Chase after Christ

Recently I heard from a friend whom was struggling….. As I started to write, maybe this is something others could relate to, so I thought maybe it would be good to share….. While protecting their identity and situation, as when I read this, it might apply to a lot more than that situation….

As i read your message, i hear a few things beyond the details. Let me see if i can coherently share what i hear.

First, i hear the voice of someone with a hunger to have a sense of being significant to others. To be accepted and cared for. Your comments seem to be about what others think of you. You have a heart to not want to offend others. You have a hunger to be in a community.

Second, i hear the voice of someone who has some internal pain and hurt. Unresolved and struggling to heal.

Third, and maybe the place i would start, is a hear the voice of wanting to know what "you can do" and i have a sense that this is the pursuit of "trying to do things through your own power". That this is all on you!

So, where i will start is that i will share my heart and direction and convictions in life. I know that we may not have the same foundation of beliefs and i want to be respectful of yours, but i will also strive to kindly and respectfully share my convictions.

I am going to begin with what I believe are the foundations of being emotionally, physically, professionally, and spiritually healthy. This may sound super churchy, but i really don't believe it is, as it is what has become the fabric of who I am after my journey in live that has included cancer, pain of fail relationships, mentorship, career development, and taking every trial, sin, mistake, victory, and triumph as an opportunity to learn and grow and become more and more like the the man the Lord designed me to be.

Every situation and experience in my life has been a tool in the hand of the Master as He mentors me and mold me and helps me grow and mature. The Lord is more concerned with my character and less concerned with my circumstances. He is asking me to listen and follow Him. To take each moment and strive to respond to each of them in a what that honors Him and is obedient to Him and let Him take care of the results. My success and victory in life is not measured by earthly assessment, but by whether or not i have been obedient and followed my Master. The condition of my life may eb and flow, and yet if i have been obedient and honored Him then i am on the right track.

This is the foundation of what i strive for and how i would advise others. Let me translate.... My joy, peace, hope, love, purpose come from that perspective and not what people think of me. Not at work, not at church, not family. If I focus and derive my value in live by responding to my Savior, Lord, and Master, and let Him take care of the results of this as in His hands and not mine. That they are His responsibility and not mine, then self worth, purpose, peace, hope, joy, and being comfortable in my own skin naturally are a product of the condition of my obedience not what others think.

My Lord and Savior are the cornerstone and foundation of my life. Even when I screw up, and get off track, i know where truth is, and where "true north" and where my value is founded and the direction home. I know that "what i do" does not determine my value. "What I do" does not predicate if i am Loved. I cannot earn love. Earned love, is not LOVE. Love is defined by my Lord and Savior and true love comes from those that are His. Look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-13

He teaches us what love is!
1 Corinthians 13:4-13
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

His actions give evidence that He loves us!
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I would actually suggest reading all of Romans 5 as this talk about how He died for us while we cannot earn His love. He loved us while we were His enemies and sinners and how our character is developed in life.
Romans 5

I will point out that if we make our Lord the top priority, that means everything we do starts with Him and becoming the men and women that start everything by striving to follow Him and what He taught us as the "secret to life" or "His commands". I am convinced that He is Good, and that all of His commands are for our benefit and for our good. And while Jeremiah 29 is written for a situation for Israel, but i am convinced that it shows the character of God and is the principle of how He loves us.
Jeremiah 29:11-14
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

I think it is important to know in our hearts that "Nothing can separate us from the Love of God".
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

His Greatest commandments are the secret to life.
Matthew 22:36-40
[36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

He wants what is best for us (even when we don't understand).
John 10:10
10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Peter got it... He knew who to follow even though he didn't understand. He knew who had the answers, even if he didn't understand them.
John 6:68-69
8Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

So, let me wrap this up..... I am convinced that healing, hope, joy, peace, love, and purpose come from chasing after Him, and not putting so much weight on the opinions of others. So I will go back to what i shared earlier "joy, peace, hope, love, purpose come from that perspective and not what people think of me. Not at work, not at church, not family. If i focus and derive my value in live by responding to my Savior, Lord, and Master, and let Him take care of the results of this as in His hands and not mine. That they are His responsibility and not mine, then self worth, purpose, peace, hope, joy, and being comfortable in my own skin naturally are a product of the condition of my obedience not what others think.

My advise to anyone is ,where ever you are these days, find a home church where the bible is the authority and guide, and not the pastor or culture or social change and chase after Christ! Let him take it from there.

John 3:16-21
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Matthew 7:7-12
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.8For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Remember to find a quality home church community!
Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Does this help? I hope it does and that you take care of yourself and chase after Christ!

Have a great weekend!

~Brian