Colossians 1:

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

That is just good to read. It is good to be reminded about who Jesus is, especially since he calls me his adopted child and loves me so much he would rather die than be without me.

I just recently watched a video called “indescribable” by  Louie Giglio. He speaks about the enormity of the universe from an astronomical perspective and a Christian perspective. Louie is part of an organization that has been reaching out to college-aged youth for more than a decade. You can learn more about him here: http://www.268generation.com

I can’t say I was 100% on board with every word spoken in the video, but overall it is an awesome video and I would highly recommend it. It underscores the crazy juxtaposition that exists between Jesus as almighty God, creator of the universe, and of Jesus the humble, lowly servant, who lived a s a peasant, and died a shameful, sinners death on the cross.

It is hard for me to keep both aspects of Jesus in my head at the same time. I normally think of him as being my humble savior; and not the almighty creator of everything. If I could keep both thoughts in my head at the same time, I bet I would worry a lot less, be a lot more brave, and attempt a lot bolder actions in following after Jesus.

I don’t just want to amen it, cheer, and woo-hoo how awesome and powerful Jesus is; I want to live it.

I want people to look at my life, and have it be completely obvious that I have a heavenly daddy who is all-powerful, all-loving and all-serving. I pray to live a life that would leave no doubt of who he is. I am far from that now.

Proverbs 4:23-24

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech.

This is great advice in general, but lately I have had some specific questions on this. I am a big Will Ferrel, Owen Wilson, and Ben Stiller fan. I have wanted to see their recent movies, but I was encouraged by my teenage children not to after they saw it. “Mom would kill you if you saw it!” “It was disgusting. Really inappropriate.”

That is how you know you are getting old when you teenage kids see movies before you do and advise you not to see them be cause they are too inappropriate. So, the question is, how much is too much? Meet the Parent was a good movie. I laughed really hard through most of it and it was very funny. Would I want one of my daughters to be sleeping with a guy she is dating? No. That’s in the movie, but it is not a big part of it, so, I look past it so I can get something out of the movie.

One of the things I have asked myself is would Jesus laugh at “inappropriate” stuff that was super funny? Would he think it was funny? We are admonished to guard our hearts, and in Philippians 4:8, Paul says to “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” Its hard to sit through a popular movie these days and do that.

So, do I just stop watching most movies all together, and become withdrawn from society and irrelevant , prudish, or do I carry on like it is OK, and just ignore it, while it slowly eats away at my soul? Everyone has a pain threshold. I liked Meet the Parents so much that I rented Meet the Fockers. It was one of only a handful of movies that I have rented and actually turned it of fin the middle of the movie. It was over-the-top inappropriate and I was embarrassed to watch it in front of my kids.

So on one hand, you have the righteous prude who won’t watch any movies but falls in other areas and comes off as being hypocritical; and, on the other hand you have the hippie-Christian who runs around naked, smokes pot, curses and tells dirty jokes and is really indistinguishable from a real hippie expect for the “His Pain Your Gain” t-shirt he is wearing.

So, I am not sure where to land on this one. It is not an easy one. Guard your heart. Avoid perverse speech. Fix your thoughts on what is true. Those aren’t just good suggestions, they are mandates that need to be followed. The question is, can you follow them and watch the movie Wedding Crashers at the same time. I am not sure…

Philippians 4:4-7

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

It’s very easy for me to mope around, be serious, worry about the “important” stuff going on. Part of that in my is being in engineering, I have always been charged with figuring out what could possibly go wrong, and then putting safeguards in place. I have been tasked with coming up with the complete set of things that can fail, and then figure which of these potential failures are fixable, and which ones we have to live with.

Dealing with everything and anything that could possibly go wrong in my daily work life has definitely left its imprint on my personality. I am routinely called “pessimistic” and I always snap back and say I am “realistic.” Whatever you call it, many times, if people were to examine my demeanor, my countenance, and then find out that I desire to be committed follower of Jesus, they might think twice about becoming a follower of Jesus themselves. He might say to himself, “If following Jesus has that kind of effect on Bob, I don’t know if I want any part of it.”

It’s pretty scary to think that how much I smile, how much I openly complain and how much I laugh might be effecting someone’s eternity without me even knowing it. As I started to realize this over the years, I began making a few changes. When someone asks me, “How are you?” I try to reply, “Today is the best day of my life!” And it should be. Today should be the best day of my life. It might be the only day of my life left.

