Category: Devotional Blog

Profound thoughts, often challenging the Christian.

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Don’t Be Stupid.

A certain religious group’s mission statement states that “It encourages faith in God’s now-reigning King, Jesus Christ, whose shed blood opens the way for mankind to gain eternal life.”

Would you affirm this statement? Would you feel comfortable being a part of a religious group that had this sentence in their mission statement?

Stop for a second and think about the statement. Decide in your mind right now if you would agree or disagree, and why.

That statement came from the mission statement of the W.atcht.ower Magazine, a ministry of the cultish religious group, Jeh.ovah’s Witne.sses. This group is far from Christian doctrine, but they are masters at disguising themselves as just another Christian denomination — such as Baptist of Methodist (which are both great denominations). What makes the statement in question incorrect, if anything?

This particular post will be really boring unless people comment . . . so have at it! 

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A Double Whammy.

A few months ago my mom brought home two cats from the animal shelter. The first cat was grey, and my mom named that cat “Ashley,” although my Dad and I still call the cat “Grey.” The other cat was up to me to name.

The first day we had the cats I picked up the second cat (not Grey) to put it in a cat carrier so it could go to the vet for its immunizations. When I tried to put the newly arrived and not-yet-trusting cat into the carrier it decided to jump out of my arms – but not until it climbed over my face with its claws. One of the claws dug into my ear. The claw sorta sliced a small piece of my ear off. It hurt really bad and so I put my hand up to my ear to comfort myself and immediately felt a lot of blood all over the side of my face. All because that stupid cat “bit” my ear. (It actually clawed my ear – but I’ve always said it “bit” it).

I immediately gave the cat its new name. I yelled directly to the cat, “You bit my ear off – and I will never forget it you stupid cat! From this day forward your name will be Mike Tyson! End of story.” I didn’t really care that it was a female cat. I gave it a name to represent the cat’s first impression on me.
To this day the cat is registered at the Vet’s office as “Mike Tyson Diehl.”

But you know, I love that cat now. I just took my dog for a walk down the country road I live on, and the cat followed along. Every time I park in the driveway, that cat comes out to greet me at my car door. It is now the most loving cat I’ve ever seen. At the time of my pain, I wanted to give the cat a name that would never allow anyone to forget what it had done. But now the cat is loving and enjoys being held. I feel sorta guilty calling it Mike Tyson still.

A Double Whammy:
1) There’s never a second chance to make a first impression.
2) That cat’s reputation is ruined because of the label I put on it. I’ll let you do the “math” on that one.

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Perceptions.

Our perception is SO important. Take this image for example. Depending on your perception, this is either a man playing a saxophone or the face of a woman (or maybe something else). It depends on your perception. The perception of everything around us is extremely important in our lives – but let me talk about two perceptions.

Our Perception of Others
Do you truly see other people the way God does? Probably not – especially when they are in “the other car” on the road. lol. But do you care for others as much as God does? Are you concerned with their eternal destiny? Do you see the non-Christians around you the way that God sees them — lost? Do you see the Christians around you as God sees them — redeemed?

Our Perception of Ourselves
So often I perceive myself the way I see myself “sans-God”. That’s the easy and natural thing to do. Without God, I’m dirt — literally (Gen. 2:7). Without God, I’m nothing. Without God, low self-esteem would be well justified.

But I’m a Christian.

When God sees me, he doesn’t see me how I see me. God sees me through the Blood of Christ. God sees my Calling. God sees what I can do, and what I have yet to accomplish. I need to see myself the way God sees me —

saved.
set apart.
Called.

**

Consider this statement: “We will act according to our perceptions.”

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String Cheese.

I like string cheese as a snack. It’s the best, man. Not only does it taste good, but when you eat it you have an excuse to play with your food — pulling each string off. They’re just awesome.

I had eaten string cheese made by the Kraft company — a name brand. Over a few weeks, I had gone through a few packs of the Kraft string cheese.

Tonight I went to grab some string cheese out of the fridge and I realized that it wasn’t the name brand Kraft string cheese — it was some cheap imitation string cheese. But I figured it’d still be good, right?

