“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me...” Matthew 15:8
Have you unfollowed God?
I would imagine most of us would say “no”.
We wouldn’t even think about doing something like that…and yet our actions sometimes speak louder than words. We praise Jesus one minute and the next we curse someone who has irritated us. We acknowledge God on Sunday, but forget to include him in our work or school week. In some ways, we conveniently unfollow God and we don’t even realize it.
I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be labeled by Jesus as one whose heart is far from him…and yet, if I’m honest it sometimes is. There are many distractions in life. There are many time consuming efforts that I engage in that do not edify me and preoccupies my time. Perhaps it’s more like my mind has unfollowed God, because I have failed to include him and invite him even into my thought patterns.
Paul writes in Romans 12:2b “…be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.” When we allow 
this transformation to take place within our minds – change happens. We check the box to follow God again. We are then able to filter what we allow into our minds which bleeds over into our actions. Without this transformation of the mind and the inclusion and fellowship of God into our lives, we will live but live unfulfilled, empty lives. This sounds stark and cold, but the reality is that we were created with this very relationship in mind. If we either consciously or subconsciously unfollow God, we break this relationship and in our hearts we acknowledge that there is something missing, but we can’t quite put our finger on it. If you’re there right now, perhaps its time to reconnect with God. Perhaps it’s time to acknowledge the many distractions that have taken His place. We can try and try to fill that void with other things, but nothing will fill that God-shaped hole. 
Make it your desire to follow after God today!
Train your thoughts, and renew your mind…need help? Ask Him, he’s always available and ready to give you strength.
Prayer: Dear Lord, I confess that sometimes I have unfollowed you. I have failed to include you in my day. I desire today to converse with you and to include you in it all – the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Lead me Lord. I long for your fellowship, and a constant conversation with you. Help me in this discipline of presentness. I want to show up, I want to be present with you through my day today. Grant me your strength through the difficult moments of this day, and allow me your discernment in the decisions that must be made, both great and small. Lord, be in them all today. I choose to follow you Lord. -Amen.
There are many other places in scripture where people have left their landmarks so that others who came after them would know of this great God. Some landmarks commemorated great grief and loss, while others commemorated great victory and joy. All of these served to provide a means of safer passage to the next generation. This makes me wonder what sort of landmarks we are constructing in our own lives. How are we paving the way for our children and our grandchildren? What sort of legacy are we leaving behind for others to follow? Will they commemorate an honorable holy disciple of Christ through the testimony of our lives, or will they use our story us as a warning? I pray that we desire to pave the way through a life of godly living and in so doing, leave legacy that others wish to follow as they ascend this path of holiness.
most important things to pray for. Our families are brought to mind. Our personal concerns and our stressors are also brought to the forefront. When we pray these things are important and good to pray for. We also should remember that we are Kingdom people, and as Kingdom people, our priority to Christ and His Kingdom should also be high on that list. When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray the spirit of humility and servanthood were spoke: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done…”
Okay, I confess, I made the above disorder up, but it does accurately describe our prayers sometimes doesn’t it? We pray like a kitten plays with yarn…its great until something more interesting comes along. We have so many distractions in our world today. The sounds outside. Our cell phones. Checking our social media feed on various platforms. We live in a very distracting world. How can we even focus on concentrated prayers when we have all of this distraction around us? We need quiet. We must find spaces of solitude so that we can converse with God. It doesn’t have to be long winded prayers full of “Thees” and “Thous”. We don’t have to have all of the right things to say either. Just take five minutes of concentrated time (with no distractions) today and pray. Start off by praying for your needs (not wants). Give God thanks for answered prayers. Then focus on your immediate family…you friends…your coworkers…your boss…your neighbor…and so on. If it helps put a timer on so that you know when to stop praying. But commit to just five minutes of prayer each day this week. At first it may seem very hard to focus in on five minutes. For some of us, it might seem like an eternity. But pray and inquire of God what you should pray for too…His Holy Presence with inform and guide you in your conversations. It will take practice, so do not become frustrated when you don’t accomplish this discipline at first. Keep trying. We need more persistent prayer warriors now more than ever in our churches and in our world. He is calling you and me to be such people of prayer!
This intimate moment with Jesus, Nicodemus comes face to face with the Messiah – God’s chosen one who has come to deliver not just the Jews but the whole world. Nicodemus sought out Jesus for himself. He was curious, and he asked wanted to know more. This conversation was done one on one, a conversation that begged for answers, and Jesus gave them to Nicodemus. It doesn’t say in the scriptures if Nicodemus became a follower of Christ, but he was present after the crucifixion, and many have speculated that He did indeed become a member of the early Christian church…but it all started here at night with a conversation with a very personal Jesus.
