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When Silence No Longer Works

September 17, 2021 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

Sometimes I have a really hard time biting my tongue, but if I’m being honest – saying nothing is most of the time a much better option! When we get all worked up and angry about something or when something strikes that one nerve and we just explode – yeah that’s not a good thing. So practice restraint. Measure your words and be very calculated on what/when you speak.

However, there is a time when silence just won’t do the trick any longer. But when is that and what do you do? Here are a few scenarios when we just need to break the silence:

When someone continually makes the same mistake, it’s beneficial to point things out so they can grow and learn from that mistake. Just be careful you don’t come across as condescending or judgmental. Offer a loving word of encouragement to lead them in a different direction.

When you’re being attacked and you feel threatened, you must say something. Either say something to the person who’s doing the attacking or in some cases, if it’s gone too far or your life is in jeopardy, then you need to say something to an authority figure. This is one of those times when speaking up is absolutely critical!

When your morals are being compromised by those around you, and you don’t feel comfortable in the given situation, you should speak up. This one gets a little trickier because not everyone has the same moral standards that you have. When your morals are being put to the test, how strongly do you hold to them? When you speak up in this area, a word of caution. Don’t be a judgmental jerk. Just because they are your morals and convictions, doesn’t mean they are everyone else’s!

When your life is being threatened, you need to open your mouth. Ok so this should be obvious but perhaps we need a little reminder. No one under any circumstances should do anything that directly impacts your safety. If this is the case, seek help immediately! But please note: directly impacts. You very well might be in situations where someone else’s beliefs or views might allow them to do things that aren’t exactly the safest. Just because you don’t feel it to be safe doesn’t mean that you will be directly impacted. An example here is speeding. Pretty much everyone does it. Doesn’t make it right. It can potentially cause an accident leading to someone’s injury but that’s not necessarily a direct impact to you, after all you’ve done similarly! If you feel the need to say something to someone about how their actions might potentially cause harm to you or someone else, understand that if it’s not a clear and direct threat that can be proven you might not get very far in your argument.

When, after a time of deliberation, research and conversation, you realize your personal convictions are being compromised and the greater good is being challenged. This is again a slippery slope. We are emotional beings living in emotionally charged times, so proceed with caution. Don’t go off half cracked here. That will only do more harm than good. If you are in this situation, do your research. Not surface level and not just one sided. Look into the opposition’s point of view. Try to see things from their side. Understand that your convictions and beliefs aren’t everyone’s convictions and beliefs. So when you speak for your convictions you will contradict someone else who is likely just as convicted as you in the opposite direction.

The long and short is that there will be times when just sitting quiet is best. But there will also be times when you just can’t be silent any longer. When those moments arise, be educated, be humble, be consistent (make sure your words and your actions line up), and be understanding that not everyone will see it your way. We can do a lot of healing if we learn to have good healthy debates again! You have your point of view and that’s great! Just be ok with the fact that I have mine as well.

Be well friends and treat the other person with respect.

Speaking Without Thinking

September 14, 2021 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

Once upon a time in a galaxy not too far from here, I would speak before I thought. My words would flow at times faster than the water over Niagara Falls. Some of those words were pretty intelligent, if I do say so myself. But others, well let’s just say not so much! And if I’m being honest, there were likely way more not so smart things than there were even half intelligent things!

But it’s not just saying dumb things that will get us in trouble. Sometimes we say hurtful things. We say unkind things. We even say untruthful things. All of these types of words can do vast harm to people we care about and ultimately can destroy a relationship.

You see words have power. Your words, once they come out of your mouth or through the inter webs on your computer or cell phone, can’t be retrieved. Once they are out there, well there’s no getting them back! You can’t apologize your way around them or talk your way past them. You just have to, in many cases, start brand new rebuilding the trust you once had. But it takes time and effort.

You see not only do words have power but the relationship from which they’re spoken carries weight as well. So what you say, how you say it and who you are to the person with whom you’re speaking all factor in to the damage done by your words (or your silence when words are most needed).

Before you hit send on that text message or facebook post. Before you reply to something someone says to you. Before you go off and spew your feelings all over someone else, hit the pause button. Ask yourself a couple of questions:

Is what I’m saying the whole truth?

Where did I get my information?

Is ruining this relationship worth getting my point across?

What do I have to gain by saying this? What could I lose?

The old adage of sticks and stones can hurt my bones but words will never hurt me couldn’t be more wrong. The damage done by our words, or lack of words, is far greater than anything inflicted by a slap on the face or punch in the gut.

