we all have something that has happened in our lives that has caused us anger, confusion, grief, sorrow, and discouragement. thats when the age old question of "Why do bad things happen to good people?" comes into play. or my other favorite that I actually have been asked, "how can a good God let bad things happen?"
the doctor says the cancer is incurable.
or that your son was in a car accident.
your boss says that the economy has laid you off.
or that you will end up leaving your home prematurely, not knowing where you are going to go.
so then the news hits home... two words... one question... one prayer:
"Why God?"
out of experience, let me tell you this. when we are in the middle of a situation where our very own circumstances contradicts the character and promises of God, answering the question "Why?" does not help us get out of bed the next morning.
Habakkuk 3:19
the Sovereign Lord is my strength.
so we pray... "God give me strength to face the day... give me the things i will need to conquer the things in my way..."
and this is His response...
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18 (Message)
So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.
God is saying that when you look through the lens in your eyes, look into eternity and adjust the aperture so it comes into focus, you will see things the way they were always meant to be seen.
we have to learn to live with eternity into focus.
we need to allow God to redefine our experiences and existence in light of eternity.
we have a thief. he comes to destroy us... attacking our hearts. but God... He spoke with His sovereign Creator authority, and His word created life and spiritual sight, and we saw the glory of Christ in the gospel and believed. satan is an enemy of the gospel. but he is not sovereign. God is. this is the reason that any of us is saved.
heres your challenge: change the two word prayer of "why God?" to "help me."
"help me" may be the greatest prayer you may ever pray.
Lord, get us to the place where we can focus on eternity - declaring the hope that we have in it. Because God, it is Your hope that brings freedom... and hope that delivers... and hope that sets us free - and if our hope is truly in You... then it is hope that we will receive.
For Christ followers, we have a hope that is already known. the end of the play is already finished... we've read the last page of the book. Jesus wins. Suffering is over.
Revelation 21:3-6 (NIV)
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
did you hear that? it's over!
whatever we are facing has already been won. victory is ours because we are His.
by no means am i saying or implying that suffering and heartache aren't real and valid and living among us today. the economics and the Godlessness around us will drive anybody to tears. and sometimes even tears bring freedom. however, for those of us who believe... our story doesn't end there. our story ends with a beautiful picture of our Lord wiping our tears away. friends, our story ends in victory... and that is something to be happy about.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
feed my sheep
the Bible is easily read when it's talking about "them"... but oh-so painful when it's talking about "us."
we are supposed to rebuke the swine... not the sheep.
some of us would probably rebuke Jesus because he drank and hung out with the social outcasts... or just don't meet our qualifications of some unspoken standard.
we are so worried about talking about who and what we're against that you forget that we're supposed to be leading people to Jesus
when Jesus rebuked the pharisees we cheer him on and dont realize that those were the church-going, Bible believing people. they missed it. they got too caught up in their checking off their spiritual to do list that they neglected the sheep they were supposed to love.
religious people will always seek to justify themselves through things they do or the things they don't do as opposed to the things that Jesus did. while grace and mercy lead to the Lord, religion will always lead to despair or to pride... you try really hard at being a good Christian and dont measure up to your standards and get depressed, or you think that youre really doing a great job at it. thats us guys.
most pastors/preachers/teachers call sinners to repent of their sin but never call the religious people to repent of their religion. the result is the sinners think youre trying to make them religious, and the religious think theyre better than everybody else.... when you tell the sinners to repent of their sin, the religious applaud, but once you tell the religious to repent from their religion and their pride, they fight.
God commands all people to repent.
what kind of 'sheep feeders' are we if we only call out the drug addicts and prostitutes to repent of their sin, but dont call out the religious for their pride and self righteousness?
we need to be praying for our shepherds so that they will have discernment between the sheep and the wolves among them. because before you know it, if the shepherd doesnt act quickly and appropriately, wolves could take over and destroy the flocks of sheep that the shepherd was supposed to feed.
i know thats a lot of animal analogies for one blog. but im pretty certain you followed me.
we are supposed to rebuke the swine... not the sheep.
some of us would probably rebuke Jesus because he drank and hung out with the social outcasts... or just don't meet our qualifications of some unspoken standard.
we are so worried about talking about who and what we're against that you forget that we're supposed to be leading people to Jesus
when Jesus rebuked the pharisees we cheer him on and dont realize that those were the church-going, Bible believing people. they missed it. they got too caught up in their checking off their spiritual to do list that they neglected the sheep they were supposed to love.
