PHOTOPHILIC

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Following Jesus
submitted by: Tim Lewis

January 2010

"If anyone would come after me, 
he must deny himself and take up 
his cross daily and follow me." 
Jesus, A.D. 31


I hate that verse. Be honest, you 
do too, don't you? I like verses 
that talk about the promise of 
eternal life and forgiveness and 
grace, but I tend to skim over 
the ones that talk about denying 
myself what I want. Why? I'll 
admit, it's because I'm selfish. 
I want to do what I want to do
--not what God wants me to do.

And that's exactly what get's me 
into trouble. 

 
 

It has become a Christmas 
tradition at our house each year 
for my wife to get me a C.S. 
Lewis book that I haven't yet read. 
This year I received the "Space 
Trilogy." I'm not usually a science 
fiction fan, but I've thoroughly 
enjoyed these books, probably 
just because Lewis wrote them.

At any rate, in the first book 
(Out of the Silent Planet) a man 
travels to a distant planet and 
meets all sorts of odd looking 
beings who are rational just like 
humans but have never 
experienced sin, the fall, and its 
resulting damage. What's 
fascinating is the way these beings 
refer to our planet and human 
behavior. They describe our planet, 
Thulcandra in their language, as 
being "Bent." Human beings are 
described as "bent" creatures, 
and those who are particularly 
evil are referred to as "very bent." 


For some reason that description 
of sin resonates with me. I'm a 
bent human being living on a bent 
world that is far from the way God 
designed it to be. Because of my 
bent nature I struggle daily to 
allow God to be God in my life.

Have you ever thought about why 
Jesus commands us to deny 
ourselves? Is it just because he 
doesn't want us to have any fun? 
Is he just stern and angry? I don't 
think so. We're commanded to 
deny ourselves because it is the 
only way that we can really live. 
Our selfishness just bends us 
more and more. Only Jesus can 
make bent things straight.

We have to change our mantra
--from satisfy myself to deny myself. 
You need to do this because you 
can't straighten out your life on your 
own. Every single day you face 
challenges that you can't overcome. 
You'll come to a place where you 
want to engage with your kids, but 
you won't because you're worn out. 
You'll want to be a better marriage 
partner, but you won't have the 
love that you need. You'll want to 
make a difference at work, but 
you'll lack boldness and energy. 
Finally, you'll come to a place 
where you say, "God, I can't do it. 
I give up."


And God will say, 
"Finally. That's exactly 
what I've been waiting for."

Cultivating An Appetite For God

Timothy Lewis March 9 at 1:10pm

After fifty years in India as a Methodist missionary and following over sixty years his conversion to Christ, E. Stanley Jones reflected in his autobiography on the immediate change resulting from giving his heart and life to Jesus Christ:

"When I walked out the next morning following my conversion, I walked out into a new world. The trees seemed to clap their hands; the sky was never so blue, and nature was never so alive and radiant. I walked up to my chum, Ras, slapped him on the back, and said, 'My, what a d- fine day,' using the old vocabulary to express my newfound joy. The angels must have smiled and said, 'He's trying to say "Hallelujah," but he doesn't know the language yet. Let him alone; he'll get it.' I said to myself: 'Why, I can't say that again. I'm converted.' And it dropped away. I was to find a new vocabulary for a new type of life, for He converts us and our vocabulary....

"Sometimes while going to church the gang on the street corner would call out: 'Hello, Stan, going down to see Jesus?' And the inward answer was 'Yes, glory be!' For going to church is just like that-'to see Jesus.' But their taunts grew fainter and fainter and finally died as they saw I was lost to their crowd. I was marching to the beat of another Drummer, and I was trying to keep step with Him...."

Marching to the beat of a different drummer. What a tremendous way to describe life in Christ! Jesus gives our life a new tune, a new cadence or pattern to live by. We can't create an appetite for God any more than a rock can create an appetite for water. We are totally dependent on the Spirit of God to do a work in our hearts that we can't do ourselves. With that said, however, we can take steps to cultivate and encourage the appetite for the things of God that we had when we first trusted Christ as our Savior. Stated another way, how can we maintain a healthy appetite for the things of God? Here are just a few steps:

1) Give yourself to God totally. Make a decisive, deliberate decision daily to surrender yourself completely to God. This is where living with Total Abandon begins.

2) Meet with God regularly. Part of hungering after God must mean setting aside time to meet with him--even if just to pray "God, make me hungry!"

3) Walk in the Spirit. Every day our sinful nature will provide us with a thousand different reasons why we shouldn't obey the plain and clear teachings of Scripture. However, as Christians we are called to walk in the Spirit not in the flesh. Determine to listen to the "still small voice" of God within you and obey His leading as revealed in Scripture.

4) Pray transparently. A.W. Tozer once wrote that the only prayers that God responds to are honest prayers. There is so much phoniness in much of our praying because we ourselves are living a phony life. Be real when you pray. Confess your lack of passion of God, your careless words, your dead spirit, or your lack of zeal. Quit pretending before God. Transparency before God leads to a greater appetite for God.

Put all your chips on the table this week. Be honest before God by admitting exactly where you are spiritually. Seek God with a sense of desperation. I promise you He isn't hiding. He is merely waiting for you to admit your need for Him.