Holy Discontent

A few years ago I read the book “Holy Discontent” by Bill Hybels. In the book he talks about having a “Popeye” moment. If you’ve ever seen an episode of Popeye there was always that moment where Popeye gets angry and says: “I stands all I can stands and I can’t stands no more.” This was usually followed by Popeye downing a can of spinach and kicking someone’s behind.

What Hybels is talking about isn’t the behind kicking so much as that moment when you know you’re being called to do something. He goes on to talk about this moment inciting a vision in you that aspires you to accomplish something great. Hybels believes that this is holy discontent, or the Holy Spirit working inside you telling you to get up and do something.

Lately I’ve been getting this feeling. I don’t yet have a vision, but I’m just getting that itch that there’s something out there that God is calling me to do. Basically it’s more of I’m either not where I’m supposed to be or I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I don’t quite know what that is as of yet, but I know it’s there. So all I can do now is just pray, wait and trust that God will show me.

In the meantime I’m not just sitting idly by. I’m trying to let God use me in the places I find myself. I’m trying to make myself more available to God’s will and His leading. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure I’ve been doing that up to this point. I think because of a lot of what I’ve been through over the past few years that there’s still a lot of self doubt there. It’s in the back of my mind telling me I’m not good enough or I’m too damaged. Old guilt dies hard sometimes.

This past Sunday I quoted parts of Romans 5 in my sermon. During my preparation time there was one verse that stood out above all the others from the second part of verse 20 which reads: “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more”.

I love this verse and the thought of it. As our sin increases…so does God’s grace. No matter how great our sin, God’s grace will always be greater. You are never beyond the grace of God! This is good news for all of us. Despite the mistakes we’ve made and the guilt that might haunt us, God’s grace is always there to wipe the slate clean.

So, that holy discontent I feel, can’t be silenced by my past. It’s God’s way of saying, I’m not done with you yet. And as the saying goes “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”

Peer Pressure

In case you missed it, this past week Karen Klein, a school bus monitor in New York was verbally abused by a group of students while riding aboard the school bus. A video of the act has appeared on Youtube and has sparked outrage. The youth and their families have received death threats and over half a million dollars has been donated to a fund created to help Klein take a vacation. The students have apologized and Klein has said she doesn’t want the students punished (although with the publicity surrounding it this is highly unlikely). When asked about why they did it, some of the students have cited peer pressure and going along with the others.

What saddens me about this case is that this is unfortunately becoming the norm. People are caving in to peer pressure instead of standing up for what is right (the case of Jerry Sandusky who was just found guilty today is another glaring instance where people didn’t step up and do enough).

The truth of the matter is that too often people are giving in and not doing what is right. I will be the first to admit that there have been times in my life that I’ve let others influence me and the decisions I’ve made. The problem is, it’s hard to come back from some decisions once they’ve been made. And while you can blame peer pressure, temptation or weakness, the truth of the matter is the decision is still yours to make and no one can force you to do anything you’re not at least a little willing to do.

I came across this link to Scriptures that talk about peer pressure but wanted to share one with you here. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says that “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Everyone has moments of weakness, but we are ultimately in control of our own choices. We can choose to do the right thing or go along with what we know to be wrong. The choice is ours.

True Love

With February rapidly approaching the thoughts of many are turning towards Valentine’s Day so I thought I’d share a few Valentine’s Day statistics with you:

-85% of all Valentine cards are bought by women.

-73% of flowers are bought by men, and only 27% are by women.

-Chocolate and candy sales reach profits of $1,011 billion during Valentines.

-Approximately one in four Americans do not celebrate the holiday at all. In addition, 15% of American women (and even men) send flowers to themselves on Valentine’s Day.

Hopefully you’re not one of the 15% who sent flowers to yourself, but from what I can tell people have a love/hate relationship with Valentine’s Day. It’s a holiday built around love, which is probably one of the most wonderful, confusing, frustrating and rewarding feelings we experience as human beings. We use the word a love great deal in a variety of ways. Some of us use it quite frequently, while others use it hardly at all.

If we look to the Bible we’ll easily see why love is so confusing to us. In the Greek there are four words to describe what we often use one word for in the English language: agápe, éros, philia and storge.

Philia is a word from the modern Greek language that simply means “friendship”. It’s the word that we’d most commonly use when we tell our friends that we love them, although a couple of other forms could be used in certain circumstances. It’s probably the most freely used as we tell someone we appreciate we love them even though the feelings are strictly platonic.

Éros, on the other hand, is the word we’d most often hear young lovers tell one another. It means “passionate love, with sensual desire and longing”. It’s the kind of love that is built more on sexual desire than what we’d consider love. It’s also the kind of love that fades the fastest once the newness of a relationship is over or the desire fades.

Storge is from both the modern and ancient Greek and means “affection”. This would probably be the form of love we would use to describe how we feel about a relative or close friend. Most likely this type of love would conjure up sentimental feelings for the other person say like for even a teacher or coach who was influential in a person’s life.

The finale form of love is agápe. This type of love is what we would consider to be “true love”. It’s love without condition freely given without expecting anything in return.

Is there any wonder why we’re so confused about the concept of love?

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 describes what agápe love is supposed to be about:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

This kind of love is the kind of love that you see glamorized in fairy tales and movies. However, in reality it can often feel like it doesn’t truly exist. The truth of the matter is that while it is rare, it does indeed exist. The problem is we often confuse ourselves with the other types of love or we too quickly settle for less than this type of love.

If you”re not currently in a relationship this Valentine’s Day, how about finding ways to express your love and appreciation for the other people in your life? Try and find ways to let them know how much they mean to you and much you care for them. Just remember, it’s okay to tell God you love Him too!