by admin | Oct 23, 2024 | Truth
PART TWO OF THREE
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
How we think and act on information is influenced by our culture, our attitudes, our upbringing and the people we put in our lives. For Christians, how we think about the world around us needs to be one that’s influenced by our faith in Jesus and knowledge of scripture.
That’s called a “world view.”
It’s how owning a gun can be natural to many Americans but in Canada and England, far fewer people even think about owning one. As similar as the countries are, there are different worldviews influenced by their cultures.
Our world view as Christians MUST be grounded in scripture and influenced by a desire to live the way Jesus wants us to live.
There is no other way.
Having a Christian world view means we are going to want to seek out what is true.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Paul is encouraging us to look for what is right and good in the world around us and focus on that.
We live in a time where false information spreads like wildfire across social media platforms. When we aren’t operating from a Christian world view, we are going to have strong opinions about issues that affect us that aren’t shaped by truth. The false information is put out there by people who are putting their own interests first, wanting to shape how you think about the issue, person, circumstance or situation they are talking about, often for political or financial gain. They’ve formed their opinion without a Christian world view and often can’t be trusted. Their motivations are to get you to think the way they do. Some don’t even believe what they have shared or put out there. They simply say what they think you want to hear to collect views, clicks and likes for financial gain.
When we share information, are we doing the same thing? Are we sharing something because we want it to be true and want to sway others to believe it too or are we sharing something that we know is true. There’s a big difference and for Christians, it should only be because we know it is true. As Paul said, what’s noble and true are what we should be focused on.
As Christians, we need to be people other Christians can trust as well when we seek advice or wisdom on how to act on the information around us.
In the age of social media, it’s hard to know what is true sometimes. We have such strong opinions, particularly about politics right now, that we believe anything that supports our view without checking the sources or having any reason to know it’s true other than to us, it is something we want to believe is true. We are to the point where we are making life choices and ending friendships over believing information that isn’t real. In a way, that’s like living in a false reality.
It’s okay for you and I to look at the same facts and truths and come to a different opinion about it. As long as we’re doing our best to apply the Bible and seeking godly wisdom to know how to respond to the truths we are pursuing, we can still come to a different conclusion from someone else. Whether dealing with other Christians or not, as long as we still treat people we disagree with the same same way Jesus would, we still maintain our integrity and are still interacting with the world around us based on a Christian approach to knowledge that is real.
And when we’re focused on what is real, noble and praiseworthy to God, God is glorified and our hearts are more at peace with the world around us.
by admin | Oct 23, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Whether on the ranching, rodeo or horseman side, a cowboy is known for being tough, independent and taking care of work and life on his own. There are times when there’s no way around it and we just need some help, but otherwise, it’s seen as being weak to not be able to take care of ourselves, our animals and our families.
For Christians, we have to look at it a little differently by letting go of at least some of our pride. People who don’t have a saving faith in Jesus just see their strength as their own and their circumstances are whatever they made them.
With Jesus, we realize that nothing we do is accomplished without him. That can hurt our egos a little until we start to understand better what it means to “walk with Jesus.”
John 15:3-5 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
These verses are most often taught to show us that when our faith in Jesus is real, we produce fruit through having Jesus as a deep part of our lives. Fruit are the good, God-honoring actions and attitudes we produce in our lives and when we have been saved through our faith in Jesus and our repentance of sin, he abides in us. We can’t help it and as a result, everything we do is through Jesus.
More of the verses teach us that without Jesus, we are eternally separated from God, unable to do anything in this life that would be seen as fruit—actions and attitudes that honor God.
While life can still be difficult and we can face struggles and challenges we haven’t even imagined yet, if we take the time to think through these verses, we can realize we aren’t alone in our struggle and we’re going to have the strength we need from having Jesus in us.
Ephesians gives us something similar that we can also found encouraging.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
God created us to to good works, which is also another word for fruit. Even when we struggle, God has plans for us that are already set out. That means we have Christ going through it all with us. When we are following what God wants us to do, Christ is there to give us the strength to do it, working along side us as we saw in John.
That means we can pursue what God wants us to do with every expectation of it working out the way God intends it to. Life can still be hard and not go the way we want it to, but God will use us in ways that build up His kingdom. There is hope and purpose for us if we can understand and accept that as true.
by admin | Oct 10, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
How much do we really think about just how deep God’s love for us is?
Those aren’t the thoughts of a typical cowboy.
At the rodeo, we face pressure to win or we don’t have entry fees for the next few weeks, we get our thumb taken off and miss the calf roping win, our truck breaks down, we get discouraged
At the ranch, political issues crop up that affect how we use our land, prices sometimes dive before our cattle get to market, a storm blows through and an extra week of work piles up making repairs to broken fences and barns. It gets discouraging.
Don’t worry, God’s in control.
I’ve heard that so many times and yet, I still worry. There are times it makes me think I haven’t matured as a Christian nearly as much as I had hoped when I can’t seem to give my stress and worry over to God.
