Back to the Basics: Part Two

In part one, I wrote about how this year I am focusing on getting back to the basics of life in terms of my health, decluttering and time. In part two, though, I want to focus more specifically on getting back to the basics of faith. What does it mean to be a Christian? What causes us to lose sight of what our faith is about?

First and foremost, being a Christian at its most basic level means being a follower of Christ. You believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection on the cross paid the penalty for your sins completely. So nothing you do can “get” you into Heaven.

God’s gift of salvation is just that — it’s a gift. You cannot earn it. But you can accept this gift completely and sufficiently as a payment for your sins. 

OK, I need to pause because WOW! Praise God for this wonderful gift. Praise God that we do NOT earn our salvation. Praise God that he accepts me as a sinner and washes me completely from my sin because of His Son’s blood.

..He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit… (Titus 3:5)

So having received this gift of salvation, we live to worship God out of gratitude, humility and love.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1)

It’s as simple as that right? Just be a living sacrifice. No explanation needed. Well, wait. What does it mean to be a living sacrifice? What does it mean to live in a manner worthy of the Gospel (Philippians 1:27)?

I think it can be summarized well with this verse:

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Overall, this looks like getting in the Word and in prayer every day in order to spend time with God (John 15:5). This looks like loving your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39) and serving others well (Mark 10:45). This looks like fleeing from sins that entangle you and pursuing righteous (Hebrews 12:1-2). This is the big picture.

But sometimes we can get into the nitty gritty details about specifically what Christian living looks like in various areas and disagree.

Person A thinks reading a lot Christian books is necessary (I may or may not be in this camp…haha). Person B thinks listening to secular music is wrong. Person C thinks only holding hands is appropriate while dating. Person D thinks and so on and so on.

I fear that when we get into these conversations, when we disagree and can’t find common ground on things that are so minimal, we are missing the common ground we do have. We are missing the Gospel. We are missing what this whole thing is about. We need to back “home” (or paragraph 2 of this post). We need to be reminded of the grace God has extended to us and look at the bigger picture. If we don’t, the enemy has us right where he wants us: distracted, divided and disheartened.

So this year, let’s all make it our mission to remember the Gospel in every conversation. Remember it when we agree, disagree, correct, love, rebuke and spur one another on. With the hope that these disagreements will be minimal because we remember that we are all playing on the same team.

Quarter-Life Crisis

Most of my friends and I just turned 25. And the other day, I was having a conversation with a really close friend about this thing known as the “quarter-life crisis.” You see, when you are younger, your whole life seems mapped out: after elementary school, you go to middle school; after middle school, high school; after high school, college; and after college, you think you’ll get a great job and get married and have kids. But what you don’t account for is that in-between time you get that great job or the in-between time before you get married and have kids.

The quarter-life crisis sounds something like this:

“I do the same thing every day. Is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life?” 

“I thought I would be married by now, and I’m not even dating anyone. What is the deal? Should I be freaking out?” 

“Should I stay in X (insert your current home city) ,or should I leave and move somewhere else? I mean, I have nothing tying me down here.”

“If I were to leave my job and do something else, I don’t even know what I would want to do.” 

“Some of my friends are already married with kids. And I’m over here barely able to take care of myself. Am I behind? Will I end up alone?” 

Although, I haven’t totally reached a crisis per-say, I have asked myself most of these questions. This is a really weird age. You reach a point where you don’t know what the next step is, and you ask yourself, “is this really it?”

Recently, one of my “heroes of the faith” passed away, Elisabeth Elliot. I loved this woman because of her no-nonsense attitude and her rich testimony. Her first husband, Jim Elliot, was one of five missionaries speared to death while trying to share the Gospel with the Waorani tribe in Ecuador. Two years after her husband’s death, she returned to Ecuador to share the Gospel with the Waorani. And this time, they were saved (at least one-third of the entire tribe!). NOTE: I did not do this amazing story justice. For more information on Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, see here and here. 

