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As I often do, I was sitting in my “other office” a.k.a. the Midnight Rooster Coffee Shop here in downtown Hartsville to catch some breakfast and get some work done. I exchanged the usual morning greeting/pleasantries with Rebekah, one of the more cheerful baristas that I see here all the time (and also comes to our church!).

Sounded kind of like this…

(both of us, simultaneously): “Good morning. How are you?” (realizing we said it at the same time, laughing)
Rebekah: “I’m good. How are you?”
Me: “I’m good…”
Rebekah: “Oh yeah? And why’s that?”
Me (thinking): -pause- (emphatically) “Well… I woke up with breath in my lungs!”
Rebekah: “Wow! That’s awesome.”

Okay, so maybe my response was a little super-spiritual (with a touch of facetiousness) but it came from a genuine place (without even realizing it).

- I had some follow-up appointments with my oncologist last week and yesterday and all the tests/scans came back normal! I’m very thankful for the Lord’s continued blessing over my health.
- My third anniversary with my wife was Tuesday. I love her!
- We got a nice new loft apartment downtown that we’re moving into (eventually).
- Last but not least, I’m excited about upcoming services and events for The Living Church.

In other words, life is pretty darn good and I know I’m blessed beyond my comprehension.

Do I have setbacks or things that I could gripe about? Sure… (I’m a normal guy, believe it or not), but what’s the point in listing them? It’s just not worth it.

But what is worth my time is praising God! I don’t believe as Christians we do this often enough. I’m not talking about the first part of a typical worship service on Sunday mornings, but rather the daily interaction we have with our God.

So many times we wake up with moans, groans, regrets, fear, complaints, when all this time we could be telling God “Thank you!”

Psalms is full of scriptures of “praise”. Some of my favorites:

96:4a – “For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised;”

118:1 – “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.”

118:24 – “This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

146:1-5 – “1 Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, my soul.
2 I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.”

150:6 – “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!”

The point is in all of this, if you haven’t caught onto it already, is that God deserves all the honor, thanks, and praise we can give Him. No matter what you’re going through, there’s a reason to sing His praises. And if you can’t think of one, remember that the very nature of God (who He is) is reason enough!

This Sunday you will hear the Gospel of Christ and the message of life-change. What’s that? “No different than any other week”, you say? The difference will be that little of it will come in the form of a sermon leaving my lips, but instead the words from those who has experienced God and had their lives turned around as a result!

You see, I believe that the best way to “evangelize” (telling others about Jesus, getting them closer to God and a church family) is by using everyday people to open up about how their relationship with God has forever changed them. This is not always a “down-and-out” tale of getting off of drugs/alcohol, etc., but real life stuff that we often don’t think about.

Things like child abuse, depression, financial difficulty, physical conditions, or something as simple as a change of attitude or mental outlook, all affected by the moment we truly allow Jesus to reside in our hearts.

We all have a story to tell and if it has been touched by the hands of Almighty God.

1 John 5:10 speaks to this:

Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.

Every person that has been saved by the blood of the Lamb is a living, breathing, testimony that should not be tucked away in the corner of false comfort. No one’s story can be deemed unworthy or too boring. Your experience can go towards helping someone else dealing with the same issue, who may believe the lie that no one knows their pain.

You are the conduit of life-change when you simply open your mouth and let the Holy Spirit speak through you.

I am just one man. While I am a pastor and held responsible for the spiritual health of many, I cannot be the sole influential force to our community. We need multiple angles of direction to combat the various schemes of the enemy who have wrestled away our family, friends, and neighbors into meaningless, selfish, and ungodly ways of living. That’s where you come in!

Whether you know it or not, there are those around you that desperately need to hear from God. Only thing is, God often chooses us to do the talking! Your unique perspective can make all the difference to someone else. Imagine the untold number of lives that could be impacted if we just got over this silly notion of embarrassment.

Do we need to be reminded of how God changed us? Of what He delivered us from? He did all of that in order for others to be changed just by seeing it happen or hearing about it.

Faith is reproductive only when shared. As Nike says, “Just do it”…

So many times I see Christians make statements and lead lives that are grossly against God’s Word. No doubt that this is the continuation of this war between the world’s culture vs. God’s values, but also the covert operation of sin under our skin.

