The post Desperate Days first appeared on CHRISTIAN REP.

In his own words, “Even though I am a mathematician, I look at [fetal development] with marvel: How do these instruction sets not make mistakes as they build what is us?” and “The magic of the mechanisms inside each genetic structure saying exactly where that nerve cell should go — the complexity of these mathematical models is beyond human comprehension.”

But we, as Christians, know that answer to that marvel! We know that it is our God, Creator all who is at the center of all this complexity, all that is ‘beyond human comprehension’. Just makes me smile!!

Contemplate on Psalm 139:13-16 as you watch this amazing video!

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

But even the hairs of your head are all numbered! Do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. ~Luke 12:7

The post He Knows The Hairs On Our Head first appeared on CHRISTIAN REP.

Christians are often criticized for being critical….and we are.

Christians are called judgmental…and too often we are.

Christians can come across “better than thou” at times….but we aren’t.

There is much to criticize about the community called Christian, but the solution to all of it is in two simple verses in Ephesians.

Honestly, we were never called to be fruit inspectors judging the deeds of those in the world.  We were never asked to set the rules for everyone to follow.  Jesus never admonished us to be the morality police for the communities we live in.  He only asked us to do one thing….love one another.

That is the solution to everything!  If the Christian world would simply live by these two simple verses and not try to fix the world with our code of ethics we would in fact fix the world with the love of Christ.

How do we so easily miss this?  We miss it because it’s hard.  People are messy, dirty, mean, unkind…they don’t do things the way we want them to.  People are hard to love, but that’s our primary task.  If the Christian world would simply love those around them it would be the solution to everything.

No more signs in front of abortion clinics, instead we would be loving and helping the young girls in our communities so the abortion clinic would never be an option.

No more focus on changing laws,  instead we would love those around us and as they trust Christ because of that love the community around us changes.

There are a hundred more I could mention and they are all easier than loving the unlovely, but our task is to love….just as Christ loved us.

If we lived by these two simple verses it would be the solution to everything.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

The post The Solution To Everything first appeared on CHRISTIAN REP.

“We are a fragrance of Christ.”  What an amazing thought.  God has scented us as Christians to be a fragrance of Christ in the world around us.  You don’t have to tell anyone you are a Christian, they can “smell” it.  We have an aroma.  It’s the presence of God, of live in us that gives off a scent to everyone we meet.

I have often been with someone who didn’t know I was a Christian and shortly in the visit they will ask, “You’re a Christian, aren’t you?”  They can “smell” us!  But what is it they smell?  What is the fragrance we give off?  It’s the fragrance of life.  It’s a scent that isn’t common on our planet where everything dies.  The only smell we know is the stench of death, but when the perfume of life shows up it’s a smell everyone knows.  It’s a smell that reveals something the world is missing.

For the Christian, as they “smell” the presence of another believer, they smell the sweet fragrance of life.  Another person who has life living in them, the presence of God. It’s a sweet fragrance and a wonderful reminder of the life we share.

For the world, as they “smell” the presence of a Christian, it highlights the reality to them that they don’t have life, they live in death.  It’s a fearful awaking for their senses.  It’s a smell they don’t like, a realization of their lack.  Often it’s the reason those in the world disdain Christians….we remind them of the truth that they do not have life, but simply await the final death.

Without a word the presence of a Christian communicates that life is available, that we have something the world lacks.  Without a word the world “smells” the presence of life in us.  This witness of the fragrance of life calls us to a Godly lifestyle because the world is watching, their noses know who we are, it’s critical we live to the glory of God because we can’t hide who we are.  The world around us, by the fragrance of life that comes from our very presence, knows we are Christians.

