PARKS BROWN

If you want to become something you first have to see it. Ask Tiger Woods or LeBron James about seeing the shot before they take it. Ask any successful athlete or businessperson and they will tell you the necessity and value of visualizing a thing before achieving it. You must SEE the object of your desire in plain sight or in your minds eye. What you look at will change you. It will mold you into it’s image.

If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. If you want to see a profit in your business, then you devise a plan of profitability and not just revenue generation. If you want to see something other than your home life you focus on work. If you want to see life without blemishes, you fix your eyes on Facebook. We look at what we desire and what we want to become. In turn, what we see in the world around us is the heart of people.

It’s critical to see clearly and understand what you see. This is easier said than done. An Old Testament prophet reflected on people in his generation, ‘You have seen many things, but you pay no attention: your ears are open, but you do not listen.” Isaiah 42:20. Years later, Jesus understood the same situation and dealt with it accordingly…’ “This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ ” Matthew 13:13.

When we look at a thing why do we not see clearly and understand? A common denominator that thwarts the ability to see things clearly is the condition of your heart. Jesus taught that a hardened heart was at the center of seeing and understanding. ‘ “…Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?…” ‘ Mark 8:17-18.

Greed and anger effect judgement, sight and understanding. Greed and anger are sin and sin separates us and causes us to harden our hearts to God. Greed was alive and well in the late 90’s when the stock market looked out 10 years at the earnings potential of a company and saw inevitability; a crash soon followed that effected us all. In 2019, those of a certain persuasion are so angry they see impeachment as a simple means to an end; what follows won’t be good for any of us. We need to SEE God to become more like Him. Geez, can that be done??!!

No one has ever seen God, but Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. The author of Hebrews said…’Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’ Hebrews 12:2-3. Headlines that vacillate between dire economic consequences for Brexit, political choices, dramatic climate changes that destroy crops, marriages that are destroyed by despair and infidelity….it’s hard not to grow weary after a while. The only way NOT to lose heart is to keep your sight fixed appropriately. You are what you see.

First, you gotta know what you need to see. Seeing Jesus may not be the easiest thing to do but it is the answer to terrorism, racism, sexism, classism and every other ‘ism you can name. As Kanye rapped in 2009…

I ain’t here to argue about His facial features                                                                                  Or here to convert atheists into believers                                                                                    I’m just tryna say the way school needs teachers                                                                            The way Kathy Lee needed Regis, that’s the way I need Jesus

Thoughtful people at some point look towards Jesus but they hijack the gospel and get sidetracked in one or two aspects of Him. Only seeing Jesus’ stance against social injustice but not His views on sexual choices and perversions is the same as not believing. ‘The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.’ (my emphasis) 2 Corinthians 4:4. When you only see Jesus from a worldly perspective to enhance an agenda of power, pleasure or money, it can be worse than not seeing Him at all …you can lose your sight completely.

You are what you see and your sight is effected by how you see the living God and His Son, Jesus. Our world needs to see Jesus now more than ever. Christians are in the cross hairs and the world calls it cognitive dissonance when we don’t embody each word in THE Word. The best way to help others see Him is to boldly speak out what we believe… then acknowledge and humbly repent for how short we fall…but Jesus saves. The world needs a savior, not another person or politician with a plan of action.

If we don’t look for and see with clarity the enormity and power of Jesus, we are more vulnerable to the consequences of being myopic…and wrong. The consequences of not seeing Jesus in 2020 will be more catastrophe in our world and your world. I want to run my life, my business and my relationships to let others see Him in me…and I can’t do it without seeing Him more clearly myself.

 

‘Ride or Die’ is a popular term that originated in the biker community meaning that riding was so important they would rather die if they couldn’t ride. Culture then adopted the phrase and attitude to a woman who was so loyal to her significant other that she would stick with him through everything no matter the danger to herself. Ride or die applies to anyone and means loyalty at ALL cost to someone other than yourself. Does your life show who you ride or die with??

Ride or die was built into mankind by God and is meant for the Creator first and foremost. God told us to ride or die with HIM..(remember the 10 Commandments, Exodus 20). BTW, you want to ride or die with someone you can ride OR DIE with. Being a Christ follower puts an interesting twist on this. Jesus addressed ride or die when He said…'”I am the resurrection and the life…and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”‘ John 11:25-26. Do YOU live like you really believe this???

