Tag: Discipleship

Categories
Christian Blog

Wakey Wake, Cupcake

It used to annoy me when my laptop kept telling me it needed a software update or virus scan or some other preventative maintenance. Ask me later, I clicked on the screen: “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

But then, the inevitable happened. I got a computer virus that wiped out my entire hard drive. Important documents and hundreds of pictures, which I’d failed to back up, vanished in an instant.

Needless to say, I now keep my computer healthy with regular updates and scans.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

Socrates

Our wise friend from ancient Greece challenges us to scan our lives for purpose and meaning, or risk losing everything. But King David of ancient Israel has a better idea: ask God to do it.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)

After all, heart surgery is best left to the professional.

Kind reader, like me, are you sometimes too busy for a life scan? Well, let’s not do that anymore. Agreed?

A closing haiku:

Do not say, “I can’t”

When you really mean, “I won’t”

Wakey wake, cupcake.

Regular David (me)

Thank you for reading. 🙏❤️

This post first appeared here on June 5, 2019.

Photo by Andras Vas on Unsplash

Categories
Christian Living

The Best Job Ever

Photo by Tatiana Syrikova on Pexels.com
Photo by Tatiana Syrikova on Pexels.com

We called a plumber last week to come check on our ailing water heater. And, as is often the case, a young apprentice came with him. While the boss was on the phone–finding a part–the two of us got a chance to talk.

He told me that he had been in the army, but was honorably discharged after fracturing his hip in a training exercise. I asked him if he missed the military. He said, “Yes. The Army is actually the best job ever. You get told what to do. You get told how and when to do it. They even tell you what to wear!” My first thought was, “Wow, it’s the same way with the Lord!”

This is love for God: to obey his commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.

1 John 5:3

Later that evening, I combed through my Bible, looking for the job description of a follower of Christ–also known as, the”best job ever!”

God tells us what to do

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”–Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)

He tells you how and when to do it.

“The Lord gave me this answer: “Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance. Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed.”–Habakkuk 2:2-3 (GNT)

He even tells you what to wear.

“Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”– Colossians 3:12 (NIV)

When I was doing my undergrad, I had non-christian classmates ask me, “So, you just follow your God like a robot?” “No,” I replied, “I’m more like a Ford Model T that’s maintained by Henry Ford himself. It’s always best to stick with the guy who designed you.”

🙏❤️ prayers and love.

For a post about the best boss ever, please read: “God Believes in You.”

Categories
Christian Living Discipleship

What Following Jesus is Actually About

One of our summer school classes recently enjoyed a game day. I walked in to see students playing checkers, Sorry! and other favorites. Several kids were circled up on the floor playing Go Fish, a much-loved card game from my youth. I watched them for a few minutes. But it only took a few seconds to rewind back to a childhood memory. Does this happen to you too?

When I was in middle school, my church hosted a “Lock-in” for the youth group. We were inside the church from 7 pm until breakfast the next morning. There was Bible study, food and games galore! I brought my favorite deck of cards to play, you guessed it, Go Fish.

Well, I accidentally left my playing cards behind in a Sunday school classroom. And it wasn’t just any room. I forgot them on the coffee table in “The Reapers” classroom–a group of thoroughly conservative ladies in our church.

You probably know where this is going. One of the more judgmental matrons from the class brought my deck of cards to our pastor and was aghast. “Someone has been playing cards in the church!” Brother Allen, that’s what Baptists call the preacher, gave the cards back to me. To his credit, he didn’t scold me for bringing them into God’s house. But he did ask me to never leave them in The Reaper’s classroom again!

What didn’t add up, even to my 13 year old mind, was that the woman who found such fault didn’t even KNOW what was done with the cards. I suppose she thought we were gambling with them? I wasn’t about to ask!

Following Jesus means more than keeping a bunch of rules. That was my conclusion as a teenager, and I’m sticking with it. When I read “The Beatitudes,” from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-10), I recognize a beautiful attitude–the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16b). This must be what following Jesus is actually about.

For a look at an excellent devotional on this same subject/scripture passage, please see Authentic Christianity by David H. Roper.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Jesus – Matthew 5:7 (NIV)

Photo by Trent Bradley on Unsplash.