Love

Love

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is John 15:13  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

 

There's a novel in which a young man, who is a Hindu at the moment, is talking to a priest named Father Martin.  This book is the Life of PI, and there is a passage I want to read to you:  

           

"Father Martin told me a story.  The first thing I felt was disbelief.  What?  Humanity sins?  But it's God's Son who takes the blame and pays the price?  That a God should put up with adversity I could understand.  Adversity, yes.  Treachery, yes.  But humiliation, death?

 

I couldn't imagine Lord Krishna consenting to be stripped naked, whipped, mocked, dragged through the streets and, to top it off, crucified and at the hands of a mere human to boot.  I'd never heard of a God dying.  Matter fell away, but divinity should not be blighted by death.  It's wrong!  Was it a fake?  Was He just shamming?  Was His death real?  

 

Father Martin assured me that it was.  But once a dead God; always a dead God, I assumed.  Even resurrected, the Son must have the taste of death forever in His mouth.  There must be a certain stench even at the right hand of God the Father.  The horror must be real.  Why would God wish that upon Himself?  Why not leave death to mortals?  Why make dirty what is beautiful?  Why spoil what is perfect? 

 

Love -- that was Father Martin's answer."

 

Champions, have a great summer!-David Vining

Brokenness

Brokenness

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture verse is Luke 22:42-44 'Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.'  An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.  And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

 

God is attracted to brokenness.  Jesus did not bring salvation to the world through strength but through being weak and giving up power and losing everything but trusting God in it.  Out of that came fruit.

 

The Bible says that you were built to center your heart on God.  Your soul wasn't built for you to put anything else in the center of your life, even a good thing like marriage, children or success.  On the cross Jesus Christ lost His Father and was forsaken.  He was cut off from God, and He experienced Hell.  He took our punishment for us and was treated as we deserve to be treated.

 

The gospel is radical grace!  God treated Jesus as we deserve.  When we embrace Him, God treats us as Jesus deserves.  He rejoices in you, He approves of you, and He honors you!

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Gratitude

Gratitude

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the Scripture is Luke 18:17-18   Jesus asked, Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?  Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?

 

Two hidden sins are greed and ungratefulness.  No one thinks that they're greedy, and no one thinks that they are ungrateful.

 

Jesus healed 10 men with leprosy, and only one came back to say thank you.  If you could interview the nine men that did not come back, they would all say that they are grateful.  However, unexpressed gratitude communicates ingratitude and is actually a form of rejection.  If gratitude is not expressed, then it does not exist.  

 

We gravitate toward environments and relationships where we feel accepted, and we are repelled by environments where we fell rejected.  Unexpressed gratitude drives people's hearts out of the relationship.  Gratitude closes the loop in our relationships with God and with others.  To refuse to pay my debts of gratitude is to live with an inflated view of myself.  You have never met an arrogant person that is grateful, and you have never met a humble person that is not grateful.  A returner is someone that is willing to go back to thank those that allowed them to go forward.  We all owe someone a debt of gratitude.

 

"The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated." (From How to Win Friends and Influence People)

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

It's the Inside That Counts

It's the Inside That Counts

 

Dear Champions,

 

I do not know where I got the first part of this excerpt, but the last part is by Ezra Taft Benson.  The Scripture is Matthew 23:27-28 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! … On the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

 

A British company developed a product call "Spray On Mud" so city dwellers can give their expensive 4x4 vehicles the appearance of having been off-road for a day of hunting and fishing without ever leaving town.  The mud is even filtered to remove stones and debris that might scratch the paint. 

 

There is something within each of us that values how we look on the outside more than who we are on the inside.  Which is more important?  Who we really are, or who we pretend to be?

 

1 Samuel 16:7 says, . . . The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'

 

The inward reality of Christ is what counts, and it will over time produce the outward signs of faith.  Ezra Taft Benson says it best in the following paragraph:

 

"The Lord works from the inside out.  The world works from the outside in.  The world would take people out of the slums.  Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums.  The world would mold men by changing their environment.  Christ changes men, who then change their environment.  The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature."

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Sexual Purity

Sexual Purity

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the scripture is Romans 13:8-10 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.  . . . "Love your neighbor as yourself."   Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.   

Being sexual pure has nothing to do with trying to get God to love you or to keep Him from punishing you.  It has everything to do with honoring other people.  When you exercise sexual self-control, you are honoring someone else.  Not only are you honoring them, you are also honoring every single one of their future relationships.  By not becoming a regret you are honoring their next relationship, and you are honoring them.  That's what Jesus wants you to do.  He says, "I want you to do for others what I have done for you.  Love the way that I have loved." 

At the end of the day you discover that sexual purity actually paves the way to intimacy.  There is a payoff, and there is freedom.  Eventually everybody understands whether they admit it or not that exclusivity is what leads to romance and not experience.  Where there is exclusivity and romance in a relationship, there is liberty.

Philippians 2:4 says, Look not only to your own interest but also the interest of others.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

If I Live Right!

If I Live Right

 
Dear Champions,
 
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Matthew 5:45   God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
 
Over the years I have seen people getting completely destroyed by the troubles in their lives, and here is why.  There is a premise underneath our lives that is so deep that we do not even realize it is there.  The premise is this:  If I live right, my life should go right.   So if your life goes wrong, you either say something is wrong with me, or something is wrong with God for not keeping up with His part of the deal. You either hate yourself because you must be a failure, or you hate God because He is not treating you as you deserve.  This premise that if I live right that my life should go right is going to lead you into self-hatred or God-hatred, and your life will be poisoned.  Something has to destroy the premise.

Jesus lived the live we should have lived.  He lived a perfect life, yet His life on Earth did not end right.  He says, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"  That is the only time in His entire life when He does not call God, "Father."  On the cross, He was losing His Sonship and relationship with His Father because He was getting the punishment that we deserved.  Jesus loses the Sonship so that we can have it and so that we can become sons and daughters of God.
 
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Grumbling

Grumbling

Dear Champions,
 
The short excerpt is by Max Lucado, and the Scripture is Philippians 2:14-15  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, in which you shine like stars in the universe.
 
The president of the organization called Women of Faith told me about one particular weekend conference in which a shortage of space tested everyone's patience.  The floor had 150 fewer seats than needed, and the arena staff tried to solve the problem by using narrow chairs. As a result, every woman had a place to sit, but everyone was crowded. Complaints contaminated like feedlot fragrance. They asked Joni Eareckson Tada, a speaker for the evening, if she could calm the crowd. Joni was perfectly qualified to do so. A childhood diving accident has left her wheelchair-bound. The attendants rolled her onto the platform, and Joni addressed the unhappy crowd. I understand some of you don't like the chair in which you are sitting. Neither do I. But I have about a thousand handicapped friends who would gladly trade places with you in an instant.

The grumbling ceased.

Yours can too.
 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining