Currently at my career at the Job Foundation, there was an opportunity for me to also volunteer and become a mentor to a sixth grade girl.  The Job Foundation in Cedar Falls has a certified mentoring program, so many volunteers are paired with the kids in our programs.   I am so excited I have been able to be a part of a mentoring opportunity since moving back to the Cedar Falls area.  I had always wanted a chance to mentor and show guidance one on one with a younger student, and now I get to, and it is a part of the job I work at day to day.  

This has been a really great time.  There have been a lot of great moments including teaching her how to ice skate, which we are still in the process of learning, uncovering and solving the pieces of the escape room at the library, and sharing meals and ice cream together.  I have learned that my mentee is wonderful at solving clues when it comes to escape rooms, and she has amazing creativity that she showed in the paintings we created and through going to a fused glass class.  

The best highlight has been to see her open up more and more with me.  She was always a bit more on the quiet end, especially when first getting to know her, but after spending more and more time with her as both the education coordinator and teaching the lessons at the Job Foundation to also being her mentor, I have had great conversations and great opportunities to get to know her better and better.  I do hope I will have more opportunities as the years go by.  

I do want to share through this blog post about the great importance of mentoring.  I know not everyone has the opportunity to mentor or be a part of a mentoring program, but I do believe everyone has the opportunity to mentor someone in their lives.  If a person reading this works as a teacher or somewhere in the school, then you already know about the little souls, maybe one or two in particular that you are always trying to mentor and bless.  If a person reading this works as a hairdresser, they may be able to give great sound advice to those who are coming into their beauty shop every day.

Most other jobs provide an opportunity to mentor, even if it doesn’t seem so obvious.  Every person has known a new coworker to arrive at their place of work, who maybe seems a bit lost, especially initially.  A person who is willing to mentor is willing to look out for them and help them and give them advice.  But even when a person doesn’t feel as though their job provides much opportunity to mentor, then there is always the opportunity to do this through volunteering in some capacity.  In every community or in every church, there is a chance to volunteer.  There is always a need to help and to bless and to mentor many others.  

The Lord cares about mentoring.  This is shown throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, we see Elijah inspire and encourage Elisha who would end up to be a prophet very similar to Elijah.  Then in the New Testament, we see Paul being a mentor to Timothy,  Paul led Timothy through how to be a good steward and minister of the word and how to be a disciple through speaking the word to others.  Besides those examples, we are also given commands such as in 1 Peter 5:2-3 says, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them…not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”  The flock here is referring to the people God has put in our care.  Anyone God has put in your life could be a part of your flock and maybe someone you can mentor to.  

I have been so blessed with this opportunity to mentor, but I have had other opportunities in my past, and most of the time, they were ones that dropped in my lap.  A couple of times I have been asked to mentor some of the girls in my Bible study who want to learn more about God and have asked me advice questions.  Through these questions and time together, I have gotten the chance to lead them closer to Christ.  

My challenge for you this week is to first pray for a willingness to be a mentor and then second, to pray for God to provide you someone to mentor.  It is all about putting this into God’s hands.  God has a person who needs mentoring in your life, and he will provide an opportunity for you to be that mentor if you are willing and looking.  It may not be the next day, but it will come when you are most ready.  Then my next challenge for you is to be willing to accept this mentoring when it comes to you.  

Another quick point: If you are a person who is reading this who also happens to be in the Cedar Valley, and you want to mentor a child who is a part of the Job Foundation, there is information on our website.  We would love to have more willing and loving mentors for our students! 

In these last few years, there has been more reflection on habits and their importance in our daily lives.  Scientists have done research on how habits become easier and easier in our lives the more we practice them.  Even something you didn’t originally like doing, can become easier after a long time of practice.  Routines take time.  There has often been said that it can take from 21 days to 30 days to start to establish a habit, but it can really start to be more about two months before these habits can become second nature.  However, these habits after time can really be so done that they are in the part of our brain that doesn’t even think twice about doing them.  Our physical bodies just start getting ready to do the habit.  

A few months ago I read the book, “The Screwtape Letters,” by C.S Lewis.  It is a bit more of a complicated book than I was originally expecting.  It is a good challenge and it is getting me to think in different ways about the Christian walk than I ever have before.   One statement that really stood out to me from this book is, “ active habits are strengthened by repetition but passive ones are weakened.”  This quote really shows that it is only through making a habit or an action a priority, it becomes strengthened and easier to do, while when we fail to practice it regularly, it falls to very weak actions.  