religious people will always seek to justify themselves through things they do or the things they don't do as opposed to the things that Jesus did. while grace and mercy lead to the Lord, religion will always lead to despair or to pride... you try really hard at being a good Christian and dont measure up to your standards and get depressed, or you think that youre really doing a great job at it. thats us guys.
most pastors/preachers/teachers call sinners to repent of their sin but never call the religious people to repent of their religion. the result is the sinners think youre trying to make them religious, and the religious think theyre better than everybody else.... when you tell the sinners to repent of their sin, the religious applaud, but once you tell the religious to repent from their religion and their pride, they fight.
God commands all people to repent.
what kind of 'sheep feeders' are we if we only call out the drug addicts and prostitutes to repent of their sin, but dont call out the religious for their pride and self righteousness?
we need to be praying for our shepherds so that they will have discernment between the sheep and the wolves among them. because before you know it, if the shepherd doesnt act quickly and appropriately, wolves could take over and destroy the flocks of sheep that the shepherd was supposed to feed.
i know thats a lot of animal analogies for one blog. but im pretty certain you followed me.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
a letter from the redeemed
You are holy. great and mighty.
the moon and the stars declare who You are.
im so unworthy but still You love me.
forever my heart will sing of how great You are.
*my souls sings to You Lord. i have made my decision, and You know my heart on that. but if im being honest with You and with myself, i need to tell you that i feel alone. i know You are with me, but i feel alone. i am desperate for You. You have given me some amazing people to pour their guts out into my life and i am literally forever grateful. but there is something in my heart that hurts so bad... over 3 years of a wasted relationship. and i mean wasted. i wouldnt normally say that, but i dont see any fruit. show me fruit if there is any. i messed up - You know that... and ive done my part in seeking redemption over it. i feel like You will honor that. and out of the very depth of my heart i pray for my old friends. i don't want anybody i love (or not) to be apart from You. God, You are good and You bring hope. Regardless of feeling and emotion - that doesn't change who You are. but because You made me human, i have a tendency to feel and to succumb to emotion. i don't want to feel dirty and to feel like i'm isolated at all in this... that's what the enemy wants, i think. i do the right thing and he makes me feel like im wrong. i know that to win at the 'game of life' alone is the same as losing altogether.*
Philip Zimbardo puts it like this:
I know of no more potent killer than isolation. There is no more destructive influence on physical and mental health than the isolation of you from me, and us from them... the devil's strategy for our times is to trivialize human existence by isolating us from one another while creating the delusion that the reasons are time pressures, work demands and economic uncertainties; by fostering narcissism and the fierce competition to be No. 1.
John Ortberg said this:
Of course, we all say that relationships are more important than money. But we constantly cheat relationships for the sake of work or money. There are no TV shows called "Who Wants to Be a Great Friend?" What we have come to call "reality" shows are programs that deliberately put one person against another. "Reality" means having someone excluded or fired or voted off the show. If we're going to play the game wisely, there are a few relational realities we need to observe.
here is what ive come to learn in my almost 24 years of a hard-knocked life...
relationships are essential to a person's happiness and well being. choose them wisely. because there is no time to play around.
we cannot make friendships and love just happen. they come, if they come at all, as gifts. our job is to make room for them... the right ones.
everyone knows that loving someone is what life is all about. whether or not you believe in God or you believe in the tooth fairy - we were designed for love. period.
we hear that is better to love and lost than to never have loved at all... but it's not like that really gives you an idea of what losing love will feel like. they make it seem like we should be counting our lucky stars to have had it... but the truth is, it hurts like hell when you lose something or somebody that you love. deeply. for me, to love is to invest... no holding back. love is selfless... it puts the other person first... and when that is gone, a piece of you dies... more like it's atrophied. useless...
how can you walk with somebody and 'do life together' and not ever really know them and their character? can love be a facade for some people? or do the lies of the enemy get so engrained into our DNA that we can't see what we're even doing?
pardon me for venting.
it's not about breaking your word to somebody you never really gave it to in the first place. im sorry. it is about sin and it is about doing wrong. true redemption and true forgiveness only comes out of true repentance, right? it's about coming clean for your redemption - because that is the only thing that matters.
man up.
i did.
breaking your word only breaks your heart if you truly love that person.
think about it.
