Life's Short... Stop Wasting It!

Recently my pastor has been preaching about the end times. With 12/21/12 coming up soon and all of the hype about that date being predicted to be the day that a huge catastrophe or even the end of the world will happen, he thinks it's important that we be reminded about what God says about the end times.

Now I'm not going to say that there definitely won't be any big event happening on that date. But I can say with quite a bit of certainty that it will not be the end of the world.

This subject in general did get me thinking though. And a combination of things that my pastor said about the rapture occurring (1 Cor 15:50-58, 1 Thess 4:13-18), standing before the Judgement Seat of Christ (1 Cor 3:10-15; 2 Cor 5:10) where all of the things we've done during our lives will be judged, and that we're all here to fulfill God's plan for our lives before we die got me thinking. And when he said that he believes the only reason why Jesus hasn't come back yet is because he is being patient with humanity and trying to allow us enough time for people to hear the truth and decide whether to follow Him or not.

After thinking about it for a little while, it reminds me of a concept called the tipping point that is really an economic or social economics concept that was popularized by Malcom Gladwell in his book of the same name. It can basically be described by saying that regarding a certain technology, belief, concept, invention, etc. there won't initially be very many people who subscribe to it. But as some do, more will. And then before those people did, even more will. This continues at a slowly increasing pace until at a certain point, the rate explodes so that it becomes the norm/new standard/etc. That point is the called the tipping point.

I wonder if Jesus is waiting to return until the population of the earth reaches a tipping point in the balance of good and evil in the world. It seems as if there is more and more evil in the world as the years go by, but there is still plenty of good to counteract that evil too (at least in my opinion) - even though it's not reported nearly as much in the news. But that balance still seems like it's shifting more and more toward evil.

So then if the balance is shifting towards evil more and more, and Jesus really is waiting until the world reaches a tipping point before He returns, then it really could happen fairly soon - within my lifetime. So maybe I really don't have much time because even if I think I'll live to be 90 (I'm 29 now), maybe Jesus will return before that so my life will be shorter than I think it will. Now I know there are plenty of other ways my life could be cut shorter than that too, but that's not important here...

So it all finally clicked. If I am going to do what God has planned for me to do, then I really should be doing my best to get going on it and work on it as quickly and as well as I can, as soon as I can. And every day that passes by, brings me one day closer to either the day Jesus comes back or the day I die and meet Him that way. So every day I waste not doing what God's plan for me is, is a day I've wasted in. That's a day where almost everything I did will probably be burned up when I'm in front of the Judgement Seat of Christ.

I don't want to waste my time, effort, money, and emotions on things that are just going to be burned up! How stupid would that be?!?! So I have a renewed sense of purpose and sense of urgency about how I live my life now.

I don't know where you are in your life or the path God has laid out for you to follow. But I encourage you to think about these things a little bit and maybe you'll develop a bigger and better sense of purpose and urgency like I have. The more of us who do, and then act on it, the better!!!

Mega Blessings!

How to Make Better Decisions

This article is about how to make better choices by asking yourself 3 or 4 questions before deciding which option you want to choose. The choices are based on a video series and workbook by Andy Stanley, a Pastor at North Point Community Church.

We all have to make choices in life. And sometimes we’re put into situations where knowing which choice to make is very difficult. But if you ask yourself these three questions (4 if you’re a Christian), then you will undoubtedly make better choices in those situations.

The first question you need to ask yourself is: “What is the real reason why I would want to choose each option?” We are all experts at deceiving ourselves and rationalizing our decisions to choose options that we know deep down aren’t the best ones to choose. Do you really want to eat everything on your plate even though you’re full because there are starving children in Africa so it’s not right for you to waste food? Or is it really because you like the taste of it? Do you want to tell your friend that you can’t help them move because you really have something else more important to do? Or is it because you just don’t want to do the work?

When you are faced with a decision to make, ask yourself what the real reason for your choice would be. I’m not saying that this will guarantee that you’ll definitely choose the best option if you ask yourself this question – but at least you won’t be lying to yourself about it anymore which is a good start.

The next questions to ask is: “What is the story I want to be able to tell?” When you have a decision to make – especially a big one – think about what the probable result will be months and years down the road. How do you want to be able to tell that story?

As time passes in our lives, all events no matter how big and important they seemed while they were happening, get boiled down to a few sentences in the story of our lives. If you’ve made poor choices in the past, if you were to tell your story to someone you’d probably gloss over those pretty quickly, leave out the details about the poor choices you made, or be somewhat ashamed, embarrassed or regretful about them. Those aren’t fun stories to tell…

When we tell our stories, we want to be able to tell good stories. We want to tell stories that make us look like good people, where we had adversities but overcame them because of the good choices we made. So think about what your story will be like depending on the option you choose before you make your decisions and choose the one that will result in a story you will want to tell.

The third question you need to ask yourself when faced with a decision to make is: “Is there a tension that needs my attention?” Many times when we are about to make a decision to choose one option rather than the other(s), we’ll feel a little uncomfortable about it for some reason. Maybe your conscience is nagging you about it for some reason, or you don’t feel quite right about one little aspect of that option, or it just doesn’t feel quite right.  Pay attention to that tension you’re experiencing – it may be because that’s not the best option for you to choose.

When you feel a tension about a particular option, pay attention to it! Don’t just dismiss it and move on. Stop and dwell on it for a second and let it get as big as it can get. If after you dwell on it for a little while, you don’t feel right about it then that should give you an idea of whether or not that’s the right option for you to choose. Or maybe after you dwell on it for a bit, you realize it’s really no big deal or you just need a little more information to ease that tension. Either way, in order to make the best choice you can, you must pay attention to any tension you feel before you make your choice.

Lastly, if you are a Christian, there is another question you should ask yourself. This one can be a little dangerous though because it may cause you to do things that you would otherwise not have done, and that may seem strange to non-Christians. This question is: “What would be most honoring to God?”

When you ask this question, you are really getting to the heart of being able to make the best decision possible. Our lives as Christians are dedicated to being as much like Christ as possible, more and more each day. We are to be obedient to God in all our thoughts and actions. Obviously, we fail at that pretty often since we’re not perfect. But our goal is to strive for perfection nonetheless. So when you ask this question, you may find that it would be most honoring to God to do something that you would not have done otherwise. Maybe if your decision is about where to go on vacation, when you ask this question, the thought about the single mother you met in church the other day. The one who just lost her job because her car broke down and she didn’t have the money to get it fixed so she couldn’t get to work and you overheard praying for help from God to help her with her finances so she could get food and clothes for her kids, get a new job, and fix her car. Maybe you’d realize that it would be most honoring to God to give her an anonymous gift of the money you were going to go on vacation with and skip your fancy getaway vacation this year and just spend some more time with your family and friends during your vacation instead.

Most non-Christians would think that was crazy – nice, but crazy! Even many Christians would likely be surprised. But God would be proud and would undoubtedly bless you in ways you couldn’t imagine. You’d have a good story to tell, and the single mother would have an even better one, and both stories would bring glory to God as they should. You would feel good about yourself and have no tension in the decision you made, and you would have no problem admitting to yourself what the real reason you made that choice was.

So the next time you have a decision to make – especially a big one – stop and ask yourself these questions first. They will help guide you towards making more good decisions, and your life and the lives of others will be better because of them. 

Free Will

I just wrote a post on another blog I write in regarding free will, and my justification for why I believe we have free will includes references to God. So if you're interested, check it out!  =)

http://vance-iwonder.blogspot.com/2012/08/free-will.html

Redirection in Blog Purpose

Dear Reader,

I have decided to redirect the purpose of this blog. Since I haven't written much here recently that I've thought of on my own (since I honestly just have been focused on other things), I'm going to change the focus on this blog so that I will have more inspiration to write and hopefully provide some useful insights to others at the same time.

So this blog is now going to be a journal of sorts. I go to church every Sunday and listen to great sermons that make me think deeply about things for a while afterwards. So I am going to start writing my thoughts about those things in this blog. Therefore, there will probably be a new post each week related to something I've recently heard in a sermon at my church (which is Grand Rapids First with Senior Pastor Sam Rijfkogel by the way).

