Shoot for the Stars

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

We use this Bible verse a lot in our modern world - we see it on t-shirts, key-chains, and that sort of thing on a pretty regular basis. We tend to focus on the spiritual application of this verse; if we endure through sin, we can find strength in Christ. That is definitely the primary focus of this verse, and that lesson is something that we all need to keep in mind as we go through life. Today, however, I'd like to take a quick look at an every-day physical application of this verse.

One of the key differences between a Christian and a non-Christian is the near-inhuman level of endurance that Christians have. We can persevere through anything and everything - a quick look at the bloody history of persecution that the church has faced is proof of this.

We persevere because we know that Christ holds the future. No matter what happens to us, no matter how discouraging or painful events in our lives may be, it will get better. If you follow the pattern that God has set for us in the scriptures, and if you pray to him for the things that you need and want, you can know - without a doubt - that everything will ultimately work out. 

In other words, no matter how hard we fall on our face - if we are persistent and we put him first - we can find comfort in knowing that everything will work out in the end. (James 4)

The point I'm trying to make is this: next time you have a goal that seems unreachable, next time you want to accomplish something but the "rules" of society tell you "you can't," don't be afraid to try anyway. 

Try your best and let God do the rest.

Show the world that Christians are persistent - we have no fear because God is on our side - and allow God's infinite power to help you reach your goals. When you get discouraged, just remind yourself of this: if God is with us, who can be against us? (Rom. 8:31)

In Christian love, 
- Bro. Ethan

The Model Prayer

Why do you pray?
In Luke 11, one of the 12 apostles asked Jesus how to pray, so He gave him an example prayer.

First, Jesus instructs the apostles to address the Father and to express their desire for the Father's will to be done. Even in prayer, Jesus wants us to put God first.

In Matthew's account of this story, found in Mt. 6, Jesus instructs his apostles to pray "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." When I pray, I often find myself asking for selfish things: "Help me to pass this test." "Please allow me to be able to afford this house." "Please make me a better Resident Advisor." Things like that.

However, by following Jesus' example, I ought to ensure that - first and foremost - the things that I ask for will benefit God, that they will show His glory to the world! Following Jesus' example, I should pray things like "Help me to pass this test so that I may have a career in which I can spread Your word, but ultimately - Your will be done." "Please allow me to be able to afford this house so that I can have others in my home and share my blessings with them - but Your will be done. If You do not want me to have this house, then I am okay with that." "Please make me a better Resident Advisor so others can see You working through me. Please help me to become better so I can use my leadership position to spread Your gospel." If I always put God first in my prayers, then I'll know that everything I'm asking for is actually something worth asking for.

Second, Jesus instructs them to pray for the things that are necessary for life. "Give us this day our daily bread." He instructed the apostles to pray with a mindset in which they were only concerned with having what they needed that day, trusting God to provide for them. Interestingly, Jesus didn't tell them to pray "Give me what I need." as I am prone to do, he said to pray for "us." One of the lessons which I think we can take from this is that we should pray for others.

After studying this verse, I began praying for the necessities of life in a different way. Usually I'll say something like "Please bless others as you have blessed me with the things I need to survive and please continue to bless us today." That's just an example - the words we say aren't the focus of this post - it's about the attitude we have when we pray. Let's pray for others, so that they can be blessed with the same things that we have been blessed with.

Finally, Jesus prays about forgiveness and temptation. Mt. 6:12, 13 - "and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Jesus instructs the 12 to pray that God forgives their sins the way they forgave others who sinned against them. Once again, He uses "us" - when we pray, let's be sure to pray that God forgives everyone whom He has saved by His grace. We should also pray that those who are not yet saved will be saved, so that they too may have forgiveness of their sins.

When Jesus describes to the apostles how to pray about temptation, he uses interesting language: "lead us not into temptation." The immediate question would be: does God lead some people into temptation? Well, no. In James 1:13, we are told that God does not tempt. So what is happening here?

When someone makes a habit of sinning without repentance and totally rebels against God, to the point that there is not even a tiny speck of desire for God in their entire being, the Bible states that God "gave them up." We can see an example of this in Rom. 1:20-32. God continued to "hold them in his hand," to bless and protect them, waiting for them to change their minds. However, once they began to live in absolute open rebellion against the Lord, once they denied his protection...

He withdrew his protective hand, reserving access to His blessings and His protection for when they changed their minds. He never forces anything on anyone.

I believe that this is what Jesus is speaking of in this passage. He, in essence, told His disciples to pray that "When we are totally immersed in sin to the point that we totally refuse Your help, please don't give up on protecting us and blessing us - do something to show us the truth; do something that will deliver us from the evil that plagues us."

In my prayers, I include something along those lines and I would encourage each of you to do the same. I usually say something like "When I am utterly blind on something and the truth on the issue literally does not exist in my mind, please do not give up on me - show me the truth somehow and I will come around."

