Isolation Island

'Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." - Genesis 2:18

Picture an island.  It can be as beautiful and serene as your imagination can create.  This island is called isolation island.  In all its beauty, in all its pleasure you are completely and underly alone.  There is no one else on the island, coming to visit the island, or rescuing you from the island.

We were not created to be alone, there is something inside all of us that desires to be part of something.  We want to share life with a spouse, to have friends, and be part of a family and community.  Recently over the Christmas season I have been visiting with many young men ages 18-25 who are in college, in the military, or just working an everyday job.  The common theme during our conversations has been that it is so hard to live out your faith by yourself.  Those living for Christ in the military find a constant battle of adapting the military language.  Those in college face all kinds of peer pressure that compromise their beliefs.  Most of these young men are trying to do this alone but they are realizing the need for strong Christians in their life.

In some situations we may have to fight for our faith alone for awhile but this should not be the norm.  Wherever you are at in life are you looking for solid Biblical community or fellowship or are you waiting for it to fall in your lap?  Many of these young men have found it but they had to seek it out.  Join your brothers and sisters in Christ and spur one another on to love Christ.

te-na-cious

te-na-cious
Adjective: Not easily dispelled or discouraged; persisting in existence or in a course of action.

"And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." - Acts 5:41

Tenacious...isn't that just an awesome word?  Are there tenacious followers of Christ out there?  Those who are not easily discouraged, that persist, that stay the course no matter the opposition.  Those who fight for the heart of their King Jesus.

Have you ever asked yourself, "What do I fight for?"  It is easy to give up, it is easy to be "soft" followers of Christ.  To be tenacious is hard, it takes effort, hard work, and underlying it all is commitment.  We must believe the words of Paul when he says, "To live is Christ and to die is gain," if we are to be tenacious.  This life will present many obstacles that will get us discouraged and many times we feel like giving up.  Many times we like to sulk, mope, and stay in a state of self pity.

When can only be tenacious, to not easily be discourage, and to persist when its all about Christ and His Kingdom and not about us.  Just as the apostles in Acts did not cease teaching and preaching no matter what obstacles they faced.  They were committed, determined, and sure of the eternal future with Christ and that was their goal.  There hope was in Christ, not their kids, not their job, not their financial security, and not their spouse.

Discouragement will come in all shapes and sizes.  From many little things to one big thing our plans, our hopes, and our dreams can come crashing down.  What will you do when these things happen?  Will you fight for your King?  Will you run and hide?  Be tenacious, fight the good fight, and stay the course because Jesus is worthy.

Born To Die

Why was Jesus born? During Christmas time I often try to reflect on this question. The answer I keep coming back to is that he was "born to die." While we celebrate the birth of Christ we must always remember the death of Christ. The cross doesn't happen without the birth but the birth without the cross is meaningless.

Death is the separation of spirit and soul from the body. Since God is spirit he had to be born and take on a body in order to die. The purpose of what we celebrate at Christmas is the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

What It Means To Be A Torchbearer

The other morning I woke up and God really challenged me with a thought.  Do I wake up each and every morning and aimlessly try to follow Jesus?  Am I throwing darts at a target but don't know where the target is?  I have been pondering and praying recently and after talking with Don we both know that we need to start writing and blogging more.

I went back to one of the first challenges Don ever gave me.  To come up with a Biblical name.  My name is "Torchbearer of Christ."  This name should encompass a personal mission for the glory of God.  I like the name but I never really put a lot of time or effort into daily living that out.  So now it is time to start.

A Torchbearer is one who leads or inspires others in working hard toward a valued goal.  In this case Christ is the goal, his glory, his kingdom, and deeper intimacy with our Savior is what we must work hard for.  As a torchbearer I must lead by example, encourage others, and press on toward the goal in spite of opposition (which is sure to come!).

With that being said I would like to invite you along this journey with me.  My goal is to blog a minimum of 3 days a week.  In blogging I want to help inspire you toward Christ and his kingdom.  I will be reading through the Bible this year so many of my thoughts may come from that.  I pray that you would take some time to develop a personal mission statement, to create a Biblical name, and live that out daily for the glory of God.

Eat, Drink, & Be Merry

Beliefs have consequences. For example, I could believe that the wall in front of me is not real and going running as fast as I can into it. Ouch would then be the proper response because my belief doesn’t change truth. Our beliefs have consequences in life but more importantly in eternity. What we choose to believe or not believe is more important than we think.

“I don’t like to think about that.” Have you ever heard that response from someone? This is because most people are trained not to think. They don’t want to wrestle with hard truth so they choose not to think about it. They begin to live in denial and convince themselves that life will be ok. These people tend to get angry when you try to push questions upon them because they cause feelings, fears, and hurts that they don’t want to deal with.

There is another school of thought that I would classify as “eat, drink, & be merry.” This group chooses to believe that they should “party like a rockstar” and enjoy the world as much as they can. Please know I am not condemning either one of these groups of people, I am just challenging their thinking and wanting them to understand their beliefs have consequences.

Think about your beliefs. Think about the consequences to your beliefs. What is your philosophy on life? religion? truth? God? Are you ok with that? Are you ok with the consequences to your belief? My prayer for you is that you will understand truth, that just because you want to believe a certain way it doesn’t change the truth of Scripture. God’s Word is proven true over and over again. Hell is a real consequence of beliefs outside of Jesus Christ. However, Heaven and more importantly eternity with Jesus is a consequence to belief in Christ.

“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” - Romans 10:9

Further Reading: Romans 10, John 3