C.S. Elston

Worshipper, Husband, Author, Screenwriter, Home Cook, Fan

Holy Water

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I love water. After my morning cup of coffee, water is my drink of choice all day long and leading up to bed. Unless, of course, it’s a night when my wife and I decide to have a glass of wine. Water is awesome. It’s not only thirst-quenching, it’s incredibly good for us.

Water helps us maintain healthy organs and muscles as well as aiding in both the digestive process and the regulation of body temperature. It also flushes us out, helping us remove harmful toxins from our bodies and fight off viruses like the flu and the common cold.

Bottom line: We were made to need water.

This is an indisputable fact when it comes to our bodies and we would be hard pressed to find a serious person who would claim otherwise. But, it is also true for our souls. Spiritually, we were made to need the invigorating streams of living water that only God can provide. The Psalmist knew this truth when he said in Psalm 42:1, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”

Jesus Christ knew it, too. He said as much when He told the Samarian woman at the well, in John 4:13-14, “’Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”

We are all sinners. A quick read of Paul’s letters to the Romans makes that abundantly clear. And, anyone who takes, even a cursory but, honest look at themselves knows they are no exception. Therefore, we all need to flush out the sinful toxins from our souls. These toxins include things like unforgiveness, bitterness, jealousy, selfishness and rebellion. We need to be cleansed from the inside out. Physically, we can chug more water. Spiritually, we must go to Jesus. We must repent of our sins, bathe our lives in prayer, and devour the Holy Word of God.

Who’s thirsty?

  • Verses are quoted from the English Standard Version of the Holy Bible

A Servant’s Heart

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Selfishness is demolished when we take on the form of a servant.

Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of what we are supposed to be. If the God of Heaven can humble Himself and become a man . . . If a sinless life can take on the sin of the world . . . If perfection can love imperfection . . . If the King of Kings can live as a servant . . . How can we complain about anything that God would ask of us?

As a sophomore in high school, I joined the juniors and seniors on a trip to an orphanage in Mexico for eight days of serving. We built a church for the community and played with children who had experienced more suffering in their first four or five years than I will likely ever know. Yet, they had as much, if not more, joy in their hearts than I did. It teemed out of them in a way that you couldn’t miss, even if you tried to.

During our trip, we visited with an old man who felt the call of God on his life to sell all that he had, which was only a few pigs, and to use his land to build a church out of cardboard boxes. He had done as God told him. I cannot even guess at how long it had been since he had showered or changed his clothes but, his heart was pure and Christ was pouring out of it.

Coming from an upper middle class background, that trip was a life changing experience for me. It taught me about humility and about joy in suffering. In short, it was a giant stepping-stone in the journey I am on to become the servant that God has called me to be. The first step is demolishing selfishness. It’s a step that has to be taken all over again each day of my life. If you’re a Christian, you are called to be on this same journey. We all are. The only difference between us is that God allows each of us to get there by travelling on different roads.

How The Christian Walk Is Like American Football

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I highly doubt that I’m the first to make this connection but, it struck me this morning, as I wrapped up my morning devotions and checked the schedule to see what time my University of Washington Huskies would be playing the Colorado Buffaloes this weekend, how much the Christian walk is like football. To some, that statement may sound a bit silly. But, to others, like myself, who has loved the game of football his whole life, it puts a few simple truths into relatable terms.

 

Football is all about executing plays. In order to do that properly, a football player must start by getting to know the playbook. The player goes to work studying the book full of plays drawn up by his coach. He memorizes them. He practices them. He gets to know that playbook inside and out, backwards and forwards.

 

For the Christian, that playbook is the Bible, the holy scriptures, the very Word of God. We need to go to work studying, memorizing, and practicing the principles laid out for us by our holy and righteous Creator. We need to learn that book every bit as much as the football player must learn his. After all, it contains the foundations for our victory.

 

Next, both the football player and the Christian need to know which play is being called. The football player must look to the sidelines and read the signal. The Christian must go to God in prayer. In both cases, allowing the One calling the plays to do the majority of the communicating is a key factor.

 

The final event that needs to take place before it’s time to execute plays is the huddle. This is where the football player makes sure the team is all on the same page. Otherwise, you could wind up with eleven guys trying to run eleven different plays. Unity is essential for a football team. The same is true for Christians. For us, the huddle is about finding an uncompromising, truth-preaching and truth-practicing church that relentlessly puts God’s ways ahead of popularity and world acceptance, and then plugging into it with zeal and firm commitment.

 

Once we’ve studied the playbook, received the play call, and had our huddle, we’re ready to run the play. Some plays will be harder than others. Some days we’ll lose yardage. But, the only path to victory is to repeat the process until the end of the game. Even if you’re down thirty-five to nothing at half-time, keep trusting your coach. Go back to that playbook. Receive His call. Get in the huddle. Execute the next play. Who doesn’t love a good comeback story?

 

Hut-hut, hike!

 

Facing the Critic Within

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We’ve never seen him (or, her – for me it’s a him) but we’ve all heard his voice. Call him the voice of doubt, the inner critic or, heck, call him the natural thief of confidence and productivity. It all means the same thing. It’s that nagging voice that comes from within. I hear it all the time. After all, I believe that I am my harshest critic.

Self-criticizing can be very detrimental. It can stifle creativity. It can cause you to doubt your abilities and the work you’re doing to the point where it slows you down or even leaves you completely unproductive. It can cause image issues, relationship fears, and often leads to full-blown depression.

All this to say that the critic within needs to be taken seriously and managed appropriately. To avoid the downward spiral that leads to self-destructive behavior, it is my humble opinion that the critic needs to be listened to and responded to because it can’t be all-together avoided. If, instead, we can harness the criticism and re-direct it into self-improvement, we will become happier and more successful people. So, how do we do that?

First, we must accept the fact that no one is perfect. We aren’t, never will be, and expectations of perfection are both ludicrous and harmful. Goals are great but keeping them realistic is critical so that we set ourselves up for success.

Next, we need to identify the motivational source of the voice. Is this coming from a place deep inside where we know we have room for improvement in a certain area? Or, is this coming from a place of pain? A place of deception? For some, the critic within comes from a place where they have been hurt in the past.

For example, a boy that was teased as a child for being overweight can grow up to be a man who feels fat no matter how much time he spends in the gym or how many times he passes on the French fries, opting instead for the kale salad. That’s when you know the voice is a liar and needs to be kicked out of your life. Choosing the gym and the kale salad made the man a better version of himself than accepting his “fate” as a fat man and eating French fries while watching The Biggest Loser in tears would have. But, he already made that improvement so, continuing to listen to that voice would only mean inevitable self-destruction. Time to move on.

As a Christian, I also believe that the voice within me can be the Holy Spirit shining a light on dark spots in my life that need to be exposed so that I can improve. So that I can become the man I was created to be and live the life I was created to live. That’s a voice I want to listen to because it makes me a better person and, ultimately, a happier one.

As a writer, the critic within can make my work better. Again, I just need to learn to harness it and use it for good rather than let it overwhelm me and take me down the path of self-destruction. Like me while I’m on this side of heaven, my work will never be perfect. And, also like me, there’s always room for improvement. We are all works in progress. And, until my books are in print, I’m trying to improve every little detail until I have to let go.

The bottom line is that the critic within can be a good thing. Or, it can be your worst enemy. The choice is up to you. One thing that’s for sure, we all face that voice from time to time. The trick is in how we decide to handle that standoff.

 

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