The bible says in one place that our words and our tongue are like a fire burning inside us that if not handled properly can do vast damage. Words can lift up and they can tear down. Speak kindly with one another. Be silent when speaking isn’t necessary. Speak when the time is right. But when you speak, make sure what you speak is truthful, complete and said with love and respect. Be bold and courageous in your speaking when necessary. Be calm and gentle when the circumstances dictate.

Below is a message I recently gave on the power of our words. If you have a few minutes, I’d be honored for you to listen and give your thoughts.

The Best Defense Is Intentional Offense

September 8, 2021 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

At the outset I’m going to admit that I will probably, inevitably offend or upset some of you. I’m sorry if you take offense by these thoughts but this is my belief based on my understanding of the Bible. But please understand that I am admitting there are two sides of this issue and I believe we cannot stop by merely addressing one side of it.

A recent ruling by the courts in Texas and then deemed Constitutional by the US Supreme Court put a block on the unnecessary killing of children still waiting to be born. This for some was a huge defeat but for others was a significant win. But if we stop here, I believe it’s actually a loss. It’s a loss because we’re making the whole scenario rest on the shoulders of the women. Only one woman has conceived a child by herself and she’s no longer walking this earth.

My personal perspective is that I operate from a pro-life point of view. That means that I value life from conception to the date God decides we leave this earth. This encompasses all life from womb to tomb and says that we are living beings in need of the utmost care and respect. I believe being pro-life means taking care of my neighbors and looking out for those in time of need. I believe it entails helping those who are down trodden and lifting up the fallen. It’s not just a matter of life and death but a matter of enhancing life as best we can.

The ruling to which I referred deals with one very small aspect of this matter. It drastically limits what someone can do to a viable life growing inside them. And I know this ruling puts a lot of pressure on women. I can respect the concern some women have over this which is why I’m going to let the ruling speak for itself and use the rest of my time here to address the men who led to this moment.

How dare we! Men we have neglected to be the life protecting people we are called to be. To be very blunt and direct, if you’re not going to take care of the woman and the child you better darn well keep that thing zipped up. I’m tired of hearing about women being the object of some self proclaimed man’s episode of fornication. I’m sickened by the men who think they can do what they want to a woman and then leave her when things get rough.

If we’re really going to address this matter of being a life cherishing society, we’ll teach these oversized boys in our culture to be men. We’ll teach them how to get up in the morning and hit the gym. We’ll teach them how to dress up and get a job. We’ll teach them to take up a trade and work for a living. We’ll teach them to provide for the woman before they knock her up. We’ll teach them to lift up not push down on those around them.

There are far too many boys dressed up like men playing a game of pretend. Get a job with your broke rear end son! Take some responsibility for crying out loud. If you’re mad, take it out on a punching bag not a woman.

When you realize the gift God gave you in the women around you, you’ll stop thinking you can just use them as a toy for your pleasure. This isn’t a game. It never has been. A woman or a child should not have to pay the price for your weakness.

There you have it. I’m pro-life. I for the life of the unborn child just as much as I am for the life of the woman who is carrying her. I’m for the man who needs to step up and be held accountable for his actions. You can’t put all of this on one person. We don’t have to agree on all the specifics but I sure hope we can agree that we all can do a better job of looking out for and loving those around us. We all can do a better job of holding one another accountable to a more intentional way of living. We all can do a better job of being the people with our actions that we claim to be with our words.

The best way to protect life is to teach the absolute value of it – all of it.

No Cost Christianity?

September 2, 2021 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

There's no such thing as no cost discipleship.

Is there such a thing as no cost Christianity? I’m starting to think that much of what we call Christianity in our culture today is something significantly less than Christianity. As I sit to write this post, I’m in a coffee shop in central Ohio. I’m listening to music through the shop’s sound system but that’s just for ambiance. The real thing is the conversations around me. I’m curious, intrigued, and slightly appalled at the same time.

The guys sitting beside me are talking openly about Jesus which is pretty cool stuff, but there is some complaining going on. They’re talking about their church and the uncomfortable nature of how the pandemic was handled. Now I’m not getting into details here but I want us to think for a minute about the things that cause us to complain.

We complain about the temperature in the building or the volume of the music. We draw lines in the sand over preaching style and what people wear to worship services. We’ve become massively divided around issues of capacity, distancing and mask usage. And I fear this is only going to get worse. And while I have an opinion about all of these matters, none of it really matters. These are not “cost of Christianity” kind of issues.