Live your life well, your fragrance precedes you…..the world already knows who you are.  Live in a way that glorifies the one who gave you life. Know that the fragrance of life oozes from your very presence and witnesses to the life you have.  Live as a child of life that the world will be drawn to the one who gave us life.  And never forget…..the fragrance of life precedes you as walk through your days.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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Mark 4:13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.  Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

Any farmer worth his pay will know that if you don’t put seed in the ground you will never see a harvest. Somehow, in our day, many Christians I meet don’t believe this is true. They have the strange idea that somehow God should just make fruit grow in their lives without any attempt on their part to, 1. put some seed in the ground or, 2. to be a field that can grow something.

The story Jesus told speaks to an interesting reality- it’s easy to get distracted and end up without any fruit in your life. There’s a lot that catches a life and makes it unproductive. If you know that you will realize how important this sowing seed thing really is.

Here’s another thing to note- all this soil, these different kinds of soil, are all in the same field….in the same life. I have times when nothing grows and other times and places in my life that are wonderfully fruitful. It’s all part of a life lived with distractions. A life lived in a fallen world.

But the key for me is this- I have to throw some seed in my field! If I don’t do that then nothing can grow. In other words I have to get into God’s word and read it! If I don’t put his word in my mind, in my heart then the world will put it’s seeds there. My life is like that field, ready to grow whatever I throw on the soil. It doesn’t care what kind of seed it is, it’s job is to produce fruit. And so, each life will see a harvest. Some rich with produce and other lives full of thorns and loss.

The key for me is this- that I get God’s word into my life, my field. If I do that then God can make something grow….there’s a harvest coming. There will be a harvest IF I plant good seed.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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These words are from Paul’s pen in 1 Corinthians 13. He’s writing to describe our vision problem. You see we all see poorly when it comes to the things of God and the reality of what is going on around us. We all find ourselves near-sighted. The things of God and the truths about our world are fuzzy at best. With our vision problems we often can only see shadows and shapes.

There is a desire to see clearly, but our vision problems will only be resolved at last when we see the Lord face to face. In the meantime we have to use glasses. We have to have help to see. In our world we all know what glasses look like. They are used to correct our vision problems.

In spiritual things most of us have no idea what “spiritual glasses” look like. The fact is that without them none of us can see clearly. The “spiritual glasses” we need to see well is God’s word, the bible. This is the correction for our near-sighted vision. God’s word is meant to give us clear vision about the things of life, reality, relationship and the future. Only his word can give us 20/20 vision.

Many continue to deny they need glasses as they look at shapes and shadows describing them in this way, “It looks like…”, “It could be….” and with great and grand words and a knowing tone they wax eloquent on things they can only see dimly, things that are at best fuzzy.

What’s sad to me is that many Christians believe the near-sighted men of the world rather than wear the glasses of God’s word. They trust those can only guess instead of looking clearly through the lens of God’s word to see what really is. Jesus once healed a man of blindness who said, “I see men, but they look like trees.” Jesus once more touched him until he could see clearly. God wants us to see clearly and that vision correction only comes through his word.

We are all near-sighted. We all live with blurred vision. We all need glasses to see clearly. The only glasses that will ever give us clarity to see the way things really are is God’s word. When you can’t see clearly go to the bible and you will find you suddenly have 20/20 vision.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

The post Blurred Vision first appeared on CHRISTIAN REP.

If we eliminated all the jobs that deal with sin and its impact on the culture most of us would be out of work! We are used to it all, but just imagine what it would be like without all that sin has done- no prisons, no police, no hospitals, no doctors, no nurses, no congress to make laws, no courts to enforce them, no traffic signs, no fear, no anger, no jealousy, no hurts emotionally or physically, and on goes the list. If we were to make a complete list of what sin has done to us it would be much longer than you could possibly imagine! Living on a twisted planet is difficult, but it’s all we know.

Go with me for moment to a place where sin has not touched its inhabitants. It’s hard because we can’t imagine such a place, but let’s take a moment and travel to a planet that sin has not affected. The people there have no worries, no one is there to hurt them, steal from them, or reject them. There’s no fear, no pain, no jealousy, no peer pressure, none of the things that are woven into our very natures on this world. It’s hard to imagine because, like those fish, we can’t conceive of a place without water, or a world without sin’s pervasive influence.