You see when we’re obedient to God through Jesus Christ, it’s our heart that has been engaged and not our head. “The law” found in the Old Testament could really only challenge our thoughts which leads to a limited, if not outright flawed response in our daily living. We’re responding in fear and condemnation, rather than by the love and grace we find in Jesus Christ.

But here’s the kicker… the things God wants us to do or not do is still valid today. We can’t just dismiss them because the world reacts so bitterly (and this has nearly always been the case anyways).

In fact, it takes on more personalized meaning. That the behavior He is trying to steer us away from is not merely something that angers Him, but how utterly destructive it is to us, our family, and the society we are members of.

I was reading John chapter 14 this morning and it reminded me of the fact that Jesus Christ means a lot of things to a lot of different people. But one thing He should never be seen is, is the passive, Mr. Rogers character that offers us the kind of pathetic, wimpy faith that is effective as water on a grease fire (it only makes matters worse).

Thankfully, Jesus thought more of us than that. The reality of it all is this: the world we see in front of us is corrupt and dangerous because it offers happiness in the form of a thin, candy shelled coating around misery.

Jesus spoke clearly when He told the disciples,

15 “If you love me, keep my commands.
21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

His disciples were His followers. So are we and He’s speaking to us as well. What this requires is obedience. A foreign concept to many, but nonetheless still purposeful as ever.

We cannot fear the world more than we love our God. If we indeed love Him, as we so often nonchalantly say that we do, we should obey Him.

And if something is wrong or “sinful”, as outlined in the Bible (which is God’s Word), guess what? It is. No debate about it. Opinions mean little if they are in stark contrast to the heart and mind of Almighty God. Why is this so hard for us to understand?

Every time you start making up excuses, or defending ill-conceived values/beliefs, you MUST not only be ignoring scripture, but the Christ that embodied it.

When we call Jesus our Savior, we must be reminded of what He is saving us from: a world full of lies and a hell that is the result of believing them.

I love this passage found in 2 Corinthians chapter 5…

20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

This means we are representing Jesus! Ambassadors exemplify the interests from where they were sent. If you are not in agreement with Jesus (and the Word) on an issue or an action, then ask yourself, “Why? What is influencing me more than God Himself?” The answer could be your own selfishness, a loved one’s experience, or something as simple as a book you’ve read or a movie you’ve seen.

The next step is reconciliation. That is, to “restore harmony” or to “make consistent”. In others, you need to see eye-to-eye with God. Not only for sake of being “on the same page”, but in order to see the pain He went through… for us.

Remember when you were young and your legs would ache for no particular reason? Good ol’ mom or dad would chime in and inform you that these were none other than “growing pains”. Huh?

Our body’s development comes through so-called growth spurts. You see, it isn’t the bones that are hurting, but rather the muscles that are being stretched.

I remember some nights that I would lay awake in bed because of the pain. There was some benefit to it all since I was a bit bigger and taller than other kids my age, making me a pretty decent athlete at the time.

But this post isn’t about my glory days in rec league sports…

This week we’ll hear how the early Christian church grew immeasurably despite facing rampant persecution. Every deterrent you could dream up, it was tried and ultimately failed.

Before long, the very people who attempted to rid their locale of this strange Jewish sect became believers.

It’s amazing how God can use pain and suffering for our good and His glory…

Hear more at our worship service this Sunday – 11:00 am at the historic Center Theater.

What happened after the resurrection of Jesus Christ? There are many questions that arise (no pun intended) about Jesus’ “other-worldly” appearances. Biblical scholars have debated what He did, said, and what it all meant. It certainly makes for great fodder on the History Channel or in a New York Times bestseller.

But the question we should be asking is “how do those moments affect us now?”

Take notice of the drastic change in behavior and attitude of the apostles. They went from being discouraged, aimless men to all of a sudden being filled with purpose and took on bold challenges. After the ascension of Christ, the church as we know it was born! Once culturally isolated Jews were all of sudden thrust out of their comfort zones into the work of spreading the Good News to all of humanity.

We’re talking about big cities full of gentile-pagans (people most unlike themselves) that had no comprehension of a triune God. Most every time they would be met with ice cold shoulders in the form of violent persecution. Surely, someone didn’t want the apostles to accomplish the goal of building up communities of believers that Jesus had clearly laid out for them.

But despite it all, they didn’t give up. Most every man went to the bitter end, not merely dying for what they believed in, but because there was no other way!

