Reckless pursuit of Him

I’ve done it. I’ve been prideful. I’ve been prideful about my salvation. I have looked at others as lesser than me because they don’t have the knowledge I have in regards to the Bible and the Gospel. I still have some days where I’m realizing I still have this prideful streak in me, and today has been one of them. I’ve realized today that I put myself higher than others.

I need humility. I need Him. I need that imparted life of me being a willing puppet – a vessel that has willfully chosen to have Jesus living in my skin, showing me what I should be doing with the time on earth He’s given me.

Sometimes I view the Gospel as a precious pearl. It is most definitely a precious pearl, but the value of a pearl is subjective. For instance, the Bible talks about casting pearls before swine… but does that mean that everyone who doesn’t know the value of a pearl is like swine? The Bible also says the Kingdom of Heaven is like a seed that is sown, and some falls on fertile ground, some falls on shallow ground, and some falls on rocky ground where it’s trampled and birds come eat of it. Does the Bible say anything about not sowing seed for fear it will fall on rocky or shallow ground? That, my friend, is prideful thinking. I’ve fallen into this trap as well. If you think the Gospel is a pearl to be treasured and not something to share with someone who doesn’t know how valuable the pearl you have is, then you hate that person. You literally hate that person. You don’t love him enough to share your most precious possession with him. If we treat the Gospel as a pearl that is so precious we’re wary of taking it to the streets because of fear that it might be trampled on, we are prideful.

Sometimes I fall into this mood I refer to as “Me Christian.” I’m not outward focused. I have the illusion of being outward focused because I smile and talk with people, but really, could care less about talking to them, and I end up caring more about posting some ‘Christianeeze’ status update on Facebook. “I’M so glad that God has pulled ME out of sin, and has a plan for ME and MY life and I’M excited about all of the things he’s going to have ME do in the future.” Yes, I’ve posted things like that before. I look back and laugh. Was I really that blind to those around me? I was a “Me Christian.” I aim to no longer be one.

What about you?

I don’t remember the last time I talked with God until I was without strength. Where are my efforts in life at? What are my goals? Why are they so much more important than spending countless hours in His presence? Why am I not fully spending myself for Him every second of the day?

I remember the coach when I played football drilling into us players, “Leave everything out on the field.” I wanted to live with that in my mind every single play, but each time I went to go play a game where all of my strength needed to be spent until the very last second of the game, I couldn’t do it. I told myself, “I have to save my strength for a time that I might need it later on in the game.” And then when the game was over I had energy left over to play with my cousins or go out to pizza or just go out and have fun. I didn’t live as if I was leaving everything out on the field, because I wasn’t.

The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

I have a field. I live in it. I work in it. I sleep in it. God calls us to leave everything out on the field. Leave our strength, because we won’t need it on the other side of eternity. Leave our belongings. Leave our money. Leave our job. Leave everything out on the field. I have to confess that I don’t do that as much as I should. I still have strength at the end of the day, and I don’t spend it on everything spiritual. Those are my best hours, and I’m not using them for Him. And when I spend my strength on something other than Him, and something comes up that He needs my strength, it’s not there. I didn’t leave it on the field, I took it for myself.

Daniel 10:17 – “How can my lord’s servant talk with my lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.”

Let that not be said of me when I spend my strength on things that aren’t for Him. Let this above verse be said of me when I spend my strength in His fields.

Father, let this body grow weary in Your fields. Let me leave my all out on the field, never wondering if I will have strength tomorrow.

Daniel 10:18-20 – “Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, “O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”

I’m sitting here in awe of my Jesus.

He has done it again, but I have never doubted that He would. He has poured out His Love, Peace, and the Holy Spirit on me tonight in ways that I’ve never before experienced. The thickness of His presence was so utterly amazing that it was impossible for me to keep my eyes dry.

I don’t want it to leave. Father God, keep it here. I want to feel You like this every moment of every day until I breathe my last. Until death has me bid farewell to this wretched earth, Lord I will seek you. I will recklessly pursue You. I want more of You, because nothing else can satisfy.

You say, “all who are thirsty and all who are weak, come to the fountain and dip your heart in the stream of Life.” Now my cup is full of Living, sweet, satisfying water and it runs over. Oh my soul, drink deep. Let yourself be drowned in this Living water, for it is more fulfilling than anything the world can offer.

My Beloved mine, I His. 

Song of Solomon 2:4 – “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.”

God created art. He created artists. He created media. God is the original and ultimate artist.

I have a question to all of you artists/filmmakers/people in media. Why do we consult the dead on behalf of the living? Why is hollywood the “achievement bar”? Why are secular artists the par in which we set our artistic compasses to?

“If only I could be as good as ___”

“If only Christian films could look a lot like the film ___”

“If only Christian art could look as good as secular art.”

Let me ask you something. If God is the ultimate artist, why are we consulting the spiritually dead on behalf of the spiritually alive? My par is God. What He says is good art I’ll believe it and take Him at His word. God was, is, and will always be relevant to the culture around us. If we create art to please God rather than pleasing men, what would that look like?

As Christian artists, we have huge advantages over secular art. We have a God that cannot be put in a box. We have a God that can inspire art for eternity. There might be nothing new under the sun, but all things are made new under the Son!

Stop looking to the world to inspire your art, start looking to God. Beg Him. Plead with Him. “God, what do You want this to look like? What is Your will for this project I’m working on?” Sometimes He will answer in the most unexpected ways.

Let’s stop creating art to please the world, and start creating art to please God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

What if certain things that we attribute to the enemy are given as gifts from God? What if the opposite is true? How can we know?

I read verses like James 1:17 that say, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” which seems to say that God only gives good gifts to those who are in Christ. But what if those good gifts are sicknesses or diseases that are given to us by God to make us lean on Him and trust Him more? In our human frailty we can only stand against certain things, and when our strength has failed we must turn to the Father of Lights and say, “I need you more than ever now.” To me, this would be a pretty amazing gift – for my King to uphold me when I know I cannot go on.

I can’t see myself taking a hard stand and saying that any sickness or disease or condition comes from the enemy, nor can I see myself taking a polar opposite stance saying everything comes from God. I see myself taking a stance that says, “Don’t call what I have deemed good as evil, nor what I have deemed evil as good.” I will not take this issue and die on this hill saying, “This sickness is absolutely from the enemy. It weakens me and causes me to not get the work I need to get done accomplished.” To that person I would say to lean on Jesus who provides strength for those who need it, because where would the power of the Gospel be if we could accomplish things on our own all the time?

In sickness my King gets Glory, in health my King gets Glory. In the bad times my King gets Glory. In the good times my King gets Glory. In strength my king gets Glory. In weakness my King gets Glory. In times of healing my King gets Glory. In times where my King is quiet on the matter of healing, He still gets Glory.

Let’s not try and steal the Glory due His name by not shining as bright as we can. Don’t assume God is going to do something, and don’t presume to know the will of God. Follow the Holy Spirit. That’s our comforter and our guide. He will never lead us astray if it is truly Him to whom we are listening.