A few nights ago, the movie Die Hard 2 was on TV, so I watched it with my son. Though I was very tired and I needed to get up early the next morning, I stayed up and watched it until the very end which was unusual for me. The reason? It is one of my favorite movies. Actually, I like all the films in the Die Hard series.

While watching this I was pondering why I like these movies so much. I then began to think of my other favorites, Gladiator, Braveheart and my all-time favorite, It’s a Wonderful Life. You may be thinking like me, Why is that last movie listed? It doesn’t seem to fit with the others at all. On the surface, it doesn’t seem to fit, but when you look a little deeper you’ll find it really is just like these other movies.

While It’s a Wonderful Life does not involve fierce fighting and blood, it does contain the essence of each of the other stories. That is, each of these stories involve the main character dying to themselves for the betterment of those around them. In each Die Hard story, John McClane puts his life on the line to save hundreds of lives. In Gladiator, it is Maximus who saves the day and dies in doing so. William Wallace is brutally killed while leading Scotland to freedom in Braveheart. And in It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey continually looks out for others before looking out for himself. No, he doesn’t die or have to battle enemies who want him killed, but he gives up his life, the one he wanted, and in doing so truly finds life.

This common story line is so intriguing to me and is applicable to each of us because I believe we were all made with this desire embedded in us…to die to ourselves for something greater. The stories shown in these movies are really our stories. God wants each of us living like this…losing our lives for Him. It is in surrendering our life (and everything in it) to God that we truly find life.

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life
for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39

You may have heard the story of the new bride who was cooking her first roast for her husband. Upon tasting his dinner, the husband said, “Honey, this is delicious!” Then after eating a few more bites he turned to his beautiful wife and said, “Why did you chop off the ends of the roast before you cooked it? I always thought that was the best part.”

She responded, “I’m not entirely sure, but that’s the way my mom always did it.” After cleaning up, she phoned her mother to ask her for the reason for cutting the ends off. Her mother said, “I don’t know. That’s how your grandma always did it.”

So she called her grandma, who chuckled and said, “That’s because we had a very small oven and a full roast would never fit.”

And so it is with many of us that we continue doing things in our lives because that’s the way it’s always been done or because we believe that’s expected of us. What would happen if we took a really hard look at the way we do life? I’ll bet we’d find a lot of things that could be improved in areas that we feel can’t be changed or that we think are fine right now. If we did this, we just might find that…

• we don’t need to feel worthless
• we don’t need to eat to comfort ourselves
• we don’t need to drink to kill the pain
• we don’t need to yell in order to prove that we’re the boss
• we don’t need to work 80 hours per week because we believe it’s what’s required
• exercise can be enjoyable if we give it a chance
• we don’t need to promote ourselves to show that we matter
• we don’t need to judge others to make us look better

The list could go on and on. A question that’s been asked a lot lately in the Bible study I’m a part of is, “How do I know if I’m being deceived?” This is a great question. The fact is, we could all be believing lies in certain areas of our lives. The keys are to pray that the Lord would show you any areas in which you are being deceived and to surround yourself with wise counsel, those who can and will speak truth to you. Then once that is revealed to you, stop cutting the ends off your roast!

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2

I attended a funeral home Monday afternoon to visit Jim, a good friend whose mother-in-law recently passed away. As I was chatting with him, he shared with admiration about his wife’s mother. He said that though she was in the care of Hospice and very weak, she wanted to keep their Christmas tradition of gathering together as a family on Christmas eve.

So, despite her condition, the night before Christmas, she was leading the troops in laughter and song with a big smile on her face. Jim said they even sang the traditional Christmas favorite One-Eyed One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater! He said that was her, someone who was very giving of herself.

Just hours later, very early on Christmas day, Jim received a call from his wife who told him through tears that her mother was dying. She had used up everything she had the previous evening celebrating the birth of her Savior with her large and loving family.

She did not end up passing away on Christmas, but made it all the way until late last week. Jim said that in the last two weeks, she was not herself because she was so weak. However, when visitors would come, she would come alive and bring out her patented smile. Again, giving of herself until the very end. She was a great example of running the race laid out before her and finishing strong.

The Apostle Paul wrote about these same characteristics that Jim’s mother-in-law modeled when he encouraged us with these words:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Romans 12:1

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Day in which we honor this great man who sacrificed so much. He was a true change agent. What made Martin Luther King so different? I believe it is because he knew his purpose.