Reflecting on this, it is important I don’t fall too far into legalism.  Legalism is focused more on the actions of Christianity, without the love and without the real desire of knowing Christ.  It is caring more about the Christian acts and the Christian religion as a religious sense, besides caring as much about the relationship with Christ.  I do believe habits can become monotonous and  we can lose the reason why we are doing it.  But on the positive side, it gives us the stability in our daily walk and our daily lives that can be for our overall benefit.  When something becomes so much a part of one’s life, then it becomes almost second nature.  It won’t be difficult to make the time to do a particular habit because it has become so much a part of your routine.  

Hebrews 5: 14 says the following, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”  It takes practice to know good from evil.  This is through spending time in prayer and through spending time with God in his Word.  It is through taking time.  While sometimes we may not want to wake up early or be away from our phones or other distractions for an amount of time, it is the overall thing that can help us grow closer to God. 

I have really started recently to focus on healthy habits I try really hard to do daily in order to grow closer to Christ.  Some of these habits are doing a daily devotional, practicing memory verses, exercise, making my bed, reading, writing, and completing a daily joy or gratitude journal.  Some of these habits are more focused on my daily life such as exercise, but many of them have to do with my overall walk with God.   Some of them, such as writing, are because I really love to write and even when there are days when the words are not flowing, I try to get in the practice to get better and better. My hope being my words can be a glory to God in some way.  

My challenge for you this week is to think of some habits that you want to start to include in your own life.  These could be habits that bring a person closer to God by even spending more time reading the Bible or spending time in prayer.  This could be a habit that brings you out into your community, or this could be a habit that helps you live a healthier lifestyle.  I personally want to be better at eating more fruits as well as overall healthier food.  Remember that starting a habit takes time.  It is not going to be something that happens in a week, but with some time and effort, there can be a new habit for you to prosper in your life.  

Through my study of the Fruit of the Spirit, I have been doing a lot of reading of Peter, the disciple.  This will go through Peter’s life when he was a disciple and the times he had with Jesus. I will be honest when I say Peter has never been my favorite character from the Bible. I was very bothered by how wishy-washy he was at times.  Even though, in reality, he was very much a realistic character from how we all Christians have a tendency to be.  

I realized through these stories, that Peter is nothing if not passionate.  He has a great passion at times and many of these are with good intentions.  To show a few examples, when Peter walks on water (Matthew 14:22-33), when he cuts off the ear of the high priest with a sword (John 18:10-11), and when he denies Jesus in the city streets (Luke 22:54-62).  The problem with Peter during the time of Jesus being alive is when he wasn’t filled with passion, he was not being the best follower at all.  

To look at the examples I mentioned,  after he bravely walked on the water, he saw the wind and then started to fall into the water.   He was walking on water, doing a complete miracle, and then a little wind scared him enough that he then started to sink.  He had no trust in Jesus even in the midst of him showing what He can do.  Then secondly, we see Peter show extreme violence for the sake of Jesus.  Even though Peter cut the ear off the high priest in defense of Jesus being arrested, this was after he constantly fell asleep on Jesus during prayer.  Jesus needed a friend desperately the night of his arrest, and Peter kept falling asleep as opposed to being a supportive disciple.   Then we see later, Peter denies his relationship with Jesus.  Peter was even  told ahead of time of his denial, but he would swear to never deny Jesus, but rather die with Him.  However, even with his passionate promise, he would still end up denying Jesus for fear of also being arrested and tortured. 

If you know about Peter’s life after Christ, you may know he was actually called the rock.  Christ tells Peter that he is going to be the rock to start his church. Matthew 16:18 says, “And I tell you that you are Peter and, on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”  I don’t know if I would have made this same choice as Jesus.  I have seen what Peter does when it comes to his lack of passion.  How can a person who is sometimes filled with so much passion but then not, be the rock to start the church? 

