Chi Alpha

A friend of mine recently mentioned a story of a loved one (named Charles) who serves in the military. Charles was doing laundry with a buddy and talking about the war in Iraq. Their conversation soon turned to God and Charles shared his faith with his buddy. Back home, Charles had been a youth group leader. But since he joined the service he said he often lost his focus. His honesty was refreshing. Charles was an honest Christian, unconcerned with the need to impress someone.

Why do we lose our focus so easily? How can we enjoy spiritual victory one day and then go through defeat and weakness in the next?

Amaziah, one of the lesser known kings in the Bible, accomplished a few good things in his life, but later lost focus, too. He showed mercy to the sons of his father’s killers. He also won a great victory over their neighboring (and hostile) enemy Edom in 2 Kings 14:3-6. But Amaziah lost sight of the source of his victory and later challenged the other half of God’s divided kingdom, Israel. The result was a crushing defeat (v 7-14).

We won’t achieve any meaningful success in our own strength or abilities. Without God, we have nothing. So how do we maintain focus?

1. Read, study, and obey the Bible. Time spent with God and His Word will be essential to us as our daily bread.

2. Work on your prayer life. If your mind wanders like mine, make your prayers short, and pray often. Use prayers from Scripture as a guide (like Ephesians 1:15-23).

3. Listen to and rely on the Holy Spirit each day.

4. Find Christian friends to pray with and be accountable to.

5. Be others centered. Who are you reaching out to so as to share the message of Christ?

The Christian life isn’t complicated, but it isn’t easy. Jesus said we must take up our cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23). If we aren’t doing that, then we are sure to lose focus. Grow devotionally.

Love is a verb,

Mike Olejarz

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Are you uncomfortable with silence? Are you guilty of talking too much and listening too little? Did your parents ever say, “Sssh” to you to get you to quiet down? Do you tend to use noise and distraction to deliberately avoid the voice of God? The Old Testament book of Job indicates that God had to say, “Sssh” to the old patriarch and his friends. It appears from Job 13:1-5 and 40:1-5 that Job and his friends just could not stop giving their opinions about one of life’s mysteries – Why do people suffer?

God did not exactly say “Sssh” to the jabbering of Job and his pals, but He did get their attention with a whirlwind. Earlier in the book, Job had been upset about his friends and told them to stop talking…so He could start talking. But in the end, even Job had to stop talking when confronted by God Himself. Job had to shut his mouth so he could listen to God.

The benefits of the discipline of silence are many – one is that it helps us to hear God. The prophet Elijah learned this lesson the hard way, one even more dramatic than Job’s. God got Elijah’s attention the same way he got Job’s, with a whirlwind. But he followed it up with an earthquake and then fire. Elijah, a man who was the voice of God to the people of Israel, was stunned by the noise. But what caught his attention (and his ear) was what came in the silence that followed – the Lord’s gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12).

What can we learn from the experiences of Job and Elijah? First, that God cared enough to make an appearance to them and help them quiet down. Second, we need to stop our habit of talking (and our noisy lifestyles) and start listening. We need to cultivate a habit (or discipline) of silence to hear the voice of God.

Why do you think God gave us two ears and one mouth? Is it possibly to listen twice as much as we talk? William Penn, the father of Pennsylvania, told his children, “True silence is rest for the mind. It is to the spirit what sleep is to the body…nourishment and renewal. It is a great virtue – it covers folly, keeps secrets, avoids disputes, helps us from saying hurtful things to others, and prevents sin.”

Grow devotionally. Silence can be godly and healthy. Proverbs 10:19 exhorts us “That when words are many, sin is not absent. But he who holds his (or her) tongue is wise.”

Love is a verb,

Mike O

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Everyone loves a party. People all over enjoy the chance to get together with friends, family, associates, even acquaintances at times, to celebrate good news. We celebrate key moments like birthdays, graduations, holidays, and weddings. We even throw a party to celebrate when a personal or group accomplishment takes place, like an award for heroism or community service, a business expands, or our team wins a sports championship.

The people of Judah had great reason to celebrate in Nahum 1:7-15. Ninevah, the capital of the evil Assyrian empire was about to be destroyed. Nahum told Judah to continue celebrating at its festivals.

It may not sound like a big deal to you today, but take out your Bible and read the first few chapters of Nahum. Ninevah was poised to flatten Judah with its military might. Then the news came from the prophet Nahum that God was promising to deliver Judah by wiping Ninevah off the face of the earth.

