Entries Tagged 'Spiritual Formation' ↓

A youth devotional using “Night at the Museum”

A few weeks ago, at a youth lock-in, I shared the following devotion with the youth based on the movie, Night at the Museum.

What makes you happy? What do you enjoy doing? When was the last time you did something that really made you happy?

There is much talk about the search for happiness. In the Christ-following life we go beyond speaking of happiness to that of the real joy we find in Christ. We believe that in Christ we can live fulfilled lives.

Where and in what ways do you see people search for happiness? These may be the right or wrong places to search, in your opinion. (These may include relationships, marriage, jobs, hobbies, extreme sports, God, success, money, accomplishments, etc.)

God’s Word promises, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29.11, also 12-14a)

God has a plan for each of our lives. How do we find that plan? How do we choose what we do? Some choices are not right or wrong, so how do we choose between two good choices? Who influences our decisions (friends, parents, authority figures, TV, media, celebrities, advertisements)? What influences our decisions (personal motivation, giftedness, want to impress or please others)?

During my senior year of high school, the volleyball coach wanted me to play volleyball. We were just getting a volleyball team started, and during gym class, the coach and I discovered that I had a pretty mean serve. But I was soon heading off to college to major in music education. My mother thought I should be devoting my time to music. What was the right decision? What did I want to do?

In “Night at the Museum,” Larry was a dreamer and an inventor. But that wasn’t paying the bills. His successful ex-wife was threatening to cut off his relationship with their son, Nicky, because Larry’s lack of employment was difficult on their son. A conversation follows between Larry and Nicky.

Hey, Nicky, look at me. Look at me, man. I wanna tell you something’. I know that things have been kinda up and down for me lately and that’s been hard for you. But I really feel like my moment’s coming and when it does, everything’s just gonna come together. You know?What if you’re wrong and you’re just an ordinary guy who should get a job?

Larry sets out to find a job and he is plunged into a challenging situation. And beyond the negative voices of his ex-wife and the career counselor, and the doubts of his son, Larry finds an encouraging voice in Teddy Roosevelt.

Welcome to the family, Lawrence. See you tomorrow night.Well—Oh, actually, I gotta be honest. I don’t thing I’m coming back.What? You’ve just begun.Yeah. Well, this is not exactly what I—Lawrence!Yeah?What did you do before you took this post?Uh. Well, I’ve done a lot of different things. I, um—I invented this thing called the Snapper.Did you give up on that as well.No. I didn’t. No, I just hit a few roadblocks. You might have heard of the Clapper.Lawrence.Yes, sir.Some men are born great. Others have greatness thrust upon them. For you, this is that very moment.

It took someone else seeing Larry’s gifts to spur him on to action. God is at work in you revealing who you are yet to become, revealing the gifts that he has given you. God’s Word says, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1.6)Be thankful for the gifts God has given you, and tell someone else the gifts and talents you see in them.

The importance of daily Bible reading.

There’s a lot of emphasis on reading Scripture. While there’s not a command in the Bible that says, “Thou shalt read the Bible everyday!” I recently came across a couple portions of Scripture that address the importance of reading the Scriptures consistently.

In Deuteronomy 17, Moses is preparing the people for the leadership of his successor. He gives guidelines for a King upon entering and settling in the promised land and offers specific guidelines regarding the “body of instruction on a scroll,” saying, the king “must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel” (Deuteronomy 17.18-20).

Later, after Moses dies, Joshua becomes the new leader of God’s people. Joshua 1.6-9 gives the following instructions: “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

The Bible is the story of our spiritual ancestors. We learn about God through their experiences. And, hopefully, our faith is strengthened and challenged by their experiences!

The journey demands that followers of Jesus stay in shape!

In my daily Bible reading yesterday, I finished Deuteronomy. Near the end of the book, at the end of Moses’ life and leadership of the Israelite’s, Moses wrote a song and taught it to the people he was leaving behind.

Part of that lengthy song caught my attention: “But Israel soon became fat and unruly; the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed!” (Deuteronomy 32.15).

That makes me think of people who don’t stay in spiritual shape. Unfortunately, it’s easy to become complacent and comfortable with the way things are, and simply maintain the status quo. Rather than commit to a life of change and transformation, we remain where we are.

Before we know it, years, maybe even a lifetime, has gone by, and we have grown in the wrong direction. When we’re not in the process of being transformed, we become “fat and unruly,” and we grow “heavy, plump, and stuffed.” It’s something we must constantly guard against, and we guard against it by committing to a life of growth and transformation.

The American Heart Association offers some helpful advice on Following a Healthy Eating Plan. Tips for becoming more spiritually fit and healthy are similar, I think, and may include things like …

Give at least as much as you receive.

Put your faith into action (love God and love people).

Spend devoted time with God every day.

Develop healthy spiritual habits (i.e. disciplines).

Get enough spiritual nutrition, and in a variety of forms.

Avoid things that will make you spiritually unhealthy.

