Pride – Running After Papa

Command #1…

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

I’m taking a survey of the Old Testament class and as a part of that class, I’m reading through the Old Testament in chronological order. I can’t get over this statement today. For those that know me, you know I love God with my whole heart. I am passionately sold out to Jesus and will spend the rest of my days worshiping and honoring and serving Him – the one who saved my soul from destruction. But I am mesmerized by Ex 20:3 today.

Do we ever not put some other “god” before God?

When I examine my own life, at any given moment, I usually have something there – in that place of honor – that shouldn’t be. I’m not talking about allah, or budda, or some other named “god” that other faiths are based on. I’m talkin about the little things…. those little attention grabbers that snap my attention from this to that… from here to there… those volitional choices I make to do one thing over another; the decisions to put off doing the “best” thing to do something “good”; the time wasters that eat up my day and get me off onto some tangent course and keep me distracted until – before I know it – its bedtime and I’ve gotten no time with the very one I am starving for.

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

This is the first commandment. God has just performed the greatest miracles known to man to date in freeing the Israelites from the bondages of Egypt. Plagues of flies, grasshoppers, fleas, darkness, blood, death; the parting of the Red Sea; the total annihilation of the Egyptian army; the pillar of fire by night; the pillar of cloud by day; water from the rock; the list goes on and on…

And God’s first words that He wrote in the stone? “You shall have no other gods before me.”

God knows we are forgetful people. All through the Old Testament memorials are built to remember great moves of God. God wants us to remember. At the last supper, Jesus wanted them to remember him every time they got together and ate, every time they took a drink of something… “As often as you do this… (eat or drink) Remember me,” “You shall have no other gods before me.” We are a forgetful people.

So what’s at the root of our forgetfulness? Why is it so stinkin’ easy to put things in the God chair that don’t belong there?

Ultimately? For me? My guess is that it’s my own pride. It is my nemesis. It’s the reason I have to remind myself of Gal 2:20 every day.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

It is my life verse and for me, I end up here often.

I choose to remember. I shall have no other gods before You. Amen.

Running After Papa…

Blisters (Eph 6:15)

¹⁴ Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; (italics added) Ephesians 6:14-15, NKJV

I run. I have for several years now. I don’t really run because I like running, although I do enjoy the benefits and the feeling after a good long run. I started running in order to get some discipline in my life, so I decided to train for a marathon. Fast forward a few years. I got really lazy in my training and only did the long runs one year and…. as you might guess… injured my heel which has plagued me with planar fasciitis for over a year. Fast forward again. About a year ago, I started changing my running style to take all the impact out of my running by going to more of a “barefoot style” running – simply put, I land on the ball of my foot and then let my heel touch before springing off my foot for the next step. This style takes a while to build up stamina and strength in your calves as they do A LOT more work.

Last year, I purchased a pair of shoes called Vibram Five Fingers which are basically gloves for your feet with “fingers” for your toes and all. They have zero support and are basically a sole for your foot so you can run barefoot style without gettting cut up or bruised from rocks and stuff in the road.

I say all that to say this. Yesterday, I ran too far in my shoes and I got serious blisters on both feet. I had been running about 2-2.25 miles in the Vibrams and then I would change into my running shoes and run 2 or 3 more miles. That is my normal M.O. That is what I do and how I build up endurance.

Yesterday, I tried to run 4 miles in my Vibrams. This is NOT me. At 3.3 miles, my feet were so hot (where the blisters are now brilliantly showing themselves) that I took my shoes off and walked the rest of the way home barefoot… in the grass… gingerly.

On the way home, Papa brought to mind Eph 6:15. The NIV version says “…with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.“ When I asked how this all fit together, He showed me:

Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. (I Peter 3:14-17, The Message)

and

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. (Psalms 139:14, NKJV)

What God showed me in that I don’t have to be anyone else. While I can look to others who are farther along this life of transformation; those I consider spiritual giants; those heroes of the faith; I am NOT to strive to be like them. God made me to be me. According to the Ephesians passage, I am to know and understand and live in Truth and Righteousness. This brings all glory to God. But I don’t have to wear anyone else’s shoes. When I do, I get blisters, they rub my feet wrong. They slow down my pace. I just have to be me (crucified) in Him. If I try to be someone else, I am not living the 1 Peter passage. I won’t “Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why I’m living the way…” I am. I praise him for make me just like I am. I am free to be me in Him. That’s how I’ll be most effective for His purposes and to give him all the glory and praise that He is due.