Sin has been much more destructive to us as humans than we could possibly imagine. Even as a Christian the pull of sin in my life is still strong. I constantly battle with sin’s influence and invitation.

Paul tells us that we, as Christians, are citizens of another kingdom. A kingdom sin has not touched, a world as God designed it in the beginning…..perfect. When I use the word perfect what I mean is a place that has not been twisted by the work on sin. It’s a kingdom coming soon, a country on the horizon that promises and provides joy, peace, happiness, compassion, kindness, caring, community like you have never known. It’s a kingdom we all long for, a place apart from the twisted planet that has left us bankrupt because of sin’s work on our little broken world. It’s a kingdom I’m thrilled to be a citizen of and can’t wait to see. Soon we will escape from this twisted planet and discover what life was meant to be. I look forward to the day when this twisted planet is set right by God’s return to claim his people and his planet. As John writes at the end of the book of Revelation, “Come, Lord Jesus, Come!”

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

The post Living On A Twisted Planet first appeared on CHRISTIAN REP.

The world would say that if you become a Christian “you will really miss out.” The implication is that there is a lot of good sinning to be had and if you become one of those Christians you can’t “have fun.” But, I wonder, what would be on the list of the things a person without Christ would be without. Here’s a few as I think about this,

1. without hope
2. without a promise
3. without a future
4. without God
5. without peace
6. without joy
7. without direction

I’m working on the list, but those few come to mind in a moment of typing. It strikes me that if you are without Christ you are without a future, without direction, without a promise, without God in the world. Instead of “missing out on the fun” the Christian is really the most blessed of people because they are no longer “without.”

The post Without first appeared on CHRISTIAN REP.

Community happens. Love is demonstrated. Life together happens. Caring for others becomes important. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to live a solitary life without a community to care for you, but many do. Sadly, they are missing out on one of the great blessings of the body of Christ.

As I near the last third of my life, I find that the church family, the community of faith called Christians, is vital to me. I’m part of something bigger than myself, something that bridges centuries and goes forward into eternity. I’m part of a family I get to spend eternity with.

The post The body of Christ first appeared on CHRISTIAN REP.

Those questions began to rumble about in me this morning after a time of rest from the long trip to Kenya and back. We all live in cultures where we become numb to the cultural nuances of our faith lived in a society. Not everything we believe is correct. Not everything we do is right, so how should I live? What about me should be private? What should the world see?

Immediately I think about Jesus’ words in John 13. These words really bother me because they tell me something about me and they tell me that God has put in the minds and hearts of those who are not Christians what they SHOULD see in my life. It’s really very simple, but very convicting. Here is what should be seen,

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The command is simple and clear, isn’t it? We are to love one another. That’s it. Simple, clear, evident….but did you see HOW we are to do this? That’s where the rub comes, “As I have loved you,” The model for this is how Jesus lived and walked in a fallen world. That’s how we are to love others as well. That’s what they should see! If they don’t see me loving them as Jesus did then I have failed!

But here’s the part that bothers me the most. It’s as if God has placed in the world’s common mindset what this should look like. The lost man, the atheist knows what I should live like. God built it into him to know what a Christians should look like and when we don’t live that way they become bitter, angry and reject Christ. Did you see what Jesus said in verse 35? “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” The world knows what a Christian should look like in the public square. We should be men and women in love with those around us. It’s the mark of the Christian. It’s the sign that what we believe is true. It’s the lifestyle that will silence a watching world.

So, what should be private? Honestly, most of my Christian life should be private. What should be public? My love for others.

Let’s turn down the volume on lifestyles, morals, what people should do, what they shouldn’t and let’s live out these simple verses. I wonder, if a few believers ever did take Jesus’ words seriously, what might happen around them….I wonder.

image via www.freedigitalphoto.net

The post Public vs. Private first appeared on CHRISTIAN REP.