Eric Offstage

A Killer Verse and quote

I have one last post I have to make about Francis Chan's Crazy love.  Near the end of the book he talks about Phil 3:18-19 and then he has a quote from Annie Dillard.

Let me share both with you and then give you some of my thoughts: 
Phil 3:18-19    For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

WOW!!  Paul is seriously harsh.  He is saying many people (who think they are Christians) live as enemies of Jesus and are actually going straight to hell.  They are going their because of 3 things: 

1. Their stomach is their god.  They are about their own desires and personal pleasure instead of Christ's desires and His pleasure and glory.
2. Their glory is their shame.  They brag about how they do the wrong thing, live selfishly, and focus on their own personal status. 
3. Their mind is on earthly things.  They focus on this life and what they can get out of it for themselves versus thinking how they can please Christ, honor Jesus and point more people toward heaven. 

People that live those kind of lives are not really Christians.  They might go to church, sing songs and know Bible stories but, "destruction is their destiny."

I don't want to live that way.  I want each day to be lived putting aside my own pleasure for Christ's pleasure and glory.  I want to be known as a person who gets uncomfortable for the glory of Christ. 

The quote from Annie Dillard says:  How we live our day is...  how we live our lives. 

Or what I do today is really what I believe about God.  What I do today is what my life will turn out to be about.  It is not what I say I believe that counts.  It is what I did that counts in the end. 

So I pray that I actually live today for Christ's glory and set aside my own pleasure today and don't just claim to do this. 

Jesus, I seek your pleasure today not my own. 
I seek to point people to the comfort of your arms, not to live for personal comfort. 

God help me make you famous TODAY!! 

  

Twinkies OR Marathons

(This is a concept that came from Crazy Love by Francis Chan.)

Imagine running a marathon while eating Twinkies.  Would you run the race really well?  No!  Would you eat the Twinkies very well?  No!

But that is what Christians do all the time with the Christian life.  God calls us to run his race and so we run it, but many times we are feeding ourselves all kinds of worldly crap at the same time. 

You can't run God's race while eating stupid Twinkies.  You have to choose.  Either you are hard core all in for God and his race or your indulging your sinful nature and eating Twinkies. 

You can't do both well.  Either follow Jesus and obey him with everything you have.  Or choose not to follow Christ and go eat Twinkies.  But stop trying to follow Jesus and indulge in the crap of this world at the same time. 

Hebrews 12:1 Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us

No more Twinkies. 

 

Heaven would be Hellish without Jesus.

(This thought came to me from reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan.)
Imagine for a second you went to heaven and got everything you could ever want --  Big, beautiful house; all the food and beverages you could ever drink; a cool job that you enjoyed; and tons of hobbies to be involved in. 

(So for me, I would get a huge log cabin on a lake, a big beautiful boat, time every day to small-mouth bass fish, my family would be close by, Sam Adams would be on tap in the kitchen, and steak and seafood would be on the grill.)  That is my dream of the perfect heaven. 

Now imagine your perfect heaven.  No wants no needs, no issues.  You get everything you ever wanted. 

Now imagine Jesus wouldn't be there.  Would you really care?  Would you really even notice?  I don't think most people would.  Most of this world is so consumed with our own wants and needs and we doesn't really care that much about having Christ.     

But that is what Jesus wants from us.  He wants to be our first love (Rev 2:4).  He wants you and I to be consumed with wanting to be with him and do life with him.  He doesn't want you to follow him just so you get what you want. 

He wants you to love him simply because he is everything to you.  He wants to be your "pearl of great price," and your "treasure buried in a field" (Matt. 13:44-45).  He wants you to be willing to give up everything so that you can have him.   

A heaven without Christ really is not heaven at all. It is hell.  A place with no Jesus where people  selfishly get whatever they wanted. 

See to truly be a Christ follower means you choose Christ, and want to know him and be with him above all.  Or in the words of Paul, "I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering." (Phil 3:10.)   

That is what Christ wants from me, and that is what I want my heart to be consumed with.  I want Jesus more than my own personal heaven.  I want friendship with Christ more than all the junk I think I want.    

If your idea of heaven isn't really about Jesus, I would suggest you have forgotten what matters most.  Maybe it is time to remember that life without Christ is really hell.  Maybe it's time to return to your first love. 

Crazy Love - Francis Chan is the man

I read a ton of books each week.  I believe that if I am not reading I am not growing, and I will have nothing to offer our people on the weekends.  Most of the books I read I would consider average, but every once in a while a book comes along that is totally mind-blowing.  

Francis Chan's book "Crazy Love" is one of those books.  This book has been an awesome breath of fresh air for my soul and has really begun to refresh me spiritually and emotionally. 

For all of you out in electronic land, I would strongly recommend you pick up a copy of this book.  It really isn't so much on love as it is on the wonder of following Christ and living every second passionately, completely, radically for Him. 

I think over the next few weeks I will begin a new series here on this site, of things that have really struck me from the book.  This way I can remember what I am learning and some of you that read this might find it helpful as well. 

So here goes, here is my favorite thought in the whole book: 

1.  WE ARE EXTRAS IN GOD'S MOVIE. 

Think about a great movie for a second.  What is an extra's job?  Basically it is to not get noticed.  An extra's job is to be in the background and make the main character of the movie look good. 

That is exactly what our role in life is as well.  Our job is to make God, the main character of life, look good. 

Think about it.  Life is really God's story.  It is His movie, and He is the main character.  Everything that exists, (according to Colossians 1) exist by Christ and for Christ.  He is the star of the movie.  He is the main character of life, and we all are basically extras. 

How does an extra wreck a movie?  They draw attention to themselves instead of to the star.  Extras wreck stuff by trying to get noticed, be great and be the star. 

Same is true for our lives.  We wreck God's movie of life and destroy God's plan for us if we try to make ourselves the star.   

Life is not about us or for us.  Life is about God and for God.  Our job is to make our small bit part in God's film make Jesus (the main character) look good. 

That is why I exist, to make Jesus look fantastic.  My role is to get people to go:  DANG! Jesus is awesome!!  I am not here to get the camera on me or make people like me or even notice me.  I am here to do my part in the background to make Jesus look like the star that he is. 

What a cool thought.  How can I make Jesus look great today?  What can I do to say like John said, "He must become greater, I must become less." 

That is the goal of my life.  To be an unnoticed extra, so God gets noticed!!