Finding our Identity in Christ - Part 2 of 3

One of the things that greatly shapes our identity are the voices that we listen to. There are many voices that speak to us - the voice of Christ, the voices of our culture, the voices of others and the voice of self-doubt. Some of these voices can be conflicting and create confusion, fear and anxiety in our lives. While we don’t always have control over the voices that speak to us, we do get to choose which ones that we actually listen to.

In John 10 Jesus tells the parable of The Good Shepherd where Jesus is the shepherd and we are his sheep.

John 10: 2-5 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

There are several great lessons for us to take away from this passage:

1. Like the sheep, we must learn to recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd over all of the other voices that speak to us. Many of these other voices are in conflict with the voice of Christ like the deceptions of our culture and the opinions (real or perceived) of others. The better that we know His voice, the easier it is to distinguish it above the others.

2. We must also learn to run away from the wrong voices that create fear, anxiety and confusion. To do this we have to “control our intake” - Who/what voices are we listening to that create anxiety and fear in our lives? Our intake contributes heavily to the voices that we ultimately listen to and give weight to.

3. As sheep always do, we have to stay close to the Shepherd so that we can hear and recognize His voice among all of the other ones calling out to us. As the scripture above says “he calls his own sheep by name.” He knows us intimately and will never leave us or forsake us but it is our responsibility to seek him in our lives daily.

Psalm 95 6-7 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice…

As I write this, I am reminded of the low ropes exercise at JH Ranch where you are blindfolded and are supposed to be guided up a hill by only listening to the voice of your father. But then, other voices come in and try to confuse you. That is a great picture of our lives on a daily basis. Many voices speaking to us - to whom shall we listen?

“The voices that you listen to on the inside, will be reflected in the lives that you live on the outside.”

Let’s choose wisely,

Big E

Finding our Identity in Christ - Part 1 of 3

Our identity is basically a combination of how we define ourselves to others, along with who others would say that we are. Another way to think about our identity is our “self-worth.” We each have a separate sense of “self” and a sense of “worth.”

Our self is the “durable core” of who we are in all of the various roles that we have in our lives - husband, wife, parent, student, worker, friend etc… That “self” travels with us in all of our roles and defines the core of who we really are.

Our sense of worth is what makes us feel significant and confident of our value as a person. The combination of our sense of self and worth make up our identity.

We attempt to form our identities in one of two ways. First, we may try to create one ourselves and project it outwardly for the world to accept. This approach is very common today because current culture embraces radical individualism. There is complete freedom to be whomever one wants to be. All of this freedom is not necessarily bad but it can go to a bad place --- especially if we attempt to create our own core identity. Let’s look at a few reasons why:

1. It would be an untrustworthy identity – Our feelings & desires cannot always be trusted - they often conflict with who we want to be and who we are. We have good and pure desires and we have impure and selfish desires marked by greed, jealousy etc..…

2. It would be a changing and unstable identity – It wouldn’t be a “durable core” that stays with you all of the time. It’s always evolving as you move through life from your teens, to 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s. School, career, relationships, physical features all change over time so an identity that is tied to any of those is unstable.

3. It’s an illusion – We attempt to create an illusion that we want everyone else to see. This identity is not based on the feelings and desires that you always have but those that you want to show others.

4. It’s a huge burden to have to create and manage an identity – You have to create a persona and a dream and then go live up to it and try to prove who you are. Social media fuels this with the added pressure of “status anxiety” by trying to create the ideal identity for everyone to see and approve of.

•5. It requires relativism for us to feel good about our own identity. It’s not enough that we feel good about what we have created but also how it measures up to others. My illusion vs. your illusion.

The idea of creating our own identity clearly has a lot of flaws. The other way to form an identity would be to “receive” one from somewhere outside of ourselves and adopt it as our own.

Ephesians helps us determine the right path:

Ephesians 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

As Christians, our identities are to be “received” - not “achieved.” We receive the name of Christ in calling ourselves Christians and “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” There is no pressure in having to create something that we have to try to live up to every day. An identity in Christ is stable, unchanging, not an illusion and can always to be trusted. Doesn’t that sound like a better than trying to do it ourselves?

Stay hungry,

Big E

The Cost of Freedom - Part 4 of 4

I’m sure that you can tell by now that Christian freedom is something that I place a lot of value in and have put some thought into. I believe that once we fully grasp these truths about the costs and benefits of the true freedom that the Christian life provides, our lives will be richer and more impactful. For our last look at this subject, we are going to address the most important aspect of Christian freedom of all - our freedom from sin.

