Urgency

As i sit here in the lounge, i cant help but think about the urgency. The next breath you take may very well be your last breath on this earth. You may find yourself in the throne room of the Lord Most High.

I want to take a second and just take in that thought. The Lord of all creation. The one who created you. The one who created the stars, and all of the galaxies in the universe. The one who created the angels. The very one who hears all your thoughts and counts all your tears. The one to whom all glory belongs! The one who will receive every honor and praise! We will see him in all of His glory! And when we find ourselves there we will be on our knees with our faces to the ground! And those who did not worship him in this life will still find themselves on their knees and confessing the greatness and the glory of Christ! The one to whom nothing is hidden. The one who will reveal all that is hidden! The one to whom we all will answer to of what we have done in this life!

When you get there, on your knees in the throne room of the Lord Most High, what will you do? What will you think? What will you regret? What will you wish you had done? Will you be just so joyful because you completely died to yourself, seeking to show the Glory of Christ? Will you be like our brother Clayton, who's life was completely marked by Christ and stood against the troubles of the world resting in the Joy of Christ? Or will you be scared, thinking about how you got so caught up in this world seeking to get a good job, get a nice house, and just provide for your family? Are you going to be asking yourself how that 5 bedroom house and that new corvette really helps you now? Are you finally going to realize that just going to church on Sunday isn't what Christ called you to?

Do you not understand that this will happen any minute! I dont think we get that. I dont see that in the way we are living. I dont see it in the messages we are preaching. I see comfortable living. I dont really see people's lifes that different from the secular crowd. Yah, we love more, we even walk around the neighborhoods, knocking on doors trying to talk to them about Jesus. Now we are like mormans or Jehovas witness. Whats the difference between us and them besides our theology? Shouldnt our lives be completely and radically different than any other group?

When i read paul's writing i see this urgency about him. He is living, knowing that any second the Lord will return! I dont think he can keep from thinking about it. His actions show that his whole life is dependent on that idea. He isnt thinking about how hes going to pay rent next month. Hes not caught up in worries about what he will eat tomorrow. He isnt caught up in the new episode of Heroes. Hes not concerned about his status updates. His eyes are always focussed on Christ!

When did we stop focussing on the return of our Lord? I think that our lives are showing a lack of faith when we arent living in a way that's dependent on the idea that any second we will be caught up in heaven! Have we so easily lost sight of this? We are settling for life in the negev, rather than constantly waiting for our lives in the promise land!

We were never created for this! This life you are living now, is not what you were designed for! You were created for life in communion with God! Stop acting like this is your home! Why are you trying to create a home here? Why are you building up your possessions here? There is no place on this earth for us! Our home will come with the coming of the Lord when he will judge the nations!

When i think about this, i get so joyful. Why should the things of this life bother me? Why should I be worried? The Lord is sovereign! He is in control of all things! And soon i will be in heaven with my King! I will share in His glory! What on this earth can compare to that? What else is so amazing that it would detract my thinking from that?!

Oh how glorious is our King! How gracious is He! Oh such mercy that abounds in Him! Oh how i long to worship Him! May we always walk in His ways.

Stop. Take a deep breath and slow down. Think about the way you are living right now. The past week. The past year. The past twenty years. Choose a word to describe the way youve been living.


You hold the universe
You hold everyone on earth
You hold the universe
You hold
You hold

All I need is You
All I need is You Lord
Is You Lord


This is part of a song Im listening to right now. It just moves me to worship our Lord. And im thinking about the lyrics. Like what do we sing? Do we really believe them? And if we believe them then should we not be living them? Everyone reading this will have said quickly yes i believe them. But really stop and think about it. What are you living for? Is your life showing Christ?

Remember earlier when I had you choose a word? What word was that? Was it Christ? Was it holiness? Was it faith? Was it love? Why are our lives not representing Christ? Even in that question i see how I am not living for Christ! I constantly refer to it as my life, yet I know it is not. I have died and now I live for Christ! I think im still trying to grasp that idea. I know it with my mind, but do i know it with my soul?

Everyone asks eachother what they want to do with their lives. Even among beleivers i see this happening. And i always think that is a stupid question. We should be asking what Christ is guiding us to do with His life. Do we really beleive that we are servants, or slaves of Christ?!

Your life has been bought at a high price, and now you are a slave of Christ Jesus! We need to start acting like it! I hear so many people talking about their faith as if God was this far distant idea and how we are living for him by simply living morally. And I am completely apalled at this notion! When did he say follow me by livingmorally, but really you can go with whatever your heart says and then do whatever you want?! When did he say 'just follow your hearts desires'??

Christ called us to give up our lives, and follow him! As i think back to those lyrics I have to ask myself whether my life shows that Christ is the only thing i need? When it comes down to giving up everything what do i withhold? Do i still think that my possessions really belong to me? Or do i understand they are only in my care by the Grace of God?

