Identity

Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 1:14)

Have you ever thought I just need to generate more faith?

I know I have.

But here’s the deal. Faith isn’t something you can increase on your own, it’s a gift from God.

When a man brought his son to Jesus and asked for him to be healed, Jesus asked if he truly believed in his heart that what he was asking for could be done. In other words, did he have faith?

And how did the man respond?

Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

This man had heard about Jesus healing others, so he believed in his head what he was asking for could be done.

But that isn’t faith…it’s knowledge.

Faith is when your belief moves from your head into your heart.

For this man, faith came the moment he believed the healing he had seen Jesus offer to others was available to him as well. And in order to believe that, He needed Jesus to help Him overcome his unbelief.

Did Jesus respond to this man’s request with a list of things for him to do to increase his faith? Not at all. Jesus healed the man’s son, proving His faithfulness in spite of the man’s unbelief.

Jesus knew that only His faithfulness would increase the man’s faith. 

Every time you choose to trust Jesus, He will come through for you. Always. And the more He proves to be faithful, the more your faith will increase. Looking at it that way, it’s easy to see how faith is not something you generate on your own, it’s the result of Jesus coming through for you 100% of the time.

 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus
(1 Thessalonians 5:18).

What words stand out the most to you in this verse?

Thankful?

God’s will?

What about the one word most of us tend to miss: all.

Because you are in Christ, you can be thankful in all circumstances.

Sure, it’s easy to be thankful for the good things that come along in life:

• You landed a new job. Thank God for that!
• The doctor just told you the cancer is gone. Thank you Jesus!

But what about the hard things?

• You just got fired…
• Your teenage son got his girlfriend pregnant…
• Your wife served you divorce papers…

Crickets.

But as much as we want to ignore it, that one little word is still there.

Be thankful in all circumstances…the good ones…and the bad ones.

But how in the world can God expect us to be thankful when crap hits the fan in our lives?

Because He will make all things work together for your good.

When you trust that God really can (and will) use all things—even the bad things—to bring you to a better place, it gives you hope, increases your faith, and allows you to respond with thankfulness.

Yes, it sucks that my addiction resulted in the end of my marriage. But God used that bomb in my life to bring me face-to-face with my own brokenness. The pain of my divorce, along with the realization that my sin had caused it, was what finally allowed me to recognize my need for a Savior.

If it weren’t for that “bad situation,” I don’t think I would know Jesus today in the way that I do. I would still be looking at porn, hurting my former wife, and desperately trying to control my life.

As crazy as it seems, I am thankful for the path my life has taken me—even for my divorce.

So the next time something bad happens in your life, remember that God has promised to make good come from it. You may not know how right away. You might not even get the answer this side of Heaven. But God has promised you that He will. So if nothing else, you can thankful for the fact that God will always keep His promises.

For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. (1 Thessalonians 4:14)

What if I told you zombies were real?

Now, don’t go running off to buy a chainsaw or a shotgun just yet. This verse doesn’t mean you need to worry about brain-eating zombies crawling out of their graves and chasing you into a pub.

In order for us to understand what’s really going on here, we need to look at the broader context of this passage:

We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18).

When we read this passage in context, we can see that Paul isn’t talking about the dead coming back to steal life away from those who are still living (zombies); he is talking about Christ coming back to restore life to those who are already physically dead (resurrection)!

You see, the early believers in Thessalonica were concerned that anyone who believed in Christ but died before His return would miss out on the resurrection and eternal life. Which is why Paul encourages them to rest in the truth of what God has promised us will happen when Christ returns:

• Those who have died after trusting in Christ will be resurrected first.
• Living believers will follow closely behind.
• All believers will be reunited with their loved ones.
• All who are in Christ will be reunited with God!

So yes, my friend, the dead will rise. But they won’t be zombies, they will be resurrected children of God!

So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority (Colossians 2:10).

I can remember sensing something missing in my life as far back as my early teen years. As I grew older and my hormones began to take over, I started to believe that missing piece could be found in relationships.

All I needed to do was find a girlfriend and then I would be happy and my life would be complete.

Somehow, I finally convinced a girl to date me around my sophomore year of high school. I’d developed an interest in girls long before that of course, but all my previous attempts at charming them had failed miserably.

But now that I had a girlfriend, why did the hole remain?

Surely it must have been her inability to meet the need—or so I believed.

Inevitably, we broke up and I began my decade-long cycle of moving from relationship to relationship, hoping to find the right girl who would fill that void and complete me.

But no girl ever did, because no human relationship could ever fill the hole in my soul.

Yes, relationships are important. They can be a source of happiness, joy, and love in your life. But they can’t—and won’t—complete you.

Only Christ can truly complete you and make you whole. And the best part is, if you are in Christ, He already has.

