Automatically React - Correctly of Course

The college football world is full of discussion about LSU's last minute failure to even know what to do. With one second left, no time outs, trailing by two points and within a chip shot of the Ole Miss goal line, the LSU coaching staff knows not what to do. The quarterback spikes the ball - the last thing that should have been done - game over. Not knowing automatically what to do in each circumstance is unacceptable for any coaching staff in big time college football.
But this scenario caused me to think - do I know what to do in each circumstance where life is pressure packed? And even if I do know what to do, will I do it?
Spiritual training is necessary to be able to handle life, particularly the pressure packed decisions that life brings. Usually we have more than one second to make up our mind - but that is not the point. The point is that with proper training, even the most pressured decision can be made within the will of the Father.
The word of God, the privilege of prayer, the fellowship and counsel of the other believers - all of this is training for life - day in and day out - but also for those pressured times in life. "Back date that report Jerry". "This is just a gift - but I expect your support in return." "Let's go - she'll never know."
With proper training - proper preparation using God's tools and methods - even the most pressured situation is easy - "No". "I cannot do that".
John 5 says, "The Son can do nothing by himself." Why was that? He COULD do what he wanted. But he chose to not do anything contrary to his Father's will. How about you? Are you so cued into the Father that you CAN DO NOTHING BY YOURSELF? If so, you are well prepared for the one second decisions - the pressured decisons - that life will bring. Know what to do in those last seconds because you have prepared for just those moments.

"I've Just Got a Peace about It."

Does having peace about a certain situation mean you're making the right decision? It's one of the most oft-cited reasons that people use for doing something. On the flip side, many times people elect not to do something because they just don't have peace about it. But could a feeling of peace actually lead you astray?

In his superb book, Decision Making God's Way, Gary Meadors explains that the word 'peace' occurs over ninety times in the Bible, yet is never used scripturally as "an internal barometer for gauging God's will." In other words, a feeling of peace is never presented as the reason to do something. Instead, "peace is a product of doing right, not a reason for action."

Sometimes we have to make hard decisions that are morally correct, but leave us torn up inside, lacking peace. At other times, we may have a peace about something that is unbiblical; during those times we always submit to what the Bible says, and put our feelings behind us.

A Different Look at the Other Side

“A Different Look at the Other Side”

So many times I find myself frustrated by the way “the world” looks at life. I see so many people searching for truth and I see various “worldviews” putting their best sales pitch forward to try to win their allegiance. So, not having anything else to chose, people buy what the world is selling. The idea that you can determine for yourself what truth is, the idea that there really aren’t consequences for sinful or foolish decisions, the notion that we don’t really need God to make the world work.

I meet people who have bought into these world views and my first reaction (if I’m honest) is, “I’m right and you’re wrong… Now I don’t want to hear what you have to say, but listen to me, because I’m going to tell you the truth…” My second reaction isn’t that much better, “ Who is the person responsible for teaching them this nonsense…” and my anger and contempt grow. At this point I need to pause. My anger and contempt aren’t going to do very many people much good, and it’s exactly the way the world expects “Christians” to react.

Over the last several weeks I have been going through a class with some of our members here at Cornerstone. We have explored some of the “Great Thinkers” that have shaped many of these different worldviews, and as I looked at their lives and the influences that shaped them, my anger turned to sorrow; sorrow not only for the millions, if not billions, of people who have followed in their footsteps, but sorrow for those individuals themselves. I am struck by how many of them started their lives pointed toward God and Christ, people like Charles Darwin and Friedrich Nietzche. I look at their lives and feel a sort of pity.

My prayer is that I can engage with people in such a way that they may see a changed life and therefore see a more accurate picture of who God is. I think the way we do that is to recognize that humankind has been created in God’s image, every one of us. Instead of getting angry and feeling contempt for a fallen world, I feel more and more as if I should lament over it… much in the same way Jesus lamented over Jerusalem in Matthew 23. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent it! How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”

I am convicted to have the eyes of God and look for ways to “be” Christ to any and all who are looking for Him!