Spiritual Sunburn

I’ve never been good at remembering to put on sunscreen at the beach. By the time we park and I’m trying to contain all the kids and haul the chairs and towels, it’s just so easy to overlook this simple (but very important) part of the process.

After several hours of splashing in the water and building lopsided sandcastles, I notice that my pasty white torso has turned to a shade of lobster red. By then, it’s too late. The damage has been done. I put on my tee shirt to conceal the burn, but for the rest of the day, anytime someone touches my shoulder or hugs me or pats me on the back, I wince in pain.

In my experiences dealing with a lot of emotionally wounded people, I believe that there is an epidemic of “Spiritual Sunburn.” It happens when we go out in the world unprotected and get overexposure to failure, negativity and betrayal. These emotional wounds create invisible “burns” on our mind and heart and cause us to wince in pain when people get too close to us.

Just like I have to rub aloe on my sunburns, we need to spread encouragement and hope to each other’s emotional wounds. We need to pray for each other and to build each other up with our words. We need to be the Hands of Jesus spreading healing to a hurting world.

Through our words, our actions and our love, let’s be part of the healing process.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up” Ephesians 4:29

What matters most to Jesus?

What we pray about reveals what is most important to us.

It was the same for Jesus in His tie on Earth. His prayers revealed His heart and through those prayers we can see what matters most to our Savior.

Let’s take a look at this passage of Scripture from John chapter 17. In this prayer, Jesus is pouring out His heart before the Father the night before he was going to be die on the cross to pay for the sins of the world. His words in this defining moment reveals so much about what matters most…

““My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,  that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one —  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-23

In one Word, Jesus was praying for UNITY. He wants His Followers to be One Body, One Family and One Church. His Grace and our Faith makes this possible.

Unity does not mean uniformity. It doesn’t mean that we all need to look, talk and dress the same, because God made each of us in a masterfully unique way, but in our uniqueness we still must strive for oneness. We are united by our love for God, our love for people and our desire to reach this world for Jesus.

The petty things that separate us as Christians are not nearly as important as what unifies us. Let’s not get caught up in denominational competitions or in focusing on our differences. Let’s focus instead on our Savior and the Great Commission He gave us.

When the world sees us loving each other, they will more clearly see Him.

The Patch Principle

When I was a young kid, I had a lazy eye. That basically means that one eye was much stronger than the other so while my my right eye could focus in with perfect vision, my left eye would be rolling around trying to see clearly. Because my eyes couldn’t work together, I had no depth perception, so simple tasks like learning to catch a baseball become nearly impossible.

The doctor prescribed a remedy that sounded crazy to me. He wanted to me wear a patch covering up my good eye. I was thinking, “That’s Crazy! Why not cover up my bad eye? Now everything is going to look blurry!”

It turns out the doctor knew what he was doing. With my strong eye temporarily out of the picture, the weaker eye had to carry the weight and slowly but surely it become stronger and more focused. By the time I permanently took off the patch, my eyes were able to work together beautifully.

I’ve been thinking recently about how “The Patch Principle” could apply to other areas of life and I believe there are many applications…

In Leadership there are occasions where you can help members of your team overcome their weaknesses by temporarily putting them in tasks or situations where they can’t play to their strengths. Their weak spots will become stronger.

In Sports (and in Management) sometimes the strongest players need to be benched long enough to allow the weaker ones to rise the occasion and grow stronger under the weight of new responsibility. When the strongest players come back into the lineup, their teammates will have developed new strength and confidence making the team stronger.

In Life don’t let your weaknesses hold you back. Instead of covering them over, temporarily cover your strengths and force yourself to grow in the areas of your weakness.

As your weaknesses become stronger, your actual strengths will shine even brighter!

The Truth about Abortion

This morning, President Barack Obama delivered a poignant speech at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. He spoke about the 6 million people who were killed simply because they were “different.” He said that we must never forget the genocide and make sure it is never repeated. He rightly stated that ,“The World has too often failed to protect the innocents.”

I agreed with what he said, but there is a heartbreaking irony in those words. There is a modern-day Holocaust that has taken more innocent lives than the combined total of every World War. More than 40 Million and another victim added every twenty seconds.

These innocent lives were not ended because they were “different” but rather simply because they were “inconvenient.” Our modern day genocide is a legalized infanticide that we call…Abortion.

As a Christian, I don’t see abortion as an issue of political preference any more than I see the atrocities of the Nazis as simple politics. The Bible clearly teaches that an unborn child is a person, created by God in His own image with infinite dignity and purpose.

To redefine life and give our tacit approval to the mass killing of the unborn in the name of forward-thinking political correctness, I believe we have given away part of our own humanity and broken the heart of our Creator.

Here are a few important principles for several key groups of people:

To the Women who have had an abortion God wants you to know that you are loved. Because of His Grace we are never defined by our sins or mistakes. You can be made whole and find physical, emotional and spiritual healing in the arms of the one who created you.

To the Women who are considering an abortion please choose life. Regardless of the circumstances that led to your pregnancy, life is always precious and life is never a mistake. Whether you give your child life through adoption into a loving family or your raise your child yourself, you will never regret your decision to bring your child into the world.

