True Independence

We are coming upon the holiday where our nation celebrates its freedom from those that would have wanted to have control.  Often times we determine that freedom is the freedom from anything or anyone controlling us.  But this is not the case.  In our nation's independence we did not overthrow the idea of being governed, but we changed it to be governed by self-appointed individuals.  Now many might like to replace those that govern us presently.  Freedom is often like that.  We are not truly free in the sense that we can do anything we want.  We cannot fly to the moon, gravity holds us down.  We cannot teleport to China, our molecules don't break apart like that.  When we hold on to the idea that we need to be free, we actually fail to realize how enslaved we really are.  We tend to do this when it comes to our relationship with God as well. 

We think that we are free apart from God because we don't want God to be in control.  However when we are thinking we are free, we are really enslaved to our own lusts, our own desires, and the sin that so easily entangles us.  In the illusion of freedom we serve a master whose only goal is our destruction.  John 8 talks about this.  In verse 34 Jesus reminds those listening that, ". . .everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin."  We think we are free apart from God but that could not be farther from the truth.  This is why earlier in the chapter he said we should know truth because truth leads to freedom.

When we know the truth about who is really enslaving us we have our path to freedom.  But not in the sense that we get total freedom, we simply replace our master with another.  The good news of teh gospel is that when God is our master He does not treat us as a slave, but as an adopted child.  We get the rights and privileges of being an heir.  And in this there is real freedom.  A freedom that we should readily surrender to the God who gave it because of all that He has done for us!

Teachable Moments

I learned a lesson at VBS today.  It was in talking with one of the teachers who was talking about taking teachable moments.  The kind of moments that are outside of the lesson that is being taught to teach a valuable life principle.  Taking the time to show someone that you care enough to talk to them about how they should behave and how they can do better next time.  As the teacher addressed the VBS student they had their total attention for a few brief moments.  The challenge is to use those moments to teach something that will benefit them for a lifetime.

As I thought about this, I thought about how God does this with us.  He uses the trials and difficulties in our lives to get our attention.  He uses the good times and the bad to get our attention.  And all that He does is to draw us to himself and give us a better chance of listening to His Word.  He tells us in James 1:2-4 that we are to allow the hard times to mold us into the person that God wants us to be - the person who is lacking nothing. 

So often we don't stop and take the time to listen to the corrective voice of God.  We instead complain about the difficulty and focus more on ourselves instead of on God.  When we do this we are not allowing ourselves the joy of the teachable moment - that moment when God has our attention and can direct us with His Truth. 

So if you are going through something that has your attention - listen.

Learning from History

We have much to learn from history.  For this reason each year I try to read a biography.  This year our local library had a free book giveaway and I picked up a copy of 41: A Portrait of My Father by George W Bush.   This book tells the life story of George H W Bush, the 41st president of the United States.  This book is admittedly biased - as the author is telling the story of his father whom he admires, but it was still a good read.  One of the things that was interesting is how the author wove in lessons he had learned from his father's example.  These lessons he used in order to make fewer mistakes (by his interpretation) in his own life.

Politics aside and regardless of your views on the person or work of the Bush family, what I find interesting is that we are often as people so selective in the things that we learn from history.  The example of the people of Israel are a fine example of this.  No matter how many of their past mistakes we have recorded for them, it seems that history was indeed doomed to repeat itself. 

How often is this the case with our lives as well.  We refuse to look back at examples who have gone before us, or even the example of our own lives.  When we fail to learn from our previous mistakes or the examples that God has given us, we are missing a key component to the world that God has given us.  This is not to say that we live in the past, but that we use the past as an example to allow our present to avoid mistakes that will have a catastrophic effect on our future. 

So use all of the examples available to you - your own experience, the experiences of others in the body of Christ (though this requires sharing with one another), and the experiences recorded for us in Word of God most of all!  Use these examples and learn from them.  And in so doing you will avoid making some of the same mistakes that others have who have gone before.

Don't Stop Growing

Sometimes I think that Christians arrive.  What I mean by this is that we get to a point in our development and we think we have got it down.  After all, we are going to church, we are giving, we are praying, we are teaching our kids, we are serving.  And so we think we are pretty great and we stop. 

I believe that this comes from an improper system of goals.  We set the goals for ourselves to be a little better than ourselves and a little better than our neighbors in the pew and we find ourselves having arrived at that spot and we are not really sure where to go from there.

The problem with this is that being a little better than our former selves or a little better than the guy next to us is not the goal.  "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;" (Ephesians 5:1, NASB).  We are to be like God and specifically like His Son Jesus Christ.  And this task is not concluded until we are changed by Him in glory.  So in the mean time, I am to never stop striving.  I should never stop growing.  I should never stop being remade in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If I make my goal to be like Christ than I have not only the proper goal in mind, but also a difficult one.  If I am to be like Christ, I must recognize my continual dependence upon the Spirit of God and the Word of God to accomplish the task.  It will also be a lifelong process, but I must never stop growing!