My Bye Bye to I

Song Title: So Long Self

Artist: Mercy Me

Album: Coming Up To Breathe

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Song on YouTube

Have you ever heard of a Dear John Letter? In short it's a letter someone writes to break up with someone that they've been dating. It's not too nice of a thing to do to someone. People often use them to avoid having a face to face conversation. It's pretty cold.

In So Long Self, Mercy Me writes a Dear John letter to themselves. Why do you think they are being so hard on themselves? Shouldn't we care about ourselves? Doesn't God want us to care about ourselves? Shouldn't we love ourselves?

Here is a little trivia question. What do the following verses have in common? Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 19:19, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27, Romans 13:9, Galatians 5:14, and James 2:8. I'll give you a hint. In Matthew 22:39 Jesus said it is the second greatest commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself". Now did you get that last part of the sentence... as yourself. It must be okay to love ourselves if Jesus means for us to love our neighbors. Right?

Yes we should care about, and even love ourselves. We're not talking about selfishness here. We just should want to care about who we are, what we stand for, and like being us. God wants that for us. So, why the harshness in the song? Did Mercy Me get it wrong? Not really. You see loving yourself is one thing, but there's no comparison between that and how we should love God. Luke 14:26 says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple."

What's going on here? Didn't we just say that we should love ourselves? Now, why is the Bible telling us to hate ourselves? This hate is not the same word as used with regard to enemies. It means a drastic diminished love as compared to the Lord. See, there should be no comparison between your love for the Lord and your love for anything or anyone else. God doesn't want anyone coming between you and Him, not even yourself.

Jesus wants all of you and not only that He wants it NOW. Read for yourself how Jesus calls people in the Bible in Luke 9:57-62... Jesus doesn't want to let any opportunity get in the way of you growing in Him and coming to His call. No wonder Mercy Me puts it into the form of a Dear John letter. They don't have time for anything else once Jesus calls :).

One more passage sums up everything God wants of you. Luke 9:23-24, "And he (Jesus) said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." Taking up your cross daily means give yourself over to Jesus every day.

So, should you write a Dear John letter to yourself? What would you say? What reasons would you give for writing it? What will you give up for the Lord? What would you give over to the Lord? What are you afraid you'd hold back? Imagine writing such a letter and how exciting it would be to have a new love of your life, the Lord.

Living Simply in a Crazy World

Song Title: Living Is Simple

Artist: Switchfoot

Album: Learning To Breathe

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Song on YouTube

So, according to the lyrics, Switchfoot tells us that living is simple. ...Um, really? Was this song written a hundred years ago, or what? This day and age doesn't seem so simple, does it?

Jon Foreman, front man and lead singer explained the song this way, "The crazy circumstances around recording matched the context of the song exactly. The song is trying to express the tension between the amazing complexity of a life of grace and the simple faith to which we are called."

Well he got the complexity of life right, but is yours a simple faith? What about Christianity itself? Is Christianity a simple faith? John 3:16-18 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son." Can it get any simpler than that? God doesn't require ritual. He doesn't require you to do works. He doesn't require you to say anything. All you need to do is believe that Christ saves you. Do this and God will take care of the rest."

So, if it is so simple then why doesn't everyone believe? Well, the enemy is hard at work keeping people in the darkness of their sin. Look what it says when we read on in John 3:19-21, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." When people come to the Lord they have to give up the darkness and step into the light. It's simple, but it is hard to do.

Is your life so complex that you can't enjoy the simple faith you have in God? When was the last time you took a walk and enjoyed your surroundings and quietly thanked God for creation. It can really bless your day, so try it! When last did you wake up and spend the first few moments before getting up by asking God to guide you through the day? It can really set you off on the right course. When was the last time you took time to read your Bible? Do you have any idea how much God show you when you lose yourself in the Word. What about taking time out to listen too one song each day for a week to see if God will show you something through it? (Hint, Hint)

Don't you sometimes get tired of the complex and chaotic world you live in? Make some choices today that will enable you to enjoy the simple faith you have.

What's Your Plan?

Song Title: The Loser

Artist: Switchfoot

Album: Learning To Breathe

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Song on YouTube

We all have plans. We plan out our days. We plan out our nights. We plan our weekends. At work some people even plan for their plans. We have short term plans, long term plans, five year plans.

