choose your battles...

I read something interesting about Conflict in 2 Chronicles yesterday. I had never noticed this before.

Josiah was a great king. He rid the nation of foreign Gods like no other had, celebrated Passover in a way no other king had, but at the end of his reign he died because of an avoidable battle.

He didn't know the difference between his battle and "a" battle. He takes his army out to meet King Neco, who is on his way to fight an unnamed enemy. King Neco tells Josiah not to get involved because God is for him and Josiah would lose.

Then the bible says something strange, it says King Neco was right. God was with this king from Egypt. But Josiah disguises himself and they battle anyway and Josiah is killed with a random arrow.

I started wondering why he fought. Was it an old grudge against Egypt? Was King Neco on his way to battle one of Josiah's friends? We're not really told.

What we are told is King Josiah died pointlessly in a battle that wasn't his business and ended up fighting against the God he loved and served more faithfully than most of the kings in Jerusalem.

Because he didn't know the difference between his battle and "a" battle, he died.

It is particularly sad to read what happens to his people and his country in the following few months and years because of his death. This is an important lesson for me and think its worth asking the question to you....

What battles are you fighting? Any chance you're actually fighting against God?

I get the sneaking suspicion Josiah thought God could never be with or for a King from Egypt...and sometimes we may be convinced God couldn't be in or for or with this or that or the other, and we open our mouth and disagree before seeking God to make sure we aren't really fighting him in the name of fighting "a" battle.

imaginary lines

We draw imaginary lines habitually, like an addict distracted from what is really happening in front of us because of our internal knee-jerk need to get a fix, we draw lines.

A good example is the Insane Campaign we are doing at The Vine. I sent the support letter to everyone in my email explaining how we are trying to finish a facility to benefit the kingdom of God in the area of Braselton, Georgia. One response I got basically asked me not to send this letter to anyone from “their” church.

A line was drawn because this person didn’t understand and they have good reason to think the people from their church wouldn’t understand why a person from one church would give dollars to another church in America.

Now, that same person or same church has no problem when a missionary to another country asks for dollars to help finish a facility to expand the kingdom of God in that non-North American area. Why the line?

Think about when Paul from the Bible would go on missions, the churches he had started helped support the ones he was now starting, and they all basically would have fit within a geographic location smaller than the United States.

Can you imagine people writing Paul back and saying, “We won’t be supporting this particular venture of yours because it’s relatively close geographically. If you however choose to travel further away, beyond our own country’s border, we would consider helping.”

Lines are stupid. God didn’t put these lines here. Its ridiculous. 

and now is the time to burn

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too far is never too far

check out this story...and you'll see there is no such thing as being too far from God

if only two

brilliant. i watched a large part of a documentary on a composer tonight that was nothing short of brilliant. renowned and famous and just crazy enough to be a magnificent musical mind. 70 years old and still writing, composing, scoring.

as a part of the documentary the composer's wife emotionally admits their paths are parting as a result of his overwhelming love for music to the neglect of his family. but it isn't unlike the stories of so many great writers, composers, artists, and unfortunately, evangelists and historic foundational christian leaders.

so focused on a gift, passion, or call, the most basic of calls falls neglected and atrophied. family finds last place. wesley is the great spiritual father of the methodist and wesleyan movements, yet he was an insufficient husband at best...i have heard the same of moody and many other great spiritual fathers of the church. so emboldened by the gospel to reach the masses, the few, the families were left behind.

like every young musician and artist i longed to be known, to make an impact, to change the world...like every young musician, those dreams were mixed full of impure motives and imperfect desires. now a bit older i no longer feign at fame and have little or no desire to be known across america and/or the world for my abilities and gifts.

a large part of that is family. i am not always the father and husband i long to be, but when it comes down to it, i am a father and i am a husband. i am not just a person living in the same house. i am father to brennan brave and liam noble and husband to cynthia lisabeth and at the most basic, this is my first call. God has given me a wife and children for a reason.

do i want to see thousands and thousands of thousands come to know Jesus? yes. do i want to advance God's kingdom at the expense of the kingdom he has placed within my own home? no.

and this is the very reason i will, with most likelihood, never be famous, and i will likely never be known, because i will not do what so many have done: work harder at work than at family.

if i reach only two, if only brennan and liam stand before the throne of my Lord redeemed and in love with Jesus more than life... than i did exactly what God has asked me to do.

now ask yourself this question...especially if you have a problem with this...why does this make you uncomfortable? why is there part of you that wants to barb back with, "just make sure you do everything you can." or "you better not pass up an opportunity God puts in front of you." or even, "your wife and kids will understand if..."

sounds like pharisee talk. sounds like law disguised as freedom. sounds like legalism pretending to be the gospel.

you likely have one of three responses to this. either you completely disagree, you are uncomfortable with the idea but don't know why, or this is refreshing and possibly freeing for you.

all i can say is....be free. for i would rather not be known at all in the story of history because of only reaching two, than to be known for reaching thousands at the detriment to my own wife and children. this to me would be complete failure.