Author Archives: Brian

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About Brian

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.

Recapturing Today

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I often find that my day is consumed with thoughts of the future. In my weakest moments I become a slave to tomorrow. Worries and fears come to the forefront and I am paralyzed. Growing up and even to this day, Matthew 6:25-34 brought me comfort. 

Do Not Worry

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

In this passage we witness Jesus free us from worry. 

 You see, Jesus knew we would worry. He revealed that the root issue is our lack of faith.  He also revealed something that we all know from experience- worrying doesn’t solve anything. Pagans worry, followers of Jesus do not.

And why should we worry? He promises that God will meet those needs

Jesus also tells us about tomorrow. And what does He say? Focus on today! Today is challenging. Today is tough. Today is all you can handle! Tomorrow may come, and if it does, then handle it then. 

I tell you this because this is such a struggle for me. I desire to live each day for the glory of God, but as I said, I become a slave to tomorrow. How do we combat this?

The answer is simple- Faith.

If worry is the result of a lack of Faith, then the presence of Faith will squash worry. We must believe that Jesus is who He says He is in order to recapture today.

I pray that it would be so in my life and in yours. 

– B

“Private” Sin, Public Disgrace

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It seems like every day we are bombarded with stories of icons that have fallen prey to the consequences of some sort of deviant behavior. Adultery, fraud, cheating, murder, etc. Take a look at this list from-

Tiger Woods
John Edwards
Elliot Spitzer
Bernie Madoff
Aaron Hernandez

There are many more, but you get the idea. Why does this shock us though? You see this played out in Scripture numerous times. Consider the story of David and Bathsheba. In case you have forgotten, here are the highlights –

David notices Bathsheba
David lusts after Bathsheba
David sleeps with Bathsheba
Bathsheba conceives a child
David attempts to cover up the indiscretion by bringing Uriah (Husband of Bathsheba) home from the war hoping he will sleep with his wife.
David tries the previous tactic again, this time using alcohol
David plans Uriah’s death
Uriah is killed

David is then confronted by his friend Nathan and reaches the following conclusion –
“I have sinned against the Lord.”

No kidding.

But I want to highlight what the Lord says through all of this-

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

Did you catch that? “Private” sin leading to public disgrace.

How humiliating must this have been for David? How humbling must this have been for David. By the way, of course all of what the Lord promised came to fruition (For example, see 2 Samuel 16:22).

Now take a look at what Nathan says to David about the consequences of his actions.

“The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”

Two principles in play here –

1) Sin is never private

“You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel”

We may think we are fooling the world. We may think our sin is just a private and personal matter. If you are like me, then these excuses are familiar to you:

“It doesn’t impact anyone else.”
“What I do privately is my business.”
“Nobody will know.”

The fact is, this is false. Here is the truth-

Sin, although often times conducted privately, is very much a public issue impacting everyone.

Maybe you don’t believe me, but just think

– That lie you just told, it hindered trust between you and another person.
– The anger you harbor towards your boss? Certainly leads to resentment in the relationship
– The woman you lusted after at the gym today, no big deal right? Ask your wife how she feels about that

You see, our so-called private sin manifests itself publicly, and then we must face the consequences of our actions.

2) Our sin carries consequences, always-

“The Lord has taken away your sin, …. BUT….”

Whether you are a follower of Christ or not, you cannot escape this truth. Our sin carries consequences. Christ never promises to shield us from the earthly consequences of our sin. We still have to face the reality of a fallen world that we readily contribute to each day. The consequence may be large, or it could be small. It could be as grand as worldwide public disgrace, or as small as a painful talk with your wife or friend.
Either way, we will face the consequences.

What do we do then? What is the correct response when faced with our “private” sin?
Psalm 51 has the answer

Humble Ourselves

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart

you, God, will not despise.

Confess

Have mercy on me, O God,
 according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion
 blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
 and cleanse me from my sin.

Praise God

Open my lips, Lord,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

Tell Others

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

so that sinners will turn back to you.

– B

A Change of Direction

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Greetings All-

It has been a while for me, and you may have noticed a few changes. Well, several changes. New layout, new blog host, new web address. The only thing that remains the same is the blog title.

But Seek First.

Based on Matthew 6:33 where Jesus says “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

The reason for this change is simple- I wanted this blog to answer one central question.

What does it look like for me to seek His kingdom first?

My previous blog will still exist, but the focus of that blog will be different. I have not yet fully determined the direction I want to go with it, but that’s not important. This is important.

Some exciting changes are coming and I look forward to sharing them with you all. This website is a work in progress, but I hope to get all of the nuances sorted out soon. One significant change is that I will be creating this site with the help of some dear friends. We all have a passion for writing, and will offer different perspectives on the central question.

Thanks for stopping by.

– B

My Word for 2014

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My church urged its members to consider a word that will mark their year. A word that they choose under careful consideration and prayer that will shape how they use their time, energy, and resources. Its kind of like the lens that their year will be viewed through.
As I was listening to the Pastor share the vision, I started writing some words down.

All of these words were good so I decided to evaluate them from there. I spent the next few days running them through my head, reviewing their definitions and context in Scripture. You know, doing all of the human things that I could to evaluate these words.

Sacrifice had been on my mind because I had been thinking a lot about the life I want to lead, a life of sacrifice. It was particularly fresh on my mind due to a part of a speech by President Reagan where he discusses the life of a soldier named Martin Treptow.

