Jesus gave us a principle that if we are pursuing truth we may experience freedom,

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  (John 8:31-32)

Think about people you know – what percentage of those people are experiencing freedom?  Would you say that you are experiencing freedom?  The German philosopher Goethe wrote, “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”

What does it mean to be free?  What often comes to mind is the ability to enjoy one’s personal rights and be exempt from external controls.  Eric Hoffer makes a good point that “The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.”  So what does it mean to be free?  Freedom is the ability to choose, either to do or not do something. 

Are you free to experience a life of consistent joy and peace?  Many people want to experience that type of life but they don’t know the requisite truth that enables them to experience joy and peace.  How would you respond if I asked you if you wanted to run a marathon next week (a marathon is 26.2 miles)?  Most people don’t have the freedom to say yes – if the training has not taken place they don’t have the ability.  That’s how it is in life – if we don’t know truth it can be difficult to live a life of joy and peace.

Conversely freedom is the ability to choose what not to do.  For example, imagine there is a delicious piece of cheesecake in the refrigerator - it is even calling out to you!  Do you have the freedom to say no or are you enslaved to your appetites.  I know I’ve gone from preaching to meddling but this is important.

Be encouraged that you can experience freedom in your life and it comes from knowing truth.  Don’t settle for bondage when God offers you freedom.  The Apostle Paul warned the Galatians,

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.  (Galatians 5:1)

May you experience God’s freedom in your life!

People readily agree that it is essential to know the truth so the crucial question is how do we learn about truth?   Since Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life” we can learn about truth by learning about Jesus.  The best way to learn about Jesus is by studying the Scriptures.  Jesus told the Jewish people in John 5:39,

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;

Jesus not only said the Scriptures testified about Him but in His high priestly prayer He emphasized that the Scriptures also were truth,

Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.  (John 17:17)

What does this say about the importance of the Bible?  If you want to know and be guided by the truth then you must be a student of the Bible.  But knowledge of the truth is not an end in itself – it leads to freedom,

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  (John 8:31-32)

Notice the progression: 

If you continue in God’s word

then you are His disciple

and you will know the truth

and the truth will make you free

 Where do you place yourself in this sequence?  Are you experiencing the freedom that is the rightful birthright of a child of God?  Don’t settle for less than God’s best for your life!

This is the great existential question that has plagued mankind throughout the ages.  The irony is that Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, who is the embodiment of truth,  this question but Pilate still capitualted to the crowd.

Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”  Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”  And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.”  (John 18:37-38)

How often do we lose sight of the truth and go along with the crowd?  One of my favorite descriptions of truth  is by R.C. Sproul, “truth is reality as seen from God's perspective.”  The key is seeing our world from God’s perspective.  We must realize that people are entitled to their own opinion but people are not entitled to their own truth.  If we do not believe in objective truth then people are free to do what is right in their own eyes.  Perhaps our question should be "who is truth?"  This is how Jesus described Himself in John 14:6,

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Jesus, who is God in the flesh, is the personification of truth.  We must either accept His words as true or reject him as a madman – we cannot simply accept Him as a good moral teacher and pick and choose what we want to believe.  C.S. Lewis makes the following observation,

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

What is your source of truth?  Is it following popular opinion, is it from deep within yourself, or is it from looking to God?  Our next blog post will examine the source of God’s truth.

The topic of homosexuality has captured the headlines this past week.  The dictionary defines tolerance as “a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry.”   As I listen to the current debate it seems that tolerance implies that I must accept the lifestyle of others to be considered tolerant – otherwise I’m considered a religious bigot.

It’s quite interesting that the accusation of intolerance is often from the gay rights activist toward Christians but I don’t inculpate those in favor of gay rights intolerant because they do not believe the Bible’s teaching concerning homosexuality (Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).  As Christians we are not called to hurl epithets toward those who do not agree with us but show forth the love of Christ through our words and our actions.

I thank God that He was and is patient with me in my sinfulness – how can I do any less toward others?

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.  (2 Peter 3:9)

May you respond with personal repentance and love toward others.

The title of this blog post comes from a sentence in Haruki Murakami’s book What I talk about when I talk about running.  This book is ostensibly a memoir of his experiences in running but it reveals deeper issues of everyday life. 

A runner will readily be able to identify with the lessons in this book, “Muscles are hard to get and easy to lose.  Fat is easy to get and hard to lose” (p. 50).  Murakami however, does an excellent job taking principles from running and applying them to life.  He talks about the need to focus and direct one’s energies to the task at hand.  He discusses the need for endurance especially when challenges come our way.  And he examines the truth that running involves pain but we must realize that suffering is optional.

