God Doesn't Want Your Stuff

In my Revolution Church Life Group for the past three weeks, we've been paralleling two encounters Jesus had. One was with this guy that we know as "The Rich Young Ruler." (We joked in our life group last night that he probably goes unnamed because of how embarrassed he would have been after this encounter with Jesus.) The other encounter we looked at was with a man named Zacchaeus. Both filthy rich men who held high positions in their communities. Both had encounters with Jesus. Yet both stories turn out incredible different.

Take a look for yourself!

Read both of the stories here before you continue:

The Rich Young Ruler (TRYR) // Zacchaeus

There are so many points that we pulled out of these stories that maybe I'll blog on another time, but one point that so radically changed my viewpoint on money, possessions and God's opinion about it all.

We see in the story of TRYR that when he asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, (or in other words "be saved") that Jesus responds that He must sell EVERYTHING he has and give ALL the money to the poor. 

In Zacchaeus' encounter with Jesus, we don't know what their discussion was over dinner. Did he say the same things to Zacchaeus that he said to TRYR? Did he point out other areas in Zacchaeus' life that were prevent him from living an abundant life? Maybe when it came to Zacchaeus, Jesus was less concerned with the possessions he had and more concerned with how he acquired them. (I mean really, later he even semi confessed to cheating people on their taxes. We honestly don't know. But when it's all said and done, Zacchaeus tells Jesus he's going to give HALF of everything he owns to the poor and pay back anyone he has cheated out of money 4 times over. After Zacchaeus says this, Jesus says that salvation has come to his home. Essentially Jesus is saying that Zacchaeus is saved.

But wait, how come TRYR had to give up everything in order to be saved and Zacchaeus got away with just giving up a little more than half? 

Because the bottom line is that God doesn't want your stuff. He doesn't want your money. He doesn't want your possessions. God just wants His Son to be our greatest possession. 

He knew that it would take TRYR getting rid of everything in order for him to be able to follow Jesus and love Him whole heartedly. He knew that TRYR had all of his love, affection, thoughts and actions tied to his money and possessions. He couldn't move or breathe or act without them. Getting rid of everything was the only way he could see Jesus clearly. There was no other option for this particular guy. If he wanted salvation, it had to be everything. 

Zacchaeus on the other hand, Jesus knew where his heart really was. He knew that there were no emotional attachments that he had to his "stuff." So half was enough for Zacchaeus to right the wrongs in his life.  Half was enough for him to make decisions that would be pleasing to God and proof that Jesus was his sole treasure.  Half was enough to bring salvation.

This should come as a relief to those who are on the fence about God or "church stuff" or tithing. God doesn't need or want your stuff. He wants your heart. So whatever your heart is tied to that is not His Son will always be the thing that God tells you to get rid of when you ask what you  must do to follow Jesus more closely.

Now go back and re-read the responses of both men. One walked away sad, burned by his possessions, thinking only of what he had to lose. The other walked away freed up, joyful, thinking of everything he had to gain. 

Who would you like to be more like?

Take Every Thought Captive.

This week in my Life Group we studied toxic thoughts. We talked in depth about how important our thoughts are. There are dozens of passages in scripture that describe the importance of your thoughts and the importance of protecting them, as well as how your life can be determined by what you think. To give you an example, here are a few of the verses we used:

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”

(Proverbs 23: 7a NKJV).

“Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life”

(Proverbs 4: 23 CEV).

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”

(Philippians 4: 7).

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things”

(Philippians 4: 8).

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12: 2).

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds”

(2 Corinthians 10: 4).

“Yet you know me, LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter!”

(Jeremiah 12: 3).

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ

(2 Corinthians 10: 5).

My Life Group was super transparent during our time together this week about some of the thoughts that overrun their lives. They identified toxic behaviors which origins were rooted in toxic thoughts. I'll give you a few anonymous examples that were discussed:

1

1. "I used to make myself throw up because I thought I wasn't pretty enough. And if I wasn't pretty or skinny enough no one would ever love me."

