Do You Wear a Helmet When You Eat a Sandwich?

Our three year old daughter has a great memory. Often times she will remember things that have happened in the past and will want to bring them up for discussion to see if we remember the same things. This happened the other day at lunch. A few days after Christmas members of my extended family got together to celebrate Christmas with one another. At the get together my youngest cousin who is just a little older than our daughter was there with some roller skates and her helmet. Well of course our daughter wanted to try and after putting on the skates and the helmet gave it a very valiant effort. For whatever reason, the other day at lunch she wanted to have a discussion about the helmet she wore while roller skating in my grandparents driveway. She began the conversation by asking me if I remembered the helmet which she had worn while rollerskating. I told her that I did. Then she asked me why she had to wear the helmet. I explained that it was because she was rollerskating and the helmet would have protected her head if she had fallen on the driveway. Then she began to ask me about several other activities which might possibly require wearing a helmet. She asked if she had to wear a helmet while riding in the wagon. She asked if she had to wear a helmet while riding her bike. But the last question was the best. With peanut butter and jelly sandwich in hand and a look of genuine seriousness she asked, "Daddy, do I wear a helmet when I'm eating a sandwich?" (What she was really asking was, "Do I have to wear a helmet when I'm eating a sandwich?" but she's three and so the actual wording she used was the original quote.) The visual made me laugh out loud - the mental image of my daughter sitting at the table with a bright pink helmet on eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cracked me up. Apparently my laughing caused her to laugh too and so for the next few moments we shared a great laugh together. Then when I had composed myself I explained to my daughter that "No, you don't have to wear a helmet when you are eating a sandwich."

Later that afternoon I began to wonder if I had missed a teaching opportunity and had given my daughter the wrong answer. In the book of Ephesians, Paul is writing to the believers at Ephesus and beginning in verse 10 of chapter 6 he gives a very important command to all believers in Christ. Paul writes "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able stand firm against the schemes of the devil." The analogy that Paul then begins to use compares a Christian to a fully armored Roman soldier. Paul's point is very clear - in the same way that a soldier would never go to battle without all of his armor and equipment, we as believers should never go about any part of day without having on all of our armor and having with us all of our equipment.

So here's an important question: How many pieces of the armor of God can you list without looking? This is an incredibly important question for believers. If you don't know what all of your armor and equipment is, how can you put it on each day and make sure that it remains on throughout the course of the day? Need a hint? Here they are:

• Your loins girded with truth - often refered to as the belt of truth(vs. 14);
• The breastplate of righteousness (vs. 14);
• Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace (vs. 15);
• The shield of faith (vs. 16);
• The helmet of salvation (vs. 17);
• The Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (vs. 17)

All of these pieces are incredibly important for us to go into spiritual battle each day and to fight off our spiritual enemies, but the helmet of salvation may in fact be the most important piece of the armor of God that we can possibly put on. It protects the most important part of our body - our head. And there is never really an appropriate time to take it off. Removing it would be removing a vital part of our spiritual protection and leave that part of our body completely open to attacks from our spiritual enemies.

Today, more than anything I want to encourage you to protect yourself from those spiritual enemies that look for any and every opportunity to bring harm to you. If you don't know what the pieces of the armor of God are and what they represent study Ephesians 6:10-17. Commit to memory what they are and then make sure that each and every morning you put them on and keep them on so that you will be protected against the assaults of the devil and his demons. And make sure that you always have your helmet on - even while your eating a sandwich.

Sometimes Christ Calls Us to Walk on the Water - But He Never Asks Us to Stay There