Hold it! Didn’t Jonah go to Ninevah a while earlier and call Ninevah to repentance for their evil? And didn’t Ninevah hear the message of the Lord, repent in humility, and escape God’s judgment? Yes and yes. That took place years earlier, and it accomplished God’s purpose. God was going to use the Assyrians to bring His judgment on the Northern Kingdom of Israel for their blatant disobedience towards Him, by sending the cruel nation of Assyria to take the people captive. God had indeed sent Assyrian forces to do just that a few years earlier. Now it was the Southern Kingdom of Judah’s turn.

But then Nahum, a messenger of God comes on the scene with good news. Those wicked people of Assyria were going to be destroyed before they could lay a hand on Judah. Wow! Judah would be delivered! Isaiah 52:7 says the feet of those who bring god news are “beautiful.”

The idea of “feet and good news” appears in the New Testament as well. Take a look at Romans 10:14-15. There it refers to the feet of any believer who tells people enslaved by sin that they can be set free.

Do you desire “beautiful feet?” Tell others the good news about Jesus. Do you believe and live out the declaration of Acts 4:12? Are you rejoicing in your salvation? In what ways do you need to grow in sharing the message of Jesus? Should you write out your testimony (before-how-after) like Paul in Acts 9, 22 and 26? Memorize some Bible verses like the Romans Road (Romans 1:16, 1:18-32, 3:21-26, 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10). Look for divine appointments to share Christ with a friend? When someone else trusts in Christ for their salvation, you’ll have plenty of reason to throw a party. Serve globally – salvation is a cause for celebration, because people and nations are at stake.

Love is a verb,

Mike Olejarz

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I recently learned something about The Louvre in Paris, France. The Louvre is probably the world’s most famous museum of art, and is filled with the paintings of the greatest artists of history – da Vinci, Delacroix, Rubens, Michelangelo, and many others. Yet during the off season, the museum opens it doors and offers a unique opportunity to up and coming artists – they are allowed to come in and copy the work of the masters.

Hour by hour and day by day men and women sit and try to reproduce what they see. One young man was trying to copy the Mona Lisa and worked hard to copy it exactly as he saw it. His friend and colleague affirmed him for the work he did, but he still seemed unnerved. “I’ve never worked so hard, yet felt so far off in my effort,” said the young artist. An older patron of the museum and painter himself remarked, “All of us need to learn from the best. If you are too satisfied with yourself, you cannot improve.”

The Bible tells us to imitate God (see Ephesians 5:1-10). We are to become like God as much as we can possibly be. Our use of Scripture and prayer, our obedience, our participation in the community of faith, and response to daily circumstances all contribute to that maturity and development. We also have to participate with, and yield to the work of the Holy Spirit, since He is working to conform us to the image of God. We are to use the canvas of our lives to reproduce the character of God in love, truth, and godliness. We can never do it exactly, but Scripture calls us to “live lives worthy of the high calling we have received ” (Ephesians 4:1). But I know you and I can be better than we are today.

Our responsibility is to keep striving, trying, and working to follow after and be like God. One problem we all have though, is that we tend to give up too easily, or too soon. We struggle with our faith and tend to ignore God. We get frustrated with our lack of strength and tendency to yield to temptation. We do not feed our faith much beyond going to church once a week, or casually reading the Bible. We despair because the majority of our friends and the prevailing culture around us seems to have no moral high ground or ethical framework by which they live. We also feel like such a beginner when we compare ourselves with Jesus. So we just give up.

Why is it so difficult to live Jesus? Is it because you and I spend so little time reading Scripture, praying to God to strength, and determining to live for God? Are you trying to maintain your faith based on meager spiritual food? Are you living a solitary Christian existence, devoid of sharing your life with other Christians? Are you more concerned with your own faith, and not the needs of others outside of the Kingdom of God? Read 2 Peter 1:3-11. Peter says believers have everything they need for life and godliness. Acts 2:42-47 gives us a glimpse of how the early church modeled their lives after Jesus. 1 John 2:6 provides a great reminder of the aim for our lives.

We cannot afford to become satisfied where we are. All of us still have a long way to go to become more like Jesus. Choosing Jesus as our example, we need to re-commit ourselves daily to live as He did, and do as He did. After all, He is the Master we should imitate. Walk wisely…and intentionally after Him.

Love is a verb,

Mike Olejarz

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