Posted on

No More Resolutions and Why You Should Stop Trying To Be Like Jesus

Real Solutions Pic

I have stopped making New Year’s resolutions.  Maybe it’s the pessimist in me.  But in years past, without fail, whenever I have resolved to do better, act better, eat better, exercise better, parent better, communicate better — it doesn’t end well.  Honestly, I feel like resolutions just set me up for failure.  I am done with resolutions.  What I need are real solutions.

Here’s the deal.  Resolutions can never really help any of us.  And here’s why.  They are by definition rooted in human striving.  And who among us is perfect?  None of us.  We cannot achieve in our own strength the goals that we set for ourselves.  But I have found a better way.  I have found a real solution!

The real solution to any and all of our issues is a person.  His name is Jesus Christ.  Wait!  Don’t stop reading!!!!  You were waiting for something more earth-shattering weren’t you?  More revolutionary?  More epic?  Well Jesus is as epic as they come.  He was a revolutionary.  When He was here on earth claiming to be the Messiah, there weren’t many who could wrap their brains around it.  Most people mocked Him.  Most people shook their heads in disbelief.  And in the end, the people crucified Him for claiming to be the Son of God.  So while it may seem at first to be overly simplistic to say that Jesus is the real solution we are all looking for, let’s consider Jesus’s own words.

He is quoted as saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

WAY=SOLUTION

If you have a problem, He is the way to fix it.  He is the solution.  Not a re-solution, but THE solution.  He Himself.  You will not find answers in platitudes or creeds or catechisms, but in Christ alone.  The solutions we are all seeking are found in His very presence.  No matter what you need, He can meet it.  No matter what your prescription, He can fill it.  No matter your addiction, He can overcome it.  No matter your grief, He can soothe it.  No matter your darkness, He can illuminate it.  No matter your confusion, He can clarify it.  Jesus Christ claims to be what you are searching for.  Do you believe this?  Do I believe this?

But whatever we do . . . WE MUST NOT TRY TO BE LIKE JESUS!

Here is the big secret — the thing I have been dying to share with you — you ready?????

****Don’t try to be like Jesus.  Just be WITH Jesus!****

Trying to be like Jesus is too exhausting.  We are all bound to fail.  This goes back to the resolution thing.  If you are like me, you’ve pulled yourself up by your bootstraps time after time only to trip and fall again.  It’s so demoralizing —

TRY —>  FAIL —>  TRY—>  FAIL —>  TRY —>  FAIL —>  TRY —>  FAIL

Besides, when we fall into a performance mentality (even with something as great as trying to be like Jesus), we spurn God’s grace.  Titus 3:5-6 are a couple of amazing verses.  Do you know what they say?  “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior . . . .”

So instead of trying to be like Jesus, I’ve determined to just be WITH HIM.  Hang with Him.  Abide with Him.  By simply being intentional about being in His presence, I’ve found that what I was TRYING to do, just started to naturally happen.  I was becoming more like the Person I was hanging out with.  But sort of by accident.  By osmosis.  We all know it’s true.  We become like the people we associate with, the people we commune with.  I want to be intentional about communing with Jesus.

So time to get practical.  What do you say, we all get up 30 minutes earlier each day– (just 30 minutes y’all!) — throw on a robe, go downstairs and put the coffee on,  go back up and brush our teeth, then go to our special chair with our Bible and coffee, and just sit with Jesus.  Cultivate the friendship like you would with a girlfriend.  No agenda.  No Bible-reading schedule.  In fact, this shouldn’t be your Bible-reading time.  If He prompts you to open it up, then do, but really just feel the sweetness of His love for you.  Rest in His cozy presence.  He loves you so much.  He is Emmanuel — He is with you — and you are with Him.

Posted on

Available Today – Christmas Harmonies EP!! ONLY $5

This is our first ever Christmas recording!  It’s some of our favorite carols and we hope you will enjoy our rendition of them – proclaiming the reason for the season! Isaiah 9:2 says, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” From our family to yours…Merry Christmas!

Click here to get one today!!

Posted on

New Album “Breathe Into Me” Available Now!!!

Charity Breathe Into Me Album Cover

At long last, my new album is here! Like, in my hand. I am holding it. It took WAAAYYYY longer than we all thought it would. I had promised this album to some of you like a year ago! Well, the wait is over — (because I know this is all you have thought about every day for a year!! 😉 ).

