Do you try to “do” too much with your faith?

I know I do. It’s an easy trap to fall into, it seems. I get focused on all the work I do, such as my daily Bible readings, and lesson studies, and youth ministry work, and I catch myself starting to see that as the path to staying in God’s good favor.

But that’s not how it works. Paul addresses this in Ephesians 2:8-9:

Nothing I can do can earn my place in God’s sight. I am totally dependent upon him, trusting that he will carry me.

It’s good to be reminded of this.

Do you ever get so focused on doing that you forget this promise? What do you do to combat this? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

You may know that my family recently moved from Missouri to Florida.

With a family of seven, that’s a big move. And, inevitably, some things got lost in the transfer.

One such item was the bag of hardwear for the baby crib. A good friend of ours, Patrick, helped me take apart the crib a dew days before our moving day. We moved the pieces to our storage unit, and out of the house. In the process, I intentionally put the bag of bolts in my car and left them there so I’d be able to put my hands on them right away when we got to our new house.

It took me two weeks to find them.

I searched my car. Multiple times. I emptied the console. Searched under the seats. I even started digging through the stacks of boxes in the garage that have yet to be unpacked.

I stressed. I complained. I vented. Sometimes loudly.

No bolts.

I looked everywhere, and most places more than once.

Somehow, in this process, I discovered that my focus was misplaced. I needed to reevaluate my mindset a bit, like Paul tells us in Colossians 3:2:

When our mind is set on things above, our perspective tends to be more clear. We can see the bigger picture more easily.

But when our minds are set on earthly things, we start to lose ourselves in a whirlwind of confusion, anxiety, and distraction.

I’m not saying that when I calmed down my search and reevaluated my priorities, God led me to that which was lost. But I am saying that he could have.

I’m not saying that God stirred my mind and heart to seek first him and his kingdom. But I am saying that sounds like something he would do.

And so I calmed my spirit, focused more on things above.

And a couple of days later, I found those bolts.

They were in the glove compartment of my car. Right where I put them when Patrick and I took the crib apart that day.

How do you keep your mind set on things above? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

My family is embarking on a new chapter of our lives. We moved to Florida at the first of the month. There are a lot of new experiences we are facing, most of which require a significant amount of trust in the Lord.

The Bible tells us frequently to trust. One of those statements is found in Psalm 37:5-6:

Being a family with roots in the Bible Belt of the Midwest, Florida comes with a bit of culture shock. There are several things we will have to adjust ourselves to, including the weather.

But there are many things different here; the culture, the very mindset, is something new to us.

And so we are called to trust.

That can be very hard, especially when everything you know is 1000 miles away.

But when we trust, the psalmist says, God will make our righteousness shine.

Every time I’ve ever leaned on God, he draws the glory to himself. He displays himself through me.

Funny, isn’t it?

In what circumstances do you need to commit yourself to trusting God right now? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

If you know much about me, you know that I am very passionate about the creation narrative, and the creation passages found throughout the rest of the Bible.

One such passage is found in Romans 1:20-21:

While this passage doesn’t tell us much about the creation events themselves, it does give us some incredible insight into God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature.

Since these qualities of the Creator are so clearly demonstrated in the creation, we have no excuse; nature itself proclaims that there is a God, and points us to him.

But this passage also tells us that if we choose to ignore this, the consequences are dire.

That’s something I choose to avoid. I choose to see God in what I see around me: the colors of the flowers and trees, the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico, the beauty in the clouds as the sun outlines them in silver and gold.

Creation itself shows us that there is a God, and he loves us very dearly.

When is the last time you saw God in your surroundings? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Do you ever wonder if you make things too complicated?

I know I do. Everything I do seems to take me more time and effort than it does for everyone else.

Take a quick look at this week’s verse. It’s from John 6:29:

I remember once, when we lived in Indiana, I needed to leave the office early so I could pack for a weekend youth retreat. I estimated, accurately, that I would need most of the afternoon to gather, organize and pack what I would need for the next three days.

Our senior minister took me aside and gave me a rather severe lecture about “insulting his intelligence” by telling him I needed the afternoon to pack. He told me that if I wanted to spend the afternoon with my family, then simply say so. Don’t lie to him and call it “packing”. He told me he only needed a few minutes to pack for a weekend such as this.

Here’s the problem with that scenario. My family was gone for the afternoon. I had already said my good-byes to them. I legitimately needed the time to gather my clothes, my supplies for the parts of the retreat I was responsible for, organize it all, and get it packed in time to meet up with the students going on the trip. And guess what? I didn’t forget anything, like most people do, it seems.

His assumption was totally wrong.

I know that I could have probably packed faster if I wasn’t so anal about organization. But I am. I was then, and may be even more so now, in many ways.

I used the entire afternoon to first gather everything. I then located a bag that would fit my needs. I then packed it, probably two or three times, getting things in it just so. After loading it in my car, double and triple checking everything, I headed back to the church to leave for the weekend.

I needed all that time.

I know that I tend to needlessly complicate many things in my life.

It’s who I am, it seems.

I know that we needlessly complicate many things in our faith as well.

We make so many rules and regulations that have to be met for us to be “good Christians”. Like reading the Bible so often, praying every day, church attendance, and on and on and on…

But Jesus reminds us just how simple it really is.

Believe.

Faith.

It’s really that simple.

Do you tend to make things more complicated than you need to? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

The Bible is full of so many beautiful promises from God. You can hardly read through a page or two without discovering a promise that He’s given to us.

Take for example this week’s passage from Isaiah 26:3-4:

God promises perfect peace. What could be better than that?

But is there a catch?

Yes.

Peace comes to the one whose mind is steadfast because he trusts God.

And then Isaiah breaks into a bit of worship in the last half of the passage.

Peace comes when we trust.

So trust.

In what areas of your life do you need the peace that can only come from trusting God? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

I don’t know about you, but I can be pretty timid at times.

I don’t like confrontation, although I can do it when necessary. But sometimes, my natural inclination is to step back and not be directly involved.

Take a look at this week’s passage. It’s 2 Timothy 1:7:

In order to get a better handle on this, I looked up the words timidity and timid in the dictionary. Here’s what I found:

1. lacking in self-assurance, courage, or bravery; easily alarmed; timorous; shy.
2. characterized by or indicating fear: a timid approach to a problem.

God tells us pretty explicitly that he didn’t give us a spirit of timidity. You’d think that the opposite of that is that he gave us a spirit of boldness.

While that may be true, that isn’t what the text says. Paul writes that God gives us “a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”

Wait. What?

Timidity is lacking in self-assurance, courage or bravery. But Paul says that the opposite virtues are power, love and self-discipline.

Maybe we need to rethink our definition of timidity. Because I’ve never really associated it in the way Paul does.

So this week, I’ll be looking at my life and see where I need to apply more power, love and self-discipline.

And I might even do it boldly!

What areas of your life need to see this new opposite of timidity? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.