BJ Gilbert

Habit

bj — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:37:03 +0000

Yesterday, as i was leaving band practice, i stumped my toe on my emergency brake pedal while getting into my truck. And man, did it hurt. i ended up having to pull over shortly, because i realized that blood was pouring out the tip of my toe. So as i cleaned my wound, i was trying to think about why this happened. It’s not like we vary up the way that we get into our vehicles…. i wasn’t like, “hey, i’m gonna try and get in my truck this way,” and then BAM, i smack my toe! i get in my truck the same way every time, and well….this was just a freak accident. This eventually got me thinking about habits–the habits that we form and are immersed in on a daily basis. i will probably be all over the place here but hopefully it makes sense. First off, i think good habits are a good thing, but i think habits can also be our enemy–and not just bad habits either. When i think about a “habit,” i think of this broad “thing,” comprised of several other “things.” For example, i’m not married, but i have an idea of what it will be like and i know that it should be a habit for me to love my wife, if i’m blessed with one and the same being said about her. There are also going to be several things that we do to show our love. However the things that we do to carry out that love should probably vary if we want to “keep the fire alive.” If i woke up and said/did the same exact thing to my wife, it would eventually get old although they were in themselves, good things. i just used marriage because it was an easy example, but this translates to basically anything in our lives. Think about your faith. We should practice good habits–community, reading the Word, praying, etc… But, there are some things that we might do habitually that hinder our relationship with the Lord that aren’t necessarily bad things but can end up becoming distractions. i’ll let you ponder that for yourself. Miguel de Unamuno said in his book, Tragic Sense of Life, “The satisfied, the happy, do not live; they fall asleep in habit, near neighbor to annihilation.” If we’re not careful, our habits can lead us into complacency, preventing us from the life that we were meant to live. He also said, “To fall into habit is to begin to cease to be.” Habits can cause us to miss out on a lot so we should be careful. They can become the wall that separates ourselves from the world around us. Just because you’ve habitually done something that’s worked all your life doesn’t mean that there is not a new and better way to do it or that you have an excuse to be ignorant of things that can happen. i’ll conclude by saying that we should form good habits, but be open to new ways to do things. We should always remain true to ourselves and our habits should always be encapsulated by the word of God. Be mindful of things that can happen as a result of your actions. And if you stump your toe, be more careful.

If you read this, i’d like feedback on what you think about habits.

The Intangibles

bj — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:02:05 +0000

So i’ve been thinking about this quote for some time now….it’s from Lee Stroble’s book, The Case for Faith. I don’t know if he said it or if someone else did but anyway, it says….”Only in a world where faith is difficult, can faith exist.” And how true this is! We wouldn’t need faith if we never endured hardship and all we knew was good. This is also true for many other intangible things such as love and courage. Courage can only exist in the presence of fear and difficulty—we must overcome fear to be courageous. There will always be “something to lose”/consequences as a result of our actions (there is a right and a wrong). We won’t always experience them (consequences) but they’re still present. If they were not, we would never have any reason to work hard and try our best at things—we would never need to depend on God b/c we would never have to make that choice–He would have been a mere provider. We would never have to choose right if that was all we knew.

LOVE—- It’s because of an evil and corrupted world that we can understand the depths of love because of what Christ does through people during hard times. i feel like we couldn’t love other people wholeheartedly if there were no reason to reach out to them…which i guess turns into there not being any reason to love at all. i mean, if your teacher said that they were giving you an A on a test no matter what, would there be any reason to study? 1 Cor 13:4-8 wouldn’t exist unless we understood what love wasn’t. “⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, 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…….” Patience and kindness can only exist if people have the choice of being impatient or unkind, and etc…. LOVE NEVER FAILS—–we could never know this unless we knew that failure exists in the absence of love (We see this in the world everyday). “Love never failing” happened when Jesus gave His life for you and I–which was the perfect display of love. Love never fails, God is love, God never fails. Love you all

To honor our parents……..

