All Men

Posted on August 22, 2011 by jeremiah

You have to read this.

Posted in blog posts | Comments Off

The Problem with Choice

Posted on June 23, 2011 by jeremiah

If you have never seen the Matrix Trilogy you should. Well, at least the first one. The second movie is OK and the third is just silly. There is a scene in the second movie where Neo, the hero of the trilogy, meets the Architect, The creator of the Matrix. Near the end of their somewhat one sided philosophical dialogue, Neo comes to realize that the problem with the Matrix is choice. Its unpredictable, unstable, and cannot be accounted for with mathematics. In fact it was the very reason he existed and could do what he did.

When I woke up this morning, I was immediately bombarded with choice. I had to choose to get out of bed. I had to choose whether or not to shower. I had to chose what clothes to wear. I had to choose if I were going to spend time to Jesus or not. I had and have a choice for every action I will possibly do today. Choice is everywhere.

We live in a very privileged society. We can choose where we work, where we go to school, how we parent, what kind of car we drive, where we eat breakfast. We have freedom to choose to do just about anything. The power to choose is intoxicating. So much so that when something threatens to take that power away we have a tendency to flip out. How could you take away choice right?

Herein lies the problem with choice. To be more clear, the problem with choice in our society. Choice has become a “right”.

We are very aware or our “rights”. We love to protect our rights. We love to fight for our rights. With that in mind, here is a question that I believe we must answer: Has that mindset corrupted our faith?

I wonder if we have forgotten that at the Cross of Christ, our rights have been laid at His feet. That after we come to Christ, we are slaves to righteousness. That we are predestined to be conformed into the image of Christ. I wonder if our proclivity to champion our power of choice has kept us from correctly understanding what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

Don’t get me wrong, choice is great. However, I believe that we must understand as believers, that our choices are no longer our own. That we must lay down our right to choose at the feet of Christ, and come to the understanding that to truly become his disciples our hearts must beat for His choice, His purposes, His glory. Our perspective has to shift from our “right to choose” to His choice for us.

 

Posted in blog posts | Comments Off

The Greatest Strategy?

Posted on May 17, 2011 by jeremiah

I remember reading an article a few years ago about a girl who was learning to play chess from a master of the game. It was a very interesting article and I was shocked at the depth of strategy involved in the game. I have alway known that chess was extremely strategic, but to see it through the eyes of a master was mind blowing. One of the most discussed strategies in the article was the art of distraction. Getting your opponent to focus all his attention to one area of the board while you attack from another.

I wonder if this isn’t the greatest strategy. I ran across the following poem the other day and thought that it was dead on. You can read it on the authors blog here, but I copied it below.

The Fight

rather than fighting to outlaw abortion
fight to teach our children the value of life

rather than fighting against same sex marriages
fight to save our own marriages

rather than fighting to control what is on TV
fight to spend our time wisely & keep our hearts pure

rather than fighting to allow prayer in school
fight to make prayer a part of your daily home life

rather than fighting about health care costs
fight to take preventative health into your own hands

rather than fighting to boycott immoral companies
fight to support the moral companies

rather than fighting public education
fight to teach your child a love of learning no matter where they are taught

rather than fighting big oil
fight to live a less oil dependent life

sometimes it’s important to fight the big fight, but if you aren’t fighting the real fight in your own family, in your own life, is the fight really worth it?!

There is a saying among Pastors, “Choose which hill you want to die on.” Its a reminder to us that we must choose our battles carefully. We must fight not only the right fights, but the fights that really matter.

As the Body of Christ, I wonder if we aren’t too easily distracted. We are really good at picking fights, just not very good and picking the right ones. We get caught up in hot topics, but fail to realize that the real fight is deeper. In other words we deal to often with the symptoms of the problem rather than the problem itself.

I believe that distraction is the greatest strategy used against the Church. It keeps us off balance, out of focus, and off mission. We must learn to steady ourselves, focusing all or our attention on what is at the root of the dilemma we find ourselves in. That our only hope is found in Jesus Christ.

If we are going to be hated, lets be hated because of our love. Lets be hated because we refuse to get distracted. Lets be hated because we are living, working, and moving in a way that rightly reflects a great God to a lost and dying world.

“The Fight” was taken from this blog.Read more: http://www.4littlemenandgirlytwins.com/2011/05/fight.html#ixzz1McFuR4qJ

Posted in blog posts | Comments Off

What is the Gospel

Posted on May 9, 2011 by jeremiah

Posted in blog posts | Comments Off

What the Church Could Learn from Chick-Fil-A

Posted on March 23, 2011 by jeremiah

I visited a Chick-fil-a with my family a few weeks ago and as usual we had a great time. While I was watching my daughter play in the indoor playground, I saw a case of moist towlettes hanging on the wall right beside the door of the playground. I was really impressed by this.

Chick-fil-a is incredible. I have never had a bad time in Chick-fil-a, they are always well staffed, always say “My pleasure”, always clean, the food is unreal (especially the nuggets), and they are prepared for their guests!

They know who they are serving and they know what they are about. Making the most unbelievable chicken in the fast food industry. They go out of their way to make their guests comfortable. From moist towlettes on the wall to having people come by to fill your cup or carry your tray to the table. They go out of their way to make sure you want to come back. They are committed to excellence.

Why do you go to Chick-fil-A? I never go to eat a hamburger, I go to eat chicken. I go because their product is incredibly delicious.

Think hard, have you ever had a bad Chick-fil-a experience?

When I think about the church, we tend to be more about offering as much as we can to as many people as we can. In the end, we end up with a bunch of half cooked programs that all taste the same. What if we simplified? What if people knew what they were going to get at church? What if we focused on the one thing we are supposed to be focused on? The Gospel. The fact that I cannot live the life God intended without Christ. What if we decided to proclaim that with the same degree of excellence as you see in a Chick-fil-A.

We could write about this forever and I know that we aren’t offering a “product”. I do, however, think that we could learn a lot from Chick-fil-A.

Posted in blog posts | Comments Off← Older posts