Welcome to the One Word At A Time Blog Carnival – this week’s word is: More.

Below this, you’ll find a little widget called Simply Linked. All the participants in the carnival add their links to the widget and that way we can all find and read everyone’s entries. You’re welcome to join us, the carnival is open to anyone.

To see all of the upcoming words and their dates, visit http://peterpollock.com/category/faith/carnival/

I Want More!

I think it’s part of the human condition to want more. We yearn for it, we strive for it. We lust after it.

It doesn’t matter what your ‘more’ is, it’s different for different people but there’s always something we want more of.

Society today is increasingly centered around the concept of more being better. Advertising tells us we ‘deserve’ it and companies are always looking for ways to help us to get it – although we often find we have to pay for it later.

The idea of wanting more is not a new thing though, look back through history and you’ll see a constant, often bloody fight for more. More land, more money, more slaves, more glory, more food… the list goes on.

In fact, the American Declaration of Independence even describes it as an inalienable right. What is “The pursuit of happiness” if it’s not people striving to be happy… or put another way, people striving for MORE happiness.

I thought then that today, for this ‘more’ blog carnival, I would turn the lens on myself and force myself to look at what ‘more’ I want – because hidden therein is who I really am.

Here’s what I came up with. I want more:

1. Time to work. I desperately want to do MORE for my clients and having more time to work would let me do that.
2. Time with my wife. My wife is AMAZING. If you knew her, you’d want to spend more time with her too!
3. Money to give away. There is so much need around the world and even right here in our town. I would love to have the money to be able to bless people financially when I see that they need it.
4. Motivation. My depression has robbed me of my motivation. Forcing myself to do anything is a struggle.
5. Patience. My kids need a dad whose fuse is, well, still there. I sometimes feel like I don’t even have a fuse anymore.
6. Desire for God. I want to yearn for a deeper relationship with him in a way that I don’t do right now.
7. Technology. If I’m honest, this is a major thing for me. I love technology and ALWAYS want more of it!
8. Wealth for myself. Yes, I’m greedy. I fight it, but I want a nice house, nice car and to actually have some disposable income.

As you see, my list is varied. Some of these things I’m proud of wanting more of, others I battle against because the ‘more’ that I want is just selfish greed and lust.

How about you?

What are the things that you (secretly) want more of. What is your heart REALLY yearning for?

Below this, you’ll find a little widget called Simply Linked. All the participants in the carnival add their links to the widget and that way we can all find and read everyone’s entries. You’re welcome to join us, the carnival is open to anyone.

To see all of the upcoming words and their dates, visit http://peterpollock.com/category/faith/carnival/

There is Much To Do

At the risk of sounding rather controversial, I’d like to share the argument that being a Christian is MUCH more than saying a prayer… in fact it means there is MUCH to do.

It has grown very popular in this day and age to tell people that Christianity or being ‘saved’ is just a matter of repeating a prayer where you say ‘sorry’ for your sins.

I believe it is much more than that though.

The argument is as old a Christianity itself, in fact it’s seen in the New Testament with Paul saying that faith is ‘not by works’ (Ephesians 2:9) where James says faith WITHOUT works is dead (James 2).

I totally believe that what Paul says is true. Salvation is a free gift. There’s nothing we can do to ‘earn’ it. It is a gift from the grace of God.

However, I believe James is ALSO right. Faith which doesn’t result in works (in most cases) is no faith at all. James says that kind of faith can’t save us and he means that if we claim we have faith but that faith doesn’t result in any change in us, then our faith is not in God but in the prayer of salvation. We have faith that the prayer will keep us from hell, but that’s all.

Obviously there are those who come to faith in Christ so late in life (on their deathbeds, for instance) that they die before demonstrating their faith through works and I completely believe that they are saved because, as Paul says, it’s not our works that save us but accepting the free gift of salvation.

For those of us who DO have time though, how can we say we have faith in Christ, that we repent of our sins and that we are followers of our saviour if there is never any change in us… if our faith is not seen by our works.

If we truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He came to earth to die in our place, that we are all sinners and have all fallen short of the Glory of God and that we must repent (actually turn from our sin) and accept the free gift of salvation from Jesus Christ then that HAS to do something to us.

If all of those things are true then we understand that ALL are in desperate need of salvation and how can we possibly go another day without starting to tell others the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Add the presence of the Holy Spirit to that and, as Paul says in Galatians 5, those who live led by the spirit will show the fruits of the Spirit which are: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. So you see that true faith results in inward change.

