Low and Lifted Up

Today we see many people who promote themselves, trample on others' feelings, shoving others out of the way to get to the front of the line. Kinda like Black Friday at an electronics store. We see many who manipulate others to get their way behind the backs of innocent people. Any CEOs from Wall Street around? Some gossip and slander the good names and reputations of others, making themselves look good and the innocent persons bad. I don't want to dis lawyers, but isn't this one of their key tactics? This is personified on today's reality shows like The Apprentice, Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Bachelor, Big Brother, and the whole genre. Some cheat their way to the top. Steroids anybody? Some kill their way to the top like former Cuban Leader Fidel Castro, current North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Il, just to name a few of dozens who have done so. This is the "ME" generation we're living in. We are a society of narcissists. It's all about "ME" being high and lifted up, speeding "MY" way to prominence while bludgeoning over others. It used to be divas were women but we now have male versions too. It's a crazy self absorbed world we live in. These warped and self centered attitudes have become apparent in church through the years. All of a sudden everything has become about us and how comfortable we are and not about humility and lifting others up, even if we are uncomfortable and out side of our comfort zone. God help us!

Jesus didn't give us the example of a comfortable, me first life. He humbled Himself and became man. He washed the feet of His disciples. He gave up His will for the will of His Father, God. Nah, I don't see anything comfortable in being born in a manger where animals lived. In growing up and living in Nazareth, a low income village, a town where nobody wanted to be known for living in. A town where no one thought anything good could come from. After all He was God who became man. He could have chosen to live in Jerusalem instead, but then, how could he be acquainted with every type of person in every type of circumstance? I don't think it was very easy and comfortable knowing one of your inner core of friends was going to betray you and rob the till. How comfortable could it be when people ridiculed Him and cursed Him? It surely wasn't comfortable and easy to be whipped, beaten, punched, blindfolded, stripped naked, mocked, have your beard plucked from your face, forced to carry a cross in public, bleeding, skin bare to the bone, tripping and falling, thrown down and nailed to a cross and publicly humiliated. Yeah, that sounds pretty safe and comfortable to me.

He did it all for love. Even though He knew many would neglect Him. Many would make promises to Him and break them a thousand times over. He did it out of love even though many would choose not to believe in Him but let's them make that choice on their own. Yeah sounds pretty selfish to me.

Nah it all sounds to me like the way He taught was all about humbling ourselves in service to Him and others through actions. It's not really about us and how comfortable we feel. It's not about getting all the glory for ourselves. But if we follow His lead, He will lift us up in honor. Wouldn't it be a great experience to be lifted up and exalted by the One who loves us so much and created all things! What an awesome reality for those who follow through!

1 Peter 5:6

"So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor." -New Living Translation

We misunderstand the word humility. If we didn't get it yet by the example of Jesus, let's take a look at how E.M. Bounds defines humility, "In humility there is the total absence of pride, and it is at the very farthest distance from anything like self-conceit. There is no self-praise in humility. Rather it has the disposition to praise others. "In honor preferring one another." It is not given to self-exaltation. Humility does not love the uppermost seats and aspire to the high places. It is willing to take the lowliest seat and prefers those places where it will be unnoticed."

In other words it is not today's mantra of being high and lifted up, which is what God is, so in essence today's mantras are putting man in the place reserved only for God. Our mantra for ourselves should be "Low and Lifted Up by God," just like Jesus.

I'll end with this powerful statement also from E.M. Bounds, "God puts a great price on humility of heart."

Interview with The Shack Author

Click on the subject title: Interview with The Shack Author to read the full interview.

Porn Kills

I have just been amazed lately by the staggering numbers of people who struggle with pornography. Not just those in the secular world but even within the church.

Here's some staggering info for you:
March 20, 2007: At a men's summit in Oregon before 2,000 men, Shelley Lubben of Shelley Lubben ministries challenged those who were struggling with porn addiction to stand. 30% rose to their feet. She immediately challenged them a second time, with the result that some 70% were standing.

April 6, 2007: 70% of Christians admitted to struggling with porn in their daily lives. From a non-scientific poll taken by XXXChurch, as reported by CNN.

