Obedience Required

What do you do when God asks you to do something when you've come to Him asking for healing?

That's the question that I spent time pondering the last few days. I was reading 2 King 5, where Naaman goes to Elisha to seek healing of his leprosy. When Elisha tells Naaman to dip seven times in the Jordan and then he will be healed, Naaman initially refuses to do so.

2 Kings 5:11-14 says:

But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.
Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" So he went down and dipped himslef in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

Elisha told Naaman the healing he was seeking would come from his obedience. But Naaman was not interested at first. He was enraged at the thought of what he had been asked to do.

It wasn't until his servants challenged his thinking and encouraged him to follow through that Naaman was able to experience the fullness of God's healing in his life.

This made me wonder . . . 

How do I respond to what God asks me to do when I come to Him seeking healing?

Am I annoyed or angry that I have something I need to do in obedience?

Do I see the things of obedience God asks of me as ridiculous, or of getting in the way of what I was asking for?

Or, am I willing, like Naaman eventually was, to follow through?

I think that often our obedience is required for us to experience the fullness of God's healing in our lives. 

Not that God can't or won't heal us other ways. He can and He does. It's not hard to find stories of that.

But, I also think that we often have a part to play in the healing we're asking God to bring - whether that healing be physical, emotional, or spiritual. He heals us in the moment, but it's as we walk out what He says in obedience that we experience the fullness of it.

What Stops us from Experiencing God's Promises

God offers promises of blessing in our lives. We cling to those promises as we make our way through whatever comes our way. But, often we don't feel like we ever really get to experience the reality of those promises in our lives. We feel like everything comes up short of what God has said.

Why is this?

Are we wrong in our understanding of what God said?

Are they things that aren't for us?

Have we missed something?

As I was studying the prophet Jeremiah recently, I noticed something important as it relates to this.

Jeremiah 16:19-20 says:

"Therefore this is what the Lord says:
If you repent, I will restore you
     that you may serve Me;
it you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
     you will be My spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
     but you must not turn to them.
I will make you a wall to this people,
     a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
     but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
     to rescue and save you.
                    declares the Lord."

God made some pretty great promises to Jeremiah in these verses:

• God would restore Jeremiah
• God would make Jeremiah His spokesman
• The people would not overcome Jeremiah when they came against him
• God would be with Jeremiah and rescue and save him

But, God's words to Jeremiah begin with an important word: IF.

All these promises were for Jeremiah, but he had a choice to make if he wanted to experience them. Living in these promises required Jeremiah to take a step of obedience first. Jeremiah had to choose to turn back to God in repentance and follow Him even when other around him weren't.

I think that's important for us to understand. We're not doing something to try to earn God' favour. But, if we want to experience the fullness of God's promises to us, we have to choose obedience to His ways first. We have to choose to take whatever step is asking us to take. Once we make that choice to follow in obedience, we're able to experience the fullness of God's promises to us.

What is the step of obedience God has asked you to take?

What is holding you back from taking it?

Will you choose to trust God and take it anyways, so you can experience the fullness of what God wants to offer you?

Discard Darkness & Armor Up with Light

What does it mean to discard darkness?

How do we armor up with light?

"The night is nearly over and the day is near; so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:12, CSB)

There are a few words in this verse that really jumped out at me when I read them recently.

The first thing was where it talks about discarding the deeds of darkness. Other translations say to put aside the deed of darkness in this verse. For me, the word discard when I read it in this translation was what stuck, rather than saying put aside. I tend to see putting aside as leaving something to come back to it later, but discarding speaks of something more permanent to me.

We should be removing the deeds of darkness from our lives for good. We discard them and they're not there for us to take back up again. They're not something we can go back to.

This isn't easy, but it's necessary. This verse goes on to say what we should take up when we discard the deeds of darkness.

We put on the armor of light. I'd never really thought about light as armor before. Light exposes and reveals, but I didn't see it as something that protects like I think of armor. Light doesn't hide anything.

But, I guess that really is armor against the deeds of darkness. These deeds depend on darkness to hide them from view, so when we take up the armor of light, we expose them for the what they really are. In this way, it does make light armor - it protects us from being deceived into doing the deeds of darkness.

