For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness

Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble. – Hebrews 12:10-12

Lately it seems as though God is really working on my heart in a lot of areas.  He’s working on my heart to convict me to have a strong yearning for prayer and time spent with Him.  He’s working on my heart to have a compassionate spirit towards every one I come in contact with.  And He’s working on my heart through many people I love and trust to make me a better leader.

Yesterday, I was gently challenged in how I could improve some areas of ministry to make things better.  To be honest, I’m not quite used to that yet, although I’m very grateful.  In previous ministry experiences I was used to being free to do what I needed to do and then only being challenged about something after the negative consequences had already happened.  If I would have been gently disciplined in these areas before certain things happened, I think those consequences would have turned out much differently!

So, how do you accept criticism, especially criticism that is constructive and meant for your benefit?  Do you get angry and try to justify what you’re doing, or do you say, “Thanks so much for caring enough about me to prevent negative consequences and to direct me towards many more positive ones!”

Take some time today and thank God for the discipline He’s doing in your life, either through His Word or through other people.

A verse that keeps on coming into my head is Psalm 86:11:

Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

That’s the ESV version; the NIV says “give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.”

It’s an interesting concept that one thing needs to be united.  Usually the only way you can unite something to become one is if there are actually two somethings!  But our hearts tend to be in two places, don’t they?  We are constantly fighting to get rid of our old nature and fighting to let the new nature prevail in us.  What a great prayer to pray when we are struggling at work, fighting back negative emotions in our family, or struggling with any type of sin, “God, unite my heart to fear your name!”

A blog I’ve discovered recently has a great post on this very thing.  One of the things that struck me was this:

Our loyalties as Christians should never be really divided.  Being involved in worship should go hand in hand with evangelism in the secular work force.

What a good reminder!  And also:

So, as I walk throught  this week, dreading my job every morning, I need to shift my attitudes: worship must occur every day, and although  I am not having the fun of leading worship in song, I can have the joy of leading unbelieving  souls in worship to the Christ that they must know for eternal satisfaction.

Thanks, Milestone Worship, for reminding us how to be an offering.

The more I study the subject of worship within the Bible and how God made things right through Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross the more I am completely blown away at how it all works. I am blown away at the privilege we get now to actually be the sacrifices that God now desires; living sacrfices. (Romans 12:1)

But what happens when we fail? And fail we do. Over and over and over. We are called to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God” (Hebrews 13:15) to present our bodies as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) and to “offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5) But how do we succeed in the task of doing these things we have been called to?

The simple answer is this: we can’t succeed. It is hopless for us. No matter how hard we try, we won’t make it. The longer answer and the one that gives us victory is found in that small phrase in 1 Peter 2:5 that we might skip over sometimes: “acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

If you are feeling like your offering isn’t good enough, you’re right! But the comfort comes in this. Because of the Blood of Jesus Christ, our sinful offering becomes not only acceptable but perfected before God! Perfected! Hebrews 10:14 says,

For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”

Yes, our lives are sinful and will never measure up to God’s standard, but because of Jesus’ perfect blood becoming the perfect sacrifice for us, He now perfects all of our sacrifices that we are called to make to God! What victory that brings us! Does this give us license to sin and just take for granted that perfect sacrifice? Absolutely not. The rest of Hebrews 10 gives some strong warnings against this. But we have the confidence and ability to know that when we do fail in the midst of pursuing holy lives, Jesus is always there for us before the Father, pleading for us to the Father that His blood makes us completely and absolutely clean.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on “How to Be an Offering” and, since that is the theme of this blog, I thought I’d catch up a bit! While the past ones have been all focused on Scripture passages (which I will continue to do) I wanted to just share some thoughts on simple ways that you can be an offering with your time.

I’ve been thinking about my roles in life a lot lately. Follower of Jesus, Husband, Father, Graphic Designer, Worship Leader. While our lives are ultimately to be offered to God in worship daily, we are also to serve others and offer our lives in each role we are in. How could fifteen minutes a day serve others that come in contact with your given role? I’ll list mine:

• Follower of Jesus – fifteen minutes a day of mediating on God’s Word (I would suggest much more than that, which I’m still working on, but fifteen minutes is a good starting point)
• Husband – fifteen minutes a day of small housework items. Christine has just gone back to work after maternity leave and is exhausted. If I spend fifteen minutes a day doing easy work, her stress load lightens exponentially. She can spend time with our daughter at night instead of seeing messes around the house.
• Father – fifteen minutes a day praying for my daughter. (Again, this could and should be way more, but I’d rather pray for her fifteen minutes out of my day than no minutes at all!)
• Graphic Designer – fifteen minutes a day going through a tutorial and learning new techniques. I always want to learn how to better my skills.
• Worship Leader – My fifteen minutes in God’s Word already impacted this one, as a worship leader should be first and foremost a student of God’s Word, then a musician. Fifteen minutes a day practicing my instrument(s). Now, granted, some of you who read this play several instruments so this could turn into 45 minutes a day. But think of the impact it will have on your confidence and skill level!

I just planned one hour and forty-five minutes of my day (I’m including fifteen minutes for three instruments). That short time will impact my roles, those who come in contact with me in those roles and my impact on God’s kingdom significantly more than an hour and forty-five minutes of many other things. How much TV does the average American watch??? I don’t even watch that much TV at all, but I know I could be spending my time doing much more beneficial things.