Book of Thoughts #3

We Christians often pass up great opportunities to serve in ministry because "I am not gifted in that area," or "It's not really my thing." Well, if God wants you to serve in a certain capacity, He WILL make sure you can do it. Our excuses are therefore invalid. We have a wonderful example in Scripture:

10 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT YOUR PASTOR

Do you appreciate your pastor? And if you do, does he know it?

My motivation for writing this is to help church members understand their pastors. The things I am going to point out are often things that pastors will NOT tell their members. Why? Because it is often difficult to predict how people will react. Some members will become angry. Some will judge. Some will wrongfully assume that it is just the pastor being selfish. However, some will be understanding. Some will take it as an opportunity to love their pastors more. It is risky to put these things out in the open. People may not respond in the way anticipated.

This is something that has been on my heart for some time. But there was a big elephant in the room that prevented me from ever following through with communicating these thoughts: My desire is to go into full-time ministry.

I was (and still am) afraid of others reading this post and saying, “Oh, Blake just wrote this because in the future he wants people to give him special treatment.” But that is not my intention. I wrote this because I have seen many examples in the past where the congregation has hurt their pastor. I have seen times when people in the congregation do not understand their pastor, and the pastor feels that he is not allowed to communicate these things. I have many friends who are in full-time ministry that have opened up to me with these very real struggles.

I didn't write this to serve myself. I studied this out as one of the church members to examine how I could support MY OWN pastor better than I currently was. 

Your pastor has been appointed as a shepherd. It is his responsibility to equip the saints and to guide the congregation in the right direction. It is your and my responsibility to make sure we are not getting in the way of progress. Even more than that, it is our responsibility to follow and support our pastors, even when we disagree with them.    

So what are some of these little-known things that your pastor would like you to know about himself?

The Best Decision I Ever Made

Even though I am happily married to my amazing wife, the decision to marry her was the second best decision I ever made. It's OK. She understands.

May I very carefully and HUMBLY ask a question? Do you know 100% that you are going to Heaven? Let me share with you my salvation testimony… how I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior... how He changed me from the inside out. I’ll try to back it up with as much Bible as I can. Stick with me. It is thrilling for me to consider what God has done in my own life:

I grew up in a great Christian family. We have always gone to church 3 times a week. I was always a very good kid. I heard about Jesus all the time. But for some reason, I thought that if I was good enough, that if I did enough good things… that if my good outweighed my bad... I would get to Heaven. But that was definitely not the case. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” This passage means that we can’t obtain salvation through doing good things, but rather, God offers us a gift (that I don’t deserve) that I must accept. No one can do enough good things to get to Heaven.

This realization came when I was about 8 or 9. I went to Children's Church, and the teacher (I wish I could remember his name) taught a lesson from the Bible about Hell. I was scared to death! Why? Because it finally dawned on me. I realized I was heading there. I had never made a decision to accept Jesus as my Savior. Do you know what God requires for anyone to enter Heaven? PERFECTION (Psalm 15:1-2). WHAT?????

Let me explain further... 

Book of Thoughts #2

This is somewhat of a departure from Bible verses, but I believe this truth goes right along with biblical leadership. 


Here is a great lesson in leadership: People rise to what you expect of them. 


However, leaders must be wise in their expectations. Whether this is in ministry, in the workplace, or at home, if we place unrealistic expectations on those we lead, all that will result are feelings of inadequacy. 


Be a good leader. Lead people to their true potential, not the potential YOU want them to achieve.

Book of Thoughts #1

I have a small black moleskin book that I like to carry around with me. It is a place where I can jot down something quickly, whether it be an inspirational quote, bible verse, reference for later, or just something that sparks my interest at the time. 

Basically, anything PONDER-WORTHY may end up in my little book. When I pick it up later and read a passage I wrote, I may jot down my thoughts on that same page. It is an excellent tool that encourages me to keep on thinking. However, sometimes I turn to a page and think, "Why did I write THAT in there???"

I have decided to start a series of blog posts that highlight entries in my Book of Thoughts. I will try to keep the commentaries to a minimum and let the pages speak for themselves, as they do for me. My hope is that these will be an encouragement to others too.  

Peace in the Midst of My Storm: A Devotional Analysis of My Original Painting

I have a painting hanging in my office at work. It is a piece that is very personal and a gentle reminder to me when my job gets hectic and seems like too much to handle… which happens to be every day, it often seems.

It’s fun to see what kind of reactions it gets when people see it. Some look at it and are perplexed, trying to make sense of it. I have had others say that it is very dark. Some look at it for a few minutes and are encouraged by its message. But I am more concerned about what it means for me.

Here is a picture of the painting. I'm sorry that this does not do it justice:

Before I explain the circumstances under which the work was created, I want to explain what you would be able to see if you were looking at it in person.

Don't Let the Preaching Get in the Way

Have you ever considered your philosophy of preaching? I believe this is one area that Christians generally think very little about. We struggle and come up with our own personal philosophies regarding music, evangelism, schooling, entertainment, involvement with the world, and many other walks of the Christian life, but when it comes to our philosophy of preaching we simply settle for what we enjoy or what we “get from it.”

Even if your church is an amazing Bible-believing church that sticks to the truths of Scripture, you need to have a strong personal philosophy about what preaching brings glory to God and how you should respond to it. 

Otherwise (as I have seen happen many times) it is easy to be swayed by a sermon that mishandles God’s Holy Word, but you respond simply because the preacher won you over with his style and speaking ability.  

