The Ongoing Search For Wisdom

Ever since I entered my 30's, I've realized that the ongoing search for wisdom is probably one of the best uses of my time I can imagine. The book of Proverbs has been one of my favorites, because it so accurately describes everything I go through on a daily basis.

Today, I read Proverbs 18:17, which says, "The first to present his case seems right, until another comes forward and questions him."

I think about all the things I hear about people. I used to believe the things I heard. I used to believe that what people told me happened actually happened the way they describe it. If someone had a problem with another person, the incidents they would describe MUST have been how it actually happened.

That is what this Proverb is saying to avoid. How many times have I heard from one person, only to hear something totally different from someone else? In the office, in the home, in the church, I have learned the folly of believing the "first to present his case." And yet, how many relationships, how many friendships, how many homes and offices and churches have been torn apart because we simply believe what people tell us about others? What unspeakable damage, sometimes irreparable, has been done because we accept as gospel truth what one person says about another?

I have gotten to the point where I rarely believe anything I hear about someone else. This decision has served me well as a pastor, because, believe me, I hear so much about people it is unreal. So, whenever you hear something about someone else, or an incident that someone was a part of, remember this proverb: "The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him" (Proverbs 18:17) and continue with your ongoing search for wisdom.

Halfway Through 40 Days of Change

Today is day 20 of the 40 Days of Change thing that we are doing at Catalyst. It has been a great thing for me and my family, and from what I am hearing from the people at our church, it has been a great thing for them as well.

At least, for some of them. As a pastor, I would love to say that 100% of the people in our church are committing to the daily study, small groups, and challenges laid on in the 40 Days. Sadly, it's not happening. Lots of people, many more than I expected, took on the challenge. Others simply did not.

For some, it's just the fact that it's something new, and they're not into anything new. For some, they are just too busy. For some, it's too "out there"- it's just taking the faith too seriously. For others, they just don't want to.

I think about the fantastic celebration we are going to have on the 29th. It will be a huge church-wide celebration of getting through the 40 Days, of completing the challenges and having grown deeper in faith. I wonder what the people that simply opted out will celebrate? Will they have reason for joy on that day? Will they feel left out? Will they look back and say, "I wish I would have participated?"

All of a sudden, I realize that will happen on a much larger scale when Jesus returns to earth (it's the only prophecy in the Bible He hasn't fulfilled yet, although the signs are growing stronger and stronger). The people who committed to Christ, who surrendered their lives to Him, will have the celebration of their lives when Jesus appears. It will be a celebration that will put our church-wide celebration on the 29th to shame. It will be a party like no one has ever seen.

And the people who simply didn't follow Jesus? The people who didn't want a new life, who were just "too busy," who thought following Jesus was too "out there," who just didn't want to? I realize with a sad heart that no matter what I do or say, there will simply be some people, or a great number of people, who will never follow Jesus. I realize with a sad heart that the reasons people give for not committing to participating in the 40 Days of Change are the same reasons people give for not committing to Christ.

As a pastor, I want this for my congregation- to see them all grow deeper in faith, to love God with all their hearts and souls and minds and strength, and to love their neighbors as themselves. I want them to have a living, breathing relationship with Christ. The frustrating thing is that all of that is right there in front of everyone's eyes, and yet some (or most) will never take it. I wonder if Jesus gets as frustrated as I do. Actually, let me rephrase that. I wonder if I get as frustrated as Jesus does.

Beginning 40 Days of Change with the family

For a little over half my life I have been a Christian. For more than 13 years I've been a husband. For more than 10 years I've been a father.

One question has haunted me since I became a follower of Christ: What does it mean to lead a Christian family? How do I do it? I really don't know. All I can say is that I am in the process of learning- but it is one of the most important things I have been charged to do in this world.

I think I took a big step towards answering that question on Monday night. For those of you who aren't part of Catalyst, we are at the beginning of a campaign called 40 Days of Change. This is a 40-day churchwide study of spiritual disciplines like study, prayer/fasting, submission, giving, simplicity, and celebration/worship.

Monday night, my family was sitting around the dinner table eating like we always do. For some reason, I blurted out, "After dinner, everyone go get your 40 Days devotional books and your Bibles and meet me back here." I got some strange looks, but everyone agreed to it.

After the table was cleared, all of us, including Sam (my 3-year-old), sat down and did the day's devotional on the spiritual discipline of study. We were quiet for about 5 minutes (which is a rarity in the Kibler house, believe me), and then we discussed what we had learned and what we had written. We looked up Bible verses together and memorized 2 Timothy 3:16 as a family. Then we had dessert.