Please check back every week or so for a new post and let me know what you think! I'd love to get some good dialog going on the things I write here.  =)

Thanks, and God Bless!
Vance

"God Particle" - The Perfect Name for The Higgs Boson

"God Particle" - The Perfect Name for The Higgs Boson

The Tightrope of Confidence: A Balance Between Pride & Humility

Okay, I'll finally admit it - I have a confidence problem. But probably not in the way you think. Let me explain...

It's pretty clear that if you are a Christian with a strong faith in God, there is no way you should have low self-confidence or self-esteem. After all, here are some of the things the Bible has to say about this subject:

• Hebrews 13:6 (ESV) - So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"
• Philipians 4:13 (NKJV) - I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
• Joshua 1:9 (ESV) - Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
• Hebrews 4:16 (NLT) - So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

As Christians, we have the power of God available to us at all times as long as we are doing acting according to His word. There is nothing for us to fear. And we can do anything. If that knowledge and belief doesn't give you confidence, nothing will.

But we shouldn't be prideful or arrogant either. When we come out of a time of need, we usually have no problem giving thanks to God for His help. But when things have been going well for us for a while, we tend to stop giving the glory to God, and instead start attributing our success to our own abilities, intelligence, and authority or power. And while it may be true that those things are what allowed us to achieve those successes, we forget that it was God who gave them to us in the first place! This is what I have the hardest time remembering - that is until God gives me some "constructive criticism" and reminds me how weak I really am without Him. 

• Proverbs 11:2 (NLT) - Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
• Proverbs 16:16 (NIV) - Pride does before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
• Proverbs 26:12 (NKJV) - Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

The right balance of pride and humility is confidence. Romans 12:3 (NKJV) says "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." 

The way we think about humility nowadays is closer to weakness or spineless. That is why I'm using the word "confident" in describing what I believe we should be in our daily lives.

We should be confident in our skills, abilities, intelligence, and especially in our faith in God. Now it is also true that we each have a different level of faith, and our expectations of what we can do should be appropriate to the amount of faith we have. Any more and we're being too confident - leading to arrogance. Any less and we're not being confident enough - leading to spinelessness or laziness. It's a tightrope we all walk every day. Once you understand this though, you can start working on your balance. 

Unanswered Prayers

Chances are that if you've prayed more than once in the past, you probably feel like you've had some unanswered prayers - I know I used to think that! But I've recently realized that there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer (when you are a Christian anyway).

I would like to challenge you to think a little more deeply about prayers that you feel are still unanswered. God always answers your prayers - all of them. And it's great when you get to see the answer first hand! When you receive unexpected money to pay your bills, or something else happens to solve a problem you have after you've prayed about it, it makes you happy and further solidifies the belief that God is good. But when we don't see the answer to our prayers that we can become disheartened.

This is when it's important to remember that it's not because God didn't answer your prayer, He simply didn't answer it the way you expected. There are more possible answers to prayers than you could possibly think of, but some of the possibilities you should think about are:

• The answer is to be patient because it's not the right time yet for things to change.
• The answer is something you perceive as negative in the moment, but will later realize that it was the best thing that could have happened to you.
• And definitely more often than we'd like: the answer is "no."

These are just as much answers to prayers as are miracles. Part of the reason we don't always get our prayers answered like we want them to be is because we're asking for the wrong things. Who are we to say what the answer to our prayers should be? Do we really know what's best for us? Most of us would like to think we do, but I bet that if we got everything we wanted, we would end up a miserable mess. Who better than God to decide what the best possible answer to our prayers should be? So why do we keep asking Him for what we think we want, instead of asking Him for the ability to discern His will and accept it as being the best possible thing that could happen, even if we don't yet understand why that is so?

And unfortunately for us, there are probably even prayers that will go seemingly unanswered for our whole lives. It may just be that some of our prayers won't be answered until after we've already passed away. But I'm willing to bet that when things like that happen, we will still be able to see our prayers get answered while we're up in Heaven. And I think we'll be rewarded for remaining faithful even when we don't like God's answer, or don't understand it.

All prayers are answered. And they are answered with the best answer possible - whether it's immediate or lifetimes away, whether we understand it or not, and even when the answer is "no."