First, we have to remember as Christians, we have a perfect eternity waiting. As bad as our situation is right now, it actually can be worse. It is hard for us to grasp just how short our time here is and when we are struggling and even suffering, it gets even harder to see that.
But we are loved by God so much that He sent Jesus to die a painful death to take all punishment meant for our sin that if we believe in him, repent of our sin and ask to be forgiven, we are given a perfect eternity it Heaven.
Romans 5:8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us
The troubles we face are because this is a sinful broken world. We are born into this world as sinners separated from God because He won’t allow sin in His presence and will judge and condemn it. But despite deserving God’s punishment as we live sinfully, He still sent Jesus to die and take the punishment in our place.
When we receive that gift of salvation through our saving faith in Jesus, it doesn’t mean our struggles end but there are two things it does mean: a perfect eternity awaits us free of struggle and whatever we are going through, God will use it for good.
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Sometimes with hindsight, we can see how God used a struggle to build us up or even to save us from an even bigger struggle. But sometimes, we don’t always get to see the direct outcome of God’s plan. It’s one of those places where we need faith when that happens and hope in our perfect eternity, free from struggles. It doesn’t mean it isn’t hard but our strength to endure comes from God and the hope He gave us through Jesus is what can get us through anything.
by admin | Sep 26, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Not everything we do here leads to a winning moment or a paycheck but we’re still supposed to put our heart into everything and do the best that we can do.
At a rodeo recently, I watched a bull rider give everything he had, not just to get bucked off but to be spun into a cartwheel in the air before a hard landing. Thankfully, he was unhurt beyond the normal aches, pains and sprains a dismount like that will cause.
Many people make a career in rodeo and when you compete at that level, you have absolutely no choice but to put your best effort in. If you don’t and you compete on the rough stock side of the industry, you’re guaranteed to buck off, put yourself and others in harms way and waste your entry fees. On the timed event side, you’ve invested time and money in training and working a horse to compete alongside you and you aren’t going to shortchange yourself by putting a half-hearted barrel run together or an aimless toss of your rope. You’re going to push for the fastest time you and your horse and can achieve.
Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
From a Christian perspective, when we focus on just the rodeo example, we are competing for more than a paycheck. Yes we have to work hard to win, but our motivation should be to do our best because it is Him that we are representing. Paul is telling us that God wants us to work with best effort because we serve Him with an awareness that He has given us a perfect eternity in Heaven through our saving faith in Jesus.
When people know we take the Bible seriously and we don’t live our lives just for our own success, we can glorify God through doing our best. When they see and understand that it is our faith that motivates us, the attention is put on God and not our success or even our failures.
Parents will tell us it’s okay when we failed at something because we tried our best. God is glorified even if we fail when He knows we put our all into it and set that example for others.
How well we handle a win or loss can really show others how Jesus is at work transforming us.
Rodeo is just one example though. This applied to how we work any job we have even if we have the worst boss imaginable. God still expects us to put our best effort forward in every situation that involves work, from traditional employment to hobbies to helping a neighbor cut up a fallen tree.
No matter how much success we have from our efforts, when our hope is in Jesus, our real reward is a perfect eternity in Heaven.
by admin | Sep 5, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
You have the ability to change the course of someone’s day or even life.
Men especially, think how often you’ve heard a compliment outside of a dating scenario (or even in a relationship). Sometimes criticism is necessary and we need to know how to receive it without getting upset, angry or defensive. But we take criticism so often at work, in relationships and from family. Sometimes it gets back to us from our extended social circles where someone out there has been criticizing or complaining about us. Sometimes it gets back to us that it was someone close to us.
It isn’t weak to admit that sometimes it’s hurtful or at the very best, discouraging. It certainly makes most of us angry and puts us in a defensive position. And the more we hear, the more it piles up and the more discouraged we can become.
More importantly, it also isn’t weak to admit that it actually feels good to hear something nice once in awhile.
It can mean even more when it comes from people out of our extended connections who we know aren’t just saying something because they’re a close friend that sees we’re frustrated or who suspect might have an agenda behind the compliment. When it comes from someone who really did observe an action we took, a way we spoke to someone or a situation we handled, it can carry more weight because we know it was sincere.
Think of someone in your extended circles and something you’ve seen them do or a way they handle themselves and text or message them right now: “hey man, I just want you to know I’ve noticed how great you are with –your daughter–how you handled that bad call by that rodeo judge–how you never seem to let that supervisor get to you– the way you always lend someone a hand.”
Look for the good in the people in your close circles and in your more distant ones.
Do not underestimate how much God can use you to lift that person out of a very bad head space you didn’t even know they were in. And don’t rob yourself of such an easy way to glorify God by following what this verse teaches us.
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Paul is telling us to first make sure we aren’t speaking any junk to begin with whether it’s gossiping or running someone down behind their back or even two their face or just speaking with foul language. We should only be using words and language that would be God-honoring. We forget, He is listening.
Paul then reminds us that anything we say should be for the benefit of others and that when we do this, it can point people to God’s saving grace.
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