"Take Off" conclusion chapter

I hope that this small book is of any way a help to you to spur you on towards the pursuit of God and the depth of obedience that you need to have to really soar in your life as a believer. It is possible to be a believer and to barely take off; it is possible to watch others from the “ground” and to wish you yourself were like that but to never get on the runway. We must give God everything we've got. We must have faith in God, trusting in nothing less than God Himself. We must have hope in God and all that He promises, and to not settle for hoping only in things that are of temporal concern. Finally, we must love God and people with the love that only God gives, doing this as frequently as we can and praying that the Holy Spirit would show us where and how the Father would have us show this love.
The journey of one's life is much comparable to that of riding on a river. We are born, we get into our boat, and we float downstream. The current carries us along and if we want we can do nothing to get where it's taking us. There are many people on this river, in fact, every human being. Jesus Christ is standing on the banks, calling out, “Don't go downstream! The end is certain death! There is a waterfall coming and then the rocks—no one will survive!” Those who listen must decide whether they will change course or not. They must decide to paddle upstream, and that's hard and it takes all their lives. People float by, looking at them like they're crazy, mocking them and telling them that there's no such thing as a waterfall. While believers do not have to fear the eternity of death in hell, it is very possible that they plug in their Christianity into the downstream model. They follow Christ as it is convenient, attempting nothing for God and thinking that the good life is the easy life. We must believe that the river only leads to peril and a life wasted. We must believe Christ and pursue Him with reckless abandon, giving Him our best and losing ourselves to His purposes. The life of a believer is intended by God to be an upstream passage, going to God in faith though the journey be hard. Through faith, hope, and love, let us travel there with the strength that only God can supply, knowing that this is the life to which our whole being would find true, deep, everlasting joy. The life of a believer is so radically backwards from what the life of the unbeliever is like—at least it should be. The people of this world will never want what we have if we ride the river just as they do while claiming Christ as Savior. This is not change, it's only a labeling of what we find is our purpose. No wonder so many people are saying, “What you believe is fine for you and what I believe is fine for me; we will all get to where we're going.” This problem must be attacked, and the best way we can do this is to live the life ourselves to which Christ calls us.

"Take Off" chapter three

CHAPTER THREE: LOVE
II have been involved in ministry in various forms for probably at least ten years (though in those teenage years it was very little). Something that I was faced with within serving was the reason as to why I did it. This is still something I have to battle with all the time—why do I really “serve”? Do I do it for what people think? Do I do it to make my parents proud? Do I do it because it gives me purpose and it's what I know? Do I do it for the perks of ministry? Do I do it because I simply love God? I hope that in time that I may consistently resound with the last answer.
What is love? The 1990's song, with a skit created around the song, is very comical and yet the question, aside from all the humor, remains. What is it? How do you describe it? What is the at the core of this word? “Love.” I want to go to a few passages and help you get this concept in your head: the love of God is unlike any kind of love that humans could ever come up with on their own. Why? Because our love is contaminated by sin. Our concept of what love is far less of what God's concept of love is. We must know the difference to know how to employ the difference.
The first thing to know is that not everyone has the ability to love with “God-love.” The Greek word for the greatest form of love is “agape.” John says in 1 John 4:7-9, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.” In all of its usages in 1 John 4 (look at it, there are many more), love is used with the word agape. This kind of love is a selfless, unconditional love that comes from God and can only be channeled, not created. “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”(1 John 4:8) We may often forget, but unbelievers cannot love like this because they do not know the One from whom such love comes.
Love is the motivating factor for why a Christian should truly serve God. Love is the reason why we will live outside of our own interests and promote the interests of others. Love is that which will show the world what God is about and what God enables His people to do.
Imagine helping your parents not because of a sense of duty when they nag at you, but as a sense of communicating “God loves you” by quickly acting upon their best interests. Imagine working a job, doing your best with a great attitude not for “Employee of the Month” or a pay raise or people's opinion of you. Just imagine doing that to show those people that God loves them and doing it regardless of what they will say or think or do to you. If we really loved people without expecting return, imagine how you might actually witness regularly or help others regularly or be selfless as a matter of character. Imagine that your life was not about the advancement of you but the advancement of God through the great avenue of a deep and true love for others. Many people, including believers, are foreign to this way of thinking.
It is especially impossible when we regard sin in our hearts to deliver such show such a kind of love. We usually defer to the lesser kind of loves, primarily as phileo love which esteems others in a friendship kind of love. This kind of love may be revoked and it generally has strings attached. We will love others with this kind of love as a matter of convenience or what best suits our interests. This kind of love cares about others so long as there is a sense of gratitude on their parts for our love. If we were to give out this kind of love and to get nothing in return or perhaps even evil in return, we would very likely stop showing this kind of love. In the absence of this love, there is really nothing of merit to take its place. It is so imperative that this is not the kind of love that defines us.
I think agape love is the kind of love that we've heard of where someone says, “I don't like such and such, but I do love them.” In our humanity, we hear that statement and it really doesn't make sense. How could you not like someone and yet love them? Maybe it is clear to you, but to me, I just don't get it—at least along the lines of phileo love. But in the realm of agape love, I totally understand what this means. People may not be likeable; they may truly be a thorn in our side. This does not negate the ability on our parts to show them that God loves them by putting even our enemies above us in what ways we can. It is hard to do this because of our sin nature, but when we get our pride out of our system we are freed up to love them without conditions or personal gain from our efforts.
The love of God is also a fear-neutralizing agent. 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” Did you hear that? Fear has to do with repercussion, or punishment in light of our actions. Imagine thinking only of the interests of others and not regarding how your actions affected yourself. There would be no fear in doing the hard things, like witnessing, confronting sin, saying the truth, correcting wrongs. People may totally misread your intentions in what you do, but if you really love them you will find yourself doing things that normal people are simply too afraid to do. The love of God is quite capable of enabling the most fearful men into becoming spiritual Spartans, facing this world with boldness because they care about the future of others and, more importantly, the glory of God.
To look at life with the love that comes from God, all I have to say is, “Wow.” You could do incredible things in mundane circumstances. You literally could wake up every day to the best day of your life, dependent upon the outflow of God's love that you would give. John writes in 1 John 5:2-4:
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”

