Let’s define religion, shall we?

As with many words, there are multiple meanings of that word. In this case religion can have a positive or negative connotation depending on the context in which it is used.

Definition 1: The service and worship of God or the supernatural. Commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance.

Definition 2: A personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.

Religion in and of itself is not bad. It is service or worship of God. It is good works. As referenced in James 1:27 a pure form of religion is helping widows and orphans in their distress. Why? Because these are the “least of these” in our society. God defends the defenseless and we are His ambassadors, His hands and feet, so the responsibility is ours.

These works however will not save you. Your salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus, not by works.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9

The problem with the Pharisees is they were relying on their obedience to the Law to get them to Heaven. They were counting on their religious works. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because their works gave them a sense of self-righteousness, when in reality they were far from righteous.

They needed grace and forgiveness of sins for salvation, not religious works.

Righteousness needed to be imputed to them by the Righteous One, Jesus.

But after salvation religion doesn’t go away. Remember the first definition? It is actually the opposite, our good works should increase! Remember the theme of the Book of James… faith without works is dead. James reminds us that our responsibility to serve God doesn’t go away but increases.

Our motivation changes. No longer motivated to earn our salvation, we serve the least of these because Jesus did, and we love and imitate Him. And in serving them we are serving the Lord.

What starts out as genuine faith can turn to religious ritual. Our flesh is drawn to religion. In the world system you have to work and earn everything. This can carry over into our faith if we are not careful. We have to be continually reminded it was what Jesus did for us, not what we do for Him.

So there is just religion. Practicing pure and undefiled religion as a way to obey and worship God… good. Trying to use religion to earn your way to Heaven… bad.

Do I hate religion?

No.

Actually, I feel compassion for those caught on the treadmill of relying on religious works to save them. They need the Good News! They can break free and find rest.

They just need Jesus, His grace and mercy.

Praise God for that.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. – James 1:27

I was walking into Walmart today for a few last minute items and as I approached the door I saw two little girls with their dad. They were both placing coins into the Salvation Army bucket. As I passed by them I over heard one of the girls say to their dad, “I wish I had more money to give.” And their father replied, “Girls, I am so proud of you for giving what you have.”

What a great thing to experience just a few days before Christmas. These little girls demonstrated what Christmas is all about… giving.

It reminded me of the passage in Mark 12 about the widow’s offering. A woman who had very little gave all that she had. Jesus uses her example to teach the disciples that it is not how much we give, it is the spirit in which give.

And He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And He called His disciples to Him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” – Mark 12:41-44

Jesus is teaching the disciples about the heart of giving. We don’t know her motivation for giving all that she had. It could have been out of a thankful heart to God, it could have been out of desperation. A plea to God, an act of surrender, sowing in faith knowing that she was at the end of her resources but that God could provide for her out of His infinite abundance.

Regardless, she gave. And not only did she give… she gave it all.

Sometimes it takes the heart of a child to remind us about faith. They trust their parents to provide just like we should trust God. They give what little they have out of a heart that isn’t polluted by the worries of the world. Some of the most compassionate people are children. This is why Jesus says He loves child-like faith. Look at what it can do and what it can accomplish. Faith is so powerful that placing it in Jesus will save your soul.

This Christmas may be a tough one for you and your family financially. You may be one of the many that due to a tough economy are pulling it off on a shoe-string budget. When money is tight it can be hard to give.

This is an encouragement to remember how much God has given us. Count your blessings. Focus on the good around you and focus on Christ. The joy you will find by dwelling on Him is far greater than the worries of this world.

And consider the heart of a child that gives with complete faith and trust that God will provide.

Sometimes it is children that teach us adults how to live and love.

Merry Christmas!

I was working in the yard this weekend and was thinking of ways Hannah and I could give this Thanksgiving. My thoughts went from feeding the homeless, to buying groceries for some refugees in Dallas, or just making a Thanksgiving offering to the benevolence fund at our local church.

But really I enjoy blessing someone directly this time of year. It is fun to see a need and meet it in Jesus’ name. Then my thought process went to, “I need to find a deserving single mother, or a deserving person who needs some help.” Then almost immediately the Holy Spirit corrected my thought process.

Grace is undeserved.

