“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19 NIV).

Are your hands too full to enjoy life? Do you ever feel overwhelmed and almost dizzy with the busyness and urgency of the day?

You’re not alone. Americans are suffering from a modern malady known as “burnout.” We’re over-scheduled, over-committed, and scatter-brained from information overload. There must be a better way to live!

There is, but it will require a radical step. We need to let go. That’s right. We need to drop everything for a moment and reevaluate our lives. I think it was Socrates who said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Far too many of us are living “unexamined lives.”

I’m not proposing that we all become hermits and escape from this crooked, crazy world (although tempting sometimes). I’m suggesting that we need to look and see where all this busyness is taking us. We need to empty our hands of all the burdensome stones that we’re carrying and carefully put only the important ones back.

How? I believe there is only one way. Follow Jesus. His is a simple call. He says, “Come, follow me.” He also says, “Come unto Me you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

We’ve made life too complicated, too full of rules and duties and responsibilities that we can’t shoulder. Why not answer Christ’s simple call to simply “Come and follow.”

When we release our burdens and exchange them for the “easy yoke” that Christ offers, I’ve noticed that He calls us to three simple commitments:

1. A commitment to celebrate God’s Son – to worship God first and to make Him our first priority, not allowing anything in life to crowd Him out of first place.

2. A commitment to connect to God’s family – to recognize our need for fellowship with other believers, carving out room in our lives to live in encouraging, accountable, sharpening relationship with others.

3. A commitment to contribute to God’s Kingdom – to focus our time, talent and treasure on investing in the only Kingdom that will last. Following Christ, He “makes us fishers of men.”

Let’s empty our hands for a moment and, following Christ’s leadership, let’s carefully put back only those commitments that He deems worthy.

Living the simple life means continually saying “No” to the world’s urgent cry for our busyness and ordering our lives around simply following Jesus.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).

I started taking an annual study break at the end of the year over 10 years ago. I have found it to be one of the wisest practices in my life. It gives me time to reflect on the past year and to reset my sights on God’s calling in my life.

It also gives me time to study the Bible and listen for the Lord’s voice for myself, my family (of which I am father and grandfather), and our church (of which I am pastor).

I don’t want to lead an unexamined and haphazard life. Neither do I want to have those under my care following an aimless leader/shepherd. Since I’m not wise enough to bear the weight of this responsibility (Have you figured that out yet?), I “retreat” from the world’s influence in order to “advance” in the Lord’s power.

I am thankful for a wife that understands this necessity for spiritual renewal. She fully supports me in my desire to spend an extended time alone with God (She takes this time to be with God too). I am also thankful for a church like WCC that encourages me to take these “study breaks.”

Speaking of our church… as I was walking on the beach yesterday… I found this message written in the sand. I think it’s for you.

For to us a child is born,to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6 NIV).

“Daddy, where does the sun go at night?” I asked my dad as he leaned over tucking me into bed.

“Why it’s busy waking up the little boys in China, son.” He answered, knowing this would only lead to more questions from his curious and bedtime-stalling son.

I loved these bedtime question and answer sessions with my father. And he seemed to enjoy them too. I especially liked the way he didn’t talk down to me, but gave me real answers. He encouraged my inquisitive nature and told me that I was the “smartest 7 year old he knew.”

I wouldn’t take anything for those memories with my dad. Those were wonderful times together, made especially sweet because we lost him to cancer the following year, when I was only eight years old.

In the years following I used to long for someone to answer my bedtime questions. You know, the kind of questions that keep you up at night. That’s when I started calling out to the Lord. I would ask the Lord Jesus my questions and seek His counsel on upcoming decisions. Emptying my mind of every concern I would find blessed sleep in knowing that He was my counselor. And oh, what a wonderful counselor Christ is!

His counsel is wonderful because…

Christ’s counsel is personal. Jesus calls us to a personal relationship. He knows us and our situation. He is not distant, but close. He leans in and answers us.

Christ’s counsel is powerful. Following the words and commands of Christ, we receive power to live them out. His words are not just wise advice, they contain wonder-working power. His words are life.

Christ’s counsel is perfect. His counsel is wonderful because it accomplishes its goal. His word is like a seed growing within us, making us like Him. His word is flawless and pure. It never fails.

I’m thankful this Christmas season for the Son that was given “unto us.” He is a Wonderful Counselor and more than able to answer my “bedtime questions.”

“There will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them– bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute” (2 Peter 2:1-2 NIV).

The Greek word for false teacher found in 2 Peter 2:1 is pseudodidaskalos. The prefix pseudo means false, fradulent, misleading, or pretending to be something you’re not. A pseudo is a counterfeit of that which is authentic.

Speaking of counterfeits, one of the two $20 bills pictured here is real and the other is a counterfeit. Can you tell which?

I used to work in retail and we trained our cashiers to watch out for counterfeit money, especially $20 bills (the most often counterfeited bill). How did we train them? We had them examine a real $20 bill closely, to become familiar with its look and feel. The best way to identify a counterfeit is to be intimately acquainted with the real thing.

In Peter’s second letter he warns us to wake up to the pseudo Christian teachers that infiltrate the church. At first glance they look like the real thing, but upon closer examination, they turn out to be counterfeits. Peter says that these pseudo Christians “bring the way of truth into disrepute.” In other words, pseudo Christianity causes the gospel to lose attraction in the culture.

I see a lot of pseudo Christianity in our country, especially in the so-called “Bible-belt.” But what we need is a people who will live out the real thing. We need authentic Christians. How? By getting to know the true Word of God and living according to the power of the living Word, Jesus.

And then, we’ll know the difference between that which is pseudo and that which is real (By the way, the top $20 is real).

“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9 NIV).

We had our first event at our future home this past Sunday night! We hung signs, lit up our new parking lot, cooked “Hallo-weenies,” put on costumes and filled our trunks with candy to give the kids in our community a safe place to celebrate Halloween.

I know that many Christians are concerned about celebrating “worldly” holidays. We understand that concern. But rather than condemn, we decided to offer a fun, free, and safe alternative. We gave away hundreds of dollars of candy, sodas, and nearly 500 hotdogs. We made hundreds of friends and had an awesome time doing it. We like to use worldly wealth (or worldly holidays) to gain friends.

I’ve noticed that when you take the time to make friends, people are more open to hear what you have to say. So, at WCC we are working to …

Build a bridge of trust, that will bear the weight of truth.

In the meantime, we’re having fun using the culture to reach out to people. I’m thankful for a church family (and my crazy family) that understands this.

I’m praying for more “crazy” friends that will follow Christ’s teaching to “use worldly wealth” for reaching our world for Him.