We can often have a tendency to define ourselves but what we view is “right.” For example, there is the person passionately promoting their teaching, training, or book. “This is it, this is what God is doing in this hour, if you buy this it will change your life.”

In Matthew 22 the Sadducees were passionate about what they thought was “right” pertaining to the resurrection. “Moses said,” was their opening statement. This might be defined as the “My dad is bigger than your dad, nya, nya, nya, nya, nya, nya” approach.

In Matthew 22:34-36 the Pharisees take a shot at exalting their “rightness.” A smooth talking lawyer asks, “What’s the greatest commandment? There are so many good things one can do, honor parents, keep the Sabbath holy, don’t touch lepers, or have no other gods.”

This is similar to the people today promoting their books on prayer, or warfare, missions, or walking in the kingdom, to the point you are not “right” if you are not involved in it.

Why is it so important to be right? The lawyer basically said, “What commandment can I keep, what can I do that will make me right, acceptable in God’s sight?”

In my home growing up, not “being right” could get you hurt. My dad would give me some type of job to do and if I didn’t do it “right,” I got jumped on. If I didn’t know to be quiet at the right time, it could get me yelled at or slapped.

Jesus answers these questions in verses 37-40, “Guys, it is not about who knows the most or who is most doctrinally correct or who can do the “right” thing the best. Guys, it is about love.”

On love hangs all the law and the prophets. Galatians 5:14 sums it up, “All law is fulfilled in one word—love.”

I love maps. I really do—especially world maps. What I like about them is being able to see the big picture, the entire world at one time, and how things relate to one another. On a map, I can look and see how far away Cuba is fromFlorida. I can look at Colorado and see how far away the Rocky Mountains are from the Smokey Mountains. Robert was just in India last week, and I can determine from a map that he was totally on the opposite side of the world from me. Maps help me put things in perspective as to where I am.

There are times when I wish I could see the map of my whole life, from beginning to end, pinned up on a wall, but I can’t. However, I do know Someone who can—Father God. He knows all about me, when I was born and when I will die; everything that has happened in the past, and all that will happen in the future.  As the song goes, “He’s got the whole world in His hands,” and since I’m on that world, I’m in His hands.

God knows every little thing about me. For some people, this causes fear, as if He’s a “big brother” surveillance camera, waiting to catch them doing something wrong. For me it brings peace. It causes me to be at rest knowing that this world is not just some freak happenstance, and my life isn’t some chaotic randomness of time and events. No, I believe God has a map of my existence, where He can guide and direct me daily. He knows where I am in relation to everything around me, and He has a plan. Jeremiah 29:11—“I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster; plans to give you a future filled with hope.” Now that’s a good perspective. I really love maps.

I personally have taken on the challenge to run a marathon this year and I have been training for months. This is a long-term goal I am working towards.  Paul, in 2 Timothy 4, talks to us about living that marathon life-of enduring, longsuffering, watching, and fighting, to finish our course. Our society today is not real big on any of these. Technology is usually designed to make things easier on us, not harder. But our lives should be different from the world; we are to walk through a narrow gate, not the wider, more comfortable one.

When our problems are fixed quickly, we tend to fall back and get more lenient, not necessarily seeking the Lord every day; but when there are challenges and mountains ahead of us, we fall on our faces and cry out for mercy.  This is the true life of a Christian-diligently seeking Him, going for those insurmountable odds, knowing that it is His grace that causes us to triumph, and believing “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me!” And notice that it is “I.” It is not Him doing it, we are. “We” have to get intotraining, pick up our hiking sticks, our running shoes, and learn how to do it. He will strengthen us, but it is us who has to walk it out.  Let us take our responsibility to finish our course, leaning on Him for guidance, and going for the summit regardless of the pain and discomfort. We are overcomers taking our life-long trek of 26.2 miles, one step at a time.

