I really don’t care for sporks.  I mean, really, is it a fork?  Or a spoon?  Come on, be one or the other.  

According to New York Times author Jessica Gross, the utensil we call a “spork” shows up way back in medieval times.  She didn’t indicate that it was a middle ages torture device.  But I have my suspicions that it was.  By the 1800s, this hybrid utensil was used for eating things from turtles to ice cream.(1)

The Van Brode Milling Company received the first official patent for the spork in 1970.  Consequently, KFC made the spork famous. They abandoned the patent – probably due to psychological meltdown from trying to use it.  A UK company picked up the patent and took sporks global.(2)

Today, I did battle with a three-piece spicy at Popeye’s.  I prevailed, but no thanks to the spork.  

When Christians Are Sporks

While reflecting on my lunchtime battle, I came to realize who we Jesus-followers can be like a spork sometimes. 

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Do you remember your first-love?  Maybe it was a kindergarten classmate or a middle school crush.  Perhaps yours was a high school sweetheart. For some, it doesn’t come until adulthood.  What about you?  

The word “first” can have two meanings: there is first in chronology, and there is first in priority. I don’t remember my chronological first love because of the supremacy of the love I have for my wife. Those feelings that I may have thought were love are now overshadowed by what I know as true love.

God and First-Love

Most of us can list a variety of things that we loved chronologically before we loved God.  But where does God currently stand on our priority list?  For most of us the problem is not that we don’t love God but that we don’t love God FIRST.

Consider the church at Ephesus established by Paul during his second missionary tour.  The church held a special place in his heart and it became an important part of early church history.  

In his letter to the Ephesus church, Paul commended them for their “incorruptible love for Jesus.”  But some 30 years later, Jesus dictated a letter to them through the Apostle John.  We find that letter in Revelation 2:1-7.  

He commended them for doing a lot of good things (vs. 2-3), but had a very serious charge against them.  In verse 4, Jesus chastises them for leaving their “first-love.”  It’s not that they didn’t love Him and do good things for Him, but they didn’t love Him pre-eminently.  They didn’t love Him the way they used to love Him.

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Sunday morning church is the highlight of the week for many of us who follow Jesus.  We cannot deny the special effect of joining with other believers in worship.  With that in mind, I want to recommend a few practices to help us maximize our time together.

1.  Begin preparing for Sunday on Monday. 

Corporate worship combines the collective input of individual worshipers in attendance.  The more each worshiper brings, the greater the gift we give to God in worship.  In fact, the impact of each worshiper on the whole is exponential.

During the week, pray daily for those involved in leading worship.  Worship God each day during the week so that you too bring a heightened sense of God’s presence with you on Sunday.

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Psalm 90:12 – “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

At funerals, I’ve often used that verse to preface the recounting of the life events of the deceased.  In those cases I would count the number of days the person had lived, extolling the importance of a single day. For the record, as I write this I am 19,943 days old.

Interestingly, Psalm 90 was written by Moses.  As far as we know, this is the oldest of the psalms in the inspired collection we have in our Bible.  Psalm 90 is a Psalm about the length, breadth, and depth of life.

I believe that Moses’ challenge to “number our days” is more than a mathematical challenge.  More than an accounting of the quantity of days, this challenge is to mark the quality of our days.

Count Our Days

First, in numbering our days, we look back at the days we have lived.  We trace the hand of God guiding us through our lives thus far.  What can we learn from the ups and downs of our lives?  Have we gained insight from our mistakes?  Grown through our pain? Have we given thanks for both the victories and defeats of our lives? 

Taking time out every so often to reflect back gives us perspective on where we are and where are going. 

Additionally, numbering our days means we look ahead to recognize we are finite.  We have a limited number of days on Earth.  We must ask ourselves the question, “what does God want to accomplish with the remainder of me life?”

Do you live your life on purpose?  Are you on a mission, and is your mission Christ-centered?  Or conversely, do you intend to live out the remaining string of days “playing by ear”?  Do you plan to take each day as it comes and go with the flow? 