how can it be that easy to stand before a group of people that you have been 'honored to serve' and deceive them - even at the point of your exit? half truths are still lies, by the way.
come clean.
i did.
no, this is not judgment, who am i to judge? i dont judge. i dont have the time or the energy to do that. and in case you forgot, im just as guilty. i was there too. but here's the difference... i can own up to my part. this is what i would just call sadness.
i have always been your scapegoat, and ive known it. but just so you know, i have always defended you. even when you told people that i didnt - i stuck by you and defended everything you did. i have known what you have said about me in every meeting. i know that i have been blamed for everything from day one. i know the lies and i know the times youve talked about people that you call your friends. i have held your confidence behind closed doors. and the one time i dont defend you i get blasted. but lets just stop for a second and think about why i couldnt defend you this time or anymore.
i cant sleep - im miserable - i cant worship - i cant function - i need to get healing. i need to get whole.
was this not our intention from the beginning? or was that just lip service again? or was it just easier to ship me off? how far back did you have this planned? once i became vulnerable? once i showed weakness? once i came for you to help me? which one was it? id like to know.
you are very charming, but i have a feeling that the serpent in the garden was pretty charming too - eve was a smart girl... she was deceived. the focus in that story has been on eve choosing to take a bite - well lets look at the serpent for a second. what was his part? he knew what she wanted. he played to the places in her heart that weren't met - or that she thought weren't met.
i needed love. i needed acceptance. i needed belonging. i needed a family to call my own. you knew this. you knew what i wanted. you knew my weaknesses. i mean, shit... i was trying to get help! even then?! i just didnt see it until now...
i loved our relationship. i loved how we could talk and vent. i love that you trusted me - and i you. but i should have never been that for you and we both know that. i knew you were unhappy where you were... and so was i. that is a recipe for disaster. i just pray you try to break your cycle the way that im breaking mine. i dont want you to go somewhere else and do the same thing to somebody else thats hurting. truthfully, i dont want you to be hurting anymore either. id love for God to unleash your potential in the right direction. but with each lie you tell, or each time you choose to not tell the complete truth - your heart will become a little less available for God to penetrate it. i adore you and your family, and im really going to miss the good things. but i want to never remember the bad ones. some of those memories are going to literally take God to remove from my mind. im sorry it had to end this way, but it had to.
*Jesus*
You are the love I need
You are the air I breathe
You are my love my life always forever
I would lay down my life
Just to be by Your side
You are my love my life always forever
You are the grace that covers my sin
You’re everything the beginning and end
You have my soul, my heart and my mind
You have my love and all of my life
the moon and the stars declare who You are.
im so unworthy but still You love me.
forever my heart will sing of how great You are.
*my souls sings to You Lord. i have made my decision, and You know my heart on that. but if im being honest with You and with myself, i need to tell you that i feel alone. i know You are with me, but i feel alone. i am desperate for You. You have given me some amazing people to pour their guts out into my life and i am literally forever grateful. but there is something in my heart that hurts so bad... over 3 years of a wasted relationship. and i mean wasted. i wouldnt normally say that, but i dont see any fruit. show me fruit if there is any. i messed up - You know that... and ive done my part in seeking redemption over it. i feel like You will honor that. and out of the very depth of my heart i pray for my old friends. i don't want anybody i love (or not) to be apart from You. God, You are good and You bring hope. Regardless of feeling and emotion - that doesn't change who You are. but because You made me human, i have a tendency to feel and to succumb to emotion. i don't want to feel dirty and to feel like i'm isolated at all in this... that's what the enemy wants, i think. i do the right thing and he makes me feel like im wrong. i know that to win at the 'game of life' alone is the same as losing altogether.*
Philip Zimbardo puts it like this:
I know of no more potent killer than isolation. There is no more destructive influence on physical and mental health than the isolation of you from me, and us from them... the devil's strategy for our times is to trivialize human existence by isolating us from one another while creating the delusion that the reasons are time pressures, work demands and economic uncertainties; by fostering narcissism and the fierce competition to be No. 1.