To discard the deeds of darkness, we first have to allow God to point them out to us. We go His Word and we go to Him in prayer and ask Him to show us the places where we are engaged in the deeds of darkness.

Once they've been revealed, we repent of them and turn to God's ways. We choose to walk in His ways, and that means we are walking in the light. Walking in the light is how we armor up with light. We refuse to walk in  the shadows, and instead choose to walk in God's ways and stay in the His light.

Where are you engaging in the deeds of darkness in your life? Are you willing to allow God to point them out?

Will you choose to walk in the light of God's truth and God's ways instead?

Coming Alongside What God is Already Doing

I've been thinking about what I would write for this post all day. I've started and not finished a few posts the last few days. Usually I try to write things ahead of time, but that just didn't seem to be happening this time. So, I've been wondering what my post for this week, for today, would look like. 

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be available to God for Him to use for His purposes. What it looks like for us to let God use us.

I often read Scripture - especially in Acts - and see the things God did through the people of the early church and wonder why it seems so far from my own experience. Acts is full of stories of the way that God was changing people's lives.

What is it that was different about them? Why do those stories sometimes seem so far from my own experience?

If God did all those things in Acts, then He can still do them today. So, why do they not seem to happen now - except in mostly far-off places?

I know those things do still happen. There are stories of this . . . and not all in far-ff places. It happens where I am too. But, I know I often miss them, or I hear the stories of them without seeing anything like them in my own life.

As I've reflected on this the last few months, I've started to wonder if the reason we feel like this is missing is because we're too busy to see the opportunities and be available. We're too busy to be stopped by the person we see on the street, or in the grocery store. 

Or maybe our hearts have become hard to what we see. We no longer see the people, we just see the problem that we don't want to get involved with.

We can easily come up with a ton of excuses why we're not the one to be used in that situation, with that person. But, as I was reminded tonight by a speaker I was listening to, when God is involved He removes all our excuses.

If we're going to see God do those amazing things we read of in Scripture, we have to have hearts that are soft enough to see people. We have to be willing to have our plans interrupted. So we can join in what God is up to. Not for the stories we can tell, but so we can be available to be used in what God was up to already.

For the last few months I've been praying differently. Rather than praying for God to do something big, I've been praying that He would give me the ability to see what He is already up to and how I can join in that moment. It's a prayer of being willing to be interrupted in my plans for the day, to have a heart that is soft enough to break for what I see as I go about my day. 

I don't have any stories of spectacular things God has done. But, I do know that something has been different in how I go through my day, in how I see the people that come across my path. I may not know what happens as a result of my obedience, but that's not even what this is about.

As I was reminded again tonight, it's about being available to come alongside what God is already doing. And, I think that begins with prayer. It starts with us asking God to interrupt our days and soften our hearts. And then we respond to what we see.

The Abundance with Obedience

Where have you missed God's abundance because you were hesitant to obey?
Where has a lack of faith cost you blessing from God?

These aren't easy or pleasant questions. They're hard. I've been wrestling with them for a while now, and I'm not sure I like what my answers are. But, when I take time to reflect on them and talk to God about them, I see some things that relate. And I think it's a pretty safe guess you probably could as well. This isn't limited to just big things. It applies just, or maybe more, to the little things.

I was challenged by these questions when I was Luke 5:1-11 recently. This is the passage where Jesus calls Simon (Peter), Andrew, James, and John to be His disciples. Jesus uses Simon's boat to teach the crowds. After He has finished teaching, He tells Simon to take the boat out to deep waters to catch some fish.

Verse 5 records Simon's response: "Simon answered: Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

The result is a large catch of fish - so large they have to ask friends to come and help. And both boats start sinking with the size of the catch. In that moment Simon Peter realizes Who this Person in His boat is.

When Jesus told Peter to go out to deep waters and out down his nets, Peter didn't yet know who Jesus was. He may have heard some of Jesus' teaching and seen some miracles, but Peter didn't yet have a revelation of Jesus as the Messiah.

To me, this makes Peter's response in Luke 5:5 all the more powerful. After a long and unsuccessful night of fishing, Peter heads out and puts his nets down again. He didn't know what Jesus was about to do. He responded in obedience and faith. He took Jesus at His word before he knew exactly who this Man was.