What people need and what our own souls need so greatly is to be filled with love and in turn to have this love poured out on others. The world would be so different a place, let alone the United States, if every true believer in Jesus Christ were to live with love as their motive for all that they do. People would not be able to deny what God has done; they could reject truth but they would not be able to deny its power.
So, why do you do what you do? Is your life all that it could be? I will suggest to you and to everyone out there that if love is not what flows through your heart, not phileo love but agape love, your life will never be what it could have been as a believer. What do you make of your plans for the future? Do they revolve around getting the most out of life for yourself or for the sake of God and other people? Take to heart the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:24-26:
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Whoever would seek to hold on tightly to his desires and ambitions and selfishness will lose his life to vanity and waste. Whoever will give his life away to God, entrusting everything he's got to God, will find the life that we're all seeking. It is in the losing of ourselves that we find the lives that our hearts so long for; it is in losing ourselves that we become the great people that we would never be otherwise. The world judges a man's greatness by making him something of a spectacle to behold—but the world is lost in sin and is limited in its ability to transcend above marred human reason because of the Fall. What we do with our lives in career and geographical location and the importance of our place has no bearing on real fulfillment. There is an emptiness that no amount of money, no amount of friends, no amount of freedoms, no amount of success (and the list goes on) could ever fill. The love of God and the unconditional giving and selflessness that comes with it, while an enigma to many, is the very thing that our souls crave more than anything. As believers, our souls crave to have it, crave to give it, and crave to understand it.
I close with probably the most quoted verse I can think of: John 3:16. Take your understanding of “God-love” into the word “love” as used in this verse (which is how it is used here).
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” God loved the world in an unconditional, selfless way—which is why He sent His Son to come and to die on the cross for their sins. If there were conditions to His love, I seriously question whether He would have sent Jesus knowing what the world would do to Him. I also seriously question that Jesus would have come to the world to offer eternal life had God not loved the world in such a way. We are not exceptions to the unconditional love of God; we are just as undeserving and then to think that if God loved us as we love others, ugh...I'd be afraid to trust in a God whose love was like my love. My love must be reflective of His love. My love must be poured out on others for the sake of them. And don't forget why we are to love others—it's so they will see God's love, be directed to His Son, and find Christ as their own personal Savior. If they're saved, then they'll be pressed on towards being stronger believers who know that God loves them just as much in the present as He did when they first believed. Pray for God to help you see how you can show love to others—and then do it. Love takes action. God sent His son into the world.