John Ortberg said this:
Of course, we all say that relationships are more important than money. But we constantly cheat relationships for the sake of work or money. There are no TV shows called "Who Wants to Be a Great Friend?" What we have come to call "reality" shows are programs that deliberately put one person against another. "Reality" means having someone excluded or fired or voted off the show. If we're going to play the game wisely, there are a few relational realities we need to observe.
here is what ive come to learn in my almost 24 years of a hard-knocked life...
relationships are essential to a person's happiness and well being. choose them wisely. because there is no time to play around.
we cannot make friendships and love just happen. they come, if they come at all, as gifts. our job is to make room for them... the right ones.
everyone knows that loving someone is what life is all about. whether or not you believe in God or you believe in the tooth fairy - we were designed for love. period.
we hear that is better to love and lost than to never have loved at all... but it's not like that really gives you an idea of what losing love will feel like. they make it seem like we should be counting our lucky stars to have had it... but the truth is, it hurts like hell when you lose something or somebody that you love. deeply. for me, to love is to invest... no holding back. love is selfless... it puts the other person first... and when that is gone, a piece of you dies... more like it's atrophied. useless...
how can you walk with somebody and 'do life together' and not ever really know them and their character? can love be a facade for some people? or do the lies of the enemy get so engrained into our DNA that we can't see what we're even doing?
pardon me for venting.
it's not about breaking your word to somebody you never really gave it to in the first place. im sorry. it is about sin and it is about doing wrong. true redemption and true forgiveness only comes out of true repentance, right? it's about coming clean for your redemption - because that is the only thing that matters.
man up.
i did.
breaking your word only breaks your heart if you truly love that person.
think about it.
how can it be that easy to stand before a group of people that you have been 'honored to serve' and deceive them - even at the point of your exit? half truths are still lies, by the way.
come clean.
i did.
no, this is not judgment, who am i to judge? i dont judge. i dont have the time or the energy to do that. and in case you forgot, im just as guilty. i was there too. but here's the difference... i can own up to my part. this is what i would just call sadness.
i have always been your scapegoat, and ive known it. but just so you know, i have always defended you. even when you told people that i didnt - i stuck by you and defended everything you did. i have known what you have said about me in every meeting. i know that i have been blamed for everything from day one. i know the lies and i know the times youve talked about people that you call your friends. i have held your confidence behind closed doors. and the one time i dont defend you i get blasted. but lets just stop for a second and think about why i couldnt defend you this time or anymore.
i cant sleep - im miserable - i cant worship - i cant function - i need to get healing. i need to get whole.
was this not our intention from the beginning? or was that just lip service again? or was it just easier to ship me off? how far back did you have this planned? once i became vulnerable? once i showed weakness? once i came for you to help me? which one was it? id like to know.
you are very charming, but i have a feeling that the serpent in the garden was pretty charming too - eve was a smart girl... she was deceived. the focus in that story has been on eve choosing to take a bite - well lets look at the serpent for a second. what was his part? he knew what she wanted. he played to the places in her heart that weren't met - or that she thought weren't met.
i needed love. i needed acceptance. i needed belonging. i needed a family to call my own. you knew this. you knew what i wanted. you knew my weaknesses. i mean, shit... i was trying to get help! even then?! i just didnt see it until now...
i loved our relationship. i loved how we could talk and vent. i love that you trusted me - and i you. but i should have never been that for you and we both know that. i knew you were unhappy where you were... and so was i. that is a recipe for disaster. i just pray you try to break your cycle the way that im breaking mine. i dont want you to go somewhere else and do the same thing to somebody else thats hurting. truthfully, i dont want you to be hurting anymore either. id love for God to unleash your potential in the right direction. but with each lie you tell, or each time you choose to not tell the complete truth - your heart will become a little less available for God to penetrate it. i adore you and your family, and im really going to miss the good things. but i want to never remember the bad ones. some of those memories are going to literally take God to remove from my mind. im sorry it had to end this way, but it had to.
*Jesus*
You are the love I need
You are the air I breathe
You are my love my life always forever
I would lay down my life
Just to be by Your side
You are my love my life always forever
You are the grace that covers my sin
You’re everything the beginning and end
You have my soul, my heart and my mind
You have my love and all of my life
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
compassion
if there is one thing i know to be true, i know that we are called by God to care. to care about God and to care about people.
last night i got to listen to my friend talk about love. and i realized that i am experiencing some ridiculously compassionate people in my life right now. i am so grateful for them. so i decided to dive into the whole idea of compassion.
By definition, compassion is a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering. think about the parable of the good samaritan...
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead with no clothes. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
he was moved to compassion - he had pity on him. imagine the guy who got beat up... left for dead... no clothes... and here comes the samaritan... let me say this out of experience... when you are hurting and truly desperate God will sometimes bring the most random people into your life to help you...
let me try to paint the picture for us in our current culture...