What I mean is that in that moment the Lord reminded me about the motivation of giving. It is not to find someone who is deserving but to give to whom God says to give to. From my perspective they might not appear to be deserving, but God may be doing a work in their heart. That gift may be the very thing He uses to show His undeserved grace.

You have seen the television shows. Oprah gives away a new car to a ‘deserving’ single mother, they give an Extreme Home Makeover to a ‘deserving’ family with a child in need, or they Overhaul some guys car who has done a good deed lately. These aren’t bad reasons to help someone out. It is compassionate, merciful and gracious.

But still, these situations don’t make a person deserving.

By definition grace is God giving us something we don’t deserve. Although we all have hardships in this life, those hardships still do not mean we are deserving of anything. Sin actually created ALL the hardships we face in life. If not directly, indirectly because we live in a fallen world. Classifying hardship as ‘deserving’ is the opposite of justice, it is judgement. We must remind ourselves that we are not the Judge, Jesus is.

I can look for someone that is ‘deserving’ in my eyes to bless this Thanksgiving season or I could ask the Lord whom He wants to bless. Because when the Lord looked at me and called me to be His son He did not see a deserving young man, but He saw a young man He loved anyway.

“Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines Him to bestow benefits upon the undeserving. It is a self-existent principle inherent in the divine nature and appears to us as a self-caused propensity to pity the wretched, spare the guilty, welcome the outcast, and bring into favor those who were before under just disapprobation. Its use to us sinful men is to save us and make us sit together in heavenly places to demonstrate to the ages the exceeding riches of God’s kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” – A. W. Tozer

This Thanksgiving season remember that God’s grace and mercy is undeserved. In that light serving an ungrateful, entitled homeless person (for example) at a homeless shelter gives you an opportunity to see what God has to go through to bless us sometimes. We are not always humble, contrite and thankful for His gifts.

Bless someone this season, they may or may not be deserving. But when done in Jesus’ name you are bringing Heaven to earth by acting as Christ’s hands and feet to touch a person for eternity.

The person God may be calling you to bless this season may not be ‘deserving’.

But then again, neither were you.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9

You would think this would be an easy, simple answer. But if you were to poll a church congregation about this holiday you would find a host of different beliefs.

- A fun, inoffensive holiday.
- A pagan holiday, but which aren’t?
- A dark holiday, but no harm no foul.
- An evil day where darkness is glorified.

You name it, from every end of the spectrum you will get a response to justify or attack this day where it seems all of Christendom does not know what do with.

The Christian saying to be ‘in the world, but not of this world’ (ref John 17) comes to mind. What does this mean in relation to Halloween? How does a regenerated (new born) believer in Jesus Christ who possess the Holy Spirit respond to this day?

I have wrestled with this for a couple years and now that I am married I think about it more. When we have children to what degree will I allow them to participate? As for me and my house we will serve the Lord, so how will we handle the Halloween season?

THE HISTORY

In the 16th century, Halloween or “All Hallows Eve” received its name because it was the evening that preceeded All Saints’ Day. All Saints’ Day (or All Souls’ Day, Hallowmas, All Hallows, Hallowtide) was a day that was used to pray for the souls that had not yet reached Heaven and were still in purgatory.

Halloween can be traced back to the Celtic festival of Samhain which celebrated the summer’s end. Celts were polytheistic and rites/sacrifices were carried out by priests called druids. They heavily focused on the calendar and in specific: solstices, the sun, and stars.

You could argue till you are blue in the face about the pagan origins of the holiday and it’s effects on the secularized version today. But is it anymore pagan than the Santa Claus we put next to our manger scene?

To take a hardline stance against Halloween would mean you have to take a hardline stance on just about every holiday in order to not be a hypocrite. The problem with legalism is that it binds you up. The fact is that in our culture every holiday has been secularized, pagan or Christian.

However this doesn’t answer the question that burdens my heart.

What would Jesus do?

That’s right. WWJD. Remember the bracelet?

The more I immerse myself in scripture the more I find this question probing my mind. If I was one of the 12 original disciples following Jesus where would Jesus take us on Halloween night?

On a night that targets children, remember what Jesus said about children? “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” – Matthew 18:6

Jesus looked at everything through the lens of eternity. There was no one more ministry minded than Jesus Christ. And the very things that our culture celebrates on Halloween (death, horror and fear) Jesus came to take away from us for eternity.