My Pledge
“America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.”
These words spoke directly to my heart, but I wanted to be sure. Absolutely sure.
I set the following Friday (Jan 3rd) as decision day. My mind had settled on sacrifice but I knew in my heart that the issue was not fully settled. Mid week was New Years and I talked to a friend of mine who really challenged me on my word. We discussed the concept of sacrifice as something that is not always positive in nature. Sort of like you adopt a martyr mentality. But I knew that this was not what sacrifice looked like in my mind. I knew that God had a different view, but I was conflicted. I left that night asking for clarity on what exactlysacrifice would look like for me.
So then something happened.
I stumbled on Romans 12, and it became abundantly clear that the word my mind had settled on was in fact the word God had for me.
 Sacrifice
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Romans 12:1
This was it. This was perfect. Viewing sacrifice as an act of worship was exactly the vision that I needed for clarity. But there is more, the rest of Romans 12 goes on to discuss humble service, sincere love, devotion to others, and giving honor to all people.  This was blowing my mind due to the consistency with my stated goals for this year, namely finding a ministry to serve in, improving relationships with my family, and consciously investing in the people God places in my life.
So what does this look like day to day?
 
 
“offer your bodies as a living sacrifice”
 
 I am thankful for this clarity and confident that 2014 will be a tremendous year.
God Bless
– B

The Best of You

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The Foo Fighters, a quality Alt Rock band from the 90s and 2000s had a song titled “Best of You”. In the song the artist asks “Is someone getting the best of you?”
Now, the context and content of the song is much different than what I will write about here, but I think this is a great question to ask. Is someone getting the best of you?
Better yet, is anyonegetting the best of you?
I don’t strictly mean this in the romantic relationship sense (although, as you will see, it applies there as well). I mean in the broader sense. In your everyday interactions, relationships big and small, are you giving your best to those around you?
Certainly we should strive for that, should we not?
The random people we see each day, they deserve our best. They deserve to be treated with respect, dignity, and engagement.
The people we work with, they deserve our best. They are relying on us for leadership, mentorship, or contributions to the team goal.
Our boss or bosses/ the organization we work for, they deserve our best. They pay us to do a job, and to do it well. They deserve commitment and our whole attention while we are on their payroll.
Our friends and loved ones, they deserve our best. They sacrifice for us, extend their hearts on our behalf and invest in our development.
The face you see in the mirror each day, He or She deserves your best. You owe it to yourself to apply your full effort each day in your relationships and your life in general.
And most importantly, Our Great God, He deserves our best. He created us and redeemed us to a whole new life. He expects our best and we will be held accountable one day in this matter.
SO,
Why do we accept mediocrity so often? Why do we give less than our best?
Consider the following excuses that I have used to justify my mediocrity:
·         I am too tired
·         I am distracted
·         I don’t really like that person
·         I’ll handle it tomorrow
·         I am having a bad day
·         This is not my responsibility
I am sure I could come up with more excuses that I have used or have heard from someone else. I am sure you could put together quite a list as well. However, I am a solutions oriented person, which leads me to  the following question-
How do we fix this?
How do we create an environment where we can devote our best each day, in life and relationships?
Big question indeed but here are some simple tips I have found useful in my own pursuit. 
1)     Stop Multitasking 
Listen, I know you think that you are a multitasking machine. The reality is, you are not. Multitasking is a myth and is increasingly rejected by the scientific and business communities. Don’t believe me? Search for yourself. Studies have shown that multitasking decreases focus, concentration, and creativity. What does this mean for us and our ability to give our best? Well, if you are distracted or trying to juggle several things then you can rarely devote your full self to any one objective. 
As for relationships, I will ask this question- Have you ever tried to have a serious conversation with someone addicted to their phone? 
Yeah, aint happenin. 
Now I love my phone as much as the next person, but I strongly urge you to be present as much as possible. I understand you have to communicate with people but consider this practice- Once you take your eyes away from the phone and that particular relationship, take a moment to refocus on the people you are with. Presence and engagement are critical. 
2)     Prepare
“By failing to prepare,  you are preparing to fail.”
–  Benjamin Franklin
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
– Abraham Lincoln
Do we ever give much thought to our day? We may have a plan, but do we prepare? You see, there is a difference. Allow me to give a simple illustration from my own life.
Each morning I know what I need to do- Wake up, eat breakfast, pack lunch, read, shower, get clothes on, go to work. See, this is a plan. 
A plan tells me what needs to be done.
Preparation would be if I did the following: Set a bowl and cereal box out for breakfast, left my reading book on the coffee table, picked my clothes for the next day, and set out some of the items I need for lunch. Preparation is about readiness, it is part of the execution.
So often we are limited by our lack of preparation. Rarely do we prepare to do our best. What would that even look like anyway? Well, we have to consider preparation as an idea much broader than the physical things. Consider mental, emotional, and spiritual preparation as well
.
 
3)      Today
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:33
“Make each day your masterpiece”
– John Wooden
“There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday, and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.”
– Dalai Lama
This is a daily decision. Today is the only day you can influence directly. We waste our time worrying about the future and feeling guilty about the past. If you have a rough day, shake it off and don’t let it ruin the next day. 
4)      Shift Focus Upward and Outward 
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we have to shift our focus. We must shift our focus off of ourselves, upward to Christ, and then outward to others.
Notice how all of my excuses started with I. It was all about me. Giving your best requires sacrifice.  You cannot give your best if you are selfish, its just not possible. Heck, you rarely give anything if you are selfish. 
This kind of commitment is exhausting, which is a good thing. If you are constantly pouring yourself out into meaningful endeavors (service, people, occupation, etc), then of course you are going to be exhausted!
In closing, I encourage you to evaluate your life, how you spend your time and energy. 
Be honest with yourself and ask the question: 
Have I given my best today?