Some guy was walking down Westheimer doing some shopping and he got jumped. They beat him up, stole his wallet, even taking his designer jeans... leaving him on the curb to die. Just then, a pastor of a mega church happens to drive by when he saw him laying on the sidewalk... but he was late for a meeting so he kept driving... For the next couple hours people kept walking by - ya know, the people you see on Sundays at church... all too busy to stop... all with their own schedules... not really wanting to interfere. Because surely the guy on the ground did something to deserve this or he wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. But then, a black, homosexual, democrat comes by and was so concerned for the guy on the ground that he gave him the new clothes that he had just purchased and put him in his car to take him to the hospital. Not only that, but decided to pay for his hospital bills and give him some cash since he was going to be out of work for a couple days to recuperate.
Ok, so maybe it was an extreme picture, but that is what Jesus was trying to do. He was telling this story to a group of spiritual brats - all trying to prove their knowledge of the law to one another... You see, he was telling this story to a group of people who hated Samaritans. Samaritans were the outcasts - the mutts of society. Even when Jesus asked "who was a neighbor to the man" the response was not "the Samaritan" but "the one who showed mercy." I can imagine just how uncomfortable it was for them to even say the word "Samaritan."
Here are a few of my observations... goodness, i feel like a preacher...
Compassion will probably interrupt our schedules. if you will be sensitive enough to the promptings of God He will interrupt you and allow you to care for someone in need.
Compassion costs you something. maybe not financially (or maybe so). maybe its time. maybe its your schedule. maybe its just simply listening.
Compassion heals and changes lives. It may heal you physically, but it may also heal you emotionally. I know in my life, experiencing the compassion of people around me is one of the most life changing experiences i have ever encountered. And you may be surprised that it may change your life just as much as it changes the one youre helping.
there is no room for judgment in compassion. none.
with all of that being said, compassion is an action. compassion moves you to do something...
the more compassion you have for people, the closer you get to Christ. and when you get closer to Christ, you will begin to take on his heart... both the things that break His heart, and the things that trigger His heart to action.
last night i got to listen to my friend talk about love. and i realized that i am experiencing some ridiculously compassionate people in my life right now. i am so grateful for them. so i decided to dive into the whole idea of compassion.
By definition, compassion is a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering. think about the parable of the good samaritan...
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead with no clothes. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
he was moved to compassion - he had pity on him. imagine the guy who got beat up... left for dead... no clothes... and here comes the samaritan... let me say this out of experience... when you are hurting and truly desperate God will sometimes bring the most random people into your life to help you...
let me try to paint the picture for us in our current culture...
Some guy was walking down Westheimer doing some shopping and he got jumped. They beat him up, stole his wallet, even taking his designer jeans... leaving him on the curb to die. Just then, a pastor of a mega church happens to drive by when he saw him laying on the sidewalk... but he was late for a meeting so he kept driving... For the next couple hours people kept walking by - ya know, the people you see on Sundays at church... all too busy to stop... all with their own schedules... not really wanting to interfere. Because surely the guy on the ground did something to deserve this or he wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. But then, a black, homosexual, democrat comes by and was so concerned for the guy on the ground that he gave him the new clothes that he had just purchased and put him in his car to take him to the hospital. Not only that, but decided to pay for his hospital bills and give him some cash since he was going to be out of work for a couple days to recuperate.
Ok, so maybe it was an extreme picture, but that is what Jesus was trying to do. He was telling this story to a group of spiritual brats - all trying to prove their knowledge of the law to one another... You see, he was telling this story to a group of people who hated Samaritans. Samaritans were the outcasts - the mutts of society. Even when Jesus asked "who was a neighbor to the man" the response was not "the Samaritan" but "the one who showed mercy." I can imagine just how uncomfortable it was for them to even say the word "Samaritan."
Here are a few of my observations... goodness, i feel like a preacher...
Compassion will probably interrupt our schedules. if you will be sensitive enough to the promptings of God He will interrupt you and allow you to care for someone in need.
Compassion costs you something. maybe not financially (or maybe so). maybe its time. maybe its your schedule. maybe its just simply listening.
