FAITHdare #1: Revisited

This week I learned...

~that American Idol really isn't that exciting

~that 2 1/2 hours is like....2 1/2 hours!

~That the God of the universe is just waiting to be with me

~that I need to be INTENTIONAL about being with Him, or other things will claim that time...

~that I need time with Him to maintain an eternal perspective

FAITHdare friends, I pray that your experience stepping out in faith this week has yielded rich rewards. I have been convicted, challenged, and renewed.  At the same time, it has been eye-opening.  

I realize that we have to be careful with these dares, so let me take a moment to go to a place I have already tiptoed through this week in my own heart.  It would be easy for these dares to turn into a checklist, a do-this-and-get-God formula.  I pray we do not go there.  I pray desperately for everyone walking this road...that YOU would be motivated by a DEEP, BUBBLING desire to know God in a more intimate way.  That the dares I put before you would not become a legalistic monotony, but a convicting, heart-wrenching journey on which you come to terms with the distance between your reality and Christ's call on your life...and then I pray you make changes because you want to love Him more fully.  We need to be motivated, not by guilt, but by the very WORD of Jesus.  We do not obey Him because we have to, but because we are living for another world.  

That being said, how has God met you this week?  Has this been hard?  As one FAITHdare team member said to me, "It's hard to go from spending no time with God to spending 2 1/2 hours with Him."  I understand.  I have to be honest in that there were days when I thought about spending my time with Jesus and part of me cried out, "But I'd rather do this!"  And maybe I'm wrong, but I have a feeling there were days when the disciples would have preferred to be on their boats with their fishing poles, resting in everything they knew to be comfortable, instead of risking everything to follow the One who was despised and rejected by men.  

"Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:27).  Do you think it will be hard to be a true disciple of Jesus, giving up everything and carrying your cross?  As a church, we have done everything possible to dilute the Gospel in order to avoid doing the hard things.  We look at those words in Luke as a suggestion rather than a command.  We take scripture and try to mold it to fit our lives, rather than taking our lives and molding them according to scripture.  Friends, if we are truly going to follow Jesus, we cannot avoid the hard work of spending time with Him!  We can't!  Especially not at the cost of trivial things (like American Idol).  

However, I think, for some, it would be a mistake to live by this 2 hours and 24 minutes policy. Maybe you feel like you need the accountability of the numbers.  For me, the numbers encourage guilt, an emotion on which I do not want to base my decisions.  In order to avoid going there, I have learned through years of practice that I need to "switch things up" in order to do the hard thing for the right reason.  I loved seeing how you all were spending your time with Jesus, and I hope more of you share now that we are finished!  Spending time with Him can mean so many things...and more than anything, I want to be living life with Jesus.  So, I'm going to come right out and tell you that I am not going to be following the timer anymore...but I will be doing the hard work of spending time with Jesus.  I will be examining my life on a daily basis, uncovering ways in which I can better be using my time toward Kingdom purposes.  

Please share how God has met you this week, what He has convicted you of, what He has stirred up in you. Will you continue with this dare?  How do you see yourself moving forward, now that God has hopefully opened your eyes to the way you spend your TIME?

FAITHdare #1

3, 2, 1...

HERE WE GO!!!

Remember how Jesus called Peter to step out of the boat and onto the water?

"Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!'"(Mt. 14:29-30).

God has called me out of my proverbial boats of comfort and complacency so many times. I'd like to say I step out every single time. I'd like to say that, when I do step out of those boats, I do so with unwavering faith. I'd like to say that, more often than not, I am allowing God to take me to new depths of resolute faith in Him. I would not be speaking truth.

Here's my reality:
God calls me to something that is seemingly (and very possibly) beyond me.

I think about it.

And most often, I lay my head back down on the scruffy little cot in the bottom of my "comfort boat," ignoring the call.
Sometimes, I do step out of the boat...with a lot of whining and "this is to hard!"s.
Then I look around and buy into the distractions of the world.
And I sink.

What's your reality?

Every week, we will be examining the reality of our lives, then comparing that reality against the call of Christ. I am challenging and encouraging you to step out of YOUR "comfort boats" and onto the water below...being careful to avoid the countless distractions of the wind and the waves around you, all vying for your attention, time, and money.