I was recently thinking through the account in Matthew 14:22-33 in which Peter, following Christ’s call, gets out of the boat and momentarily walks on the stormy sea. I’d like to make a few simple observations that I think may encourage some of you as you are daily walking with Christ.
We can all agree with great confidence that God allows His followers to go through times of trial to help develop their faith and character (James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:6-7). But going through times of trials is not for our own benefit alone, but more importantly they are opportunities for us to see God at work in our lives so that we can testify to His goodness and faithfulness and make much of Him. Notice first in this passage that God allows the faith of all of His followers to be challenged. Verse 24 “But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered [literally tormented] by the waves; for the wind was contrary.” Verse 26 “When the disciples saw Him [Jesus] walking on the sea, they were terrified . . . and they cried out in fear.” Peter wasn’t the only one out on the sea that night. All of the disciples were in the boat which was being tormented by the wind and the waves and all of the disciples were frightened by what they perceived to be a ghost approaching their boat on the water. So don’t be surprised when times come and your faith is challenged by the situations or the circumstances in your life. God hasn’t forgotten you or singled you out – God allows everyone’s faith to be challenged at one time or another. But notice secondly that God reminds us of His presence with us in our times of trial. In verse 27 Jesus recognizes their fear and calls out to them “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” We can count on God’s presence with us when we go through trials and challenges to our faith. Notice thirdly that sometimes God calls individuals to endure greater challenges to their faith than other individuals around them. This is the part we probably don’t like to think about. In verse 28 Peter makes what seems to be a crazy statement. He says to Jesus, if it is really You, “command me to come to you on the water.” (Remember that the sea is incredibly rough – the waves are tormenting the boat. There is very little comfort and security for the disciples while they are on the boat. Who would ever say to God, “I’ve got very little comfort and security in my life as it is right now, now command me to get rid of that little sense of comfort and security and enter an even greater challenge to my faith”?) Then Jesus calls to Peter specifically (not to all the disciples) to get out of the boat and do the impossible – walk on a raging sea. Notice that this is a specific call to a specific individual. Though it appears that Peter suggested it, the text reveals that Peter did not get out of the boat until Christ made the call to come. Without doubt, it took extraordinary faith to get out of that boat. But the challenge wasn’t only to get out of the boat, it was also to walk on a raging sea. It appears that Peter may have started well, but soon His focus left the Savior and became fixed on the elements of trouble around him – the wind and the waves. When this happened we all know what the results were – Peter began to sink. This brings us to a fourth important point in this passage: when we find ourselves in the midst of extreme challenges to our faith God wants us to stay focused on Him, not on the troubles around us. But if (and probably more likely, ‘when’) we begin to sink in the midst of our troubles and extreme challenges, God doesn’t simply remind us of His presence, but fifthly God acts as our Savior and He lifts us up. I love verse 31, “Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him.” We can lose sight of Christ and doubt, just like Peter did, and because God is gracious and full of loving kindness for His children, He doesn’t watch us sink but rather He grabs hold of us and lifts us up!
Verse 32 gets me to the original point that I was hoping to encourage you with and why I titled this blog post the way I did. The Bible teaches us that we are always to live in dependence on God, but the reality is that sometimes we a forced to realize this in the midst of extreme challenges to our faith. Verse 32 says that when they got back into the boat, the wind stopped. The challenges to faith that Peter and the rest of the disciples experienced that night were momentary challenges. Jesus eventually brought all that was testing their faith in this encounter to an end and gave them great rest and comfort. As humans we were not created to live and/or walk on the water. We live and walk on the land. That doesn’t mean that there will not be times when God calls us to walk on the water – but when He does remember to keep your eyes on Christ and know that eventually the trials and challenges will end. God is gracious and if He has called you right now into a time of great trial He will not make you stay there forever. Know that He will also bring to you times of peace, comfort, and rest.
Read those points in bold once again and remember that God will bring times of rest and refreshment for your soul. I hope that encourages you today! And I hope you respond as the disciples did in verse 33; “And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are certainly God’s Son!’”

The Least Resistance or The Most Glory?

Over the course of the last week or so my wife and I have been wrestling with what presently seem like very difficult, potentially life-changing decisions. One decision in particular seemed to offer three potential outcomes, none of which I was very excited about. And so we spent a lot of time in prayer pleading for godly wisdom and discernment and asking God to align the desires of our hearts with the desires of His heart so that we would make the right decision. I am confident that God did just that, but more importantly in the process I believe that He reminded me of an important principle which, as believers, we need to settle in our hearts and live out on a daily basis.

Although all three of what I perceived to be the potential outcomes of the particular decision facing myself and my family presented huge challenges, there was one that I was convinced posed the set of smallest problems. Making the choice to move in this particular direction would allow me to continue to hold on to something which I really cherished and seemed to only present a few small challenges that, if I worked hard enough at and managed things well enough, I could still overcome on my own. It was clearly the path of least resistance. It was the decision that logic and reason would have made. The problem was it seemed as though God was leading away from this decision and leading myself and my family to make a decision that was going to put us in a more difficult situation. So the question is, "Would we really consider doing that - putting ourselves in a more difficult situation simply because we felt like that was the direction God was leading?" And the follow-up question would be "Why?"

