"Latest blogpost by Jeff: RUN FOR YOUR LIFE – The story behind “The Chase” - http://t.co/WeglBmP2" — theupafter
As we begin this new year,
as you have to face your every morning DAILY,
in whatever connection you have with/to a Church family,
and ESPECIALLY those relationships/ties you have IN EVERYDAY LIFE,
due to all your own things you may have to take care of,
responsibilities to undertake,
battles to fight,
ground to cover…
keep in mind that God, firstly,
KNOWS…
what’s more…
He is WITH YOU!!!
I don’t know if I can ENLARGEN that point enough to help you understand
WHO HE IS
that is saying this
out of
HIS OWN MOUTH
or
WHAT IT MEANS
to you
as a human being
IN HIS CARE…
That kind of guarantee made from a
GOD
to a
HUMAN
can only be understood
if we liken it as a guarantee made from a
FATHER
to his
BABY
or,
more appropriately,
a
HUMAN
to an
ANT…
It is not, in the least, a hard thing for our God;
that guarantee is
SURE!
When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people.
And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them;
for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’
-Deuteronomy 20:1-4
But there is a second part to all this;
just to see how COMMITTED you are,
and to see where your heart is at the outset of this battle,
the succeeding verses, I believe,
weed out those second guessing themselves,
the double-minded,
and the half-committed:
Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it.
Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it.
And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’
The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’
And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.
-Deuteronomy 20:5-9
How ready are you
TODAY?
Are Christians of today Extremists?
I find myself on two different sides of the spectrum on any given day. In Christian societies, there are strong pulls to be good Word-following members of the church and great all-you-can-be professionals in your respective fields. At least this is true in my social circles.
What is this spectrum though?
Scenario A:
It’s a bright sunny day. The birds are chirping. The trees are swaying. A regular page out of a Snow White book. I have been in tune with God all week, reading the Word, in prayer, etc. All the ingredients of a good Christian, right?
Then the storm clouds roll in.
Scenario B:
It’s a bright sunny day. Birds chirping, trees swaying, Snow White singing. I have been in tune with fulfilling my responsibilities while here on earth, going to work, paying my bills, etc. All the ingredients of a good member of society, right?
Then the storm clouds roll in.
Now there is a lot of meat missing from each of the scenarios. However, just to understand that there are poles to this line of living/thinking, what I propose is that living solely in either of the scenarios is a recipe for failure.
This is not to say that these are bad things to do, just that focusing on one or the other is probably NOT the best way to go about it. It is not enough that one chases after secluding themselves after God, just as much as it is not enough that one chases after earthly responsibilities.
Right off the bat, this might not seem like the most enlightened thought of your week but the problem that I’m trying to highlight is that we don’t even give God a chance to marry the two poles of this spectrum these days. (Now if you do, God bless you; you have been enlightened more than most.)
God says through Moses,
‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.’
-Deuteronomy 11:13-14
This passage (and others have coined passages giving similar lessons, including Jesus), logically, sets up a cause and effect.
If the cause is met, the effect will follow.
However, from the passage, the point that I want to us to understand is that the two sides of the spectrum need not, and in fact, must not, be separated; rather unless we understand that both are so closely connected to each other, then we will forever be on this never ending divergence from what God intended.
Rain here, from context, represents the means to earning a living, and sustaining life.
Therefore, if God is the one who provides this elemental source of life, the CAUSE has to be met. We are commanded to love Him and serve Him with all our heart and soul. Loving and serving Him will only begin with the things that I started to list in scenario A. It must find its end in your relationship with others, as a direct result of what He reveals to you, which in part encompasses the things listed in scenario B.
And so, if the cause is met, then God has promised us that the EFFECT will follow. Having rain fall on your land will do nothing for your growth if you have done nothing to prepare the land for growth. This means that within the effect, there are certain things you have to work at to secure your crop.
In other words, RAIN + LAND does not equal “…grain, your new wine, and your oil.”
There is work that needs to be supplemented to bring all these crops, both before and after God brings you your “…early rain and the latter rain.”.
Christian extremes are practiced in a number of ways, but with living life like this, I think it’s a simple change in perspective that needs to happen.