It is my belief that there is MUCH to do and my question to you is, does the faith you have agree with that assertion and make you eager to do your part or does your faith simply say, “I’m OK, I’m saved. Who cares about anyone else?”

… because that’s not much like faith at all.

Welcome to the One Word At A Time Blog Carnival – this week’s word is: Approved.

To see all of the upcoming words and their dates, visit http://peterpollock.com/category/faith/carnival/

This Message is NOT Approved by PeterPollock.com

I was really excited about the word ‘approved’ and I’m sure we’re going to get some stunningly good posts out of it… but then it came time for me to write my own post and all I could hear was the sound of screeching brakes as my inspiration engine came to a grinding halt.

My sister wrote a blog post a while ago titled, “Make it Count” which starts by talking about how Nike have graduated from inspiring people to ‘Just do it’ to exhorting them to ‘make it count’.

That post struck a chord with me and I’ve thought about it every time I’ve sat down to write since then.

I don’t want to write for the sake of writing.

I’d love to post something every day but I’d rather post just once a week (or even less) and actually make it count.

Substance before quantity is what I’m aiming for because if I’m going to sit down to write, I want to write something that will make a difference, something that can inspire or move people, something that will encourage or exhort or teach.

I want to make it count.

I am far from perfect and I’m sure many times what I do end up writing isn’t of the quality that I want and doesn’t have the impact that I dream it does, but that’s life. I may fail, but at least I’m going to TRY to make it count.

So there is no post for today from me, because nothing I could come up with got that ‘approved’ stamp.

I couldn’t come up with anything that I could say YES! I sat down and wrote and I made it count.

So please, take the time to visit the other posts in this carnival because I’m sure some, if not ALL, the other writers made it count today!

Thanks,

Peter

Lynnette Kraft and Courtney Becker have written a book.

It’s a true story but like a good novel it has a mix of tragedy, suspense, love and redemption.

The question is though… is it a GOOD mix of all of those things, or does the story fall short and fail to deliver on its potential?

And the answer is….

You’ll have to head over to my review of the book on ThatEnglishGeek.com to find out

See you there!

I am involved with an organization here in town named Champions, which provides recovery services for people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

The Champions name comes from the idea that we have to become champions over our sin and addictions – and we can only do that with the help of our Champion, Jesus Christ.

This year, I wrote an Easter message to all of the champions who work for us and it was well received so I decided to share it with you:

To all the Champions…

I just wanted to write to wish you a very happy Champion’s day.

OK, so most people call it Easter, but that name really doesn’t mean anything that has anything to do with what happened that incredible resurrection Sunday, two thousand or so years ago.

You see, on ‘Good Friday’, we remember one of the two darkest days in human history. Which was darker I have no way of judging but in order of occurrence they were:

1) The day when man, even in perfect communion with God, rejected Him and chose instead to eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil.
2) The day when man, when confronted with God incarnate, nailed him to a cross and executed him like a criminal.

Those two events are sobering to think of. That we would reject God so comprehensively is sickening beyond words.

What happened two days later though, on the day we call Easter Sunday or resurrection day or, as I would like to call it, Champion’s day, is one of the most incredible, awe inspiring, life changing events ever.

On that day, our Champion rose from the dead and in doing so he broke the chains of evil and sin and darkness and death. In one fell swoop, he defeated the prince of darkness and any claim he could have to us.

With a power that goes far beyond the mere raising of a person from the dead, Jesus claimed victory, destroying everything that might keep us from a right relationship with God.

Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Mighty One, the Prince of Peace became the Champion.

You all know full well that there is a cost to freedom. It’s easy to see that when you see how many of our service men and women pay the price of their own lives to keep this country free and you also see it every day when you see the cost of freedom from addiction.

Sure, the benefits outweigh the cost, but so many people are unwilling to become champions over their own addiction because they are not willing to pay the price to get there.

Freedom is not free but Jesus paid the price. A terrible, unfathomable price of stepping down from his throne in glory to be beaten, whipped, spat on, have a crown of thorns pushed into his head and then hung on a cross until he died, separated for the first time ever from his Father, with whom he is one in ways we cannot even begin to understand.

That’s the price that was paid for our freedom.

That’s what we celebrate on Champion’s day.

I wish you a happy Champions day, but not in a fluffy bunny, chocolate eating, egg hunting kind of way, rather in a way in which you remember the price and remember the victory. Remember the joy and celebration of rejoicing in the triumph of our Champion and what He has done for us.

…and then live lives worthy of Him.

Freedom is not free. Not at all.

