Philippians 2:14-16

The biggest detriment to the modern church's effectiveness is complaining and arguing within us. It derails us. It makes us focus on things that don't matter. There are people who have devoted all of their lives to the study of Calvinism at the expense of loving others. There are people who have devoted all of their lives to the study of eschatology at the expense of loving others. There are people who have devoted all of their lives to apologetics at the expense of loving others. All of these things are a subplot to the glorious story that God is writing through us. We are part of the redemption story of man, and yet we complain and argue about the most petty things. I complain about the music. I complain about the font used in our message series. All of that is worthless and reduces my "shine". How can we shine like stars in the universe if we are constantly trying to put out the light of other people. If I'm constantly just trying to outshine the guy next to me. Or snuff out his light. Imagine what we could do if we started working together. If we focused on loving others. If we stopped complaining and arguing and coordinated our efforts to shine the light of God to the world.

Philippians 1:27

Live in a way that brings honor to the Good News of Christ. I've always struggled to see that Christ was fighting for me. That Christ sacrificed his life for ME. God in the flesh came down to earth and suffered FOR ME. I think the more that I can come to grips with the reality of that statement then the more I can live my life to bring honor to Him. It's not me earning his love, because that already happened. It's not me earning righteousness, because that is impossible. It's me living my life to bring honor to the Good News of Christ. Christ fought for me. He wanted to restore our relationship so badly He gave his life for me. My job is to earn it. To be so blown away by the lengths to which God went to reach me that I will do whatever it takes to earn it. To live my life in a way that brings honor to the Good News of Christ. I pray that I never lose that desire to do something great for God. Not for my glory, but for the glory of God.
JM

The News

People love bad news. They love to be shocked by the atrocious behavior of other people. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it helps us feel better about ourselves that we're not that bad. Maybe it's exciting for us to read about. Not sure. What's crazy is that we feed on it. We want to know about it and be shocked by it. I just read a story that shocked me. It made me angry and saddened me for humanity. I posted a link on twitter that linked to my facebook status.
Then someone commented on it and simply said "That's horrible". And it was. I thought about it and realized that I'm propagating the bad news. We like to complain about how all we hear about is bad news. But that's the only kind of link that people pass around. I'm never going to post a link like that again. And I'm not going to click on a link that talks about how horrible something is.
I know those things are happening whether I know about them or not. But I'd rather not know about them. I'd rather be positive. I'd rather have hope. I know that these are dark times and that humanity is evil, but I'd rather focus on the goodness of God and how I can be part of the solution, rather than focusing on how immense the problem is.
JM

Obama And The Media

Obama has been great with mass media. They love him. He's attractive. He usually speaks fairly well. He's smart. He's young. For the past 18 months they have been overly kind to him. But, I think that is starting to change. The incredibly liberal SNL opened up last Saturday night's show with this skit talking about how Obama has not fulfilled his campaign promises. It's really pretty funny.

I think as people start to look more closely at what Obama is actually saying, they'll realize that yes, he's attractive, young and smart, but his proposals aren't really all that great, at least in my opinion. At least the media might start being a little bit more objective.
JM

Frustrations In Parenting

I hate when I get frustrated with my kids. Well, not really. I hate how I choose to respond when i get frustrated with my kids. One thing that I'm constantly trying to develop is my level of patience with them. I hate it when I yell at them. I absolutely hate it. From now on, I'm going to try to work on venting that frustration in appropriate outlets. Yes, I'll still express my frustration to them and they will still be punished, but nobody deserves to be yelled at. Ever. I don't know why people feel that is appropriate just because it's your kids. Strange. JM

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

One of the reasons that I love Ecclesiastes so much is that it puts everything into perspective. So many times I get my hopes up about something. Sometimes those hopes are fulfilled. Other times, they are dashed. What's great about the perspective that Solomon gives is that the dude tried everything. And he learned from it. And he wrote about it. That's what's incredible to me. He goes out and tries everything there is to try to make himself happy - partying, women, drinking, work, wealth, planning, etc. But it all leads to the same meaningless existence here on earth. We're all headed to the grave no matter what we do here on earth. So the point of our lives must not be what we do here on earth, but how we plan for eternity.
And I love that he wrote all of this down. A lot of times people will get great insight from an experience, but they don't tell anybody about it. I've had close people in my life never tell me about themselves and what they've experienced and what they learned from those experiences.
That's what I get from Solomon. Live. Experience life. Keep things in perspective. And share your experiences. Help others learn. Life is best lived in community.
JM

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

I think we’re at our most joyful, our happiest when we’re doing simple things. When we take the time to enjoy the simple things in life: family, nature, friends, food, etc. Anytime I go on a long trip by myself, I listen to country music. I’m not really sure why, but it’s always country. Especially at night. I remember one night I was driving through the night from St. Louis down to Atlanta and this song came on while I was in Southern Illinois. I’ve only heard the song once and I don’t know the name (I’ll find it in a minute and post it below), but I could tell you several of the lines. It starts off with “If heaven were a time it would be twilight” and goes on to talk about hanging out on the porch watching the sunset and fireflies and spending time with family. That to me, is what we should be enjoying. The more we try to understand and know and succeed, the more we will ultimately fail. I want to enjoy the simple joy of being a child of God enjoying his creation.
I found the song. It's called "If Heaven" by Andy Griggs and it's definitely country.
JM

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

We painted our dining room last night. It's now like this really cool blue on top. We've got new furniture coming. A really nice square table with eight chairs and a nice buffet to put in there. We'll put down a nice rug, hang some curtains and put some stuff on the walls. When we're done the room will look really nice. But it will go out of style. Eventually this table that we bought will wear away. The kids will mess it up. The rug will have stuff spilled on it. New will become normal will become old. If my hope and my excitement are based solely in these types of things, then I'm going to be sorely disappointed every single time.
I don't think that means I need to sit around and just be sad or not try to accomplish anything. I think instead it just means to enjoy what I do and the time that God gives me. Enjoy the pursuit of God.
We're fascinated as a society with the accomplishment, but bored with the intricacies of the pursuit. We don't want to know about all of the work that went into it, we just want the finished product immediately. We don't want to work out in the gym, we want lipo. We don't want to date, we want to be married. We don't want to be pregnant, we want to hold the baby. We don't want to know God here, we want to know Him in heaven. How different would our lives be if instead we just enjoyed the pursuit. If we took the time not waiting for the accomplishment, but instead enjoying each moment that God gives me, not just the glorious ones.
We are slaves to our mortality. We try to hold off the advances of age. We try to place hope in tomorrow. But in reality, our life will always be meaningless outside of the passionate pursuit of God. Pursue Him. Enjoy it.
We painted our dining room last night. And I enjoyed it.
JM

Conspiracy

Once again I have been cheated. Click here to see who got the award I should have received.
JM

Middle School Concerns

A couple of weeks ago, I met with a few of my 8th grade guys and talked with them about what they feel a middle school student wants/needs to know and learn about in the 3 years that they are a part of my middle school ministry. Here's the list we came up with:
Lifestyle Evangelism
Friendships
Dating/Sex
Church Family/Creating Community
Family
Revelation
Wise Choices
Genesis
John
Synoptic Gospels
Drugs/Alcohol
Self-Image
Knowing God's Will
Call To Service
Worship
Community
Who Is Jesus
What is A Christian
David
How To Study The Bible
Romans
James
Prayer
Acts
Holy Spirit
Jonah
Parables
I'm hoping to meld this into a 3-year plan where we focus on each of these at least once during that time for our large group series. JM