Some of us only know Jesus when we are in large groups while at church. Some find worship to be the only encounter they have with Jesus in their week. But Jesus comes to each of us and longs for us to have that one on one time with Him. He wants to hear from us, and even longs for us to ask the hard questions of life. He comes to us willing to pour out His love upon us and to partake in this life with us. This is a very personal relationship. The corporate setting at church is wonderful, and we mustn’t discount that by any means, but we ought to crave those intimate moments with Jesus too. This is where we can begin to thrive as followers of Christ. This is where the conversation starts – in our silence and our prayers to Him. This is where life becomes transformed and renewed. Something mysterious and wondrous that words cannot even explain takes place when we specifically and intentionally set aside time to commune with Jesus. Oh that each of us encounter Jesus this way today! Find that time, set it aside…and seek your own personal Jesus.
Today is what they call “Ground Hog’s Day”. It’s a rather silly tradition here in the United States that commemorates a rodent and makes this ground hog a meteorologist for the day. It is said that if this rodent sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. It’s a big thing in Punxsutawney PA, as they celebrate and put cameras on this animal that looks somewhat shocked at the attention it is getting. But the real hope in this celebration is that we as people will finally see light at the end of this tunnel that is the season of winter. Many people struggle with winter blues and most just hate the cold weather typically found in the winter months, and so they place their hopes on this silly event known as Ground Hog’s day. All for a little bit of light and a whole lot more warmth.
In reality we all want more light. Winters are okay, even great for many winter recreational sports people, but these months often serve to remind us of dormancy and the hope of new life in the spring. In a very real sense, Christ came so that we could come out of the darkness of sin and death and into the light and warmth of new life! Once we have accepted this new life and light, our calling then is to become that very light for others, who are still in the dark, to see. Our light can shine, but we have to be willing to carry this flame of hope to those around us. The words we choose to say, the actions we choose to do – it all matters! How we conduct ourselves matters! We do not need Christians who only utter truths of the gospel, we need Christians who will live them and practice them. We are called to BE holy, and then do that holiness. It begins by embracing the light, coming out of the shadows and becoming a vessel of peace, love, grace and compassion. Our world needs less hate and judgment and more peace, compassion and love! Can we shine so that the world around us no longer lives in the shadows? Perhaps like Punxsutawney Phil (as silly as it is) we can shine so that others might not see their shadows anymore. The shadows of sin and hurt have held many for ransom for far too long! May we shine and do these good things so that others might find this hope that we all embrace.
While I was tending to this little cut that had become something more, it got me thinking that this is just like hurt and grudges. At the beginning when the wound is inflicted, it doesn’t seem like much. Sure, you feel hurt or wounded by words that were said to you, or things someone has done to you, but you “toughen up” and fight back. At least that’s how I work. I hit back. I respond, sometimes even lashing out. -It’s just a little cut.- But, maybe a few days later, or months later, you discover that this little cut has become a bigger issue that you originally thought. It has festered and become swollen, so much so that it has infected your heart and how you think about THAT person or group. Finally, you have a decision to make…will you allow this wound to continue to fester and eventually poison your whole body (spirit and soul too)? Or will you drain the wound and put ointment on it so that you can heal and move on…and not just live, but thrive?
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we have to drain the wounds in our lives in order for us to become fully like Christ in every way, shape and form. We can declare that we want to be holy, and that we want to be the very image of Christ in our world, but it is only lip service if we haven’t dealt with these infected wounds in our lives. For some of us, these wounds run more deeply than we realize…and we need the Holy Spirit to help us sterilize and heal them. It may take us time to heal, but we must make this a priority in order for us to grow into this grace and knowledge of Christ.
hold you more accountable. I have witnessed people driving by me honking their horns, cutting people off and even giving someone the finger, only to notice that they had an ichthus fish (a Christians symbol) on the back of their car. What kind of witness is that? Will that attract people to Jesus? I don’t think so, in fact I think it will only drive people further from Christ.
This isn’t an easy road. There will be sacrifices along the way, but know that when you commit to him, be faithful to that…don’t have an exit strategy in case it doesn’t work out. It’s either all in or nothing at all. There can be no middle ground, and half-hearted attempts at an obedience relationship to Christ. Are you prepared for such a radical relationship? Are you prepared to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow him?
Pastor's Ponderings 