One of the first people to speak and live out ride or die was a guy named John. John the Baptist was the OG and coined the phrase but said it in old school words. John spoke of his loyalty to Jesus….”He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30. Ride or die is more of a lifestyle of subordination and submission than catchy slang. Ride or die people stand apart from the crowd.

Ride or die isn’t safe or easy. Putting someone before yourself means exercising that loyalty with your words and actions. John the Baptist rode with the man who came telling everyone they needed to repent to God for their sins; wouldn’t be a popular Facebook post these days. Riding with Jesus got John’s head cut off. Kinda makes you picture the Christians in the Taliban video a few years ago. Ride or die isn’t a pretty social media post.

Where do you see ride or die explained and lived out? Facebook and IG may come to mind but the Bible is THE ride or die handbook. Paul put it this way…’Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:3-4. This is ride or die in old school vernacular.

What does riding and dying with Jesus look like in 2019? How do you roll when you are wrongly accused, spoken poorly of by neighbors or your kids are slighted for the way they dress or the car they drive? God’s word says…’Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…do not be conceited..do not repay anyone evil for evil…do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath…on the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him…do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” ‘ Romans 12:14-21. Riding with God means you stand out like a long haired biker with a tattoo on your forehead.

Ride or die reeks of altruism, loyalty, trust and commitment regardless of the cost. These qualities are hard wired in human DNA but they need an object to be expressed upon and this is where the rubber meets the road. If we don’t want our leaders to live out their faith, then political parties become the object to ride or die. If freedom of speech is replaced by political correctness and popularity, then Facebook and Instagram become platforms to show piety, accomplishments and where we vacation. When we don’t make God our front and center every day then He becomes less and WE become greater.

Paul’s words express my current state and desire to ride and die with Christ. ‘Not that I have already attained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But, one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’ Philippians 3:12-14. I’m not there, but I’m trying each day.

Our world and our God need us to live each day with the ride or die attitude and lifestyle.  The world needs to see, know and hear how we ride or die. I ride or die with my bride and my kids…I ride or die with a few friends… I want to be a friend to ride and die with. I believe a commitment to Jesus is the best way to live a ride or die life.

I’m in a season of life where I attend a lot of weddings and I am impacted by the percentage of young people who are not married. Too many guys pursue a career or think they need a certain dollar figure in the bank before settling down. Too many girls have been raised by single moms or lived in homes where marriage was for convenience and lifestyle needs. We need to remember marriage is a gift from God intended to make our lives more fulfilled, productive and pleasing to Him.

I know some people read this and immediately say ‘hater’, ‘old school’, ‘provincial’. Experience has taught them a traditional view on marriage no longer works in 2019. In a world where change seems to be a constant, many things never change…and some things never should change. Marriage has not changed but the world is trying hard to convince each generation that it has and it needs to. This is a lie.

Marriage is one of the longest standing, never changing core principles of life. Marriage is one of the most important markers in life and in history. A wedding is the opportunity to witness history being made and repeated through a covenant that dates back to creation itself. Marriage is almost as old as life itself and has been around longer than death. Think about that.

God made man first, but right after He gave him a job and put him to work, ‘The Lord God said “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” ‘ Genesis 2:18. These days, too many folks think they know better than God. Man and woman were created separately and uniquely, but we were created FOR each other. The marriage covenant supernaturally unites a man and a woman together because God knows we are better together.

Marriage is a covenant not just a commitment or a contract. Commitments are easily made and easily broken. You commit to an employer, a sports team or washing the car. When the weather changes or a better offer comes along, contracts and commitments can be broken because of the circumstances. Marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman with God. There’s a difference between a marriage civil service and a marriage covenant when God unites two people. A marriage needs God because no one fully knows what they are getting into when they get married, but God does. God knows and He honors his part of the covenant for a lifetime.

God made marriage. God hooked up Adam and Eve before Satan even came on the scene. It’s not ironic that as soon as Adam and Eve were united the enemy decided to show up and speak up. Satan knows marriage is sooo instrumental and powerful in God’s design that his first action was to try and break it up by dividing the young couple from God.

Our lives are meant to be shared and lived with each other. If a man and a woman ‘become as one flesh’ (Genesis 2:24), they are more formidable united together. Two are stronger than one when brought together by God and with God. Bottom line is…Marriage makes us and our lives stronger and better. Marriage fulfills God’s plan for your life.

