Spiritual Laziness

1 Timothy 4:7b "Rather train yourself for godliness."

I have talked about it before on this blog, but is seems that I am quite forgetful. One of Jonathan Edwards' resolutions goes something like this, "Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live." This is convicting to me because I am naturally very lazy. My flesh believes that happiness is found in ease. However the bible, which is ultimate truth and trumps my feelings, says differently. Psalm 16:11 lets me know quite plainly that "fullness of joy" and "pleasures forevermore" are found in God's presence. The nearer we are to God, the happier we are. This would be a depressing truth without the gospel! We are sinners and can never be close to God as long as our sin is accredited to us. But Christ came and took the punishment for our sins as He covered us in His righteousness. One of the breathtaking truths of the gospel is that everyone who has been saved by Jesus Christ is seen as righteous before God. However, we are not righteous yet. Defeated sin still remains and woos us away from obedience.

Now we come back to my problem. 1 Timothy 4:7 makes it clear that I will not come by godliness by ease. Even though I have been set free from sin, part of my sin nature remains within. Without God I am powerless to fight against this nature, but if I fight with the strength God provides, there is victory. Yet as I am quickly finding out, this does not mean I am exempt from effort. Jesus has saved me and bought me. Through Him God looks with favor upon me, nothing I can do can earn that favor. But by the strength God will give me I must work hard for the sake of godliness.

Practically this means that for me a "quiet time" a day isn't enough. Jesus shed His blood to bring me into this soul satisfying relationship with God and I cannot be content with giving Him a slice of my time. In a sense this is hatred toward myself. I was made to be constantly enthralled by God and I cannot do that if the majority of my time is spent with singular focus on me.

By God's grace I must fight spiritual laziness by training myself toward better prayer, meditation, service, worship, reading, and enjoying my Savior. Please pray for me toward this end and please strive after it yourself.

For the glory of God

Seth

Post Scatter Debrief

Well, the uncharted waters have been charted successfully. What a week it was! It was beautiful to look around at each stop (back yard bible clubs, the Dream Center, and the Boys and Girls club) and see people sharing the gospel left and right. It was amazing to hear stories each night of how God had provided opportunities to spread the good news He has given us. I can honestly say that this trip (even though we didn't go anywhere) provided more opportunities to share the gospel than any other trip I had been on.

My big prayer before the trip was that the gospel would be ready on the lips of every team member; God answered that prayer abundantly. I think almost every person who went on the trip got to share the gospel with their life and words.

A lot of seed was scattered, but it is up to God to cause the growth. May we pray toward this end.

For the glory of God

Seth

Uncharted Waters

This next week our church (The Bible Church of Little Rock) is embarking into uncharted waters for us; a missions trip to Little Rock. This is going to be amazing! It will feel like a missions trip because we will be staying in church member's homes across Little Rock, not our own homes, but we will get to minister to people in our own city! I like the way our Worship Pastor said it, "it's like we are throwing a gospel grenade into Little Rock and living with the shrapnel."

A short term missions trip is awesome! It takes you out of your normal routine and life and thrusts you into a week or two or three or however long of focused gospel work. In trips of summers past, as we have gone to places like New Mexico, West Virginia, Iowa, Mexico, Ukraine, and others, we usually come back enthralled with God and what we have seen Him do with the gospel, and wanting more. Yet as time elapses after the trip that once enthralled heart becomes once again distracted and interested in the normal routine of life (which if we are to be honest is usually filled with stuff that won't satisfy and doesn't matter).

The goal with this trip is to kind of jump-start ongoing personal gospel ministry by bringing the organization and focus of a short term missions trip to the city in which we live. The hope and prayer is that God will allow the gospel to go forth in a powerful way and that real lasting relationships will be formed. Please join us in prayer toward this end.

For the glory of God

Seth

A Focus for School

In 1 Corinthians 8:1 Paul says, "Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies." Now here he is talking specifically about the knowledge that it is ok to eat things sacrificed to idols (a big controversy in the Church at Corinth), but as I thought about that statement, something very obvious and helpful hit me.

Multiple times in the gospels Jesus says that the greatest two commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This should be the goal of everything I do, but it never hit me that it applies in a huge way to knowledge and learning.

On the 1st of August I will (Lord willing) be heading up to Louisville to begin a new chapter of my life at Boyce College. I will be doing a LOT of learning! I will be learning from my professors and fellow students both inside and outside the classroom. Yes I am going to school to be trained to be a Worship Pastor, but in a much deeper way I hope to be learning how to love God and people better.

The better I can become at music, (hopefully, and by God's grace) the less distracting the music will be and the more it will aid others to see God and the gospel through song. The better I become at Bible study the closer I can get to saying what God would have someone hear instead of saying what I want to say. The more God humbles me, the more equipped I will be to put others interests ahead of my own.

By the transforming power and grace of God, I want to go to school to be better equipped to love others the way Christ loves them; in a selfless way that leads them to glorify and enjoy God, not me. May the knowledge I receive at school transform into love not arrogance.

Please pray for me in this regard!

For the glory of God

Seth

"You are not your own..."

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

In this passage God, through Paul, is specifically addressing using your body for sexual immorality. Understanding that your body no longer belongs to you can be one of the greatest helps in fighting sexual sin, and really any sin! Think about it! The passage above states that you have been bought with a price; what was that price? It was the cross!

It can be so easy for Christ's death to become something we get used to, but we need to fight against this with everything in us; I need to fight against it with everything in me. Jesus came from the glories of heaven to this earth and after living a spotless life died the death of a criminal. So much worse however, was the fact that Jesus bore the wrath of God for the sins of everyone who would believe in Him! Think about it! The God who's wrath we kindled by our sin, took that wrath on Himself so that we would only know His grace! That is the price He paid!

Christian, you do not belong to yourself! Your time isn't yours, your eyes aren't yours, your mouth isn't yours, where you go isn't yours, how you spend your free time isn't yours. You have been bought by the highest price! So use your time, body, and everything else in the only way that makes sense in light of that sacrifice; use them to glorify the one who has loved you more than you will ever know!

For His glory

Seth

You Reap What You Sow

At times in my life as a Christian I am painfully reminded of a vicious truth; what I sow, I reap. Now this can be applied in a whole slew of ways, but I am specifically talking about it in relation to prayer and the reading of/meditation on scripture. When these things are mostly absent from my life for a few days, the effects are obvious, and a painful reminder of how much I desperately need that concentrated time of communion with God.

This past Saturday and Sunday I was absent from that alone time with God, and I was seeing the effects of it today. I found that I was more irritable, lazy, and selfish than usual (or more realistically I just saw more of what is in my heart spill out). As I saw this I was reminded once again that if I sow to the flesh I will reap the fruits of the flesh. This provided me with an opportunity to repent. Also, it gave me a wonderful opportunity to stand in awe of the endless grace God has poured out on me. I am so unfaithful, yet I know that not even I can separate myself from His love. Hallelujah for the cross!

Holy Spirit, please continue to grow me in discipline. Take away my worldly value system so that I see Christ as more valuable than anything else. May the time I get to spend in communion with my heavenly Father be precious in my sight, and may I fight my flesh which is ceaselessly trying to convince me that there are better ways of spending my time. Help me to sow toward you so that I reap the fruits you will produce in me. Jesus, thank you for your measureless sacrifice on my behalf. Thank you for interceding for me! Father, please forgive me for my sin against you. Thank you that nothing can separate me from your love!

For your glory and in Jesus' name

Seth