What do you need apart from the Lord? If everything was taken away from you would you still seek to glorify God? What about with what you want to do in life? Is this what you wanted to do, or what God wants you to do? Sure you can glorify God in all things, but are you trying to serve God the way you want to or the way he wants you to?

Do you think that we will be saved? Christ says that if we hold onto our life then we will lose it! Have you given up your life for Christ?! Is your life so obviously proclaiming Christ!? Does your life look stupid to this world because you are giving up everything for him?

What are we living for?

What is the church? Is it a group of people that come together on sunday? Is it a group of people that hang out during the week? Whats the point of church? Why are we so ok just hanging out? Really is this what we are called to? I feel like something is so wrong about how we are doing church. Where is the urgency?? When i think about the Word of God, and I think about the second coming of our Lord and Savior I feel a sense of immediate urgency. I feel like i need to get up and go tell everyone about the gospel right now! Any second we could be called up into heaven! I might not even finish this sentence let alone this blog post before we are called up to answer for ourselves in the courts of the Lord Most High! Do we really beleive that?? And our jaded selves automatically say yes, but really do we? Do our lives show that? What are we doing with our lives? Are we using our time and resources to Glorify God or are we wasting our time with tv shows, video games, work, school, sleep, laziness, facebook, youtube, friends? What will i regret when I am called before the Lord to give an account of what I did here on earth? Am i living for this life or for eternity?! When I read paul's letters I get this picture of his life, and what the life of a follower of Christ should look like. Our lives should look completely rediculously foolish to the world! People should not come to the faith because our lives are easier and are better since we came to Christ. Not that they arent those things, but not in the way that this world will recognize. Yes! my life is easier knowing that Christ the king of kings, the lord of lords is with me and that the spirit of God is in me! And my life is better knowing that I will spend eternity in heaven with Christ! But do not misunderstand me, this life will be hard if I am to follow Christ! I am called to give up everything for the sake of Christ! It isnt a halfway thing here, it is all or nothing! You can not go half way with Christ! And anyone who tells you different is of the evil one and will perish! Christ calls you to give everything to him! Anyone who seeks to hold on to his life will lose it, but anyone who loses his life for the sake of Christ will gain it! May all Glory and praise be to the Lord!

Why do we think that we can just go to church on sunday and maybe say a prayer a week and thats what it means to follow Christ? I am sickened at the thought! What irreverence! Are we not sick of the idea of the hypocritical christian!! Are we not sick of the bullhorn christian? Then why do we not live out our faith?! I sit here, and am ashamed to say I have not read the Word in over 5 days!? What is it that makes me think that I am following Christ with all of my life? How can i follow Christ if i do not know him!? I am appalled at myself. Christ says that the way we love him is by following his commandments. How can i follow his commandments if I do not read them, constantly keeping his word on my heart? The only way we can know the Lord is through reading the Word of God! We have been given this amazing gift, I dont even understand how awesome it is! Here we have the Words of our Lord!

Just sit and think about that for a second.

Our God, the one who created the universe.

The one who created this earth as a gift to us.

The one who created you, and put you together in your mother's womb.

The one who named ever single star, and planet.

The one who spoke everything into existence.

The one whos very breath is the very thing that gave us life.

The one who hears every thought you have.

The one who knows every tear you shed.

The lord of lords, and king of kings.

Whos glory is declared in the sky.

Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess his glory.

And if we ceased to praise His name, the rocks would begin to cry out in praise of Him!

The one who gave His Son, to die on the cross, to take your place as the subject of God's wrath for your sin!




He gave us his very words. . .
The words of God himself!!! How mind blowing is that?? And yet we have to force ourselves to read it?!??! What is this?? Oh how sorrowful am I! Thinking at how Ive had to force myself to read such a thing! Oh, we should be dying to read the words of God! To learn of God, and to spend time with Him through his words! Oh what else could offer such joy on this Earth?

Escape

Lately I've been really just thinking about other places. Not anywhere in particular. Its just these thoughts that cloud my mind.
Walking down the path in my flip flops, its 85 degrees out with a nice level of humidity that reminds you that you are somewhere beautiful. I can see the ocean from where I am, its beautiful, and i know its warm, gotta be at least 77 degrees on the surface, perfect for diving. I'm relaxing today knowing that I need to be in the harbor early tomorrow morning to get on the boat. I want to be separated from it all, i want to disconnect with the world and just be amazed at God's beautiful creation.

Ive been thinking a lot today about how i just want to go visit my grandparents and just relax for a week. I don't know why, I know I should find rest here, God is good and he is the only thing I need. And I have brothers and sisters around me who are amazing. But lately I've just been feeling so apathetic. So gone. So dead.

Oh what is it that makes a man fall? What can take a mans will to fight away? Is it the battlefield? Is it the tragedies of this life? No, it is the waves of apathy that make a man fall. Nothing can cripple a man like that slow creeping apathy.