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Sometimes, people will accuse me of not taking sin seriously enough. I believe following Christ is the best way to live… period. That’s what I talk about most… what a good thing it is to follow Christ.  I don’t talk as much about the issue of sin.

Oh, I’m aware of sin. I deal with it in my own life. I understand, from my life, from the lives of my friends and from the world we live in what sin does and how it destroys lives. I know all too well about sin and its consequences.

I just would rather not think about sin all that much.

Here’s why. I believe what you think about becomes what you desire. What you desire becomes what you do and what you do becomes who you are (see James 1).   As I have confessed before, I LOVE Oreo cookies. But if I spend my time thinking about how I’m NOT going to eat an Oreo cookie, I’ll lose that battle every time.

I just think about something else.

In the 4^th chapter of Philippians, Paul reminds the young church of this very point when he writes:

Finally brothers, whatever is true,  whatever is honorable,  whatever is just,  whatever is pure,  whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence  and if there is any praise—dwell on these things
(Phil 4:8).

This is what worship does. Worship holds up the vision of the Risen Christ before us. Discipleship is the process of adjusting our lives to that vision of Christ. He is what we think about.  He is what we meditate on.

After all, what – or rather WHOM – you think about, sooner or later, becomes who you are.

So, what are you thinking about right now?

This past week I really enjoyed studying the story of Ruth. There is something very familiar about what happens to Naomi and Ruth and how God chooses to act in their stories. God is barely mentioned in the story and He never speaks at all. Doors are opened and closed. Opportunities are found and lost — and through it all, the end of the book shows us, God is working.

Here are some things I wrote down to think about from this book.

1. Honesty is still the best policy. Naomi is very blunt about her situation. Many of us are stuck because we deny the reality of our situations.

2. Naomi, while bitter, did keep the door open to see if God would work.

3. Once she saw how God was working, she quickly aligned herself with His purposes.

4. She celebrated more loudly than she complained.

5. And whether she knew it or not, God was using her in writing His grand story of salvation.

I’m sure, like me, you find yourself in situations where you just aren’t sure how God is working. Or worse, you’re tempted to conclude He’s not working at all.

Naomi found herself there, but she didn’t give into the despair.  Sometimes faith isn’t seeing God working, but keeping the door open in case He does.

The other day I was walking and I began to try and imagine what Dad was doing in heaven. Was he happy? What did he look like? Would I be able to recognize him?

That led me to another question…what color is my dad’s hair. Here is why that matters. My father had beautiful silver hair. His hair looks like finely spun strands of pure silver.  It was one of the most distinguishing features of my dad.  Whenever I was looking for my dad, I would look for his hair. You could always find him in a crowd

But gray hair is a sign of age and therefore, deterioration of the body. If my father is fully whole and restored, then his hair would be jet black as it was in his youth.  How will I find him?

I know this is a silly question. Probably, Jesus is just shaking His head at me, sighing loudly at how far off my question really is.

I know this isn’t the kind of question great theologians or great Bible teachers would ask…

But it is the kind of question little boys who miss their dad would ask…

Legend tells us that when Michelangelo was asked how he carved his masterpiece of David, he said, ”I chipped away everything that wasn’t David.”

Somehow, in a way that only artists can see, Michelangelo looked at a block of marble and saw David inside.

The type of marble used for the statue is very difficult to work with and has to be sculpted by chipping away very small bits or the marble will crack.  He patiently worked until all that was left was a statue of a man so realistic you expect David to talk to you.

Discipleship is a lot like this.

We look at Christ, then at our own lives and chip away everything that doesn’t look like Him. This process begins in worship. In worship, we behold the compelling image of Christ. Everything God wanted to say is in Christ. . . the Word become flesh.

As we encounter His Presence, we are drawn to become more like Him.  This involves a two-step process.   Paul describes it in Colossians 3.

1. We put to death everything in us that resembles our old natures and we put on our new natures in Christ.  We look at Christ in worship and first, we remove from our lives those things that don’t look like Him.
2. We put on those things we see in Christ, but don’t see in our lives.  This is the step most of us miss.

The word “No” is an important word and we do say No to a lot of things. Yet, No, in and of itself, isn’t enough.  We also have to say Yes to the attributes of the Godly life Christ modeled for us.

Think about it. Let’s say you got rid of everything in your life that wasn’t pleasing to Christ.

What are you left with?

Not much.

That’s why the Yes of the gospel is so critical.

God desires for our lives to be filled with good things that last — the things Jesus showed us in His living.

So, I guess that leads us with two questions:

1. What is in your life that you need to get rid of?
2. What is lacking in your life that you need to add?

Focus on one thing at a time.

You can’t rush this process.

Masterpieces require a patient, but determined  touch.