Simon's faith and obedience saw an immediate result. He caught more fish then he could handle. More than could be handled, even when he had his friends come to help.

The result of Simon's obedience and faith without knowing was an abundant blessing from God. The abundance came after the step of obedience, not before and not with a word about what would come. Simon obeyed and then he saw the result.

It was as I realized this that I was struck by the questions I asked at the start. It's not about doing something with knowledge of how it will work out or a promise of what is to come. It's about obeying and stepping out in faith first. After we take that step, we see and experience the abundant blessing of God that comes.

Where have I missed God's abundance because I was hesitant to obey?
Where has my lack of faith cost me blessing from God?

I'm still wrestling with these questions myself. Maybe you need to take some time to wrestle with them yourself.

Thinking About Sabbath

Fall often feels like it brings with it a return a full schedule. All the usual programs and lessons begin in our communities. Ministries start up again at church. A return to school for some.

It can seem like a calendar that had space in it over the summer is quickly filled up completely again. This feels good for a while, but often feels overwhelming in not too long, as we look at a calendar with barely enough time to run from one thing to the next. We begin to miss the days when we didn't have to hurry out the door, the time spent camping, the blank spaces on our calendars.

And, I think we miss it because that's what we were created for. We weren't created to always be running with overflowing calendars, and to always be connected to everyone through our phones. We miss the blank spaces in our calendars, the quiet times, because we were created to need them.

As my summer drew to a close, it seemed I was hearing a lot about the importance of Sabbath in our lives, about our need for it. A sermon at church and a couple books I picked up for other reasons were all about it.

It's not something I've heard a lot about over the years. Even though it's one of the Ten Commandments we seem to like to ignore this one. And, it's never been one I was much inclined to really look at.

My association with what Sabbath was about for a long time came from another family in our neighbourhood growing up. They had kids the same age as my sisters and I, and many similar family values, so we spent a lot of time playing with them - except on their Sabbath. It's not that they weren't allowed to play with us that day, but more that their list of things they weren't allowed to do on their Sabbath was so long there was very little of our usual activities and games we could play. For a long time that heavily influenced my thoughts and attitudes about Sabbath.

But, my those have changed and been challenged recently as I've heard more about it. In the past, I could give you the theological arguement about why Sabbath was important, but I had no interest in it and didn't see the need for it in my own life. I didn't want a day full of rules about what I could and couldn't do.

But, I've realized lately that's not what it's about at all. It's not about rules. That's not why God put the Sabbath in His Ten Commandments. It's about the space we need in our lives- for rest, for fun, for listening to God, for taking the break from the usual demands of our lives.

So, maybe it's time for me to look at Sabbath differently. Time for me to reconsider it for my own life. And maybe it's that time for you as well.

I don't know yet what this looks like in my life, but I'm quickly realizing I have to plan for it. Creating the space won't just happen. I'm much better at filling up all the spaces on my calendar, rather than leaving the blank spaces alone.

What about you? Do you need to create a Sabbath in your life?

Whether it's a day a week, a half a day, or even a few hours, we all have to start somewhere with it, and see where it goes from there.

What does it need to look like for you?

We're all different, so what a Sabbath looks like isn't something we can dictate for another person.

What would bring rest and fun for you? What would it look like for you to disconnect for that time from the usual demands of life?
How can you create space to really hear from God in that time?

We're all going to answer these questions differently. That's why we can't make Sabbath all about rules - about things you can or cannot do. What answers these questions for one of us, might not be the answer for another person. The important part is that we make the time.

In our busy, hyper-connected world maybe we need to take the fourth commandment a little more seriously than we have been.

What is the Cost you Will Choose to Pay?

I've spent the summer reading Judges and 1 Samuel. They're not always the most enjoyable books to read (although a bit more interesting than lists of names or laws can be). As I've read and reflected on these books in God's Word, I've noticed a theme that runs through much of what they have to say:

Both disobedience and obedience to God have a cost

Over and over, these two books and many others tell the story of a choice to disobey God and the cost of that choice for the individual or for the entire nation. You can't really miss it as you read.

Sometimes, even the best of intentions was still disobedience. Sometimes it was outright refusal to obey. Sometimes it was a slow drift from where they should have been. The common thread in all of these is disobedience to God.