The working title was “Hymns and Spiritual Songs”, but we decided to change it to “Breathe Into Me”, the one song on the album that I actually wrote. This album has a little bit of everything on it — the driving beat on the title track, tender ballads, modern worship songs, and even a couple jazzy hymns. Very eclectic, some might even say random — I guess sorta like my personality. I love so many different styles of music, and that is certainly evident on the album. I hope you love it — it’s basically my heart via audio. The lyrics in these songs are gospel-centric. The story of the album is Christ crucified, buried, and resurrected and that He lives and reigns and offers us all real life. As you listen to it, my prayer is that you would allow God to breathe into you HIS very life!!!! ~Charity

Posted on

A Night of Worship Coffeehouse

Good morning friends! Tim and I are so excited about Passionate Life Ministries kickoff event scheduled for November 23rd from 7-9pm. It’s gonna be a coffeehouse-style worship night. If you should so choose to grace us with your presence, you should expect great coffee and pastries (including cupcakes from Sweet Cakes – yum!), a cool candlelit vibe, and awesome music! My friend Noah Rain will be lifting up praise to our great God — you’ve gotta hear this guy’s voice! So good! I’ll be leading worship too with the family band. (We’ve kind of settled on the name, Charity Helms & the Family Band — what do you think? Tim plays guitar, Sam plays bass, and Emeline plays perc and sings — it just made sense.) We’ve also pulled in some other amazingly talented friends to play with us. I can’t wait! It’s gonna be so fun! This is the first installment of four quarterly coffeehouse worship events that we will host this year. And all for the single purpose of lifting up the name and word of Jesus Christ. Passionate Life Ministries exists to reach this generation with the message and power of Jesus Christ, leading them to a deeper walk, a deeper passion, and a desire to serve Him whatever the cost. This ministry is about pointing people to Jesus. We are only conduits of His gospel. So come on out on the 23rd and be prepared to have fun with great friends, but also definitely come expecting to encounter Jesus.

Posted on

I Want To Be Just Like Adam (of Adam & Eve)

First of all, let me say HELLO! It has been a bazillion years since I last posted a blog. I had a very busy year last year and have intentionally scaled back my schedule so I would have more time to blog and vlog. Yes, I want to start vlogging! I hope to post short videos of songs I’m working on, or maybe sometimes just old hymns. . . . I’m not exactly sure what that’s gonna look like yet — just something I’m thinking about. But first I need to learn how to shoot the videos and all that stuff. Anyhoo, I hope you’ll join me on Monday and Thursday mornings. I hope to offer you something worth reading (or listening to) that can enhance your quiet time with Jesus. 🙂

So back to the title of this blogpost. Why on earth would I want to be like Adam??? He’s the infamous guy who messed up royally way back at the beginning of time. The guy we have to thank for all of the world’s chaos. In one iconic moment of weakness, the world was forever changed. But I can’t be too hard on the guy — the real blame should be laid on the crafty serpent. It was his subtle scheme that enticed Eve and then Adam to partake in the forbidden fruit, right? In the end, it doesn’t really matter who’s to blame. What happened, happened — and we’re all paying the price to this very day. Ugh.

Anyway, on a slightly lighter note, back to the question at hand. What is it that I so admire about Adam that would make me want to write a blogpost about him? Well actually there are a lot of things. We was a great zookeeper. (Let that sink in for a minute.) But not only did he take care of all of God’s creatures, he even named them all! The guy was smart!

The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field. . . .

I can picture him now — “That colorful one looks like a, a, a parrot. But that black bird over there . . . hmmm . . . that looks like a raven to me.” What in the world?????

I also like Adam because when it came to Eve, he was all about it! Adam is the primary example in the Bible of how a man should be “joined” to his wife (Gen. 2:24). The word “joined” in the Hebrew means to cling to, to stick to, to stick with (I like this one), to keep close, to pursue. There is something natural and God-ordained and awesome about a man pursuing a woman. Back in college, one of my very best friends had a guy pursuing her, and she didn’t like him at all. He was what I would call overzealous — following her around campus, jockeying for position in the cafeteria line to be near her, incessantly asking her out — to the point that, she got to where she didn’t even want him around. (He’s really not as creepy as I am making him sound — spoiler alert** — he ends up getting the girl). Long story longer, she went off to Thailand on a two-year mission thinking that a couple of oceans and continents between them would mellow this guys affections. Not in the least. In fact, the opposite happened. He followed her to Thailand! Talk about keeping close, sticking with! She didn’t want him there at first, but slowly, slowly, he wooed her heart. Thank you to guys who throw caution to the wind to pursue the woman they love with total and complete abandon. You inspire all of us to believe in the power of self-sacrificing love. And that goes for you too Adam!

But the #1 reason I want to be like Adam is implied in Genesis 3:8-11a:

They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked?”

Here’s the thing. No one had to tell Adam he was in the wrong. He just knew. Because he now had the knowledge of good and evil, because of the loss of innocence, Adam was horrifyingly aware of his nakedness, his sin. Oh to be this sensitive to sin in my own life! I pray for a keen awareness of my own sin — I don’t want my senses to become dulled to that which offends God. So in this way, I want to be just like Adam — quick to admit my faults, my embarrassing nakedness. Owning up to the reality that I need a covering. Sheepishly coming out of hiding and being laid bare before a loving and merciful God. I know now that fig leaves will never do. The second Adam, Jesus, covered me with His own blood.