What can we draw from this beautiful example of a prayer? In this model prayer, Jesus instructs the 12 in much more than just praying for these four things, but today we talked specifically about praying that:

1. The Father's will is done before our own.
2. The Lord will bless us and everyone else with the necessities of life, day by day.
3. He will forgive the saved of their sins.
4. God will do everything to bring us back to the faith if we fall away.

From now on, if we have not yet incorporated these things into our prayers, let's make sure to do so - let's learn to pray as Jesus instructed his 12 apostles to pray.

Influence

Upon reading the title of this post, I’m guessing you either assumed this is going to be about “protecting one's reputation” or “living up to the name ‘Christian’”. 

Which one matters most; this one or that one? 

The answer is: both. For a couple of minutes, let’s stop and think about how others perceive us.

  

“…he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” – 1 Tim. 3:7 (ESV)

In 1 Tim. 3, verse seven, Paul describes to Timothy how those who are chosen to lead Christ’s church must be well thought of by outsiders. This piqued my curiosity – in 2 Tim. 3:12, Paul states that “all who desire to lead a Godly life will be persecuted”. 

Is this a contradiction? 

The qualities given for "overseers" are good qualities for anyone to have. 

If God gives us a list of the qualities for those whom he wants to lead his church, then we know that those standards are good standards to live up to.

With that in mind, one might say that this verse tells us it is good for every Christian to have a good reputation.

So, Christians are supposed to be well thought of by non-Christians, yet all who even desire to be Christians are going to be persecuted? 

What does it even mean to be a Christian? 

Christian means “Christ-like” – and Christ was beaten and crucified because He was hated so much by those who didn’t accept His teachings.

Yet, Paul still states that Christians, specifically the overseers, are to be well thought of by outsiders. 

How does this work?

Turn in your Bible to Titus 2:6-8. 

In these verses, Paul describes the ideal young man, but his advice can be applied to anyone who is a Christian. 

He describes someone who is self-controlled and a model of good works; someone who shows integrity, dignity, and sound speech in teaching so that he or she cannot be condemned; someone whose opponents will be put to shame because they have nothing evil to say of the individual. 

This verse pretty well ties 1 Tim. 3:7 and 1 Tim. 3:12 together. 

While Christians will be persecuted by others, it should only be for doing what is right in the sight of God. 

We should ensure that our speech is always “gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Col. 4:5, 6) 

If you are a Christian, as I am, then your light should shine as an example to the world; others should see us and think “what a generous, self-controlled, mature, joyful person that is; is that what it really means to be a Christian? I want to be like that.” 

If someone lives a Godly life, it does not necessarily guarantee that the persecution will end. 

However, by being consistent in dedicating oneself to meeting others’ spiritual and physical needs and guiding them towards Christ, not only can each one of us be a good influence for non-Christians, we will make those who persecute Christians feel guilty. 

“If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and The Lord will reward you.” (Prov. 25:21; Rom. 12:20, 21).

This does not mean that non-Christians are enemies to Christians, in the sense of a true enemy.

Enemies, in our modern sense of the word, fight and harm each other.

They fight so that they each may gain because of their enemy's loss.

This type of enmity is not what this verse is speaking of.

Rather, it means that all Christians should show generosity and kindness towards those who persecute us. 

By doing this, Christians will help non-believers and increase the potential influence that Christ can have in the lives of those who do not follow Him.

We can see this concept in action in Acts 2:14-41. 

Jesus Christ was completely innocent – He never once sinned or broke the laws of the land (render unto Caesar…Matt. 22:19-21), nor did He harm anyone. 

He loved everyone in the world, and He devoted His entire life to saving us. 

As the Jews who had killed Jesus listened to Peter’s message and realized that they had crucified the innocent Son of God, they realized what He had done for them. “...they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” 

In the same fashion, when others who persecute Christians realize that they have persecuted people who are self-controlled, a model of good works, who show integrity, dignity, and sound speech in their teaching – truly good people of whom no one can speak evil about – they will know that we are different. 

They will know that Christians are indeed Christ-like. Read John 15:18-25.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” 

No, that isn’t a Bible verse. 

It’s a quote from Spider-Man (my favorite superhero). 

However, this quote rings true in every part of our lives, especially in the Christian aspect, if you are a Christian. (Lk. 12:48). 

Those who are not yet saved look to Christians to see what life is like for someone who claims to be Christ-like; they look to Christians to show them who Jesus is. 

With that in mind; while we, as Christians, strive to better ourselves and present ourselves as good influences, let’s make sure that we aren’t bragging about the things we’re doing for God or trying to appear “holy”.

Before you read any further, read Matthew 5:3-7:27. It’s a long reading, I know, but this section of scripture is one of the best scriptures I’ve found on influence.

