Friday, April 23, 2010

Nuggets

I just got back from a conference for church planters called "Exponential." And there were just a couple of ideas/nuggets that really stuck out to me, and will stay with me for awhile, probably because they were just reminders about what God has been teaching me for awhile.

1. How you live tells me about what you believe.
What we believe about God (theology) is incredibly important. Everyone believes something about God. But don't just TELL me what you believe. Show me how that affects how you live. This is what the entire book of James is about. I can say that I believe that I am saved by grace through faith and not by my works, I can write a paper about it, and I can teach you a workshop about it. But then why I am so anxious and worried when I don't get people's approval? I say I believe in this right doctrine, but I actually am living like I am saved by people's approval, not by grace through faith. Ask this question: If I REALLY believed the truths revealed in the bible about God, how would that change the way I live? We need to love God with all our heart, soul and mind (Matt 22). Think and live. Live and think.

2. We're all addicted to something.
We live in an age where we have more channels on TV to watch than ever in history, more clothes in our closets, more food in our fridges, more computers/smartphones/ipads than ever. Yet we are more bored and empty than ever. A speaker said -- "our stuff just numbs us from our real heart problems." So one person uses heroin to numb him from the fears and difficulties in his life. And another person watches four hours of tv or surfs the web for hours. And another person cleans or organizes obsessively. Is it really any different? Procrastination is just another form of addiction. What do you use to escape, to run away? We're all trying to numb ourselves from the real issues in our hearts we don't want to face.