When the Bar’s Better // S01E13 (EPISODE 13)

What happens when you start missing the old days, “B.C” (before Christ)? Even just a little bit? It’s not often spoken, but it’s definitely felt. Does it seem like you’re being thrown more curveballs now than in your pre-church days? How do you handle nostalgic feelings that tempt you to take a step back from the Bible and re-embrace your past?

QUESTIONS WE TOUCH ON IN THIS EPISODE:

• Is there something “pre-christ” holding you back?
• Do you miss life before becoming a Christian?
• Was life easier before you became a Christian?
• Are you focusing on God’s standards or the world’s?

VERSES FROM WHEN THE BAR IS BETTER

Ephesians 4. Book of Mathew, Philippians 3:13.Philippians 4:19, Proverbs 10 28. Micah 6:8, Proverbs 1-12 

QUOTES FROM WHEN THE BAR IS BETTER

“I think when we look at the name of our podcast, the pantry, these are the types of things that you really don’t want to kick out of that pantry. But you know, they’re not that good for you and they might make you feel good at first. But at the end they make, feel really sick.”

Michelle Watson, The Pantry Podcast, S01E13 (EPISODE 13)

“I mean, I’ve got six and a half years in those standards and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I have lived out in the world. It was so attractive and yet so destructive.”

Shea Watson, The Pantry Podcast, S01E13 (EPISODE 13)

Transcript

Shea: What is up

Michelle: This is the last topical episode of season one.

Shea: That is awesome.

Michelle: That’s a milestone. Yeah. Like that. We’ve made a thing. We’ve made many a thing. We’ve made 13 things. 

Shea: Hey. Y’all if y’all didn’t know, my wife is phenomenal. I just want you all to know that she is everything on this podcast.

Michelle: Oh, it was about me. Like, yo that’s blast for me. Calm down.

Shea: I mean, I do study. I do come into this prepared, but when it comes to the tech technical portion of this, the software portion of this, how to put this thing down, she is the one shout out to my wife, sitting across from me. You’re awesome.

Michelle: You, like I said, you bring the sparkle, you make this dynamic work. You make us need all these software, technological things. We wouldn’t need them if you weren’t here. But hey, all glory to God.

Shea: What a topic tonight though. I’m excited about this topic.

Michelle: I’ve been sitting on it like a little mother hen

Shea: Ah, tonight’s episode is going to be one of those ones that, I think that sometimes we all get drawn back towards something. We, we start our Christian walk and there’s still attractions. There’s still things that we think are okay. Or there’s things that still, you know, come after us and draw at us. 

Shea: And I think tonight, when we talk about when the bar’s better, there’s going to be some good stuff to glean out of this. Some ideas, maybe something that’ll help somebody, you know, that’s going through this or, or struggling with this because I think it’s really important to that. No matter how sweet it might look, it’s not

Michelle: Right. I think when we look at the name of our podcast, the pantry, these are the types of things that you really don’t want to kick out of that pantry. But you know, they’re not that good for you and they might make you feel good at first. But at the end they make, feel really sick. Like back when I was talking about that big old tub of, M&Ms probably better to just have a few, not a tub at a time but yeah,

Michelle: These are the things, you know, that make room for better things, but you’re still going to miss these. And that’s why I wanted to bring this up to be completely honest. There are times where I miss those days in the bar, there was a level of camaraderie there that you don’t always find in a church building and in a church community. Sometimes you do. And it’s awesome. You should find better comradery, right? That is rooted in something infinite and everlasting, but you don’t always find it.

Shea: What’s cool about that is like, you’re talking about a bar and I could easily go to the army and the camaraderie. So there’s all kinds of levels at which this plays like, you know, someone says, Oh man, you were in the army. That’s cool, man. Oh, wait, you go and drink at the bar every weekend. You see? But at the same level, it’s the same thought. And it’s not a thought of necessarily godly perspective. Yeah. It’s self-driven perspective for, for being connected.

Michelle: Yeah. We had our regular bar, me and my closest friends. If it wasn’t Friday, it was Saturday. Sometimes it was Friday and Saturday, but we were always there. We knew the bartenders by name. Most of our drinks were free. We knew the DJ. It was a huge event. Every week. I had like two of my birthdays there, you know? And it’s where we got closer. 

Michelle: Cause you know, as adults, you couldn’t see each other during the day, much, you all have your day job. And that’s where we would go. That’s where we would catch up before the music started playing. And then once the music’s on it’s party time. And when I first came to Christ, I told myself that it was fine to keep going and just, you know, spend less money on drinks, make sure that I can afford my offering on Sunday.

Michelle: You know, don’t, don’t blow it all and everything would be fine. And at the same time, the church back then was mostly older, married couples. They had younger kids and here I was single. So over time I had several wake up calls. I remember one big shift was when I started trying to find the people at church closer in my age range and seeing, okay, well, my eyes are opening to these bar nights a little differently now. But if I go out with my believing friends, those things won’t happen. Right? 