I find it hard to think I would be celebrating something in the presence of Jesus that He came to give His very life to take away.

But rather than judge and condemn, which He did not come to do (For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. – John 3:17), He came to give us grace and mercy.

As I look at Halloween I see a secularized pagan holiday that has become mainstream. It celebrates the very thing I am glad I do not have to endure for an eternity because of Christ. Most importantly I see people needing a reason to celebrate!

Without Christ what is there to celebrate?

Ironically, Halloween is a celebration of the only thing a person outside of a relationship with Christ has to look forward to… death, horror and fear.

It reminds me that I celebrate daily, and weekly with other believers, Jesus and the gift of salvation. Freedom from the very things Halloween chooses to elevate. Holidays are great because they break up the pattern of life. They give us a break from the hardship and trials that come from everyday living. Enjoying some candy and dressing up in a costume is not evil, in fact it can be very fun. But remembering why we are here and who we represent can give new perspective to our purpose on Halloween.

This holiday could be the best day for us to shine our light.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:2

This association is why people join Ducks Unlimited, Dallas Safari Club, USAT, Elks Club, Rotary Club, fraternities, sororities, etc. This is why people follow sports teams. This is also why people jump on the bandwagon of a winning team at the last minute!

It is about more than community, it is about identity. I live in my community but I identify myself with the people I associate with. Especially one person, Jesus.

The mechanism behind any organization or community is identity. The early disciples associated themselves with Jesus and then they became IDENTIFIED WITH HIM.

We see this when Peter denies being seen with Christ. In that moment He was literally being identified with Christ.

Think about it, Jesus is being tried and about to be put to death. Talk about a moment of truth with your faith. This man who claims to be the Son of God, and in whom you have placed your faith, has been arrested and is doing nothing about it. Where is His super power? Or at least those thoughts go through your mind.

I think of times where we are like Peter. When we shrink back because we don’t truly want to be identified with Christ. When it may cost us something. Sure, we have all done it at some point in our lives. Where being seen as with Jesus is uncool. Or at work where to stand for your faith could cost you your job. Or some places of the world where being identified with Jesus could mean death!

Who do you identify with?

When you meet God face to face one day were you with His Son… really? Or did you just claim to be with Him and not ever actually hang out with Him?

In Dallas the culture is so religious that the vast majority claim to be Christians but if in a  “disciple line-up” would not be identified with Jesus at the scene. Why? Because they really aren’t with Him. They claim to have an association with Him yet they don’t obey Him.

“They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.” – Titus 1:16

What ID’s a true believer is not only their time with Jesus but their actions. Sure we all make mistakes, and the germination process of a spiritual seed to full visible growth is a season between God and the person who has taken hold of it, but eventually there is visible identification with Jesus meaning fruit, and growth.

If you have been hanging out with Jesus you WILL be identified with Him just like Peter was.

Those that fake it on earth really aren’t doing themselves or anyone else any good. They aren’t faking God or His disciples. Their lifestyle choices speak for themselves. An unrepentant soul will bear unrepentant fruit. Although in the short run a believer will have a deviation from the path the Holy Spirit will lead them back to it. May take several years, or a good portion of a lifetime, but eventually every prodigal predestined for salvation returns home.

In the long run the Holy Spirit filled person WILL bear the fruit of the Spirit.

For the Dallas “Christian” who really would not be identified with Jesus this is a call to wake up. Religious church attendance doesn’t equal devotion to Christ. Devotion to Jesus is identifiable. If someone is truly hanging out with Jesus you can “ID” them just like Peter got “ID’d”.

So when you are hanging around a fire while Jesus is being tried would people “ID” you as being with Him? Are you really following Him?

Usually I get to the end here and give a certain catchy line. But rather I want to offer you a chance to really follow Christ. It is a clear call to action where the Holy Spirit knocks on your heart and says open up. The only person you are faking out is yourself.

Confess your sin, follow Him, and you will naturally be in repentance. Following Jesus is the opposite direction of sin. Ask the Holy Spirit to come into your heart, save you and change you in Jesus name.

Faith is not just a claim to believe something, it is actually believing it. And when you believe something you do it. Salvation is by grace, through such GENUINE faith.

What do you believe, really?