The author chronicles that as he was getting older that he was not running as well he did in his early days.  He is about five years older than I am and I felt like I was taking a glimpse into the future.  I’m not as fast as I used to be and in the past a ten mile run was refreshing but now it is tiring.  I am discovering aches and pains that migrate around my body.  I confess that this is a struggle for me.  

As an achiever I want to do better and accomplish more.   If I train harder and work more diligently I should be able to get my 10K time down, but it’s going up – this is difficult for me to accept.  I can identify with the words of the Apostle Paul,

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.  (2 Corinthians 4:16)

I’m not as fast as I once was but we can take heart that the inner man is being renewed.  As Viktor Frankl wisely observed, “Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”  Paul continues,

For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.  (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

Perhaps you’re facing affliction in your life, remember to keep an eternal perspective.  Although pain is inevitable remember that suffering is optional – may you choose to have an eternal perspective.

This weekend the church that I attend is hosting a Priscilla Shirer Conference for women on Friday & Saturday, May 4^th and 5^th  (the conference is 7-9:30 p.m. on Friday and 9-12:30 p.m. on Saturday, tickets are $10 and can be purchased at LifeWay Christian Bookstore in Harbison or at Fellowhship Bible Church).  What a great opportunity for personal growth!

As I mentor young men a question I often ask is “Who do you think is responsible for your personal growth?”  Their initial response is to consider their external surroundings:  employer, school, church, etc.  Then I ask them “What role do you have in your personal growth?”  Ultimately you are responsible for your personal growth.  Unless you’re in a military boot camp or a contestant on “The biggest loser” people are not going to be telling you what to do for your personal growth.

The Apostle Paul realized this truth as he wrote to the Philippians,

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  (3:12-14)

Augustine wrote, “What you are must always displease you, if you would attain that which you are not.”  We are to be content with what we have but not with who we are.  The reason is we can always become more like Jesus.  What have you found to be some helpful strategies for your personal growth?

Have you ever thought about the type of people Jesus calls?  Is it people who have it all together?  Is it the sharp ones who can really make a contribution to the kingdom of God?  That’s what the Pharisees thought and that’s why they condemned Jesus for eating with tax-gatherers and sinners.  How did Jesus respond?

And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

For years I never thought I needed a physician.  I viewed religion as a crutch – until I realized I was a sinner in need of a Savior.  When I gave up my pride and realized my need for a Savior that’s when Jesus called me.  Where are you in your journey?  He’s calling – come to Him in humility and you will experience acceptance, forgiveness, and freedom from the penalty of sin:

Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”  She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more” (John 8:10-11).

Enchantment:  the art of changing hearts, minds, and actions by Guy Kawasaki is a practical book about turning an everyday business transaction into an enchanting encounter.  He describes enchantment as transforming situations into meaningful encounters, converting hostility into civility, and changing skeptics into believers.  Although this is a secular book, this sounds like the mission of the church.  Kawasaki’s former job title was the “Chief Evangelist of Apple” so you can see the connection.

The book contains basic life principles such as, “Everyone is better than you at something.”  If you really believe that statement then you see others differently and respect the contribution they can make.  Solid business principles are also presented as he provides a synopsis of a Harvard Business Review article entitled, “12 Things Good Bosses Believe”.

The book also provides a number of thought provoking quotations – here are two of my favorite ones:

Priority is a function of context – Stephen Covey

The plural of “anecdote” is not data – Ben Goldacre

Kawasaki presents a number of principles that you realize are true such as the Dopeler effect which is the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.  We have experienced this phenomena but perhaps have never considered the reasons behind our decisions.

Enchantment is not a word that we use to describe church services.  The world however, sees enchantment as something special, captivating, and exciting.  Should this not be true of the church?  We have the greatest message ever revealed – God became man in the person of Jesus Christ and He wants people to experience that truth!  When Jesus came to a gathering it was a special event,

They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  Mark 1:22

Why should Disney be known as enchanting and the church be perceived as boring?  The church should be the most captivating and encouraging place the world as ever seen.  If you want some practical tips how to relate to the world around you then you may want to check out Enchantment.

When is the last time you worried about a terrorist attack?  It’s probably been a while.  As you read this post take a moment and think about the men and women half way around the world taking a stand for freedom so that you and I may enjoy peace.  Have you ever heard of Adam Brown?  Check out this short video clip of Adam who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may live in freedom.  2 Timothy 1:7 is an apt description of his life:

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Do you know someone on the front lines?  Say a prayer for their safety and that their life may bring great honor and glory to God.

As you look at the headlines it can easy to focus on the negative in the world but don’t miss the good events that are happening.  Check out this post by Seth Godin about Caines Arcade.  It’s a short video clip and you may want to have some tissues handy near the end of the film. 

²⁴ and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵ not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.  (Hebrews 10:24-25)

How can you bring encouragement into someone’s life today?