It made me wonder about my own life. Where are those places where I'm paying the cost of my own disobedience? Because our disobedience to God does have a cost.

Seeing the cost of disobedience so clearly made me notice something else. It highlighted the stories where obedience to God was the choice made. Often those stories of obedience to God also had a cost.

Choosing to obey God didn't mean there was no cost. It meant the cost was different. It mean the cost led to a deeper relationship with God, rather than increasing distance - to a greater level of trust.

Sometimes, from an earthly perspective, the higher cost came in choosing to obey God. It is the choice to go against what the world around us tells us. We might look weird. We might be made fun of. We might be unpopular. In some places, we might even put our lives in danger for our stand.

So, if both disobedience and obedience have a cost, then we have to make a choice:

What is the cost we are willing to pay? 

The cost of disobedience? Or the cost of obedience?

Going our Own Way

"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says:
In repentance and rest is your salvation,
          in quietness and trust is your strength,
          but you would have none of it.
You said: No, we will flee on horses.
          Therefore, you will flee!
You said: We will ride off on swift horses.
          Therefore, your pursuers will be swift!
A thousand will flee
          at the threat of one;
at the threat of five,
          you will all flee away,
till you are left
          like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
          like a banner on a hill.
Yet, the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
          therefore, He will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
          Blessed are all who wait for Him!"
                                                   -Isaiah 30:15-18

God told Israel what to do - how to live their lives under His blessing. They chose to do something else. God was laying out for them the consequences of their behaviour. But, even then, God hasn't given up on them.

As I read these verses, I'm struck by how much this same scenario can play out in my own life. I think it's common in the lives of many - sometimes in big ways, but more often in little ways.

God tells us what He has for us to do in this time. He gives us the way to find the salvation and strength for everyday life that we are looking for. We might have even asked Him for it. But, we don't want it that way, so we refuse. We rebel and choose disobedience to God.

Our rebellion and disobedience has consequences in our lives. God doesn't just let it slide. He will let us live with the consequences of our choices.

But, there is still good news for us. Even when we refuse to obey and our dealing with the consequences of our sine, God still longs to show us compassion. If we turn back to Him and His ways, He will be gracious and we will experience His compassion.

Is there an area in your life where God has shown you what to do and you've decided to go you own way instead?

Are you living in the consequences of your disobedience?

Will you confess it to God and turn from it?

Once we have done that, we are able to walk forward in the life God has planned for us.

Our Part to Play

Once we've made our bold ask of Jesus, do we have a part to play? Do we need to continue to act on our faith? Or do we just get to sit back and wait now?

In the last post we looked at the first part of Mark 5:21-43. Today, I want to look at the rest of the passage. (You can click here to read the passage.) The continuation of the story - the results of their bold asks for healing.

The woman had to trust Jesus enough to be found out - to be exposed. She had to acknowledge it was her who touched His cloak and share her story of why. Not to be healed - that part happened the moment she touched Jesus' cloak. But, to be able to fully walk our her healing and live the new life it brought for her.

Jairus had to believe Jesus enough to believe it possible, even when it didn't seem possible for his daughter to be healed now. He received word  his daughter had died, so now he had to believe Jesus could bring her back to life, not just heal her from sickness.

In both cases, people were bold enough to ask in the first place, but then they had a part to play in walking it out. Receiving the full healing they were asking for required them to act in faith. It wasn't passive.

I wonder if this is something we often miss in our prayers for healing. We think we just ask and then sit back and wait. God may do it instantly and not require anything from us sometimes. But, what if there's more to it than that? What if God wants us to step out in obedience? What if the way we'll see the healing is to walk it out?

Both Jairus and the woman had a choice to make. They both played a part in experiencing the fullness of healing they asked Jesus for.

Jairus had to choose to continue to believe that Jesus could still heal his daughter. Even when it no longer seemed possible.

The woman was healed of her physical illness the moment she touched Jesus' cloak. She could have been satisfied with that. When Jesus stopped and asked who had touched His cloak, she could have kept quiet and just slipped away into the crowd.

She still would have gone away physically healed, but I don't think she would have experienced the social, emotional, and mental healing she experienced by coming forward and telling Jesus the whole truth of her situation. In sharing her story and allowing Jesus to speak to the shame, fear, and worthlessness she had also carried, she was freed to completely walk in her healing.