The bible says that we’re supposed to take up our cross and follow Jesus. That doesn’t suffer some slight inconvenience on a Sunday to be in worship for an hour. It’s not putting up with a subpar praise team or out of tune choir. Taking up our cross is more. Much more.

Another conversation I’m listening to at the moment is about the situation in Afghanistan. There are American helicopters lifting Christians above Kabul with a noose around their necks and hanging them just for being Christians. The forces that have overtaken the city are going door to door confiscating phones and if you’re caught with a Bible app or even pages of a Bible in your home, you’re shot on sight.

There is an underground church in these parts of the world that are being told to deny Jesus and turn from their faith or die. They’re told that they are next to be tortured to death. In our American context, these ideas are foreign, but this is a real cost.

When we talk abut the cost of following Jesus, I think we’ve grown so comfortable with our views that when we hear something we don’t like or see someone we don’t care for or aren’t being given what we want or are asked to do something we no longer want to do – we just move to get a change of scenery or throw up our hands and say there’s nothing we can do or blame someone else.

Where’s the cost of discipleship? Where’s the not my will be yours be done? Where’s the focus on what really matters and the willingness to be uncomfortable for the sake of being right where Jesus wants us to be?

I do not wish what’s happening in Afghanistan on anyone…ever! But we need to stop thinking that getting up on Sunday to go to worship is a sacrifice. Comfortable Christians in 2021 in America need a wake up call that our brothers and sisters around the world are being tortured just for believing. They’re literally dying to go to church while we’re making excuses for why we just don’t have time to go. They’re cherishing their bibles even though it will cost them their lives, while we let ours gather dust on the end table in our living room.

Friends we need to get real for a minute. We need to realize that we have it easy. Maybe today we will step out just a little and take a small risk for the kingdom. What would happen if we loved Jesus the way we claim to love him? How would our lives be different if we actually loved our neighbors as ourselves? We just might stand out in a crowd. We just might know a little more what a cost of following Jesus really is.

What Is Discipleship?

August 26, 2021 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

There’s a buzz word in some churches these days, but what is it and why is it important? The word is disciple or discipleship. This is something Jesus talks about a lot! And the bible is filled with pictures of what healthy disciples are and why we do this disciple thing. I’m a firm believer that if Jesus commands it, we should be about it. And I believe it’s pretty clear that Jesus commands those who follow him to be about this business of making disciples. See for yourself.

Going therefore, make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And behold, I will be with you until the end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20

So if Jesus commands it and we agree that what Jesus commands, we should be actually doing, do we have any idea what target we’re shooting at? We’re supposed to be making disciples but what even is a disciple?

The technical yet simple definition is a learner or follower of someone. The idea behind Biblical discipleship was that you would do everything your teacher (Rabbi) did. There was even and old saying that went something like may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi. That means that you are doing everything in such lock-step with your teacher that even their dust kicks up on you because you’re so closely linked to them.

The definition of discipleship that I’ve used for years now is the process of being transformed into the image of Christ for the sake of others. There’s nothing perfect about that definition so take it or leave it. But for me here’s how it breaks down:

Discipleship is a process. That means you won’t do discipleship in a book or a study or a class. It happens in the context of relationships over time. But the fact that it’s a process means that it’s also replicable and comes in cycles. The idea of a process also indicates that you’re not done, not now, not tomorrow not ever on this side of eternity. There’s always more distance to go in this journey toward being transformed into the image of Christ.

Transformed. I’m reminded of the Transformer movies when I think of this word. The yellow Camaro drives down the road then all of a sudden springs off the pavement and becomes a robot. I love the cinematography in those movies but what’s really cool is that even when the Transformers are in car form the robot is still there. I mean it doesn’t materialize into a robot from something else. It’s a robot turning into a car. I think a similar thing happens with us in the discipleship process. We were created in the image of God. That means inside us, albeit broken by sin, we are created in the image of God. Discipleship is the process of seeing the perfected image of God in Jesus and letting the Spirit work in and through us.

Into the image of Christ. We’re not going to become cars or robots or something silly like that. But we will become what we spend our time dwelling on. If we surround ourselves with brokenness, pain, anxiety, worry, fear and the like, then we’ll be filled with these very things. But disciples don’t surround themselves with these things. We will face them, but because of the image of Christ being revealed in us by the Holy Spirit they won’t define us. As we’re being transformed, parts of us are removed and the stuff of Jesus comes to the front. Over and over this process is enacted.

