What We Look For

What we look forward is what we will see. What we see determines our perspective. And our perspective becomes our reality.

Our blog is full of book perspectives right now! But I love what I’ve been reading. I heard Lysa TerKeurst speak on her new book Forgiving What I Cannot Forget two years ago at the Thrive conference and have been dying to read it. I finally got it when I saw it in the Hobby Lobby check out line. Impulse buy… yes please. I started reading it and this section spoke to me and I wanted to share it. It uses an analogy we’ve heard so many times on finding hope.

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The possibility of hope is what I want to look for so that hope is what I will see. A when I start to notice it, that noticing has a multiplying effect.

Have you ever decided you liked a certain kind of car, and though you haven’t noticed it very much before, the next time you’re out driving you look for it? And when you look for it, that same car seems to be everywhere. You see two in your neighborhood, another at the stoplight beside you, and then several more when you pull into a parking lot of where you’re going. How can it be that you never noticed it, and then suddenly this car seems to be everywhere? It’s not that those cars just appear on that day. Chances are they’ve been zipping around you for our while… but if you are looking for them, you probably aren’t noticing them.

That’s the multiplying effect of making the choice to look for some thing, you’ll start to see it more and more. In the case of hope, the more you see evidence of it, the more assured you’ll be that it’s there. When your sure it’s there, a new perspective forms. And even better, the new perspective becomes a new reality.

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You can substitute Hope with love or kindness, or any word. The more you look, the more you see, the more you emulate and do.

What we look forward is what we will see. What we see determines our perspective. And our perspective becomes our reality.

Grief to Joy - What If

Another reading I wanted to share with you from Lysa Terkeurst’s book Forgiving What You Can’t Forget. This if from her chapter “They thought God would save them”

“Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.  You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.  A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.  So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”  - John 16:20-22

He didn’t promise their grief would be taken away and replaced with joy.  He promised the grief would turn into joy.  The grief would produce the joy.  The grief was part of the journey, but it would not be the way it would all end.

What they had prayed for was someone to free them from the oppression of the Roman government. They got a servant who washed their feet.  They wanted a ruler; they got a teacher.  They wanted a justice-seeking king; they got a kindhearted healer.  Their answer never looked like they thought it would.  They thought they were on a journey to Jesus taking the throne, but instead He took up His cross. 

They thought God would save them.

And He did.

The disciples were absolutely grieved…until they were utterly amazed.

Just like Jesus said would happen, their sorrow turned to joy.

WHAT IF.

What if in the grief you are feeling now, what if our requests, though completely logical and reasonable, aren’t what we think they are?  Yes, from an earthly perspective, they are exactly what makes sense.  But what if God sees things we can’t possibly see?  What if, from His perspective, what we are asking for is not at all what we’d want if we could see everything from His complete, eternal, perfect vantage point?

What if we’ve been thinking of this all wrong?

What if…

Don't Complicate the Gospel

I’m reading a book right now from the Gospel Coalition, Christ Has Set Us Free.  It’s a study on Galatians.  It uses a lot of big words that I don’t necessarily understand and have to Google often but beyond that the message is simple: faith vs. works.

Too often as believers we tend to add to the Gospel message.  We don’t mean to but we do.  The Gospel message is simple.  Believe in Jesus Christ.  That’s it.  That’s all that is “needed’ for salvation.  Faith.  Faith alone.  Christ alone.  Scripture alone.

You don’t need to be in a Bible study to be saved.  You don’t need to serve to be saved.  You don’t need to go to church to be saved.  You don't need to do anything to be saved except to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Those other things help connect us to the Savior we love.

In Galatians, Paul is preaching against having to get circumcised to be saved.  Circumcision is a symbol of the law.  Jesus came to do away with the Law.  To fulfill the Law.  We no longer need to do all the “works” in the Old Testament.  We just look to the one who fulfilled it, Jesus.  The same is true today.