Running After Papa…

Greatest Enemy of Faith

YouTube Link: What This World Needs [Casting Crowns]

Lyrics | Casting Crowns lyrics – What This World Needs lyrics

I heard this song while I was running today and I had to listen to it a number of times over the miles.

While the entire song is lyrically and musically amazing, it was the spoken words during that song that captured my attention during my run. Here they are.

People aren’t confused by the gospel,
They’re confused by us.
Jesus is the only way to God,
But we are not the only way to Jesus.
This world doesn’t need
My tie, my hoodie,
My denomination, or my translation of the Bible,
They just need Jesus.
We can be passionate about what we believe,
But we can’t strap ourselves to the gospels.
Because we’re slowing it down
Jesus is going to save the world,
But maybe the best thing we can do
Is just get out of the way.

I recently was exploring that “Digg” is and stumbled across a link and subsequent comment chain on a quote written on a Church billboard. The quote was a quote from Martin Luther (although it didn’t give credit to Martin Luther) saying “Reason is the greatest enemy of Faith.”

While Martin Luther may have been right for the message he was preaching at the time, I’m really beginning to feel like the words of the song express a closer reality for today… ‘Christians’ are often the greatest enemy of Faith over anything else.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Jesus called it two thousand years ago. Every time he used the word “hypocrite” he was speaking to the religious leaders; to the church. (Matt 6:2, 5, 16; Matt 7:5; Matt 15:7-9; Matt 22:18; Matt 23:13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29; Matt 24:51; Mark 7:6; Luke 6:42; Luke 12:56; Luke 13:15)

In speaking to them Jesus said:

Matthew 15:7-9 (ESV)
7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

That, I fear, is the condition of The Big-C Church, particularly in America. How did we get from a single body of believers to a system of religion that has so many denominations and differences of opinion and interpretation on what THE SAME BIBLE says?

We got there because men – in their pride – decided they didn’t like what they heard so they went somewhere else.

Now, here we are – 2000 years later – with such watered-down Christianity that we have watered-down faith. Most churches in America don’t see God move the way he did at Pentecost. Why? The Bible clearly says he’s the same God, yesterday, today and tomorrow and that HE WILL NEVER CHANGE.

To me it all comes back to Galatians 2:20 (one of my life verses). I have to die to myself, to my wants, to my desires, to my “rights” so that Jesus can live through me and be seen. When people see Jesus, they are attracted to Him… they want to be with him.

I have to get out of the way. We (believers) have to get out of the way.

Easy to say, hard to do.

Running After Papa…

Faith like a child

Romans 4: 18-22 (NLT) 18 Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” 19 And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb. 20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. 22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.

I don’t think I really, really understand faith. I am convinced that “faith like a child” that Jesus spoke of is much simpler than I make it out to be, in all my maturity and wisdom. (sarcasm implied)

My son Jake understands faith. I think he has faith like Abraham. If God said it, that’s enough for him. There are no questions and no doubts. Just faith. By the way, he’s 10 years old.

No, I think I’ve spent my whole life trying to squelch exactly what God puts in us as children. I so wanted to be “grown up” and a “big boy” that, somehow, I’ve let my faith be tempered by reason, understanding, and feasibility. OK… I just scared myself writing that down. Check out what Jesus said on this very topic.

Matt 19:14 ESV 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Luke 10:21 NLT 21 At that same time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and he said, “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.”

How foolish of me to think this way. How prideful of me to think this way. Do I really think God only works and can work in the confines of what I understand? Do I really want a God that is limited by my own imagination? Not me. Sometimes, I think Papa just sits up on his throne and says about me “Bless his cotton-pickin’ heart. He has NO IDEA what I am capable of.”

Lord, I repent of my sin… my idiotic pride that has led me down a limiting and narrow view of You. I pray for faith. Help me exercise my faith this week Lord. I cast off all the preconceived ideas and pre-built boxes I’ve put you in being “religious” and “pious.” Forgive me. Fill me anew with your Holy Spirit and renew a right spirit within me. Reignite the faith of a child within me. Thank you for examples of faith such as Abraham. Help me be fully convinced as he was. Thank you for a living example of faith in my son. Help me be more like him. If You said it… that’s enough. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Running After Papa…