Whether you’re talking about freedom from physical oppression and attack by foreign nations or freedom from sin and death and the grave, there is a VERY, VERY high price to pay.

Remember that as you hunt your eggs and munch on chocolate Easter Bunnies.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:36

Stock Media Courtesy of Pond5

Stock Media Courtesy of Pond5

Welcome to the One Word At A Time Blog Carnival – this week’s word is: Afterthought.

Below this, you’ll find a little widget called Simply Linked. All the participants in the carnival add their links to the widget and that way we can all find and read everyone’s entries. You’re welcome to join us, the carnival is open to anyone.

To see all of the upcoming words and their dates, visit http://peterpollock.com/category/faith/carnival/

No-one Wants to be an Afterthought

Stock Media Courtesy of Pond5

In my mind, an afterthought is something or someone you completely forgot about or just didn’t think about in the moment which you think about later and realize you should maybe act on.

Nobody wants to be an afterthought. Being an afterthought is like being the last kid picked in gym class or the girl who gets invited to the party because the birthday-girl’s mom feels guilty that they didn’t invite her.

No, deep down, most of us want to feel important, we want to feel like we were at the forefront of people’s minds, that we are significant, memorable and important to people.

Relationships fail when one partner begins to feel secondary, an afterthought. Friendships are ruined when one party becomes just an afterthought in planning activities and children are hurt emotionally when their parents are so caught up in themselves that they seem to forget about their kids and including them is just an afterthought.

It’s times of year like this, this Easter season that help me really appreciate how much we mean to God.

You see, to God, you and I are absolutely nothing like afterthoughts.

We are right there at the front of his mind.

Romans 8:28 reminds us that we are at the forefront of God’s mind… we’re not afterthoughts and we know this because God demonstrated his love for us by sending his son, Jesus Christ, to die for us.

That’s not an afterthought – that’s a carefully planned, loving act by a father who thinks of us constantly.

No matter how you feel you’re thought of by other people, remember this Easter that no matter how bad it is with people around you – you are loved by the creator of the universe and he loves you so much that he sent his own son to die for you to save you, not as an afterthought but as the most important thing on his mind!

Stock Media Courtesy of Pond5

Jesus told us to “Take up your cross daily”. It was said metaphorically, but it’s kind of ironic that the first time I DID try to pick up a cross, it was too heavy for me.

I happened to be with friends at a church meeting place on Sunday afternoon when people were busy packing up after the Sunday morning service.

Being the lazy boy I am, I sat and watched them for a while but eventually I managed to galvanize myself into action and asked how I could help.

There are three wooden crosses which they bring out onto the stage on Sunday mornings. They’re big things, I didn’t measure them but I’m guessing six to eight feet tall.

Being a guy, when asked to pick them up and carry them to the storage facility, I readily agreed and walked up to the first fully intending on yanking it out of its holder, throwing it over my shoulder and maybe going and grabbing a second to hoist onto my other shoulder. As I pictured my manly march across the hall in my mind, I imagined myself looking much the way Arnold Schwarzenegger did when he carried a whole tree at the beginning of ‘Commando’.

It appears I grossly underestimated my strength though because I grabbed hold of the first cross and…. completely failed to even lift it off the floor.

Ooops.

I jokingly commented about how my cross was too heavy for me to carry and even as I said the words, they resonated deep within me with a truth that I hadn’t truly considered:

All too often, I ready DO think my cross is too heavy to carry – my metaphorical one, that is.

When Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23) He was bringing up a familiar picture in the minds of his first century listeners, a picture of someone heading to their death, a horrible death, walking in shame through the streets looked on with no compassion, no help from anyone. Carrying your cross meant physically carrying the instrument of your own agonizing death to the place of execution.

What he was trying to convey was that following him is not easy. It’s not all days of bouncing through fields of flowers, the sun on your face and not a care in the world, it’s also sometimes hard and maybe embarrassing and often painful.

Being a follower of Christ means literally needing to die to yourself and sacrificing your own dreams and desires and replacing them with a willingness to do whatever God calls you to do, whether it’s easy or not, even if it loses your friends or you think it will make you lose face in front of them.

All to often though, we are not willing. We put that cross down because we simply think it’s too heavy of a burden to bear.

I don’t think there’s any excuse for that other than our own unwillingness to obey.

We say our cross is too heavy to carry but we never truly give God a chance to help us with the load.

I don’t want to be that guy.