Living at opposite ends of this spectrum is both hard, and a lot less fruitful.
Realizing that these two lifestyles are cyclically webbed, rather than on two different ends of a spectrum…
Now, that’s priceless.
The Walk
Have you ever contemplated something that wasn’t God’s will. You begin to make excuses for yourself justifying the path that you’re taking. At the same time you’re weary of the consequences of disobeying God so you don’t fully pursue sin. You slowly walk further and further from the truth, ignorant of the path you’re taking.
Have you ever contemplated something that wasn’t God’s will. You begin to make excuses for yourself justifying the path that you’re taking. At the same time you’re weary of the consequences of disobeying God so you don’t fully pursue sin. You slowly walk further and further from the truth, ignorant of the path you’re taking.
The Jog
Have you ever thought of trying something once? Just once! Afraid you’re “missing out on life” if you don’t do this sin once? You just want to see what its like. You assume that you’ll come right back to God right after your experience is over. What you thought of trying just once, has become a habit and an addiction over the years. At this point you know what you’re doing is wrong, but your steady pace is getting comfortable. It hurts to slow down and it hurts to speed up.
The Sprint
Have you ever fell deep into sin? You feel like you’ve lost everything. The devil tells you that you’ve gone too far to ever come back. “You might as well just go all in”. And so you do. You’ve drowned in guilt and you’ve become delusional. In the confusion you run in the wrong direction. Instead of running away from sin and towards God, you sprint towards the very sin that brought you down. You assume that more sin and pleasure will fill the void in your heart caused by sin. At this frantic pace it’s hard to turn back.
The Chase
It’s easy to think that God pursues us at the same pace that we run away from him. If this were true he would tire, he would give up after a few miles, and he would lose interest.
God’s pursuit of us is not based on our walk, jog, or sprint. We run away from God thinking that God’s given up on us. We think we’ve run too fast and too far to ever come back to God. if we would just turn around, we would see God desperately chasing after us. He’s been after us the whole time. He never stopped running, and he never will. The song, “The Chase”, describes a relationship with God in which we acknowledge his pursuit of us.
When I need your blood
Your cleansing flow
Your love will never fail to find my soul
My hiding place
My strength and hope
Your love will never fail to find my soul
How amazing, Unrelenting,
Is the way You chase my heart
One of the most difficult lessons I’ve had to learn in life was to prevent regret due to misunderstandings. Most of these regrets came from unintended words that I had said in conversation! So much so that a lot of my teenage and collegiate life is filled with memories of arguments and feelings of resentment that came rushing in soon afterwards.
Did I ever mean to hurt people’s feelings or infuriate them? No. I had the best intention.
In my head, what I knew to be right was to effectively communicate what was rolling around in my head, whether it be a joke, or a certain perspective on a given issue.
It never made sense to me why people took what I said ten different ways, or, as per my understanding, twisted it around to mean something else. And their interpretation was usually hurtful or confrontational!
Where then did I go wrong?
I came to find out later something that would completely change my life: it wasn’t enough to have the best of intentions; rather, the most important thing in effective communicating is PERSPECTIVE!
Perspective to know not only what you mean when you say certain things, but perspective to understand how the one receiving it will process what is being said to them.
The goal here, is to determine what is the most effective way to present an idea that will promote the desired effect in that individual, whether that effect be change, awe, action, etc.
Now don’t get me wrong: I don’t have my PhD in the art of communication or anything, and therefore, all of this should be understood as my opinions. All rights reserved.
Now, the Bible does talk about communication as well. In fact, there are many references to warn the believer to be weary of what we say; there are even ones that say that we will be called out on Judgment Day for the careless words that we had spoken (Matthew 12:36-37)! The third chapter of James stresses the importance of a controlled tongue as well, to the extent of saying that,
Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
James 3:2
James, and other writers like Matthew, Paul, and Solomon also prescribe caution to be exercised in this department.
But how does one go about this? Surely there must be some kind of filter that we can use to know what is allowed, and what is not…
One such filter is depicted in popular mainstream shows. You know the kind I’m referring to: where during a scene where a decision is about to be made, there’s a miniature angel on one shoulder, and a miniature demon counterpart on the other shoulder, and both battle it out to advise the regular sized human to decide one way or the other.