bj — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:42:51 +0000

So, lately i’ve been thinking about what it means to honor our parents. i think alot of times, people translate the word honor as meaning “obey.” And i disagree with that. Yes, we are called to obey our parents, but Ephesians 6 says ”Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” So there is a difference in merely obeying your parents and obeying them in the Lord. It seems as though this scripture is saying two things: 1) We should obey our parents, assuming they are followers of Christ and 2) If they are not, our decision to obey must be in line with His word. One thing i don’t know is if the word “children” is refering to certain aged individuals (as in a young child) or children of God, which would be all Christians. However, i don’t know how relevant that is to understanding what this means. Anyway, as i stated earlier, i don’t think that honor=obey. For example, if you are a believer and your mom or dad was not and you obeyed everything they commanded of you, there would clearly be some decisions on your part that were in conflict with the word of God…..b/c your parents aren’t Christ-centered. If your mom or dad said to go steal money for them to go buy drugs and you did that, you would be obeying them, but not honoring them or yourself b/c that isn’t what’s best for them and you would be breaking a commandment and the law. Basically what this translates to is that there could possibly be times that we have to disobey our parents in order to honor them. There will be times that we disobey them to “obey them in the Lord.” To honor them is to love them as Christ does, and to act as Christ would. We have to be bold and keep our faith.

i live a different life than my parents. i have hope and faith in Christ to work through me and others to reveal himself to them….i see this at work on a daily basis through our conversations, and when i’m able to spend time with them at home and it’s very exciting. But there have been many situations that required the “flipping over of a table, or two.” Sometimes we have to be bold and take a stand for what we know is right. And all of this is up for interpretation…… what do you guys think about this issue (want to add anything?)

Water would be nice

bj — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:34:45 +0000

So, i’ve been in a funk lately…..i guess the best way to describe it is just being spiritually dry, or possibly complacent. i feel like it’s stemming mainly from my personal time, or lack thereof, with the Lord. There hasn’t been a lack of daily dialogue with Him, but it’s been hard for me to stop and rest in the word—not that i don’t have the time, but that when i do sit down to read, i’m not all there. i’m very distracted by external things. Honestly, my desire to be in the word is basically missing. What i want and what i desire are two different things right now. i want to be in the word, i’m obligated to read the word, and i should be in the word….but i don’t desire it right now (i want to desire to be in the word). Because of this, i’ve noticed that i’ve been getting frustrated easily with people and i thank God that it isn’t being played out in my actions and that i haven’t blown up at anyone, but i literally feel like i’m imploding. Another contributor is a lack of community—on a one on one basis. i’m surrounded by a great group of people and we have amazing times of fellowship each week and i work with some amazing men and women everyday but it’s hard to disciple and pour into other people when you don’t have someone doing the same for you. i’ve sought that out now and the Lord has provided, which is very exciting. my mood is actually changing as a write this post. Maybe i just need to write things out more often.

Can anyone else relate?

Rejoicing Through the Tears

bj — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:40:37 +0000

A couple of Thursday’s ago, one of my really good friend’s mother passed away from pancreatic cancer. She was a wonderful woman and had an amazing heart. She was a joy to be around and never had a hard time cracking a smile. i found out about the diagnosis this past summer and it hit me extremely hard, and no doubt, many others as well. It was a very empathetic time….it’s so hard to comprehend empathy as being a gift from God when it hurts so badly. However, i know that it’s empathy that leads us to love others the way that Christ did. i rejoice because of what Christ did through her and her family and because of where she is now. Funerals are never easy, but when i think about it…..the beginning of life actually starts with a funeral–when we die to ourself and choose Christ.