What changed for them to provoke this? Something must’ve happened, right?

Quite simply, they had an encounter that impacted their lives forever.

Think about it. If Jesus appeared to you in resurrected form and told you to do something, even if it meant possibly earthly death, wouldn’t you do it? It’s hard to argue with the Savior of the world who you know died a few days ago, but stands before you now. I can only imagine what an amazing moment that must’ve been!

We don’t have the luxury of knowing what that feels like. Instead we say we believe Jesus is alive and that the Holy Spirit is with us, while walking with heads held low, voices muted, and eyes blinded to what we have been promised.

This also describes the apostles after the crucifixion. The same guys that started the biggest spiritual movement in history needed a swift-kick-in-the-butt in the form of a supernatural experience for them to get going.

Do we require the same push? Find out this Sunday at the Center Theater, 11:00 am.

Yesterday was a “different” kind of service for us. Different can be good, in that switching things up removes much of the mundane, expected aspect of a church worship service. Many churches could afford to do so every now and then. We received a lot of positive feedback from those in attendance, which gives me a small sense of relief given that part two (this Sunday) is going to be even better!

Beyond the “order of service” being atypical, we went through the first 7 stations/ways of the cross which is from the Catholic tradition of portraying the events of “Good Friday”, a.k.a. the day of Jesus’ death. In a recent post, I outlined them, illustrating the concept behind this series. We went through the stations as a collection of snapshots, moment-by-moment, detailing the dialogue and actions that occurred with each one. The personal betrayal and public denial, the trials, judgment, torture, and humiliation that all took place within a matter of a few hours, all there to experience and digest.

A lot of folks were unfamiliar with the 14 stations, which is not surprising. With our church, as with most church plants, we have little room to include liturgical, age-old practices that carry the potential of spoiling over time from complacency. However, it’s when we’re able to use them for greater effect, putting purpose and new energy behind them, that they become wonderful tools for spiritual growth.

One example of this was when our youth leaders challenged our students to give up something for Lent, which is the practice of forgoing something of daily need during the Easter season. This was a first for many of them, including the leaders. Will they do it again next year? Who knows, but their experience this time around will lend itself well with its personal application to the idea of sacrifice.

So far we’ve seen results from using something “traditional” with our “14″ series and my prayer is that it will be taken to even greater heights this Sunday (Easter). This past service ended with a “cliffhanger” of Jesus taking up the cross. While most of us knows what happens from there, walking through these stations sticks with us and reminds us of just what Jesus had to go through (for us) in such a short timeframe on that day.

I encourage you to do all that you can to bring someone new to part two of “14″. This second half will only build upon what we’ve learned so far, yet the “storyline” is still powerful enough for anyone new to the Gospel can jump right into it. This is the Good News delivered for people from all backgrounds to see and hear for themselves!

Make plans to be with us for Easter at the Center Theater, 11:00am as we continue to tell the story of how God gave us life through death.

This Sunday, we celebrate a day that many in the Christian faith refers to as “Palm Sunday”. This is taken from the moment where Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey and was greeted warmly by the people there.

John chapter 12 describes the scene:

12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter of Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”

“Hosanna!” translated means, “Save us!”… in other words, a cry out to God for deliverance, in addition to being used for praise and adoration. Jesus, in their eyes, was the messiah king promised to them that would save them from their Roman occupiers. After years of waiting for someone like this to arrive, their king had arrived!

However, we know how the story goes. Jesus wasn’t there to just be the “king of the Jews”. Instead, He came for something bigger… the Kingdom of Heaven! The next world rather than this world.

Jesus said to Pilate in John 18:36…

“My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

But the people didn’t want “another place”. They wanted what would help them in their day-to-day life, which meant deliverance from Roman occupation. The Israelites needed to have their homeland, given to them by God, be taken out the hands of the gentiles who pushed them around. They could care less about this thing called “salvation”, they didn’t want to put up with the cultural disrespect and high taxes anymore! Their line of sight only went as far as the next day ahead, not what would happen in the afterlife.

So we can see why they became disillusioned with Jesus. Even though many of them witnessed him healing the blind and the lame, raising the dead, feeding thousands, and preaching like none before, that all went away when they realized that He wasn’t going to start a war!