Elliot eventually returned to the U.S. and married again a few years later, but sadly her second husband passed away from cancer shortly after they married. She went on to publish more than 30 books, whose sales were in the millions and translated into 9 languages. And she became a sought-after speaker in churches across the U.S.

Elisabeth Elliot has this quote that I want to tape on my forehead: “Trust in God, obey him and do the next thing.” Do the next thing, people. How simple, yet profound is that? And Elliot did just that. She trusted God when her circumstances were confusing and chaotic, and she did the next thing. She didn’t fret or worry. She didn’t try to plan years of her life out. She just did whatever the LORD lead her to do next.

Now you’re probably wondering how this all relates to my quarter-life crisis. Well, that quote is the answer, my friend. When I start fretting or worrying about my future, I think of Elisabeth Elliot, her quote and focus on doing the next thing because that’s all I can do. We spend so much time spinning our wheels planning what our five year and ten year plans are, but in reality, we are not in control of them. Yes, we can “do the next thing” in the right direction of our goals, but God’s plans will ultimately prevail.

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. (Isaiah 7:9)

So what is that next thing for you? What are you fretting and worrying about you just need to be obedient to the LORD and make a move? How are you feeding your heart to know what the next move is? Are you in the Word? Are you prayerfully asking the LORD to lead you?

With all that said, I’m off to do the next thing.

For more on Elizabeth Elliot, see here and here (different links than above).

Putting Out a Fleece

Gideon was a man who received clear direction from God, but continually questioned whether what he was hearing was true. Friends, I can think of many times where I have “pulled a Gideon,” and though I was getting clear direction from God, I chose to question him instead.

Just to set us up here, the Israelites were being impoverished by the Midianites and cried out to the LORD for help. The Israelites at this time though were worshipping other gods, even though the one true God had been faithful to them countless times (i.e. delivering them out of Egypt and out of slavery, helping them defeat people groups for land, etc.).

God responded to their cries by sending an angel of the LORD to Gideon to tell him that he was going to save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Gideon didn’t believe God though. The LORD told him multiple times that he would be with him and help him to defeat the Midianites, but Gideon questioned God because his clan was the weakest and he was the least in his family.

Gideon asked God to give him a sign three separate times. Each time the LORD did what Gideon asks, yet Gideon still questioned him.

Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised – look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said. And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleet and wrung out the dew – a bowlful of water.

Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered in dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered in dew. (Judges 6:36-40)

Gideon’s fleece is not a sign of faith, nor is it him searching to figure out God’s will. It is a desperate grasp for security by someone who clearly knows what God’s will is, but is reluctant to do it. There is no other character in all of the book of Judges who receives more divine assurance that they are hearing God’s voice and yet no character in the book doubts more. Gideon had a weak faith. But God used Gideon in spite of himself to display his power to all of the Israelites. Gideon is even listed in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11.

Instead of putting out fleeces and trying to get God to give us signs, we should trust him when he gives us clear direction about something. If it aligns with God’s Word, is pleasing to him and we have prayed about it, we should be able to trust that we are making the right decision.

Just like God promised, he delivered Gideon and the Israelites from the hands of the Midianites. However, the Israelites still did not let God’s continued faithfulness change their behavior. Even after all this happened and they were saved from the hand of Midian, they went back to prostituting themselves to other gods.

I can relate to Gideon’s hesitation and lack of faith in getting clear direction from God.  I think a lot of times we miss God’s direction because we don’t always want to hear his answer and are reluctant to do what he is telling us. Gideon had a weak faith. I pray that my faith would be stronger – that I would trust God despite the circumstances and listen to him when I am given clear direction.

Judges 6-8 really blessed me this week. If you have been getting clear direction from God and are reluctant to follow through, I would encourage you to read it. Don’t put out a fleece – God doesn’t need to give you signs. If you are being obedient to him, your heart should align with his, and he will give you the direction you need. Trust him.