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This is a very challenging read. The issue of how we should deal with beng praised is something I discussed at length with a good friend of mine recently. He said that he always directs the praise back to God. so if someone says to him "Hey, great Sermon tonight!" he would then direct the praise to God by saying "yeah, God was really moving here tonight." I think so often nowadays certain areas of church, and very often the music ministry can be seen from a business and very worldly point of view. It is dangerous for us to fall into our churches being analysed on levels such as "how many people attend" and "who is involved in leading services" We need to be mindful of our responsibility as lead worshippers involved in an "upfront" ministry to identify the "dragons" in our lives and to ensure that the praise is given to God who alone is worthy.

Thanks for the challenge.

Great to know I'm not the only one who has been struggling in this area recently. That's what I have been thinking about at home focus. How I love to 'do' things and how this takes priority in my life over just spending time with God and growing in my relationship with Him.

But also how things have creeping into my life again which I need to, once again, get on top of.

Cheers for being so honest Tim.

Thanks for being so honest mate, its really encouraging and empowering to read such transparency. I read something by Tim Keller today that ties in somewhat.

Religion says;

“I obey-therefore I’m accepted.”

Motivation is based on fear and insecurity

the Gospel says;

“I’m accepted-therefore I obey.”

Motivation is based on grateful joy.

I think there is something beautiful when our motivation for change comes out of a deep love for Jesus, as is clearly the case for you. These changes result in a deeper more beautiful life even if they come at the expense of profile, opportunities etc. Thanks for the challenge and the encouragement mate

wow. thanks tim. this is so timely for me. our pastor constantly encourages us to "keep the main thing...the main thing." it's so easy for me to get busy doing good stuff (or at least what i deem as good) that i lose sight of my first love. thanks for a great reminder....take care.

www.jeramysossaman.com

great post.... guard the heart

good one, Tim.

another voice crying out "get close" with Him. It has felt to me like a hundred people are calling out the same thing. What am I doing about it.

I'm off to unplug from the network and enjoy my Father.

Thanks for the kick in the pants.

Peace

W

visit me at www.andrewweir.co.uk

So true. Especially for people in ministry. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we're so immersed in "Christian" stuff all the time that it seems like we don't have to try to be "spiritual". Which is absolute baloney. I feel like I need to be more intentional about spending time with Father because it's so easy to become complacent and just float along. And then to get so busy doing things just because they're good things to do. It's a hard lesson, but I am learning that Father isn't as interested in what I do for Him as He is in how faithful I am to His call.

It's so much easier to be busy for God than it is to be faithful...it involved a lot less waiting....

thanks so much for this honest/thoughful post. it's been such a timely reminder for me.

daniel

Ain't that the truth...

There is a theme in William Young's bestseller 'The Shack' that challenged me recently - and to be honest, I'm still figuring it out. It is the idea that God has no expectations of us. This goes against almost everything I had previously believed; 'I need to read my Bible more', 'I need to be more holy', 'I need to lust less', and so on, with the underlying assumption that this is what God expected of me. Young points out that expectation is to do with the law. As a Christian, I had no problem with the idea that I was no longer under the law, and yet, I still had an idea of a God that had expectations that I needed to meet! God has no expectation of us. There is no bar that we have to reach - Jesus has set us fee. Young suggests that what God wants is not expectation but expectancy. Not dead nouns but alive verbs. Expectation = law. Expectancy = relationship. Expectancy is about excitement, a relationship with God that is vibrant, alive, embracing, loving. Oh to live out from under the weight of expectation! Perhaps, if I embrace expectancy instead of expectation I may find I become the father, son, husband, pastor, child of God I long to be?

There is this book that I never read, by Eric Liddel (I think...), but the title itself challenged me. It was a daily devotional with a corresponding thought from Eric, the title was, "The Disciplines of the Christian Faith." Or, that is how I remember the title going. Regardless, the thought of pairing discipline with faith was such a revolutionary concept for me.

It is like James' passage on faith and works; I struggled a bit with if I should start with Faith, then discipline, or discipline and then find my faith strengthened. But perhaps the two are continuously tied to each other, and one without the other becomes dry, stale, and unfulfilling.

The amazing thing is I, like you, so often discard discipline for faith alone, or vise-versa and then get frustrated with how blank my Christianity feels! It’s like in theory I’ve got it down but in practice I find myself constantly wrestling to be disciplined with my physical time, my heart’s desires, and my mind’s thoughts. But then I complicate it further by sometimes discarding my faith, the passion for Christ, that gut feeling, to focus on my discipline… It is a battle I have also found becomes easier within a community; which is also something I so easily disregard in our individualistic culture.

But your thoughts really spurred me on; it is so easy to get complacent and just go with my instincts instead of seeking God’s purpose for my life.

http://www.xanga.com/quiescentdetonation (blog)