This really shows how much God sees potential in people.  He saw and knew Peter.  He knew he would have great moments of faith, but then would also show severe doubt.  Jesus considered Peter as one of his best friends, even with his mistakes and with his flaws. Jesus knew he could be a rock for the start of his church.  He trusted Peter with the mission after he would go to heaven.  This really shows in the rest of the New Testament.  We do see Peter going on a mission for the rest of his life.  In his death, he even was crucified on the cross because of his teachings of the Gospel, but he was flipped upside down.  He asked to be crucified upside down because he was not willing to die just as Christ had died.  Still incredibly filled with passion, all the way to the end of his life.  The only difference at the end was his non-ending belief.  

I do believe this shows a good reminder for all of us.  Sometimes we as people can be very passionate but sometimes this passion can become fizzled out.  I am not saying passion is a bad thing.  It helps do great projects, helps us worship the Lord, and helps us preach His name.  However, there are going to be times when the passion is just not as strong as others, and it is important to have a steady base of faith to keep you going even during the moments when the passion is not as strong. Otherwise, you may find yourself like Peter when he is falling in the water after he feels the wind, or when he denies Jesus to the people around the town. 

1 Corinthians  15:58 is a great verse to describe this concept and it says “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” I wanted to highlight this verse because it reminds us to be steadfast, like a rock.  This is our reminder to constantly be connected to God and his great love, remembering to always do his great works.  

Jesus knows us, just as he knew Peter.  He knows we are going to have moments when we are better about speaking His Word and then the moments when we are filled with doubt, and the moments when maybe even we want to go away from the Lord.  Jesus knows all of those moments in us, and yet he still has given each one of us a mission and a goal in life, just as he did with Peter.  This should be a huge encouragement to all of us.  Even in our moments where we lose a bit of passion, we are still able to complete the mission for Christ. 

My challenge for you this week is to find one verse at the very least to use even in the moments when you are not feeling the most passionate.  This will be a verse you can pull out when you are starting to feel a bit down and unsure about your faith.  This is a verse to go to in the rough moments, when your faith doesn’t feel as strong. Hopefully, this will serve as a constant encouragement to be a rock like Peter was with the help of Christ. 

One book series I highly recommend is “Beartown,” by Frederick Backman.  I love Frederick Backman’s books.  I have read all of them.  Beartown is a series between two towns that hate each other, and equally love hockey.  Think about a local town/school rivalry on steroids. Even though this book is maybe an extreme example of hate between two towns, it really shows the way we as people can “other” one another.  One quote towards the end of the third book,”The Winners,”  is so telling of what our lives and realities often are and that is, “It’s the same everywhere: everyone loves too much, hates too easily, forgives too little.”  

The first item is “we can love too much.”  This quote and blog post is starting with the positive one.  We as people do have the ability to love, and to love deeply.  Albeit, sometimes we don’t always love the great things.  We can become madly too in love with money and the stuff it can buy, or our pride and the achievements we have made.  In this book series, we see the towns love hockey to the point of addiction and self-sabotage.  This made many players do unspeakable things for the purpose of glory and honor, all in the name of a game and a championship.  This is where our ability to love has its pitfalls.  However, especially with the power of God, we have the ability to love others very deeply.  We have the ability to love our neighbors and our family members, and even with a lot of patience, the ability to love our enemies.  

The second item is, “we hate too easily,” I also read a book called “Cross-Cultural Servanthood,  by Duane Elmer that speaks of the easy way we as people hate others. ”  This book went through the scientific research that shows how quick we as people, and especially Americans, are at making quick judgements about a person.  Apparently it takes us only 2.5 to 5 seconds to make our first judgment about someone. This fast judgment can get us to decide if we want to be in a relationship with that person or don’t ever want to know them/talk to them.  Obviously, this is even more when it comes to different cultures and different people than are like us. One comment from this Elmer book says, “When people don’t speak or look like we prefer, we assume negative things about them.  In social research, this is called negative attribution.” (Elmer, Duane, Cross-Cultural Servanthood, 49).

This research really shows it is very easy to hate.  What this quote is referring to is, of course, hating those who are not similar to us.  This is not referring to hating something that is evil.  It is rather hating people who live in this world.   Maybe we don’t instantly call it hate, but we certainly don’t call it love.  We are dismissive to those who we are able to see and meet in our everyday life.  I am so prone to this.  There are definitely people I will see while I am walking around and I instantly judge them.  I maybe don’t like the way they are dressing or the look they are showing on their face, or even the way they are driving.  I can be very quick to judge and to even have rough thoughts about them initially.  I try not to let my first initial reactions take over my feelings for a person, but every once in a while, I find my thoughts are very strong and they very much do.  

