by Marc Buxton | Aug 18, 2009 | General
I know the cool thing to do would have been to post this in July….thereby giving the post a catchier title. But…I didn’t come across this website until just now, and it is August already, unfortunately. Timeliness aside, this website answers a question that I think a lot of Christians struggle with: how do we make Christmas meaningful AND fun? We know about keeping Christ in Christmas, and that He is the real “reason for the season”. But there’s also nothing wrong with celebrating with family, friends, presents, and parties. At first glance, the folks at Advent Conspiracy have come up with a very good answer to this dilemma.
Now that I have a family of my own, I am more aware of the importance of creating a Christ honoring Christmas tradition. I am going to think about this take on things some more over the coming weeks, and I encourage you to do the same….
http://www.adventconspiracy.org/
ur 2-d0 4 2-day: re-think for upcoming December traditions in August
by Marc Buxton | Aug 14, 2009 | General
So much of our world today is results driven. We have sales quotas at work to meet. When we throw a party, it had better be a good time. And is that automatic carwash really cleaning anything at all? Results. We are driven to require, expect, and deliver them. And pushing for results often leads to one thing: anxiety.
A fear of not meeting expectations of yourself or others is a common problem and is deterrent for being all you can be all the time. Unfortunately, this results=anxiety formula often spills over into our spiritual lives. If you are living to serve God, you want to accomplish things for Him. If you are actively serving Him, you may be anxious about seeing (or not seeing) certain results. But there is nothing to worry about here.
God promises that we will be successful for Him – IF we follow His prescription. In Psalm 1:1-3 it says that if we meditate on God’s Word that God will bless us, and whatever we do will be prosperous. He promises that we will produce (spiritual) fruit – no question about it. What a promise!
Now, this verse does not teach that if you read God’s Word you will be able to try whatever business venture you want and have the Midas touch. There is an important principle here. If we are meditating on God’s Word, and delighting (verse 2) in God’s Word, the desires of our heart will become His desires (Psalm 37:4). We will want to prosper – for God!
So there you have it – a promise that takes all of the anxiety out of ministry. Seek God and delight in His Word, and He will use you to produce fruit and further His Kingdom!
Meditate on His Word. Serve. Expect Results.
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by Marc Buxton | Jun 15, 2009 | General
I was driving home this weekend, and I began noticing the front of people’s cars. On the front of most cars here in America is a spot for what we call “vanity plates”. Whoever gave the name to this craze was right on the money. A good definition of vanity is “something worthless, trivial, or pointless”. Most vanity plates consist of sports team logos, business emblems, products, etc. Some people actually just leave the plate on from the dealer where they bought the car. I, for one, do not understand this one. Did they have such a good experience at the car lot that they want to tell everyone about it 24/7? To each his own.
I’m not knocking them altogether by the way – I have one myself. But what people put on their vanity plates really says a lot about what they care about, what they spend their time and money on. Some people doget religious with them, starting with the “God is my co-pilot” craze of the 1980’s. It wasn’t long before some astute auto-theologians corrected this blunder with “God is my PILOT”. Touche Mr. Co-pilot.
But I couldn’t help but think as I drove, how much time we spend on all these things that are represented on our vanity plates, and how much better our lives and our world might be if we spent that time with God and our families instead. Vanity plates, indeed….
by Marc Buxton | Jun 9, 2009 | Prayer
Worry about nothing, pray about everything. That is Paul’s advice in Philippians 4:6. When we feel anxiety about a situation or tension about a situation, we are to take it to God. We take it to Him with thanksgiving – an understanding and reminder of all He has done for us. We are to make our requests known to God and then trust His love and power to accomplish what we ask. We have a Father, a Lord, who controls all. Why should we worry?! To worry is to momentarily forget God. We will have situations that make us anxious, which is why Paul tells us elsewhere to pray without ceasing. Constant prayer is a sign that we refuse to deal with problems internally, inevitably leading to a dead-end outcome, but rather we have come to embody verse 6; we take everything straight to Him. This is the true test of faith that occurs all day. By the way, there is nothing in this chapter or book that talks about popping pills when you get too anxious. Some people need a stronger dose of God in their life, that is currently being substituted by a mind-altering pharmaceutical. That’s all I’ll say about that…..
ur 2-d0 4 2-day: Put the pills down and take the next thing that bothers you straight to God. See if the “peace of God” overwhelms you (vs. 7).
by Marc Buxton | Jun 4, 2009 | General
Embrace, embryo, emotion, Eminem….all of these cute-cuddly things start with “em”. Okay, forget the cute and cuddly on that last one, but you get the point. The prefix “-em” begins a lot of words in our English language, but none may be more important than “empathy”. This is the idea communicated by the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 13:3.
Look it up. Right now. (interactive blogging, remember?). Got it? Good.
Paul is saying here that we must feel other people’s pain – that we must treat their suffering as if it was our own. This flies in the face of the ever prevailing “well he needs to man-up”, or “that’s their problem, not mine” attitude. According to God, it is your problem. So what are we supposed to do? Paul doesn’t give us a specific action to take, though he does imply it. But Christ does. In Matthew 25:36 (you know the drill), our Lord gives specific actions that we should take as a result of our empathetic awareness. If you follow His command, you will ensure that you put the all important “-em” in front of pathetic today.
ur 2-d0 4 2-day: Help someone who has a problem as if it were your own.
