Going Through The Motions

  This past Sunday, in church, Pastor Heath Cole told us that he was going to start praying and fasting on Tuesday, May 1 for 40 days and asked us if we would join him in “Praying for Pentecost”. I began to think about what I could fast from. I am already on a diet, so I don’t want to kill myself. I can’t fast from work, because I need the income. What could I give up? I even thought about doing without social media for 40 days, which is not a bad idea, even though I keep in touch with my youth that way.

Then it hit me. It’s not just about giving something up. Its about replacing what I give up with something else. Its about making a change. Its about emptying myself of something that is getting in the way of my relationship with God and filling it with something that makes that relationship more powerful!

I not only need to remove some things in my life. I also need to replace them with things that will honor God. Why have I not thought of this before?

I’m tired of going through the motions of Christianity. I’m tired of playing church on Sundays and Wednesday and doing my own thing the other days of the week. I’m tired of hearing people tell me that I’m a good Christian when I actually give God less than 20% of my time or myself.

I’m tired of putting other things in front of my God…the same God who gave up everything to make sure that I had everything. The same God who said “Here, Mike. I know that you won’t be able to be with me in Heaven on your own. I know your weaknesses. I know your struggles with sin. I know that you were born this way. I know that I only have one Son, but I love you enough to watch him suffer and die, just so you can be with me forever. I love you that much. Is it OK if I watch my Son die a cruel death for you? Can I do that for you? Please? Did I mention that I love you?”

Mark 8:36 – What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

Contemporary Christian artist Matthew West wrote and sings a song called “Motions” which addresses this very subject. This is the chorus:

I don’t wanna go through the motions, I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
“What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?”

 

I’m not doing this anymore. I don’t want to just go through the motions. I want to be all in. I want my prayers to mean something when they reach Heaven’s ears. I want God to say “You sure have kept me busy up here, my son.”

What are you fasting?

Focus, Focus, Focus

When my daughter was very young, she was like most children. She had trouble paying attention to what she was being told or what she was reading. Her brain was all over the place as everything caught her attention. There were times that I stepped in and helped her see or hear what I thought she needed to see or hear.

“Focus, focus”, I would tell her. I’m not sure where I got that from, because I don’t really remember my parents saying that to me. But, I can promise you that my daughter remembers it.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Proverbs 3:5.  Lots of people love this verse…the whole verse…..as long as verse 6 is there as well. Don’t get me wrong. Verse 6 is important too. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”

When we get lost in life, we want God to show us which way to go. I have been there many times. I have been there recently. But, I realized yesterday that my focus was on MY PATH. I have allowed my field of vision to become what is in front of and ahead of me. And then, this morning, I saw this.

It’s not even all of verse 5. The rest of it says “and lean not on your own understanding”. Near impossible for me to be honest. But the focus of this verse is on the first part. That is when I realized it. BAM. Right between the eyes.

TRUST IN THE LORD. Let me repeat that. TRUST IN THE LORD. Again. TRUST IN THE LORD. Nothing else. See, my focus has been partially trusting God and partially trying to keep a hand on things. Huh-uh. That’s not what He wants. TRUST IN THE LORD. Nothing else because He wants it all. Just close my eyes, focus on Him, and walk. That’s it. You can do it too.

Push aside the distractions and FOCUS on Him. You’re welcome.

Grandmommy and Jesus

When my Grandmother passed away in 2005, it was a hard day for my family and I. You see, to us, she was more than just a Grandmother, a Mother or a Patriarch of the family. She was the person that we all revolved around. Pauline Miriam Hinds Higley was our source of guidance and stability. When we were down, she lifted us up with comfort and wisdom.

She would not have claimed any of that because she was a humble woman of God. She loved Jesus and it was obvious to everyone around her. Jesus knows it too.

But anyone who knew her would tell you the same things that I am telling you. Even her high school yearbook picture was captioned “Never too busy to smile”.

And to me, Grandmommy was the person who I went to when I felt like I was losing my way. There was nobody as dependable as she was when it came to giving me sound advice. She was larger than life to me. She seemed invincible.

Most of all, she taught me how to love other people in a way that seems to be a lost art in the world. I have encountered very few people who were as loving and giving of themselves as she was. The love that she instilled in me and the example that both her and my Grandfather showed me as a couple will never be forgotten. They were husband and wife for over 60 years. I hope to have that same kind of love and dedication in a marriage relationship one day.

I said all of this to tell you about how lost I felt the day of her funeral. The person whom I relied on and looked up to the most in my life was gone from sight. I can never hear her voice or see her smile on this earth again. I miss her terribly every single day. I am holding back tears as I am writing this now.

And because of that, I can relate to how the disciples, relatives and followers of Jesus must have felt after He died on the cross and his body was placed in the tomb.

Everything they had begun to build their life upon at that point was gone in an instant.

Some of them had quit their jobs to follow Him. Some had left their Mother and Father because they believed in Him. They sacrificed their own dreams and hopes to follow a man who they believed to be The Messiah as promised in God’s Word. They were just beginning to understand why this man named Jesus came into their lives.

And then He was gone that Friday.

I can imagine how lost they felt. How scared they were that they might not be able to go on. I had those same feelings when Grandmommy passed away. Now what? They had followed Jesus for two or three years and dedicated their whole lives to his ideas and teachings. They were still hungry for more and never imagined that it would end so abruptly. Jesus was larger than life to them. He seemed invincible…until that Friday.

All hope seemed lost for those first two days. And to make matters worse, they were afraid that they might meet the same fate as Jesus did. Afraid and alone for those two days.

And then something changed. Something that nobody expected to happen….but God. On the third day, Jesus walked out of that tomb and changed history forever. Those people who had depended on and followed Him for the few years suddenly had new hope and excitement. In the coming days, they would realize that they were not lost, but found.

And because of the resurrection of Jesus, so am I. And so is Grandmommy, who I know that I will get to see again. I can hardly wait.

Happy Easter from my heart to yours.

“He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
 from all faces;
He will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.” – Isaiah 25:8