Seize the Day!

"Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, or that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again" (Philippians 1:20-26).

Paul encourages us to live every day as if it is our last. We have heard this often in our lives, but we seldom do anything about it. Consider the things you have done this week. How often have you found yourself pondering the fact that you have wasted parts of your day and not accomplished the things you set out to do. Probably, more times than not, we have not even set out to do the right things. Be honest, if you knew that this week would be your last week on earth, would it not change your priorities? Could it be that our hearts do not cry out for God because we believe that it will be a long time before we see Him face to face? Most of us do not think about death and dying. We primarily believe that we will live forever (not really, we just act like that is our philosophy of life).

We would be amazed at how much deeper our walk with God would be if we truly expected to see Him soon. Maybe that is why Paul's life was a continual heartcry for God. He fully believed that Jesus was going to return in his lifetime. Later, when he realized that he was going to die soon, he wrote a letter to Timothy (2 Timothy) and shared with him some of the most vital things in ministry. Maybe we should realize that we do not have any guarantees and we do not know our Sovereign Lord's timetable. We do know that we are a part of His divine purpose and He calls upon us to live our lives to the fullest each and every day for His glory.

Joe Thorn relates the following in his book, "Note to Self," "Consider that God has ordered your days. He has given you a certain number of days to use for his glory and the good of those around you. What are you doing with the time you have?" I believe that is the question of utmost importance: What are we doing with the time we have been given? Are we living if for the glory of God? Come on my friends, Seize the Day!

The Missing Link

After pastoring churches for over 26 years I still struggle with the anomaly of people living under the umbrella of "Christians" without having a passion to pursue Christ. Today, the term "Christian" has come to mean one who goes to church and lives a pretty good life. In fact, the average person claiming the name "Christian" only attends church once every other week, does not read his Bible daily, finds it difficult to make time to pray, has never shared his "faith" with another person, and gives only 2% of his income to the work of the church. No wonder our churches are declining and our witness is non-existent. I used to spend hours a day wondering when the hearts of God's people were going to change. What was it going to take to start a passionate fire burning in the hearts of Christians? I wondered what was the missing link?

The last several weeks I believe that God has begun to reveal to me the missing link that is hindering God's people from ardently pursuing Him. The reason this link has been so difficult to discover is because every time it comes to light it is put to rest by those with the privilege and position to implement it. God has revealed to me that the "church" today does not passionately pursue Him and long for a radical change in their lives because their leaders do not passionately pursue Him. Now, here me out. I am not condemning the deacons and elders of our churches. I believe that just as we must look to the spiritual leader of a household when things are out of order, we must look at the spiritual leader of the church when it is out of order. Yes, the missing link is the Pastor!

Again, I am not pointing fingers at the pastors of other churches all across the world. I do not know their hearts nor do I know of their walk. The only pastor I know intimately is myself. While I could stroke my ego and profess that I do read the Bible daily, find time to pray, share my faith, and give a tithe of my income; God also reminds me that often these things are done out of habit or obligation and not from an intimate pursuit of Him. In most cases, the people will not go deeper in their walk than their spiritual leader. Too often as pastors we look at our congregation and pray that "they" would have a radical change in their hearts, when what is really needed is for us "pastors" to be radically changed.

Beginning tonight, my heartcry is no longer, "God change 'their' heart," but "God change my heart." I am the one who needs a fire lit in him. God is calling me to pursue Him with my whole heart. He is calling me to die to self, take up my cross and follow me. Lets be honest pastors, how many of us are truly dying to ourselves and taking up the way of suffering for Jesus? If Christ loves the church and died for her, then what does that say about His expectations of the pastor? If we really want to experience revival, the real missing link is staring at us in the mirror every morning . . . when I humble myself, turn from my wicked ways, pray,and seek His face, then He will hear my heartcry and bring healing. Our question is how bad do we really want the glory of God to come down and fill our land? Bad enough to be honest before God and cry out for Him to change us from the inside out?

Willing to Die for Love

If the key to loving God is obeying His commands, then my guess is we don't really love God as much as we claim. Oh, it's easy to shout and holler and sing praises gathered with other Christians in worship. And yes, it's easy to tell of our love for God when we share a testimony at church. But I wonder, does that really say much about our love of God? I believe the real test of our love for God is our commitment to walk in obedience to His commands when no one is there to cheer us on. I believe we learn more about the depth of our love for God on a rainy Monday morning at work than we do at worship celebration on Sunday morning.
Jesus repeatedly told his disciples that if they truly loved Him they were to obey His commands (John 14:23; John 14:24; John 15:10). It seems the real test of love is to live our lives in such a way that we carry out the Lord's commands. So, what does a deep love for God really look like? It's not evidenced by how many "Christian" bumper stickers you have on your car, or by how often you wear "Christian" t-shirts. A deep love for God is demonstrated when we love our neighbors as ourselves, when we put others first, when we lose ourselves in serving others. In fact, when you truly love God, you begin to look more and more like Jesus. True love for God is measured by how our lives are daily conformed to the image of Jesus. Do you really love God? I mean really? Because, if you do, it will cost you your life. Those who truly love God lay down their lives for Him . . . and never pick them up again (John 15:13).