This Is Your Life

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This Is Your Life was a television documentary series hosted by Ralph Edwards. It originated as a radio show in the late 40’s, and then movrd to television for a decade long run in the 1950s.

The format of the show consisted of the host, who would surprise someone, usually a celebrity or public figure, and on occasion an ordinary citizen. The host would follow a research dossier outlining the guests life achievements, thereby presenting a biography of the subject before a live studio audience. The subject would be presented with family members and old friends, reunited with old acquaintances, and often shed a tear when a personal tragedy was recounted.

The celebrity guests were essentially ambushed by host Ralph Edwards and frequently intimidated by the microphone and cameras. People were usually very uncomfortable being caught off-guard Some in fact hostile and angry, at having their personal and private lives made public. There was no opportunity for a guest to review the script in advance or offer a different perspective on one’s life events.

One day, each one of us will be center stage in a sort of “This Is Your Life” documentary review of our life... lived as a so-called follower of Christ. Our host for this momentous event, who will recount our individual life biographies, will be Jesus himself. There will be no cameras, no microphones, and we won’t be caught off-guard. Since the day we said YES to his grace, we’ve known this day would eventually come. We won’t be alone.... there will be a heavenly audience observing the mercy and judgment meted out by the Lord and Savior of humanity. Somehow, the picture I’ve created in my head for that day, when I stand before the creator of the universe and listen to His perspective of my life, is not a very comforting prospect. It’s unsettling. It causes internal agitation of the heart and mind.

The day we make our commitment to Christ, our individual dossier begins. Every detail, every event, every missed opportunity, every ignored responsibility.... everything we do from that point forward, good, bad and indifferent, is being noted by the Lord of the Universe. If you’re not scared now.. give yourself a few moments... you will be!

Many who claim the title “Christian”, who regularly attending church, and are at least acquainted with the gospel, God’s plan of salvation and requirements for living as a Christian, never seem to get with the program. They are comfortable with the world around them. They have little or no problem with sin. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Christians like these, will speak an occasional sentimental thought about Christ for posturing purposes. They acknowledge Christmas and Easter and now and then will engage in basic discussions of Biblical truths, but never at a depth that allows self-exposure or personal conviction. Sadly, these folks who call themselves Christians, demonstrate little or no evidence that they have experienced the transforming power of the gospel in their lives. (Romans 8:1-9; 1 Peter 1: 15-16; Colossians 2:6)

Yet in spite of the overwhelming evidence against them, carnal or worldly Christians consider themselves “heaven bound”... next stop the pearly gates! How absurd! The only Christians who will arrive at heaven’s gate and hear those hoped for words spoken to you by Jesus... “ welcome home good and faithful servant”, are those Christians who have lived transformed lives in total unconditional commitment to serving the Lord’s interests... not your own! (Matthew 25:14-30; Romans 12:2; Galatians 5:17-24)

At our baptism, God takes us out of the world and embues us with citizenship in heaven. But at the same time, he places us right back in the midst of this sin-filled world. Why? We have a job to do... to be a living witness for Christ. To seek and save those searching for something better than what this sin-filled world offers. We are expected to be “salt and light” to the world. Christians are to be a global throng that “stands in” for Jesus Christ. We are to be noticed and recognized for who we claim to be... followers of Jesus Christ. We are to "walk the walk" and "talk the talk" everyday of our lives in Christ.

The plan is clear and simple to comprehend. We have a blueprint... the Bible. It teaches us how to yield to the Holy Spirit’s leading so we can be transformed into worthy vessels for use by the God. If that’s not where you are right now today, then your mind and heart are in serious need of reconditioning. If God’s will is not defining your direction in life... then you are simply not in sync with God... you are a Carnal Christian.

This world and all of its allies are passing away... be transformed NOW.... so when you stand before Him and God recounts your life... He will do so full of grace, mercy and joy for a life lived passionately in Him... for His Kingdom. There is no other way!

The Spirit Brings Us Together... We Pull Ourselves Apart

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I'VE GOT SOMETHING YOU DON'T! You've heard that taunt from your children, haven't you? Maybe you’ve said it yourself a few times. It's okay... you can admit it. We’ve all said things like that to one another at some point in our adult lives.

One of the most serious problems with our personal passion and strong commitment to follow Christ, is that we allow it to overpower our balance... our view of ourselves and others. You might be wondering how something so good, so rich and rewarding as a life commitment to serve the Lord could be a threat to our spiritual growth and standing before God.

Here’s the problem. We often deceive ourselves with an all-too-human spirit that says my experiences or my spiritual practices or my commitment or my doctrinal understanding give me a better connection with God than you have.

You have deceived yourself into believing that what you’re doing for the Lord and His Kingdom are better than what others are doing and therefore God recognizes "you" as better than others. You might even see yourself as sort of a “savior” for your congregation.... as if they couldn’t get along without you... your teaching, your insights, your wisdom and so on. In your eyes, you think of yourself as humble... a person “extra” blessed by God, working passionately and diligently in doing God’s will. Thinking like this is a sure sign that you're not what you think you are. Said another way... expressions such as these are quite literally a "holier than thou" attitude.

It's great to have spiritual experiences, right doctrine, knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures. It’s great that someone can explain and teach the Word of God effectively. But such gifts are not a “measuring stick” to be used in evaluating one person over another. Having what you equate as more skills and talents, does not mean that God has imbued you with more, thereby making you better than others.

Working to bring people together is a responsibility for all of us. But some of us just seem to have a knack for pulling people apart. Here’s a short list of skills many of us seem to have mastered rather well: starting arguments; spreading gossip; creating cliques; carrying grudges; backstabbing; deliberately undermining those in authority; pitting one person off against another; lying; setting up rules in order to create social barriers; being a racist or sexist or elitist; giving orders and demanding obedience; using principles or even 'righteous' anger as an excuse to cut off contact; personalizing a dispute; raising the stakes in disputes; having an 'I win, you lose' attitude; acting without concern about how it affects others. That’s enough! More than enough to undermine your personal relationship with Jesus and cause competitive divisiveness in a congregation.

God have never given us any evidence that He “measures” one person against the other based on skills, abilities, or knowledge. God loves us all equally. Jesus died on the cross not only for all... but for each of us.

God seeks to work within each one of us, thereby achieving His purposes through a collective gifted body of believers whom He empowers to work harmoniously together. The Holy Spirit works for the good of the whole body of followers, doing so by assisting us in cultivating the personal gifts each one of us possesses. God’s treatment of his children is impartial with grace for all and blessings bestowed on sincere hearts.

When we worry about measuring one another, especially when you set yourself up as the “measuring stick” for evaluating the contributions and value of your Christian brothers and sisters, we craft an ugly picture for the whole world to see. You can’t hide this type of attitude, it shows forth like a flashing neon sign giving a poor witness to onlookers of the Christian experience. The unbelievers in the world use various forms of measuring people, but they expect something better from those who say they believe in the concepts of unconditional love and acceptance of all.

Harboring such attitudes will cause a body of believers to be less effective in using the gifts God gave to each of us. The tighter the group is, the worse these attitudes can be. God designed His Church to be a tightly knit body of believers... so it stands to reason that we will succumb to feeding on one another from time to time like ravenous wolves!

In many churches, this is what church life is like. Just ask the steady stream of once-active Christians who walk away from the Church in disgust. Instead of finding acceptance, hope, joy, edification and building up by the Spirit, enthusiastic members frequently get torched with flame-thrower-like legalism imposed by the "extra gifted".

Jesus gave us a better way. He taught us to love one another with God's love. An unconditional love without expectations of anything in return (John 13:34-35) Paul laid out the strategy for how we are to use our personal talents... when he wrote about spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Our gifts, abilities and talents are to be used to build up one another, thereby making the body a powerful unit able and capable of being used by God to accomplish his purpose.

The Christian faith is full of struggles and conflicts among brothers, but also healing and strengthening, conflict resolution, spiritual nourishment and growth. Rather than measuring how much better you think you are than others in your congregation, spend your time figuring out how you can “fit into the plan of God” working in harmony with your fellow Christians... using your gifts to enhance, to encourage, to build one another up in love.

If you need to measure someone... try measuring yourself against Jesus. Then get on your knees and thank him for not measuring you against His gift.

When was the last time you walked on WATER?

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The 14th chapter Matthew tells of two significant moments the disciples had with Jesus. The first was the feeding of five thousand people with fives loaves of bread and two fish. The second is seeing Jesus walk on water. The Bible says the disciples were afraid at first, until Jesus made himself known as he walked toward them. Once the dicisples knew it was Jesus, something quite remarkable happens, Peter asks "Lord, if it's you," "tell me to come to you on the water." Jesus then told Peter to come and Peter began walking on the water toward Jesus.