2

2. "I took a job that paid me more money, but took me away from church, serving, and fellowship with the Body of Christ, because I thought it would be my only chance to have the financial resources that I want and need in order to live my life comfortably."

3

3. "I got into a relationship with a guy who wasn't a believer and treated me badly, because he was interested in me and I thought if I don't date him, no one else might ever come along and be interested in me."

4

4. "I stayed in a relationship where I was being emotionally abused on a daily basis because I thought if I could just stay in the relationship, I could be a good influence on him and he could change."

Then I asked my Life Group to go back and counteract those thoughts and make them obedient to Christ according to His Word. Here is what we came up with (and I added some commentary):

1

"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." 

(Psalm 139:14)

"For your royal husband delights in your beauty;

    honor him, for he is your lord." 

(Psalm 45:11)

"For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." 

(Ephesians 2:10)

2

Basically the whole first part of Deuteronomy 28:1-12! The whole first part is titled "Blessings for Obedience." Seriously, check it out!

3 & 4

 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 

(James 1:17) 

(A good and healthy relationship with someone who is a follower of Christ, good hearted and treats you well is a good and perfect gift. Which means the opposite cannot come from the Lord.)

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?.... Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 

(2 Corinthians 6:14-15)

(Your blood-bought heart has no business being intertwined with someone who doesn't even know what love is because they've never surrendered their life to the Only One who has ever displayed perfect and complete love.)

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 

(1 Corinthians 15:33) 

(Missionary dating is not a thing. You cannot make someone good or better. Only they can make that choice and if they actually wanted to make that choice, they would have made it a long time ago. If they promise to make a change, it will have about a two week shelf life before going back to normal. The chances are you will be more changed for the worse than they ever will be for the good.)

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

(1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

(This one is probably self explanatory, but again, if the person you're with has never experienced and surrendered to the love that Jesus displayed when He laid down His life for you on the cross, that person will never be able to love you like Jesus does. He will never understand and display sacrificial love if he hasn't acknowledged the ultimate sacrifice. And if he says he has given his life to Jesus, but he still can't live out this scripture in his life, then RUN. Because those who claim to know Christ should be fighting tooth and nail to live out this scripture in their relationships!)

So now you get an idea of what we discussed in my Life Group this week. When we were finishing up I asked something pretty huge of my LG. I asked them to be transparent in a radical way. I asked them to capture a thought this week, replace it with scripture and make it obedient to Christ, then I asked them to share that toxic thought and the counteractive scripture as a Facebook status. 

Well. I wouldn't be a very good Life Group leader if I didn't do the same. So here's mine.

MY TOXIC THOUGHT

This morning I woke up and as I was getting ready to head to my office I had the most toxic, intrusive thought that I will probably never be able to be in a relationship again. I had the thought that I'm probably too damaged, with a broken & messy heart, and a distorted view of what love and a healthy relationship really looks like. 

Upon realizing how septic that thought was, I immediately searched my heart and scripture to replace that lie in my head. Here is how I took that thought captive and fit it into the structure of life shaped by Jesus Christ (1 Cor 10:5 MSG):

For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord…(Jeremiah 30:17)  

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. (Psalm 51:10,12 NLT )

These verses are simple and well known, but as my dad always says, "cliches become cliches for a reason." And they turned my thoughts and attitude around immediately. So even still, I don' know if I'll ever be in a relationship again, but at least I know it won't be because I'm too broken or messed up. Because according to The Word, God is a restorer, a healer, and a cleanser. And that's the truth that I'm walking in today. And that's how you take a thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. 

With love,
Sally

Beyonce & The Presence of God

        I've been thinking a lot about God's presence lately. In this new season of Life Groups at my church, our Life Group Coordinator told all of us leaders that our main focus will be on “God-consiousness.” Being aware of and acknowledging with our head, heart and actions that God is ever-present. Knowing that God the Father is above all, through all, and living in all.

        So I've been thinking about what it really looks like to be in the presence of the Creator of the Universe. In Genesis, it doesn't just say that Adam and Eve hid from The Lord, it says they hid from THE PRESENCE of the Lord. Also, Cain went out from the PRESENCE of the Lord.

