Changing the Face of Christianity

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The Cure from Feeling Disconnected from God

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Sometimes people feel disconnected from God. I hear people pray, “Lord, why are you so distant?” If you read the Psalms you’ll see a cycle of appeals to God such as Psalm 10:1, “Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”.

What does this say about God and us?

This says more about us and our insufficient perspective than it does about God. Our Christian theology affirms a belief in God’s “omnipresence”. Omnipresence means present everywhere at the same time. He has been that way for all eternity. He isn’t contained by this universe (His creation). Yet, he permeates every inch of it.

That means He’s there in your bedroom, in the bathroom, in your car, at your work, with you on vacation, and with you in times of joy and in times of immense pain and heartache.

That means He’s there in your bedroom, in the bathroom, in your car, at your work, with you on vacation, and with you in times of joy and in times of immense pain and heartache.

Three reasons He seems so far away

So, if He is so close, why does He sometimes seem so far away? I think this stems from three sources.

1. Many times, we treat God as if He is there for OUR benefit (like a magic genie)…and when we have no compelling needs, we forget about Him and what he wants from us. Just listen to your own prayers for a moment. Are they praise and thanksgiving, or mostly requests for our own benefit? And when our prayers go unanswered, we feel like God isn’t listening or aware of our existence.

2. We incorrectly feel we are worthy of His constant presence. Yet God is Holy and hates our sin. If we embrace our sin and continue to sin without self restraint, aren’t we repelling His very presence? When we give up control and allow the Holy Spirit to guide and correct us, He is faithful to enter our lives and make His presence known.

3. We are too busy for God. We are busy bodies going here and there and don’t give God our time. Jesus regularly went off by himself to commune with the Father. To feel God’s presence, we must slow down and set aside intentional time to connect with Him.

What can you do about it?

I want to leave you with a few final thoughts. Whether you are in tune with His constant presence or not, God is right there…always.

How would your life change if you LIVED your BELIEF that God is HOLY, and EVERYWHERE at ALL TIMES (e.g. You are always in His presence), and that He LOVES you, and that unrepentant sin is what separates you from Him?

My prayer for you is that you praise God for His presence, ask what He wants from you, slow down, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform you.

God Bless.

PS – In addition to feeling disconnected from God, sometimes we feel disconnected from our own families. If you struggle connecting with your earthly relationships, I’d encourage you to check out the interactive Relationship Journal at RealFamilyConnections.com. It can really help.

Forgive…and Forgive again

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Luke 17:3-4. “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

The message: don’t hold grudges. Forgive quickly. For our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, rebuke if one of us sins, but be ready to forgive if they show a true repentant heart. And even if they don’t, forgive them anyway.

We Should Become Like Jesus (Romans 8:29)

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Romans 8:29 (MSG)

29 “God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.”

We are called to become like Jesus. What does that look like? What is the practical application?

Where is your heart for God and for others?

For me, it means always striving, ever failing. The good news is that I don’t think God ever expects us to be perfect like Jesus through our own efforts. That’s why Jesus had to offer Himself up for us in the first place. Every day, I make mistakes. Every day I say things I shouldn’t say, think things I shouldn’t think, and make choices I shouldn’t make.

The real question for me, and for all of us is where is your heart for God and for others? Are we on a journey to mature and transform into Christ-likeness or are we just someone who said an alter call prayer of confession once a long time ago…stagnant and spirit-less.

1 John 3:16-18 (NIV)

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Holding Up The Mirror

We are called to love others, even give our lives for one another. We are called to help each other in times of need. We are called to act…not just pay lip service to loving others. I know many many good Christians who help others when they are in need. Many Christians are incredibly generous with their time and money. They are living breathing examples of Jesus Christ walking the earth today.

My confession is I often come up short when opportunities to love others presents itself. A beggar is standing next to an entrance. He asks for any change I might have. I say I don’t have any on me. Yet in my car, 10 feet away, I have some change. One day, that change will get put into a bag, accumulated and eventually taken to a bank so I can make a deposit of $7.32. It does me no good, but to a homeless man it may mean a warm cup of coffee on a cold day. A simple gesture of love, and I pass it up. God please forgive me.

When we shower others with love, we literally are the hands and feet and face of Jesus Christ that the world so desperately needs to see.

My prayer for myself, and for everyone out there, is that we have the strength to love others in those simple fleeting moments. It’s easy to love when a huge tragedy occurs to someone we know. Let’s you and I commit to love others-simply in the moment.

Be More Like Jesus Christ – Love Others

Our mission is to help Christians be more like Jesus Christ. To be more like Jesus Christ, we need to love others. When we shower others with love, we literally are the hands and feet and face of Jesus Christ that the world so desperately needs to see.

Please join us in our mission to Be More Like Jesus Christ.

Chris The Perfectly Intolerant Superficial Christian

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Chris, the perfectly intolerant Christian will talk to anyway, especially the “lost” and “hell bound”

Websters defines a stereotypical Christian as superficial and intolerant. Well not really, but let me introduce you to someone who fits that description. His name is Chris.

The Stereotype

You’ll notice Chris straight away because he always carries his Bible close to his chest in one of those fancy leather covers with a massive cross on the front. He always smiling and very outgoing. He will talk to anyone, especially the “lost” and “hell bound”.