It can also be very hard to forgive.  We as people can struggle to forgive the many people we encounter on a regular basis.  When we encounter someone daily, it can be easy to harbor more and more bad feelings about them.  It can be easy to feel as though we can’t actually forgive them for all they have done. My biggest problem when it comes to forgiveness is the belief that I have forgiven someone for what they have done, when in reality, I still harbor negative feelings towards them.  I am definitely not as good as the Father is when he says he forgives and our sins are thrown from the east to the west and never brought up again.  I may not try to bring it up again out loud, but those past hurt feelings will still be running around in my head, especially after something new and hurtful happens.  If I say I have forgiven someone, I need to be better at forgiving them completely, with my whole heart.  

I have two challenges for you this week that go together.  My first challenge is for you to think about all the items you love.  Are most of those items healthy and lovely, or have them become an obsession?  We can all start to fall into the love of things of the world.  Then my second challenge for you this week is to think through the areas where maybe you have hated too easily.  Where are the areas where it has been very easy for you to hate and the people you try to avoid? This hate may even be an area where you are struggling to forgive someone for something they did a long time ago.  

I was in church today, and the pastor gave a really good sermon.  The sermon was surprisingly all about the first chapter of Matthew which is the genealogy of Jesus.  It is definitely not my favorite section of the Bible.  I know it has importance because it was included in the Bible, but I can definitely find myself nodding off reading or listening to the list of names that creates Jesus’ family.  One point was made that Jesus’ family was filled with cheaters, adulterers, and liars, yet he was still the Savior of the world.  This was a reminder for all of us that it doesn’t matter what your past is or who is in your family, but rather it is the future and your relationship with Christ that makes all the difference.  

One example is Rahab.  She was one of the four women actually mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.  (Often women were left out of genealogies).  She is also one of my favorite people we are introduced to in the Bible.  She was a prostitute.  However, she was also considered to be a great heroine of the faith because at the time she hid the Israelite spies who were attempting to see the Promised land and were hiding from their enemies.  She did very right by God’s people.  Later, she would become the mother to a man named Boaz who would be later married to another important woman, Ruth. These people would become part of the genealogy of Jesus.  You wouldn’t expect a former prostitute, especially considering the time of history they were in, to be a part of this genealogy of the only holy man to be on earth, but there she is.   

There were many other examples including Abraham, who was a significant leader but also a huge liar and would lie about who his wife was, more than once. There was Judah and Tamar.  Judah, who did not help out his daughter in law, Tamar, after she became widowed twice by two of his sons, and Tamar who would then pretend to be a prostitute who seduced and slept with Judah, so she can finally be taken care of.  There was David, who while a king, and a man after God’s own heart, did have the huge Bathsheba problem where he slept with a woman who wasn’t his wife and then had her husband killed.  

The beautiful thing about being a follower of Christ is it doesn’t depend on your past.  It has nothing to do with what you have done, but rather who you would want to believe in.  If you choose to believe in Jesus as Lord and he has forgiven your sins and has made you fully clean, then you will be accepted as part of God’s family.  The verse that really highlights this is Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”  It is completely a gift from God. Your salvation and the salvations of anyone in your family or anyone you love is completely a gift from God.  

The challenge for you this week is to pray to God for your family.  I don’t know what your relationship is with your family.  I don’t know if you are distant from them, or if you see them all the time.  This may be a time of praise for the family you have received, but it also may be served as a time to pray for your family to find Jesus and to find forgiveness and love.  This may be a time where you genuinely need to ask God if there is any bitterness in your heart towards any particular family members and how he can help you work through this pain and resentment.  This could be a time where you pray over the future generations of your family and that their desire would be to know God and how much he loves them.  There are many different ways to pray over family because everyone’s family looks different and serves different functions in a person’s life.  However, we should know and have seen through this blog that God uses family as a way to share the good news of Jesus.  

I wanted to write this blog post because I really want this to serve as a reminder of God’s love for his people.  We, and I am going to use we, since this includes everyone in the world, have fallen short of the glory of God.  However, we, again, as everyone, have the ability to be made right and made complete with the love of God and the sacrifice he made for all of us on the cross.  Your past and the past of your family members does not make your future, and I pray this will always be something you remember. 