It’s enough to make me go crazy

bj — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:28:24 +0000

Jesus’s main concern is not that we stop sinning, but that we experience and live in His love and grace. He didn’t come to earth to make us stop sinning. He didn’t come to turn bad people into good people. He wanted to be with the people He loved forever. He was and is the means of an eternal relationship with the Father. We were hopeless without Him. He paid the price that WE DESERVED. So in knowing what we really deserve, why is it that we somehow get in the mindset that we deserve certain standards from this world–particularly from people. For example, we think we deserve to be treated nicely by others, we think we deserve a thank you after every good deed, etc… And when these things don’t happen, many times it effects us. This world is so corrupt and we expect so much good from it, which doesn’t make sense at all. And yet…..i do this far too often. Jesus was rejected his whole life, was beaten and spit on, and nailed to a cross–dying a criminals death to bring life to the world and here i am getting upset because someone didn’t thank me after i gave them a compliment, or wasn’t appreciative of my help. My gosh, who am i serving here?…..certainly not the Lord. The answer is myself. i know there’s a problem when i do something for someone and i let it affect me negatively because they didn’t act a certain way or didn’t say what i expected. i’m no longer serving them or God at this point and never was in the first place. We are a culture so insulated within our own selfishness and pride that we’ve lost what i means to wholeheartedly serve our neighbor. Our idea of service is, many times, based on the benefits that we receive as a result of serving……I want to do something for someone because it makes me feel good; I want to do this for him/her so they think highly of me; I want to give some money to my church or this organization so I can get a charitable contribution deduction on my tax return. Here’s the thing……..when we make these our ends for serving, whatever it may be, that’s all we get—you might feel good….for a little while, but it won’t last. All these things are temporary fixes to a problem that is much bigger than we understand–our pride, which fights to have control over us everyday. i just think it would be so amazing if we could learn to serve the Lord first and allow His love to pour out of us into the lives of others. i feel like that’s what real service is–i mean, He loved us first and He is love. When we learn to serve the Lord, and only Him, we’ll find that all of the things mentioned above and so much more will be thrown in—yes, even the tax deduction. So i ask, what does it look like for you/for us to serve wholeheartedly?

Walk in the Word update

bj — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:31:50 +0000

Ok, so i’m through the first 11 chapters of Genesis. i want to comment on a few things that stand out. i’ll try to keep it as brief as possible.

Gen 4 –> Cain and Able: It’s in verse 5 that Cain became angry and it’s here that temptation crept in. The Lord intervened to let him know that “sin is crouching at his door” if he can’t control his anger. We have to master sin, recognizing when it’s at our door and not let our feelings and emotions get the best of us. Cain’s sin was not being angry, but it happened when he acted out of his anger and jealousy. Offerings are a type of worship to God. There is a right and wrong way to worship. The thing is, God is free to accept or reject and we should always be mindful of our motives.

Gen 6 –> God’s instructions to Noah: The world is just as evil today as it was back then, if not worse. I wonder, what would it look like for each of us to be the Noah of today, for each of us to find favor in the eyes of the Lord? Verse 11: The earth was corrupt in God’s sight. Here’s the thing……our perception of corruption will be off unless we see through the eyes of Christ. There are things that we do that feel right and pleasurable but also corrupt our souls. We can’t assume that the things that feel right are always right. We need to tune our hearts to be in sync with His so we can monitor our actions and words and do His will.

Gen 11 –> Tower of Babel: How often do we try to make a name for ourselves just like these people? We start thinking that our lives are all about us instead of doing the work of God. We confuse (which is what Babel means) ourselves. This story shows that we have magnificent potential when we work together, but our potential is damaging when we ignore God. The goal is to bring the two together–to have people working together with one heart and one purpose; a heart focused on Jesus and a purpose to know Him and make Him known–i mean, that’s what the church is, right? Our potential is far more magnificent when this happens.

My Daily Prayer, for the time being or maybe forever

bj — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:55:40 +0000

So, it’s on my heart to read the entire bible, cover-to-cover. However, more than my desire to do this is my desire to know the Father more and more each day-to draw in close to Him. For this purpose i didn’t put a time frame on when i want to complete it, but i do need accountability.
So….my prayer is:
God, give me the desire and discipline me to live in
Your word daily. You are the source of life and all
that is good in my life is from You. i want to draw
near to You and know You more intimately. Father,
lift me out of my selfishness and pride, so that i
may live in the light of Your glory and grace, and
live a life that is pleasing in Your sight.