It tasted disgusting. It was nothing like I was used to from the name brand string cheese — it didn’t even pull apart properly. So frustrating. I don’t think its that the cheap stuff was bad — but the name brand was tons better.

This naturally led me to two profound thoughts:

1) The Real Thing is always better. Never go for a cheap imitation.
2) It took a cheap imitation before I realized what I really had.

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Within 20 Feet.

Tonight I was on the road leaving Auburn. I had my lights on of course, but in complete darkness they don’t show anything very far ahead. I wasn’t driving past the speed limit, at least not enough to cause concern.

As I was driving I saw a silhouette take form at the edge of my light beams. I thought it looked sort of like a person. A split second later the silhouette became more visible in my headlights and ceased to be a silhouette but a definite image of a person. A real, live, human being standing in the middle of the road. Not walking, not moving, and not waving at me. The person was just standing in the middle of the road. It was as if the person was actually trying to die. I was driving somewhere between 45 and 55 mph and the man was only 20 feet away, if that.

I’ve never stomped on my brakes so hard in all my life. I swerved to the right onto the shoulder as my brakes screeched my Bonneville to a halt. I stopped with my window parallel to the man — if I had not swerved onto the shoulder of the road I would have hit him.

Like I said earlier, this whole event seemed like the person was trying to be hit by a car — so when my car stopped my gut reaction was to jump out of the car and tackle the person off the road and call 911. That may sound overboard but I really thought this was a crazy or drunk person trying to commit suicide and I was going to prevent it if I could. The following events occurred before I ever could tackle the person.

When my car stopped I heard the person yell out in an old man’s voice, “I can’t see at night! I just can’t see!” as he stumbled back into his driveway. An older woman, his wife I assume, went out into the road to pick up the recycling bin that her husband was trying to take to the end of the driveway but had carried all the way out into the road. When I realized what was going on my attitude about the “crazy/drunk” person quickly changed. I immediately changed my perspective and offered any assistance. The woman just told me, “he can’t see well in the night. He just was taking the recycling bin out. We’ll be fine. Go.”

I could tell this was a very stressful moment for them (as it was for me), and probably quite embarrassing as well. I gathered that she really didn’t want me there so I went ahead and drove away.

As I drove off I naturally began thinking of the value of the human life. Not just the life itself, but the life within the life. Let’s not take it for granted. Someday we’ll all be older and unable to see in the dark. Don’t take your life’s life for granted.

God gave you your life – enjoy it.
Worship Him with it.
Thank Him for it.

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More Wisdom from Old Preachers: Priorities of Focus.

I attended a ministers meeting a few days ago. The special guest speaker was a retired United Methodist pastor who spoke on the topic, “How to be Effective in Ministry.” I was all set to hear some new innovative steps to be effective. I expected a new system to help a minister be twice as effective.

But this man spoke on the basics: protecting your personal time with God, being visible in the community, etc. BASIC THINGS.

Then I got to thinking of the late Bishop Paul E. Paino. He spent much of his life teaching church leaders about systems. If I recall correctly, he was known as “The Sunday School Pastor.” He traveled all over America and beyond teaching “The Missing Element in Church Growth.” He had systems and strategies. But towards the end of his life he ignored systems and strategies – nearly spoke against them several times. In the last years of Bishop’s life, he only spoke about the need for the Holy Spirit to work in our churches today; the basics.

I spoke with another great man who told me the most important thing in ministry was depending on God with everything I have; the basics.

When was the last time you’ve seen an 80 year old teaching about a new and innovative strategy in regards to a church or our spiritual lives? I never have, and I don’t think that’s because they feel like a lame duck – I think its because they have a lifetime of perspective. Anyone I’ve ever seen discussing a new and innovative church or spiritual life strategy was relatively young – under 40. I’m a big fan of learning from the older people – and I think maybe I can learn a lesson from older pastors here. Perhaps they spent their lives going after new strategies only to realize that it wasn’t nearly as important as they thought it was. I think I’ll save a lot of time and energies if I learn from these men’s lives and keep the first things first.