MY JOURNEY

I have had the amazing privilege to preach in a few different churches over the past few years. I’ll be the first to admit that I have much work to do in my own preaching studies and style. I’m no Billy Sunday. However, I have made a few observations about preaching from my own studies, observation, and experience.

Will Heaven Be Ruined?

One of the biggest misconceptions about Heaven is the thought that when we pass into our new lives, we will start from scratch and begin a new life. However, Scripture shows that our current lives prepare us for Heaven and there is direct continuity. In other words, as Christians we don’t stop this life and start over, our lives continue!  But all those sins and burdens that weighed us down in this life will be gone.

Will we still have memories of this life? Of course! After all, we are shaped by our experiences. If God suddenly did away with my past, “Blake” wouldn’t be going to Heaven… someone else who somewhat resembles Blake would be going to Heaven. I wouldn’t retain my identity.

One of the biggest questions I had about Heaven was, “How can I enjoy Heaven knowing the fact that loved ones are suffering for eternity in Hell?”

Cheap Imitations

Ever buy something  that promised to be the 'real deal' only to find out later that it was just a cheap imitation? Come on, I know you've done it on ebay at some point. In my study of Heaven (with a capital "H" since it's a real place), I came to realize a very important truth: Our thoughts of Heaven are TOTALLY backwards. We are settling for cheap imitations when we should be looking forward to the real deal.

For some reason, we think that this earth and this life is "as real as it gets," and that Heaven is some nebulous otherworldly afterthought.

However, I think it is very clear that the things that we find amazing and wonderful in this life are mere shadows of the things that God has in store for us for eternity.  This life is actually "as fake as it gets." The good things we enjoy are cheap imitations of what God has in store for us to experience!

FOR EXAMPLE: Read Hebrews 8 and 9... especially 9:23-24, speaking about the temple/tabernacle. The pattern was just a small copy of what we will experience in Heaven in the actual presence of God. Also, consider our family structure. Do we think that God chose to call Himself our Father and us His children because He wanted to copy our family structure? NO! Our parent-child structure is a cheap imitation of the love He has for us and that we should return to Him. What about marriage, the most wonderful of institutions in this life? Even if you have the most perfect marriage in the world, it is just a cheap imitation of the wonderful relationship the church (the bride) will experience with Christ (Ephesians 5:22-32).

I think C.S. Lewis explained it perfectly in "The Last Battle" when the characters were beginning to see the "New Narnia" (allegory for Heaven / New Earth). Lord Digory explains it this way:

"Listen, Peter. When Aslan said you could never go back to Narnia, he meant the Narnia you were thinking of. But that was not the real Narnia. That had a beginning and an end. It was only a shadow or a copy of the real Narnia which has always been here…
...You need not mourn over Narnia, Lucy. All of the old Narnia that mattered, all the dear creatures, have been drawn into the real Narnia through the Door. And of course it is different; as different as a real thing is from a shadow or as waking life is from a dream.”    

Don't settle for cheap imitations. Look forward to the real deal that is yet to come!

Near Sighted

I am once again studying the topic of Heaven. I find this subject VERY fascinating, but I have heard from and observed many Christians who could care less about the topic. In fact, go to a Christian book store and find out how many books seek to address the topic. I'm not talking about the warm-fuzzy-feel-good books designed to be idealistic comforts or even "near-death experience" books. I mean books that seek to study what the Bible says so that we can have an accurate theology of Heaven. There will probably be very few, if any at all. But I'm sure you will find MANY on marriage, parenting, dating, finances, etc.

There's not anything wrong with any of these things, but there's a lot more beyond the things of this short life on earth as we know it. Why do Christians think, "I already know I'm going there. I'll learn about it when I die," when the subject of Heaven is brought up? Really? If you were to take a vacation to Germany, would you really say, "I don't need to research. I guess I will just find out everything I need to know when I get there?"

Heaven is our home. Furthermore, it is GOD'S home. Everything in Heaven points to God. Get to know Heaven so you can get to know God! Heaven is meant to make us excited by its very design! I firmly believe that if we have a correct view of Heaven, it will change our lives right now. The struggles of this earth won't bother us so much, because we will realize that they are temporal. We will tell others about Jesus, because we want them to experience what we will experience! Life will be better!

I have a verse that sums it all up:

"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth."

                                                                                         -Colossians 3:2

We can't be so near sighted that we only focus on this life. We need to have 20/20 vision and see what's in the distance. There are so many exciting things ahead!

A Clear Goal

                                                                                "Keep your heart with all vigilance,

   for from it flow the springs of life...

Let your eyes look directly forward,

   and your gaze be straight before you.

Ponder the path of your feet;

   then all your ways will be sure.

Do not swerve to the right or to the left;

   turn your foot away from evil."

                       -Proverbs 4:23, 25-26

This passage really made me think. On the first read-through, it is easy to reason, "Does this mean that if I set a goal that is honoring to God, it will be accomplished?" But there's a problem: I have had MANY God-honoring goals that were never accomplished. So what does this mean?

This is not a focus on MY path and MY goals, but God's. What is the path I am walking down? Is it the one that God wants me on? When I am walking on God's path, with my eyes fixed on Christ, all my ways are going to be established. It will ALWAYS turn out for the best (even if it is not what I would choose). There will be many opportunities and temptations to branch off this path, but I must keep my eyes on the goal of Christlikeness, and He will bring me where I need to be.