Compassion heals and changes lives. It may heal you physically, but it may also heal you emotionally. I know in my life, experiencing the compassion of people around me is one of the most life changing experiences i have ever encountered. And you may be surprised that it may change your life just as much as it changes the one youre helping.
there is no room for judgment in compassion. none.
with all of that being said, compassion is an action. compassion moves you to do something...
the more compassion you have for people, the closer you get to Christ. and when you get closer to Christ, you will begin to take on his heart... both the things that break His heart, and the things that trigger His heart to action.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
keeping up appearances
sin avoidance is NOT the same as integrity.
i dont want to live my life tiptoeing through, hoping i dont fall into a sin trap... i want to live my life knowing that i walked it with integrity and my character was proven to be good. I want to be like the wife with noble character in Proverbs 31.
i read a book recently that has really taken my thoughts and views on the church to the next level. this book is called 'unchristian' by david kinnamen and gabe lyons - the barna group guy. they went out and researched and asked people of all ages why they are "unchristian" (the term they coined after meeting this group of people.) but of all the surveys, one really left a lasting impression on me, and it wasnt a question to the unchristians, it was a questions to those of us that are followers of Christ.
What is the measure of your Christian life? Basically, how can you tell you're doing a good job at it?
the number one answer?
the appearance of having no sin.
the answer was not devout worship, and studying the Word, feeding the homeless, and prayer. it was appearing that you were in a sense, sin-less. avoiding sin. thats how you know youre doing it right...
huh?! i mean, who are you trying to fool anyway?
unfortunately, and i hate to bust your spiritual bubble on this one, but ALL have sinned and fallen short. And the longer that you want to waste your life appearing like youre better than the rest of the world - you have missed it. you have missed out on some ridiculously important values that you claim with your mouth that you support.
lets love somebody for a change. lets worship the Lord with a little more heart. lets pray and read and actually let it move you somewhere deeper.
avoiding sin is going to be a pretty hard task to accomplish for you and me. but even if you get over the fact that you will in fact sin, probably within the next 5 minutes... can we as a Christian culture get over the fact that what we really want is not necessarily a deeper relationship with the Lord at all... but what we want is the guy next to us in church to think we have one deeper than his.
ouch.
if we strive to appear to be sinless, we may fool some people - but thats not living in a real and authentic community with anybody. real community, and real relationships are essential to having abundant life, and i believe a life of transparency is essential to having real relationships.
appearing to have no sin is foolish, and using that to measure our Christian life is ludicrous. sin is inevitable.
but when it comes to integrity - its about the heart. living a life with integrity and with noble character really doesn't come down to if you had a drink or if you said a bad word. living a life of integrity comes down to telling the truth and doing the right thing when it doesn't feel good...
it's about letting the character of Christ transform your life.
But they will know that we are His followers because of, not how we appear to have no no sin, but by how we love them.
James Stalker, puts it like this:
"The most important part of the training of the Twelve was one which perhaps at the time little noticed, though it was producing splendid results - the silent and constant influence of his character on them. It was this which made them into the men they became."
i dont want to live my life tiptoeing through, hoping i dont fall into a sin trap... i want to live my life knowing that i walked it with integrity and my character was proven to be good. I want to be like the wife with noble character in Proverbs 31.
i read a book recently that has really taken my thoughts and views on the church to the next level. this book is called 'unchristian' by david kinnamen and gabe lyons - the barna group guy. they went out and researched and asked people of all ages why they are "unchristian" (the term they coined after meeting this group of people.) but of all the surveys, one really left a lasting impression on me, and it wasnt a question to the unchristians, it was a questions to those of us that are followers of Christ.
What is the measure of your Christian life? Basically, how can you tell you're doing a good job at it?
the number one answer?
the appearance of having no sin.
the answer was not devout worship, and studying the Word, feeding the homeless, and prayer. it was appearing that you were in a sense, sin-less. avoiding sin. thats how you know youre doing it right...
huh?! i mean, who are you trying to fool anyway?
unfortunately, and i hate to bust your spiritual bubble on this one, but ALL have sinned and fallen short. And the longer that you want to waste your life appearing like youre better than the rest of the world - you have missed it. you have missed out on some ridiculously important values that you claim with your mouth that you support.
lets love somebody for a change. lets worship the Lord with a little more heart. lets pray and read and actually let it move you somewhere deeper.
avoiding sin is going to be a pretty hard task to accomplish for you and me. but even if you get over the fact that you will in fact sin, probably within the next 5 minutes... can we as a Christian culture get over the fact that what we really want is not necessarily a deeper relationship with the Lord at all... but what we want is the guy next to us in church to think we have one deeper than his.