Let me challenge to you live INTENTIONALLY.  Ask God how you can use your remaining days for HIS purposes.  Then start taking steps in that direction.

Make Our Days Count

Finally, numbering our days reminds us to make the most of today.  A life consists of individual days continuously strung together. We build a strong life by living strong days.

Do you have unfinished business in your life?  Then what are you waiting for?  Get on it.  Take a step toward fulfillment today. Make today count!  You cannot change what HAS BEEN and in the immediate you may not be able to change what IS.  However, you can begin today to change what WILL BE.

Be grateful instead of grumpy.

Encourage rather than discourage.

Yield instead of demand.

Give much more than you take.

Put others before yourself; and make sure to put Jesus FIRST.

Gaining Wisdom

Moses’ goal in his challenge to number our days is that we would grow in wisdom.  Knowledge is knowing stuff.  Understanding is knowing why what you know is so.  But wisdom.  Wisdom is know what to DO with what you know.

Numbering our days will help us to see what God has been doing all along.  We will also see what He will do with us beginning today and for the rest of our days.

It’s not so much about counting the days as it is making the days count.

For further reading:

Living Intentionally

Recently, Georgia and other states have passed pro-life legislation aimed at saving the lives of unborn children.  I don’t think the backlash and criticism has surprised anyone of us who supported such legislation.  Chief among the critics has been the establishment known as “Hollywood.”

No shortage of actors and actresses have expressed their opinions and threatened to no longer bless Georgia with their work.  To be honest, a great deal of filmmaking and TV production takes place in our state.  Of late I have become a fan of the Marvel Comic Universe’s Avengers film series.  Marvel shot a lot of scenes from recent Avengers movies here in Georgia.

A Question of Priority – Pro-Life or Money

Essentially what has happened is that two incompatible viewpoints have drawn their respective “lines in the sand.”  The Pro-Life community has place high-value on the life of the unborn and taken a bold step to protect them.  The Pro-Abortion community has placed high-value on escaping the consequences of an unwanted conception.  Hollywood, in large part, falls in line with the Pro-Abortion community.

These two lines in the sand cannot exist on the same beach.

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According to Greek mythology, Narcissus fell in love with his own image while observing his reflection in the water.  The inability to have what he desired most – himself – led him to eventually take his own life.

I know a lot of modern day Narcissists who have fallen in love with themselves.  However, we there is a way that gazing on our own reflection can benefit us.  Rather than gazing at our “image,” we can benefit from a gaze into our heart.

As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. – Proverbs 27:19

Reflection of our Heart

Our modern culture has romanticized the part of us that Bible calls our heart.  We tend to think of the heart merely in terms of emotions and feelings. On the other hand, the Bible includes so much more in the human heart.

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Graduation season is upon us. When conferring diplomas or degrees on graduates, the officiant says something to the effect of “having met the requirements of…” One must meet certain requirements in order to complete the course and receive a diploma or degree.

While “spiritual graduation” does not come for the Christian until we get to heaven, we currently engage the course load.  Just as high school or college graduates know the requirements before they begin, do we understand our requirements?

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you…?” Micah 6:8a

A Caveat Concerning Requirements

A student does not have to meet the graduation requirements to enroll.  They enroll to begin working toward them.  Enrollment comes with a different set of requirements – GPA, entrance exams, and, of course, application fees and other financial concerns.

In like manner, the verse above does not introduce requirements to entering into a covenant with God.  These requirements apply to those already in covenant relationship; explain how God expects His people to progress through life’s course.  We enter into a covenant relationship with God, not through our deeds, but through Jesus His Son.  Works do not earn our way into God’s favor. We receive it through our repentance and faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross.

However, God does expect us to follow a certain course of life on our way to heaven’s graduation ceremony.  What we find in Micah 6:8 provides a summary of those “graduation requirements.”

Electives Are Not Requirements

Every degree comes with a specific list of required courses.  Those required courses constitute the majority of the hours earned toward the degree. Additionally, a student can fill other hours with classes of their own choosing called “electives.”  If a student only took elective classes, however, he or she would not fulfill the requirements for the degree.

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