I marveled as I watched my family, sitting down at the table, discussing the Bible and memorizing it. I couldn't help but think that God was pleased- a family that turned off the TV at night and instead sat together and learned what His Word had to say. I listened with joy as my 8-year-old said, "This is cool! I want to do this EVERY night!"

Now I am asking God a pretty tough question. "God, are you pleased with my family?" I wonder what He would say. If my family had been around in the time of Jesus, I wonder if my home would be a place where He would have chosen to stay. One thing is for sure- I have learned two things from jumping into the 40 Days of Change. One, I have learned the joy of sitting down as a family and practicing our faith together. Two, I have realized how much this has been missing in my family.

I am thankful for the grace of God- despite my failings and shortcomings as a father and husband, my kids still think it is really cool to sit around and learn the Bible. That is definitely more to God's credit than to mine. I look forward to seeing what else God does over the next 37 days.

Oh, by the way, we did the same thing last night as well. Then we went to Brusters for ice cream. It was a great night.

Being a Christian when you're in a terrible mood and the world's coming to an end

Christians aren't always in good moods. They aren't always having a good day. That's okay. But that doesn't stop you from being a Christian. Many times, the biggest blessings we receive are when we are faithful even when we don't feel like it.

One of my favorite guys in the Bible is Peter. I can really identify with him. My favorite story in the Bible about Peter is one that starts off, well, shall we say . . . .  terrible?

Peter and his buddies were fishing all night. They caught nothing.

This wasn't an ordinary fishing trip. This was like a salesman working an entire day and making no sales. An employee working an 8-hour shift and not getting paid.

He was in a terrible mood and the world was coming to an end. Otherwise known as having a bad day.

To Peter, no fish meant no food for his family that day. It meant no fish to take to market to sell, no income for the day. He was tired, mad, grumpy, and not in the mood to hear from anyone or anybody. In Luke 5, we find him washing the nets after this fishing disaster, and Jesus was teaching the crowds right beside him. The crowds get too big, so Jesus walks uninvited onto Peter's boat and tells him to put out a little ways from shore, so he can teach the people from the boat.

Oddly enough, Peter agrees. Why he agreed I have no idea. I certainly wouldn't take orders from a stranger when in a mood like that. But he does. He sits on the boat and listens to Jesus teach the crowd. After the teaching, Jesus tells Peter to go even further out, into the deeper waters.

Oddly enough, Peter does it. Jesus tells him to put his nets down. Oddly enough, Peter does it. Verse 6 tells us that as soon as he did, he caught so many fish that his nets began to break.

I think the point of this story is that God truly wants to bless us. Jesus wanted Peter to have the huge catch of fish- He wanted Peter to be able to provide for his family, to earn an income, and to have a return for his work. However, many times, blessings are only given when people are obedient first.

Blessings follow obedience.

Let's just suppose that Peter had not agreed to let Jesus teach from his boat, or had not agreed to go out to deeper waters, or had been too tired to put his nets down. Let's just suppose Peter had let his terrible mood get the best of him and he had quit. Gone home. Not done what Jesus said.

 He would have missed the blessing that God had in store for him. I wonder, in our lives, how many blessings we have missed because we simply weren't obedient to God's call?

Have we quit on the church? Maybe, like Peter, Jesus had a huge blessing for you if you had simply accepted His invitation to Sunday morning.

Have we stayed home instead of going on mission trips because we simply didn't want to? I wonder what blessings we have missed. Have we slept in on a Sunday morning because we were tired? Maybe God wanted to bless you that morning, and you simply weren't obedient. Does God want you to forgive someone or love someone that you can't stand? Learn the lesson from Peter's example- blessing follows obedience.

Is God calling you to a deeper prayer life? To study His Word more thoroughly? Is God trying to work on your heart to get rid of a sin that is so prevalent in your life? It is because He wants to bless you. I have no idea how He will bless you, or in what form that blessing will take, but one thing is for sure- blessing follows obedience.

Peter obeyed Jesus even when he was in a terrible mood, tired, frustrated, and busy. Sounds a lot like us. If he can do it, so can we. So, instead of my saying, "Be blessed," I am going to say "Be obedient," and leave the blessing up to God.

The Overflow of the Heart

Jesus says in Luke 6:45 that "out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." In other words, whatever is in your heart, your mouth will speak. Ever wonder why some people's speech is so hateful? There is hate in the heart.