While we could go into much more detail on influence, I think it is safe to summarize everything we could say about the Christian's reputation by generally stating that having a good reputation is a must. 

Even when Christians are persecuted, if others truly cannot find a solid reason to continue the persecution, they may be convicted of our innocence later and repent. 

Since the Christian's life is one of the main ways in which he or she can teach others, and since everyone will be held accountable for our actions, let’s all show integrity, dignity, and sound speech as we live from day to day. 

More importantly, let’s live as close as we can to the same exact way Christ would live if He were in our shoes, based upon what we can discern from his teachings. 



“And I heard the voice of The Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” And He said, “Go, and say to this people…” (Is. 6:8, 9) 

Many in the world today wear the name Christ, but few are willing to make the sacrifice. 

If you are a Christian, join me in ensuring that we aren’t just wearing the name of Christ; let’s live up to it. 

I read a saying once on a fitness website – we can apply this to running the race that is set before us in Hebrews 12:

Those who win say it may be difficult but it is possible. Those who lose say it may be possible but it is too difficult. Which are you?

Thanks for reading, 

- Bro. Ethan

Pleasure

The world around us is full of distractions.

We know this.

So many times, we are reminded of this fact by our fellow Christians. That in and of itself is nothing new, so in this article, we’re not going to discuss the way we get distracted. We’re going to take a few minutes to think about why we get distracted.

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If someone were to open an article with what I just wrote, I would think something like this: “Oh okay, so he’s going to write about where our heart is and priorities.” Well, no. That’s actually not what I’m going to write about either. In this article, we’re going to discuss pleasure.

What do you enjoy doing, other than the obvious things? (Praying, studying God’s word, etc.)

Besides doing things to strengthen my (and others’) relationship with Christ, I personally enjoy sleeping, eating, reading, making music, playing video games, and drinking coffee (and did I mention sleeping?). Occasionally, I’ll work out.

Sadly, that’s about all I do in my spare time.

If someone gave you a piece of paper and told you to list your top five favorite things to do, and you were the only person who would see it – you could throw it away when you were done – what would they be?

In this article, I’d like to present you with a point of view that I sometimes struggle to accept. I get distracted very easily, both when it comes to temporary goals and when it comes to long-term goals, so it’s hard for me to think about life through the lens that we are going to briefly discuss for a few moments.

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I hope that you’ll agree with me when I say that anything we choose to do “for fun” brings us pleasure.
(This is where you think “duh, Ethan.”)

That’s not a challenge for anyone to comprehend.

The part that’s hard for me to comprehend and live by, and may possibly be hard for you as well is that nothing brings lasting pleasure in this world except for one thing: love.

God is love, so it only makes sense right? We all know that only by following God’s word can we have lasting happiness; that’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about the things we actually “do.”

For example: I like to play video games.
That will never bring lasting happiness.
My two best friends both absolutely enjoy watching sports – any sport.
That will never bring lasting happiness.
Most people in the world, especially here in America, enjoy going on vacation.
That also will never bring lasting happiness.
  
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This is another point at which you’re thinking “obviously, we all know that Ethan, get to the point.”

The point is: what do you do to de-stress?

I’m not saying that these things I’ve listed are inherently wrong, because they’re not, but how do they rank on the list we discussed earlier? I can remember times that I’ve told people that I deeply care about

“yeah, I’ll talk to you later, I’m playing PlayStation,”
“hang on, the game is about to be over and I want to see this last touchdown”
“aw, come on! you walked right in front of the TV right as he shot that 3-pointer”
“this is my show, stop talking or I’m going to rewind it”
“will you stop interrupting me? I’m trying to read the newspaper”
or other, similar things.

Have you ever said anything like this?

I can think of many more times when I just pretended to pay attention to someone while he or she was trying to communicate with me because, at the time, I was absorbed in something else I enjoyed doing, like reading Facebook or watching a movie.

When did playing videogames become more important than talking with our parents?
When did the ballgame become more important than talking with our children?
When did the TV show become more important than talking with our spouses about how his or her day went?
When did that ball-game become more important than being on time for the worship service?

The answer to all these questions is simply that we have forgotten what brings us true happiness; it’s love.
Love brings us permanent happiness.

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I don’t know about you, but I tend to take many wonderful interactions, with family, friends, and even with random people that I meet throughout the day completely for granted.
To be honest, there have been plenty of times that I’ve had a friend call me or text me and tell me that he or she needs to talk with me about something, and I don’t even reply or respond because I’m lying there on my comfy, soft couch; I don’t want to stretch my arm far enough to grab my cell phone off the table.

Sometimes I may even be a little upset because the individual disrupted my moment of silence and aloneness, or interrupted the moment that I was taking to enjoy some form of entertainment!

How dare someone that I care about interrupt my TV show!
Right?

Wrong.

