Motion Into Our Devotion

Motion Into Our Devotion

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the scripture is Matthew 25:37-40 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?   When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

 "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

Our devotion to God is incomplete until we put motion into our devotion.  Our devotion is authenticated to God and to others by our love for others.  There is something in all religious people that wants to keep it vertical.  If it is vertical, then I control it.  Jesus says that it is horizontal-as we do until others that is how you have done unto me.  Until you have done for them don't waste your time telling me what you have done for me.  

 

What if that had been the posture of the church for the last 2000 years?  What if the only thing that people resisted about the church was that we believed that Jesus was the son of God?  Nobody has resisted the church because the church has loved too much or that we were too welcoming.  No one resisted us because we were so willing to carry other people's burdens or that we were so forgiving, open and gracious.  What people find easy to resist about me and you and Christians is that we know it all, and we are better than y'all.  

 

Are you willing to put some motion into your devotion?  It is doing and not believing that makes the difference that changes the world.  

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Paying Back The Debt

Paying Back The Debt

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Matthew 18:21-22  Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

 

If someone wrongs you, there's always an internal, emotional debt.  You sense they owe you, and the currency is pain.  We want to see them suffer, and so we immediately go after them.  This is the natural thing our heart does to try to make them pay the debt. 

 

There're a lot of ways of making people pay the debt.  A direct way is to just go yell and scream at them, and they can feel horrible.  We may try to ruin them professionally or be incredibly cold to them.  We may totally withdraw our friendship from them.  There're also less direct ways.  One of those less direct ways of trying to hurt them is by destroying their reputation through gossip and slander under the guise of warning people about them.  But the most indirect way is that you root for their pain.  You want to see them squirm and as you see them suffer, you feel better.  That sense that they owe you starts to go down.  The debt is being paid down.  In a certain sense you get relief, but it will twist you. 

 

When you begin to see that Jesus Christ has totally paid the cost for what you have done rather than making you pay for it, you have the secret to what it means to forgive someone else.  Forgiveness leads to healing.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Teachings or Actions

Teachings or Actions

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.

It's not the teachings of Jesus but the actions of Jesus that save you.  If it's the teachings of Jesus that save you, then what basically saves you is how you live.   If it's the actions of Jesus that save you, then you can be saved by grace. 

If you look at all other religions, you'll see that what really is crucial is not what the founder of that religion did but what they said.  It's not their actions, but their teachings.  In every other religious system you are saved by how you live --by living a particular kind of life.  That means that what is really crucial is the founder's teaching on how to live.  For example, Buddha says here's how to find enlightenment.  Mohammad says here's how you submit and please God.  They all have somewhat different teachings, but the point is they're all the same.  It's their teachings that are important because it's how you live that saves you.  But Christianity works completely opposite.

 

We don't need a way for us to live the right kind of life, but we need the actions of Jesus Christ to come in and live the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died.  We don't need a teacher.  We need a Savior.  We don't need someone who tells us what to do.  We need someone who does what we should have done. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining