We had a beautiful weekend! Our church held a great service on Good Friday. And we spent Sunday afternoon at my sister’s house relaxing. (To see a small album of our weekend, click here!)

What stands out to me most from remembering Christ’s resurrection this year is a sermon that Pastor Mike preached on Palm Sunday called “The Real Jesus.”

Christianity is not just about trusting but who I’m trusting in.

In Matthew 21 we see that the crowds waved palm leaves as Jesus entered Jerusalem and they shouted “Hosanna” which means “Save us now!” Five chapters later this same crowd is before Pilate shouting “Crucify him!” (Matthew 27:22)

Pastor Mike pointed out that it isn’t that the crowd was fickle as many people say, but really the problem was that they didn’t want the salvation that Jesus offered. They wanted to put their trust in a savior who would deliver them from the Romans by rising up politically. This same problem is happening today. So many people would say Hosanna–Save us now! But what kind of savior are they talking about?

When Hosanna means “relieve my pain” or “better my life” the one asking for that salvation will not find that in Jesus Christ because true salvation is from sin, not the pains and ills of life. Many people evangelize by saying that God is going to make life wonderful, but when Christianity becomes something about you, it is not Biblical.

The only right way to say “Hosanna” is when that means “Be my King!” This means that for better or for worse we are devoted to following Him. It is easy to say that we trust Him as our King, but this is seen in how we live, always striving to obey Him.

We need to make sure that we trust in the real Jesus, not who we wish He was or what we want Him to do for us. He isn’t a pain reliever or a life improvement program. He is Lord and we desperately need the salvation that He alone offers.

There is an old quote that says, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” I really enjoy reading, a lot more than exercise! The ultimate book we need to read to exercise ourselves spiritually is obviously God’s Word. If we don’t make time to pour over Scripture we shouldn’t give that time to any other books.

My favorite books to read are about the Christian life. I have found that they can serve a real purpose because they either spurred me on in my own faith or they sharpened my discernment by sending me back to Scripture to examine the book’s message.

This last Fall I read five books in a row and none of them were very good after that I had lost some of the excitement and definitely momentum of burning through books and have been trudging through a couple for the last few months. Then I saw a blog entry called the “Spring Reading Thing”…

Katrina from “Callapidder Days” has challenged bloggers to set goals for reading in the Spring (from March 20th to June 19th). It isn’t a club you have to join with rules and dues, it’s simply an opportunity to provide motivation to read.

This was the kick start I needed to get back to reading! I loved her idea of getting all your books together and making a stack on your desk or bedside table. I even went to the bookstore this week and bought one that I wanted to add to my stack! I’m not going to make a list of book titles or post a picture of how tall it is but I wanted to encourage any of you who maybe haven’t been reading much to take her suggestion.

If you need some ideas for some worthwhile books to read I hope you will check out my “Book Reviews” section (click HERE). Over the next couple of months you will see new book reviews here as I read through the stack I’ve made for Spring!

Over the weekend I was blessed to receive an e-mail from my college roommate, Meghan. She and I try to keep in touch as often as we can. I am always encouraged to hear her updates. Re-reading the e-mail tonight I was struck by her last line. After several paragraphs about what God is doing in her life she says, “In short, God is good.”Our praise and adoration of God is, at best, a brief and limited affirmation of Him. Meghan could have gone on and on but she had to try to put it in just a few words–God is good.

I started reading the gospel of Luke yesterday and in chapter 1, after Mary visits Elizabeth and the two talk about what God was working in them, Mary has an amazing song.

And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”

Luke 1:46-55

We need to regularly remember God’s goodness in the past and present. Maybe you even want to have a song like Mary did, actually sit down and put some thought into how you have seen God work. Or maybe you just need to remember to give credit where it is due when you are sharing about something in your life. Our verbal assent to His goodness is such a small praise of His majesty. Let’s remember to glorify God for His goodness!

The last two weekends I’ve invited high school girls from our group to come over to hang out and watch a movie with me at our place. It’s such a great time to connect and just talk about life, ask questions and look at picture albums we have. On Friday before girls came over I looked at all our movies and said, “Hm…What movie should watch with the girls?” Tyler pipped up with an idea, “How about Peter Pan, Mommy?”