I volunteer in church for a group called, “Treehouse,” and this is our child’s ministry.  Recently, after church, we had training.  It was a nice time to talk to others who are a part of the children’s ministry who I usually don’t get to spend time talking to.  Then the question asked of us to ponder with our particular groups was, “how do we help the kids encounter God?” What a question?!  Then we moved on to different ways we as volunteers or we as people in general ponder and worship God.  Some of the items we listed were drawing, being out in the garden, prayer, reading of the scriptures, and worship of music. 

This hit me in very affirming ways.  For much of my Christian life, I had always felt bad because I am not the ideal worshiper.  What I mean by this is when singing is happening in the church, I sing and stand, but I am not jumping for joy, I am not the one dancing or raising my hands.  Honestly, it makes me feel a bit out of sync or uncomfortable when I think about doing this.  Now, I want to be honest, this is still something I should work on.  I should be better at listening to the music in church and really letting the lyrics and the truth behind them resonate in my life.  I love going to concerts and weddings and dancing to music, so why do I struggle with it when it comes to church music? 

However, I realized through this training that people do genuinely worship in different ways because we are different people.  We worship and see God through different experiences.  Some do encounter and worship God through painting.  Some are really great about choosing to worship God through their musical choices and through listening and praising in church.  Others could spend hours reading the Bible.  While I believe all of these are good, and things we as Christians should continue to grow in, especially when it comes to praising in song and reading of scripture, we can also be happy to know we have a different way of worship and different experiences than those who are around us.  

I realized in the last year or so, that my way of worship is through writing and especially through writing on this blog.  I have learned a lot through writing my blogs.  It helps me reflect on what I am learning in my time alone with God, in my times at church, and then also in my regular life and the life lessons I have learned.  It has helped me look at everything in a new perspective, and I hope I have opened the door for others to learn through my blog. 

Psalm 75:1, “We praise you, God, we praise you, for your Name is near; people tell of your wonderful deeds.” This is exactly what worshiping God is all about.  It is the love of God overflowing out of you into the world.  Usually we associate it with singing God’s praises because that is one common way people see the love of God out of another person’s actions. It is all about helping others find Jesus through telling them of His great deeds. This is true worship.  It is not something that can be manufactured to fit what everyone else believes to be worship.  

This is very important for me to share because I believe we can get very distraught as believers and as people in general in the comparison game.  We can start to look more at what someone else is good at as opposed to focusing on what we are good at, and what we bring to our relationship with God.  We can start to believe we are not a good Christian just because we don’t do something a certain way, but this is just not how our faith in God or our time in worship should work.  

My challenge for you this week is for you to think about how you personally best worship God. This could be through a lot of different things.  This could be through painting, through prayer, through singing of worship songs, etc.  Then the second part of this challenge is I want you to spend an hour in this next week praising him through that particular way of worship, and show/tell someone else what you did, so they can too be inspired by your worship in God as well.  

In church, we are going over the book of Romans.  We are in the first couple of chapters, which is a bit harsher side of Paul.  He is being very honest about the state the country of Rome is in, and the state is not the best. They are not following after Jesus as well as Paul would like, not even many of those who belong to the church.  Paul describes the many, many sins of those who are in Rome.  Paul has a great heart for those who are in Rome and those in the church, but he sees many of both the citizens and Christians falling far away from God.  

However, one thing that really spoke to me was when my pastor described the two different types of sinners.   There was the Shameless sinner.  These are sinners who don’t have any care as to following God’s law.  They have really no desire to be better followers of Christ and they have no desire to change.  However, then there is the self-righteous sinner, and these are the sinners who are very judgmental of everyone and everything people, specifically fellow Christians, do. 

I should start out by saying it is not necessarily bad to be aware and a tinge judgmental of others’ actions.  What I mean is it is perfectly fine to see a particular action and know this is not the right action and to know to avoid it for your own life.  It may even be good to give advice against particular actions, especially if you know the person really well.  However, to come from this place of extreme confidence in anyone’s ability than God’s is what is incorrect. 

We should not put ourselves on too high of a pedestal that we are not aware of our own actions. We should not look down on the people around us, as if we are more deserving of love or of good fortune.  The truth is everyone is a sinner, and everyone has fallen away from God, and this is why Jesus had to come and save all of our lives.  There is no person more deserving of salvation over another person.  It is important to be hopeful consistently that people who are away from God’s house become closer to God and choose to turn away from their sins.  

