Gangnam Styling For Jesus

My employer has quarterly meetings where the entire company comes together.  I like to think of these things as pep rallies.  We look at where we’ve been and where we’re going.

We had a live band performing at our last one.  There’s nothing like hearing live rock’n roll at 9;30 in the morning, let me tell you.

One guy in our company jumped up and began to dance as the music played.  Another person on his team joined him.  Later, a team member did the Gangnam Style dance.  There were about three thoughts that ran through my mind.

1. That’s stupid.
2. I wouldn’t do that.
3. Would I do that for the Lord?

Maybe you’re like me.  You were raised that church should be a solemn occasion where you didn’t clap or anything.  Heck, the Baptist college I went wouldn’t let us even advertise off-campus dances.  They had to be called Foot Functions.

David didn’t worry about that sort of thing.  When he finally brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, he sacrificed bulls and danced almost naked the whole way.  His wife was ashamed of his actions.  His only concern was the Lord.

Paul reminds us  that being crazy for the Lord is perfectly acceptable.  He says in 2 Corinthians 5:13 that if we are “beside ourselves, it is for God.”  If we are to be foolish, we should be foolish for the Lord.

I still find it difficult to raise my hand(s) in worship.  I find it easier, though, to clap these days.  I’m not sure about shucking most of my clothes and dancing in church.

However, I might look into Gangnam Styling for Jesus.

 Have you ever done anything silly or stupid for Jesus?

But Lord, I Don’t Want To Go To Africa

I do not want to go to Africa.  Never have.  Don’t ever expect to.  My daughter’s boyfriend is going to India on a mission trip this summer and he is pumped up about it.  He wants to go and feels the Lord leading him to do it.

Sometimes we act as though we have to go to Africa, India, Haiti or some other exotic, foreign land to serve the Lord  What do we do when we don’t want to go to some international destination to serve Him?

He Gives Us The Picture As Needed

When Jesus called His disciples, he simply said, “Follow Me”.  He did not tell them that he would send them out on a mission in teams of two.  The closest he came was saying that he would make them fishers of men.

This is not much different from the Old Testament.  The Lord did not give Abraham all of the details at once.  Neither did He with Moses, David or much of anyone else.  He told them what they needed to know at the right time.

You want to serve the Lord, but think that may involve Africa?  It may.  Or it may not.

He Gives Us The Tools We Need

The Lord told the disciples to take a few things with them.  A tunic.  A pair of sandals.  A walking stick.  Why?  He wanted them to depend on God for their needs.

David faced Goliath with a slingshot.

Israel waited each day for manna for that day.

God simply wants us to depend on Him for what we need.

He Prepares Us His Ministry

The disciples went out and preached that men should repent.  They cast out demons.  They healed the sick.

They couldn’t do that before they followed Christ.  He taught them how to “do ministry”.  He gave them the power to cast out demons and heal.  They were prepared by Christ for ministry.

David was a teenager when he was anointed king.  It was years before he actually ascended to the throne.

It took Noah about one hundred years to build the ark.

Paul spent about fourteen years between meeting Christ on the Damascus Road and becoming a super apostle.

The bottom line is that if God calls you to go to Africa, He will place a desire to follow Him there.  He will give you the tools you need for the ministry.  He will prepare you to go.  Then you can go to Africa.  Or India.  Or wherever He wants you to go.

Have you ever been afraid of what the Lord was calling you to do?  Do you think you could never do what He wants you to do?

Throw The Baby Out

Have you thrown the baby out lately?

You know what I mean.

Have you thrown the baby out with the bath water?

I don’t know if you know where the saying came from.  I’ve read that it came from back in the day when people didn’t take daily, weekly or even monthly baths.  When warm weather came, they hauled a bunch of water in and each person got to take a bath in the water.  The father started, then it proceeded to the mother and then all the other members of the family.  By the time the youngest got to take a bath, you can imagine how dirty the water was.  There evidently was danger in losing a young child when the water was thrown out.

We do that ourselves, figuratively, don’t we?

We pay attention to the dirty water  that someone is in and throw them out with it.

We don’t look at the value of someone versus the circumstances that surround them.

We could do that with David, couldn’t we?  Shepherd?  Check.  Killed Goliath?  Check.  Wrote Psalms?  Check.  Man after God’s heart?  Check.  Adulterer?  Check.  Murderer?  Check.

Kick him to the curb.

Shun him.

Banish him.

That no-good, no-account.

The problem with that way of thinking is that God didn’t think that way.

We often think, though,  that is the way God thinks today, don’t we?

I think He thinks far less often like that than we think He does.  And when and  if He does, He doesn’t bother to consult us.

Now, look around.  Who is danger of us thinking that way about them?  Let’s stop right now before we start.

Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.

Have you ever done something the equivalent of throwing the baby out with the bath water?

140 Words (More or Less) About Your Christmas Past

It’s Twitterific Thursday, where I write a post in 140 words, more or less.  Today, I write about your Christmas past.

Perhaps you have something in your past that holds you back.  Something that you haven’t overcome.  Something that handicaps you.  I want to challenge you during this Christmas season to push through and beat it.  Why?  Because of the genealogy of Jesus.

Jacob was a cheat.

Judah slept with his daughter-in-law.

Rahab was prostitute.

Ruth was a Moabite.

David was an adulterer and murderer.

Solomon let his wives turn his heart from God.

Most of the kings that followed Solomon did evil in God’s sight.

That is Jesus’ past.  Those are his ancestors.  That is the line that he came through.

Oh yeah.  His mother, Mary,  became pregnant while betrothed to Joseph.  That wasn’t as accepted as it is today.

If you didn’t notice, this did not hold Christ back.  It didn’t keep him from achieving His mission.

Are you letting anything from your past hold you back? Why don’t you evaluate that this Christmas and find a way to overcome it?