christianeasy peasy lemon squeezy‏

Christianese is Christian slang and short cuts to address broader concepts without the need to entirely rehash the entirely doctrinal substance and Biblical evidence for or against a particular belief and/or practice.

But it is these short cuts that often make weeds very comfortable among wheat and wheat even more comfortable with weeds.

Ever met someone who knew what to say and how to say it in order to get the approval of those they were trying to woo?

Ever been either a teenage boy or girl or in an over-sexualized culture?

So, you know then.

Christianese is fine for reducing the length of conversations among mature believers. It is like a contraction that saves you the “no” of “cannot” by replacing it with the ‘ in “can’t.” Not a great time saver, but over time and if used enough, you can see it’s utility. (not “it is” utility. “it’s” is not a contraction. seriously, English is nutzo!)

But I challenge you to really define your terms when speaking and request additional information from others who use terms like “fleecing it out,” “quiet time,” “Gospel,” “sanctification,” etc… Think about how you would define these terms if your hearer was not an inner circle Mafioso all secret-handshake equipped with kung-fu grip.

It is easy to hold easy things.

It is difficult to grapple with difficult things.

A man cannot express what he does not understand.

Oswald Chambers said it this way,

“If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can. If you don’t, other people may miss out on the blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through God’s winepress where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle, experiment, and rehearse your words to express God’s truth clearly. Then the time will come when that very expression will become God’s wine of strength to someone else. But if you are not diligent and say, “I’m not going to study and struggle to express this truth in my own words; I’ll just borrow my words from someone else,” then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to state to yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you will be allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone else.”

Yeah, so what he said.

Do that.

Now.

we can't force God to talk‏

“We can’t force God to talk, yet sometimes He completely surprises us and talks anyways.” ~Bruce Waltke

There are times in teaching God’s Word that we hope upon hope for His voice to be heard through our mouths in the hearts and minds of our hearers and He doesn’t. Or He does, but not to who we thought He was going to do so.

We can’t wrestle the Spirit down from Heaven to do our bidding.

On the other hand, we can’t keep Him quiet either.

On other occasions, He intervenes Himself into our thoughts and actions in ways we did not anticipate or invite. He invites Himself into our aspirations and plans and tugs at us in ways we would shut off if we could.

God is sovereign.

Psalm 115:3

Our God is in the heavens;
He does all that He pleases.

book review: Quitter by Jon Acuff‏

Learn more about this book HERE.

My sister lent me this book a few weeks before God granted her the job of her dreams.

Jon Acuff lays out a great strategy for determining what it is you really want to do and how to orient your current life around taking steps to see if that is something you could do full-time.

I learned a lot and laughed a lot as well.

For those of you unfamiliar with Acuff’s Stuff Christians Like, check it out.

You’ll laugh.

Unless you take yourself too seriously.

Then you won’t.

And we’ll all laugh at you.

Back to Quitter, only in the past few years has my heart really begun to develop what most of my friends have long called their “passion” or “calling.” I never had one of these. I am a hard worker. I like being productive. But I never had a specific end to which I wanted to work or a particular skill I felt I could pursue.

I want to teach, preach, counsel, encourage, and proclaim the Gospel of God to the lost, the found and everyone in-between. I want to use my mind and creativity to encourage men already leading to lead more and more. I want to use my knowledge and discernment to counsel young Christians trying to make a go of it by grace. I want to be a pastor. I want to learn how to shepherd as I have been shepherded.

Reading Quitter helped me put into perspective the road between where I am and where I want to go.

Thank you LAUREN!!!

dad point oh

I have a Heavenly Father.
I have an earthly father.
I am an earthly father to 4 children.

Today is a good day to be alive, to be a dad, to be a son, to have an inheritance, to be forming a legacy.

Thank You God for teaching me to be a man by receiving my identity from Jesus.

Thank You God for an earthly father who has generously provided for me beyond measure.

Thank You God for children to teach and love and serve and shepherd.

May me, my dad and my children all share a Heavenly Father that we may be siblings made equal and made perfect in Christ forever.

don't worry! you ARE going to die‏

Matthew 6:27

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Is there a right place for thinking through what we eat and to what we subject our bodies (organic food, cell phone waves, microwaves, yellow #5, etc…)?

Yes.

Can you by worrying about these things make sure that you live longer?

Nope.

Can you by putting into practice better eating habits and limited exposure to laptops and smart phones increase the likelihood that you will have a healthier life?

Sure.

But rest assured, you will die when God wants you to die.

Take note crunchy moms, you and your kids will live as long as God wants you to live.

Take courage from this.

Take comfort.

It’s not ALL on you.

My wife has the following verse taped to the side of our fridge to keep this principle in perspective:

Romans 14:17

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ concluding words on this topic in the “Sermon on the Mount” may be the basis from which we affirm Paul’s declaration in Romans above.

Matthew 6:31-33

 

³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Everybody wants what’s best for them.

That is commonplace.

That is to be expected.

It is uncommon and unexpected to lay down that life for which everyone else strives so hard to protect in order to obtain and inherit eternal life from God in Christ.

Protecting our earthly bottoms is base.

Perishing daily voluntarily is beatific

Noah had faith and everyone else died!

“Abel had faith and he died; Enoch had faith and he did not die; Noah had faith and everyone else died!” ~Bruce Waltke

 

Faith is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get except that you’ll get God in the process.

 

Believe on the Lord Jesus and leave the rest up to Him so your soul may find rest in Him.

God doesn't take risks; so we can‏

“God doesn’t take risks; so we can.” ~ Kevin DeYoung

God is not a gambler, so we can gamble our lives on giving them completely to Him.

If He was capricious and fickle, we would be foolish NOT to be fear-infused when relinquishing our valuable lives and livelihoods to His discretion.

However, If He is consistent and faithful, we are foolish NOT to gladly relinquish our valuable lives and livelihoods to His discretion.

Do you believe God to be fickle or faithful?