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“No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer . . . Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.”— 2 Tim. 2:4, 7

Growing up, I had a deeply ingrained mental list of all the things I wasn’t supposed to do. I was not allowed to swear or use other “questionable” words. Even though I knew swearing wasn’t allowed, I was seriously reprimanded when my mom heard me utter a bad word after missing a shot in the neighborhood basketball game. I also knew that I was not allowed to smoke. I was told, and really believed, that God would strike me with a lightning bolt if I even tried a cigarette. I had a clear understanding of curfew and knew that good grades were a priority. A strong understanding of right and wrong was a major part of my growing up years.

Most of us have a well-established list of things we would never dream of doing. We know where our moral line is, and there is little chance that we would ever cross that line. If this is true, then we should never have to worry about walking away from our faith, right? If we know the difference between right and wrong, then we should have nothing to worry about.

There is a problem with this theory, and it is one that Paul seems to recognize.

The things in life that tempt Christians the most are typically not on any list of things that are objectively wrong. Rather, problems arise when anything pulls us away from Christ.

Often, the things that distract us from Him are not immoral on their own. We pursue the next promotion with a singular focus. The travel soccer team in which our child participates demands all of our time and attention. Trips to our lake home become a priority. We can rightfully ask, “what is wrong with playing soccer or trying to earn more money?” The answer is “nothing,” unless the love for those things nudges us away from our love of Christ.

When Paul reminds us that no military leader entangles himself in civilian affairs, he seems to bring up a similar point. In this passage, notice that Paul does not speak in terms of good and evil or even right and wrong. There is nothing evil about civilian affairs, but they are not important for the military leader. There is also nothing wrong with a promotion, a vacation, or a travel soccer team. Yet, any of these things has the potential to distract us and slowly pull us away from our love of Christ.

When Christians walk away from their faith, it is rarely because they went from faithfulness to visible failure in a single day. It is almost always the result of a long, imperceptible drift that started long ago. Perhaps the standard for Christians is not a well-developed right vs. wrong list. Instead, the standard should be, first and foremost, faithfulness to our leader. Avoiding wrong things is good, but it is not the primary task of the Christian life. We have a higher standard.

Prayer for the week: Almighty God, thank You for filling our lives with good things. We are so undeserving of all you have blessed us with. Help us to see the value of the things around us in a holy and proper way so that we don’t pursue the less valuable and lose focus on the thing most valuable: our faith in Christ. Amen.

Doug Ward is the senior pastor of Mundelein Church of the Nazarene in Mundelein, Illinois, USA, and teaches at Olivet Nazarene University.

Written for Coffee Break.

You may have heard someone say, “It’s just my cross to bear.”  What does that mean?  For most of the folks in this culture it means they have something difficult in their lives that seems to have no end or cure.  But biblically it has a different meaning altogether.

In Matthew 16 verse 24 Jesus said this: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”  Jesus was telling us that if we truly want to be his follower, we must examine our lives for anything that doesn’t agree with His teachings. This thing (or these things) are to be gotten rid of, to make us acceptable in God’s sight. 

If it is our “cross” then it is probably something we really like or value.  Some of us struggle with addictive types of behaviors.  Some of us struggle with too great a fondness for inappropriate entertainment or maybe its money that we love.  It might be our pride or an anger issue.  If we look into ourselves with honesty, we’ll see that there is something that doesn’t belong.  These are the things that would make us squirm if we were doing them with God standing in front of us.

So what if we don’t want to get rid of those things?  God has given us free will, the ability to choose what we want in our lives and who we want to be.  We are free to be His or to go our own way.  Every choice has a consequence.  As adults, we know if we break the law, we pay a penalty.  This applies to God’s laws also.  The consequences for breaking His laws though, have everlasting consequences.  

Sunday morning Gordon Smith will be bringing us a message about what this means.  Please join us at 10:55 a.m. in the sanctuary or on Facebook’s live-stream.  We look forward to seeing you then!  We encourage you to come as you are if you’re in town!

In Leviticus 23 God called His people to seven appointed times.  Passover is one of these.  God called for four of these times to be celebrated in the spring and three to be celebrated in the fall.  Each time is represents a specific purpose and every appointed time ties into Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and return.

Last Sunday, at sunset, began the time of the Lord’s fall appointments.  It is commonly known as the Feast of Trumpets.  Trumpets are blown to call the people to worship and to praise God with a loud noise.  This day is all about celebrating all the goodness and blessings that God has poured out in the past year.

Following this are 10 days of reflection.  Called the Days of Awe, this is a time to look back and realize where we have fallen short.  Whether it is within ourselves or involves others, this is a time to seek a way to mend what may be broken in our lives.  On the 10^th day, we are called before God to humble our souls (Lev. 23:27) and atone for our sins.

Because Jesus died for us, He became the burden bearer for our sins.  At the moment His soul was released from His body, we believe that He also became our High Priest.  He sits at the right hand of God and intervenes for us now. 

Yet, this is not the end of the story.  If you are curious about the rest of it, please join us this Sunday morning at 10:55 a.m.  Pastor Ann will be bringing the Lord’s message about this appointed time and what we still need to be watching for.  See you then!

Please note that the time listed for this service in yesterday’s post is WRONG. This service begins at 6:00 p.m. sharp tomorrow evening. Pastor Ann is always punctual so please come a few minutes early. We apologize for not getting this right the first time.

Praise God!  If you live in the South, you’ve heard this term many times.  It has become a common by-word that is often used when things go well for someone, whether or not they are Christian.  There are other words we’ve all heard when things don’t go so well.

As our culture has changed and moved its center away from the Lord, it’s those other words we now hear most often.  Praising God is no longer a common practice in this country.  If you think about that for just a moment, you may realize how sad that is.

But, you say…………. WHY would I want to praise God when He lets bad stuff happen to me?    My life is difficult.  I can’t pay all my bills.  My car broke down and now I can’t get to work.  I lost my job.  My spouse left me.  The bank is foreclosing on my house or the landlord just evicted me.  My child has an incurable disease.  The list goes on.

Praise Him and thank Him for what is RIGHT in your life.  Sometimes this is the most difficult part of praising and worshipping Him.  When everything seems to be going wrong, its so hard to see what is right in our lives.  But there are always right things in our lives, when we pause to consider.  We are after all, alive, breathing, thinking.

Praising God is part and parcel of worshipping Him.  It can be simple or elaborate.  Praise can be done by an individual or a group.  It encompasses any human effort to demonstrate to Our Lord that He is recognized as the one true God and that He is honored and appreciated for that.

Praise can be a whispered thank you when a child’s fever breaks.  It can be the shout of a thousand voices singing “hallelujah.”  However praise is offered, it is integral to a real relationship with God.  How we praise God varies from person to person and culture to culture.  What we need to learn is to DO IT.

If this isn’t a habit you’ve already developed, begin today.  Look around you and say thank you God for even the smallest detail in your life that is right.  Give Him the credit that it is as it should be.  That’s it.  That’s all you need to do to praise Him. 

If you will try this for the next 30 days, God will begin to help you see your life in an entirely new light.  And you will begin to see Him in a completely different way.

If you would like to learn more about Praising God please join us this Sunday.  Pastor Ann’s message will focus on Praise at 10:55 a.m. We will be meeting again at 6:30 p.m. for a people’s praise time.  Anyone who wishes is allowed 3 minutes to get up and share whatever is on their heart that is a praise to God.  We’ll have food and fellowship afterwards and you are MOST welcome to join us.