You Can't Hurt a Dead Person

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world...

Ephesians 2:1-2

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect...

I Peter 3:15-16

Have you ever taken a CPR course? I've taken four or five and one thing I've heard instructors address is people's reticence to perform CPR in a real world scenario. Often people are afraid that they will do it wrong somehow. "What if I do the chest compressions too fast or too slow?" or "What if I get the number of breaths wrong?" Good instructors point out the obvious. If a person needs CPR then their heart has stopped and they are dead. You can't hurt a dead person! You can't. Maybe you can't remember how to do everything exactly right in the moment. That's okay. Do something! They're dead. Anything you do is going to help.

The same is true when it comes to sharing your faith. Many believers struggle with the idea of sharing the gospel. They say, "I'm not good at talking; I might share the gospel wrong." or "I might confuse or offend them and push them farther away from Christ." But the Bible tells us that those who have rejected God are not only lost in their sins but are also spiritually dead. They are on their way to Hell. Guess what? If you somehow mess up your gospel presentation they are not going to become any more spiritually dead than they already are. They are not going to go to "Hell 2.0" because you drove them farther away. They are spiritually dead. You can't make it any worse, so do something! Say something! 

It's great that we want to share the gospel the right way. And that's a good reason to prepare and practice to do it well. We want to be ready to give an answer when the opportunity comes. But don't ever use that as an excuse to not share the gospel. So prepare yourself, memorize some verses, but above all don't be too afraid. You can't hurt a dead person. Just do something to try to help.

The Unavoidable Result of Exalting God

Exalt the Lord our God
And worship at His footstool;
Holy is He.
                            Psalm 99:5


It is a simple and unavoidable truth that exalting God inherently means humbling ourselves. We cannot lift God up and make much of Him without ourselves being brought low. The higher God is lifted up the lower we are in relation to Him. Look at today's verse. Once God is exalted, where is the worshiper left? At his footstool. The word for worship here carries the idea of bowing down. So the image is of God being enthroned on high while we worship Him from a position at or below His feet.

This is what proper worship does; it exalts God and humbles man. You cannot make much of God and make much of yourself at the same time. True worship doesn't work that way. If you are not willing to decrease, then you have no part to play in Christ increasing (John 3:30).

So are you willing to decrease? Are you ready to be humbled? To be thought less of? And to think of yourself less? If not, then you need to stop and ask yourself, who am I really trying to lift up, God or myself?

A Rhythm of Praise

Every morning and evening they burn to the Lord burnt offerings and fragrant incense...

2 Chronicles 13:11

They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the Lord, and likewise at evening,

1 Chronicles 23:30

This past week my family went on vacation to the beach. As every parent dearly hopes will be the case, on the very first morning of our vacation our kids made sure that my wife and I were awake a full hour before sunrise! My wife decided to make the best of it and made sure that we caught the sunrise on the beach that morning together as a family.

Later that same day, after a swirl of activity, we found ourselves back on the beach enjoying the sunset. That's when it occurred to me that every single day God gives us these two amazing gifts, these works of art: sunrise and sunset. Yet, I never even notice them. I certainly don't stop to take them in and appreciate them.

This made me wonder, what other gifts is God giving me on a daily basis that I fail notice? What other blessings am I taking for granted? The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it's probably more than I could count.

How can we change that? What can we do to help ourselves appreciate the millions of big and little ways God blesses us each and every day? Here's where the rhythm of sunrise and sunset, morning and evening might be able to help us.  

In the Old Testament, morning and evening created a kind of rhythm for Israel's worship at the tabernacle and later at the temple. Each morning and evening burnt offerings and incense were offered up to God. In fact, I Chronicles 23:20 tells us that this practice was more than just ritual. Every morning and evening the Levites were to stand to thank and praise God.

I think this gives us a great example to follow as New Testament believers! Why not allow the natural rhythm of our days, and the natural beauty of sunrise and sunset to serve as a prompt for us to thank and praise God? Why not spend time in prayer each morning and each evening thanking God for the infinite number of ways He blesses us each and every day? Blessings that we are so used to that we no longer even notice them. And spend time praising Him for what these gifts and blessings reveal to us about His nature, who He is.

Let's pause right now and take notice. Thank God for something that you normally take for granted and praise Him for what it reveals about His character.

I'll go first. I thank God for the unrivaled beauty of the sunrise and the sunset; and I praise Him for making this beauty a daily part of a world that is often cold and ugly. I praise Him for giving this beautiful gift to both evil people and good people (Matthew 5:45). This shows just how good and gracious God is. And I praise Him that one day sunrises and sunsets will stop altogether because God will give His people a gift far greater: His presence. Scripture tells us that in eternity we will no longer have the sun for the Lord will be our everlasting light, and God will be our glory (Isaiah 60:19).