Back to Basic

James 4:13-14 says, "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

It is a lovely command, but how many of us live this way?

At one point, we didn't. We played because that was our only task for the day. We would wake up, locate our mental goal-setting list, and on it would be one goal: play.

No strings attached, no extra form to sign. In fact, you don't even need to know your past play periods to achieve the only goal on the mental card. The one issue: you would have to play all day. In your pea-sized mind, summer days did not allow any other activities to intrude your eternal time to play. Your time to shine was the summers of elementary school and even some of secondary school as well. Constructing family room fortresses out of furniture, eating grilled cheese while watching cartoons, Capture the Flag on the outskirts of the house, and rolling Hot Wheels cars down the driveway to see which car "out-drove" the other ones.

Life as a kid was fun and literally full of two responsibilities: to play and be happy.

Now, life is a tangled web of strings, never to be fully untwisted and perfectly positioned until the seconds before you whisper your last breaths. Sometimes, the metaphors of life ("you are a warrior fighting in the battlefield of life," etc.) don't do much of anything in comparison to the truth of reality. As you start making your job your life, along with a million other responsibilities, being "the warrior" does not seem as pleasant as it used to be.

Soon, the idea of a heavenly ham dinner sounds tremendously delicious...almost eternally delicious if I dare cross the line and say so.

Then, it occurs to you. The smallest detail motivates you. Whether it is the struggling student suddenly bursts with joy, "I get it," or solving the puzzle of how to become positive in a negative world. Suddenly, the most minuscule crumb becomes a harvest. You look at the crumb and are so hungry for change, for motivation, that you are more content than ever just to taste 1/3 of the crumb.

Yet, the quantity is not what matters, but how much farther you can go with the piece.

Ever hear of the phrase, "you have to take a step backward in order to take two forward"?
Well, this is the perfect analogy. Life sometimes gets too complicated to fit any passion in. Sometimes, we have to take some time to go back to the start and re-run the race. As the gun goes off prematurely, the blast telling us to go even when we are not ready, we need to turn around and regroup so we can restart the race properly. We need to focus on the simple things in order to accomplish the tough things.

Sometimes, to finish the race strong, we need to start over and over until we know full well how to finish. It is through our weakness we are made strong, and our mistakes when we learn along. But sometimes, it is our weakness and our mistakes that take us all the way back to the start so we can realize what is truly important.

"It's not where you start," said Zig Ziglar, "it's where you finish that counts." Ah, thank you for the wonderful clairification Z. It helps to know someone has an idea.

So, if you have no place to run and the fear of growing out of the family room fortresses and homemade lemonade from mom, just smile and think, "it's where you finish that counts."

Or as Paul says, "I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. (Acts 20:24)." Sure, this guy is thinking ahead, but he is going back to the simplicity of living: the fact that it means nothing. Just finishing the race. Sounds a lot less stressful and painful as life really is. But, how much motivation are we going to have if we always look at life the complicated way - the way where we think about what we have to do rather than what we've already done?

Yes, don't give up and keeping working toward the future. Still, we need to stop and reflect every so often and go back to why we are doing what we do - and what makes us do what we do.

As complicated as life is, we have the gift of choosing to simplify by going back and continually learning the simple lessons to help us through the toughest.

Don't ever think going back to the basics is ever not worth it.
It is.
Trust me.
It keeps things basic.

I Wanna Live Again!

John Piper, preacher at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, says that prayer is "the intentional conveying of a message to God." He went on, in his sermon about prayer, to say that messages are always going up to heaven from us. When we talk to friends, go to class, joke with peers; these messages are all heard by God. It is the intentional messages; the ones that start with 'hello God' and 'dear God' that are the prayers.
Recently, I have become dependent on these prayers. As life has become more demanding, my heart has become more humble. Even more so, I have often relied on God hearing my prayers and providing a boost of confidence in my life through these prayers. However, before I relay the wrong message to my readers, I want to clarify that my position regarding prayer is not one that is narcissistic by any means. I do not intend to make God out to be a puppet that pleases me and, with the pull of a few strings, gives me what I need.
What I do see prayer doing is guiding my mind and my heart to be in synch with a God who constantly transforms and molds us into the Christian example we are called to be. It does not only help us to think and act as sons and daughters of Christ, but it helps us never give up.
Prayer happens all throughout the Bible. Everyone prays, even Jesus! Jesus prayed, and taught parables about prayer (Luke 18:1). James 5:13 encourages us to pray through our hardships. Ephesians 6:18 tells us to pray all the time! Colossians 4:2-6 advises us to prayer for others when they put themselves at risk for God's glory.
If any of you can't imagine a Bible scene, regarding prayer taking place, consider the inspirational scene when George Bailey is crying out, "I wanna live again, I wanna live again. Please God, let me live again," at the end of the 'It's a Wonderful Life.' He is at the end of his rope, crying out to God. He has given up on life, yet discovers he can pray to an omniscient God who cares about his needs.
Whether you want to live again or you just want someone to talk to, there is nothing more powerful than talking to someone who "knows when you sit and when you rise," who "perceives your thoughts from afar," who "discerns your going out and your lying down," and who is "familiar with all your ways" (Psalm 139:2-3). He even knows the words that are about to come out of your mouth (Psalm 139:4)!
If you start the habit of praying to him always, you'll certainly live again as George did at the end of the movie.

