Tag Archives: spiritual discipline

Sizzle, Pop and Swagger

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Sometimes I fear that Jesus would have been voted off his own reality television show.

Jesus was never really concerned with popularity. Am I?

Jesus did not call his disciples to popularity he called them to die. This is the heart of discipleship. To be a disciple is to be a follower. To follow Jesus means to take the path of suffering and death. “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

How do you make the concept of death and suffering pop? How do we make these ideas sizzle? Do inmates on death row have swagger?

We live in a culture that worships success. It is said that if something is to be “successful” it must “sell itself. But death does not sell itself. It cannot. We cannot make the life of Christ into something sexy. Something attractive for attractions sake. No. The first thing the would be follower of Jesus Christ is confronted with is the absolute and total command of Jesus Christ to die to everything but Jesus Himself.

The call to discipleship is a lonely call. Is a hard call. Is an absurd call. It’s the call to die. So will you follow Jesus when it’s not that popular? Will you follow him to the cross? Will you continue to live out, in the mundane and difficult moments of life, the calling of Jesus. Will you follow him even without the accolades?

Jesus is not looking for a marketing team, for men and women who can make Christianity sizzle. He is looking for followers who are willing to die in order to experience life to the fullest.

Community Questions:

Why is it hard to follow Jesus in walking away from the crowds rather than embracing them?

What does it mean to bear our cross (death) daily in the context and comfort of America?

Hearing from Heaven

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If God is so powerful why does He often whisper to us? Why not shout, or do something miraculous like relocate a mountain to get my attention?

I think it’s because a whisper is one of the most poignant things God can do.

It not an oxymoron, God whispers are potent.

If God just shouted or moved heaven and earth to get my attention it would not take much for me to turn and see what God was doing, but because He whispers, I have to concentrate on every word He says. I have to focus. I have to stop doing everything else and give Him all my attention or I will miss what He has to say. This is why His whispers are effective and why so many times when God speaks to us He does so with a whisper.

The challenge for us who want to hear from God is to first recognize that God does indeed whisper and second to figure out a way to reduce the noise in our lives. So many times I can be sitting quitely in a room all alone and be in a room that is full of noise. We can’t always hear noise but noise does drown out God’s voice. So what am I talking about? Well, there is just plain talking of course, filling our prayers and our lives with ceaseless babbling but noise comes in many other forms as well. Fear is noise. Doubt is noise too. Anxiousness is certainly noise, and a loud one at that. Things that distract us form God are noise, because they drown Him out. Don’t get me wrong, they down overpower God they simply are louder than God….and they’re louder because we let them be.

If you want to hear God’s whisper may I suggest one thing…..LISTEN! It’s not oversimplistic. God wants to speak to you, but rare are the moments He shouts. Instead of trying to tune God into the rest of your life, how about tuning out life for a little while and giving God your ear. Here are two suggestions that can help get you on track to listening to God.

1. Take it literally for a change.

     Read Matthew 6:6 and put it into practice. Find a room or closet that is completely isolated and go pray there.

2. Try the Samuel Prayer

     Read 1 Samuel 3. The next time you pray use Samuel’s prayer and then set a timer for 5 minutes. See what happens.