Why (and how!) To Make a New Year’s Resolution

For the last few years, the idea of staying up to “watch the ball drop” and count down to the end of one year and beginning of another just hasn’t excited me all that much.  I remember my teenage years when I thought my dad was absolutely crazy for not staying up, choosing rather to head to bed and miss all the action.  Now, I’m starting to get it!  Noelle and I are still celebrating this year with friends, but it won’t be long until we stop ringing in the New Year and start sleeping in the New Year.

 

One thing I am gaining excitement about, on the other hand, is

Best of 2011, #1: 11 Years Ago Today: A Tribute To My Mother

 

Eleven years ago today, my mother died of cancer.  Patricia Jane Ritter was a beautiful woman, full of life and love.  She loved Jesus Christ and followed him for many years, and I like to think that she is hanging out with him personally today, celebrating 11 years together.  Eleven years down, eternity to go.  Can’t wait.

 

It is literally hard to imagine what

Best of 2011, #2: Video: My Sermon on Colossians 1:28

Below is my sermon (June 7, 2011) on Colossians 1:28, given in a preaching class at Western Seminary.  It’s about 14 minutes long.  If you have any thoughts of helpful critiques of any kind, I’d love to hear from you.  You can find more of my sermons on the my sermons page

Best of 2011, #3: Women: Submit! Please Read Before Hating Me

I have shocking news for you about one of the most unpopular passages in all the New Testament.  In Ephesians 5:22 we read “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”  Hopefully you’ve heard that verse before.  But here’s the shocking news:  the word “submit” does not appear in the original (Greek) text.  In its most literal form, it reads

Best of 2011, #4: I’ll Have A Pint of 2%, please

Anyone who knows me at all knows this about me:  I love steak.  All kinds of steak – filet mignon, flank steak, steak in burritos and huge portions of steak accompanied with potatoes.  Many of my favorite meals involve steak, though not all of them – I’m not a one trick pony here people!  Now, I also enjoy milk from time to time – now that I think about it, I love just about everything that comes from a cow.  Anyways, none of this is exactly relevant to what I’m writing about.

I was reading Hebrews 5 recently

Best of 2011, #5: MMA: The Importance of Pillow Talk

Question:  Is climbing into bed supposed to be the beginning of conversation or the end of conversation?  How do you know when your spouse is ramping up for 20 minutes of pillow talk rather than shutting the system down to get plenty of shuteye?  In the past four and a half years, this has become one of the Ritters’ most fundamental philosophical differences.

 

Don’t get me wrong.  Overall, I enjoy pillow talk.  I find it to be

Did You Know Santa Hates the Gospel?

I love my Pandora Christmas stations. Dean Martin Holiday, Christmas Party Radio, Charlie Brown Christmas… I even enjoy the Mariah Carey Holiday station although I’m ashamed to admit that. Here’s something I’ve realized about Pandora Christmas stations and really about Christmas songs in general: there are two deeply conflicting messages being presented. Simultaneous, opposite, and very important messages.

Just consider the lyrics to two of the most popular Christmas songs, songs you hear on Pandora, any radio station playing Christmas music, the mall, any Christmas party you attend, whatever… Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (I know you know them, but read the lyrics carefully):

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

You better watch out, You better not cry, Better not pout I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town. He’s making a list, And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice. Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good, So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out! You better not cry, Better not pout
I’m telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town, Santa Claus is coming to town

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Hark! the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King, peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconcile. Joyful, all ye nations, rise, join the triumph of the skies;
with the angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.

Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord, late in time behold him come,

offspring of a virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail, the incarnate deity,
pleased as Man with man to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel! Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.

Hail, the heaven born Prince of peace! Hail the Son of righteousness! Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings. Mild he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. Hark! the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King.

Do you see just how audaciously different and opposite these two messages are? Now, when I say that “Santa hates the gospel” I don’t mean old Saint Nicholas; rather, I mean the cultural religious figure that has become Santa Claus. It amazes me that, in an attempt to mask the overt Christian gospel message of Christmas, our culture has created a new religious figure. Rather than remove religion from Christmas, Santa Claus becomes the jovial figure who rewards good kids while also being the threatening figure who punishes bad kids (you want to tell me coal in the stocking isn’t punishment?).

Here’s the point: Jesus Christ kicks Santa’s… well, you know. The gloriously good news of Christmas is that God has come to us because he loves us. Christ the everlasting Lord has come to reconcile sinners back to God. Christ the newborn King has come to bring true righteousness as a gift of his grace, given to all who trust in him by faith.

The “gospel” of Santa is that good kids win and bad kids lose. It’s that if you pout, are naughty and not nice, and don’t do good things for goodness’ sake, you don’t get any treats. Santa can’t stand it when bad kids get treated like they were good.

The true gospel is that we don’t deserve any treats, and that we have all been naughty, sinning against our Creator in thought, motive, word and deed. None of us attains perfection, which is the standard of God. Yet the perfect, holy, and just God loves us and has grace on us. He gives good gifts to us even when we don’t acknowledge him, he blesses people with great minds and skills and talents. And he gives the greatest gift, the most necessary gift: forgiveness of all our sin, a new heart with which to love God rightly, and the Holy Spirit living in us. He gives eternal life, real hope, everlasting joy and gladness in the name of Jesus.

