Refresh

Do you ever feel worn out, beat down, discouraged, or even confused about where this is going and what's the point? I think to some extent this is perfectly natural. A buzzword most of us are familiar with is "progress." We like to see progress, and when we don't it can be easy to experience a mixture if not all of the forementioned feelings.

The one solution that I've found for this problem is to refresh- get away for a while. Go somewhere or do something that refreshes you by allowing you to "recharge." Maybe it's a vacation, maybe it's a day off, ... for me it's being around people that offer encouragement, are enjoyable to be around, and share my interests and many of my goals.

This week I have the privilege of being at church camp. Some might be confused as to why I consider it a privilege- it's not that I particuarly enjoy eating camp food, being outside in the heat of the day, or sleeping on a sub-par mattress.... it's that there are people here that share my goal to see youth grow in their faith, they love to laugh, they love to just enjoy the company of other believers.

How long has it been since you allowed yourself to be refreshed by being in the presence of those that renew you? Seek them out this week, spend some time in their presence and be encouraged.

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10: 24-25

New Growth

There's a plant that's been on my office desk for at least two years. I've never claimed to have a green thumb, in fact I think I remember telling the person who gave it to me, "If you want it to die that's a great place for it," as it was placed on my desk.

However, despite my inability to keep plants alive, this one has persevered and even grown a little bit. But my friend did observe that the plant has very little new growth since it was placed in my care. I blame the lack of sunlight- my office has no exterior windows. Other theories include the occasional week or two without water....The point is that most plants require water, the right temperature, sunlight, and fertile soil to grow...maybe some other things- like I said, I'm not a gardening expert.

Growing faith is much the same. We need more than one avenue to help grow our faith: individual prayer time, reflection, corporate worship, personal devotional, Bible study... all of these help us grow our knowledge and faith. Unfortunately, our culture doesn't usually lend itself to spending hours and hours focused on God. Truthfully, it's very hard to devote even an hour to any kind or combination of disciplines in our society.

Sometimes I get frustrated when I feel I'm stuck in a rut of some sort with my faith. I wonder if I've made any progress at all in the past year? In these times, it's easy to lash out and blame God for "not being there when I needed You." But, usually I have to face the truth and admit that I've let life get between myself and my God. Sure I go to church, and maybe even to the weekly Bible study, but I haven't truly sought God on a personal level. Or maybe when I showed up at church, I was more concerned with the people than the worship....

So maybe I wasn't preparing the soil or getting any sunlight- that would explain the lack of growth. Today, seek God and ask that your faith be increased. See if you don't notice a difference.

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11: 6

Dressing up

"Its very first words are Our Father. Do you see what those words mean? They mean quite frankly, that you are putting yourself in the place of a son of God. To put it bluntly, you are dressing up as Christ. If you like, you are pretending... you are a bundle of self-centered fears hopes, greeds, jealousies, and self-conceit, all doomed to death. So that, in a way, this is dressing up as Christ is a piece of outrageous cheek. But the odd thing is that He has ordered us to do it."

-C. S. Lewis Mere Christianity

Mere Christianity is one of my favorite books. Lewis creates such wonderful ways of illustrating what it means to have faith and exercise that faith. In this section, Lewis is explaining how we become more like Christ- through practice. He likens our prayers (specifically The Lord's Prayer) and how we mimic the way Jesus addressed God...thus making us sons and daughters of God.

Lewis then goes on to describe how humorous it must seem for such flawed people to put on such a front... claiming to be children of God. However, he then draws a parallel to young children playing house: they are essentially practicing roles and what it means to be an adult- so it is as much an exercise as it is play. Sooner than you think, Lewis explains, that pretend will become reality... and our front will become more of our real being.

Today, practice being a child of God. Compose yourself as Jesus would (I know that's bordering on a cliche from the mid 90s), but maybe try to pretend a little today and maybe it will rub off on your "true" self so that you become more like Christ.

"He destined us for adoption as His children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will," Ephesians 1: 5