When we miss the part of the healing that requires us to walk in it, I think we miss the fullness of what it could be for us. We don't receive the complete healing God wants to give us.

What healing have you asked God for? Is He asking you to do something to begin to walk it out and experience the complete healing He wants to give?

A New Pathway

Crisp, white snow
No footprints on the surface
Stretching as far as the eye can see

Silence surrounds
All noise muffled by the mounds of snow
Sounds fall dead, no way to echo off the snow

Time to think
To plan, to dream, to wonder
To mark out a fresh path with each step

Starting over
Marking out a path for me to go
Start afresh, choose a new direction

No distractions
No wandering into the path of another
Nothing to pull me away from where I'm going

Each step unknown ahead
Trusting His way is the best for me
Following where God leads with each step I take

I will follow
Into the unknown, unseen by me
Seen by the One I trust with my whole life

Crossroads

     "This is what the Lord says:
          Stand at the crossroads and look;
               ask for the ancient paths,
          ask where the good way is,
               and walk in it,
          and you will find rest for your souls."
                                    -Jeremiah 6:16

Show me the way Lord

I'm standing at the crossroads

I want to go Your way

Show me the good way

Show me the ancient path

Walked by many before

Clear the way, so I can see

Your good and ancient path

That path so many have walked

The path of all those before

Who chose to go Your way

Who chose what You desired

Clear the ancient way of old

Remove what covers where it goes

The beautiful ground, worn smooth

By so many gone before me

The way that leads to rest

The way that leads to life

The ancient path to home

To living in Your presence

         

The Far-Reaching Cost of Disobedience

Jonah was told by God to go to Ninevah. He refused and went the other way. Jonah was thrown overboard in a storm and spent three days in a fish. Then he was spit back up on land and finally went to Ninevah.

I heard that story countless times in Sunday School growing up. When you hear something often enough you begin to assume you know the whole thing. For a long time I would skim the book of Jonah rather than read it, relying on my memory from Sunday School to fill in the details.

I recently sat down and decided to slowly and carefully read it again. I was only five verses in when I was struck by the cost of Jonah's disobedience and the cost wasn't just limited to him.

Jonah is on a boat going away from Ninevah. He's running from God. Jonah 1:4-5 says:
"Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried to his own god. And they threw cargo into the dea to lighten the ship."

Reread that last sentence again.

This cargo, part of the sailor's income, was thrown into the sea because of the storm that was sent because of Jonah's actions. Jonah's disobedience had a cost for other people too. His choice had far-reaching effects.

The same is true for us. Our choices don't just affect us - they also affect those around us. Even those we might not know very well.

The sailors didn't know Jonah, yet they paid a price for his choice. I don't think Jonah intended for them to pay it, but they did.

When we choose to disobey God, we're not usually intending to make others pay a price, but the truth is they may.

How often do we think that what we do or don't do doesn't affect anyone but ourselves?

The truth is, if we stopped to think about it, we would realize that other people are affected by our choice when we choose to disobey.

I don't know about you, but looking at it that way makes me think again about some things. If my disobedience is going to affect others, especially those I love, then maybe it's not worth it afterall.

Take the First Step

"As soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord - the Lord of all the earth - set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap." (Joshua 3:13)

God told Joshua how Israel would get across the Jordan safely. He would stop the water from flowing so they had dry ground to walk on.

Just one thing: The priests carrying the Ark would have to step into the water first, then the water would stop flowing. (Joshua 3:17 records that this is what happened.)

God said what He would do, but Israel had to take the first step of obedience to see what God said happen. If those priests didn't step into the Jordan, the water would have kept flowing. They had to take the first step of obedience and then God did the rest.

The same is true for us sometimes. God tells us His plan and then asks us to take the first step of obedience without seeing Him do His part. We have to trust Him and what He says. Once we take that first step of obedience, we see how God does exactly what He said He would.

For those us (me included) who like to know the outcome before getting started, this isn't always easy. We're being asked to do something without knowing the outcome. We have to choose to trust.