Warm Coffee, the Desert, and Colored Pencils

God is a mysterious God. So mysterious that it occasionally will leave us wondering what he expects out of us. Yes, many disciples of our Lord even have a hard time grasping how unpredictable and unnatural our Sovereignty can be. The issue this creates is rather colossal at times, especially since our humanistic society tells us we need to justify every bit of what we do. It has come to a point where we need to justify why we are allowed to drink an occasional Shamrock Shake. Sure, to some (or many), they have every right to gulp a shake, especially one as rare as the Shamrock Shake.

What is most horrifying is when it starts limiting our spiritual possibilities.

The best way to put this is through three metaphors: 1) warm coffee. 2) the desert. 3) colored pencils.

Revelation 3:16. The churches are becoming fake and need to be given a pep talk. Who better than John? So John writes a powerful message regarding the balance beam the people of the church should not be walking.

"So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

He is referring to God. In other words, God does not tolerate mediocrity, especially from fellow "believers." The issue is that our world has become so messy that even Christians are getting sucked into the wretchedness. Yes, there are "good" reasons to sin. Yes, it is not really hurting anyone. Yes, as long as you are in control, its ok.

I never liked coffee. But if I had to drink coffee, I would at least like it hot or full of ice cubes. However, I would never want to drink warm coffee. I would "spit it out" just as Christ would spit out lukewarm Christians. Its the perfect analogy.

"But you are a sinner too! You are lukewarm too!" Yes. chain me up. But, the point I am making has as much to do with me as it does anyone else. I am a nasty, filthy person as well. I am warm coffee as well.

Lets move on to the next analogy; hopefully this will clear things up. When one walks through a desert, there is not much water nearby. In fact, water might as well be a figment of your imagination in a desert because you most likely will not find a drop.

Now think about Christians. Aren't they much like the lack of water you will find in a desert?

You see, a desert is not only independent of water, but it also creates illusions of water. Much like a moisty asphalt road in the summer, there is the illusion a puddle of water is a mile away. As you inch closer, you realize the "puddle" is only an optical illusion.

Many non-Christians are wonderful on the outside, being servants and loving others unconditionally. However, as you inch closer, you come to realize they are just like the rest of the dunes. There is no difference. The Christians don't "stand out" like they are capable of doing so. Most Christians are completely swallowed by the world much like a desert swallows up the water.

Now lets consider the colored pencils. What happens when they do not have a sufficient amount of lead? They are dull. They are incapable of creating a sharp image. As fruitless Christians do not proclaim the Gospel well with their actions and words, neither can a dull pencil create a vivid picture. We are dull and useless. The Holy Spirit is not being properly used.

Yes, you can go down the infinite list of justifications to prove that you are not being "lukewarm." You can cruise down the street reminding yourself that "God will forever love us and catch us whenever we fall (the idea of mercy and grace)." And, as a believer in relationships and God, I agree with this statement. Where I find it wrong to say is when we use it as a rationalization for what we can or cannot do. When we start taking God's mercy and love for granted and use it to defend our wrongdoings is when it becomes devastatingly dangerous.

It is heartbreaking, to say the least.

So what can we do to prevent further justification of our sins and bad habits? We can start learning to accept our responsibility as Christians. We can adjust our mindset to think as a truly surrendered Christian should. In fact, we should go beyond that and remind ourselves daily that we are responsible for starting a revolution with the knowledge that God is our shepherd and has provided us the opportunity and protection to lead an army of staunch, sturdy, copious young men and women who spiritually "stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around [their] waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with [their] feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace." (Ephesians 6:14-15) Not many people do that, which is why it is so crucial to start doing in everywhere; no matter who you are with, you should be a revolution-starter.

Lets get ready for war and be the hot coffee that refreshes an evil world, that provides water for a quenching desert, and is the sharp pencil that creates a canvas of heavenly possibilities among stale hearts that add to the depression we live in.

Rise up! Turn from sin and start a revolution wherever you go!