August 7,2006: 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography. 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust; 40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year; and 20% of the church-going female participants struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis.
From the results of a ChristiaNet poll reported by Marketwire.com

In December of 2000, the National Coalition to Protect Children and Families surveyed 5 Christian Campuses to see how the next generation of believers was doing with sexual purity:
48% of males admitted to current porn use
68% of males said they intentionally viewed a sexually explicit site at the school .

A 1996 Promise Keepers survey at one of their stadium events revealed that over 50% of the men in attendance were involved with pornography within one week of attending the event.

In 2008: Out of 81 pastors surveyed (74 males 7 female), 98% had been exposed to porn; 43% intentionally accessed a sexually explicit website.

In his book, "Men's Secret Wars", Patrick Means reveals a confidential survey of evangelical pastors and church lay leaders. Sixty-four percent of these Christian leaders confirm that they are struggling with sexual addiction or sexual compulsion including, but not limited to use of pornography, compulsive masturbation, or other secret sexual activity.

A 2007 poll showed: 34 percent of female readers of Today's Christian Woman's online newsletter admitted to intentionally accessing Internet porn in a recent poll.

In March of 2002 Rick Warren’s (author of the Purpose Driven life) Pastors.com website conducted a survey on porn use of 1351 pastors: 54% of the pastors had viewed Internet pornography within the last year, and 30% of these had visited within the last 30 days.

72 million: The approximate number of unique visitors to adult websites in 2006, per month, worldwide.
420 million: Total number of porn pages.
40 million: The number of U.S. adults who regularly visit porn websites.
Internet Filter Review

2007 Survey of divorced people: Of the 50% who get divorced in America, 70% of those marriages had one spouse who struggled with pornography at one time or another.

Please pray for those addicted, those whose marriages are torn apart by porn, those in the industry, and for those who are leaders. Pray for our nation.

Shalom,
Frank

The Thanks Tank

There's been a lot said of the marriage love tank being full, and whether or not an individual's love tank is full. For those who may not know the love tank measures just how full of love you feel and receive from others. This may include love from family, spouse, friends, God, co-workers, teachers, etc. This is a great topic and one we could go deeply into, but I'm going to put that aside for now.

Back around Thanksgiving I wrote a bit about thankfulness and I just want to address that subject again. It's something we all tend to run short on from time to time. Just as we have a love tank we also have a thanks tank. Only this tank measures what goes out and not what we receive from others. This tank wells up from the attitude of the heart.

How is your thanks tank doing? Is it empty? Is it full? Is it somewhere in between?

There are so many things for which I am thankful to God for. I am alive today. I have good health, I am saved by the grace of God. I am filled with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. God loves me. Jesus loves me. All my prayers have been and are being answered. My church family loves me and receives me. My wife loves me and she is faithful. She's my hero!! I am thankful for being able to read the Bible any time I want in several different translations. I am thankful for the spiritual gifts God has given me. I am thankful for God using my gifts. I am thankful for toilet paper. Not every country has it. I am thankful that I live in the United States according to the providence of God. I am thankful that I am not in any financial debt. I am able to pay my bills. My name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. All my sins are washed away. There are angels all around me. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. God's peace permeates my entire being. My life is in His hands. I am in my right mind (though some would argue). I have relatives whom I know I will see again in heaven. People laugh at my jokes. God has plans to prosper me and not to harm me. Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world! I am redeemed. I have clothes to wear. I have a family that loves me. I get along wonderfully with my In-Laws. God has protected me in many dangerous situations. He sings songs of deliverance all around me. His promises are true. He Has Never Failed Me!!! I am in love with my Heavenly Father. He knows my name. I am not forgotten. I will never be abandoned. I am thankful that He doesn't treat me as my sins so rightly deserve. Thanks for mercy Lord! God gives me things I don't deserve. Thanks for grace Lord!

These are just some of the many, many things I am thankful for. Being thankful helps us to love and appreciate those around us, especially God.

Make a list of some things you are thankful for. Fill up that thanks tank and pour it out.