Complacency

Are we completely missing it?

Have we missed what this life is all about?  I'm being so convicted of this lately.  That we as Christians in the west have become so complacent.  Our lives have become about ourselves.  We work to make sure that we are comfortable, we have good jobs, that we're paying off our mortgages, saving for retirement, etc...  Oh, and yes, God is sprinkled in there.  He's in everything, yes, but remember God, we have to be comfortable.

Perhaps a good way of breaking this down is by asking a simple question - when we pray, are we praying for the things on our hearts, or the things on God's heart?  Those can be radically different.

Christianity was never about our comfort.  God never promised that our lives would be easy and nice.  If anything he said we'd be persecuted for our faith, ridiculed and outcast, beaten and humiliated.  Want an example?  Read the Bible, starting with Jesus' crucifixion.

I have to admit, the more I think about this, the more it's driving me crazy.  We've made it all about us!  It's not even that we can't let go of our comforts (although that is very true).  What's more concerning is that we don't even think about letting go of our comforts, and doing that crazy thing that God is asking us to do.  That that thought never crosses our minds is alarming, and more proof that we've missed the point of it all.

This life I have, I have because God gave it to me.  My family, the money in my bank account, my house, my car, my job - none of it is mine.  So why am I holding on to it so tightly, and missing the bigger picture that God has?

This a plea to you as much as it is to myself - let's stop living lives of complacency.  We are called to more.  Our faith does not revolve around our lives.  Our lives revolve around our faith.  Let's live that way, and live out TRUE Christianity.

Courageous

I know this is super late, but let me start by thanking the person who pushed me over the top in Movember, and helped be beat AJ the Wonderdog - you know you who are!  Thanks!

So I saw the movie Courageous at Bradford Alliance Church yesterday, second time I've seen this flick...  If you haven't see it, I definitely recommend you check it out.  As you probably know by now, it's a movie that has a great message for guys, and particularly for fathers.

But more than just that, I think TODAY, in our day and age, it is especially applicable.  For the past few years I have been of the view that men have lost their place in society.  That men are often looked down on and can be regarded as - for lack of better words - incompetent and even dumb.  Don't believe me?  Check out almost any commercial on TV, or the father figure in TV shows.  Most of them look pretty bad.

So at a time like this, perhaps a movie like Courageous is even that much more important - to help men find their place again.  Biblically speaking, that's at the head of the family, being a man of integrity, and leading his wife and kids in the way God has outlined.

I was inspired.  I hope you are too.  Let's be those men.