There is something quite significance in this well known story. Peter was not the only disciple in the boat, but he was the only one to walk on water. This implies so much: Peter did something no one else did and he experienced something only the other disciples could talk about... second hand. This is such a life application for us all.

Each of us enters this world with the same potential. Each of us is gifted by God with talents that can bring honor and glory to Him. We have something to offer and give back in this world. The question is are we utilizing our gifts and potential. God has put something in you very special that no one else can do. Remember... God is not a respector of persons, but He is a respector of faith because the Bible declares it is "impossible to please Him" without faith. The same opportunity that was presented to Peter was available to all those who sat in the boat. Yet only Peter took advantage of that opportunity. He asked Jesus to help him do the impossible.... and it became possible.

When opportunities come your way to use your gift or potential, are you taking advantage of those opportunities? If we are using Peter as an example, nothing in scripture states why Peter asks Jesus to beckon him to come. Yet something on the inside of Peter dared to do the impossible, the burning to go beyond the norm.

Jesus even said in his own words greater works you will do if you believe. Someone who walks on water makes things happen, whereas someone sitting in the boat is waiting for something to happen.

Someone who walks on water is a history maker while someone sitting in the boat is a history reader. Someone who walks on water is a risk taker, while someone who sits in the boat is an excuse maker.

God has given us this life to glorify Him and yield ourselves to be used by Him in His mission. Make no mistake about it... stretching our capacity and pushing the limits of our abilities for God takes courage.

Consider these questions..... what are you going to do with the gifts and potential inside you? Do you trust Him enough that you will courageously jump in to whatever He lays before you and let him fill the gaps in your limits and abilities? Are you going to sit in the boat or will you dare to walk on water?

Are you a Peacemaker?

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PART II

A Renovation of the Heart is Needed
Some people pray a lot about revival. Revivals... infused with enthusiasm and excitement are thought to be a way to reorient our thinking and focus towards God and his purposes. Light the fire once again. I'm all for that. But revivals seem to be needed much to frequently in today’s church. It’s frustrating that we Christians continually need a “relighting of the fire” to get us moving in the direction God wants us go. I believe the revival that God wants us to experience requires hard decisions that can only emanate from within our hearts. The changes he wants in us... do not require revivals to relight and reignite the fire and passion to live the Christian life and be immersed in his service. He wants us to be willing to allow him to finally and completely renovate our hearts... to make us "new creations" suitable for his purposes.

It’s not easy to humble ourselves before God. We usually wait for someone else to lead the way. But each one of us.... must choose to deal with his or her own pride, self-importance and ego.

Confessing and telling God what He already knows about the sinfulness of our hearts and our selfish ways is real hard to do... like pulling teeth without Novocain. We need to ask God and others to forgive us for our critical spirit. This is a very hard thing and the normal reaction from us is.... “why me... why not him or her?” Whether we think our sinful attitudes are major or minor, we need to voice it in prayer to God and take that really hard step and confess it in the church. We tend not to confess our sins where people would hear them and think less of us. Who of us is not guilty of this? It’s pride that holds us back and it will be pride that blocks the gate to eternity, if we don’t humble ourselves before the Lord and let him remake us... NOW!

Do we seek to protect our elders and leaders? Protection here is a complex Godly standard not easy to learn and even harder to put into practice. The standard means not hiding their shortcomings but also not allowing them to be criticized when not present. God has called them to minister on your behalf. Support them in their roles and work. When we cannot endorse what they are doing, we need to go and tell them, not someone else. That’s grumbling at its worst. Openly attacking them to discredit them and destroy there ability to serve God as He has called them, is an affront to God the Father and shows disrespect for the governing authority of the church as ordained by Christ to carryout the Great Commission.

Make a commitment not to speak negative things about people. Our goal should be to speak to people not about them behind their back. We need a return to Jesus' statement on this in Matthew 18:15-18. Read it... it’s a simple model and it works.

If you have problems in your church, with divisions and divisiveness among brothers, think of what is at stake. Jesus' reputation in the world today depends on the world's perception of our unity. John 17:20-23 makes this clear. Read it.... and ponder your attitude and conduct among brothers. Together, one to another, united by the Spirit, let us guard the reputation of His Body, the Church.