The “joy” of following Jesus should be visible on my person most if not all of the time. Later on in this chapter of Philippians, Paul remarks how he has learned to be content in all situations, good and bad. When Paul was falsely imprisoned, his joyful demeanor was responsible for changing the lives of the prisoner and prison guards around him. If Paul can be joyful in prison, I should be able to be joyful running around one of the riches suburbs in the world, with absolutely no physical needs whatsoever.

Being a “beacon of joy” is an aspiration of mine, and something I have been praying for lately in earnest. Until I get there, my philosophy is to fake it until I make it. I’m not sure that is the best angle, but it’s all I got right now.

Proverbs 3:27-28

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, “Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.”

There are a lot of insightful verses in this chapter. I am currently looking for advice on how I can reach out to those around me. There seems to be a “movement” in the church right now towards outreach; towards providing for people’s needs, not only spiritual needs, but, physical and emotional needs as well.

When I read through the Bible with that slant, it’s amazing how many passages discuss reaching out to people. Since I wasn’t really looking for them before, it must have been easier to miss them.

If proverbs is teaching about common sense, wisdom, knowledge and understanding; how to live a fulfilled and meaningful life, I guess it makes sense that it would talk about outreach. In my own life, the term outreach is growing in context from writing a check or putting money in a salvation army bucket at Christmas time to include actions, time, words and feeling.

This verse is pretty inclusive. Don;t withhold good. “Good” is a pretty all-inclusive word, and in addition to buying someone a piece of bread right before they die of starvation, it may also mean taking someone out to lunch and getting to know some of the struggles in their life more deeply. It might mean taking time to help someone with chores or work around their house that they may not be able to do themselves. It might mean being patient with a coworker or member of your family when they are pushing all your buttons at once. It might mean a letter, or an email with the right thoughts at the right time. It might be cooking dinner, washing the dishes, or a million other, seemingly trivial things.

It is easy for me to get caught up in the mode where I have to be doing great and wonderful, huge amazing things to help people, or nothing at all. If I’m not flying half-way across the world, breaking down brothel walls, beating up pimps and freeing children from slavery then I get a free pass on the rest of my life where I can ignore the needs of people around me, close to where I live. I have to open my eyes and see the need of everyone around me, everyone that God has placed in my path.

I remember the book title, “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff.” I understand where that book was coming from, not worrying, etc. But I think if God were to write a similar book about outreach it might be called, “Don’t sweat the big stuff, the small stuff is more important to me. — Let me worry about the big stuff.” “Small things” make relationships better, or tear them apart.”Small things” make people feel valued, or rejected. “Small things” make the world go around. I am excited to serve a God who cares so much about the “Small things” in life.

Proverbs 2:20

Follow the steps of good men instead, and stay on the paths of the righteous.

This is a powerful verse, and has characterized so much of my parenting. Will Smith hosted the “Kids Choice Awards” on Nickelodeon a few years back, and when he accepted his award, he had some wise words to say. He told the kids, “You are who you hang out with” so he encouraged them to choose the right friends, because you become your close friends.

As a parent, I am very concerned about my kids friends. Ever since my first child was born, I have prayed for their future friends (and boyfriends, girlfriends). The older kids get, the more influence their friends will have on them, their choices, their beliefs, what is important to them, and the less influence me and Vicky will have on them as parents.

We have made a conscious effort to encourage the close friendships we want to see flourish, and discourage the ones that will lead to problems. To do that effectively, we have had to get to know their friends well, and take time to develop friendships with their friends as well. God has been faithful and has provided some wonderful friends for our kids. It is an ongoing process, and as my older kids prepare for college, and as my younger kids prepare for high school and junior high, I know there is much more prayer and hanging out for me and Vicky to do as parents.

As easy as it is for me to apply this principle to my kids, I have found it difficult to apply to myself. I hang out with my family, the people at work, and to a much lesser extent, people in my small group. I really have no intentional friendships based on “who I would like to become.” One of the reasons I shy away from this is I really dislike “transactional friendships.” I don’t like when people seek friendship with me, or those close to me based mainly on what the other person hopes to get out of the relationship; and I never want to be that way myself.

Another big reason is time. I don’t have time to develop relationships outside of home and work. Of course, there are not many people I run into outside of home and work that I could forge a friendship with, even if I wanted to and had the time. I have been praying lately, for me and my family, that God brings a positive, mentoring relationship into each of our lives, and that, God also brings people into our lives that we can mentor.