I do have to warn you about a couple of things. For a start, he rushes through pleasantries so he can tell you his redemption story. Once he’s done this, he turns everything you say back to God, and quotes scripture too (that includes when you ask him if he wants a coffee). If you have anything negative happening in your life, he’ll tell you it is the result of sin and will begin praying over you.

No Cussing Aloud

Oh, and whatever you do – don’t cuss around him. And when I say cussing I don’t mean dropping the f-bomb. I mean any word that would be even slightly offensive to a toddler. Because if you utter even the slightest naughty word, he will instantly fall to his knees, command Satan to leave you and start pleading for your soul.

Does he sound familiar? That’s the stereotypical Christian isn’t it? Chris the perfectly intolerant superficial Christian is the person many people picture when they think of someone living the Christian faith.

Let’s Not Be Superficial

I’m not a stereotypical Christian. I’m not a completely mature Christian and I don’t know the Bible inside out. But I’m pretty sure the Bible doesn’t tell us this is how we should act. In fact, I’m pretty sure we are told multiple times that God chooses us as we are, that we should come to Him as we are and pray to Him bringing nothing but our true selves;  to remain humble and not judge or condemn others. Somehow we read this, find comfort in it, thinking it’s just for us, then place the Bible down and proceed to create this fake, intolerant Christian stereotype.

I know a lot of people living for Christ who won’t even call themselves Christian’s. They know all too well the stereotypes that come with it.

I know a lot of people living for Christ who won’t even call themselves Christian’s. They know all too well the stereotypes that come with it; the pressure to never fall, to try and live up to totally unrealistic standards of perfection inconsistent with human nature. I see their point.

Let’s Be Real

I am a follower of Christ trying to live my life authentically. I want to be REAL and live as an imperfect human following Christ. I want to show not just what is considered acceptable, but show God’s grace and His gift of redemption, through my flaws, in a way my words or any stereotype ever could.

It’s not enough to say that the Lord will heal, if we pretend accepting Christ exempts us from pain.
It’s not enough to say the Lord forgives all, if we hide our failures.
It’s not enough to say we are Christians, and hide that we are human and loved anyway.

People will never come to God if they believe they have to be perfect to do so.

People will never come to God if they believe they have to be perfect to do so.

What God Asks of Us

The only thing God asks us to do is to show His love to others and to lead them to Him. Where are we leading them if we hide behind the “perfect Christian” stereotype? Let’s drop the stereotype and just live authentic Christian lives, full of flaws, full of pains, full of failure. Then, let’s rest in Him who loves us as we are, and share that love with others.

By Suzanne Physick. Read Suzanne’s Bio below.

Being Smug and Self-Righteous Comes Naturally

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Being Smug and Self-Righteous Comes Naturally

It’s easy to be smug. Being self-righteous seems to be so easy and natural.

God is clear about the type of attitude He seeks; humility.

We live 24/7 in our own skin and who walks around thinking they aren’t right about most things? It takes incredible effort to even acknowledge we MAY not be right, we MAY not have the best answers, or we MAY not deserve something. However, God is clear about the type of attitude He seeks; humility.

Let’s hear from God word on this issue. And for those of you new to the Bible, Pharisee’s were priests and religious teachers considered by the Jewish people to be most righteous. Tax collectors on the other hand were considered no better than common thieves because as they collected taxes from their own people, they often collected more than was due for their own personal gain.

Luke 18:9-14, About Pharisee’s and Tax Collectors

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (ESV)

God Wants Humble, Not Self-Righteous Followers

Summary of Luke 18:9-14: It’s better to be a humble sinner, than to think of yourself as better than anyone else. If you think highly of yourself and have a big ego, you will eventually be corrected and humbled by God. If you realize your actual situation is that of a sinner, unworthy of God’s approval through your own efforts, you will be exalted by God. If you recognize your own sinful nature and do not pretend to be better in God’s eyes (or any man’s eyes), you show yourself to be the type of person that God truly approves of.

King David in the Old Testament was “a man after God’s own heart”, even though he was a murderer and adulterer. Why? Because he recognized his sinful ways. He confessed openly to God about his own depravity.

My Confession

I too have been tempted to glorify myself and think I’m better than other people

Now, here is my own confession. I need to hear this over and over again. I too have been tempted to glorify myself and think I’m better than other people. This of course is not true. I am like everyone else; no better. The Holy Spirit has convicted me that maintaining a haughty attitude is a destructive path.

I seek God’s glory, not my own. I seek God’s approval, not the approval of men. Luke 18:9-14 is exactly what I need to hear. I need correction anytime I start to think of myself as better than others. I expect the Holy Spirit to correct me every time.

My Prayer

God, be merciful to me, a sinner! As I do your work, please help me to do it in your power and for your glory…not my own. Lord, increase my humility and shield me from the evil one. Father God, protect me from evil and selfish desires, and the sinful desires of my own ego. I confess I don’t always think as you think on these issues. God, renew my mind and help me to daily be more like Jesus Christ in my attitudes and behaviors.

I will trust in you alone God and humble myself so you don’t have to. I will put away my self-righteous attitude. God, I will seek your glory and approval, and reject the approval of men. Amen!

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