When I really tried, I was able to pick that cross up and once I was carrying it, it was nowhere near the burden I at first thought it was…

It’s funny how that works…

I’ll leave you with this ‘secret’ from postsecret.com a few weeks ago:

Image from Postsecret.com

Stock Media Courtesy of Pond5

Welcome to the One Word At A Time Blog Carnival – this week’s word is: Memory.

This week’s topic is truly ironic since I forgot to remind everyone that it was carnival time, but that’s just all part of the fun of hanging around here.

The idea of the carnival is simple. We pick one word every two weeks and all write a blog post inspired by that word. It’s fascinating to see the range of different trains of thought that can come from just one word.

Below this, you’ll find a little widget called Simply Linked. All the participants add their links to the widget and that way we can all find and read all the entries into the carnival. You’re welcome to join us, the carnival is open to anyone.

To see all of the upcoming words and their dates, visit http://peterpollock.com/category/faith/carnival/

I Wish I Had a Memory

Stock Media Courtesy of Pond5

My memory is getting really bad. At least, I think it’s getting bad, I just can’t remember if it was always like this or not….

I know that’s a terrible thing to say and there are people out there whose memory is far worse than mine but I have really noticed over the past couple of years how bad my memory is… or has become.

I am often surprised when the doorbell rings, only to realise when I see the visitor standing there that I spoke to them not five minutes ago and was expecting them to come.

At least… I SHOULD have been expecting them to come but I had totally forgotten.

The same goes for emails from clients. I can read an email, flip to my browser to look up the answer to the question or fix the problem and in those seconds of selecting and opening my browser, I can not only forget what I was doing, but even that there was an email I was responding to.

(If you’re a client of mine and I haven’t responded to an email, please let me know… I have most probably genuinely forgotten!)

I also have almost no memory of my youth. I know that I used to do stuff but I don’t actually remember doing it.

Am I alone in that?

It drives my wife crazy.

One time, when we had been married for a number of years, I think six or seven, we were going to my parent’s house for Sunday lunch and I thought I’d better explain to my bride what to expect at her in-law’s house.

I thought it was quite reasonable of me to explain that, until she told me that we had been there for Sunday lunch most Sundays that we had been married…. so probably in the hundreds of times.

I was quite taken aback because I didn’t (and still don’t) remember her going to their house with me,

On the other hand, there are things I want to forget, to never remember or relive again which I simply cannot shake.

It’s all the bad things, the painful stuff, the hurts, the offenses, the attacks that stick around in vivid color while everything else fades to black.

Am I alone in that?

I kind of hope so, because I wouldn’t want anyone else to live with the unbalanced memories that I live with.

As I think about all this though and have my little pity party, It reminds me of one wonderful fact though…

God’s mind works the other way.

He remembers the good stuff but as for the bad stuff, well, all he remembers is this:

Stock Media Courtesy of Pond5

as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us. – Psalm 103:12

Stock Media Courtesy of Pond5

Is it possible to radically jump out of a plane? I don’t think so. Either you’re in or you’re out. You can’t call yourself a skydiver and never jump out of a plane… that’s kind of the whole point of what being a skydiver is!

The same is true, I believe, of being a Christian. Either you’re a Christian or you’re not. Either you follow Christ or you don’t.

The word ‘radical’ is defined by dictionary.com as meaning:

Relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something; far-reaching or thorough.

I have looked at this many ways and I simply cannot see how there can be a way to follow Christ in which you don’t actually follow Christ.

You either follow or you don’t follow. To me it’s as black and white as jumping out of a plane. No-one ever says “I jumped out of a plane… but only part way.”

If they did, that would be seen universally as a failure to jump. Unless you become completely disconnected from the plane and start tumbling toward the ground, you haven’t jumped out.

You can’t say “I’m a skydiver because I jumped out of a plane, just not thoroughly”.

You’re either a passenger or a skydiver. There’s no half way.

When you become a Christian, you become a follower of Christ. There is no other way.

You’re either a follower or not a follower.

We have tried to create these watered-down versions of Christianity, versions where we have a set of rules and regulations which basically boil down to ‘Turn up for church on Sunday’ and somehow we try to call that following Christ.

What?

Seriously?

Following Christ means staring down the business end of verses like:

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Mark 8:34-38

and

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:18

Christianity is about actually following in Christ’s footsteps. It’s about not just reading these verses or hearing them preached on but ACTUALLY obeying them.

I’ve been accused of being a radical Christian many times… or at least of preaching a radical Christianity but I simply don’t see it that way.

I preach Christianity. That means jumping out of the plane with God, so to speak.

You call that radical?

I call it real.