Burning it Off

It took me a while but I finally signed up for my first race of 2017. I will be running the Booneville Backroads 100 Mile Ultramarathon in May. Every time I sign up for a race, the butterflies go off in my stomach and I’m instantly nervous. Signing up means not only spending 20+ hours running on that day, but also weeks of training to get my body in shape for it. One of the most important things is nutrition. Running ultramarathons has taught me more than anything the importance of food as fuel for the human body. Most of my life has been spent eating because I’m hungry or because I enjoy the taste of certain foods. But running for hours on end requires fuel to be burned off as energy so you don’t hit a wall and stop.

Sometimes I think we in the church need to be reminded of this fact. Now, I’m not talking about physical food, but instead about Spiritual food like Jesus talks about in His conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4. When His disciples urged Him to eat, Jesus responded, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about… My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.”

I was reminded as our Tuesday Bible Study began to look at Haggai that sometimes we get Spiritually obese on our Spiritual food. As Haggai called God’s people back from their selfishness to focus on the will of their God, I think his words can call us back too. “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill.” While Haggai is speaking specifically of God’s people choosing their own well-being instead of the work of the Temple, I think we have the tendency to seek our own good within the church rather than the good of others. We meet together for our own “filling up” but don’t ever “burn it off”. If all we do is focus on our own knowledge and well-being, we don’t fulfill the call on our lives to “…prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” (James 1:22)

Jesus tells the great story of two builders who put together houses; one on rock and one on sand. As the story begins, it’s easy to see which builder is making the better choice. But the comparison for Jesus is that the wise builder is one who hears His words and puts them into practice. The foolish builder hears the same words; he just doesn’t do anything about it. And it leads to destruction.

We are called to be people who “feed” on God’s Word, and then “burn it off” as we show and tell it in all the places we go. I want to challenge all of us – individuals, leaders, Sunday School teachers, etc – to look for the ways God’s Word can lead us into lives of mission. It is when we put that Word into practice that we see the Kingdom of God come into view. 

The Stink

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“The church is like manure. Pile it together and it stinks up the neighborhood; spread it out and it enriches the world.”

- Luis Palau

I’m new to Kansas.Though I was born in Ottawa and lived out west in Ness City when I was younger, I’m still figuring out what it’s like here. But I’ve spent a fair amount of my life in Iowa. In Iowa there’s something that we often notice when driving around the state. There’s a certain stench that begins to waft its way into the car. In our car, it’s about the time the boys start blaming each other. But, inevitably, it’s a hog farm or a semi-truck full of livestock in its trailer. What I’ve noticed is that whenever that happens as I’m driving, I instinctively reach up and switch our climate control over to inside air. I do whatever I can to shut out the smell.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that in my backyard - where our boxer leaves his own presents for us - I rarely smell anything. It seems that the offensive odor only bothers us in concentration, but while spread around, it’s not as bad and actually does a lot of good.

Sometimes in this country I wonder how much we’ve forced those around us to turn away from the church because all they see or smell is a huge concentration of us together and we don’t smell so good.

A less offensive analogy may be that of a sports team. As players spend every day in practice, working and working to learn their assignments, the fans only show up for the games. If all the Chiefs ever did was practice, they’d never have a chance to win a game.

As God’s church, we are absolutely called to assembly. The book of Hebrews reminds us that we “must not give up meeting together…” and we need to encourage and challenge one another in Christ. We need to come together to worship, to grow, and to practice. But the church is also called to spread out as Jesus teaches in the Great Commandment and Great Commission.

“Some want to live within the sound of the church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.”

- CT Studd

I love the church. That’s a big part of why I love my call to lead, nurture, and teach in the church. But we are called to so much more than to be gathered up near the church bells. We are called to enrich the world, not stink it up.

So pray with me and dream with me as we look for ways to spread out in mission to our neighbors. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” So like salt, let’s flavor our community with the love of Christ. There is much to do in Gardner. I’m excited.