To all of us let’s unite in prayer. Let’s ask God to have mercy on our nation and world for allowing this travesty to continue for so long. Let’s work together to reverse the unjust law that makes this practice legal. Let’s do more to protect the “innocents.”

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13…Thank you, God, for the Gift of Life.

6 Questions to Ask Before Accepting a New Job

The decision to accept a new job is huge. Jumping into the wrong opportunity (or  the right opportunity for the wrong reasons) could prove to be devastating to your mental health. After you’ve asked your potential employer all the questions about 401k’s, time off, and expectations, I think there should be an additional list of questions that you should ask yourself before accepting any new position:

1. Would I be glad to see my co-workers outside of work? (“The Walmart Test) If you ran into these people at Walmart would you be excited or would you run down another aisle and hide? Seriously, you’ll be spending more waking hours with these people that with your closest friends, so you’d better make sure you enjoy being around them. If you don’t have anything in common with your potential co-workers, you’re probably going to be walking into a miserable office environment. If you can picture yourself hanging out, then you’ll probably enjoy working alongside them.

2. Am I taking this job to impress people or to bless people? If your primary motivation for accepting a position is that it will make you look good at your high school reunion, then don’t take it! Look for a job where you can make a living while also making a difference in the world. Don’t just chase the money or the titles…chase opportunities to make a positive change in the world.

3. Will I look forward to sick days? If you think you’d prefer being home throwing up just so that you could get a doctor’s note and have a day off from your job, then you don’t need that job!

4. Will this job allow me to continue improving myself? You should strive to be a lifelong learner and continue to invest in yourself to maximize your potential. If your potential employers share in that vision and want you to become all that you can become, then you’re probably looking at a very promising job opportunity.

5. Will my family be better off because if this job? Your job should financially provide for your family, but it should also give you the freedom to be there with them as much as possible. Your loved ones can do with less of pretty much anything if it means that they’ll get more of YOU!

6. Do I have Peace about it? The Bible says in Colossians that we should let the Peace of Christ rule in our hearts. That basically basically means that we should allow God’s peace to “call the shots” in our life. When you come to a big decision like this, commit it to prayer and ask God to give you peace about which choice you should make. If you’re commit the decision to Him, you can’t go wrong. His plans for your life are perfect and He wants you to have Peace and Joy in your work and in all aspects of your life.

Why are we so obsessed about age?

When you’re watching the news or reading a magazine story, it seems like one of the very first identifying marks we’re told about a person is their age. Our culture seems to do a pretty good job of conditioning us from very early on to obsess about age. Cosmetic surgery is a multi-billion dollar industry, because we’re all trying to rub on that “Oil of Delay” and hold onto youth.

We also seem to fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to what others have accomplished by our age to see if we’re measuring up and the deck always seems pretty stacked against us. As I write this, I am thirty-three years old. By age 33, Thomas Jefferson had written the Declaration of Independence, Alexander the Great had conquered the known world and my Savior, Jesus Christ, had saved the planet from their sins.

If I compared my meager accomplishments to those guys, I’d pretty much feel like a bum!

Here’s the good news…God’s not nearly as interested in our age as we seem to be.

When you read the Bible, you’ll see that He’s in the habit of using people the world calls “too young” or “too old” to change the planet. He used a 100-year-old nomad named Abraham to start the nation of Israel, he chose an 80-year-old murderer named Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, He chose an adolescent shepherd boy named David to take on a Giant named Goliath, and He chose an unwed teenage girl to be the mother of the Messiah.

If you feel “too young” or “too old” to change the world, remember that God doesn’t use people with the “right” age or the “right” resume…He uses people with the right heart.

Don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t where you’d hoped to be by this point in your life. God is just getting started with you! His plan for you is an eternal one (and Eternity is a really long time)! Keep trusting Him, seeking Him and being faithful to make the most of your current situation, and one day you’ll see that you’ve accomplished far more for His Glory an the World’s Good than you could have ever realized!

 

Nuggets of inspiration

This blog started out of a twitter feed (@Soul_Caffeine) that exists simply to bring Christian encouragement and inspiration. Below is a collection of some of the most popular and most retweeted tweets that have brought encouragement to thousands of people. I pray these words bring encouragement to you as well! God bless…

Never let Fear cheat you out of your dreams. God is Bigger than whatever you’re worried about!

God is for you, so don’t lose sleep over anyone who might be against you!

God promised that everything would work out, not that everything would make sense. Trust Him.

Show respect even to people who don’t deserve it…not as a reflection of their Character but as a reflection of yours.

The Bible never once says, “Figure it out,” but over and over it says, “Trust God.” He’s already got it all figured out.

Jesus said “Never will I leave you or forsake you,” so even in your loneliest moment, you are never alone!

God loves you more than you love yourself. His plans for your life and better than your own plans for your life.

If you ever feel insignificant, just remember that your Father is the Eternal King of the World. You are Royalty!

3 important principles: 1. God Love You. 2. God is in Control. 3. If you ever feel overwhelmed, refer to numbers 1 & 2.