What are your plans? Are you planning for college? Are you planning for a job? Are you planning for vacation? In all your plans are you leaving room for God's plan for you? Are you praying that God make the plans for you or bless the plans that you are making? All of our plans amount to nothing if the Lord is not in them.

In the song The Loser, Switchfoot tells us of their plan to lose it all. It's okay to plan to get something that you enjoy, but remember these things that we accumulate in life are going to stay here when we leave this world. Its best to think about how these things can serve the Lord in some way. Even better we should share the abundance we have with those who need it more than we do.

When was the last time you gave away something of yours? When you practice giving it helps us not to be selfish. It can also make someones day.

BTW there are some things that you can't lose if we follow the advise of Colossians 3:2 "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things". These things above will be stored up for us in heaven. We won't lose them, but we are going to lose all the earthly things.

OK, so why does all this make us Losers? The world is focused on getting more and more stuff. Success is so often measured by wealth, but if our success is measured by our obedience to God and our walk in faith then we might just look like losers to the rest of the world. Who said that walking in faith was going to be easy.

So, are you planning to give it all away? Are you planning to lose it all? Are you going to be a loser or not?

What's Your Story?

Song Title: Next Thing You Know

Artist: Matthew West

Album: History

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Song on YouTube

Have you ever found yourself totally lost in a story? The whole world seems to fade away and you are so lost in the story that you forget about everything else around you. One story that can change someone's life is your testimony. How did you come to the Lord? What has He done for you? What do you hope He will do for you? How do you imagine an eternity with God.

Matthew West tells his testimony in Next Thing You Know. His story of faith begins when he's thirteen. He then shares his story about how he rededicated his life to Christ in college after being pulled away by the world. Lastly he goes on to tell how he imagines everyone will share their stories in heaven.

If you are a Christian then you have a story to tell about how you came to know the Lord, what the Lord has done for you, and what hopes and dreams you have about an eternity with Christ. Do you know how to share your story? Do you know what you'd say?

One important way of getting better at telling your story is to write it down. Recently at church we heard about how useful it can be to write down the date and time when you first were saved by Christ, so it will be a physical reminder for you to hold on to in the future that what you did and how you felt was real. Writing down your thoughts, hopes, and prayers to God is a great way to start building your story, your testimony. Then you can go back and read your story to give you strength in times of struggle.

By writing down your stories you'll also get better at learning how you'd tell your story to others. Your stories can be a great witness, and there are no stories of your relationship with God that are too small to tell. God can use all of our stories. You can also write your stories in a Blog like this one. You can use art or photographs to tell your story. You can keep a video journal.

The Bible is a collection of stories. Can you imagine what we would be missing if Moses decided that his stories weren't important enough to write down? There goes the first five books of the Bible. What if Paul thought he was too busy to write his letters? There goes most of the New Testament. What if John decided that the gospel was already covered, so why bother telling his story of the time he spent with Jesus?

There is a prophet in the Bible that could have decided not to write down his story because his story got him into all kinds of trouble. His name was Jeremiah. God gave Jeremiah the job to reveal the sins of the people and explain the reason for an impending disaster which will turn out to be the destruction and captivity by the Babylonian empire. Jeremiah kept telling his story even though he was betrayed by his own brothers (Jer 12:6), beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet (Jer 20:1-4), imprisoned by the king (Jer 37:18), threatened with death (Jer 38:4), and opposed by a false prophet (Jer 28). On a good day Jeremiah was ignored. On a bad day, people were out to get him. Could you blame Jeremiah if he didn't write down his story? But, without Jeremiah we wouldn't have the Old Testament book bearing his name. We wouldn't have Lamentations, or 1st and 2nd Kings. All these books authored by a writer that nobody wanted to hear from at the time, but later, long after he was gone he would inspire many people to not give up hope on God even when times get really, really tough.

Your story of your relationship with God is important. It can change lives. It can inspire others. Write down your story. Learn it. Practice telling it. Share it with others. You never know how important your witness can be to the people who hear it, or in how many ways God can use your story.

So what's your story, about His glory? Find your place in the history of grace and tell your thirteen.