I read a good little book recently that helped me put some things into perspective.  It didn’t particularly tell me anything that I didn’t already know.   Rather, it sort of reinforced what I had already been thinking on the matter.  I appreciate the advice I had gotten to read the book (thanks Dave for letting me borrow it).

So what’s this about?  It’s certainly a provocative title, but it can’t imply that I intend to cheat on something, right?  Well, the way the book puts it, something or someone is always going to get cheated in our busy lives, and it’s just a matter of who or what.  For me, the issue is time management.  I have a lot on my plate and not enough time to handle it all.  That means that I have to prioritize and cut things short or cut them out entirely.

I have been giving this a lot of thought recently, and I’ve decided on a few particular principles that have become non-negotiable.  First, I need some time for personal devotions.  Simply put, I need to hang out with God.  That means prayer, scripture, time for reflection, and possibly some other edifying books.  Firmly in second place needs to be my family.  Dinner time is essential.  Bed time with the kids super quality time.  Relaxing time with my wife at night is wonderful.  After this, things tend to get foggier.

I thought it’d be fun for me to digitize my current “to do” list, partially to help me sort it out, partially for future reference, and partially for fun.  Here goes, in no particular order…

• Prepare my house to hit the market in a month
• Complete dialogue paper for Apologetics course
• Study for and take final exam for Apologetics course
• Hire a new employee for my company (essentially my replacement – it’s complicated)
• Train said employee
• Grow my business and maintain what we’ve got
• Find a new church home in Charlotte
• Apply for seminary scholarship
• Look for other sources of financial assistance in anticipation of our “seminary adventure”
• Come “under care” of my session and my presbytery
• Continue developing the Men’s Discipleship program at church
• Disciple as many people as possible before we leave, especially the relationships that are already developing
• Have as much quality time as possible with my extended family before we leave
• Write a sermon to be preached hopefully this summer before we leave
• Write research paper for Church History II course
• Study for and take final exam for Church History II course
• Read as much of my book backlog as possible
• Lose some weight and get in shape
• Maintain my low stress level through all of the above

As I examine this list, it strikes me as absurd!  Seriously, how am I going to get all of this done in the next few months?  I think I’m going to have to cheat.  The question is where do I cheat… I expect the Holy Spirit will guide me to the answer, and it’ll be fun to see how He helps me work it out.

Whoa!  I have been so busy that I haven’t blogged in over a month.  During that time, I have learned a lot about something that’s not always pleasant to think about.  There is this whole other world out there, or perhaps it’s just another dimension.  I’m talking about the spiritual realm.  Most of us feel the forces of the spiritual realm from time to time, but for the most part, we tend to ignore it.

The spiritual realm is most apparent to believers, and possibly to those dabbling (or swimming) in the occult.  What most of us spiritual folks don’t realize is that there’s a massive battle going on all around us, all the time.  This is spiritual warfare.  It’s the classic good versus evil plot, except it’s real, and you and I are part of the story.

Nothing I’ve read (aside from the Bible) paints the picture better than The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.  It’s a fictional written dialogue between a junior demon “Wormwood” and a senior demon “Screwtape”.  We see an example of a purely spiritual discussion like this in Job 1:6-12, though that conversation is between God and Satan.  More on that later.  Anyway, The Screwtape Letters is a thought provoking, eye-opening example of the cunning, opportunistic, and ruthless nature of the enemy.  This book really helped me understand better the nature of the force we’re up against as believers in Jesus.  As I read it, I often found myself saying “wow, I didn’t imagine that the devil would do that.”  Well, he does… and his henchmen have been assaulting me relentlessly lately.  I’m picturing their strategy meetings… “Let’s attack that Jason guy, he’s been really stressed out lately.  Let’s make sure he has no time to pray and let’s see if we can get him to argue with his wife.  After that…”

Practically, what this means for us is that we need to be on guard. The enemy attacks in a number of different ways.  His classic target is, of course, our weak points.  He loves lies, anger, busyness, stress, fear, and despair.  The enemy also loves to bolster our doubt in God, our pride, our envy, and our insatiable need to succeed.  Not all of the enemy’s tactics are apparent, though.  Often he’ll use half-truths or he’ll give us a sense of false hope.  He’s the biggest fan of self-reliance… no doubt he invented the notion.  His method of attack can also vary greatly, more than we care to know.  He seems to have direct access to our minds, and he manipulates our thoughts.  Shockingly, he can also use our loved ones to deliver his lies (2 Corinthians 11:12-15).  That means that at some point, YOU were probably used to achieve the enemy’s agenda.  Scary, huh?  It’s anything to weaken our faith, especially if our faith is not very strong.  For this reason, new Christians should guard their hearts and be vigilant (see Romans 16:17-20).  The enemy has you high on his target list.