I’m so glad Santa is not real and Jesus really came for us, to die and rise so that we too might die to ourselves and live for him. I’m grateful that no culture can fabricate another religion that compares to the truth of God in Jesus Christ. I’m grateful that my naughty deeds didn’t cross me off God’s list, but rather moved God to action on my behalf.

How else does Jesus kick Santa’s you know what? What other ways is Jesus superior to Santa Claus? Write your thoughts below, and share this with others by clicking any of the social network buttons above.

Stressed? There’s Hope! Part 4 of 4

We’ve looked at quite a bit of things related to stress thus far, so I encourage you to check out part 1, part 2, and part 3 if you have not already read them.  All of what follows is a conclusion to these other posts.  This is the super practical stuff, some of the “how-to’s” of managing stress and making more of life’s stressors into eustress.

 

How do I manage stress in my everyday life?  The importance of “Temple Stewardship”

 

God says our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  He has given us a body to glorify him with, the enjoy his creation through, and to realize our limitations.  Did you ever stop and ask why God made our bodies with so many limitations?  We can wake up healthy and go to bed sick, our bodies shut down after less than 24 hours, and we can get injured doing the simplest things.  We are limited in more ways we’d rather admit.  God has given us “custodial responsibilities” with our bodies while we are alive.  The following are ways that help us maintain eustress and have a healthy outlook on life.

 

The role of exercise

My wife is the exercise professional, but even I know that exercise is one of the most critical ways to manage stress well.  There are many reasons exercise is crucial but here is the “big 3”:

Detoxification – when we exercise we burn off compounds that naturally build up in our bodies.  When they build up they keep us in the alarm stage.  If we don’t exercise regularly these compounds will remain in our bodies and have unhealthy effects

Mental anxiety is reduced – exercise encourages mental relief and promotes a general sense of joy. 

Internal organs are strengthened – If you stay in the alarm stage and do not exercise regularly, the chemicals that should not be negative will have negative effects because they remain in your body far too long.  Exercising regularly builds up your organs for a more healthy body

 

Have a healthy nutritional lifestyle

This may seem simple but it is often overlooked as a great way to keep eustress in your life.  Putting good nutrients in your body makes you fight disease better, gives you more energy, and promotes eustress.

 

Choose God’s mindset

This one is up to you – how will you view your life?  Do you see it as totally up to you, with the weight of the world on your shoulders?  Do you carry around all your friends’ problems and feel like it’s your job to fix them?  When you fail do you think of yourself as a failure?  When you succeed does it feel like it’s never enough?  Having a lopsided “Locus Of Control” will only lead to distress in your life.

 

God has given us stressors for our benefit so that we would glorify Him.  It is our responsibility to trust His kindness and promises to us and not assume too much responsibility on our part.  God absolutely wants you to know His good pleasure and love in your life, and when you trust His Word and know that he knows all things it will result in eustress in your life, even when things are not the way you wish they were.

 

Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize!

This is absolutely crucial to developing eustress in your life.  Part of our problem is that we make what is not important far too important, and what is important we make not important enough.  One way to turn stressors into eustress is to learn one simple word:  “no”  Sometimes saying no to an invitation, even if it’s good, can be the most healthy thing for your body and mind.  For example, you may need to say no to going out with friends on Friday night because it’s been an especially hard work week and your body needs extra rest.  Prioritize your day, every day – what matters most, who do you need to love and who might you need to let go of, when will you spend time with God each day and grow in relationship with Him, and so on. 

 

Set big and small goals

Start with short term goals – finishing a project by a certain time of day, saving money for something or someone, and then work up to bigger goals that are further down the road.  And when you accomplish little goals, celebrate!  Take a break, take a nap, get together with friends, or whatever helps you relax and enjoy an accomplished goal.

Stressed? There’s Hope! Part 3 of 4

In case you need a refresher of the series thus far, check out part 1 and part 2.  We’ve already discussed some important terms such as eustress, distress, and the Locus of Control, and also looked at important responses our brains and bodies make to different types of stress.  Now, we turn to Scripture to see that (shocker!) God has wired us in such a way that being in right relationship with him brings eustress.

 

How does a Biblical viewpoint of stress make a difference?

It’s important to understand that God brings stressors into our lives for

MMA: Many Small Rocks Become a Mountain

Noelle and I have been married approximately 1,785 days.  That’s nearly five years.  Five years doesn’t sound like much to me, but 1785 days does!  And I’ve been learning something about my wife which has always been true of her (her parents, siblings, and college roommates can attest to this) but which has become increasingly important lately:  she feels loved when I do the little things for her.

 

Example… we’re in bed, lights out, engaging in some vital pillow talk.  We pray, say goodnight, and then… “Honey…”  It’s the silence after that word that tells me everything I need to know.  Perhaps