I’ve heard John Maxwell say that the two greatest days in your life are the day you were born and the day you discover why. Yet so few people ever experience that second day…discovering why they were born. In fact, William Marston once stated that 94% of people are born and die without ever discovering their purpose. How sad.

Martin Luther King was very clear on his purpose. He found why God had made him and he was willing to die for that vision. In this he found life. William Wallace, who led Scotland to freedom from England’s tyranny, was another such person. In trying to encourage his troups to fight for freedom, for something greater than themselves, he said this in the movie Braveheart, “Every man dies, not every man really lives.” How true.

Jesus didn’t just come to save us from eternal damnation, He came to give us life to the full (see John 10:10). In order to really live, I believe we must discover our purpose, the reason we were born.

If you are searching for your purpose, I would suggest spending some quiet time in the presence of God and asking some questions. Here are some suggested questions to ponder:

• Is there anything you find easy to do that others find difficult?
• What are your hobbies?
• What do you love to do outside of work?
• What were your favorite subjects in school?
• What jobs in your past have given you the most satisfaction?
• What problems in your past have you learned from?
• Describe a “mountaintop” experience in your life.
• Have you ever volunteered? If so, what have you done? How did that make you feel?
• What would you say you have done in your life to grow personally?
• Can you think of anything that, when you are doing it, time seems to stand still?
• Is there anything you can think of that others seem to always be asking you or asking you for? (Eg. Help with their problems, simply to listen to them vent, help fixing something, your advice,…)
• If your life were absolutely perfect, what would it look like?
• What would you like to be doing in 20 years?
• What would you like to be said about me at my funeral?
• What do you do now to grow/learn?
• Is there anything in the world (injustice) which makes you really angry?…that makes you say, “This can’t be any longer!”?
• If money was not an issue, what would you do?
• What do you daydream about?
• What is a dream you’ve had that you’ve never told to anyone else or that others would laugh at?
• What would you be willing to die for?

Finding your purpose may take some time, so be patient and be open to what God may be saying to you. After all, it is He who gives you your purpose.

If you find that your purpose doesn’t match up with your current career, don’t fret. Begin to seek God to see what He has planned for you. He might be trying to get you to look at your current career in a different way. I don’t believe that purpose is relegated to a specific career or job. Your purpose can be acted out in a number of ways. No matter what, I would recommend you stay where you are and work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men (Colossians 3:23) until God clearly gives you a new assignment.

I have to tell you that I have entered 2012 wanting to find a new way. I’ve been running pretty hard so I’ve been asking God to show me a better way to do things as I know I cannot continue at the pace I’ve been going.

He has been revealing some cool things to me and bringing things to my attention at exactly the right time. One of those things was a monthly email I received last month from my friend Patrick McBane from Marketplace Solutions. I’ve included his email here although I’ve modified it a bit to fit the season we’re in:

As we depart the Christmas season and enter into a new year, it is a great time to evaluate our lives. During the holiday season, we’re exhorted from all directions to embrace the true spirit of Christmas. But how do you keep your eyes on Jesus when you’re under siege by the pressures of Christmas marketing, travel plans, deadlines, family drama, bills, and everything else that encroaches into the spirit of the season? Now as we enter into a new year and back into the normal routine of work and the accompanying stress, it’s even easier to forget all about Jesus. For many of us something’s got to change and prayer can be the key.

As we pray it’s important to ask for the things that matter and that move us closer to our Heavenly Father.  Let’s read these two key scriptures together:

“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” - Matthew 6:33

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” – Psalm 90:12

“What does that mean, “to number our days aright”? Well, let me ask you another question. If I were to ask you, “What is the thing in your life that you find hardest to manage? What is the thing that you so often find yourself short of, that you don’t have enough of?” What would you answer?”

(Seriously… take the time to answer these questions before you go on)

Derek Prince once answered this way, “You might perhaps think money, but in my experience there’s one thing that’s much harder to manage than money, something that I’m much more often short of than money and that is time. I believe time is the hardest thing to manage properly in our lives. I believe that the stewardship of time is perhaps the supreme test of our discipline and our real Christianity. And so I pray like the psalmist, “Teach me to number my days aright.” Teach me to set my priorities aright, teach me to give enough time to the things that matter most.