For the sake of others. Discipleship never has the self as its ultimate end. The goal of discipleship is that the world might know Jesus as Savior. As we are transformed into the image of Christ we take upon ourselves the mission of Christ. If our discipleship is focused on getting people to look like us, we’re doing it wrong. We are not the master in this thing. We are disciples leading others to Jesus. If we’re leading people to anyone other than Jesus, we’re doing it wrong and for the wrong reason. Salvation for those created in the image of God (all mankind) should be our focus.

Jesus said he came to seek and to save the lost. That means those who don’t yet know him as Savior are people he sought while here. These should be the very people we seek to love on in the name of Jesus.

Discipleship is massively important but understanding what it’s all about will keep us pointed in the right direction.

Decision Fatigue

August 24, 2021 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

I’ve noticed a trend lately in leadership circles in which I run. Leaders have been making so many decisions at such a rapid pace, that decision fatigue is sinking in and many leaders have simply stopped making decisions. They’ve settled for sitting in the I’m thinking about it phase. They’re stuck in the information gathering and mentally processing of data stages.

While these are important to be sure, because we never want to go off half cracked and make a decision without thoroughly thinking it through; there comes a time when we have to just make a move and trust our instincts. Now if you’re a person of faith, we call that moving forward in faith. But I don’t want to assume everyone who reads this is a person of faith. So think of it as going with your gut.

My sixth grade teacher always told us when we were taking tests that our first instinct on an test question was 80% of the time going to be the right answer. If this is right, then moving forward with the gut decision is something that will more often than not benefit us and those we lead.

But why do we not make decisions? Why do we sit in the thinking phase for so long? Below are three key reasons why we fail to make decisions, and some suggestions for how to move through this phase more efficiently.

Fear Of Making The Wrong Choice

This is probably the most common issue that I see leaders facing. Deciding not to move forward because we’re afraid it’s the wrong decision only cripples all forward movement. When we stop moving forward or pivoting through challenging times, we lose momentum. It’s actually a matter of simple physics. An object in motion will stay in motion and an object at rest will stay at rest. Now there are some external circumstances that play into this, but once we let our movement stop it’s far more challenging to get things moving again.

Think about a car when it stalls. If you’ve ever run out of gas while driving and needed to push your car to the closest parking lot, you know how hard it can be to get the car moving initially. But once you get those wheels turning the force needed to keep it moving is significantly less labor intensive.

I’ll be totally honest. I hate to fail. I hate making wrong decisions, but I hate even more being in a state of constant inertia. Sitting around not moving causes so much anxiety and it is exhausting. Friends, it is far easier to change directions or make corrections to your course if you’re moving. Even if you make a mistake. Even if the direction you choose turns out not to be what you thought, it’s far easier to make corrective action as long as you never stopped moving.

If you’re stuck in this mindset, take a moment to consider that one small step you can make. Find someone to hold you accountable to making the move. Check in regularly with your team to ensure the desired shift is actually yielding the change you’re hoping it will make. But most of all, just move. Small steps are better than no steps.

A Change Isn’t Really Needed

Some would say that I like change, but they really couldn’t be more wrong. I don’t like change at all. It’s uncomfortable and painful to say the very least. But when a change is needed it’s absolutely necessary to move. The challenge however is when we wrestle with a total change when a mere heart shift will work.

More often than not, we lose steam and think a revamp of a whole system is needed when all we really need to do is turn the dial a little bit. Not all changes entail throwing out whole systems and starting from scratch. As a matter of fact the change we need to make might be simply moving personnel to different roles or changing the layout of our communication structures. Sometimes flipping two steps in a process will yield tremendous results in shorting the gap between the desired outcome and the actual outcome.

When you’re approaching change and the change looks daunting, carefully evaluate with the team if the whole change is necessary? Ask if there are smaller changes that can be made to incrementally get you to the place you’re hoping to arrive. Be flexible with your change. You never know what’s around the corner until you get there.

We’re Just Plain Lazy

The hardest one of these to type is that of the lazy leader. Lazy leaders are uncaring. They have the skills to lead an organization into a great direction, but instead of doing the hard thing and making decisions and stepping forward in action…they stall. They don’t move. They clam up. They sit back and wait for the perfect scenario in which they might move forward.

Lazy leaders aren’t leaders. They’re leeches. They suck the life out of an organization. If you’re a leader and you’re not moving forward, making decisions, leading through the challenges, then perhaps your presence is actually detracting from the life of the organization instead of just passively watching things unfold.

