In Matthew 5:20 Jesus is talking to a big crowd and he points out the local religious role models with a pretty radical statement, “…unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of Heaven.” The people just scratch their heads and look at one another all thinking the same thing -”We’re hopeless”. For those that realize this Jesus says, “Ding, ding, ding – You’re right! So, let’s trade. I’ll take all your sin, rebellion and crimes against God and man and I’ll give you all my perfection that I have obtained by living a sinless perfect life.” For those that believe him life begins, real life, living in relationship with God. For those that don’t, they pace the beach pretending, grumbling and ignoring but they don’t taste the sweetness of those waves.

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When was the last time something took your breath away because of its majesty?

I’m not talking about a really bad wipe out or your buddy pulling off a sick air. I’m talking about a sky show like a bursting sunset radiating colors over the ocean that you didn’t know existed. Or walking outside on a starry night to see Orion or Pleiades—constellations mentioned thousands of years ago in Scripture (Amos 5:8) that are still glowing today for our enjoyment. I’m talking about the sound and light show that accompanies God’s way of watering the earth with food-producing rain (Job 36:27-33).

Have you stood by a fence and marveled at the power of a horse as it gallops gallantly through a field? (39:19-25). Or watched a soaring, swooping eagle drop from the sky because his God-designed vision has sighted supper from his mountain-peak nest? (39:27-30).

At creation, God gave man breath. Then he took man’s breath away with the beauty, grandeur, and eloquence of a universe of marvels created by His own hand. Look around. Examine what God has done. Then, breathless, proclaim His majesty to the next surfer that paddles up.

Foward to a friend

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When God looked down on this world in all HIS wisdom, HE chose to address our root problem. He didn’t solve world hunger though he fed the hungry. He didn’t alleviate physical sickness though he healed the broken. He didn’t fix economies or change politics or educate the masses. His actions showed that His love for people drove Him to address some of these issues but His focus was on something much deeper.

We have GOOD NEWS, the Gospel, and that news does not take away all of our problems or pain in this life. In fact, for many it creates pain. But, it solves all of our brokenness for eternity. In fact, Jesus said, “…whoever believes in ME shall never die. Do you believe this?” – John 11:26

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Once upon a time, in the near future, Kelly invites you to a private party celebrating him (of course, you could only get in with him). So, as you walk into the festivities with Kelly at your side, every head in the room turns, looks at you and begins to cheer (or maybe their looking at Kelly…probably not). They begin to chant about champion and you feel so proud that they feel this way about you.  From here the story unfolds with a few options:

* One is that you (we) continue to walk around deceived into thinking that “all this is for me”.

* Or, we walk around beating ourselves up over the fact that we are unworthy of this (I mean, we didn’t even have Kelly on our fantasy surf team for that one contest…hope he doesn’t find out).

* Or, we ignore the cheering for him and simply “seize the day”. We soak up every second and milk every moment until our “pleasure tank” is full.

This is often how we treat God. In the story that is unfolding over all of time, there is one main character – and it’s not me or you. HE is so good that as a loving dad HE has created much for us to enjoy. HE has invited us in to enjoy it in relationship with HIM. HE has declared that because of JESUS our lack of perfection has been fixed. So, we are invited to celebrate and enjoy but not to forget the one that this all honors – God Himself.

In every moment of your existence are you allowing the Holy Spirit to renew your mind and redirect you perspective to an awareness that HE is at the center of it all? That HE deserves the celebration? Are you in awe and falling in love of this ONE that would pay everything to transform HIS enemies into HIS family and invite them to enjoy the party with HIM?

Enter the party. Cheer and celebrate. Enjoy the band. And remember the one that it all points to…

- GOD.

Colossians 1:16 “…all things were created by HIM and for HIM.“

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Service isn’t simply what we do. It’s an attitude. A Part of being conformed into the image of Christ is the shifting of our identity and realizing that servant-hood has more to do with who I am than what I do. Phillipians 2 tells us to have the attitude that Jesus had: the attitude of a servant. Wait, we’re too comfortable with that word. The attitude of a slave.

Meditate today on what a slave’s attitude is like: He owns nothing – simply manages all that His master entrusts him with.  He doesn’t set agendas for his life but follows someone else’s agenda for his life. His perspective on self, others and his owner are different.

Today I am celebrating that God is increasingly forming this attitude in the members of Christian Surfers. Last week our team was serving again at Surf EXPO. Read the story here. But, service isn’t something we do a couple times a year. It’s who we are in Jesus.

In 2011 we tracked some interesting data. From the stats we gathered, the members of CSUS spent over 59,500 hours serving. Praise GOD!!  This week, look for ways to serve the people that God has placed in your life. We would love to hear how u are serving people around you.

Email your story to info@christiansurfers.com

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