Before we can think too harshly of the people then, we have to look at what we do in our everyday life. Think of all of the times we’re personally discouraged and feel let down by our Heavenly Father? Of course, He actually hasn’t done so, but it feels that way to us.

What we want and what God wants can be two very different things. The more we try to make what we want happen, the more we’ll continued to be let down.

But what we sometimes see as a severe disappointment, is actually a “trade-up”. How so?

While Jesus didn’t live up to the notion of a messiah king leading an uprising and restoring their land, He instead rescued all of humanity from the shackles of sin and death. Small picture vs. big picture…

Same idea applies to us to our everyday life!

Relationship failed? Didn’t get the job you applied for? Bills still unpaid?

What is it that you’ve been expecting?

You see, it’s easy to praise God and give Him lip service when we expect something beneficial (in our eyes) to be coming our way. That’s what we see in the “triumphal entry”. Jesus was greeted with fanfare. However, we see that five days later, the same people that greeted His entrance would be demanding His death. The disillusionment was that powerful!

Judas Iscariot’s selling-out was the most well-known example of this and what it can drive a person of faith to do. He was dedicated and followed Jesus around for three years, just like the other disciples. After the betrayal, he hanged himself, brought on by the misery in realizing what he had done. It’s a sad moment to read about but it has always been a point of pride for many believers throughout the centuries. The words “served him right” leave their lips, all while believing that they’d never reach that level of doubt and despair.

But how many times have we been ready to turn our backs on Jesus when we didn’t get our way? Have we been ready to throw in the proverbial towels in order to get instant feedback and petty settlements? Why do we think so poorly of Judas’s betrayal, when we get upset with God for so much less?

These crises we have to face can do one of two things in us… tear our faith apart, or build it up. We must realize that there is something much better waiting for us, if we just open our eyes and trust God for it! We shouldn’t be satisfied with “peanuts” but instead be willing to wait for the awesome things (beyond our comprehension) that our Father WANTS us to have!

Don’t let clouded expectations prevent you from receiving the blessings of God! This is a lesson learned in history that we don’t have to let happen to us.

Yesterday during our worship service, we recognized seven new members and dedicated a precious little girl named Dani-Jo. It was a very memorable time for me and for everyone there!

In those two particular parts of the service, we saw some fine examples of promises being made:

- We require every new prospective member to sign a membership covenant with the church after they have completed the new members class. Not only are they affirming our beliefs, but also promising to advance the vision of the church in anyway they can.

- The parents of Dani-Jo dedicating her to the Lord and promising to provide the structure for Christian growth in their household, among other things.

We take pride in celebrating promises being made because they involve God. This means they’re sacred and more than just your everyday “handshake”. But it’s also due to the potential fulfillment translating to a growing “family tree”, with more branches stretching into unreached heights. Our new members begin impacting different people at their workplace, schools, and neighborhoods… or a little girl growing into a great woman of God. This all starts with a promise made on a Sunday morning in April somewhere in South Carolina.

This past week I was reminded of Genesis 9 where God promised Noah never to send such a destructive flood again to wipe out mankind. He fulfilled this promise and we know it to be true because we’re still here! He said this out of love and used a rainbow to be the reminder of that moment.

We have an earthly life because of a promise made!

This month we have Easter Sunday. It’s this time of year where we look upon Calvary’s hill and see God’s promise of eternal life represented. Our belief that Christ died for our sins lifts our souls out of the hell that would otherwise be waiting for us.

We have a heavenly life because of a promise made!

This should get the point across that God doesn’t break promises. However, we know far too well that we often do! Why? It’s in our blood.

The stumbling block is human nature itself. It’s easy to make a promise, but hard to keep it. Words are easy to come by, but the whole “making it happen” thing is where the wheels fall off. It usually involves dedication and commitment, which are foreign qualities to man.

On the other hand, the pride and selfishness we naturally have inside of us prevents our promises from being fruitful. That is why there’s so much accountability and enforcement put into formal contracts today. We can’t be trusted or “tied down”! Marriage, cell phones, mortgages, you name it… we try to back out of all of them the minute we don’t think it’ll succeed/happen/work out.

This is much to the disgust of God!

Which might be why He makes such a noise about it in His Word.

With Numbers 30:1-2, we see Moses speaking to the tribal heads of Israel:

“This is what the LORD commands: 2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.