        I recently watched Beyonce's self-directed documentary, “Life Is But A Dream.” Now look, I love Beyonce. I love everything about her. I'd like to be her. And I'm not saying I am Beyonce, I'm just saying you'll never see us in the same room together and my friends had trouble finding me during the Superbowl half-time show... so... I'll let you decide for yourself. But one recurring thing I noticed as this documentary was on were the clips where she steps out of her car, or out of a building, or onto the stage and after about .5 seconds of silence, this overwhelming roar takes place. AND THIS IS BEFORE SHE EVEN OPENS HER MOUTH TO SING. So I started thinking about how strong just the presence of Beyonce is. It is dead silent until she shows up and all the sudden everyone is loosing their freaking minds. I know for a fact that when Beyonce is not around, not one fan is walking the streets of the city, or riding in their car, or sitting in class, or at their office shouting with tears streaming down their face, “Beyonce, I love you! I'm your number one fan! Please sign my forehead! I'd do anything for you! I swear when you wrote 'Crazy in Love' you were channeling me and my boyfriend! Dump Jay-Z! Marry Me!” No, none of that happens until Beyonce is present.

        And then for 2 hours, during her concert, those fans are all in. They do not stop letting Beyonce know how much they adore her. I don't think they could stop if they tried. Every time she make a move, sings a note, gives that strangely fierce stare thingy, they go NUTS.

        And just as quickly as the roar starts when Beyonce is present is how quickly it goes away once the door closes or she heads backstage. When she is not present, when the fans at her concerts grab their things and leave the amphitheater, they aren't screaming and shouting for Beyonce anymore. They're just thinking about how hoarse they are going to be the next day and how “Halo” will be stuck in their heads for the next 2 weeks.

        So I take a step back and look at myself, my life, my relationship with Jesus and examine how I might just be a Beyonce fan. Because let's stop talking about Beyonce for a second and shift our eyes to the King of Kings. Here's what I've had to remind myself of: God does not show up in His fancy limo for our Sunday morning worship services, put on a show for two hours, then spend the rest of the week hiding out in his mansion in Heaven.

        There are countless verses proclaiming the truth that He is near, He is at hand, He is with us, He will not leave us, He will not forget us, He will not forsake us, He will not fail us, He will keep us. His son was to be called “Immanuel” which LITERALLY translates to “God with us.”

         And there is POWER in that never-ending, unfailing, non-fleeting presence. We're promised things like help and strength, rest and calmness, protection and security.

        You want to know the funny thing. I don't even own the super popular devotion “Jesus Calling.” But in my office we have some new ones that we'll be putting on the merchandise table of our church this week and something in me told me to read the one for today. It starts out, “February 18^th, 'I AM WITH YOU.” The entire devotion for this day is about trusting in, resting in, and relying on the truth that God is present.

        I feel like I'm dealing with a lot of different things in my life right now. I'm trying to juggle a lot of things, make plans and decisions and on Saturday night I had a complete and total meltdown. I felt weak and scared, I felt exhausted and worn down, I felt like a screw up, I felt like a failure, I felt like I didn't even know who I was anymore. It's taken me a weekend to look back at my life and say, “maybe it's because I treat Sunday mornings like a Beyonce concert where I get excited and loud about my how strong my God is because I know He's there and I can feel him. But then I leave as if He's already on His private jet to some getaway island and already forgotten about me. I don't treat myself like God is present. I don't handle my situations as if God is present. I don't treat the people around me as if God is present. And I certainly don't treat the God that I know and love as if He is standing right in front of me.

        I remember a lot of promises that God has made me. Whether personally and specifically to me, or to His body as a whole through His Word. But it seems that the promise I most easily forget is the promise of His presence.