The thing about choosing to trust God is that we can be confident He will always keep His word. If He has said it, we can be sure that He will do it. But that doesn't always make it easier in the moment to take that first step without seeing the whole picture. Yet, that is exactly what we have to learn to do.

What is the first step God is asking you to take right now?

What is keeping you from taking it?

Will you choose to trust God and take that step now?

Surrender All?

I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Jesus, I surrender
I surrender all


As the words played in my car, I stopped singing for a moment.

Reflecting on the words - was that really true? Did I surrender it all to Jesus? Was I surrendering it all to Jesus in that moment?

Most of the time I desire to surrender it all to Jesus. But sometimes I struggle to actually do that. Sometimes I allow my flesh to take over and I want to be in control of it all myself.

Surrendering means giving up control. Instead of living for my own desires and doing what I want when I want, I'm telling God I'll do what He wants when He wants. That I'll obey Him even when I want to do something else.

But, surrender is what Jesus calls us to:

"Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 10:38-39)

Jesus never hold back on speaking of the necessity of being willing to give it all up to follow God. It's not a half-ways or sometimes thing. It's a completely and all-the-time thing.


I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Jesus, I surrender
I surrender all


Do you surrender all?

What is the Message we Should be Living?

There is value in returning to the basics of what we say we believe and live. God has been continuing to take me back to that. A few days ago, I wrote about what our lives should be all about – that they should be all about God’s glory and God’s fame. He does His work in our lives to point to Himself, not to make us great. (You can read that post here).

The question I’ve been pondering lately since then is: What is the message I should be sharing with the world around me? And what does it look like to do that?

Whether it’s in the words we say or the things we choose to do or not do, our lives and our words are preaching  message to the world around us. What is that message? The one I’m currently sharing with the world? And does it line up with the one I should be sharing as someone who claims to be a follower of Christ?

Paul talks about the message that we should be sharing many times in his letters to the early church in various cities.

“. . . but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” (1 Corinthians 1:23)

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who dies for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-18)

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:7-10)

As I dig into God’s Word to find an answer to my question, it comes back to one thing – the core message is Christ crucified and risen. And through that, forgiveness of sin – God’s grace that allows us to enter His presence.

Whatever I’m doing, whatever I’m saying, it should all be pointing back to the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This doesn’t change just because I’m not someone gifted in evangelism or called to preach from a pulpit. In my ever day life, I should be living and speaking this to the people around me. That is the message that my life should be all about.

Shining Like a Light in the Dark

This is the last in a series on Philippians 2. You can read previous posts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.


"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, 'children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.' Then you will shine like stars in the universe, as you hold out the word of life." (Philippians 2:14-16)

These verses seem fairly straightforward. It's clear, but not so easy to live out. These verses go against our natural way of living.

Complaining and arguing are defaults for many of us most of the time. We easily see the negative in things. It's easy to join in on the conversations that focus on everything that's wrong with our lives and the world around us.

But Paul is saying that we should be doing everything without complaining or arguing. That's quite the task. Instead of seeing the negative and talking only about it, we need to be looking for the good in things - in everything.

The good news is that we don't have to try to live like this on our own. God in us gives us the strength to do everything without complaining and arguing. As the verses just before this one remind us, "it is God who works in [us] to will and to act according to His good purpose." (vs. 13). It is God in us Who enables us to do everything without complaining or arguing.

As we continue to live the way God calls us to, we become blameless and pure. It's about the process of moving in this direction, not a one time thing.

We learn to live this way and we become lights shining in a dark world. Lights that point people to God. We hold onto God's truth and live out His ways. And as we do so, we become beacons of light in a crooked and depraved generation. Lights that point people toward the truth.

God Working in Us

This is Part 4 in a series on Philippians 2. You can read the previous posts here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.


"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." (Philippians 2:12-13).

What does Paul mean when he says we should "work out our salvation with fear and trembling"? Why with fear and trembling? Why do we need to work out our salvation?

When we choose to accept the gift God offers us through Jesus Christ, we are saved - our salvation is complete. But, the process of learning to live the way Christ wants us to is just beginning. We are continually being changed to be more like Christ as we follow Him.

We need to take seriously the gift we have been given and seek God. We choose to follow and obey what He has told us. When Paul says we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling, this is what he's talking about. It's about taking seriously living the life that God has asked us to live as His followers.