“You see, your priorities of time really indicate the values of your life. Things that have low priority probably will drop off the bottom of the list. If you don’t give high priority to the things that really matter, your life will be out of order. So you, like me, need to echo that prayer, ‘Teach me to number my days aright, teach me right priorities, teach me to manage my time.’”

Based on those questions you answered above what will you adjust so that your Short-Fall is eliminated? What will you bring the King of Kings this year? I’d encourage you to bring Him the gift of time.

Here is a great prayer for us for 2012: Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of Your Son – Jesus. Thank You for eternal life – a dimension of time with no constraints as we know them today. Bring that eternal perspective into view today. Thank You for Your patience with a stubborn, often unwilling people that find time slipping through our fingers day after day – year after year. We ask that you would Teach Us to Number Our Days. Teach us to spend our TIME extravagantly on You and those You have given us to love all around us. Redeem the time that we have wasted on unnecessary things so that we can use it for Your purposes, plans and glory.

Have you ever heard someone described as a “man (or woman) of faith”? What makes someone a person of faith? Belief in God? Feeling spiritual? I think that’s what most of us believe…that if you believe in God or have spiritual feelings you have faith.

Yesterday, in the bible study my wife and I attend, someone made an interesting comment that I really liked. They said, “Faith is something you do rather than something you feel.” This backs up something that Jesus’ brother James wrote: Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works (James 2:26, NLT). Faith is an action.

However, I see so many people who are controlled by their feelings.

• They may feel unmotivated so they do very little to improve their situation.
• They may feel angry and say things they later regret.
• They may feel unworthy of love so they retreat into a shell.
• They may feel afraid so they never try anything new.

Or they might think they don’t have much faith because they don’t feel “spiritual” very often. As a result, they do little as a result of their faith. I think this problem gets made worse when we attend church or another activity and we get a spiritual “high”, a good feeling inside. We falsely think that following Jesus is all about this feeling. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

The fact is, life is hard and filled with problems. We will not always feel good about the way things are going. Even many who God used to write the Bible experienced pain, doubts, fears (look at Psalms to see some examples of this). The problem many of us run into is when we allow these feelings to dictate our actions because good actions rarely follow feelings. Anyone who continually lets their feelings control their actions is in for a long, tough road. Just ask the person who knows she needs to lose weight but doesn’t feel like exercising. Or the person who needs to spend more time with his family but doesn’t feel he can leave work before 7 PM.

Remember, faith is really action. So if you find yourself lacking motivation or feeling (insert any other feeling here) and you don’t want to do the right thing, in the words of Nike, just do it anyway. The adage, fake it till you make it certainly applies here. While good actions rarely follow feelings, if you can press through the resistance, you will find that your feelings will eventually follow your actions. Really. Have faith!

Muhammad Ali is considered the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. He won 56 of his 61 professional fights and knocked out 37 opponents. His most famous catchphrase was, “I am the greatest!”

One day, Ali was seated in an airplane when the flight attendant came up the aisle to make sure that all the passengers had their seatbelts fastened. Reaching Ali’s seat, she asked him to buckle up.

“Hmph!” the champ sneered. “Superman don’t need no seatbelt!”

The flight attendant smiled sweetly and replied, “Superman don’t need no airplane, either.” Ali promptly fastened his seatbelt.

That story makes me want to find that flight attendant and give her a high-five! My guess is that you would like to congratulate and encourage her also. Why is this? It’s because nobody likes pride. However, pride is all around us…and even in us. Yep, we each have to deal with this. In fact it is regarded as the chief sin in the Bible.

Perhaps the most difficult challenge any of us will face is when we have success. It is in these moments that we are quick to forget about God and take credit for our “greatness.” Many leaders have a real struggle with this as they feel they are a step above everyone else and are entitled to special treatment. If you find yourself heading in this direction beware for at least two reasons:

1. A truly great leader is one who is humble, who gives credit to God and others around him or her.
2. I don’t know anyone who enjoys working with a prideful leader. God especially doesn’t like it. In fact he detests it and will actually oppose those who have pride. Check out some of these promises from God:

This weekend my wife received a letter from a friend of hers. One of the lines in the letter said this, “When I ask my 95 year-old mother the secret to her longevity, she smiles and says, ‘It’s because most nights I went to bed and slept when I should have stayed up and worried.’”