As believers, we know that God sent his son Jesus to die for us. He became the sacrifice for our sins and we no longer have to follow the rituals and customs under Old Testament law for forgiveness. We are free of having to keep the law in order to earn our salvation. We now have a new covenant with God as a result of Jesus’ death on the cross. True Christian’s with a “saving faith” are covered under God’s grace for all of our sins - past, present and future. As a result, we have salvation and eternal life with God for the sacrifice that was made on our behalf. That is the cost and benefit of our freedom from sin.

In light of the above, there are a couple of key questions that I want to address:

Since we have freedom from sin, what should our attitude be toward sin? Should we even worry sin at all?

I believe that one simple concept, along with the scripture below, helps put this matter in the right perspective:

The Christian life is freedom from sin - not freedom to sin.

Yes, we are still going to fall short and sin - and yes, we are forgiven by God’s grace for our sins. In spite of that, it doesn’t mean that we should ever get comfortable having sin in our lives. There are many reasons why but first and foremost is because God hates sin and our hearts should be aligned with His so that we hate it as well.

There are many warnings about getting comfortable with sin in scripture:

Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature: rather, serve one another in love.

1 Peter 2:16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants for God.

In these passages we are being instructed not to use our freedom from sin as freedom to sin but to serve/love God and each other - the two greatest commandments. A saving faith will condition our hearts in such a way that we have a desire to be obedient and to please God.

Stay hungry,

Big E

The Cost of Freedom - Part 3 of 4

There is a great double irony in the Christian faith involving the freedom that we have been discussing. Most people that stay away from the faith do so because they don’t want to give up certain “freedoms” that they want in their lives. They want to do what they want to do and when they want to do it. What they don’t realize is that some of those same things that they don’t want to give up actually lead them to bondage - addictions, idols, opinions of others, endless pursuit of pleasure etc... On the other hand - the Christian life, which is perceived to require lots of restrictions, actually leads us to freedom.

Here is the basic premise behind how that works:

• True freedom is not living with no boundaries, it’s living with the right boundaries.

This isn’t just true as it relates to our faith; it’s true in every area of our lives - our health, relationships and finances to name a few. If we don’t have boundaries/restrictions with our diet and discipline in taking care of our bodies, we are not going to be happy with the result. The same is true in relationships. Boundaries have to be established and honored to develop “true relational freedom” that is based on trust and respect instead of doubt, envy and fear. Lastly, if we don’t have well established restrictions on how we handle the financial blessings that God gives us, we will not enjoy financial freedom but instead find ourselves in bondage to debt and materialism.

These examples show how a lack of boundaries and disciplines can lead you to a bad place in each of these important areas of our lives. It’s equally true with our spiritual lives. This is most important area of all and a lack of boundaries there ultimately leads us to all sorts of sin. Alternatively, look at what it says in Psalms about the results of obedience:

Psalm 119:44-45 I will always obey your law forever and ever, I will walk about in freedom for I have sought out your precepts.

The word precept is defined as “a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought.” This verse provides us with the answer of how to obtain true freedom in Christ - by seeking out and following the precepts of God and being obedient.

In order to do this it requires that we have certain boundaries and disciplines in our lives. A wise wise man once said:

The personal disciplines that you form, will end up forming you.

Stay hungry,

Big E

The Cost of Freedom - Part 2

Growing up, I never really liked fairs and carnivals - funnel cakes and clowns just weren’t my thing. As an adult, I didn't like them for the same reasons but also for the fact that you had to have those “dreaded tickets” to do most anything - tickets, tickets, always having to buy more tickets.

Disney was more my style. Someone paid at the gate and then it was “all you wanted for as long as you wanted.” There was no money or tickets to have to worry about at all. You just get to enjoy all the park has to offer. That is, until you got hungry or thirsty. $$$

I think that our lives as believers are somewhat like this. Someone else has paid for us to have the opportunity to be admitted to the Christian life and now we are free to go and do what we want to do - with some boundaries, of course. But yet, we get physically and spiritually hungry/thirsty and there is a cost associated with that. At Disney it takes money to satisfy our physical hunger/thirst. To truly feed our spiritual hunger/thirst our cost is intentionally seeking God. As we pursue Him and nourish that relationship, he nourishes us.