From one angle you could interpret the Bible to be exclusive. Christians touting that they have the only way to God could come across as pious and self righteous. You might say, “Why did God reveal Himself through only one person?” “Could He have not come to many different people groups in different ways?”

These are great questions, but let’s try another perspective. Like looking at a mosaic, often we need to stand back in order to gain a better perspective and see the big picture.

> God made it simple.

Jesus being the way to God was not intended to be ‘exclusive’, it was intended to be simple. Not everyone is intelligent! In fact, most aren’t. So in order to reach even the simple minded God made the message clear enough for even a child to understand.

> Why not every path then? That would be simple.

If every path led to God then men could just create a new one. And if man could create their own path to God then salvation would not be needed in the first place. The reason Jesus had to come here was because we could not reach God.

The message of the Gospel is just that. God did what we could not do, He came to us when we were dead and lost and He saved us.

> Why so many religions?

Satan is in the business of creating alternative methods of reaching God.

How do you throw people off from a simple solution? Convolute the message and create many options. If there is one door to open, create many other doors so they don’t know which one to choose. Satan detours many through false doors which lead to a dead end. A typical test of a false door is this:

A false door will tell you that you can reach God by doing good things. The Bible will tell you that no amount of good works will correct the issue, in order to reach God He had to come to us.

He did this through Jesus.

It is GOOD to ask questions but often we over think things. Only part of  processing God’s revelation is through the mind. Information is processed through the brain but God enters through your heart… after all, that what He is trying to change! The truth must be allowed to enter your heart.

The Bible says you will not understand everything fully yet, it takes faith. Besides, if we could understand all of it then we would be God, and we are not. It takes faith and it is faith in Jesus that saves you.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9

Where is your faith? We all have faith but we all choose to place it different things. Government, education, religion, ourselves. The Bible says that it takes faith in Jesus Christ to restore a relationship with God and receive salvation. Meaning, saved from this mess we created.

There are many doors, but only one leads home.

Jesus said this to show you the way…

Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. - John 14:6

Sound familiar?

But while the world was trying to regain financial stability an evil power was generating. Hitler and the German Nazi regime. Under the diversion and cover of economic turmoil a fascist dictator was planning the genocide of the Jewish race along with other ‘lower classes’.

I find this at least something to consider during this day and age.

The market collapse of 2008 issued us into what should have been another depression. A world financial system that on October 11, 2008 the head of the IMF said was on the “brink of systemic meltdown”. Propped up only by monetary stimulus and rock bottom interest rates, governments have been able to put in a reasonable amount of austerity to keep the system going. But this temporary fix has not solved the overarching problem.

Debt.

In Deuteronomy 28 God outlines the blessings of obedience, and the curses of disobedience. We see in verse 20 that:

“The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking Him.”

Plague, famine, wasting disease are all apart of the curse of disobedience. But why?

“Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.” [V. 27-28]

Sin is forgiven through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and although grace covers a multitude of sins, those sins still have consequences. We see this in our own lives.

Like a child who does not understand why their father has to discipline them the Lord must discipline us and to a degree, we will not understand the severity of the punishment. Is America cursed? To the degree that we reject God, yes, we become an object of God’s wrath.

But I am speaking towards a nation, not all the individuals in that nation.

A believer is not cursed or an object of God’s wrath [1 Thess 5:9 Romans 5:9], but a country can be. And if believers live in that country they will suffer to some degree the judgement God brings on that nation as a result of disobedience. It is sin collateral damage. God executes justice not only on an individual level but on a corporate level. What does that mean?

All sin has collateral damage. It is why the sin of Adam was passed on to the rest of mankind. We all deal with the consequence of sin we do not own. Sin is like a virus and it is spread through conception. It created in us a passed down nature, or curse.

The curse can be reversed in an individual through faith in Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit coming into and dwelling in a believer.

But to the degree that a nation chooses to reject God, He will reject them while saving a remnant that chooses to repent.

In the Bible we know that extreme pressures will create a one world economy which will be enforced by a one world government. The leader of this New World Order will be the Antichrist. A new ‘Judas’ to which Satan himself will literally posses and take over. All the world pressures towards this change are showing their faces right now. It is no secret that I believe we are in the last days. A personal faith that I do not wish to push on others.

But this is my point.