Here they are told to not break the promises they make. This is not simply because it’s the “right thing to do”, but because it’s another part of taking on the quality of God. “Godliness” or “holiness” is about being like Him, not like the world (which constantly shows itself to be unworthy of trust).

To follow this up, Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 says,

“When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.”

Now this is saying that an unfulfilled promise is a form of foolishness, which is quite unlike God. It isn’t so much that your words have to have meaning (they should), but rather the promise associated with them should become a reality. Didn’t mean it? Oh well, that’s too bad! Make it happen anyways. Renew your promise if you feel the need to along the way.

This is called having “honor” (a.k.a. “character”, “respect”, “integrity”) which is another God-like quality we should strive to possess. If we tell another person (or God) something, we should follow through on it. If we don’t, it looks bad on us and we may never be seen the same way again by others.

So what have been some of the promises you made? Big or small, they’re all accounted for in God’s eyes. Be honorable, as God is honorable, by being true to your word!

I’m a fan of the TV series “24″, which was full of action and over-the-top plotlines that would likely never happen in “real life”. I mean seriously, how could Jack Bauer escape death (like: gunfights, prolonged torture, nuclear blasts, deadly viruses) time after time? The show might just provide rare proof against the old saying of “truth (life) is stranger than fiction”.

Regardless, the style of the show was unique with it’s hour-by-hour format and it kept you tuned in to see what happened next.

In similar fashion, there’s nothing more “dramatic” than Good Friday, otherwise known as the day of Jesus’ death on the cross. You have betrayal, confrontation, philosophical dialogue, political wrangling, torture, and a public execution. Many of those elements you’d find in a Hollywood production, but all of this stuff actually happened! Unlike 24, this is the perfect example of truth being stranger than fiction.

These events have been historically depicted in the Catholic church’s 14 Stations of the Cross, or the “Way of the Cross”. These originally were 14 actual outdoor “shrines” that were built to mimic the ones found in the Holy Land.

It grew into a participatory act as Christian sojourners and pilgrims wanted to follow the steps of Christ through the city of Jerusalem during the 14th and 15th centuries. Later they became more commonly known for their artistic depictions via paintings, carvings, etchings, poems, and songs centered around Jesus’ crucifixion.

For hundreds of years, the 14 Stations were (and still are) displayed in chapels/cathedrals/churches around the world. Today, they have been updated as the “Scriptural Way of the Cross” which I think is a more Biblical portrayal.

Take a look:

1. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane,
2. Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested,
3. Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin,
4. Jesus is denied by Peter,
5. Jesus is judged by Pilate,
6. Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns,
7. Jesus takes up His cross,
8. Jesus is helped by Simon to carry His cross,
9. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem,
10. Jesus is crucified,
11. Jesus promises His kingdom to the repentant thief,
12. Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other,
13. Jesus dies on the cross,
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.

They serve as a simple, but effective reminder of the events from a day that changed everything! While our church is not Catholic, we can appreciate the tradition and use it to illustrate Jesus’ final hours (before His resurrection three days later).

This month, we’ll be having two unique services that will present what happened on that day nearly 2000 years ago, yet still has its full weight and effect on us now. It’s going to be unlike anything we’ve ever done!

Come join us at the Center Theater and bring someone new to experience this.

Palm Sunday – April 17th at 11:00 am

Easter Sunday – April 24th at 11:00 am

One of my favorite passages can be found in Matthew 26:36-46…

36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.
41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Pretty intense, right? What we see here was Jesus arriving with his crew to pray in the garden. He told them to keep watch, but instead they dozed off. What happened next was Judas came with Roman soliders and temple guards to arrest Jesus, and He was put to trial as an innocent man and was crucified later that day.

They wasted that time they were given (when they were told to “keep watch”) and ended up witnessing their friend (and savior) be taken away.

This reminds me of something…

If I were to get on Facebook right now, I guarantee you I’d see teenagers’ status updates saying, “I hope today goes by fast.” or “Can’t wait til the weekend”

There’s been a recent YouTube phenomenon in the form of a song called “Friday” by this girl named Rebecca Black. It’s pretty much a really lame, teeny-bopper, modern day version of the 80′s classic from the group Loverboy, “Everybody’s Working for the Weekend”. Just with worse dancing… (yes, it’s that bad!)