Don’t let a false sense of urgency rob you of your peace. God’s timing is perfect. Be patient and enjoy the moment.

Don’t try to change people; just love people. Love is what changes us!

When God closes a door, it’s always for your good. It means it’s either not the right time or it’s not the right door!

You are not defined by your mistakes. You are defined by your God, and He loves you no matter what!

You can’t focus on your Blessings & your Problems at the same time. The one that has your focus will shape your thinking.

No matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done, remember that God loves you and has extraordinary plans for you life.

God loves you more than preteen girls love Justin Bieber!

If you’re following Jesus, then you’re always headed in the right direction!

Jesus’ final words from the Cross were “it is finished,” not “earn it,” so live in the freedom of His Grace!

If you’re motivated by love, then you can’t fail. Love always wins in the end.

Don’t let anybody tell you that you “can’t” do something when the Bible says, ‘You CAN do all things through Christ!”

What you see as “Bad News” might just be God’s way of redirecting you towards a better path.

Believe in Yourself. God made you and He never makes mistakes!

You can boldly and fearlessly walk into any situation knowing God is with You!

Never feel unqualified. God uses people with a willing heart, not a perfect resume.

Don’t look for someone else to complete you (unless that “Someone Else” is Jesus)!

Let your decisions be driven by your Faith, your Principles and your Commitments, not by your Emotions.

If you want more joy in your life, work to bring joy to others and you’ll find it coming back to you.

Take all the love you have, multiply it by eternity and then you will have a glimpse of how much God loves You!

The Bible says all things are “possible” for you; it never says all things would be “easy” for you. Don’t give up!

Who does God love the most?

A woman who had fifteen children was once asked by an interviewer, “With so many kids, how do you love them all the same?”

She smiled and gave an answer that he wasn’t expecting, “I don’t love them all the same.”

Taken aback, the interviewer awkwardly asked, “Well…which one do you love the most?”

She gave a thoughtful smile and answered softly, “The one who is hurting the most, the one who feels the most loneliness, the one who is brokenhearted…that’s the one I love the most.”

God has a lot more kids than just fifteen, and I don’t believe that He plays favorites, but the Bible does teach that God has a special place in His heart for those who are hurting. He’s with us always, but in our moments of deepest despair, I believe His presence is strongest.

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18

If you are in a place right now where you feel like you’re all alone, I want to reassure you that you are not alone. God is with you. Jesus has said, “Never will I leave you or forsake you.” God loves you more than you can imagine. He will be your strength until the pain passes and He will bring good out of it somehow. Trust Him and know that you are loved with an eternal love.

Why are we Here?

Life’s got all kinds of big questions…

“Why are the lines at Walmart always so slow?”

“Why does my nose only itch when I’m carrying something heaving and can’t scratch it?”

“Why do my kids seem to act their worst when other people are watching?”

The Bible doesn’t address the lines at Walmart or why my nose itches, but God’s Word does contain the answers to the questions that really matter. Maybe the Biggest Question of all has to do with our purpose. I think in some form or another, we’ve all asked “Why am I here?” “What’s life’s purpose?” “Does God have a plan for me?”

There’s Good News for us all…God loves you and has extraordinary plans for your life! Your identity and your purpose are found in Him. If we’re willing to Trust Him and follow His plan, we’ll discover purpose in this life and hope for eternal life. Here are four important principles the Bible teaches in answer to the question, “Why are we Here?“…

1. We are here for God’s Glory.

Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

2. We are Here as God’s Children.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

3. We are Here in God’s Service.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human bosses Colossians 3:23

4. We are Here on God’s Mission.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

Don’t be a Hoarder.

There’s a show on TV called “Hoarders.” It’s about people who just accumulate junk and they never get rid of it. Their homes are filled with piles of trash so high that the only creatures who can navigate around the house are roaches and rats. The show is both sad and disgusting, but on a spiritual level, I think a lot of us live our lives as “hoarders.”

We don’t mean to become hoarders; it can just naturally happen over time until one day, we’re buried under a pile of junk. We’ve got to be willing to clear away negative things that are taking up space to make room for new things that will bring peace back into our lives. In Colossians Chapter 3, the Bible paints a picture of some of the “junk” that needs to be removed that’s taking up too much space in our minds, hearts and lives:

“But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” Colossians 3:8 

We can’t get rid of this kind of junk by throwing it in a garbage bag. We need to pray for God’s to remove it and we need to be willing to drastically change our attitudes, behaviors and decisions to push the remnants of these negative things out of our lives. Once they start to clear away, it’s time to bring in new things to replace them, and just a few verses later, the Bible tells us what those new things should be…

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Colossians 3:12

These aren’t things we can pick up at the mall. Again, we need to ask God to fill our lives with these attributes and be diligent in our efforts to hold onto them. We must allow God’s Word to renew our minds and give us a new way of thinking that leads to a new way of living.

Keep in mind that this isn’t a one-time process. The negative clutter has a tendency to keep working its way into our lives, so this should be a lifestyle pattern of clearing out the old (negative stuff) and making room for the new (positive stuff).

Don’t let yourself get buried by sin. Let’s God’s Grace sweep through your life and replace that junk with Joy.