Michelle: And there was one night where, you know, a friend was after just two drinks. So inebriated that I realized, you know, I’m causing others to stumble that wouldn’t have stumbled if I hadn’t even invited them out. You know, now I haven’t been in a bar in years even to just eat food, but I still miss sometimes that level of friendship where they’re always down to hang out, always down to have fun, celebrate, enjoy game nights, anything, you know, people who want to be around you, you’re having a good time. 

Michelle: It’s a reoccurring bonding experience that you don’t always find for a thousand reasons. And you end up starting sometimes on your weaker days or during certain seasons in your, in your walk with the Lord, you might start pining for those days again

Shea: I feel you coming from a military background. I mean, Hey, I’ve been with them for a very long time. Even my shop to this day at work. They’re great guys. You know, most of them believe in the Lord, you know, just different levels, you know, different levels of walk. But when we’re at work, there’s a comradery. And it’s like, it’s like this team I enjoy going. And being with my team, army, that’s a carry over. 

Shea: I mean, I miss those days, but wisdom jumps in and says, wait, hold on those days, do you really miss those days? And wisdom kicks in and says, no, I don’t. I would rather be patient with God and wait,

Michelle: A lot of our emotions are actually smoke detectors to a fire that’s going on. And it’s not like the Holy Pentecostal fire that we need to be all excited about. It’s like a bad fire it’s coming to burn. And sometimes we take those and we react and we go backwards. We regress, Oh, I miss those days. 

Michelle: Let me try to get those old days back as opposed to sitting there and wondering, okay, what actually triggered this, that underlying thing is what needs to be addressed. So in this situation, it’s not that you actually miss the bar, you miss the comradery. So what can you do to acquire that comradery?

Michelle: So I hope that this episode, both convicts, those who don’t necessarily feel like they’re missing out on the comradery, right? But they can start looking around to see who might be feeling that way and how can I bring them into the fold and make them feel more like a part of a fun godly community. 

Michelle: But it also will convict those of us who experience these feelings to not turn back to that and instead figure out how to find the better godly version that God wants to because we’re pining for counterfeits. We don’t want the counterfeit, but that’s the quick fix because the world’s always waiting to take us back.

Shea: You know, when you’re building up teams or you’re building up early, I would like to start at the beginning with, you know, just be with people, love people, you know, godly love. I mean, we were learning how to do that. And, and to, but to be with people, love people edify people be able to talk and say, Hey, challenge each other, because that is what builds us even stronger as a group of people. And that is what I long for.

Michelle: Right? You know, the new man is here, but the old man is still in the process of dying. Our choices dictate how fast the old man’s going to die in Ephesians 4. It says you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles. Walk in the futility of mind, having their understanding, darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance in them. It’s pretty much saying they have blinders on because they haven’t seen anything better than the counterfeit in front of them. 

Michelle: When I look and think and pine over those days. And I say, Oh, you know, for a moment, my man, it’d be nice. If one of those bar nights again, okay, really let’s be real. It’s not nice to have random sweaty strangers come up and drunkenly demand you dance with them. It’s not nice to, even if you only had a few drinks wake up the next morning and feel like a groggy hot mess. So when you phrase it that way, no, I don’t miss the bar days. You know, in Matthew, when the devil took Jesus up to that high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, all their glory, the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, all these things, I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. But if all the world is broken and left wanting, we don’t want it.

Shea: And that’s where I think the apostle Paul comes in and Philippians 3:13. I mean, I love, I love his, his thoughts on this. It’s almost like he knows what people go through. Right? He’s looking at this in a perspective of like, there’s going to be these things that you’re going to look back at, but see, looking back isn’t, isn’t worth your time. 

Shea: And Philippians three 13, again, he says the brothers, I do not consider that I’ve made it my own. But one thing I do is forget what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. It’s easy sometimes to get caught up in this thought of it’s better, or it was better, or this is going to be better. You know, it’s like we get caught in this mentality that consumes us. That just brings us back to the inequity that we were brought out of.

Shea: Christ lifted this out of iniquity. Yet here we are concentrating on something that really has no good purpose in our life. It’s like, man, I want this comradery. I want this comradery. I want this comradery man a long time ago. No, what I learned, man, just give me the Trinity. And you know, friendships are building it’s his time. And I get caught, caught up in my own time so many times. We get caught in our own and that’s not where we’re supposed to live. Right? If in our marriage, I get caught in my own desires, my own feelings. And I don’t lay them on the table to God and say, let me be selfless. Then I’m going to sit in this marriage and start to get bitter and start to desire and start to want other things. But when I keep my eyes and my heart and my mind focused above, then this becomes nothing that draws me away. In fact, all it does is draws me more in, was that the three fold? That’s it? The threefold cord can’t be broken. I liked the idea that when Christ is at the center, he’s the one who sets the bar.