Don’t you just love that? I do because I used to be king of the worriers. Growing up, I worried about everything. I worried about striking out in a baseball game and letting my teammates down, whether I’d miss the bus to school, whether I’d shoot too much in a basketball game and have my teammates think I was a ball-hog, or if I said something stupid, that others wouldn’t like me.

My oldest daughter also has been known to worry. As I type this, I am looking at a sign in my office that she made for me which says, “Don’t let tomorrow take up too much of today.” Great words of wisdom. Mark Twain once said, “I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” So true, at least in my life.

In Philippians 4:6, we are commanded to not be anxious about anything. These are the words of the Apostle Paul. It’s as if he’s telling us, “I know you want to be anxious and worry at times, we all do. But trust me, just don’t go there. Choose not to be anxious. Don’t worry. God’s got it!” If he wanted to be a bit more direct with us, Paul might say, “Listen. When you are anxious, you are basically telling God that you don’t trust Him to handle this. So do you trust God or not?”

And ultimately, isn’t that the bottom line when it comes to worry and anxiety? Besides being one of the most unproductive things we can do, when we worry, we’re showing God by our behavior that we are going to handle this, we don’t need Him and we certainly don’t believe He can help us. That may be one of the most prideful things we can do and that’s not good (“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5).

So will you commit with me to worry much less and trust God much more in 2012?

Several years ago I heard a well-known speaker tell a group of business leaders, “The problem with you as business people is that you have a tendency to want to know the plans first before you make a commitment. However, God doesn’t work that way.” When I heard this it really struck a chord in me because he was absolutely right…I love to have the plans first.

This isn’t limited to business leaders; it’s something we all suffer from to varying degrees. It’s no wonder because this is something most of us are taught at an early age. The truth is that it seems prudent to have things figured out before jumping into something. It certainly seems safer.

The speaker went on to say, “God wants you to make a commitment to Him first and then over time He will show you the plans.” When I read the Bible I see this played out over and over again. One of my favorite examples is when Joshua is leading the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land. God tells Joshua to tell the high priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant (which contains the 10 commandments among other things), “Go and stand in the river.” Joshua then tells them that once they do that, God will stop the flow of the river and allow them to cross over on dry ground. Sure enough, the priests do this and God does his part and they all safely cross.

I remember reading this story and wondering why God didn’t have the high priests just stand at the river’s edge. Since the river was at flood stage it seemed kind of dangerous to ask them to stand in it. But that’s not God. He continually wants us choosing Him over anything else, even when it doesn’t seem safe.

As we enter into a New Year, this is a great time to spend time with your Heavenly Father asking Him what He would have you do in the coming year. If He asks you to do something that doesn’t make sense, remember the high priests who stood in the flooded river. It wasn’t safe. It didn’t make sense. But they obeyed. And when they did, God showed up in an amazing way! He will do the same for you too!

On Saturday, Christmas Eve morning, I went for a walk at one of our local metro parks. It was a beautiful day and it was great to be outside enjoying some fresh air for a change. As I was walking, I couldn’t help but notice how different the park looked than it did just two short months ago. Gone were all the leaves on the trees.

As I surveyed the scene, I marveled at the way that God prepares for what is ahead. Though we haven’t really had any yet, in our region of the country, snow is coming soon. God knows that a tree full of leaves would not work with a heavy snow covering as the limbs would be too heavy and would break. As a result, he designed the trees to prepare for the coming season by shedding their leaves. They will prepare again in early spring as the trees will begin to show buds, making ready for the spring bloom where leaves will once again be plentiful.

As we turn the page on 2011 and enter into a new season in our lives, many begin to think about their New Year’s resolutions, the things they want to change in their lives. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I see way too many resolutions that don’t last very long. Instead of a New Year’s resolution, what would happen if you asked yourself (or better yet, God), what you need to be preparing for? Knowing the “why” for the change might make all the difference in making it stick. Perhaps you need to begin an exercise program so that you will have the strength and endurance to do what God is calling you to do. Or maybe you need to prepare by mending fences in some broken relationships so your heart is in the right place for the next chapter in your life.

Preparation is difficult and not many want to pay the price to prepare. As a result, they are ill-equipped for what comes next. Many can say that they just don’t know what to prepare for or how to prepare. Typically these are excuses to keep them from doing the things they don’t want to do; however, some may sincerely want to prepare for what lies ahead but just don’t know how. If this describes you, there is one thing that would help you above all else. Seek God with all your heart. That is the best preparation I know for whatever is coming next.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 6:33