Author Archives: Steve Long

Increase Your Faithing

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“Faith as small as a mustard seed…” (Matthew 17:20)

People sometimes speak of faith as if it came in amounts– “He has so much faith.” I argue that faith does not come in amounts, but rather is something that is exercised. Faith is belief, and belief is not something that comes in amounts; you either believe or you don’t. It is what you do as a result of that belief that constitutes the “greatness” or “littleness” of your faith. Jesus says that faith as small as a mustard seed can move a mountain. How much smaller than a mustard seed can you get? The point is, that a seemingly small act of faith can produce tremendous results. Don’t be concerned with increasing your faith; just increase the number of times you use your faith.

Following Jesus

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“Follow Me.” (Matthew 4:19)

Jesus says, “Follow Me.” What are some reasons for following someone, aside from obedience to a command? Why obey that command? I see several examples of following, with different reasons for each. Watch a mother duck, with all her little ducklings trailing along behind her. They follow her out of need, because without her they would die. In the same sense, our needs will ultimately only be met if we follow Jesus. (While strong motivation, no doubt, is salvation selfish motivation for following Jesus– “fire insurance” as some call it?) Another example: a faithful dog, following his master everywhere he goes. True, the master provides for the dog’s needs, but the dog could very likely survive on its own by following its instincts. The dog want to be with the master, even when the dog isn’t in need of something. I think this exhibits love, the best reason for following Jesus. Jesus does so many things for us; in return, we should tag along like a grateful, devoted dog (or lamb). Another reason why people follow is awe. Look at any superstar, and you will see crowds of people following that person. People follow the Pope in hopes of touching such a great man, to hear what such a powerful man has to say. How much more should we follow the God of the Universe! A follower of Jesus follows for all of these reasons– simply because HE IS GOD, because He meets our needs, and–the one which means the most to Him–we love Him.

Achieving Holiness

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“Be holy, because I am holy” (I Peter 1:16)

I know that my spiritual life needs work, so what should I do? God calls me to be holy; therefore, I must obey God and be holy. And how do I achieve holiness? Holiness requires an absence of sin. My goal is now to eradicate sin from my life. The problem, however, is that I fail to eradicate sin from my life. This is discouraging because no matter what I do or how hard I try, I continue to sin. My discouragement and sense of failure leads to a deterioration of my standards. “Since I can’t keep from sinning, is it really all that bad if I sin a little more?” The selfish desires within me don’t want to give up the sin, but my conscience says I should. So when I’m feeling spiritual, I convince myself that the sin is truly unholy and my conscience is right. After doing this I am committed to doing away with the sin. But when I stumble and commit the sin again, it becomes increasingly harder to keep convincing myself that I must stop sinning. How am I to improve my spiritual life when I can’t seem to make good progress towards becoming holy. When I focus on trying to stop sinning, I only encounter failure. I look again at God’s command: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Ah! God wants me to be like Him. And since God came to earth as a man, I have a good model to follow. The answer then is to fall in love with Jesus. Only then, by following the Holy One, am I truly on the road to holiness.

Graduation Speech

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A short speech that I gave as part of my high-school graduation ceremony…


Mr. Longbrake, Pastor Moir, Pastor Thien, Pastor Tedder, Mr. Bollman, parents, graduates and guests:

I am honored to have the privilege of addressing you this evening.

Abraham Lincoln once was required to give a speech, and in it he said, “the world will little note nor long remember what we say here.”  Ironically we have remembered his speech for over a hundred years. Now, I know that graduation speeches are often quickly forgotten, so I thought the story seemed somewhat appropriate, and I hope that my speech tonight will not be forgotten too quickly.

First of all tonight I would like to thank my parents, and on behalf of my class, all of our parents.   As I was preparing for my speech, I thought about other schools across the country. At many schools, neither students nor parents choose to go to their particular school.  And neither do parents pay tuition at many schools.

Because our parents have chosen to send us to Blackhawk, we know that they love us.   They sacrifice on our behalf so that we can benefit from a good, Christian education.

I also want to thank my parents for all their love; I know that they have sacrificed many things for me, but also they have taught me so much.  My parents taught me how to live.   I have grown up in the church, and my parents have taught me to have high standards and to do what pleases God.   My parents have also taught me to make wise decisions.  Even today, I am learning from my dad how to manage my money and my time.  Managing our money and our time are two very important things which need to be managed wisely.  I am very thankful for the wisdom I have gained from my parents regarding how to make wise choices.

Besides teaching me how to live, my parents have taught me how to learn.  It was my mom who taught me how to read and write, making sure I wrote neatly when I was young.  My parents have encouraged me to do my best and have rewarded me for my achievements.   I often go to my dad when I want to understand something better and he helps me decide what kind of plans I should make for college.   My parents are a great source of guidance and wisdom, smothered in love.   Thanks, Mom and Dad, for teaching me how to live and how to learn.  I love you very much.

Having had both my mom and my dad as teachers at various times throughout my school days, I have a special appreciation for teachers.   I especially want to thank the teachers here at Blackhawk.   I thought again of other schools where teachers make more money and only consider teaching as a job.  For our teachers at Blackhawk, teaching is more than a job– it’s a life.   They sacrifice a lot of time and money because they love us and have a special interest in each of us.

I respect my teachers because I know that they are strong Christians, and what they teach me is the truth.  My parents taught me how to learn, but my teachers have taught me what to learn.  Thank you, teachers, for giving your time and for showing special interest in each of us.

As I have gone through school I have been interested in learning and doing my best.  As I get older I have more interest in doing the right thing and making wise choices.   The search for wisdom has led me to consider Proverbs and Ecclesiastes as two of my favorite books of the Bible.

After reading through Ecclesiastes, one finds what the purpose of life is– to “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”  The point of Ecclesiastes is that without living life in light of God’s holy judgement, then life is futile.   When we fear God and obey Him, then we don’t have to worry about life’s vanities, we can enjoy doing what is good.  Solomon tells us that the best thing we can do is to enjoy what God has given us– eating, drinking, and working to accomplish good.

Now that we know what to do, we need a means to accomplish that end– we need wisdom.  Proverbs was written to give wisdom to those who will listen.   In Proverbs we are urged, even as young children, to seek after wisdom.  There is an important relationship between gaining wisdom and obeying God’s commands.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and searching for wisdom leads to an understanding of the fear of the Lord.

Therefore, I encourage you to search the Bible so that you can understand what God wants you to do.   Find out what is the best thing you can do, and do it.  The prudent man will be blessed.  To be prudent is to be cautious–don’t allow yourself to make choices that will lead you the wrong direction.   I leave you with this quote from Proverbs 4:7, “Wisdom is supreme, therefore get wisdom.  Though it costs all you have, get understanding.

Thank you.