A battle is always fought for basic values and principles. There is nothing more God-given and basic to humanity than marriage between a man and a woman. Satan tried to tear man apart from God by creating enmity between Adam and Eve. Nothing is different today but the rhetoric has changed. Therefore, the world tries to destroy and marginalize marriage by redefining it. Why??!! ‘We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.’ 1st John 5:19. We live in a world at war, it’s that simple.

You can be assured, anywhere God has said He will covenant with people, the enemy of man will try to tear down, destroy and re-define.  YOUR role and MY role is the same as Adam and Eve’s. In our business, social and personal lives, our responsibility is to live and represent who and what we believe. What we do here and now reverberates throughout history.

Life is a journey where change seems to be the prevailing wind, but marriage never changes. There is a battle to destroy what God created by re-defining the sexes and tearing down marriage. This battle has never changed. In fact, nothing has changed since creation and there is nothing new going on today that hasn’t been in motion since the beginning of time. ‘What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.’ Ecclesiastes 1:9.

Stand firm in what you believe and know to be true. We all know life begins and life ends. Our time on Earth is short and fleeting, but very purposeful. Marriage is a gift from God and not a hopeful bet you make or odds you play for convenience. When you find the right person make a covenant with them and the God who created marriage.

Marriage has been under attack since the beginning of time itself because it is a fundamental covenant between God and mankind. Know the truth and don’t buy the lies being told. Marriage is a winner.

 

Distractions are a way of life but they demand discipline and not acceptance. You will be distracted from reading this blog before you get to the end of the first paragraph. More content is produced in a shorter period of time than in all history and it competes for your attention. The world is increasingly well connected and more easily accessible for your consumption via outlets that are informative and social. All distractions demand discipline not just time management and a good ‘to-do’ list.

It’s hard to miss the fact everyone’s attention span is decreasing and empirical data supports what everyone is experiencing (Distractions)  At work, employees surf the web, waste time on their phones and productivity and morale go up and down depending on the distraction. People try to ‘balance’ their personal lives. Time management is a hot topic and a skill necessary to survive. The fruit of being distracted manifests in living in a tyranny of the urgent. The result is high stress levels, epidemic claims of ADHD and less joy in everyday life.

Easter was a reminder this problem has been around forever. When Jesus was stressed to the max, ‘to the point of death’ and asked his best friends, His closest confidants, His trusted inner circle to give Him an hour of their time…they were too distracted and couldn’t do it. That may help you feel better about yourself, but His reply identifies what is behind the curtain. ‘… “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the body is weak.” ‘ Matthew 26:40-41. Distractions take away your focus and lead to temptations.

Distractions are temptations. We are tempted to change focus and redirect our hearts, minds and actions. In business this means missing deadlines and disunity on the team. In your personal life, it may look like binging on a television series instead of building or repairing a relationship with a child, friend, spouse or parent. In the BIG picture, distractions make us operate on a more shallow level and take us away from a relationship with God. This, is the original distraction and is at the root of why we experience so many distractions today.

The God of the Old Testament, the Creator of life, heaven and Earth, saw this happen in the Garden of Eden when Satan distracted Eve. He knows distractions are a problem so He made it easier by creating the first ‘to-do’ list, otherwise known as the Ten Commandments. The top three on His list were reminders not to be distracted away from HIM. I paraphrase, but read it in Exodus 20:4-7…You shall have no other gods before me…don’t make anything else a god to you because I’m a jealous God and punish those who hate me and show love to those who love me and keep my commandments…and by the way, don’t even misuse my name. In other words, don’t be distracted from ME!!

In 2015, 75% of Americans called themselves Christian. This number has been decreasing as the distractions increase. If the original Christ followers were distracted when they could physically see and hear Him, where does that leave us? Jesus said when we are distracted from Him, we can fall into temptations because we focus on ourselves, the physical and not the spiritual. Temptations originate with distractions and can lead to death.

If you think death is a stretch, James reminded us that ‘…each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.’ James 1:14-15. What makes this unpalatable is the reminder our first focus should be God and not ourselves. Lucifer had the same problem.

The low hanging fruit of distractions tempting us away from God are easy to see…too tired to go to church and worship…kids sporting events on Sundays…politicians in office that mock God with laws and actions that are self serving. So, we start the day without acknowledging and listening to Him…only turn to God when something blows up or is too big…get obsessed with politics and believe you are in control of who gets elected and not God…think love and respect has to be earned and not given freely…believe punishment and wrath is your responsibility…simply too busy and distracted from a God you don’t see.