This morning during Bobby’s sermon I thought of how much Tyler likes Peter Pan, especially the part where John leads all the children into the woods and they sing “We’re following the leader, the leader, the leader. We’re following the leader wherever he may go.”

Bobby taught Titus 1:1-9 about the qualifications of leaders in the church. Pastors are held to high standards and they must continually work hard to teach God’s Word correctly. But what stood out to me the most was a cross-reference we turned to.

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Hebrews 13:7

To be a Christian is to be a follower. In Luke 9, Jesus instructs us how to follow Him. In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul tells us to follow him as he followed Christ. Many times in the New Testament we are given an example and then commanded to imitate or follow what we’ve seen. We are to follow the example of Christ in all things and one way we can do this is by following the examples of other followers of Christ.

Hebrews shows us that our Pastors are some of the main people that you and I should be following. They are required to live up to the standard of blamelessness (Titus 1:6) so we should be able to watch and learn from them as we do what they do and teach us to do.

Not only do we need to be following godly examples before us, but we need to be leaving an example to be followed. My husband often talks about ministry as a 4-person relay race.

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.

2 Timothy 2:2

This is a great dynamic where each person is passing on to the next what they have learned and their example of following Christ. Here are the parts of the passage broken down:

#1 - “Me” is your Pastor.
#2 - “You” is you!
#3 - “Reliable men” is someone that you disciple, passing on what you have learned.
#4 - “Others” is the people that they pass on to what you have taught them.

Consider these questions to see how you are doing with Christ’s example: Do you have a pastor who is qualified? Do you follow him? Who are other godly examples that you follow? Who follows you? Are you challenging them to reach out to others?

We need to make sure we’re following the Leader and those He’s given us to follow.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Matthew 6:25-27

What do you worry about?

Some people worry about their family, finances or future. Some people worry about their life, if they will die. Others worry about school, work, food, clothes and if people think well of them. People are used to worrying, but Christians must be different. As Christians we don’t have anything to worry about.

In our high school small groups this last week we talked about worry. We called worry what it is: a sin. I think that for some this was shocker and many didn’t want to agree that all worry is wrong. When our friend Brad taught one of the small groups he said, “Life is changing and uncertain but we can have confidence in a certain God.”

Someone who is not a Christian worries because everything around them is changing and undependable. They don’t have real trust in anyone because people will always fail them. No assurance of tomorrow. They have reason to worry because they don’t have Christ.

Everything around a Christian is changing and undependable, but a Christian rests confidently in an unchanging God. Throughout all of time God remains the same. He has never broken a promise, never dealt wrongly with His children. God has a perfect track record. If we have trusted Him for our salvation then we have no reason not to fully entrust all the details of our lives and our future to Him.

In Matthew 6:25-27, Jesus gives us at least 3 reasons not to worry.

1) Life is more important than anything we could worry about. Later in this chapter in verse 33 Jesus instructs us to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” We get caught up in the physical but life is really all about the spiritual. What we need to do instead of worry is seek salvation and righteousness–these things are what is most important.

2) We are valuable to God. Jesus contrasts God’s care for us with His care for birds and the flowers in a field. God makes sure that the birds have food and the fields are clothed with grass and flowers. How much more will He see to the needs of creatures made in His own image? (Genesis 1:27) God knows everything that we need and because He made us and loves us He provides. What we need to do instead of worry is trust Him.

3) It won’t do anything. Jesus asks, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Worrying isn’t going to change the situation or give you insight into the future outcome. What it will do is distract you and take your time and energy from what you should be doing. Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” What we need to do instead of worry is take everything earnestly to God in prayer and remind ourselves who God is and what He has done by being thankful.

This might seem overly simplistic. But it’s not! For the Christian there is not one situation that calls for worry. There is nothing happening in our lives that validates worry as a response. After our small group discussion about this I began to feel kind of stupid for the things I worry about.  I am so thankful for this reminder to keep my heart fixed confidently on my unchanging Father.