If a person has animosity and disdain for people in his heart, he will constantly slander others and talk about them behind their backs. If a person's heart is full of violence and greed, his mouth will speak it. The mouth is simply a loudspeaker for whatever is going on inside.

I wonder what would happen if each of us carried around a voice recorder and recorded everything we said for a week. What would we learn about our hearts, or what is going on in the deepest part of ourselves, if we went back and listened to what we actually said throughout the week?

I have shared this with the Catalyst staff and with my Friday morning men's group- the words of my mouth too often are negative when I talk about other churches. That means that in my heart I harbor animosity or distrust towards them. I no longer desire that, and I have resolved to never say another bad thing about a church from this point forward. I am tired of churches badmouthing each other; I am tired of people dragging their former churches through the mud. I won't be a part of it any more. I love the Church and I love the head of the Church, who is Christ.

I hope that my love for the church and my love for the body of Christ will be found in my speech. More than that, I hope that God continues to change my heart so that my love for God, my love for people, and my love for His church will be greater than anything in my life. Then, I hope my mouth will simply tell the world what is going on in my heart.

Blessed are the Peacemakers

This entire summer we are studying the Beatitudes in Matthew 5- the beginning of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Yesterday, the message was on 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

Elsewhere in the sermon on the mount, Jesus uses the phrase "sons of God." He says this: "Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you, that you may be called sons of God." So, all you Algebra nuts out there- if A=C and B=C, then B=C. If peacemakers are "sons of God," and people that love their enemies and pray for those that persecute are "sons of God"- then peacemakers are people that love their enemies and pray for people who persecute them.

I told a story about my run-in with a person I can't stand and how God was calling me to love him and pray for him. The part of the message where I failed, though, was when I left out the example of Jesus in living His own teaching.

Scripture tells us that while Jesus was being crucified, punished without reason, condemned by power-hungry hypocrites masquerading as religious people, He said a simple and profound statement. He said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Once again, Jesus lived His own teaching, even at the point of death.

If a Christian is someone who does the things Jesus would do if Jesus were in his shoes, then a Christian is someone who loves his enemies and prays for those that persecutes him. I would also add that being a peacemaker means that you walk in humility, not insisting on your own way or taking offense at every little thing. It takes great humility to pray for someone you can't stand or who has treated you wrongly, and some people simply choose not to do it. However, Jesus doesn't give us that option. He is not making nice little suggestions on how to make the world better- He is showing us what it means to be a Christian. If you are a Christian, you will be a peacemaker. Easier said than done, but not only has Jesus given us the instruction; He has given us the example to follow.

It's all about . . . . . . . . . Jesus

As I was sitting here, wondering what to write for my first blog on this site, I tried to think about what is of most importance. Ideally, the things of most importance to me SHOULD be the things of most value: faith, relationships with people, honesty, living with passion and vision, etc.

That is nowhere near the case, at least with me. I tend to spend my time and money (basically all my resources) on things that have no value whatsoever. I like to watch TV, take Facebook quizzes (although they are getting a little redundant- do I REALLY need to know what 80's Chick Flick movie I am?), watch movies, etc. If a space alien came down to earth and was given the task of following me around for a week so that at the end of the week he could report back to home base what was most important to me, he would have some interesting stories.

I doubt he would say the one thing I would want him to say: Jesus. I doubt he would seriously see Jesus as having a great deal of value to me. Everyone assumes that because you are a minister and can stand up and preach a sermon on Sunday that Jesus is constantly on your mind, consistently followed, and loved and adored beyond imagine. I wish this were true, and I wish this were true for you as well.

The reason I wish this were true is because I want my life spent on things of eternal and lasting value. I want my life to be spent on things that have infinite value and worth, not on some fleeting, temporary, invaluable waste. For me, the person of eternal and lasting value, the person of infinite worth, is Jesus Christ.

I am 35 years old now- approaching middle age. The years are going by quicker and quicker and with each passing day, I am reminded of the immortal words of John Piper: "Don't Waste Your Life!" I have a choice- I can squander my time, my passions, my energy, my money, etc on worthless, invaluable things like TV, video games, details in the life of the latest fallen celebrity, or anything else this world throws at you, trying to get you to waste your time on it. Or, I can show wisdom beyond my years and set my heart on lasting, enduring, eternal pursuits that fulfill and satisfy beyond the immediate.

Lord, give me an undivided heart (Psalm 86) so that I may pursue you with a singular love and passion. Keep me from distractions and worthless detours as I seek Your heart, and let me be able to say at the end of my life, "It's all about Jesus."