No action is often far worse than making the wrong action. Leaders it’s time to rise up and lead again. It’s time to research your options and move. Too many good leaders settle for good when great is attainable. Lead. Step forward. Pivot. Keep your eyes open and you just might move into a future you couldn’t even have predicted for yourself.

Make Your Move Already!

August 18, 2021 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

I have a confession to make. I’m not a patient person. I am not one who likes to waffle on actions. I don’t take a super long time to navigate the options. Now I don’t usually go around half cracked making stupid mistakes continuously either! But there is a time when we just need to make our move.

Maybe it’s because of how I was raised? Maybe it’s because I’m a type-A personality. Maybe it’s because I’m just an insensitive jerk? I don’t really know why but I really believe that not doing anything is often far worse than doing something and failing. We are so afraid of making a wrong decision that we waffle for so long. My dad was always a direct kind of guy, and he might not like it when I share this so sorry in advance Dad if you’re reading this. We used to have a saying in our house when it came to making decisions that’s a tad crass so forgive me. Either crap or get off the pot. You just have to make a move. And I think there is really something here.

I mean seriously what good does it do anyone to just sit around on the toilet! None! Absolutely none. The seat isn’t comfortable. The atmosphere isn’t all that great. The only benefit is if you’re a parent of small children, that might be the only place you can go to escape for a few minutes!

Ok seriously though, discernment isn’t easy for many people and I totally understand that. But to be fair the longer you sit around waiting to make a decision, the more you’re negatively impacting everyone in your life! You’re stressed because you have a decision to make. Those around you are tired of you being on edge because you have a decision to make. Your friends are probably catching either the complaints about the situation, the constant drone of fear and anxiety in your conversations. People who care about you and who are willing to step in to lend a hand through the time of challenge are growing weary as they wait for you to essentially get off the pot!

Failing is not fun. Making a mistake is not something anyone wants to do, but in our mistakes we find our greatest learning moments. If you’re not willing to make your move and just do something, then you’ll end up growing so confused and stagnant and isolate yourself from the very people who are there to help you and support you.

If you’re a leader and you’re struggling with making a big move, stop focusing on the big move. Just take one step. Then look for the next place you’re going to put your foot. Then the next and the next. The longer we sit there and wait for the perfect option to be dropped out of the heavens, the greater the problem becomes and the more complicated any solution becomes.

Just move. Do something. Put one foot in front of the other and before long you will be shocked how far you’ve gone. Think about weight loss. You aren’t going to start a diet and lost 40lbs overnight. You’re going to make incremental changes.

So the decision looming in front of you…move! Anywhere! Just do something. Failure is only a problem if it stops you and you don’t learn anything from it. So for crying out loud please just do something. Commit to it and move toward it!

More Than Just The Bible

August 13, 2021 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

I always thought knowing your bible was enough. I thought if we had bible verses up our sleeve for a variety of matters we’d be good to go. You know a bible verse to remind us that Jesus loves us. One that he’s always with us. One that he knows our needs and provides. One about repentance and forgiveness. One about living rightly. All the issues we face, I thought we needed a bible verse to address those and whammo we’d be perfectly fine.

But the more I think about it and the more I read the Bible, the more I think I very well might be wrong. I’m starting to think that reading our bible and memorizing verses is good and all but that’s not what we’re told to do or how we’re told to live life. I’m reminded of the Bible verse from James 2:19 that says even the demons believe God and they are afraid. I really think that many people who call themselves Christians have a good working understanding of the Bible and what it says, but they have zero clue what it means for their day to day life.

The bible is far more than a series of one liners to shoot at people, and ourselves, in good and bad times in life. It’s more than a wishing well or a fortune cookie. It’s not enough to just be biblically literate. We must approach life with the ability to correctly apply the gospel message to our day to day lives. I call this being fluent in the gospel.

Now the gospel, for those of you who aren’t aware, simply means the good news. Many of us know the good news, but we’re not all that fluent in its application. Think of it like learning a new language. We can learn the alphabet and even some key words and how sentences are structured but none of those things make us fluent. We become fluent when we are immersed in the language and the culture it represents. As a matter of fact the longer you are immersed into a given culture, the more likely you are to begin picking up the dialect of a given language. It’s like staying down south long enough and you’ll pick up a little southern twang.

The longer we’re immersed in the language and culture of the gospel, the more fluent we become in it. But how do we become fluent in the gospel? How do we immerse ourselves in the language and culture of the good news of Jesus? This will be the focus of our message on Sunday at Living Word Galena and the topic of a couple of posts next week. But for now look at John 3:16 and the surrounding bible verses and Ephesians 2. These are good primers for having a base line understanding of the gospel message. Don’t assume you know the message. Read it again. Slowly. Word by word. Consider what this means for you tomorrow when you’re enjoying the nice weather or Monday when you’re having a bad day at work. Just soak up the gospel like you do the sun when you’re lounging at the beach.