As entertaining as it sounds, this IS what happens in real life. Well, for the most part.
We are constantly being influenced by the Holy Spirit, as well as the devil.
One such blatant scenario is in Matthew 16, where the two stories occur back to back, and involves the same character, which adds to the humor of the situation all the more! In verses 13 – 20, the disciple Peter is able to confess that Jesus is “…the Christ, the Son of the living God.” and is praised for doing so. However, just a few verses down, Peter begins to rebuke Jesus for predicting his death, and Jesus, in turn, rebukes Peter saying, “Get behind Me, Satan!”.
Jesus is able to point out the difference in Peter’s character between these two scenes: it is Peter’s PERSPECTIVE that changes.
In the first, he is able to think outside of himself and is consequently able to receive revelation from God. In contrast, in the second scene, although it seemed as noble a statement as any best friend could give, its origins and ends were in his own heart. It was beneficial to Peter that Jesus would be prevented from being murdered.
Now that doesn’t seem like something the devil on Homer Simpson’s left shoulder would cause him to say. Of course not! That would just be bad television. 
But Jesus thought otherwise: in fact, he felt so strongly against what Peter said that it is important to point out the abrasive language used by Jesus in His response. It makes you wonder what effect Peter’s words carried, as per Jesus. What effect then does seemingly well intentioned ideas have on us in this day and age? Should some ideas, in fact, be considered as poisonously contrary to God’s will and plan for us as Jesus thought Peter’s to be?
For me, it was a tough lesson to learn, and it took years to see improvement. I still haven’t completely grasped control of how to effectively communicate whilst encouraging the listener, or affecting change in them. But I can’t do it without constantly being in tune with the Holy Spirit; I know that much.
To whom are YOU listening?
-Perspective
Ellie and Carl from the movie "UP"
Have you seen the Disney movie “UP”?
I’m sorry I have to give the movie away!
Ellie is a young, adventurous girl who has an unbelievable amount of energy! She is ecstatic at all times! She falls in love with the main character, Carl. Ellie and Carl go through life very happily, with goals in mind and adventures waiting to be fulfilled. They have a home, go out on dates, fix up the house, and continue to live life as a happy family. As Ellie gets older, the once bright, bubbly and ecstatic Ellie starts to mellow down and by the time she’s well advanced in years, Ellie, once full-of-life, becomes ill and dies.
You might be wondering what i’m getting at, but look at a timeline of your parents’ lives. Most of us don’t know the good or bad times that our parents had as they were growing up. Of course they’ll tell us stories here and there but most often then not, they had their ecstatic, lively and extremely exciting days as well!
And then think back to when you were in elementary school and mom or dad still punished you, yelled at you, and still had more than enough energy to out-run and out-smart your clever ways.
THOSE TIMES weren’t always going to be there…
Then in high school, children always want to be rebels and give the parents a tough time. Parents still had a good amount of fight in them and conversations become arguments and discussions lead to dissension, but at the end of the day you were all still family.
But those times weren’t always going to be there…
College comes around and parents start to realize that it’s going to be time for you to be on your own. Although they start giving you that space and backing up, they’re still there supporting you in whatever way they could.
But THEY aren’t always going to be there.
Finally you get married and you’re completely on your own
and they feel proud that they’ve stuck around to lead you to your home. After many decades of battling life to get you where you are, their voices become distant while you’re still going strong. They still try their best to not let you down and make sure you’re all who you can be, but the truth remains… They are not ALWAYS going to be there.
One day, their time will come when the only hope we have, is to see them when we see Jesus.
The once vibrant, young, energetic… Will eventually become frail, slow, and limited. The understanding that you’re only getting older and able to do less and less, is key to how we live life. What I am capable of doing today, is not promised for me tomorrow. I hear many people say, when I’m done with school, or settled down, then I’ll do something for God. I’m sure you will, but did you do what was required of you yesterday? Think about the parable of the talents. Every opportunity has a timeline, you either use it, or lose it. That’s just how life is. Do for God what you can today, in the ways He allows you to work today. Tomorrow, will depend on what God wants you to do tomorrow because the truth remains,
YOU are not always going to be here.
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