Here’s sample of the profound, life-altering lyrics, just in case you were wondering:

It’s Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin’ down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend

Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend

She’s only 13 years old! What in the world is she talking about? “Partyin’ ” at Chuck E. Cheese?

But this is such a sad commentary on teenage life… that Monday through Friday is just purgatory until heaven in the blissful form of “the weekend” gets here.

Here’s a newsflash to these kids: Life doesn’t change! We go from 8-3 to 9-5. It doesn’t get easier, only harder!

What’s also sad is that I see adults say the same exact things as the teenagers… “I hope today goes by fast.” or “Can’t wait til the weekend”. The adults have different modes of escape however; to the beach, lake, football games, etc. All of these things are fine in and of itself, but when you’re working towards that each and every week, what are you living for? In fact, maybe a better question is, WHO are you living for?

When we take on this weekend mentality, we are essentially wasting 71% of our life! This shows gross unappreciation for what God has blessed us with! If we keep looking towards what’s ahead in life, we’re never going to be truly fulfilled/happy/content.

All we have to do is look at the devastation in Japan right now. Do you think they’d trade lives with the whiny 13 year olds or the suburban working class of today? How selfish and spoiled are we?

If we look back at Matthew 26, Jesus was TICKED at the disciples for not keeping watch and instead sleeping through the biggest moment they’d have to experience (up to that point).

This is a lot like our lives. We waste our time while we miss out while the most important experiences are passing us by due to our laziness (apathy). We’re plenty content with how we spend our time fruitlessly because we’ve lost sight of what our purpose in life is… to love God and love His people by serving God and serving His people.

When I was a teenager, I couldn’t wait to “grow up”. Instead of living out my faith as a young Christian, I wasted my time by playing my guitars and video games all night, and just goofing off in general. I didn’t take like seriously because I thought I didn’t have to! I hadn’t felt the responsibility of my faith in making my life at that point in time count for something.

In John 10:10, Jesus says:

10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

“Thief” = devil. He accomplishes this by trying to steal our time, kill our spirit, and destroy our relationship with God. The thief also tries to steal away hurting and lost people, kill them spiritually/emotionally/physically, and destroy their hope in a better way of life.

Peter warns others about this in 1 Peter 5:8…

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

We’re letting the thief get away with it too, with our apathetic approach to the “weekday grind.” Instead of “keeping watch” as Jesus instructed the disciples to do, we sit back in our comfortable confines of Christian isolation from the world. We don’t even bother to “watch Rome burn”!

Problem is, life today isn’t some “Left Behind” sequel, where dramatic spiritual warfare is illustrated with street fights and societal chaos (or bad acting). Instead something as simple as letting a friend continue to fall into the holes they dig for themselves with sinful behavior is the far more likely outcome of a battle we have lost without even trying.

We’ll say from a vantage point, “they should read their Bibles more” or “they need to come to church” yet we never get down in the pit with them to help find their way out!

Let’s look at the second half of the passage of John 10:10. Jesus says in opposition to the thief who steals, that He GIVES life… and not some ordinary, any old kind of life either! This is an abundant life! One that’s full, if not overflowing with joy, peace, and excitement, the kinds of which can’t be found in lasting supplies in this world.

Since we’ve had John 3:16 drilled into our heads thanks to Sunday school and narrowly focused Bible teaching, we often merely associate Jesus with just our eternal life (going to heaven). That obviously is not a bad thing, but here in John 10:10, Jesus is talking about life in the present tense (as in right now).

If you have Jesus Christ in your life… it simply cannot be boring! Why? Because you are a new creation with a spirit-born purpose that drives you. To top it all off, you have Jesus Christ inside of you!

The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 2:20…

20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

To sum this all up: your life is worth living NOW! Not next year. Not 5, 10, 20, years from now… BUT RIGHT NOW! Each day is full of opportunities to show the love, grace, and hope of God to someone who desperately needs to know it! You can make an impact on their lives NOW! They need to see a wonderful, abundant life exampled by you!

Regretting your daily weekday life ain’t going to do it though. “Tomorrow morning” should not be a four-letter word in your vocabulary. It’s not something worth dreading, but rather a great gift that we receive from a God who loves us more than we could ever comprehend.

What are you doing with the life that’s been handed to you? If your weekdays are just a sacrifice for the false god called “the weekend”, something needs to change (and fast).

Repent of this behavior and embrace the full life that is freely given to us through Jesus Christ!