Smaller or Sent Out?

August 11, 2021 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

There’s an interesting shift happening in the landscape of the church today. Interesting in what has felt to be a very disturbing way. Interesting in a way that is scaring leadership of many mainline denominations. Interesting in a way that appears to be, by all outward appearances, the great shrinking of the institutional church. But I am curious.

Is the church decreasing or is it decentralizing?

The shift for churches to an online presence throughout the pandemic has drawn many would-be church goers to stick around at home and watch from a distance. While there are some issues here that we can go into at a later point, we need to resist the urge as pastors to jump to the negative on this one.

Is this a hurdle or an opportunity?

The short answer is yes! This is a hurdle in the sense that many of those who are not joining in the worship experience in person are missing out on some massively beneficial aspects of what the church is supposed to be. They’re missing the family connection when they join worship together with other believers. They’re missing out in many cases on participation in communion as a body of Christ. They’re missing out on the realization that they are part of something significantly larger than themselves.

But it is also a wildly exciting opportunity if we just take time to engage the possibilities. Through the pandemic, as many churches shifted to online worship or made their current online options more robust, the increase in those who participated in some form of worship engagement was astronomical! The church I serve saw an online engagement that was 200% or more higher than our normal Sunday attendance pre-pandemic.

Additionally, now that we are online many of our members who were unable to attend for a variety of reasons from health to mobility to job requirements all have the chance to participate in worship.

So what would happen if we looked at the shift that’s happening as an opportunity? How can we empower and equip these members of our churches to be missionaries in their communities when they’re not at church? Newsflash but when the church first got rolling in the New Testament they didn’t have brick and mortar buildings or programs out the wazoo. They had people to love and hold accountable. They met in homes and in neighborhood settings.

A word of caution to you pastor type people. Don’t lower the quality of your online option to make people come back to in person gatherings. I’ve heard that and it makes me sick to my stomach. How underhanded is that really!?

A word of caution to those of you not willing to engage in worship in person. The longer you’re gone from in person gatherings with your church family, the harder it will be to get back with them. You’ll find any excuse in the book not to come, and we’re already seeing it.

Love one another well. Serve one another without expectation of repayment or without a what’s in it for me attitude. Just be the church (the people of God) for goodness sake and watch what God will do when his people are faithful to his call on their lives!

The church is not shrinking. It’s moving to places we never let it go before and it is terrifyingly exciting! We’re witnessing the great decentralization of church away from institutional into incarnational.

Right Place, Wrong Reason

August 10, 2021 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

Have you ever missed something right in front of you because you were looking for the wrong thing? I mean you’re standing there, looking at the shelves in the grocery store, staring right at the item you’re supposed to buy and you can’t even see it because it’s not what you had imagined in your head it was going to look like. I’ve been there more than once, sadly to say.

This week we took time to be honest with ourselves about what we’re looking for when we come to Jesus and when we go to church. Are we looking for the things that Jesus promises to give us? Or are we looking for the things that will make us feel better? Because to be honest, these are not generally the same things.

In the bible there’s a time when the people came to Jesus looking for food. Instead of feeding them in some cool and miraculous way, he told them he was going to give them something better than food. They were astounded, and stammered in disbelief. What could be better than food they thought.

Jesus told them that he was going to be more to them than mere food. He was there to be their bread of life. It seems an odd statement but when you realize what Jesus was doing it makes sense. The short version here is that Jesus was showing them that when we come to him and his church looking for him we’ll find him and we’ll have many of our others needs met or at minimum refocused. When Jesus is our focus and growing in him is our number one priority, we’ll soon realize that the things we’ve been looking for all along have left us hungry for more of the wrong thing.

It’s like eating a snickers candy bar. You eat one and you’re not hungry for carrots or a steak. You eat that sugary goodness and you’re just hungry for more sugary goodness. But if you get your fill of something good and healthy for you, you won’t be craving the things that are not going to do you any good.

Jesus is the same way. When we long for him and find our fill in him, the other things of life: physical needs, financial needs, social and relational needs, belonging needs, questions about our purpose in life – all these things get refocused when we’re in it for the right reason.

Here’s a message I gave on this idea of looking for the wrong thing in the right place.

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When Silence No Longer Works

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