If I seek to be mentored by others, I have to be willing to be a mentor to others as well. I used to think of that as being prideful; but, the truth is, there are always people that I could help, that I have more experience than in a certain area, and there are always people that can help me.

I need to have keen perception to tell the difference between relationships that will be positive and relationships that will be destructive. In eagerness to be mentored, and to mentor, I must have a great deal of discernment. In a life where time is precious and there is more than enough suffering going on, I don;t need to add to it by connecting with the wrong people. So, I will continue to look for those mentoring relationship opportunities, and I hope I have the discernment and the will to follow through.

Philippians 3:13-14

but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on…

Why would Paul want to forget the past?

One of the great things about Paul is that he is real. He is transparent. He speaks the truth about his life, his actions, his sin. In Romans 7:24 Paul remarks what a wretched, miserable man he is, because he continues to take the wrong path, and do the wrong things, even when he knows better, and desires to do the right thing.

That sounds a lot like me. From that angle, I can understand why he would want to forget the past. But he must have done some good things also? Paul had many successes in his past up to this point. He had influenced thousands of people for good, and had mentored and trained up several of his closest friends. Why would he want to forget that?

C.S. Lewis  wrote a very insightful book titled “Th Screwtape Letters.” This book addresses the world of demons, and there is an older demon, named Wormword, in a leadership position on Satan’s team, that is counseling his younger nephew demon in the ways of evil. One of the things Wormwood says to his nephew is that he should strive to make human beings focus on the past, or the future, never the present. If they focus on the present, he lamented, they could possibly serve God and accomplish his purposes.

It is so easy to focus on the past, either your mistakes, or, even the “glory days” as Bruce Springsteen put it to song. Either way, focus on the past is really not productive and can rob you of the present. Worry about the future, or striving for some future success, power, position or money can also rob you of the present. I really only have today, right now, to love and influence those around me. Like the sign pained on Joe’s Crab Shack says, “Free crab tomorrow.” The joke is, tomorrow never comes. It is always today.

That is not to say I shouldn’t plan for the future, but I should focus a great deal of my attention on the present. I should seek and take advantage of all the present opportunities I have to love and influence those around me.

Philppians 2:3-4

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

This is really Christianity 101, and at the heart of what I think it means to be a Christ-follower. At the end of each day, when I look back on my day, most of my regrets fall into the category of being selfish, and most of the things that gave me joy during the day were opportunities I had to lift others up. It is so easy for me to be prideful and selfish. I wish I could tattoo these verses to the inside of my eyelids so I could read them every time I blinked.

I have so many opportunities, every hour of every day, to put others interests before my own, and to think of others as better than myself. Unfortunately, I miss many more of these opportunities that I take advantage of. Sometimes I miss them because I am too focused on other things to see them, and sometimes it is because I am too focused on myself to see them. In either case, I really need to pray that I may be sensitive to all the small opportunities to put others first, in my ordinary days.

It is easy for me to fall into the trap of thinking that putting others first has to be a big, monumentous occasion. Some huge act of generosity, rescuing someone from a burning building, etc. The reality is, the most important opportunities are every day, “small” things that would be easy to miss if I wasn’t paying attention, but very impactful if acted upon. Sometimes it is the small things in life that really matter, and really add up over time, positive or negative.

Proverbs 1:18-19

But these people set an ambush for themselves; they are trying to get themselves killed. Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money; it robs them of life.

When our family hears in the news about a marriage that is having problems or has gone bad, I use it as an opportunity to ask my kids, “If this couple knew how it was going to end, do you think that would have gotten married in the first place?” I want to illustrate the point with my kids that it is easy to put yourself in a very bad situation down the road without even realizing it.

It sounds ridiculous that anyone would set an ambush for themselves. Most thinking people would never do that intentionally, so that tells me that it is relatively easy to put yourself in a bad spot UNINTENTIONALLY. So, how do you know?

I have heard words of wisdom from many people who have had their marriages go really bad in the end. Most of them say, in one way or another, that there were signs when they were dating, before they were married, that there was a risk of things going wrong. Most of these people chose to overlook, or ignore those warning signs. Of course, hindsight is 20-20 and it is always easier to see these warning signs when looking back at them.