If the nature of a distraction is to tempt us and lead us away from God, it makes you wonder why the increase in distractions these days? Is there a reason the world is less focused and more distracted or is it more of the same thing, the same tricks used by the same enemy of God? This is a better question for theologians but it remains a fact as our attention spans shrink each year.

Distractions demand the discipline to identify what IS important and remain focused. You can’t completely avoid distractions but you can avoid losing focus on what matters to you. This will lead to a more productive workplace, a better home life and stronger relationships with everyone.

Decide your focus and learn to recognize and avoid distractions. This discipline could determine your happiness in life and your eternity.

“Every time I look around, it’s in my face.” The lyrics from the aptly named tune How Bizarre released in 1995 by the New Zealand rock band OMC, are applicable every day. Something is in your face every morning whether you start the day with a Twitter feed, a Facebook post, tune into the TV, radio or spend a quiet moment reading or meditating. All around you can see, sense and hear chaos and calamity, division and unity, peace and prosperity. The world never stops cranking out a plethora of noise and activity to occupy the heart and mind of every living creature on the planet. Where it comes from, what it means and what you do with it is what matters.

It’s not difficult to see we are in the midst of a changing world order. Transitions cause havoc in politics, society, business, churches – you name it. Populist upheaval from Paris to New York City and everywhere in between reminds us economic and geopolitical systems are in a struggle for survival.  The deeper dive is the struggle for the mind and soul of men, women and children…born and unborn. With everything in your face, it’s easy to lose sight that “..our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12. The struggle is not against income inequality or socialism, the struggle is against the lies of the evil one. How bizarre.

You want bizarre? “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say…'” Genesis 3:1. How bizarre is it that a snake can talk? More bizarre is that Eve didn’t think anything of it and had a conversation with the snake. At some point a talking snake questioning and changing God’s words didn’t seem so strange. This is the nature of the battle we still fight today. If the enemy can make bizarre so commonplace and in your face each day, maybe you won’t even hear what God says anymore.

In the Bible, God addresses every subject that gets in your face. The Bible talks about the devil and hell, but many churches and believers don’t want that conversation in their face. It’s more palatable the way C.S. Lewis wrote in his book The Screwtape Letters….“We must picture hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives with the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment.” Geez, sounds less bizarre and more familiar.

The enemy is in your face each day and he has been since the beginning when “God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1. Each of us know there is more going on than meets the eye and things aren’t quite right; everything is off. The enemy prefers to deal in being a little off, not quite right. Remember his first words were, “Did God really say…” Genesis 3:1. When you doubt God or what He says, or relegate Him to a position one degree less than complete sovereign Creator, YOUR struggle has just begun. If you started a journey at the equator and flew around the earth, one degree off would land you almost 500 miles off target. The longer you travel off course from God’s truth the further you will be away from God. Guess it begs the question if He is your target?

The world is more than just not quite right, folks. Christians know what is right even if they don’t like it. “Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the King.” 1st Peter 2:17. ‘Proper respect’ means not trashing someone who has a different opinion than yours on social media or in a private conversation. ‘Loving the family of believers’ means not being a part of any hatred regardless of your belief on same sex marriage or the church not sanctioning same sex marriage. The only way to ‘fear God’ is to know Him and what HE says about a subject. ‘Fear’ is a healthy respect and reverence for what He is, does and has done…and says He is going to do.

In the scripture above, ‘honoring the King’ means the earthly king. This means honoring Obama, Trump and God only knows who comes next. “Everyone must submit to the governing authority, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgement on themselves.” Romans 13:1-2. How much more in your face can God be on this subject?

The mayhem we are watching across countries and continents is in your face each day and it’s far from over. Your faith may be private, but what collective society believes about God has a public effect each day. The changing state of governments, businesses, schools, churches, personal relationships…everything, is a reflection of our belief and unbelief in God and his Son, Jesus. Your belief in Jesus, who He is and what He accomplished is the primary focus for the enemy.

Most everyone claims to have a faith in God but they have a hard time with Jesus and believing everything in the Bible. Your belief or unbelief doesn’t effect God’s truths or his existence, but it does effect you….and the world we live in.

Every day the enemy is in your face coaxing your faith and belief in God and his Word to be a little off. Start your day drawing near to Christ and knowing His truth. Don’t let bizarre get you even a little off target.