Ahhh, sibling rivalry!

I got to spend some time with my sister yesterday night.  Celebrated her homecoming from Guatemala, and her 21st birthday.  Watched a slideshow that reminded me again of how much I love her.  Which reminded me of a verse I read last week.  It’s on that I need to continually beat it into my thick skull…

1 Timothy 5:2 “Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters.”

THIS

WOULD

CHANGE

EVERYTHING.

No more hot shot jerks taking advantage of girls.  No more frustrated guys to wussy to stand up and protect those girls.  No my friendships falling apart because of ‘teenage drama.’ No more broken hearts. No more regrets.

Love women as you’d love family.

How far is too far? As far as you’d go with your sister.

That girl you’ve been checking out- treat her with the LOVE and RESPECT that you should be showing your mom.

Dang.

Holy and pleasing to Him.  That’s our aim right?  Trust Him with this one boys.

Anyone know how does 1 Timothy 5 ends?

“And the good deeds done in secret will someday come to light.”

Jay

Read an article here about the top 33 church logos for 2009.  It got me thinking about church slogans.  Some are horrible, many are cliché, but some are great.  Here are a few that I like:

“More to life.”

“Where people matter and God is the main attraction.”

“Church on the Move.”

When I was in high school, I attended a church whose motto was “A family of Christians with a desire to see Christ transforming lives.” Once before a youth baptism, a man in his seventies yelled at two of us for wearing our hats…in the entryway.  It brought a dear friend of mine to tears.  I was mad.  But my guess is that this gentleman didn’t exactly buy into the church’s vision.

Someday, I would love to be part of a team that plants a church.  I would like the motto to be three simple words:

“Closer to Jesus.”

That pretty much sums it up doesn’t it?!

It covers Christians and non-believers alike.

It takes the pressure off of the pastor to “produce numbers” or “see more salvations.”

If Christ-followers devoted their lives to a.) getting closer to Jesus and b.) helping everyone they encounter do the same, imagine how the world would change!

We’d lose the hypocrisy, the unrealistic expectations for becoming perfect, and the Amway-converting mentality.  Gold.

But here’s the thing that’s killing me right now: WE ARE THE CHURCH! So, really, our lives should have a motto too right?  Can you imagine if life put a motto on us, based on our regular behaviour?  What would our mottos say?!

“Loves to touch himself.”

“Facebook. Television.  Text Messaging.”

“Too lazy to learn the truth.”

“Loving Stuff More Than People, 24/7 ”

“Lost”

“Too afraid to ask for help.”

Our lives speak louder than our words ever will. I wish I had something else to say, but I don’t.

Be honest…

If you were starting a church, what would the motto be?

Based on your current life, what would your motto be?

What would you like your life motto to be?

How are you going to get there starting right now?

Jay

Does God speak to you in divine, and surprising ways? There are a few spiritual leaders that God uses to speak into my life, and it is not necessarily always my home church pastor. These are some of my favourite pastors, including the likes of Perry Noble, Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel, Erwin McManus, Steven Furtick, Ed Young, and Dave Ramsey.

I was reading “It” by Groeschel, clearly one of the best books I have ever read. There was a quote that hits hard, and it reminds me of how many “church” people there are and how few Christian people there are.

The quote was this:

“Slowly, I started to fall in love with God again - not his bride, the church. (she already has a husband, and it`s not me.)”

Are you in love with God, or your church? Do you go to your church because the pastor speaks feel-good messages or because you are challenged to pursue God more? Do you go to your church because your friends go there, or because you are surrounded by people who keep in community and accountability?

I urge you: you have to ask yourself these questions. This is something we cannot be passive about. There is nothing wrong with listening to other sermons, but are you being fed by the speaker? Or are you just comfortable?

I challenge you, if you are comfortable in your church, try somewhere else. You won`t lose your salvation because you go somewhere else. Your tithe shouldn`t have to go to your home church. Your friends don`t have to all be at your home church. It doesn`t matter where you go Sunday morning because you are the church.

That`s our calling.

That`s our mission from Jesus.

So don`t go to church, be the church.

Aaron

The Rape of Tamar by Eustache Le Sueur 1640

“Come to bed with me, my darling sister!” That’s the line he uses.

Messed up right?

That’s the story of 2 Samuel chapter 13.

Jerk named Amnon is ‘in love’ with his step sister Tamar.
Tool pretends he’s sick and sends for her help.
Evil man grabs and rapes her.
Idiot burns with hatred and throws her on the streets.
(eventually Tamar’s brother just kills him)

When I was in high school, I did the same thing. Sorta.  At least in the spiritual sense.
In Christ, every women is to be treated as a sister.  Sickenly, I treated a few like Tamar.

Every girl I ever fooled around with I ended up hurting them in some way.
I broke their hearts. I remember feeling a sort of ‘hate’ towards them.  Really, it was a disgust at myself.
Maybe it was the guilt. The shame. Regret at losing something I couldn’t get back.  The sense that I’d betrayed my future wife. The hurt I caused. The damage I’d wrecked on the future marriage of others.

Not worth it.
Don’t be an Amnon.
It’ll kill you in the end.

Jay