That is why I need to be very attentive now for these warning signs. How can I make sure I am not setting an ambush for myself? For me, greed would most likely manifest itself at work. Is greed for money, success and/or power driving me at work? Right now I am going through a time at my job where I am working much more than 40 hour weeks. I feel like it is only for a season, and that it is necessary to take advantage of some opportunities that will disappear without some investment now. I think, for now, that it is in my best interest, and my families best interest, for me to be working long hours right now. How do I know for sure I won’t look back at this time and regret it?

I really need to find trusted, like-minded advisers outside of my work and family that can offer independent advice on these kinds fo things. I need to invest in some meaningful relationships with those outside work and my immediate circle so I have some accountability. This is something that I have been praying for regularly now. Of course, prayer can be a benefit in this area as well. In Ps 26:1-3, David asks God, Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind. I am in desperate need of wise counsel for God in these areas. I need to have my heart and mind tested and examined when it comes to these things. I need to check my motives and intents. Only God can see clearly into my heart to make these things known, and I need to be asking specifically for this kind of help.

One last thing, I heard a well-known pastor, Andy Stanley, speak at a world-renowned leadership conference. His talk was entitled, “The Best Leadership Decision I Ever Made.” I think many people were surprised to hear that the best leadership decision he ever made was to prioritize his family above work, and work no more than 45 hours a week, and leave work at 4:00PM every day, no matter what. It was a powerful, convicting message. Easier said than done I think, but, God would certainly honor any effort in this area.

Philippians 1:9-11

So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

I really like this version from The Message translation. The word Love is heard in many different contexts and has many different meanings. When my 16 year old daughter’s friend says she loves Justin Timberlake, I can be certain that she is speaking of a different kind of love than I share between me and my wife, or the love I have for my children, or the love I feel for the children and people I have gotten to know in under-resourced areas of the Philippines.

Paul is very specific. He wants my love to flourish, which means to prosper, or to thrive. Paul speaks of love that is sincere and intelligent. Only a guy could combine the words intelligent and love into the same phrase. If love puts the needs of others ahead of the needs of myself, intelligent becomes a pretty cool description. I am to think hard about how I can meet the needs of others. I need to be smart about it. I can’t give up at the first sign of trouble.

Living a circumspect and exemplary life. From dictionary.com: circumspect -> watchful, cautious, prudent; and exemplary -> worthy of imitation; commendable; serving as an illustration. Watchful means I should be diligent in anticipating and discovering the needs of others. Worthy of imitation. When people think of loving others, and loving unconditionally, would they really say, or think that Bob Clinkert is a great example of someone who lives a life of consistent loving? I don’t think so; but what an admirable goal to have that said about your life.

A life Jesus would be proud of, bountiful in fruit, making Jesus attractive to all. Am I living an hour to hour, minute to minute life that Jesus can be proud of? Maybe I have some moments, but they are too few, and too far between. Is the fruit, or output of my life so full of grace and love, and so obviously coming from a life of folowing Jesus, that my life is making Jesus attractive to other people? 

When the world rejects Jesus, when the world rejects God’s way of doing things, I have to take responsibility for my share of the problem. If the people around me are not attracted to the life and person of Jesus, then it is partially my fault, and it is my responsibility to do something about it. I am responsible to change the way I live my life so that it is an example to others, and it does make Jesus attractive, and proud.

Proverbs 1:7

Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

This is a common verse, and one of the first things I think about when I read this verse is “fear.” I am “old-school”, and part of growing up when I did included having a deep respect, and “fear” even of those in authority over me. Parents, teachers, bosses, policeman, government officials, etc. When I am around high ranking people, I get nervous and exhibit many of the same characteristics of fear. A healthy “fear” of authority is good. I should fear and respect those in authority, and if I don’t, my pride is probably out of whack.

In addition to just the fear aspect of respect, there is another aspect I found from dictionary.com: fear -> reverential awe; reverence -> respect; respect -> “deference to someone considered to have certain rights or privileges”; deference -> “respectful yielding to the judgment, opinion, will, etc., of another.” That definition adds a great deal of insight into this verse.

The yielding of myself to the will and opinion of God is the foundation of true knowledge.  God’s will and opinion are revealed in the words of the Bible, in prayer, journalling, community with other Christ-followers, etc. So, the foundation of true knowledge is seeking God’s will AND opinion for my life in the various ways HE reveals them. I can understand that. Hopefully I can do it too.