The answer to the first question is 'yes.' The answer to the second question is two fold. First, my desire and the desire of my family is to always act in obedience to God's leading. And secondly, we always want to do that which is going to bring the most glory to God. Let me explain a little more. The decision we are making is putting us in a place where we are completely incapable of doing anything in our own power to accomplish one of our desires and it is forcing me to let go of something that I was holding on to too tightly. And after much prayer and meditation I think that this is exactly what God wants. You see not only is God the only one worthy of glory and honor, but after reading different books and articles by men much smarter than myself I believe that God also desires that His people would make much of Him and exalt Him in both their words and deeds. This doesn't make God egotistical, but rather this is what the creator deserves from His creation. In choosing the path of least resistance I was on the verge of making two big mistakes. The first would have been idolatry. By holding onto a cherished possession and telling God that I was unwilling to let go of it, I would have been communicating to God that this possession was more important and more valuable in my life than He is. It would have been elevating a created thing over the creator. I don't think I could call that anything other than idolatry. The other mistake I would have been making is that I would have been communicating to my family and those in my sphere of influence that I really don't believe in a big God who is capable of accomplishing whatever He wants. Instead, by taking the situation into my own hands and relying on my own abilities I would have been communicating that I really see God as small, weak, and incapable, which is why I would have to take things into my own hands. That's not glorifying at all! Instead of making much of God it is actually doing the opposite - it's making less of Him.

So here is a decision that we as believers have to make in our hearts and minds - to always choose that which will bring the most glory to God, rather than that which will result in the least resistance for ourselves. (Please understand that this doesn't mean that we always put ourselves in the most difficult situations we can imagine expecting God to do the miraculous to get us through the situations. God gave us all an intelligent mind to think through and reason through the circumstances that we encounter in life. Therefore we ought to use the minds that we have been given to make wise choices.) When we, as a result of diligent and fervent prayer, sense God leading in a direction that seems to present enormous challenges and obstacles, we shouldn't focus on the details that weigh so heavily on our mind and our emotions. Instead we ought to focus on the greatness of our God and what He can do in the midst of great challenges. When we step out on faith and make those choices that allow God to put his greatness on display, we help to bring the most glory to God. It communicates to God that we believe He is who He says He is and that we are willing to trust Him - an act that brings great glory to Him. In stepping out on faith we allow a lost world to see our faith in our God who does work in our lives and accomplishes great things that we could not do on our own. In stepping out on faith we also edify fellow believers by encouraging them to trust God in the difficult circumstances in their lives.

So let's determine in our hearts and minds right now, before the challenges come and before the hard times bring great stress and uncertainty to always ask our Father, "What will bring You the most glory in this situation?" Then let's resolve to do it, trusting that His glory is far more important than a brief, easier, less resistant path.

We love You Father God. May the desire of our heart always be to increase Your glory and fame!

why the name 'escalate?'

Escalate? Most of you are probably thinking that's an unusual name for a blog and wondering what the significance is behind the name. If you take a moment and read the welcome message to the right that will help lay the foundation. In much the same way that I believe it is the church's responsibility to be lifting up, growing up, and building up, I am also convinced that believers in Christ each have a personal responsibility to be carrying out these tasks. The word 'escalate' is a verb. I really like that! Its not a thing, its an action! The definition of escalate according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary is: to increase in extent, volume, number, amount, intensity, or scope. Think about that in terms of your life as a believer in Christ. Hopefully we all agree that Christianity isn't a religion - it is a relationship. Because of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection we are able to have a personal and intimate relationship with our Savior and Lord. Our desire for our relationship with Christ should be the same desire we have for our relationships with others that we love - that it would be a growing relationship that increases in extent . . . [and] intensity. Relationships are healthy when they are actively growing and increasing, not when they are stagnant (or worse, falling apart). As believers in Christ we should all desire that our relationships with Him would escalate. But more than that we want our personal worship to be escalating! We want our maturity in our faith to be escalating! And hopefully we want the kingdom of God to be escalating (that it would be increasing in . . . number, amount, intensity)! But all of this requires action. It doesn't just happen - it takes work.
I chose 'escalate' because it communicates well what I want to remember - that in my own personal relationship with Christ, and as a member of Christ's body, I want to always be growing, increasing, and moving forward. I hope and pray that that is your desire too and that the thoughts I share on this blog will help you towards that end.