This morning I entered the office and resisted the phone message…resisted opening my email…why – well because of “My Rule of Life” (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out these two posts: New Beginning: A Rule for Life and My Rule of Life).  Wednesday is a day where I make sure I spend time with God before anything else.

Well in my time I came across a cool verse:

Proverbs 11:14 (ESV) – “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”

One of the reasons this verse stood out to me is because of my role as a pastor.  I want the people God has entrusted to my care to be safe.  I don’t want them to fall.  So what needs to happen.  Beyond making sure that I’m depending on God, I need to have a group of counselors around me.  People that I can talk to.  People that I can bounce ideas and situations off of.  I’m glad to report that I have people like that in my life.  But at the same time, I feel like I need more.  I also feel like I need to be more intentional with those people.

What about your life?  Do you have counselors in your life?  If you think you do, are they people who are close to God and can offer wise advice?  That’s the kind of people you need.

T

Well before I get into sharing my rule of life, I want to explain a couple of things:

First of all, there is no “right” rule of life for everyone.  Every on is different, and some of the things that work for me may not work for you.

Secondly, this is my rule for now.  Most likely it will get tweak along the journey.

Third, if and when you decide to establish a rule of life for yourself be realistic and at the same time stretch yourself.  People typically go way over board (ex: read the Bible through 3 times a year, pray for an hour on my knees everyday at 4am, and so on…) and fail, or make it too easy (ex: read one verse a day).

So there are a few thoughts.  Now to my Rule of Life…as you’ll see I’ve broken it up based on things I’d like to do weekly, monthly, and yearly.  I’ve also tried to be specific about when I’m going to do things and where.  If not, a busy life of marriage, kids, family, friends, and work would set me up to fail.  So here goes nothing: (more…)

Over the last several weeks I have felt a need for a new beginning in a few areas of my life.  One simply has to do with my office.  I’m moving down the hall.  A couple friends of mine are going to help me do that today!  Yeah, I’m pretty excited about that.

Secondly, and more importantly has to do with my spiritual life.  Why is it that when life gets busy, it’s our spiritual life that gets squeezed out?  Check out this quote from Dallas Willard, “Spiritual life is one of interaction with a personal God and it is delusion to think this can be carried on sloppily.”  Did you catch that?  It’s delusional to think that our spiritual life can be effective if it’s carried out “sloppily.”

Ruth Barton also said, “if we look closely at the way we live day to day, we may well notice that our approach to spiritual transformation is much more random and haphazard than our approach to finances, home improvements and weight loss!  Many of us try to shove spiritual transformation into the nooks and crannies of a life that is already unmanageable, rather than being willing to arrange our life for what our heart most wants.  We think that somehow we will fall into transformation by accident.”

Well I certainly don’t want to approach my spiritual life with God “sloppily.”  That is why I have developed “A Rule for Life” (this term isn’t original to me).  It really is a “Rule.”  Not because my faith is about rules and regulations, but because I want God to be a priority in my life.

Tomorrow I’ll share with you my Rule in hopes it will help you begin to establish one for yourself.

Last night I finished a book called Monk Habits For Everyday People.  It was an interesting book and had several great things to say.  One of the main things that stood out to me was this quote:

“Live simply so that others may simply live.”

What an amazing quote to think about?  Too often we can fall into the trap of living our lives focused on ourselves and fail to take the needs of others into account.  Check out this story (also in the same book):

“Years ago, when Apple began producing personal computers, one day I raved about the features of the latest Mac that I coveted while a friend prepared a meal for us in her kitchen.  Finally she stopped peeling potatoes, looked up, and asked, ‘And how will this serve the kingdom of God?’  I never purchased that computer, and I thank my friend for her gentle reminder.”

How would our lives changed if we viewed everything we want through

the lens of “how will this serve the kingdom?

Tommy

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you’re constantly reminded that you need to depend on God.  Well it’s been one of those weeks for me, which is coming right after a very busy weekend, but good one at church.  It’s as if Satan’s trying to put obstacles in my way to take my eyes off of God, but I’m not going to allow him to prevail.  I will choose to depend.  I will choose to let Matthew 5:3 ring true, which says “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs” (New Living Translation).  Most versions say “poor in spirit.”  The idea here is that God blesses people who realize that it’s not all about themselves, it’s not all about their gifting.  It’s all about God.  They are people with poor, lacking spirits.  They realize that they need God.

Well I need God.  I’d appreciate your prayers especially over the next couple days.  Thanks!

Tommy

“Will you rub my back?”

“Yeah as long as you rub mine.”

Have you ever had one of those conversations?  I know I’ve had many of them.  At times Karissa will ask me if I will rub her back, and honestly I have to admit that at that moment I’m thinking “Yeah, if you rub my back.”  But what does that attitude say about me?  Does it display the kind of love God calls me to have for my wife?  Does it display sacrificial love?  Certainly not!

In Luke 14:12-14 Jesus says something very interesting to a man who invited him to a banquet.  Check it out:

“When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.  You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Kind of interesting huh?  When was the last time you did something for someone who couldn’t repay you?

On May 21-22 our students will be participating in World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine.  This is an event where our students go 30 hours without eating to raise awareness for world hunger and seek to raise money to help “feed the hunger.”  This is a great opportunity for them to do something for someone they don’t know.  Someone that can’t repay them.  Someone that they won’t meet this side of heaven. 

So what can you do today for someone who won’t be able to repay you?  Maybe it will be as little as giving someone you love a back rub without expecting anything in return.  Maybe it’s something bigger.

Tommy

This morning I came across a prayer in a book I’m reading called Invitations to a Journey: a Road Map for Spiritual Formation that I’d like to share with you.  So here it is:

“God of our creation and re-creation, you who are constantly at work to shape me in the wholeness of Christ, you know the hardness of my being that resist your shaping touch.  You know the deep inner rigidities of my being that reject your changing grace.  By your grace soften my hardness and rigidity; help me to become pliable in your hands…may there be a melting of my innate resistance to your transforming love.”

So God, “Help me to become pliable in your hands.”  I trust you and want you to do a transforming work in my life.

Tommy

So what should it be?  Should Jesus be #1 or the center of our lives?

As a teenager I can vividly remember a pastor saying that Jesus should be number one in our lives.  After that should be family, etc.  He went on to say that if Jesus was truly #1 then everything else would be fine.  If God is #1, then your family life would work, and so on.  All of that made sense to me at the time, but can your family life be horrible even though you have a good relationship with God?

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Through the pages of Scripture God allows us to see how He created the world, worked in the lives of people, and sent a savior to take the punishment for our sins.  Simply, the Bible allows us to learn what real love is all about.

So I would say that I view the Bible as God’s Word.  This encompasses several things, but is ultimately built on the idea that a real, all-knowing, all-powerful, and personal God wants to encounter us.  He wants to meet with us!  How crazy is that?  He wants to show us love and redeem us unto him.

Our view of the Bible is important.  If we truly see it as God’s Word, then an important question needs to be asked.  Is that view reflected in our lives?  Remember spending time in God’s Word is not about checking something off of a list of rules.  It’s about meeting with and hearing from a God that cares about us and wants us to know him.

So how do you view the Bible?

Tommy

How do you view the Bible?  What kind of words or metaphors come to your mind?  Have you ever thought about it like this before?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Later this afternoon I’ll share some quick thoughts and my background to approaching the Bible.

Tommy