The good news is that we don't have to do this in our own strength. We have God in us being our strength to live that out. It's not about us trying harder to do it. It's about us allowing God to work in us.

We choose to follow God and take Him seriously. That's our part. Then He becomes the strength we need to live the way He calls us to.

We're All Called to Something

What is a calling? Do you have one? Do we all have one? Or is it only for specific people?

Sometimes I wonder if we overuse the word calling in Christian circles, and it loses some of its importance in the process. Other times I wonder if we elevate it to too high a status and lose some of the importance of what God asks us to do as we serve Him in our everyday life.

I just finished reading a book that made me think more about this. Kelly Minter ends her book Wherever the River Runs with the following words:

“I think our tendency is to believe that God is inviting someone else into the ministry of reconciliation, tapping someone a little more gifted or holy than us for the work. . . . But the reality is that God has called every one of His children to the poor, the outcast, those on the fringes of society, the spiritually hungry. Hardly ever do we feel ready, comfortable with the task, confident in our goodness, or have any idea where the river might run, but – such a sobering reminder – He has called us still.” (emphasis mine).

The last sentence really resonated with me. I think we often struggle with the idea of calling because we don’t feel ready or comfortable or confident. But, God still calls us to serve and to love the world. How we each do that looks different, but it all comes from the same call.

We call it the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39). Elsewhere in His teaching, Jesus calls us to love our enemies as well (Luke 6:27-36 & 10:25-37).

When God sends us to “the poor, the outcast, those on the fringes of society, the spiritually hungry,” He is sending us to live out what we call the Great Commandment. It’s the way we are called to live as followers of Christ. We may not feel qualified or ready to do it in the specific way God gives us to do it, but He asks us to anyway and depend on Him to do it.

When I look at it this way, I start to see the calling God has on my life, on your life, on the life of everyone who claims to follow Him. We are called to love our neighbours and our enemies. It’s not a calling specific to a few “elite” in Christian circles. It’s a calling for all Christians – whatever we spend our time doing.

We do all have a calling. And it is important. That calling is to love – sacrificially, with an attitude of service to those we meet and interact with. It’s a high calling, and it’s worth it.

In His Strength, Not Ours

Have you ever read something in Scripture that seemed like it would be impossible to actually live?

Have you ever walked away from reading something Jesus said and felt like there was no way you could ever actually live that way?

Much of how Jesus calls us to live as His followers is something that sounds impossible when we read it. It's a life we can't live by just trying harder.

We can't love people the way we're called to love them in our own strength.

We can't turn from sin and live a righteous life in our own strength.

We can't live in the freedom Jesus purchased for us on the cross in our own strength.

Thankfully, we don't have to do these things in our own strength. As followers of Christ, as have the Holy Spirit living in us. And He is our strength to live the way Jesus talks about His followers living. When we are surrendered to and dependent on the Holy Spirit living in us, we can begin to live the life that Christ calls His followers to.

The hard part is surrender. And that's part we have to do. We have to choose to surrender our own will, our own plans to God. We have to choose to let go of control.

Living those things that we read in Scripture that seem impossible becomes possible when we surrender to Christ.

Often this surrender and dependence on the Holy Spirit is a daily thing. It's not a one time decision to be dependent on the Holy Spirit for strength to live each day. We have to choose.

Writing Something Worth Fighting For

I've been wondering a lot lately about why I feel the need to keep on writing. I've written before that I write because I can't not write. There's something in me that makes me want to write. But, I've often wondered why I feel that way.

The truth is that, even though I know the reasons why I write, it isn't always easy to write. Sometimes it's a battle to get the words on the screen in a way that makes sense to anyone who would read it.

I stumbled across a quote a few weeks ago that helped me understand why I write anyways.

"Some days writing feels like fighting but those are always the days the pages are finally full of something worth fighting for." (Jon Acuff)

When I read those words I realized something . . . writing, for me, is about making sense of what I stand for and what I will fight for with my life. And the times when it is hardest to write are the times when what I've written matters most.

For me, what matters most is living a life that is about following God completely. About seeking to live all of life the way He would have those who claim to be His followers live. It's a high calling for how to live, but one I believe is worth it.