My pastor, Peter did a really good job comparing these first two chapters of Romans and what Paul was describing of these sinners to the two prodigal sons parable Jesus told to his disciples.  It is usually called the parable of the Prodigal son, not sons, but our pastor really explains how this is the story or the parable of the two sons.  The first son ran away from home after getting his insurance money early.  Then he spent all his money and ended up being really broke, helpless, and hopeless.  Because of this, he ran back to his dad and again was accepted into his father’s house.  He was at one time the shameless sinner.  He did a lot of sinning and making mistakes before he returned home. 

Then there is the other brother.  He was so angry at his father for having a party after his brother’s return.  He was angry because he didn’t understand why his brother should receive any recognition or honor for just returning home.  He wanted his father to recognize all the work that he had been doing the whole time his brother had been away.  He wanted him to remember how he always stayed true.  This is said in Luke 15: 29-30.  “but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” 

Because of his refusal to come to the celebration, he never did fully get to appreciate this relationship with his father.  The Father tried to remind his son that his brother had been lost and now he was found and that is cause for a very glorious celebration.  The response the father gave his son who never ran away was, “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” He wanted to remind his son he has great reason to celebrate and to love his brother, even with his time being away from home.  The important piece is now he has arrived again.    

This week’s challenge is more of a reflective challenge.  The goal is to be aware of the moments when we as followers of Christ may become overly judgmental of the people around us.  The goal is to become aware that if a person is struggling with a particular sin, not to judge, but to pray for their betterment, to pray for them to find Jesus and to find a way to distance themselves from this sin. Then if they do fall away from a sin or come to know Christ, we need to remember to praise God and be filled with so much love and celebration!

Today’s child ministry’s story was the story of the men who were gifted three talents.  This is a parable that comes from Matthew 25:14-30.  This story was about a master who was going on a trip.  However, before he left he gathered three of his servants.  He gave each one of these servants some “talents.”  In this sense this is referring to money. In fact, one talent is relatively 20 years of wages.  One man received five talents, one man received two, and then another received one.  The man with the 5 talents went and used the money from trading to gain five more talents.  Then the man with two talents did the same thing.  However, the man with the one talent hid and buried the one talent, so nothing could happen to it, but he made no more talent. 

The master would eventually come home and he would be pleased with the two who doubled their talents.  But he was furious with the one who just hid the one talent.  He was mad that he did nothing with the item he had been entrusted with.  He felt disrespected because the gift he had given out had not been taken care of, at all, but rather buried and forgotten about.  He questioned why he should have ever given a talent to the third man in the first place.  I should also mention the master knew what each servant could handle before he left.  This was the reason why he didn’t give the same talent to all three of them.  He knew what would overwhelm each servant. 

What do you think God would say about us and the talents he has given us.  God has given each person talents and gifts, some in the form of money, some in the form of spiritual or physical gifts, some in the form of relationships, and a lot of us a combination of all these talents.  He has given us each what we can handle and each looks different from the other person down the road.  This is why it is very important to use our talents.  In fact, I was reading a book recently called “Gaining by Losing,” by J.D. Greear.  In one particular chapter, Greear discusses the importance of using talents.  He retells the story and shows the master getting incredibly angry at the man who did not do anything with his talent or his money.  He called this man wicked.  He didn’t call him lazy.  He didn’t call him dumb, but rather he called him wicked, like he was evil.  

This may seem a bit harsh and a bit unwarranted upon first reading. I mean, I can understand the master being disappointed with the third man, but I don’t understand why he was called wicked. He didn’t do anything wrong.  He didn’t do anything at all.  In fact, I didn’t really understand why he was called wicked until J.D. Greear reminds us that he was called wicked because he didn’t use what the master had given him to grow.  He didn’t appreciate what he had been given.  He tried to hide it away and pretend it didn’t exist.  He didn’t want to be responsible for it. 

In many ways, people are like the third servant when they decide to walk away from the amazing gifts from God we have been given.  For one thing, anyone who is a Christian has been given the gift of the Gospel, and that is the most precious gift in all of history.  The Lord knew we were sinners and yet he still chose to die on the cross for our sins and remove all of our guilt and shame away.  This is such a precious gift and yet sometimes, we (I am including myself here) can walk away from this gift and forget to think about the great opportunities and the great amount of responsibility this leaves with us.  We are called, if you are a Christian, to speak the Gospel to others and to make disciples.  