Michelle: Right? So when the bar feels better, when we start missing those old days, we have to go to the Lord and ask him to reveal. What’s at the root of this. But when is the bar better? The bar’s better when it’s God’s. And now we’re talking about the standards bar, because it’s funny, the world’s standards are actually harder because they’re always changing and you’ll never meet them. Gods are impossible, but they never change. And he made a plan for that. That’s why Jesus died for us. So funny enough, his perfect standards bar is easier to meet, thanks to Christ. And when we start pining for the world, we end up going back to the world standards, trying to meet those standards, trying to play catch up in that way. And you’re gonna just keep being disappointed over and over. Cause we talked about already as counterfeits, you know, God’s bar his standards.

Michelle:  Don’t set us up to fail like the world’s do because the world always tells you, you know, if you get here, if you get back to the bar, you’ll be happy. You get to the bar. Well, it’s not fun. Well, if you drink, it will be fun. Now you drink, well, you didn’t drink enough. That’s why it’s not fun. Now you’re drunk or Oh, this job will solve everything. You get the job. Now I need the promotion. Oh, well now I need, now I need, now I need, it’s a never ending vacuum. Cause it’s set up for you to lose.

Shea: I like, I like how you said needs. Philippians 4:19 says, and my God will supply every need of yours. According to his riches and glory and Jesus Christ needs God’s needs trump worldly needs. You know, when we look at this perspective and we start drifting towards, Oh man, I wish I had more, more knowledge of this. That’s not a need of God. And when we can redirect that thought, then those needs start to fall away. I know this from, from my own existence. I don’t know how many times I sat there knowing that God existed knowing that Jesus existed. And I would talk myself out of church because I was so afraid to miss out over here. The worldly needs trumped. What needs I truly needed?

Michelle :You know, in Proverbs 10: 28, it says the hope of the righteous will be gladness. But the expectation of the wicked will perish

Shea:  It perished. He definitely got a hold of me and it wasn’t the prettiest thing ever in the world either.

Michelle: Right? You know, standards and expectations are very closely related. You know, based on what the standards you’re operating in, you have certain expectations. And if they’re in the world, they’re just death. They just rot away. There are no good. You know, I mean the Lords are attainable in Micah 6:8, says he has shown you, Oh man, what is good? And what does the Lord require of you? But to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God, that’s what he wants you to do in his standards. I like those standards. They sound pretty nice.

Shea: I mean, I’ve got six and a half years in those standards and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I have lived out the world. It was so attractive and yet so destructive. So we are on a mission. You know, I think comradery in the army was based off of what we had to do. We have something to do and I do have some great guys around me. Oh, I have some great guys around me and it’s good and it’s going to stay good. And it’s going to be good because everything is moving forward in what God needs, not what I need.

Michelle: You know, I read Proverbs 1-12 , a couple of nights ago. I’ll post the whole thing up on thirtyone25.com so that everyone can read it. If you’re struggling with this, they’re all about pursuing wisdom and what the benefits are of pursuing God’s truth. And also it talks about all of the pits that you’ll fall into. When you try to chase. After the world, I was writing down all the verses that were really resonating. And when I put them all in there together, it just seemed like a love letter, straight from the Lord telling me what I needed to do. Here we go. Guard your heart above all else for it, determines the course of your life. So follow the steps of the good and stay on the paths of the righteous trust in the Lord with all of your heart, do not depend on your own understanding, seek his will in all you do.

Michelle: And he will show you which path to take my child. Don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment hang onto them for they will refresh your soul. They are like jewels on a necklace. They are safe on your way and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked for the Lord is your security. You will keep your foot from being caught in a trap for evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day. They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble. They eat the food of wickedness and drink the wine of violence, but they will be destroyed, suddenly broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing. Look straight ahead and fix your eyes on what lies before you mark out a straight path for your feet, stay on the safe path.

Michelle: Don’t get sidetracked. Keep your feet from following evil. Don’t lust for her beauty. Don’t let her quiet glances seduce you in the end. You will groan in anguish. When disease consumes your body, you will say how I hated discipline. If only I had not ignored all the warnings. Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors? I have come to the brink of utter ruin and now I must face public disgrace. If you search for good, you will find favor, but if you search for evil, it will find you.

Shea: The wisdom from above is first pure. Then peaceable, gentle, open to reason full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. Amen. Amen. 

Shea: This has been a deep episode. Actually. I think that this has touched us on a lot of levels, but I know that his wisdom is far greater than any wisdom will ever find in this world. We need to stop looking behind the stop, looking at the other things that captured our thoughts before I start looking at this bar that he gives us. 

Shea: That’s why he gave us his son, Jesus Christ. When we realize what that sacrifice means, the bar with the friends and the sweaty dude dancing takes that bar away and makes it undesirable because he gives so much on this side of things.

Michelle: It has been awesome talking across from my husband for these last few weeks. And it’s been awesome to hear from the people that are listening. So we just want to thank you guys. 

Michelle: Know, we’re, we’re doing a Q & A next week going live, get excited. We’ve got all the questions lined up. So thank you for joining us on the pantry. Bye.

KEYWORDS: SEEK WISDOM, WORDS OF WISDOM, BIBLE VERSES ABOUT WISDOM.