give it up!

For a while now, I have felt like my pastor has been holding back on us. He is one of the main reasons I continued going to the church I go to now after I visited roughly five or six years ago, but lately it’s felt as though soemthing was missing. Now, that may be no dig on him. That could be, and probably is, just as much my own heart issue. Maybe even more so a heart issue on my part than anything to do with him. Still, it’s felt like he might be restraining himself for one reason or another.


Today he showed us a glimpse of what captured my attention.

He challenged us.

He didn’t necessarily call us out so much as he spoke about some challenging things. Now, he has done this a few times in the past, and really, most things he speaks on are challenging. He is a Bible-believing pastor, and anytime you preach from the Bible there is a natural friction between the sinners we are, and the holiness we are called to. This time, however, I just felt more conviction in his voice. He wasn’t straining, or yelling and screaming, or getting flustered in any way. I just…felt the conviction. I don’t know how to explain it any better than that.

But I can try to explain what he talked about that touched me so much.

He spoke against our selfishness. He spoke against our lack of trust in God that causes us to seek satisfaction in our worship to Him, instead of seeing worship as a sacrifice that honors the creator of the entire universe. We so often speak of our “style” of worship, in relation to music, instead of seeing our lives as a sacrificial worship to the God who loved us so much that he sacrificed everything to have us. To this, he told stories of people who saw the selfishness of their worldly possesions and sold their big houses and bought smaller houses and more modest vehicles so that they would have more money to give to those who have nothing. He told us about the difference between giving sacrificially from the heart, and giving selfishly so that you receive something in return. He also told us about what a true heart of worship can lead us to do.

He said there was this guy a while back who had received help from a few people in his life. That initially made him want to become rich so he could help others as well. Then he realized none of the people who helped him were rich. They were normal, like him, and like us. So he decided to put back money every month and find one person to help each month using that money. Providentially, God placed him in just the right time to be around some amazing technology. He started a website called "Modest Needs" to find the people he would help, others saw it, someone blogged about it, and now they help thousands of people each year using millions of dollars in donations that come from all over. There was even a staticistic that said something like 70% of all gift recipients come back and give when they can.

It’s infectious, this sacrificial worhsip life. When we Chrisitians listen to what God told us to do, it touches people in a way that doesn’t make sense to the rest of the world. It is a wisdom that surpasses all understanding. When we get away from the selfish ways we’ve been raised with, the idea of looking out for numero uno, and start trusting God, we can do big things.

We have nothing to fear. He will not leave us, nor forsake us. We have an eternal hope in Him. We can sacrifice everything in this life, because of what he has promised us in the next. The passage for today spoke to that. John 14:1-7

And I would like my blog to become something that speaks to it as well. I have struggled some with what this blog would be. I try to write something funny every now and then. I try to use it for updates on the mission trips I take. And I may continue that. But from now on, I believe the main focus will be to inform you all about different giving oppprtunities. Different ways you can live your lives sacrificially. As often as I can find the time to do the research, I will be posting about different organizations you can connect with and give. I hope it will be something you find interesting, and important. I will start with the ones I have given through for a while. Then I will start researchign others. There is no need to give to all of them. That would be impossible. But I would urge you to find out what you can do, and do a little more.

Thanks, and until next time…I’ve got nothing to go there. It just seemed like what I should say. So, bye.