J.D. Greear writes this wonderfully in his book, “Gaining by Losing,” “The question is not just whether you have done bad things; the question is whether you have done the right things with the good things God has given you.” (J.D. Greear, Gaining by Losing, page 181)”  God has given every Chrsitian, the Gospel, as well as spiritual gifts to help bring the gospel to others, and people and opportunities in order to share that message with. He has given each person these gifts based on what each person can handle, so it is important we choose to handle these gifts well.  

The challenge for both myself and others who are reading is to use your talents God has given you.  I think my personal challenge is to reach out to those who are near me and ask them where their walk with God is.  Then maybe ask to have a time where we can spend talking to God and going over the Bible together.  I really want to make sure that those who are near me and those I care about are being taken care of in their spiritual walk and give a way for all of us to spend time together with God.  My challenge for you is to think about your range of influence and the people around you and how you can best use your talents to reach those people in your influence.  

I have always believed, like many Christians that one needs to be called in order to serve as a missionary.  There needs to be a special moment, and a special person who will fulfill a calling for mission work or fulfill a ministry.  Sure, I think most people have little callings.  Help in the church, tell your coworker about your relationship with God, and do your little things, but I didn’t always pay attention to how each and every Christian has more power than they could ever think possible.  Yes, I am even talking about myself, and you who are reading who believe in the work Jesus Christ did on the cross.  

Recently, I have been reading a book by a man named J.D Greear called, “Gaining by Losing.”  This book is all about how the churches that gain the most are the ones who send the most people.  This could be sending the people to plant a new church, to start a ministry or service project among their community that also teaches the Gospel, or sends them to a completely new country.  All of this is a part of sending and all of this is important for the spreading of God’s Word and the good news found in knowing Him.  J.D. Greear also takes the time to remind his readers of a very important power amidst those who are followers of Jesus, and this is that they have the Holy Spirit.  

Jesus went up to heaven which was a big moment for many of the disciples.  Think, they just had lost one of their best friends brutally when he died on the cross.  They watched him die in a great amount of suffering.  Then something miraculous happened.  Jesus resurrected from the dead and was able to walk amongst them again.  The disciples were amazed and excited to see him. Then he was going to leave them again. Can you imagine the disciples’ disappointment?   However, he left them with really good news.  He was going to be leaving them with a helper, something to remember him by and can offer assistance and guidance for the rest of their lives.  

The disciples were still probably disappointed.  I would sure be upset.  How could you imagine having to say good-bye to Jesus in sight and person and then accept something that isn’t quite the same as Jesus.  However, Jesus would say this helper is better than if he were just to stay with them.  He told the disciples they would be able to do more work now that they have the helper of the Holy Spirit.  In John chapter 14 verse 26 it says, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”  This was Jesus’ promise.  He doesn’t want the disciples to be alone, so he makes sure they are given great power. 

Later, in the Bible, we get to see the follow up of the Holy Spirit coming to the disciples.  In Acts chapter 2, the apostles and followers of Jesus were all together on the day of Pentecost when something inexplicable happened,  “And suddenly, there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  And divided tongues as fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (verses 2-4) They were suddenly filled with the power to speak multiple languages and they were filled with great power.  Then shortly after this, “And at the sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.”  (verse 6)

How amazing! Jesus did do as he had promised. He made the disciples with an ability to speak to a great number of people and then through the sound of the power he created, he also brought the people to them to speak about Jesus and his Gospel.  How easy the Holy Spirit made completing the Great Commission!  The Holy Spirit also wants to do this great power with all of us.  Greear describes this perfectly in his book.  “This means ordinary people-people with problems and faults and stubborn habits and personal weaknesses-can be used mightily in the mission of God, because it’s not about their abilities to do things for God, but about his ability to work through them. (J.D. Greear, Gaining by Losing, page 104)

Have you ever thought about how with the Holy Spirit, we as people have become more equipped to spread the Gospel?  I have, every once in a while.  But I will be honest that most of the time I think of the Holy Spirit as a good conscience.  I think of it more as the good angel on my shoulder leading me away from the bad devil who wants me to make the bad decisions.  I think of the Holy Spirit as a good leading guide against the bad thoughts I have or against the people who are aggravating me or the strong desire to do the wrong thing.  While the Holy Spirit does do all of this, it is capable of so much more. 

