How's Your Inner Life?

for The Hanford Sentinel

Our culture is focused on all things external. It is all about what you look like, what you are doing and what you own. It asks questions like, "Are you beautiful? Are you thin? How big is your paycheck? and, by the way, What do you drive?"

The people that we read about in magazines and watch on television are the beautiful ones who are often ridiculously wealthy and morally bankrupt. We are entertained by their antics—we want to know who is sleeping with who this month, who's the latest to drunkenly crash their Mercedes into a telephone pole and how much money was spent on that lavish new mansion, Italian sports car or over-the-top party.

At one moment we marvel at their lack of common sense, and the next we applaud their commitment to the latest charity fad. And rather then stop and ask ourselves whether this overemphasis on all things shallow and superficial is problematic, we simply excuse our worship at the altar of the cult of personality with a glib, "It's just entertainment."

And it is entertainment. It is packaged in glossy magazines with racy covers, in highly edited and stylized pop culture news programs and in continuously updated websites the likes of TMZ, Popeater and Perezhilton. I have nothing against entertainment, but I think we would be wise to note that a culture's forms of entertainment are indicative of the state of its inner life and potentially of its future (think Rome and the Coliseum).

The problem with our culture's focus on the superficial is that it ignores the importance of the inner life. You might be the most beautiful person in the world (and have the People magazine article to prove it) but that says nothing about whether or not you are a good person. A good person is one who has developed virtues like patience, self-control, forgiveness and servanthood. Rare are the magazine covers given to people who have developed these qualities.

Jesus said "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." He said this to underline that the body is not the most important thing in life. Chiseled abs are not the key to heaven's gates. It is the soul we should be the most concerned about.

Your soul is the only thing you get to take with you when you die. You will carry with you what you have allowed your soul to become. Will your soul be full of anxiety or peace? Will it be fearful or faith-filled? Will it be bitter and condemning or contented and forgiving? You get to decide the kind of soul you have.

The challenge is that developing your soul takes work. A good soul does not happen by accident. You do not develop a healthy soul by passively consuming whatever entertainment comes easily to hand. You have to cooperate with Father God and choose to be loving, be patient and be content.

I must warn you, choosing to do these things means going against the current of our culture. It will not be easy. But it will be well worth it.

This weekend, the pastors of Kings County would love to encourage you to make the right decisions and develop your inner life. Why don't you swim against the current and start paying attention to your soul?

New Year Course Correction

For The Hanford Sentinel

On days when it works, technology is wonderful. I carry in my pocket a phone that not only can place a call to anyone, anywhere in the world, but it can surf the internet, give me a list of the lunch options within a mile radius of where I stand and fill my ears with the sweet sounds of whatever music best fits my mood. My favorite feature is the GPS. If I want to know how to get from where I am to where I need to go, I have a virtual guide that leads me step by step.

It is wonderful to have such clear guidance. The GPS does all the work for me. It knows where I am at all times. I simply sit back and obey what it commands. Of course, if my battery goes dead, my life is held hostage and my location suddenly disappears from the virtual map. I am powerless before this abject electronic terrorism.

And while GPS is a wonderful tool for our daily point-to-point travels, it is of little use in the journey of life. We cannot type in our desired destination and have a nice female voice whisper in our ear, "Turn right in 300 yards." Life's journey is, at least from our perspective, not quite so precise.

Much like the captain of a ship 200 years ago, we chart a course, select a heading and venture out into the open waters of daily life. A few tools were essential for the ocean journey. For the ship's captain, these tools were a chart demonstrating the major landmarks, a leadline to evaluate the depth of the water, a magnetic compass to indicate general direction, and a sextant to determine the ship's latitude (when a clear sighting of the sun was available). Knowing exactly where you were in your journey was next to impossible, but it was also not essential. The most important thing was to be sure that you were moving in the right direction!

Our tools are different in their makeup but similar in their function. Our chart is God's Word that gives us the landmarks of life. Our leadline is our close relationships that help us know when we are in danger of running aground. Our compass is the Holy Spirit who guides us in all truth and keeps us moving in the right direction. And our sextant is the regular evaluation we must do to determine the "position" of our lives. We do so by getting our eyes on the Father and allowing Him to speak to us about where we are and where we need to go from here.

This is not an exact science, this is life. We often make the mistake of overestimating the importance of today and underestimating the importance of a month or a year. We get focused on "this moment" when we need to remember that God is working on the big picture. We anxiously worry and wonder why we can't hear God tell us what the exact next step is, when He really is more interested in the direction we are going over a long period of time.

So as we move into the new year, let me encourage you to pause for journey evaluation and course correction. Get your eyes on the Father and ask Him what He thinks about the direction of your life. Take a look at your chart and make sure that you are heading for the right landmarks and that you are not going to run aground and make a shipwreck of your life.