History repeats itself. Through time we ebb and flow through cycles of rejection, repentance and revival. It has happened several times throughout history. Specifically America has been here before and the previous financial collapse resulted in World War.

In the process of ‘fixing’ the economy we cut defense spending and our focus is placed on internal issues. In the meantime evil does not rest and as our attention is elsewhere world powers may be preparing for a power shift.

If history repeats itself we may be seeing World War III. And with the technology and nuclear power of today perhaps a third world war (a Biblical number of completion) will be the prophesied Armageddon?

At least food for thought.

For the Kingdom, for the lost, and the movement of the GOSPEL – Matt Cote

The whole store was full of teacher supplies and I couldn’t find them. I asked a sales associate where the tracts were located and she looked at me with confusion. After a few seconds it clicked and she knew I was talking about those little pamphlets you hand out to share your faith.

They were located in the back of the store.

The far back.

I found them, they had one of each packet with no additional stock. Sitting there like iconic symbols of a Christian past that has been lost. I went to the counter, placed them by the register and reached for my wallet. Then a strange thing happened, I could feel the presence of the enemy and knew I was about to be attacked.

And I was.

The college student checking me out looked at them, gave them a second look, then told me that, “most people are just offended by these, they don’t work.” Now, I have been known to have an opinion so I let him have his own. But I told him, “That is your opinion, for some it is a divine appointment.”

He continued to tell me that they concluded in his college Bible study that they are no longer effective in our culture.

I bit my tongue, and told him we were going to put that to the test.

Strange, it has been a while since I have been spiritually attacked before sharing my faith. So I knew from experience that it was a good sign. We must be going into a war which God will fight and win for us… and He did!

Sure enough, all the guys from Man Night gathered and we drove downtown. Others guys met up with us and we canvased the West End District as well as the Greyhound bus station. First guy we talked to, Mike… didn’t know Christ or the Gospel. He does now. Mike accepted Christ and we hugged… right there in downtown Dallas.

Talked with several more people and with my last two tracts, we handed them to two guys in their 20′s and within 15 minutes we all circled up and they prayed to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. Nothing we did, but everything God did.

I drove home after last night with a mix of thoughts and emotions.

God rewards faithfulness. It doesn’t matter what kind of evangelism, how you do it, or where you do it. As long as you bring the truth of God’s Word in love that meeting is a divine appointment for someone.

If you are willing to go, God will use you.

And yes… God can use a tract.

It troubles me though the mindset of my generation. More are consumed with what sarcastic and compelling blog Donald Miller can come up than the Gospel. We shrink back at the thought of challenging our culture or bringing the truth of God to it.

People do more attacking then acting.

Our actions reveal our hearts, and our inaction proves we doubt the true power of God. We doubt that He can really change anything, so we spend our time attacking things Christians do rather than sharing the Gospel.

Most are scared.

Christianity is becoming a religion rather than a compelling faith and testimony to the risen Christ. Helping the poor, widows, orphans and justice initiatives are all good things but in and of themselves they are just good works. As James said, they are “pure and undefiled religion” (v 1:27) but at the end of the day, just religion.

They are a means not only to be like Christ, but to share Christ and His message.

Regardless of how you believe you should share your faith in this culture, there is no question that you must. It is a mandate from Christ Himself.

Do you not testify to the goodness of God? To His presence and love in your life?

Then share it.

Jesus said:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” – Mark 16:15

This is a command, not an option. But Jesus reminds us that few will go and few will do what He has called us to.

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” – Matthew 9:37-38

I encourage you to go, or to be that person where you are at.

Before we went I was talking to my good friend Julian on the phone and we both admitted that over the course of the year we had shrunk back. We had not been sharing our faith with others as often as we should. We had grown complacent and it was affecting our walk in general.

No guilt, just motivation to get back to work.

And I must say the work is thrilling.

To see someone come into an understanding of what you know to be true, to know that the LORD appointed that moment, and to see them find the joy of knowing God… priceless.

I encourage you to share your faith and to take the initiative to reach out to others. Sure not everyone will want it, but if you do it in love you have done your part, and you will have been the person that God used to give them a personal touch.

Let’s not be a generation that shrinks back.