How spiritually fit are you? Is your spiritual health improving? How might you put some of these tips into practice in your own life?

Sometimes the “insiders” don’t get it, but the “outsiders” do!

When you read Scripture pay attention to how often the “insiders” (i.e. God’s people) don’t get it and how often the “outsiders” do. It reminds me of what Jesus said: “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do” (Matthew 9.12).

Here are a few examples …

John 3 and 4 parallel each other. In John 3, Nicodemus (a religious leader, a man), visits Jesus in the middle of the night and has a spiritual conversation with Jesus. But Nicodemus doesn’t get it (at least not immediately). However, in John 4, an unnamed woman (a Samaritan, an outsider), has a conversation with Jesus in the middle of the day. Unlike Nicodemus, though, she gets it! (BTW, the fact that Jesus, a Jewish man, approached a Samaritan woman was scandalous enough!)

Look at the Book of the 12 (i.e. the “Minor Prophets”). As I understand it, 11 books involve God’s prophets (people who get it, in this case) going to God’s people (insiders), but they don’t get it. One book, though, involves God’s prophet (Jonah, who doesn’t get it), going to a foreign nation (outsiders) and they get it!

The Gospels (the four tellings about Jesus in the New Testament) are full of subversive words and actions. Jesus was often criticized by insiders (i.e. religious leaders) for hanging out with outsiders (tax collectors and various other questionable people). Compare that with how Jesus sometimes treated religious leaders, including his actions in clearing the Temple (the last straw that led to Jesus’ arrest and subsequent death).

Many of the stories Jesus told were subversive in nature, too. The story of the Good Samaritan is based on a story where the Samaritan (an outsider) was the hero of the story. A priest and a Temple worker (insiders) were the bad guys.

Jesus once healed a group of lepers after he sent them to the Temple (they were healed on the way). Interestingly (and subversively), the writer notes that only one of the ten men returned to thank Jesus for healing. The only one who returned was the Samaritan (not only an outsider, but a despised outsider at that!).

Another subversive story recorded in Scripture begins this way: “Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else.” The story was about an insider and an outsider both offering prayers to God. Jesus notes, rather subversively, that it was the outsider (the “despised tax collector”) who was accepted by God. Jesus concluded, “those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” You can read the fascinating story in Luke 18.9-14.

So what does all of this mean?
While I think we must be confident about what we believe, we must also be humble. As a follower of Jesus I believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. I believe in absolute truth. But I can never say that I have it all figured out. I like what I’ve heard Leonard Sweet say: “Twenty percent of my theology is wrong. I just don’t know which twenty percent!”
I also think Christ-followers have to be intentional when reading Scripture. We often read Scripture as if we’re the people who get it. But sometimes (probably more than we’d care to admit) we may be the people who don’t get it. This should lead us to read Scripture with open ears and hearts!

For more on God’s subversiveness and the subversiveness of God’s followers, check out The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus (one of my favorite writers/communicators), lead pastor of Mosaic.

Sometime last year I talked how small we humans are in the universe. That was driven home to me last October on vacation in Nova Scotia, Canada.

One of the most incredible sites on our trip was the 24 hours we spent in the tiny fishing village of Peggy’s Cove. Even though it was a tiny fishing village, the rocky coast there was both massive and amazing!

It was very easy to feel small on those rocks, just a speck in the universe; in fact, I’m even a speck in the photo posted here. Thinking about how big the universe is leads me to believe that God must be so awesome.

During Lent, I talked about humility and said, “Your view of God will determine how humble you are.” I was thinking about Peggy’s Cove when I crafted that statement. The bigger we realize God is, the smaller we realize we are. Humility is a by-product of our view of God.

Check out some of our photos from our trip through the Canadian Maritime Provinces on our photos page.

Several months ago, I did a message on unity. My point was, oneness is God’s dream for us. Jesus certainly prayed for unity, praying that we would be one with God and with one another (John 17).

But does oneness mean sameness? I don’t think so. I believe God values both unity and diversity. The Trinity is an example of both—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one and they are diverse. Look at creation—God obviously loves diversity. Earth is only a tiny speck in God’s creation, and yet, this planet alone is filled with such tremendous diversity—topography, cultures, languages, attitudes, personalities, all the way down to fingerprints and DNA.

The challenge, of course, is in the interaction. There have always been battles related to ideology, racism, classism, sexism, etc. Add theology to the mix, and you have a recipe for conflict in the Church. Christ-followers have always struggled to get along and work well together. Rather than valuing our differences, many Christ-followers reject other followers because they believe, think, act, and sometimes look, different.

Christ-followers who believe that unity means sameness tend to be more narrow in their thinking, while Christ-followers who value diversity tend to be more open-minded. Like most things, of course, the extremes are bad. We’ve got to find the balance so that we are not too narrow (rejecting everything) or too open-minded (accepting everything).

But I believe it’s a balance we must try to find. The only way to truly be the body of Christ is to value both unity and diversity.