When you were united with Christ, He filled that hole in your heart. Which means you don’t have to keep searching for the missing piece to your puzzle. You can finally be done with looking for the right person, the perfect job, or whatever else you are currently believing will fill the void and make your life complete.

You already are complete, because Christ has made you complete!

Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:7)

Jesus once told a story about a farmer who was planting seeds. Some of the seeds fell on the hard path and were quickly eaten by birds. Some fell on shallow soil and appeared to grow just fine, but as soon as the hot sun came out they withered and died. A few of the seeds fell into the thorns and were choked out by the more aggressive plants.

Wow. Thanks for the bummer story Jesus.

Yes, if the story had stopped there, it would be a total downer. Thankfully though, the story doesn’t stop there.

Jesus tells us about a fourth group of seeds that landed in good soil. Fertile, life-giving soil, full of nutrients and moist with the water of life. These seeds not only grew, they produced crops that were up to 100-times more than what was planted!

What we often fail to realize though, is this story isn’t really about how to plant seeds. It’s about the condition of your heart.

Or, more specifically, has your heart been tilled and softened to receive the message of God’s grace?

The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted! (Matthew 13:23)

The moment you put your faith in Christ, the soil of your heart was transformed into good soil because of His presence within you! Which means you already have everything you need to establish deep roots into the water of life. Not because you’re a special seed (sorry), but because your roots are planted in special soil.

And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory (Colossians 1:27).

Want to know the secret to never doubting your salvation?

It’s simple: The presence of Jesus living within you gives you assurance of sharing in God’s eternal glory. This means your salvation doesn’t depend on anything you do, or anything you don’t do. It’s all because of what Jesus has done for you.

This is great news because it means you can’t screw it up!

In order to fully grasp what this means though, we should look at the complete definition of assurance:

as·sur·ance [uh-shur-uhns]
noun
1. a positive declaration intended to give confidence.
2. promise or pledge; guaranty; surety.
3. full confidence; freedom from doubt; certainty.

The presence of Christ within you gives you confidence that your eternity will be spent living in glory. It’s a promise from God, guaranteed to never change, setting you free from any doubt or uncertainty regarding your salvation!

As long as you’re looking at salvation as a reward for you being a good person, you will always question whether you’re good enough. If, however, you trust the work of Jesus to earn salvation for you, you can have confident assurance of eternal life in Heaven.

This is why it’s so important to understand that your salvation is all about Jesus doing for you what you could never do for yourself.

He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins (Colossians 1:13-14).

There’s a recurring theme you may have noticed in many of the stories and movies we’ve grown up with. It’s the idea that life appears to be wonderful and happy, and then one day the character’s eyes are opened to an evil they’ve never noticed before.

We see this theme in the Lord of the Rings when the Hobbits go about their laid-back lives in the Shire completely unaware of the growing darkness surrounding them.

It’s the central element of most fairy tales: an innocent child/princess/critter finds themselves mixed up with an evil witch/wolf/giant and then suddenly singing sonnets with birds and squirrels has to take a back seat to survival.

We even see this theme in the great twentieth-century cinematic masterpiece, Dumb and Dumber, when Harry and Lloyd set off on a happy-go-lucky cross-country adventure completely oblivious that they’ve become wrapped up in a criminal hostage situation.

Inevitably, these stories all end with a triumphant rescue. Sauron and his armies are defeated and peace is restored when the true king returns to his throne. Snow White is awoken from her poison-induced slumber by the prince. The FBI shows up to arrest the bad guys just as Harry and Lloyd are about to be shot. Darkness is overcome, life can return to the way it should be, and the Hobbits can go back to eating second breakfast in peace.

Like most themes we see repeated throughout popular stories, this one appears so frequently because it speaks to what we all know on some level to be true: There is darkness in this world, and we need to be rescued from it.

Everywhere you look today you see pain and suffering. If you need a reminder of this fact, just turn on the evening news. It’s not hard to recognize how this world we live in truly is a kingdom of darkness. But it’s also important to realize that this world is not what you and I were created for. We were created to be with our God “in the Kingdom of His dear Son.” According to the apostle Paul, God has already rescued us from the kingdom darkness. He purchased our freedom and forgave our sins through the work of Jesus, clearing the way for us to be transferred to God’s Kingdom—the Kingdom we were created for.

I believe this transfer is one of the reasons the darkness in this world continues to break our hearts so deeply. Now that we are no longer part of that system, we have the ability to stand back and see it for what it truly is. This clarity of perspective has opened our eyes to the true source of the darkness—sin—and made us aware of how many people are still trapped by it. Knowing, however, that our eternity is secure in the Kingdom of God’s dear Son, we now have the freedom to be courageous as we aid in God’s continued rescue of those who remain lost. We may still be scarred by the darkness in this world, but it will never again enslave us. We, my friends, have been set free from that kingdom.

