What’s Next God?

I mentioned in my last post that I got stuck on James 1:1.

Well if you don’t know what it says, here it is….

James 1 (New International Version)

 ¹James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
      To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
      Greetings.

Seems like a simple introduction to the book right? Wrong…

Here’s where I got stuck…“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”

Two things in this sentence caught my attention.

1: He differentiates himself as “a servant of God” as to say that those he’s writing to may not be a servant of God, or at least to clearly identify his Master.  At first I took offense to this, like who does he think he is? I’m a servant of God too!…right? I mean…aren’t I…wait a minute, am I??  You can see where my thought process got derailed. I had to stop and consider what/who exactly I am a servant of, and Sadly it’s not always God.

2: “of the Lord Jesus Christ”.   Let’s look at the word “Lord” for a minute. To Claim someone/something as “Lord” implies that it has Lordship over your life. One of Webster’s definitions of Lordship is,  “the territory under the jurisdiction of a lord”. CDB translation, God has say so over every area of our lives. EVERY part of our lives, not just the parts that people see on Sundays or at life group or any other time when we put on our God costumes and parade around like we’re “All That and a bag of God Chips”.

Let’s get real for once, we’re all big boys and girls. We ALL have those super secret areas of our lives that we REFUSE to allow God into so he can purge the gunk out and spray a little God Fabreeze. One of Gods best talents is playing cleanup man, if we just let him. No matter how small and insignificant of a piece you think it is that your holding back…if it’s sin, it’s creating separation between you and God.

I’ve underestimated this simple truth in the past. I’ve heard this truth a lot spoken into my life by two people. One is a friend on the journey and the other I’ll just refer as the brother.  You just can’t be whole…I mean really whole like the way God intended you to be until he has complete LORDSHIP over your life.

I am in no way there yet, but I’m starting to identify the areas where I’m holding back. If you’re ready to take that step, don’t do it alone. Engage someone you trust and I’m sure they would be honored to walk with you.

-c

No I’m not an advocate for Geico…but 15mins could save you a lot of headache and pain.

This past week our pastor issued a challenge to us to start spending at least 15mins a day reading the bible. Like he said, for some of us this may be in addition to what we’re already reading…or for some it may be the only time we spend in the text.

Well…I accept, and in turn I have challenged my life group to walk through this together.

I’ve chosen James as a starting point, Why? Because I heard wise man once say (from hence forth I’ll refer to him as “my friend on the journey”) that… “If you want to know how to be a Godly man…read James”.

I’ll be blogging about what I’m learning as we go.

And so…it begins, I started reading in James last night…didn’t get very far. James 1:1 to be exact, before I had to stop and rethink a few things that troubled me in that verse. I get this feeling that James and I are not going to get along very well.

More to come on James 1:1 a little later. For now, if you’re not engaging the text daily…just do it. If you take the smallest step toward God…you’ll find Him.

I’ll leave you with probably the most gut wrenching statement I’ve heard in a long time, made by my friend on the journey…I think he’s got a little bit of “James” in him.

“This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. If you are not spending any time in the word of God, it’s not because you don’t have time…it’s simply because you are being disobedient to God, and sin is keeping you from this book”.

Lets just digest that for a little while…

-c

If you missed this past Sunday’s message, you can listen to it online at http://media.miamivalley.org

I was listening to Chuck Swindoll today and he made reference to a story about two ways people deal with warning signs.

This is not verbatim but rather my interpretation of the story….

Your driving in your car and a flashing red light begins to flash on your dashboard indicating there’s a problem under the hood. There are two ways you can deal with this warning light.

A: You can pull over, get out of your car, look under the hood and identify the problem…and fix it before proceeding.

OR

B: You can carry a small hammer in your glove box and when those warning lights start flashing…smash them with a hammer.

Putting the light out with a hammer will obviously stop the warning sign, but left attended you end up with a blown engine.

Let’s be honest, we’ve all smashed our share of warning lights…ain’t it about time we take a look under the hood?

Currently pulled over on the side of the road…

-c

We all know pride comes before the fall, what most of us fail to realize is that pride hangs around after the fall to stomp your head into the mud and not let you up.

James 4:6

⁶But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
   “God opposes the proud
      but gives grace to the humble.”

Working on my pride…how ’bout you?

-c