One of the best ways to get perspective on your life is to get in God's house and into His presence. The pastors of Kings County would love to help you chart His course in your life. Don't wait too long to do it though, because you will hit stormy waters and will need to know you are headed in the right direction!

How to Leave Your Church

Tim Stevens over at Leading Smart has a great blog entry on how to leave your church. I've often wondered why people don't feel any obligation to talk to the pastor or someone in leadership before bidding adieu.

Check it out.

Mossy Foot Christmas Letter

"When the boy pulled up his pant leg, I gasped, shocked by the horrific sight of a gaping hole extending about six inches in length and two inches in width, fully exposing his dead, broken leg bone. The stench was nauseating. A swarm of flies immediately descended on the oozing, infected wound."

Continue reading the rest of the Christmas letter from the Mossy Foot project.

WARNING: You might be challenged to look at your life a little differently.

Visit Mossy Foot Project here.

This Year Turn on Your Ears

The new year is the time to make resolutions, set goals and revisit life plans. It's the time to shed those extra pounds you put on during the holidays, get your finances back in shape and generally get your house in order. But in the midst of the normal fitness, financial and family goals we all set for ourselves as the calendar flips to 2010, let me suggest a spiritual goal that has the potential to kick your new year up to a whole new level.

This year, purpose to listen and respond to the still small Voice of Father God. It is amazing how often God speaks to us and we don't recognize it. God wants to take your life and elevate it to a whole new level of effectiveness, joy and divine purpose. The key is listening and acting.

We have all had the experience of someone who we normally don't see everyday coming to our mind out of the clear blue and then within a matter of days we run into them or hear news about them. Often we chalk this up to a coincidence, but more often then not, God is trying to talk to us. Usually He wants to use us to communicate His love and care to the person, other times He wants us to pray or even share a message from heaven with them.

These "impressions" generally come to us when we are thinking about something else entirely. One of the clues that God might be talking to us is that our mind is actually going in another direction and His Voice communicates something that is not in line with those thoughts. When we pause and say to ourselves, "that's weird", we should then ask the question, "Am I inspired to do something loving, caring or considerate for that person?" If the answer is "yes", then you should very quickly pick up the phone, write a card, get on your knees in prayer or jump in the car to go visit.

The great thing about this is that you can't go wrong. You see, loving on people is always a "God-thing". Even if you make a mistake and that particular impression was not actually God's Voice, but was the bad pizza from the night before, what's the worst that can happen? You have simply fulfilled God's commandment to love your neighbor. Not too bad.

And when you get it right, when it actually is a "God-thing," then look out! You will be amazed at the impact that a simple word of love and kindness can have when it is delivered on God's timing. Never underestimate how powerful of a tool you can be for heaven if you will only be willing to follow God's Spirit.

So this year, purpose to listen and obey. It will change everything.

Now, if you're not sure God speaks to you, my advice is this. First, make sure you have invited Him to! Tell God you want to follow Him and you want to hear Him speak to you. Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit so that His still small Voice can interrupt your agenda whenever He wants. Second, trust that He will speak! God promises you and I that when we are His children we will hear His voice (John 10:4). Finally, have fun seeing what God will do through you!

The pastors in Kings County would love to teach you more about how you can hear God's Voice and live at a higher level in 2010. Make a resolution to get you and your family in church this weekend and start the year out right!

How God Speaks

God speaks to us in a variety of ways and many times we are unaware of it. We must learn to be on the alert continually because if we are a people filled with the Spirit of God, then we must expect that His Spirit is going to guide and speak to us frequently. Because His methods are often quiet, they can often be mistaken for our own thoughts and are often disregarded, but if we begin to respond we often discover that those thoughts/impressions were not just random but Him speaking to us.

One of the ways that God talks to us is through impressions. Impressions are thoughts or "a sense that" which come into our minds or perceptions from the Spirit of God. These impressions are generally not directly in line with what we are thinking about at the time and as such often seem out of place.

Most of us have had the experience of someone coming to mind out of the clear blue and then running into them shortly thereafter or hearing some news about them. Very often these are not "stray thoughts" but impressions from God's Spirit. Often He wants us to pray for them, or more frequently, contact them and love on them.

The next time someone drops into your mind from out of nowhere, send them a note, pick up the phone or drop by and see them and just communicate your love and care for them. This doesn't have to be a "God told me to tell you" thing, it works really well just to say something simple like, "You came to my mind and I wanted to tell you that I appreciate your friendship and that God is on your side." And if it happens that it really was a stray thought, no big deal, but if it is a God thing (which you'll discover it is more often than not), you will find out that your simple contact was well worth it.

More to come....

Tiger's Transgressions Expensive

A recent study found that the financial impact on the companies that Tiger Woods was/is a sponsor for were affected negatively by the news of his infidelities. I guess there are repercussions for bad decisions.

Check the article and study out here.