Do you really believe it?

This is a question I have to ask myself from time to time.  To quote Dell Tackett “Do you believe that what you believe is really real?”  We as good Christians will be quick to blurt out “of course I believe it, what kind of question is that?”  But if I am honest with myself, I must admit that I don’t always live as if what I know to be true is reality.  What do I mean?  Let me try to explain with a real life example.

On Wednesday, after discovering that my brakes had failed due to a broken brake line, I had to have my truck towed home.  My mother-in-law was nice enough to let me use her AAA member card for a free tow, so we called AAA and they sent a guy out to pick up the truck.  He loaded my truck up and said “Climb into my office”, I climbed into his truck and prepared myself for the 40 minute drive home.

As the truck pulled out of the parking lot we began to engage in the awkward conversation that men have when they are force to talk and have nothing to say.  We bounced between silence and small talk, and then about 10 minutes into the drive I began to have a conversation with myself that went something like this: “You should share Jesus with this guy, I know, but he keeps using the F word, he probably doesn't want to hear about it, what if he hates God, then I will have to sit here for 30 more minutes in a very awkward situation, but you might be his only chance at heaven!, I know but…” It was at this point that, through God’s providence, the tow truck guy mentioned something about church and I jumped on it.  The bummer was that because I waited so long, our conversation got cut short and I was not able to say all I wanted to him.  It turns out that this guy had grown up in church and through a series of hurts and problems in the church, fell away into Buddhism.  What will happen to him now? I don’t know, I pray that God will send someone to him to pick up where we left off, and restore His relationship with the creator.

So I ask, what if I really believed and lived like there was a hell, a heaven, a God who at the end of this man’s life will judge him and determine his eternal destiny?  I think if I really believed that, awkwardness, ridicule, even death would not stand in the way of the message that I must proclaim.  I am not sure how it happens but somehow we let society tell us that the truth of God is repressive and impolite to talk about.  Why do we buy that?  It is downright cruel not to tell someone about the love of Christ.  If we really believe people are lost, how can we be so selfish?  Would any of us keep secret the cure to cancer? 

  

A fireman pulling someone out of a burning building = Hero

A Christian pulling someone out of the flames of hell = inconsiderate?

Why do we allow this lie to continue?  Why do I feel as if I am doing something wrong if I share with others the truth of Christ.  I hope and pray that reading this is as much of a reality check for you as it is for me to write.  Hell is real, God is real, death is a certainty and time is running out.  

Do you believe it? Do you care? are you willing to put yourself at risk of ridicule or persecution for the chance to save a life?  These are all questions that I ponder and I hope that when it comes down to it I can answer yes to all of them.

Believe  it. Live it. Let's change the world.

Prayer:

Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.  Help me to live for you as if you are real, help me live like what I believe is really real.  Show yourself to me and help me to put the salvation of others above my own selfish desires.

Perspective

I have "started a blog" now a few times, but never seem to get the product posted online.  It is either too long, unfinished or does not capture the essence of what I want to say. I have the tendency to be a perfectionist and want to say everything that is in my mind, two things that do not work well in the fast-paced, twitter reality we live in. So instead, I will try to share my thoughts, raw and to the point. Starting now.

Today as I was driving to work the brakes went out on my truck. Scary.  I stepped on the brake pedal and my foot hit the floorboard, nothing happened, I just kept rolling. I quickly pumped the brake pedal and managed to slow to a stop in the middle of the intersection. Thank God I was off the freeway and only about a mile from work.  I was able to slowly make my way to work and park my truck.

This was an unexpected way to start the day, to say the least.  I knew when I got up it was going to be a difficult day, I started losing my voice yesterday and this morning only squeaky sounds came from my mouth when I tried to talk. As a teacher, no voice equals challenging day.  

The brake incident is coming on the heels of my truck getting broken into last week.  It would seem my truck is going through a time of testing, and it is taking me along with it.  Truck broken into, sick, brakes go out, money is tight. I am sure I am not the only one with problems and I am not trying to play the "I am worse off than you" game.  So why tell you all this?

Perspective.

I find that difficulties bring the best perspective on life. Trials can bring on negative thoughts and some people react to conflict by questioning God's goodness, "Why is this happening to me?" or "God how could you let this happen to me?".  But if you think about it, it is in the valleys of life that we gain perspective on how good we have it.  

It is so easy to assume that problem free is normal. When things go right more often than not, it becomes what is expected.  No longer is "the good life" seen as a blessing, but becomes expected, as if we are owed it or deserve it somehow. Trials remind me how good I really have it. When my brakes failed, it reminded me how thankful I am that they stopped my truck thousands of times before.  When my stereo was stolen it made thankful that I was blessed to have a stereo in the first place. Being sick makes me so thankful to be healthy and helps me not to take "the good life" for granted.

I think this may be a little of the perspective Paul had in mind when he penned Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."  Read chapter 4 and you will see Paul is not giving some guarantee that Through Christ I can dunk, rather that through Christ I can be thankful in any situation God allows me to go through.  It is through his perspective I can see past my situation to the truth that is the amazing provision of God in sustaining my life and saving me from eternal death.

I pray that Christ would give you a new perspective on any situation you are facing today.  

Today's prayer:

Holy father, allow me to see this situation through your eyes, give me wisdom on how I can best glorify your name in the mist of my trial and help me to be thankful for the things I have taken for granted.  

Open book

I am new to the whole blogging thing.  I am not really even sure if anyone will read this, but I suppose that it will give me a place to collect my thoughts, so at the very least I can look back in 10 years and say to myself wow, I did not know anything back then.

I would assume that the only reason you are reading this blog is that you already know me but in case that is not the case, let me introduce myself.

My name is Mike Levitsky, I am currently 27 years old, am happily  married and live at home with my wife Stacy and our cat Snickers.  Did I mention that we are expecting a baby in about 4 months.  Little baby Samuel, at least that is how I think we are going to spell it, I will have to check with Stacy to confirm that.  I am super excited to be a dad, I have never been one before so I don't really know what to expect.  I have gotten the usual "your going to be up all night and lose sleep" from the unhappy parents and the "there's nothing better" from the parents who know what a blessing children are.  I don't know what to expect, both my brother and I were ADD so I might have a little crazy man running around the house.  What ever he will be like I know that it will be amazing.  I am so amazed at God's designs, I am in awe anytime I stop to think about it.  Think about it, Right now thousands of impulses are going to my brain to control dozens of muscles that move bones covered in flesh that can feel the keys I am pressing.  You are reading the words I am typing with a super complex optical system, with so many systems involved, and it only takes one part of that system to render it useless.  Wow, but I digress.

To pay the Bills I have three jobs.  I work full time as a teacher (Music, P.E. and Bible) at the Packinghouse in Redlands, CA.  On Thursdays, after work, I teach music lessons at Immanuel Baptist, this is my second job and I also play drums for Immanuel Baptist, which is how I spend my Wednesday nights and most of my Sundays.

Along with my work, I am also working on my masters of divinity at Golden Gate Baptist Seminary in Brea, so far I am doing well and have really been enjoying the classes.  My hope is to be a pastor, although this does not seem to be something that will be happening soon.  I am just waiting on the Lord and I am perfectly content with my current situation.

I hope to post many things here.  Some will interest you, some may bore you, some may offend you or you may disagree with me, but at the very least I hope to challenge you to think about God, yourself and your purpose for living, how you will spend your life because you know, you only get one.  My hope is that someone somewhere will get something out of the things I have learned in my short life and the will, in turn, help them in their life.