This can be both inspirational while also being intimidating.  It can be amazing to imagine the power we have through Jesus Christ inside of us.  However, it can also be scary to imagine the callings and the capabilities we have.  My challenge for you this week is to spend deep time in prayer.  I want you to spend time trying to find more voice in your holy spirit.  Ask God to have the Holy Spirit become more and more prevalent and present in your life to complete the work He wants for you to do.  I hope you are amazed by what is revealed the Holy Spirit is capable of in your life.    

“Goliath Must Fall,” by Louie Giglio is a very good reminder to face all of our fears. This book describes all the different giants we as people often develop.  There are things in my life and everyone else’s lives that go from being a little problem to a really big addiction or harmful area in our lives.  We don’t always think of them this way, but these are our giants.   

One of the giants the book mentions is the giant of rejection.  Rejection is a hard thing to get over at times.  There are times we don’t want to even think about our rejection, long enough for us to really notice it is a giant.  But when past rejection comes in our thoughts, it can cause great pain.  Because this whole book was looking at the story of David and Goliath, we get to see David and his bouts of rejection.  Granted, I don’t believe it is ever described as David feeling rejected, but how could he not be.  He was the only one of the brothers in his family who wasn’t chosen to go to war.  He was also the only one who was not considered for the prophecy to someday become king.  He kept getting overlooked.  He was the littlest brother.  He was the small one of the family, and therefore in his family’s eyes, he wouldn’t amount to much.  What a huge amount of rejection, young David had to face.  

I personally have struggled with rejection.   I had never thought it was something I struggled with, until there were a few big events I wasn’t invited to with friends, and I was left heartbroken.  A big part of the reason I started therapy was because I was struggling with being anxious and insecure in the heart of rejection, especially after these nonexistent invitations happened.  I would come close to anxiety attacks when I would think of the possibility of being rejected by those I love once again.  It was getting to a place where I did need help, which is why I did seek out professional help with my therapist.  

A great verse that can comfort us in our heartbreak of rejection is John 14:18 which says, “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.”  God will not leave us rejected or alone, but he will comfort and care for us.  He has not rejected us and he will never reject us.  He will always love you, no matter what you have done or no matter who else you feel has rejected you.  Getting back to David, it is a good reminder that God overlooked everyone else’s rejection.  God had decided David as king, and he chose David as the one who would be the winner over the big battle and giant named Goliath.  

Another big giant mentioned in this book was the giant of comfort.  Sometimes we as people care far too much about our comfort over everything else including our call and mission to be Christ followers.  I personally can care a lot about comfort.  I am so happy I decided to take up the nonprofit job and move to a bigger town because I knew I was going to be having a pay decrease and yet I was going to be in a bigger town where it was going to be more expensive to live there.  I was very nervous I would not be comfortable and live comfortably.  However, I really believed this is where I was meant to be and what God had planned for me, so I did decide to go even amidst my discomfort. 

I am not through this suggesting we make bad decisions.  Just because comfort shouldn’t be our main priority, does not mean people should necessarily go out into situations we feel are taking us away from God.  However, we should be more willing to speak to someone who we wouldn’t usually talk to.  This could be choosing to pray over someone when they tell you about a struggle they are having, or this could be choosing to share your faith in front of a group of people.   

One quote from the book that really struck out to me from the chapter over comfort was “In fact, the gospel is rooted in a place of discomfort-Christ’s discomfort. (Giglio, Louie “Goliath Must Fall, pg. 120).”  This is an amazing reflection.  Jesus had a lot of fear and a lot of discomfort, and this created the best story in all of history that has left us with so much love, peace, and joy.  He is now asking us to risk a bit of fear and a bit of discomfort for the sake of others to know the Gospel.  

My challenge for you this week is to think about your giants.  What is the thing that holds you back?  Is it fear? Anxiety? Comfort? Money? Relationships?  Addiction to substances? What is the thing that is holding you back from a more intimate and beautiful relationship with Christ and his mission for your life?  It is not an easy thing to fight against, but it is important we know how to name our giants if we are ever going to fight them.  We can also know God is with us every step of the way, to make us a David.