I’m sure there have been times in all of our lives when someone wanted and needed our attention, and I’m not saying that we need to forsake our previous obligations (God, family, etc.) to serve everyone in any way that they want us to.

This article is not about the love we must show towards those we aren’t intimately close to.
It is, however, about our deepest and most intimate friendships and relationships.
We need to try our best to put others – especially those closest to us – first in these specific situations.

I love playing videogames, but playing videogames by myself is only fun for so long, and if I ignore the people I care about while I’m doing it, I may be playing by myself for a long time when they politely find someone else to go to for company.

I also know quite a few people that truly love watching sports. Yes, I mean “love.”

I actually once heard of a fella that loves football so much that he will literally get angry if his wife walks in and starts telling him about her day during the pivotal touchdown of the game, or during a crucial play.
Can you believe that?

He actually gets angry and snaps at her because he’s that into the game.

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Now, in that example, he obviously values sports much more than I do, because I’m not the biggest fan, so I can’t say I know exactly how he feels, but I can say that compared to his marriage – compared to his family – it’s just a game.

Honestly, I can remember a time in my past when I would angrily snap at my girlfriend if she interrupted my Xbox Live Match because I couldn’t pause it.

Really?

No matter what we enjoy, whether it’s videogames, sports, vacation, sleeping, reading, anything,
none of that is any fun if we don’t have love in our lives.

At least, it’s not fun for any significant amount of time. We must have our deep, fulfilling personal friendships and relationships, centered around Christ, in order to be happy.

To illustrate my point: vacation is fun, but it’s not fun to go alone.

In other words, there is never a point in your life or in mine that the ball game is more important than a wife, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, child, best friend, or anything else.

There is never a point in time that my playing videogames, watching the ballgame, or making music matters more than my family or my friends.

If the people we are close to are okay with giving us our “me-time,” that’s great. They should be – we all need some alone time every once in a while to keep from going crazy.

We all need a break sometimes.

However, if our alone time gets interrupted by someone, especially those we care about, we ought not to get bent out of shape or be upset about it.

We ought to be pleased and grateful that the people who interrupt our “me-time” are close to us and that we find a sense of lasting happiness and comfort because they are a part of our lives.  

We should always ask ourselves: which one will matter more in 10 years?
We can shorten it: how about in one week?
I encourage each of you to try with me to put those we care about before anything else.

If I walk in from a long day of work and someone I care about texts me or calls me, I’m going to pick up the phone and build on that friendship or that relationship because love is the only true, lasting pleasure.

Brotherly love, romantic love, family love, all of it – God is love, God is forever, God lasts forever; therefore,
love lasts forever.

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The love we experience and share in the relationships we have with those we care about are going to make us happy forever; that touchdown or TV show which we miss simply aren’t lasting pleasures.
I’ve even heard of people cancelling dates, dinners with their families, and other similar things because they had scheduled them for the same night as the season premiere of their favorite TV show.
In my personal experience, it seems that more often than not, it’s not about a TV show; it’s about the ball-game.

“I know it’s her birthday – but the game starts at 3, and I sleep in until 12 – reckon we can get this whole cake party thing done within an hour or two so I can watch the pregame?”

Hobbies are fun, but they should never outrank our interpersonal relationships, at any given point in time.

Let’s not be afraid to put down the remote, put down the controller, put down the guitar, put down the football, whatever the case may be, and be there for the people we care about.

Now, I neglected to use verses until this point, because I didn’t want to detract from the train of thought I have presented to you by causing you to pause and flip pages, but now that I’ve made my point, let’s look at some verses to see what the Bible says about the topic.

This is probably the first section of scripture that comes to mind when someone says “God is love,” and I’m sure we have all heard it before, but please turn to 1 John 4:6-12 and read it again anyway.

Another scripture, which is often used as the “scripture for love”, is in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.  

And last, but not least, let’s look at John 13:24-25.

There are many more verses on love – I know – I just chose these randomly because they illustrate a point:

Love is important.

We must nurture our personal relationships with all of our heart, soul, and mind, or they are doomed to fail. If we focus on Christ and focus on showing his love to everyone – specifically, in this case, those we are closest to – then we know that everything will happen for the ultimate glory of God.

We will know that everything that happens in our interpersonal relationships is for God’s ultimate benefit.

And that… will make us happy.

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This brief study only covered a specific type of love – this is definitely not the only facet of the topics – but it is a good starting point for us when thinking about how we conduct our day-to-day lives around those we’re close to.

It’s too easy, for me anyway, to get so caught up in evangelizing and being kind and warm to others that I neglect to show the proper affection to those who are closest to me; I hope that this lesson has benefited your personal life as much as writing this article benefited mine.

Have a great week! Please, let me know what you think – suggestions, comments, anything is absolutely more than welcome. I want to learn as much as you’re willing to teach me.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,
Bro. Ethan