        So I realize there's not much else to do about how I haven't acknowledged His presence in the past. But today I choose to walk in the promise of His presence. I choose to walk in the promise that He is near, He is at hand, He is with me, He will not leave me, He will not forget me, He will not forsake me, He will not fail me, He will keep me. So this means I get to remember that no situations or circumstances will be handled by me and me alone. Which in turn means they no longer get to rob my joy and excitement for life and all that comes with it.

I'll leave you with these:

“You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy...” - Psalm 16:11

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me” - Psalm 23:4

"And he said, 'My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'" - Exodus 33:14

"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble." – Psalm 46:1

"Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand." - Isaiah 41:10

"What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go..."- Genesis 28:15(a)

"When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God." Isaiah 43:2-3(a)

"For God has said, 'I will never fail you.
I will never abandon you.'" - Hebrews 13:5(a)

God Is Not the Bearer of Bad News

I feel like a lot of the conversations I've had with God have ended with huge, ground-breaking, life altering challenges. Sounds like a dream right? I'm sure, more often than not, followers of Christ are begging for God to take them on adventures, to lead a not-so-boring Christian life. We cry out for spontaneity and fresh starts. Well I thought I did too. Or at least I used to, until God really answered me. He challenged me to answer a call that would be the biggest, hardest, scariest, most spontaneous decision I've had to make in my short 21 years of existence.

In 2010, I had my plans to go to college. I had already taken a year off from school, right after graduating high school, to go study Spanish, Bible, and Foreign Missions in Costa Rica. When I graduated from the Gap Year program, I already had the following semester lined up with my college plans. I was headed for West Palm Beach, Florida to attend Palm Beach Atlantic University. The short story for all of this is: during that summer, I had a really big conversation with God. He clearly told me that His plan for my life at this particular time was actually NOT to go to college. But to move to Gastonia, NC and become a part of a church plant.

This was a little hard for me to swallow. At the time, I was truly all for it. I feel like I didn't even bat an eye. Within about 2 weeks of me telling my parents that God had revealed His plan for my life to me, I already had an apartment waiting on me in NC. So I didn't waste much time and I was pretty stoked about the whole thing. It wasn't until the first couple of weeks that I kind of approached God with this kind of, "what the heck have you gotten me into..." type of attitude.

In my life group we've been discussing Ivan Pavlov's theory on conditioned reflexes and how that relates to our lives. I have a few silly conditioned reflexes/reactions of my own. Certain events or things that have happened in my life have caused me to react in a certain way EVERY SINGLE TIME those events occur. For instance: There have been several times that, for whatever ridiculous reason, I've driven around town late at night with my headlights off. I don't know what the heck my problem was, or what my mental block was about turning my lights on, but it happened more than once. But there was one night when a car almost hit me because they couldn't see me. Ever since then, if you're riding in my car with me at night, you will see me check that my headlights are on at least every 30-60 seconds. That one event has changed the way that I drive at night for the rest of my life. It conditioned me to act/react a certain way. The same with scents or sounds. The smell of Listerine still takes me back to being a little 10 year old girl, crawling around on my Paw Paw's lap. He always smelled like Listerine. If I smell it and close my eyes, suddenly I'm back in his cute house, tucked away on a Christmas Tree farm in the smallest town you'll ever come across. And then there's always a sting, because he's no longer with us, I'll never get to go back to that time. My mind and my heart have been conditioned by that scent.

In my life group last night we discovered that Peter must have had an experience like this. Before Jesus is taken away and ultimately crucified, He is talking to Peter and He says, "Peter, the truth is that you're going to deny me 3 times before the rooster crows this morning." Jesus says this to Peter right after Peter tells Him "Jesus, I'll go to prison with you! I'll even go to death with you!" So of course, Peter probably thinks Jesus is crazy for saying He's going to deny him, not just once, not even just twice, but three times within the next 24 hours. Nonetheless, we come to find that Peter is asked once if He knows Jesus or is associated with Him in any way. Peter says no. Strike 1. About an hour later someone else says, "this guy MUST be with Jesus" and Peter insists that He's not. Strike 2. Then a third person comes along and insists that Peter is associated with Jesus, but Peter says, "Man, I don't know what you are talking about." Strike 3. Scripture tells us that immediately a rooster crowed and in that moment Peter realized what he had done. He had denied Jesus 3 times. (Luke 22)