"Take Off" chapter two

CHAPTER TWO: HOPE
Growing up, one of the biggest hopes I would have on a yearly basis was our big family vacation. Going to Florida or Virginia or Colorado were the often the highlights of my year, and I suspect that it was for the rest of my family, too. We got to get away, going somewhere that was fun, far, and probably warmer. I think one of our biggest goals was just to escape what we were normally accustomed to—which is why going to a place just like where we lived just wouldn't cut it. We wanted our vacation to be a real getaway, nothing less.
I think that for many of us, our greatest hopes are never really greater than hopes like these. Our hopes so often are reflective of where are hearts are—and our hearts are so often bound to looking at the life we live in this world. Jesus says in Matthew 6:21, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Do you ever think about the implications of that? Everything that you value most is what your heart beats for. There are a whole slew of people who are living for today because that is where their hope lies. The hopes of many people are often found in big life events, such as going to college, getting married, finding a dream job, living a life of ease with plenty of financial resources, as well as maybe having grandkids someday and hoping to have a long life that evades thoughts of being mortal. This kind of hoping isn't wrong—I have these hopes myself—but this kind of hoping is so average and so much less of what God would have us hope in.
The last chapter really hit on the idea of faith. Hope goes hand in hand with faith, because if you don't have firm, discernable spiritual hopes, you probably struggle greatly with living a life of faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” If you have no hope, you have no substance of faith, therefore you have no faith. What are spiritual hopes that we can fill up our lives with? I'd say hoping to be faithful to God, hoping for the promise of heaven, hoping for the crowns of reward that are offered to obedient believers in heaven, hoping for God to change us, hoping for Christ to be magnified by our lives, hoping for the salvation of others, etc. etc. etc. Our hopes must be constituted by things that only God could do. Our hopes must be greater than the base, selfish hopes of this world. The great dividing line of a believer's hopes and an unbeliever's hopes lie within the bounds of eternity and temporal time.
Listen to this:
17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. 20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," says the LORD.” (Isaiah 65:17-25)

Do you believe in such a day? It's coming—God's word makes that clear. Now, the second question, do you hope in such a day? Is this where your heart is? Or is it on obtaining the next coolest video game or college acceptance or job? If ever you find yourself struggling in your Christian walk, take an inventory of the things you're really looking forward to at that time in your life. It's very likely that your relationship with God is going under difficulty because your vision is only horizontal and not vertical. If you hope in temporary things, you may get what you're hoping for. When you don't, you may feel like God just isn't that good or life is just not what you'd like it to be. The problem of hoping only on things of this world is that the seventy or eighty years we may live may leave many of the worldly type of hopes unfulfilled. What if you don't get your “dream job”? What if you were never to be financially comfortable like you'd hoped? What if you died after college graduation? I had a friend from high school who went off to a training school offered by Caterpillar and graduated about the same time as I did from college. His future seemed to have a sense of security, purpose, and ease in time. It was probably one or two months after his completion of this schooling that he got into a friend's car that needed worked on, began to drive it home and lost his life driving at over 100 miles per hour when his tire blew that warm summer day. It was sad, tragic, something no one could prepare for, and perhaps so sudden that reality wasn't quite setting in for many people.
15 And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' 18 And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
(Luke 12:15-21)

Life can leave you unfulfilled in those temporary hopes—stop living for them! As crazy as it sounds, there's more validity in those spiritual hopes that you can't see than those hopes we all think are quite able to come to pass in this world. I may not live to see grandkids or days of financial ease ever, but I can hope with certainty that what God promises He will provide.
Likewise, don't be content to live a life where the only hopes you have are hopes that can be fulfilled here. I know this may sound like what I've already been saying, but the big deal here is that many believers only know how to hope for things that they've seen happen in the lives of other people around them. This can deeply affect our idea of what the spiritual life is alone! Take into consideration what Jesus says in the Beatitudes:
Matthew 6:1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 5 "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 16 "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(Matthew 6:1-21, various emphases mine)

There are many things that could be pointed out from these verses, and the motivation of one's heart is strongly being addressed in these verses. I might add, though, that people whose hopes are only temporal do what they do in church often for the praise of others. Their hope is to be seen, commended, and thought highly of for their “spirituality.” This is not limited to Pharisees! It happens all the time in churches with people claiming Christ as their Savior, and they may all be the genuine article. This makes for very weak Christian people who hope not for the eternal rewards of obedience but the “get-it-now” praise of men. If you don't pray thinking of what people think of you, if you don't read your Bible for what people might say, if you don't sing in church because people listen and watch, then it is very likely that if you do do it, you are doing it for God. Our hopes have to be placed in things that last—and men's praise just doesn't keep going.
As I close on this chapter, I want to cause just a bit more thinking on your part on this idea of hope. There are times we walk in faith, we pray, we give up sacrificially to God, we do things for Him as He leads...and we don't see what we think to be a matching response on the part of God. Besides the fact that we lose sight of so many of the blessings He sends our way, I think that sometimes we forget that the principle of eternal reward doesn't always translate into a presently extravagant lifestyle. We may give and stay poor. We may give up our lives and leave this world in obscurity. We may pray prayers for years that do not seem to have any avail. Now think of this. Maybe, just maybe, as you “pray for rain,” it is raining where you're looking. Maybe you look at life on earth and think, “What a scam!” Does it not pass your mind that the “rain” may be a solid downpour in heaven? God blesses faithfulness and He does not leave His children as the underdogs of eternity—though they may in circumstances appear to be the underdogs of the mortal life.
“10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” (Malachi 3:10) I suggest that we pray and ask God to help us to hope for what He has to offer, not what the average life has to offer. Likewise, read your Bible, because this is where we find our spiritual hope spelled out. If you don't know your Bible well, it is likely that you won't hope for what you don't think about. Once again, “set your mind on things above”!!!