We all know what it is like to be “hangry” - irritable and of no good to anyone until we get fed. We can be like this spiritually as well when we allow ourselves to feel distant from God by not intentionally spending time with Him and looking elsewhere to fill that void. God created us to be relational with Him and when we don’t do this, it ultimately results in us either “running on fumes” or trying to refuel with something that our “gas tanks” were not designed for.

Our lives will reflect the quality of those choices. This passage says it well:

Colossians 2:6-8 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.

When we are “spiritually hangry” there are many options available for us to try to quench that hunger/thirst - entertainment, achievement, possessions etc… These things are not necessarily bad but can become liabilities for us if we are trying to use them to fill that spiritual void. They may satisfy for awhile but they all have diminishing returns and will ultimately leave us unfulfilled and empty. You don’t have to look very far to see plenty of examples of that.

As the verse above says, don’t be taken by the “hollow and deceptive philosophies of the world” but rather pursue a growing relationship with our Creator and Savior. Entertainment, achievement and possessions can all be part of our lives but are meant to be pursued in a healthy balance with an intentional and growing relationship with God. He knows what our priorities are and those priorities will be revealed by what we passionately choose to pursue.

One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes is: “If I find in myself desires for which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

As Christians, we are ultimately made for another world. But, we are in this world now and God has a great plan for our lives. Are we “running on fumes” or full of His love and grace to pursue His plans for us?

Hunger and thirst for Him,

Big E

The Cost of Freedom - Part I

On the 4th of July our nation celebrated the 243rd anniversary of our independence. Ironically enough, Julie and I were in England on that day - the very nation that we had to battle for our freedom. Even though the US and England are great friends now, there were no celebrations or really any visible signs that we would typically see in America that day. We had a few nice well wishes from people that knew we were Americans but things were pretty quiet other than that. The one memorable reference to the “Fourth” was a British radio show which polled the audience for the greatest things that America had ever given England. The top three responses were the TV show Friends, the iPhone and Budweiser. Yikes. I am not sure if that is more incriminating for us or for them….ha

The next day we were down in Cornwall, England - the southwestern coastline of the North Atlantic. (Amelia Island is 4000 miles away straight across the ocean :-) We had the opportunity to visit what was probably the most charming seaside church I have ever seen - St Just in Roseland Church. With roots back to the 1200’s, it’s quite humbling to walk around the church and think about all of the people that have visited there before you.

As we spent time in the church, there were two images that were powerfully present. The first was a beautiful stained glass depiction of the crucifixion that is hundreds of years old.

The second was a registry of signatures of all the American and British troops (fighting on the same side this time) that had worshiped there leading up to D Day during World War II. They were in camps nearby and were literally waiting for the word to leave for the beaches of Normandy, France for the D Day invasion in June, 1944. Many of them would die or be wounded and this would have been the last place/time that they attended church. Powerful to say the least.

What these images represent to us are strikingly common in a few key ways:

• Both came at a cost - Freedom is never truly free

• Both bought our freedom - Christ’s sacrifice bought us freedom from our sins while the soldiers sacrifice bought us the privilege of continuing to live in a free country.

• Neither could we have accomplished on our own - We can’t save ourselves. it required someone else acting and sacrificing on our behalf.

I certainly don’t equate our American citizenship to our heavenly citizenship as Christians but they are both nonetheless powerful images that help us remember the sacrifices that have been made for us.

One day prior we were in London on 4th of July where virtually everyone was, understandably, unaware of what that day meant because they weren’t Americans. I can’t help but think of how many there are that are also unaware of Christ’s sacrifice. True freedom is available to all those who put their faith in Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. The Spirit of the Lord lives in us as believers so that freedom is available to us. But, that freedom can also be misunderstood.

Over the next few weeks I plan to address the freedoms that we enjoy as Christians as well as the cost of those freedoms. It’s truly one of the most special blessings that come with a saving faith and it’s important that we understand how it should impact our lives.

Stay hungry,

Big E

A Trowel and a Sword

Nehemiah lived about 400 years before the birth of Christ. He was a Jew and it was during the time after the Babylonian captivity of the Jews when they were trying to rebuild Jerusalem. He lived in Persia and had the highly trusted position of cupbearer to King Artaxerxes.

