Rick Nier...Woo!

Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it. - Winston Churchill I am rethinking purpose this summer. This is not to say that I am thinking of a new purpose, but more of rediscovering the purpose in the youth ministry I lead. And I think there are several good reasons to read Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in order to be refreshed. In regards to purpose, Jesus says a lot in these chapters of Matthew and Luke that are important. For example, in Matthew 5:1-10, Jesus starts right off with what we know as the Beatitudes. Now some people simply see this section as some nice poetry where Jesus tells us to be nice. But it's more than that. He is pointing out, subtly or not, that things have been done and accepted for a long time, but there is, in fact, another way that God views things. Blessed are the poor in spirit? Guess what? It's a good thing if you're not bragging about your good deeds. Blessed are those who mourn, who are meek, and who are merciful? Soun...

For the three of you that read my blog, I'm still stuck on this ides of consequences that I blogged about the other day. If you want the 1-line summary, it's simply this; we don't like consequences. But I realize this is not entirely true. I can think of at least two instances when we do. The first is when other people face consequences. We may not be sadistic about it, but bad people deserve punishment. Right? Murderers should spend time in jail and child molesters should have parts of their body cut off. We may not always say it that way, but we do often talk about fair and unfair, which clearly puts us in the category of people who believe consequences should happen. Just not for us, because we're clearly not as bad as other people and unlike other people, we learn from our mistakes without consequences. The second is a bit more subtle and involves less of me sounding like a street preacher. (Of course, if the street preacher speaks truth, then what's my problem?...

Ok, I get that sin, by definition, is the choosing of the selfish nature over what God wants. I get that it naturally means I am choosing ME when I choose to SIN. But have you ever considered just how easily we make our sin about ourselves? I am defining sin as the willful choosing of something that God says NO to. Consider this. We commit a sin, which is the first way we make it about ourselves. Let’s assume we get caught by someone other than God who sees everything. When we get caught, we continue to make it about ourselves as we try to come up with various reasons why the consequences, natural or otherwise, should not be ours to bear. Do you get this? Let’s say I cam up with a book of rules and a corresponding list of consequences when we do wrong. No one should say that the consequences are unfair since we are all aware of the consequences. But that is what we do. Think of it in terms of a game. If I was explaining the game of baseball to you for the first time, I would take time ...

I believe it was Fleetwood Mac who told me I could go my own way. Of course, they weren't the first and they will not be the last. Even Burger King encourages me toward this own way of mine. But I found this in 1 Peter 4:2 this morning. "Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way." We could go several directions with a verse like this. I don't want to compare my sufferings with the millions of Christians who actually suffer for Jesus' name. I get that, and I think deep down, so do you. But from the moment I wake up until I go to sleep, and then sometimes in my dreaming, I'm all about me. I'm my biggest fan. I desperately need to be weaned. (I realize there are several reasons why that doesn't sound right.) But it's true. While I may not always expect to get my way, I normally do. If I'm being totally honest, I probably even expect certain sufferings to be done in a timely and not-so...

John 14:12 is ridiculous, even for the fervent believer. It's Jesus talking, so I know I should believe it. He says whoever has faith in Him will do greater things than Him. Let's just make a little mental list right here. Jesus: healing the sick, recovering the sight of the blind, raising the dead, including Himself, and making massive amounts of food out of small lunches. Me: giving my kids Tylenol when they're sick, telling my wife where her glasses are, waking up sleepy children, and making a pretty tasty peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I'll go ahead and say it. I think Jesus' list is more impressive. It just is. Although it is a really good pb&j. But Jesus said I would do greater things. I was talking with my wife about this stuff going through my head and she agreed that it seemed implausible that I would do something greater than Jesus. We were discussing this during supper and then I looked at the time. We had one hour to finish putting laundry away, d...

I'm not sure if this says more about my habits of discipline or my son's knowledge of the animal kingdom, but... Yesterday, Jennifer and I took our kids to the zoo. We saw a tiger, a few zebras, some monkeys, and several sea lions. One in particular caught our attention as it was sunbathing while it faced a wall. Our 5-year old son asked if the sea lion was in a time-out. (That same 5-year old shared the fate of the sea lion later in the day.) I am pretty sure that the sea lion in question was only by chance facing a wall. But he was taking a time out from his other busy activities of the day. Those activities would include eating fish, waving to a crowd, and performing his best rendition of a shark for the people that looked on. Yet, at this point, he took a time out. I wonder if he thought about anything. After all, that is what a time out is for. We send our kids there from time to time, hoping they will think about what they have done and why they won't do it again. I c...

I have never been all that humble. Even when I've tried to be humble, I've gotten proud of how humble I was. Tell me you didn't see that coming. But it's true. I believe I am as much a victim as anyone since Generation X where we all believe we're above average. But ask anyone that understand math and they'll tell you that 50% of people are below average. There's no way around that. But if you asked me, I'd tell you I wasn't in that 50%. So maybe having a healthy self-esteem isn't such a bad thing. But I see it crowd in on my relationship with God. Since I want to please God and do good things for God, I try my best. So far, so good, right? But let's assume I actually do something with excellence. After everything goes as planned, I spend too much time patting myself on the back. And believe me, any time patting yourself is too much time. But it's just for God, right? Yes, but then you have scriptures like this hit you square in the eyes....