Lookout Genesis

Update

bj — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:54:00 +0000

Well, this is my first post in a little over 2 months. So much has happened between then and now and there is no possible way for me to fit everything into a single blog post, so i’ll try to keep this update as short as possible. God has totally rocked my world in these last few months–in a good way. Since the beginning of summer, i figured i would be gearing up to move to Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville, or some other city to venture out into the world of public accounting. i wasn’t making plans, but i’d be lying if i said i didn’t expect that. i expected to be working and coming home to my “comfortable, settled” life, starting this January. Well, for this season of my life, those doors have somewhat closed but other doors have opened and new opportunities have emerged and are still emerging. Stepping back to assess the last 1/2 year of my life has shown that this is totally a God thing. These doors shut, not because of qualification issues, but b/c of timing issues, and well……His timing is perfect and this is what He had planned. The Lord is still at work here. He’s been teaching me about the life i’m called to live, which is not based on my will, but His. This is all very exciting. The uncertainty of life excites me, it’s what makes it an adventure. i’m not immune to fear, but these fears are what keep leading me to the foot of the cross. i feel like the Lord is leading me to a place where i must depend solely on Him. We hear and read about this all the time, but seldom do we live our life as if we are completely dependent on Him. We’ve got so many distractions surrounding us that depending on our own strength and other people sometimes becomes second nature. i’m speaking to myself as well. The Lord has made it clear that if i don’t willingly embrace a completely God-dependent life, He’s going to eventually force me into it. So, i can either wonder around in the desert, or venture into the promised land and experience the fullness of all that God has in store—and this is what pumps me up. And this is where i’m going to stop for now. i’ve got some more details about this that i’m going to write about, but it will be in my next post so this one isn’t too long. i wish all of you well. He loves you, as do i.

some thoughts on prayer and life

bj — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:05:00 +0000

Many times i’ve prayed, and heard other people pray something along the lines of, “God, give me the strength to …….. so that i can stand up to these enemies,” or “God, please get me through this situation so that i can……….and be a strong man/woman of God,” and other similar things. This is something that i’m really trying not to do in my prayer life. When we pray like that, we are only focused on ourselves and the situation at hand. We/I basically push God out of the way to focus on those things. Now, i do believe that our motives can be right and we just word it this way, but it’s still hard for me to make the connection between the two without feeling that something is “off” there. However, it’s not my place to make any conclusions b/c God searches and knows the motives of our heart.
Continuing….i think praying for strength is pointless anyway. We were given all the strength we would ever need when we accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. So, we can’t get additional strength from anything else b/c it comes from God. i think what we must do is embrace the fact that we are weak and can do nothing apart from Him. It’s only when we fully surrender our lives (whether it be school, work, relationships–all types, marriage, raising a family, etc…) to Him that we’ll understand what real power is. We were made in His image. We all want our character to be in line with His. But the only way that can happen is if we deny and humble ourselves before Him because He is everything that we are not. So that means focusing on ourselves is focusing on what we are not because we are saved and redeemed sons and daughters of God–that is who we really are. Focusing on ourselves leads to death. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” - Proverbs 14:12 ….AND we can’t allow ourselves to be manipulated into thinking things that are really of this world are of God–i’ve been there and this happens when we’ve become complacent in our faith. We end up trying to find satisfaction in the things of God and of this world which lead us away from Him. We eventually get to a point where we can’t even discern between the things of God and the things of this world and we just live our lives thinking that everything is God….little do we know that we’re really killing ourselves and wounding others in the process. We become impatient and allow ourselves to be guided by mere emotion and feeling. Like i mentioned in a previous post–we end up building walls around ourselves and it’s just a bad and dangerous place to be. The thing we have to understand is that there is no emotion attached to faith–just because we can’t feel it doesn’t mean we can’t believe it and vice versa. Emotions are like a trailer being pulled by a truck–they will follow along with whatever is in control. If we allow the Spirit to be in control, our emotions/feelings will help us experience God and will lead us to Him. But, if we allow them to control us and we think about ourselves and our situations, we will be led away from God, becoming one with the world and not one with Him. The truth of the world is contrary to the truth of God. What seems like a good idea is actually something that blinds you from the truth and if you stay on that road too long, you end up crashing, possibly wrecking others as well–it’s like trying to drive in the fog with your bright lights on.
i pray that our entire lives, including our prayer life will be God-centered. He is our strength, He overcame death and saved us because of His mercy. We did nothing to deserve it. What we long for the most is Jesus, although we sometimes don’t realize it. Nothing of this world can satisfy our needs, so there is no use in searching in it. Sometimes when i’m going through tough times, i just want to “get away” from life. We must understand that He is where we go to do that. i’ve found, and i’m sure you have as well, that to “get-away” in something other than Him, in the end, becomes a huge distraction and we end up walking a path of sin. Everything we need can be found in Him. We need to declare this and embrace the strength we have in Him and live in the truth of who we really are.