Word got to Nehemiah that the progress for rebuilding the city wall in Jerusalem was very poor. Walls were very important back then for defense and to build a self-sustaining community. Nehemiah sought and was granted time away from his position with the King to go and try to lead the “impossible” task of rebuilding the wall. He had tremendous success in doing so and the story of Nehemiah is looked upon as a model of great leadership, faithfulness in prayer and perseverance.

During the rebuilding process they faced many obstacles - including direct opposition by those who didn't want to see the wall rebuilt. In Chapter 4 verse 17 it refers to the laborers and how they actually did their work with one hand (with a small tool called a trowel) and held a sword with the other. I believe that this is an excellent picture of how we are to live our lives as Christians.

In one hand a trowel - we are called to work. Work is a privilege and a blessing. We work vocationally in whatever role God has us (school, career, homemaker) and we also do Kingdom work as we serve God and others using the spiritual gifts that he has given us. There are many scriptural references regarding work but my favorite is Colossians 3:23-24: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

In the other hand a sword - which has a dual purpose. A sword can be used to defend but it can also be used to sharpen. Our swords are needed to face opposition. Often that opposition is our own sinful nature as we battle pride, sins of the tongue, envy and all of the others sins that we must contend with. This is the ongoing battle that we face between our sinful nature and the Holy Spirit living in us. Galatians 5:17 speaks to it as “being in constant conflict with each other.” A sword is a great reminder not just that we continually have to fight that battle but also that God has EQUIPPED us for the fight.

A sword can also be used to sharpen. We need daily sharpening and we do this by exercising spiritual disciplines. The one that I want to highlight is the one that Nehemiah did so well - pray. Under his leadership, they were able to accomplish a task that seemed impossible and do it in a time frame that was even more impossible. Nehemiah was truly a man of action but before he did anything - he prayed. This was consistent throughout the whole story and serves as a great reminder to seek God daily in prayer. A wise man once said:

“You can always do more than pray after you have prayed but not until you have prayed.”

Stay Hungry,

Big E

Life Verses

Hello family and welcome to bigefamjam.com! I hope that you will enjoy the site and blogs. Feel free to respond to them if you wish. I am also open to any suggestions for making it better. Just let me know.

I feel a little funny about having my name (Big E) on the family website but famjam.com was already taken. This site and blog is about our faith and family and certainly not intended to be about me. However, personal experiences certainly shape our views on matters of faith and life so I will draw on those from time to time. Today is one of those times…

I have had 3 different life verses since adopting my first one when I was around 25. The first one was Job 8:5-7 If you would seek God and implore the compassion of the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, surely then He would rouse Himself for you and restore your righteous estate. Though your beginnings are small, your end will increase greatly.

I may be the only person on the planet that adopted a life verse from the book of Job. Ha. I also kind of took the verses out of the context in which they were delivered but, nevertheless, they really spoke to me at that point in my life. My life was pretty simple then and we were in building mode in terms of career and family. It was very encouraging to think that if I truly sought after God and pursued a pure and upright life, then our humble beginnings would increase over time. The theology behind that was a little “works” and “rewards” oriented but my intentions were on the right track.

My 2nd life verse came along in my mid to late 30’s. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a sprit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

This verse really connected with me during those years - and still does today. As Christians we have the power of the Holy Spirit living within us. That power should not leave us timid but bold. The Spirit is also one of love as we are called to love others as ourselves. Lastly, the Spirit should produce in us spiritual disciplines to help us mature in our faith and self control as we seek to live a life that honors God. We are to take on the likeness of him who we follow - Christ.

A couple of months ago, I attended a retreat at Pursell Farms - sort of an adult version of JH Ranch. That time away gave me a chance to reflect and helped me to realize that I needed more “hunger” in my life. I had allowed some things to be on cruise control and that is not where God wants us to be. I wasn’t very far off track but just needed some renewed focus and goals in some key areas. This blog is a product of that process.

This led me to adopting my 3rd life verse - Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

I’m at the stage of my life now that I know that the things of this world do not satisfy, but I still need to remind myself of that at times. I love the thought of “staying hungry” as we seek God and pursue holiness in our lives.. The true richness in life is in loving God and His people and serving them with the gifts and resources that He has given us. Such a simple concept but so easy to get distracted from.

If you haven’t found a life verse yet, I would encourage you to begin thinking about it. God will reveal one at the right time. I’d love to hear about it!

Stay hungry,

Big E