The enemy also loves to get involved when we go through the difficult times in our lives.  I can easily provide testimony to that effect.  These are the times when we must put our faith and trust in the Lord that His way is the best; His way is perfect.  If we’re not strong in the Lord, the enemy swoops in and sows the seeds of destruction.

The enemy, the devil, Satan, or whatever you prefer to call him, is an extremely powerful spiritual force.  He should not be taken lightly, and he (and his forces) should especially not be ignored.  It’s better to know what we’re up against and do something about it rather than to ignore our problems in hope that they’ll go away.  We do that a lot, don’t we?  The good news is that God is MORE powerful than the enemy.  Back to the Job reference… notice that Satan is conditionally granted permission to attack Job.  The Lord is indeed sovereign!  Nothing falls outside of the Lord’s control, not even Satan.  Thankfully, He has also given us the Holy Spirit to aid us here on Earth on this perpetual battleground (2 Thessalonians 3:3). Our greatest weapon in this battle is prayer.  The enemy HATES prayer.  All we have to do is to ask the Lord for His help, and He provides.  All things considered, it’s not even a fair fight.  God has already won, and He will continue to have His way with the enemy for the rest of eternity.

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I read something recently that suggested something like this “Speaking in public is one of the scariest things a person may do in his lifetime.”  Can you identify with that?  I’d have to agree.  I have very limited experience speaking in public, only a handful of opportunities really, and I can remember the sheer terror of every single one.

Needless to say, that phenomenon has crossed my mind once or twice as I think about what it might be like to be a pastor.  I’ve been really excited to perform nearly all of the duties typically required of a pastor, but the idea of me preaching a sermon has myself mystified.  My wife gets a kick out of the idea as well.

All at once I felt scared, excited, anxious, and eager to preach.  Thankfully, much of my fear and anxiety has been washed away after having read a book suggested to me by my pastor.  The book is Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley and Lane Jones.

Even though I have never prepared or preached a sermon, I thought this book was great.  I devoured it in only a few days!

It includes a list of seven excellent principles suited for a sermon intended to promote life change in the listeners.  Apparently, that’s not always the intent of the preacher.  That baffles me.  According to the sources I’ve read, many preachers are satisfied if they are able to teach the Word of God.  They “leave the rest to the Holy Spirit”.  As the authors of the book put it, we’ve got to give the Holy Spirit something to work with!

Don’t get me wrong, I hope my future listeners are able to learn the Word of God from my sermons, but that won’t be my primary intent.  As with all other things I do as a servant of Jesus, I want people to develop and strengthen their relationships with the Lord.

I hope I never lose sight of that.

A pastor at church suggested this book for me and I must say, I loved it!  Paul Marshall delivers a message about our responsibility to live in, learn from, and react to the world that God has created for us.  He emphasizes the importance of living in the here and now, embracing the moments that God has given us.  He focuses on topics such as work, rest, play, education, imagination, innovation, salvation, and worship.  He ties together these aspects of life in a way that convinces us to be consistently faithful in every aspect of our lives.

By vocation, Marshall is not a minister, but he incorporates his experience as a geologist into a variety of interesting stories to assist in the delivery of his message.  Like many of us, Marshall has struggled to figure out what his calling might be both professionally as well as his responsibility to follow God’s path.  After prayerful consideration, he decided that God hasn’t laid a clear path of stepping stones for us to follow, but rather he intends for us to make sound decisions based on the experience that He has given us.  His experience has taken him all over the world, having met an assortment of people that have left their marks in his memory.  Each one has affected him and left him with a greater understanding of God’s handiwork.

The most memorable and unique parts of this book are his emphasis on embracing the world we live in.  He explains how we can take advantage of our positions in secular jobs to minister to people specifically by showing them God’s love.  He reminds us of the importance of rest, pointing out to us, lest we forget, that God rested on the seventh day of creation, and he made it a point to underscore its significance.  Marshall also encourages us to play, or to engage in an activity that serves no purpose other than itself.  God wishes for us to delight in His creation!

Perhaps the most interesting statement Marshall makes is with regard to creativity and the arts.

… God wants our clothing, our food, our speech, and every single thing we do to be a response of creative, imaginative, stylish, and joyful creatures.

It makes sense.  Folks aren’t interested in a religion of people that are boring.  Jesus, especially, was far from boring.  Marshall challenges us to live with vim and vigor, jubilantly celebrating God’s good work.  The primary message I’ve taken from this book is to let the world see our love, our faith, and our delight in the world we live in.

Purchase this book from Amazon here or borrow it from your church library like I did!