During the month of March, we are going to be taking on challenges related to our PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS with God. Without the foundation of RELATIONSHIP with Him, the rest of this year will be a constant struggle of legalism, futality, and defeat. And so we begin with, what I believe to be, the most important aspect of relationship-building: TIME.

the preliminaries:
1. For those of you who have intentionally chosen to go the NARROW way, I am thankful for your faith, and equally challenged by it. I am eager to see what God is going to do in the lives of those who say YES to this journey...and I hope you are believing with expectation as well.
2. My desire is that this would be a journey we take TOGETHER...so please feel the freedom to comment on my entries, to contact other FAITHdare team members individually, and to invite others in along the way. It is never too late to take a step toward faith--nor is it ever too late to join FAITHdare (if you are new to the team, please leave a comment on the first entry so we can keep track of who has entered the dare)!
3. I have been praying for all of you, the FAITHdare team members, by name. Please join me in lifting this project before the One who can do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine...asking HIM to be the center of our every motivation.
4. My prayer is that you would take each challenge I present to you and bring it before the Lord, allowing HIM to define the areas of your heart that need to be transformed and guide the changes in your every day life that need to take place. Please remember that the point of FAITHdare is to encourage you to take a step FORWARD--forward into deeper trust, faith, and obedience.  This community, I pray, will not be a place of comparison or judgement, but of encouragement as we all strive to deepen our own personal commitments to a life of faith in the God who calls us to CARRY OUR CROSSES and FOLLOW HIM.

*****

Time. We all have it. We all lose it too quickly. We all wish, at one point or another, that we could get it back.
And we hear, more often than we would like to, that we are running out of it.

What's the big deal?

On average, Americans spend:

~2.3 hours on housework per day.

~5.4 hours per day participating in leisure activities

~1.6 hours a day playing sports or exercising

~151 HOURS a month watching television (more than 37 hours PER WEEK)

~more than 3,500 hours combined, per year, watching television, surfing the internet, reading newspapers, and listening to personal music devices

Hard to believe? Check it out for yourself (HERE and HERE).  

People of God, DO WE BELIEVE WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT OUR TIME?

"...For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night...So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled" (I Thes. 5:2, 6).

"Teach us to number our days..." (Psalm 90:12).

How much of MY time, of YOUR time, is spent following the greatest commandment...love GOD and love OTHERS? God calls us to number our days. To not be SLEEPING, whether you take that literally or figuratively.
I must admit that I "sleep" a lot.  And I rarely choose to give God the first fruits of my time, the very best I have to offer.  

Is reading a quick devotional every morning while you sit on the toilet giving God the first fruits of your time?  Can I call the two minutes I spend in the shower praying the best sacrifice I can give to the One who paid my ransom?

One of my personal weaknesses, among many, is American Idol. I like that show a lot.  But can I really watch a two hour show highlighting the materialism god our country worships, spend twenty minutes with God before the day ends, and honestly say I gave God the best of my day?  

Friends, Jesus didn't say, "Hey, go watch your show and then come follow me when it's convenient for you.  The lost will always be waiting."  He demands our UNDIVIDED attention.  He demands our all, and that does not exclude our time.  Where you spend your time is where your heart is...is your heart really with Jesus, or is it with other events, people, and things?  Even service can become a distraction.  We have to begin with time spent in relationship with Him...we have to be fed before we can feed others, or we will become weary and dry.

Many of us "tithe" our money, offering up to God the first and best percentage of what we earn. For many of us, our time is an even more precious and valuable resource than our money. Maybe it's time we start "tithing" our time.  

So here's the FAITHdare, and it has two parts:
1) Take a good hard look at your reality of TIME. Are you numbering your days, or sleeping?
2) Commit to give God the first fruit of your time this week, DARING to "tithe" 10% of your day (2 hours and 24 minutes) to building relationship with Jesus, even if it means getting up earlier than usual, or cutting out American Idol (this one's for me = ] ), or decreasing the amount of time you spend reading the newspaper.  If you have no idea what to do with that time, start by opening the Word of God.  Can you imagine the transformation in the church if every follower of Christ spent 2 1/2 hours a day reading the Bible?  I am going to spend part of my "tithe" time this week listening to and meditating over David Platt's RADICAL series (check it out HERE), a series that will most likely color a lot of what FAITHdare is about.

"You were not created to be normal.  God's desire for you is not compliance and conformity.  You have been baptized by Spirit and fire.  Asleep within you is a barbarian, a savage to all who love the prim and proper. You must go to the primal place and enter the presence of the Most High God, for there you will be changed by His presence.  Let Him unleash the untamed faith within you" (The Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus).

Let us not be caught sleeping in the middle of the battlefield...Prepare your heart by putting your TIME where your MOUTH is.

Prayerfully consider what God is calling YOU to this week, and share with all of us by leaving a comment. And don't forget to grab a partner in this journey if you haven't already done so, and commit to PRAY FOR EACH OTHER (or WITH each other). Check back here at the end of the week to catch a glimpse of my perspective on this dare.

"Every day, the choices you make say what you are and who your heart beats for...The world is watching you! It's your life...watcha gonna do?"