Living Water Church

Blame.  Isn’t it easy to play the blame game?  In our culture there seems to be a rise in the desire to cast blame on others.  In today’s corporate financial crisis, companies like Enron, Leiman Brothers, and WorldCom seem to want to put the blame for their financial meltdown on others.

One of my goals as a parent is to train my boys to take personal responsibility for their actions.  Admitting mistakes is never easy (it requires humility).  There is something within each of us that wants to defend “self” and cover our tracks so that we can cast off blame.  The root of this is of course pride.

Humility admits mistakes, takes ownership of failures, and works to learn to make better choices.  I have found that I have learned a whole lot more from my mistakes than my successes.  It is when I fail, own up to my actions, that I see true growth occur in my heart.  It is when I fail, that I find myself draw near to Jesus and cry out to him for forgiveness and acceptance.  God never called us to be perfect.  He called to be complete.  And it is in Jesus alone, walking with Him, loving Him, and knowing Him, where that completeness lies.  Yes, we want to live a life worthy of the calling of God on our lives.  But saints are the sinners who fall down and get up quickly.

Here are some “tweets” that have ministered to me:

“To the degree that success drives me to God, in that measure I can be trusted with success.”         (Bill Johnson)

“The disappointments of yesterday can keep us praying bold prayers today.” (Brady Boyd)

“God knew we were going to be messy before He created us.  Our struggles are not a big surprise.”  (Brady Boyd)

“One of the biggest gifts we can give ourselves is time alone with God.” (Joyce Meyer)

“There are two people we need in our lives—someone who can tell us no and someone who can tell us to move forward when we have stalled.”  (Brady Boyd)

“Learning from mistakes is slow and painful.  Learning from mentors is faster but it requires humility and teach-ability.”  (Rick Warren)

“Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.”  (Rick Warren)

When I was a freshman in college God became very real to me.  I came to the realization that Jesus was not a myth or just an historical figure, but rather the Savior of my soul.  At the same time, the Bible “came alive” to me.  It was almost as if there were certain passages that were written just for me.  Prayer became not a duty, but a blessing as I learned to cast my cares on the Lord.  As I went through this “great awakening” experience, I found that it became very important to me to be pleasing to my God.  I loved Him so much, I was so touched by His presence, that I wanted to please Him in everything I did or said.

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 says, “Therefore we make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him.”   In college, and since then, I have made it my aim, my goal, to please God.  It hasn’t always been easy, to say the least.  I have failed many times.  But I must choose daily, not to please myself, not to live selfishly, focused on my needs.  Additionally, I must not be a “people pleaser” looking for self-worth by trying to make everyone around me happy.  I heard a statement recently that impacted me.  It said, “I would rather disappoint people and please God, than please people and disappoint God.”

There’s an old hymn that says, “Count your blessings, name them one by one.”  I’ve been thinking about that this week.  It is natural for many of us (as well as enemy-driven for most of us) to focus on the negative.  We can spend time fretting over what we don’t have, don’t like, don’t want.   And if we aren’t stressing over what we don’t have, we are worrying about what we do have  – ie poor health, a troubled marriage, wayward kids, a rude boss, and the list goes on…

I wrote a note to myself this week and put it on my desk.  It simply said, ‘Think about the good things.’  While it is so easy to concentrate on the bad, I found that it takes some effort to focus on the good.

Scripture tells us (commands us actually) to give thanks in all things.  That doesn’t mean that we are to give thanks for all things.  But rather, in spite of all things, we can still give thanks.  This week I made a list for myself of things that I can (and should be) thankful to God for providing.  I want to live life focused on the good.  I want to be a thankful person.  I want to be a content person; not someone always longing for more.  1 Timothy 6:6, “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.”