We do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. – Hebrews 10:39

The times do not call for cowards that attack our faith, it calls for men and women that will stand up and do what we are called to do.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. – James 1:22

]]> http://mattcote.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/a-lost-cause/feed/ 0 mattcote http://mattcote.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/the-fight-for-freedom/ http://mattcote.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/the-fight-for-freedom/#comments Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:55:29 +0000 mattcote http://mattcote.wordpress.com/?p=3403 ]]> You have to fight for freedom, on all levels.

It is a fight to stay out of debt, it is a fight to keep your health up, it is a fight to keep freedom available.

It is a constant battle to keep evil at bay. Spiritually, emotionally, financially, physically. All aspects of our lives are subject to bondage if we don’t surrender to Christ, obey Him, and enjoy the freedom that comes from the blessing of obedience.

The reality of life is that it takes war to achieve freedom. Physical war to suppress the forces of evil at work in our world. And the reality of spiritual battle, to which all physical war is a manifested result of.

Even in passivity war is being waged. Martin Luther King Jr. waged war with peace and peace still cost him his life. The result was the beginning of racial equality for African Americans in America. But it cost him the ultimate sacrifice.

Jesus waged war with peace, and it cost Him His life. Evil knows that the power of the Word is all that is needed to overthrow principalities. That is why Satan tried to destroy Jesus, the Living Word. But you can’t destroy what is eternal. The created can’t destroy their Creator. Staring evil down with His words, Jesus gave His life as the only perfect sacrifice.

The pen really is mightier than the sword. And the Word of God stronger still. When a pen crafts music with the Word of God there is power. When any mortal man takes a pen and uses it with the Word of God to preach, teach, and encourage… there is power.

But ultimately, as our Savior has shown us, the fight for freedom will eventually cost you your life [Matthew 10:39]. Whether you physically give it up for the Gospel, or you give it away day by day serving the King till you are old and gray, following Christ and continuing His fight for freedom will cost you dearly. To share in His sufferings, to further the Gospel, to continue the fight [Romans 8:17].

Remember this summer as the fireworks light up the night sky that the celebration comes after the sacrifice.

No one wants to sacrifice, but everyone wants to celebrate.

When the hero is at war we pray for success, and we celebrate their success after they have given their lives to achieve it. The good news is no perfect man or woman becomes a hero, only a man or woman willing to follow the real one.

Jesus.

“He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” – Matthew 10:39

He gives me grace when I need it, and discipline when I need it too.

In this Christian journey we need to keep in mind the obedience it took for Christ to go to the cross. He prayed earnestly in the Garden of Gasthemane for the cup to be taken from Him [Mark 14:36]. But He did everything the Father told Him to do, said everything the Father told Him to say, and went everywhere the Father told Him to go… even to death on a cross [Phil 2:8].

God washing His disciples feet is humbling enough, but laying down your potential to wipe everyone off the face of the planet and allow them to inflict pain on you and kill you is incomprehensible.

We truly can’t comprehend how deep the Father’s love is for us, or know the measure of obedience Christ performed in His mission.

Christ showed His love for the Father in complete obedience to His will.

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself  by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross! – Philippians 2:8

And we show the same love to the Father by obeying His Word.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. – John 14:15

When Christ spoke to the woman at the well He was referring to the Holy Spirit. That because of the Holy Spirit we can now worship in spirit and truth. Meaning, after the cross worship was not a religious rite or a means to cleanse your sins. Now because of the blood of Jesus, sins are cleansed once and for all. And forgiveness of sins to all who believe in Him.

Also the Holy Spirit does a profound thing, it puts the Spirit of God in you. It gives you the ability to say no to sin, and yes to God. That means you will now constantly battle between the Spirit and flesh. But when you submit to the Spirit you will be in obedience to His Word, and obedience to God’s Word is obedience to God’s will. Thus, you will be walking in spirit and truth.

We tend to view obedience as strictly duty, but obedience as duty is stripped of its motivation.

It was love that led Christ to the cross. It was love that had the Father send the Son to us. And ultimately it is love that compels us to obey Him. The greatest motivator of action in the world is love, because God created it that way.

Love and obedience are synonymous in scripture. Religous obedience may work in the short run, but when true cost is involved it fails. Love sustains obedience through trial and even death. Because when you truly love someone, you are willing to give yourself, even your life, for them.

Whenever we need a reminder of love and how much God loves us, the cross is a reminder of the cost of love and how great our God is.