Work doesn't define you

I often here Christians talk about their jobs or career and many times we get it all wrong. We think our calling and our purpose is tied up in our jobs. There are times when people are called to specific tasks. Nehemiah was called to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem. Noah was called to build a boat in the desert. However, neither of these were the career occupations of these two men. Nehemiah was able to leverage his position as the cup bearer for the King and the fact that he had exceeded expectations in his post to complete what God had called him to do. Our jobs don't define us. Jesus does. His purpose in life is not found in a job, but can be acted out through one. Do you think David felt called to tend sheep? Doubtful, but God acted through the things he did in that position to give David the faith and skills needed to slay Goliath. Jesus is much bigger than our occupation. The most God honoring thing we can do with our occupation is to work at it as if we are working for God and prepare for the opportunities God will send our way. It seems most often in Scripture, God uses our occupations to position us in places for maximum impact. We mistake that for needing God to "call" us to a specific job. Yes, we should seek His council in our careers, but He is the God of the universe and can work through whatever situation you are currently in.

Look to Jesus

The third and final principle from Hebrews 12:1-2 is, fix your eyes on Jesus. In the evenings when my kids want to head down the street to play in the cul de sac, they invariably say "Daddy let's race!" This scenario plays out the same every time. Their youthful exuberance shoots down the street at breakneck speed. Finally my pride tells me that I can't lose a race to a five and three year old so I start running them down. When I do this, they start looking back over their shoulder. When they turn their head, they veer off course, dangerously close to mailboxes, ditches, and other potential hazards. They have taken their eyes off the goal. You see their direction is determined by their vision. The spiritual principal is the same, our vision, where we fix our eyes, determines our direction. Jesus gave his apostles a simple command when He called them: "Follow me". He essentially said, fix your eyes on me, because your direction is determined by your vision. Look to Jesus.

Look at yourself

Quick recap from my previous post. We are looking at Hebrews 12:1-2. The author is teaching us how to properly prepare to succeed. The first principal was to look at the previous winners and emulate their faith. Here's the second principal: Assess yourself. "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles", which tell us to look at ourselves and evaluate our lives. To finish the race of life as a winner, we must constantly pause to step back and honestly look at everything in our lives. This could mean giving up that extra TV time or scaling back on our facebook time to open up space to read God's word. It could mean dropping some religious activities to open up more time to reach out to those who don't know Jesus. Maybe strictly monitoring your budget so you can give generously.

The key here is constant self assessment to determine if you are still listening to and following God's direction. Throw off the things that distract you from who God has called you to be. Just like an athlete who trains with an intentional impediment, such as sprinter running with a parachute or someone performing tasks with weighted apparatuses, lay those things down before you enter the arena of your competition. Run His race freed from the impediments that so often slow us down.

Back in Saddle

So its been over a year since I blogged! I thought it might be time to get back on the wagon. I recently preached my first sermon to a group of guys who are also trying to hone their preaching skills. It was a 20 minute sermon on Hebrews 12:1-2. I'm going to hit a few of the points on the blog on the next couple of days. First here's the text: :

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Here is what I hope you can glean from the text over the next couple of blogs: The author of Hebrews gives us tips on how to "win" at life. How to look back at our lives when we get to the end and marvel at all the things God used us to do.

The "therefore" that verse 1 begins with asks us to look back at the preceding section of scripture. In chapter 11, the author (most likely Paul, but he is not specifically named in the letter as the author) talks about the heroes of the faith as recounted in the old testament. He names many of them and shows by faith in God and His promises what was accomplished through their lives. With that in mind, the first sentence gives us the first secret to winning: look back at the those who have won the race and emulate their faith.

The reason they won the race is not because of any innate ability, dogged determination, or supreme intellect... its because they had enough faith to listen to God and do what He said. God many times communicates to us a message that is nonsensical. God's miracle's work not through reproducible acts, but through the faith to believe what He tells us. For instance, Moses split the red sea with a staff, can you pick up a stick in the YMCA parking lot, walk inside, hit the pool with it and part the waters? Of course not, don't copy Moses' actions, emulate his faith! Does marching around a heavily fortified city seven times and then shouting and blowing trumpets seem like a successful battle plan? Of course not, but God had ordered Joshua to have the Israelites do this, so He could fight their battle for them.

God has provided us ample evidence of his faithfulness, but unleashing his power rests in our capacity to listen and believe what he says. Look at those who came before us and learn from ability to believe God and see Him move in and through their lives.