R3 has moved

Doesn’t it seem like internet pages are always announcing they are moving?  Well I decided a while back to join the club.  I wanted a little more control over what I could, and could not do with R3. 

Erwin McManus talks about “seizing your divine moments.”  This is something I’ve really tried to act on.  And because of that I want to give everything I have to R3.  And for right now that means creating a unique website that has some flexibility to grow and change as God prompts me. 

Thus R3blog.net was born. 

So update your bookmarks, or if you’re lazy like me, just follow this url: www.r3blog.net

training for God

There’s a line in 1 Timothy that really caught my attention: “Train yourself to be godly” (1 Timothy 4:7).  Why is this so great?  Because of the word “train”.  Paul doesn’t say, “suddenly know”, or “don’t work too hard at it”, or “it will come naturally”.  No!  He says “Train yourself”.

If you’ve ever trained in anything you know it’s hard work.  It takes time, dedication, commitment, and a plan.
You have to do it even when you don’t want to.  It’s not always a picnic, but if you stick with it, it always pays off.

So how are you training?

when we screw up

I had lunch with a friend the other day, and as we often do our conversation shifted towards God.  As we talked, I began to describe some of the things happening with R3 and what personal challenges I needed to be working on next.  That’s when she said something to me that didn’t fully register until a few days later.  (Hey, no one ever said I was quick!)  She told me I was “patient.”  Now let me put this in perspective; patience is not a trait I view myself as having.  Put me behind a slow moving car, shopping cart, pedestrian and I start to twitch with irritation.  But more than that, I’ve always viewed patience as a weak area, because I can see all the times I’ve failed.

However her comment got me thinking.  Over the next few days I began to ask myself, what if I am more patient than I think?  What if an area I think I struggle in, is an area she views as my strength?  What if she wished she had my level of “weakness”?

It’s surprisingly easy to assume someone else has it all together, while we are complete failures.

I suspect we all have the tendency to look around and say, “if only I could be more like them, then I’d be set.”  But in reality “they” struggle just as much as we do – just with different things. The truth is we all have areas of weakness.  And if you’re like me, sometimes it feels like you collect them!

So what do we do then?  One option is to say we’re so messed up that we’ll never be able to fix our lives.  But that doesn’t seem like a very Biblical approach to me.  I think a better solution is this: we keep working at it.  In fact, a “righteous man falls seven times, and rises again.”  (Proverbs 24:16). 

Part of being “righteous” is simply the act of getting up again.   And again.  And again.

If we look at people who have done amazing things for God, they aren’t characterized by perfection, but by the fact that they keep getting up.  David committed adultery.  Moses killed someone.  Jeremiah questioned whether God had the right person.  But they all did amazing things simply because they got back up when they fell down.

And so can you.

working at faith

I am beginning to realize that faith involves a lot of work.  I used to think that becoming a Christian was the hard part, that once I worked through my doubts it would be smooth sailing.  But it’s not.  And in some ways it’s harder.

When I first became a Christian there was the excitement of understanding.  The excitement of it all being new.  Every day brought some astonishing realization.  But eventually the newness wears off.

This, I think, is a dangerous time for Christians.  We can so easily lapse into bad habits.  Excitement can be replaced by staleness.  Joy replaced by repetition and habits.  We can fall away from God, just because it’s easier than staying close.

Maintaining your faith takes a lot of work, and unfortunately a fair amount of the D-word, “discipline.”  We need to craft new habits of reading our Bibles, praying, going to church, and whatever else you may need to stay focused on God.

It’s hard to do this on days we’re busy or tired.  Trust me, I know.  There are many days (like today) I don’t feel like studying or praying.  Sometimes I even want God to leave me alone.  But I fight against those urges.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last few years it is this: God is the only place we can really find meaning and worth.  

Maintaining any relationship, even one with God, is hard work. But it is always worth it.

the dangers of following God

I often wonder if I would be willing to drop everything and follow God.  As I sit in the comfort of my home, surrounded by my things, I think, “of course I would!”  But would I?  Would I have the guts to follow God?

To be honest I’m afraid of what true surrender looks like.  I enjoy my stuff, and there are certainly days I can’t imagine giving them up.  It’s one thing to be a leader like Moses.  Someone who, in a sense, got fame and glory.  He was The Man.  But what if that wasn’t the mission God wanted to give you?  What would you do then?  Would you volunteer?

Because that’s what Isaiah did.

Isaiah was eager to obey God.  He didn’t even stop to ask who, what, when, where, or why.  He just said, “send me.”  It makes me wonder if Isaiah knew what he was getting in to.  Did he even care?

In some ways Isaiah ended up with the short end of the mission stick.  His job was to tell Israel they were going to be judged and punished.  Talk about a job description!  In fact, in my NIV Bible there are dozens of pages devoted Isaiah’s speeches dealing with Israel’s punishment. 

That’s my dilemma though.  I want to be obedient, but I also want an easy assignment.  I think that’s something most of us share in common.  We all want to do something noble and exciting with our lives.  We just don’t want it to cost too much.  We all want to be the leader, and none of us want to give up our lives to do the grunt work. 

No matter who we are, or what we believe, God will eventually ask us to do something radical and crazy.  He will ask us to be different, to stand out, to make a choice.  When God says, “whom shall I send?” I want to be like Isaiah and shout, “send me!”