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

Isn’t it fun to daydream about what you would do if you won the lottery?

Every time I drive by one of those billboards advertising the current multi-million-dollar jackpot, I definitely give it some thought. I’d like to think that I’d give most of the money away and use it to bless others, but I know I’d spend at least some of it on myself. For example, I’d sign up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, I’d order an Electric DeLorean, and I’d buy the giant marquee sign from the Kuhn Theater in Lebanon, Oregon (after all, that is my last name).

Do you realize though, that the moment you trusted Christ you already won the lottery? Actually, what you received far exceeds any earthly payout of riches, because your riches in Christ are all based in heaven. Unlike the riches of this life that will rot away (I can’t take my DeLorean to heaven, for example), these riches are eternal.

God has promised that His riches will meet all of your needs—every last one of them. If you trust God to keep His word in this area and allow that truth to penetrate your heart, it will save you untold amounts of worrying.

Now, I’m not saying God is a big slot-machine who wants to make you rich and famous. His promise is to meet your needs, not your wants. I wish the Bible promised me a DeLorean, but I just can’t find that verse in there no matter how hard I try. Probably because I don’t actually need a DeLorean. In fact, earthly riches can be quite effective at keeping you distracted from what you truly do need. Just ask the rich man from the Lazarus parable.

What I truly need—what we all need—is Jesus.

And if that need isn’t met, nothing else matters.

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).

I used to be a distance runner…at least until my knees blew up.

Whenever I felt like stopping before I reached the end of a run, I’d think about this verse and  push forward. After all, the verse says that I can everything, surely that must mean I can finish a ten-mile run.

If you approach the verse with that logic though, it can get a bit silly.

• If a ten-mile run qualifies, wouldn’t a 1000-mile run also fall under the category of everything?
• Does the power of Christ within my skinny, 170-pound body empower me to be an NFL lineman?
• Can I join the professional bull riders’ circuit with no prior experience?

See what I mean? Silly.

When you read this verse in context though, you realize that the Apostle Paul is actually talking about enduring the difficulties that can come from following Christ. He’s telling us that we can trust God to give us the strength to handle everything He calls us to do—even when faced with opposition.

No, the power of Christ within you probably won’t enable you to bench press a Buick, but it will enable you to offer love to your enemies

…to forgive those who persecute you

…to give joyfully and sacrificially

…to trust God with your entire life.

After all, none of us are capable of doing any of those things on our own.

But remember, God never expected you to do them on your own. He intends for you to do them by trusting the power of Christ, which you were given the moment you believed.

 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. (Philippians 3:20)

I’ve been fascinated with Arnold Schwarzenegger since I first watched him star in all those cheesy 80s action movies. His entire life story, from coming to America as a bodybuilder to becoming governor of California, sounds as if it had been written by Hollywood screenwriters. It seems like everything he ever wanted to experience he found a way to make happen—no matter how grandiose it seemed at the time.

Needless to say, when his autobiography, Total Recall, came out I was super excited to read it. One of the things that fascinated me the most in his story was how meaningful it was for him to finally gain US citizenship:

“As long as I live, I will never forget that day 21 years ago when I raised my hand and took the oath of citizenship. Do you know how proud I was? I was so proud that I walked around with an American flag around my shoulders all day long.”

Arnold had won the Mr. Olympia competition a record-setting seven times, starred in major blockbuster movies, and built a fortune as a real-estate mogul. Yet even with all of those experiences, one of the proudest moments of his life was the day he finally became a citizen of the United States of America.

For someone like me who was born in America, I don’t spend a lot of time considering what my citizenship means for me. I’ve been entitled to all the rights, privileges, and benefits that come from being an American my entire life. I’ve never known any other way. For someone like Arnold however, they’ve experienced what it’s like to be on the outside looking in. They’ve known what it’s like to live in other countries—for better or worse, or to live within the United States as a non-resident.

The moment someone gains US citizenship, they instantly receive all the rights that come with that. In Arnold’s case, he now could vote in US elections, receive access to public benefits, and hold certain government jobs (such as governor). In addition, any children he had as a US citizen (or any children he adopted from a foreign country) would be considered full US citizens as well.

In the same way, the moment you put your faith in Christ, God adopts you as His child. You become a citizen of heaven, instantly receiving all the rights, privileges, and benefits that come with it. Your earthly citizenship may still be in America, France, Nigeria, or some other country, but your eternal citizenship will forever be in God’s Kingdom.

On that day when you finally reach the gates of heaven, God will look at your passport, see that Jesus has already stamped it, and say to you “Welcome home, child.”