One of the best leaders I’ve had would always answer all of our tough questions about people who look like they live in sin but proclaim they believe.  He’d say, “saved by grace, err on the side of faith”.   We’d ask another question… He’d answer yet again “saved by grace”

The Gospel message is not complicated.  Humans throughout history have just complicated it.  Meddled in it, added to it. We need to get back to scripture alone, to serve Christ alone and realize it’s faith alone that saves.  

I leave you with this quote: “Without the Bible, the Christ you preach to others is the Christ of your own imagination as you attempt to make others in your own image, not into the image of Christ.”

Soul Detox - Capturing Our Thoughts

A while back I was reading Soul Detox by Craig Groeschel and I came across this analogy of his and wanted to share it with you.  It’s all about capturing our thoughts and shifting our mindset.

“Think about the difference between two birds: a vulture and a hummingbird.  Vultures soar high in the sky, looking and searching.  What does a vulture find? Dead things.  The ugly oversized bird doesn’t stop until he finds lifeless, rotting road kill.  Contrast the vulture to the tiny hummingbird. With wings flapping twenty beats a second, what does this small bird find? Not dead things and disgusting rancid meat, but instead, sweet, life-giving nectar.  Daily, each bird finds what he is looking for.

The same is true for you. You can be on a road-kill diet or you can find nectar in each day.  It’s up to you, because you will find what you search for.  If you want to find things to be negative about or to worry about, it is not hard to do.  If you plan to be critical, you don’t have to look far to find fault.  If you choose to be negative, you’ll easily accomplish your goal.  But if you want to see the good in life, you can find it everywhere.  If you choose to watch for places God is working, you’ll see his loving presence each place you look.  If you decide to look for hope, faith, and a better future, you will discover these positive things and more countless times a day.

Decide the destination of your mind.  Any time your mind drifts toward dangerous thoughts, stop.  Grab those runaway thoughts.  Do whatever it takes to get the trash out of your mind.  An Old Testament prophet said to God, “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!” (Jer. 12:3) Can you hear the passion for truth in Jeremiah’s words? He asked God to test his thoughts, identify any that were “black sheep,” drag them off, and butcher them. 

Are you willing to ask God to do the same with your thought life?”

I love this challenge.  What is the destination of my mind?  Will I let Christ take hold? Can I shift my mindset to a Godly focus? Can I find the nectar in each situation?

To an applicable point, my sister often references food that is trash out of the body is trash in the body… meaning, nourish your body with healthy foods.  Our thoughts are much the same.  What your ears hear whether in music, conversation, books, shows, etc affects our thoughts.  Feed your brain with healthy thoughts.

Find the nectar and taste it. 

“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

Matthew 6:19-21 Study - Treasures.

Our new wallets are coming out that we designed the wallet to remind us of Matthew 6:20-21.

“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

As with all our products we put a mini devotional together for you. Our products and our mission are to create reminders of God’s word throughout our day and draw us back to Him.

Mini Devotion:

In Matthew 6 Jesus is nearing the end of his famous Sermon on the Mount.  A message all about how it looks to follow him and how it looks to live in God’s Kingdom.  A new kind of kingdom.  An upside down kingdom where there are no privileged members .  Jesus’ mission is to transform the hearts of the people so they can truly love their King – God and his people.

In our passage 6:19-21 Jesus addresses the heart and our treasures.  We have a choice between two treasures.  Earthly and Heavenly, you can’t “serve” both.  Earthly treasures fade and are temporary, like money, success or material items.  But heavenly treasures last forever.  And what we treasure the most controls us.  Jesus urges us to keep our eyes fixed on those heavenly treasures.  Things eternal for it’s those heavenly treasures that last forever and bring enjoyment now.

Jesus gives us clues to those heavenly treasures as he continues on in the passage.  It’s giving, fellowship, serving, trust and seeking Him first among other heavenly treasures.  Our prayer as you use this wallet is to look beyond the earthly treasures and to focus your heart on the good that can be done for the Kingdom of God.  May our hearts rest there.