The subject of conscience and empathy is quite fascinating. On the far bad end of the scale you have the sociopath, who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience. Their chief characteristic is a lack of empathy because they cannot feel another’s pain. From this far end is a broad middle, where most of us have a conscience functioning at some level. What is fascinating is the role our conscience can play in keeping us from sin and moving us toward intimacy with the Lord when functioning well at the good end. John Sanford describes this well:

“There are two kinds of conscience. There is an active conscience, which causes remorse after the sin. It operates by the law. It seldom if ever works powerfully enough before the event to prevent it. It reminds us that we have failed the Lord and ourselves, but seldom if ever makes us aware of our brother’s hurt. It makes us aware only that we failed to be what we set out to be. It seldom moves us to real repentance. Repentance happens when we are hurt for the sake of the Lord and others. Remorse remains self-centered and is seen in terms of our own failure to perform.”

Then there is a healthy conscience that leads to real repentance, which “is a result of the gift of love. If I love someone, and my spirit is awake and alert, it checks me before I do a potentially harmful deed. Love constrains me because I cannot stand to hurt the one I love.”

(P.122, Healing the Wounded Spirit, John Sanford)

When we lack identity in God’s love we will have fears to deal with since it is love that casts them out. 1 Jn.4:17 Fear leads to control; a lack of vulnerability, having walls up.

“In a shame bound family system there tends to be rigidly defined boundaries. This causes the development of self to get cut off early. Children learn to value defiant individualism over the ongoing dialog of relationship.” (Facing Shame) Most teenage rebellion can be found right here!

It is so easy to be drawn to charisma in leaders. However, is this what qualifies someone to lead? The body of Christ has had some big leaders fall in recent times. Dutch Sheets recently said, “We, the leaders of the charismatic community, have operated in an extremely low level of discernment. We assume a person’s credibility is based on gifts, charisma, the size of their ministry or church, whether they can prophesy or work a miracle, etc. We leaders in the church have become no different than the world around us in our standards for measuring success and greatness.”

We, as the body of Christ, hold some responsibility too, not just the leaders. How often do we run and support leaders that have gifting, that may minister healing or a prophecy to us, yet have almost no concern as to whether or not they have integrity in their lives or ministries?

Who will we look to for our next president? What ministries will we support? Is speaking well, charisma and gifting enough? Is it all about the “big name” people or dynamic prophecies and visitations? It is time for the church and our nation to grow up. We need to be good stewards of who we support in government and the church.

Jack Frost used to say, “Anyone can stand up and give an amazing testimony, but I want to ask the wife and kids what the change has been.” This is the integrity test. What is life like in the homes of these leaders…or our own? I believe God is looking for integrity in our jobs, our marriages, our families, and our ministries. 1 Sam.16:7 tells us to look at the heart, not at outward appearances. May God give us greater discernment in these times we live in and become men and women of true integrity. 

It’s that time of year again-fall soccer season.  A time for sunshine, grass stains, Gatorade and muddy cleats.  As I was praying for my son’s upcoming game this week, the thought occurred to me, “I bet God has a soccer mom’s heart”.  What is a soccer mom’s heart? It’s one that wants to protect their baby from getting hurt, yet wants to see them excel and grow into maturity. It’s one that yells from the sideline to play hard, yet is in anguish inside when she sees her child fallen on the field. It’s a heart that desires her child to be the best that they can be, yet without having to “perform” to be loved. They love their child, win or lose, clean or dirty.

A soccer mom takes their child to practice, washes their smelly uniforms, and stands out in the rain during games with a poncho from Sea World on, much to the child’s embarrassment.  She screams, she cheers, watching and encouraging. And not all the focus is about scoring a goal. Yes, it is great when it’s your child that scores the winning goal, but not everyone is supposed to be a forward and shoot. (You see, you learn all these terms for the positions when you are a soccer mom.) There are forwards, midfields, wings, goalies, different positions with different jobs to do on the team; but we moms just want them to do their best and give it their all in whatever position they play.

I believe that is how God feels about us. I think He does have a soccer mom’s heart. He is always there for us, taking us through “practices”, cleaning up our “stuff” when we get dirty, encouraging us to play harder and run faster. He is also always there when we walk off the field after an agonizing defeat, putting His arm around our shoulders saying how proud He was of us for hanging in there and trying our best.  And best of all, He is always there to support us even if we just sit on the bench and never get in the game. He loves us no matter what, win or lose, clean or dirty.