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Top Ten Reasons I’m Looking Forward to the Risen to Reign Series.

This weekend my church is beginning its Easter series called Risen to Reign. Lots of great things will be happening — this four week series is our Easter production for 2007, integrated with our services. Here are the top ten reasons I’m looking forward to the Risen to Reign series.

10) Hundreds of hours have gone into it – I’m anxious to finally see how it unfolds.

9) After the series, my work days will actually last from 9-5 again. Okay – so they never did. But still . . .

8) The story of Jesus has the power to change an eternal destiny. Through the ongoing drama in this series, the story of Christ will be more clear than perhaps ever before — I know lives will be touched as a result.

7) I think some friends of mine A, A, and J are coming. I’m pretty sure they aren’t Christians – and I’m praying they recieve Christ during this event.

6) I’m adding some instrumentation to the worship band during this series.

5) We’re going to integrate some very sweet artistic elements within the worship sets — including some stuff we’ve never tried before.

4) My friend B might be coming. I talked about him a few days ago. I’m definitely looking forward to that.

3) We’re completely transforming the stage on week four (Easter Weekend).

2) I believe people will make decisions for Christ.

1) IT’S GONNA BE SWEET!

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How Much Longer?

I was born with severe bilateral club feet. The picture to the right gives you an idea of what my feet were like – only my feet were much worse than in this picture. My toes nearly touched the heels of my feet.

My feet were placed into casts before I ever left the hospital. With many babies with club feet, casts which straighten the feet often will have enough of an impact that the child can continue the rest of his life without knowing there was a deformity. But my club feet were much worse – not only were my muscles and tendons deformed (as it is the usual case), but I had severe bone deformity. As my body grew, my feet grew curved.

So I had my first surgery when I was four years old. This surgery moved my heel. I was eleven during my second surgery – which was much more extensive on my left foot. My third surgery took place during my junior year of high school. The second and third surgeries were complex bone graphs of my left foot. There was significant reconstruction. Each of these surgeries were followed up with half a dozen follow up surgeries which removed pins and screws. One of those follow up surgeries caused a staff infection in my foot.

Good times.

That third surgery was about seven years ago. My feet are doing great. I rarely have any problem at all. Most people wouldn’t have a clue of my past by watching me walk. My club feet do not effect my life anymore.

I was sitting thinking today, “How much longer will my feet be okay?” How much longer will it be before something “snaps” or the inevitable arthritis sets in my ankles? When will I have to have another operation?

Lord, thanks for giving me feet that are working today, and thanks for letting me walk with them.

**

Don’t take things for granted. Bless God.

**

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Doing the Work of an Evangelist

In 2 Timothy 4:5, Paul tells Timothy that he needs to “do the work of an evangelist.”

I think this applies to all of us – we are all called to do the work of an evangelist.

Some people are called as evangelists – its their spiritual gift. They are great at it – God gives some people a supernatural ability to lead people to Him.

But for everyone else – we’re not off the hook. We may not be gifted as an evangelist, but we are instructed to do the work of an evangelist. That doesn’t necessarily mean we need to walk up to people we don’t know – but as we go into the world, we need to be making Christ known. All Christians are called to this – there are no exceptions.

There are different ways we can get involved in evangelism. Some of us are called to inspire others to do evangelism (I have a part of the evangelism process right now as I write this even!). Some of us may feel comfortable going door to door sharing Christ with whoever would listen. Some people are extremely uncomfortable knocking on someone’s door – but certainly they could do or say something to make Christ known while at school or work.

Personally, I don’t have a big problem sharing Christ to complete strangers. God made me bold. Maybe He made you a little more timid. That’s cool, too. But it doesn’t disqualify you from doing the work of an evangelist when the opportunity arises.

For those who attend New Hope, I want to challenge you to do the work of an evangelist this week by bringing your non-Christian friends to the Risen To Reign Series this upcoming weekend. This series will provide an opportunity for them to receive Christ — its an awesome opportunity for us to do the work of an evangelist!