If that one time of almost being hit by a car conditioned me to check my headlights ever 30 seconds, and if a few memories of my Paw Paw smelling like Listerine have conditioned me to think of him every single time I get a whiff of that scent, then we can only imagine what that one rooster crow conditioned Peter to think and feel from that moment on. In a time and a culture when livestock was so prominent, you can only imagine that he would have to wake up every single morning to a rooster crowing, to which his conditioned heart would be reminded of his BIGGEST failure.

I feel like that's where I've been since the summer of 2010. That one conversation with God, where he challenged me to move away from my friends and my family, to take a road less traveled, to move to a city where I knew about 5 people, and to play a part in starting a church from nothing, was the biggest and the scariest and the hardest calling I've ever received. It conditioned my heart to think that every time I have a conversation with God, it's going to bring something big and scary. What if He asks me to move again? What if he actually tells me that I'm not supposed to get married, that He doesn't have a husband waiting for me somewhere? What if He doesn't need me at Revolution Church anymore? What if I've finally dug my roots in here, but it's time to go somewhere else? These are the questions that have kept me from approaching God. In my conditioned mind, in my conditioned heart, God is always the bearer of bad news.

But here's what I've come to learn. That a part of spiritual growth is recognizing how you've been conditioned and then letting God come recondition you. We see this when we get back to the story of Peter, in one of the most moving passages I've ever read.

After Jesus has been crucified and resurrected, He spends about 40 more days on Earth before ascending into Heaven. During those 40 days, He just kind of pops up to various people that He knew and loved so they would have an account of His resurrection. This is where we find Peter. In John 21 we see that Peter has just gone back to fishing. With his daily rooster crow, his conditioned heart is reminded that he denied Jesus three times and he probably feels so unworthy to continue any type of spreading the Gospel.

But Jesus comes to Peter and some of the other disciples at some point during that 40 days after His resurrection and basically says, "Hey guys, come have breakfast with me." During that breakfast Jesus looks at Peter and says, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter says, "Yes Lord, you know I love you." That's one. Jesus asks Peter again, "Peter, do you love me?" And Peter again says, "Yes Lord, you know I love you." That's two. Then a third time Jesus asks, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter, I'd like to believe was shouting with everything he had, "Lord, you know everything! You know that I love you!" That's three.

So think of this. It is specified that they are eating breakfast, which would suggest that it's morning. Think of morning in a time and a culture when livestock is prominent, you can only image that at the time Jesus is asking Peter if he loves Him three times, that somewhere in the background noise of it all, there is a rooster crowing. Peter probably thought he could never forgive himself for denying Jesus. He probably thought that his heart would always be conditioned to sting at the sound of a rooster crowing. But Jesus came to recondition his heart. Any moment after that, Peter would never have to hear a rooster crow and be reminded of his greatest failure. Jesus reconditioned Peter's heart so that from then on, whenever morning came, he could start his day knowing that he LOVED Jesus and that Jesus loved him.

Mark Batterson made an excellent point when he quoted 1 Peter 5:8 which says, "Satan prowls like a roaring lion," and he goes on to say, "I also think Satan crows like a rooster." He would love nothing more than to keep your heart in the condition that it's in. Satan would have loved nothing more than for Peter to wake up the rest of his life and hear a crowing rooster and be reminded of his biggest downfall. Satan would love nothing more than for me to continue to distance myself from God, just because I've been conditioned to believe that God is the bearer of bad news.

As a leader in ministry, as an Administrative Assistant to a church, as a personal assistant to a pastor, as a life group leader, as a mentor, as a disciple, as a follower of Jesus in general: it is so embarrassing to admit that I've been so scared to approach God. But really, the truth is, I just need a reconditioned heart. I think a lot of us do. And isn't it good to know that Jesus is in the business of reconditioning hearts?

Pray for me.
I'll be praying for you.