ouch.
if we strive to appear to be sinless, we may fool some people - but thats not living in a real and authentic community with anybody. real community, and real relationships are essential to having abundant life, and i believe a life of transparency is essential to having real relationships.
appearing to have no sin is foolish, and using that to measure our Christian life is ludicrous. sin is inevitable.
but when it comes to integrity - its about the heart. living a life with integrity and with noble character really doesn't come down to if you had a drink or if you said a bad word. living a life of integrity comes down to telling the truth and doing the right thing when it doesn't feel good...
it's about letting the character of Christ transform your life.
But they will know that we are His followers because of, not how we appear to have no no sin, but by how we love them.
James Stalker, puts it like this:
"The most important part of the training of the Twelve was one which perhaps at the time little noticed, though it was producing splendid results - the silent and constant influence of his character on them. It was this which made them into the men they became."
Thursday, November 6, 2008
struggles and such
God never wastes a hurt.
If my mission cannot start here, where I am... it cannot start at all.
If my mission cannot start here, where I am... it cannot start at all.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
risk takers
"Is - is he a man?" asked Lucy.
"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion - the Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."
The average man does not want to be free, he wants to be safe.
Freedom requires decision making, soul searching, and risk taking. And if you do it right, my guess is that those things won't come easy for you. The thing about safety is that usually all it requires is comfort.
Every time you say no to God - you change a little. Your heart gets a little harder. Your spirit dies a little. Your addiction to comfort gets a little stronger.
What really matters when God calls you to do something is not whether or not you feel inadequate. Of course you will; you are inadequate. So am I. That's why God promises to go with us, What matters is your decision. Only people who say yes to challenge, demand, and risk are ever fully alive.
One truth about us is that we forget we are going to die... another truth is that we forget we are alive.
I want to leave the world a little changed. When it's time to go, I would like for someone to say, "My life is a little richer, my world is a little bigger, I'm a better person because this human being walked the planet awhile. She made a difference. She changed my life."
Lord, in everything that I do, I want to see Your options for my life over any other. I want to be able to take risk and challenge as gifts from You to grow me into the person and the character that You have designed me to be from before the world was created. Please don't pass me by.
"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion - the Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."
The average man does not want to be free, he wants to be safe.
Freedom requires decision making, soul searching, and risk taking. And if you do it right, my guess is that those things won't come easy for you. The thing about safety is that usually all it requires is comfort.
Every time you say no to God - you change a little. Your heart gets a little harder. Your spirit dies a little. Your addiction to comfort gets a little stronger.
What really matters when God calls you to do something is not whether or not you feel inadequate. Of course you will; you are inadequate. So am I. That's why God promises to go with us, What matters is your decision. Only people who say yes to challenge, demand, and risk are ever fully alive.
One truth about us is that we forget we are going to die... another truth is that we forget we are alive.
I want to leave the world a little changed. When it's time to go, I would like for someone to say, "My life is a little richer, my world is a little bigger, I'm a better person because this human being walked the planet awhile. She made a difference. She changed my life."
Lord, in everything that I do, I want to see Your options for my life over any other. I want to be able to take risk and challenge as gifts from You to grow me into the person and the character that You have designed me to be from before the world was created. Please don't pass me by.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
you can't handle the truth
Here's the funny thing about truth... If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
You don't have to remember what story you told to what person and if today's story is going to match with the one you tried to remember last week... truth is essential to authentic relationships and transparency is golden. I have a core of people who know everything about me. Everything that I've done and everything that's been done. There is nothing to hide from this core. There is such freedom in that.
So, as you can see, I've been on a truth hunt. Maybe it's because today is election day. Maybe it's because I continue to hear stories about me that even I was unaware of. Maybe it's because I continue to find out that people are so comfortable with lying - especially if it can benefit them in the slightest. We hear all the time that the truth will set us free... well, i want freedom.
This is what my boy Oswald Chambers has to say today...(i love how God ordains certain things sometimes)
"Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." James 4:8
It is essential to give people a chance of acting on the truth of God. The responsibility must be left with the individual, you cannot act for him, it must be his own deliberate act, but the evangelical message ought always to lead a man to act. The paralysis of refusing to act leaves a man exactly where he was before; when once he acts, he is never the same. It is the foolishness of it that stands in the way of hundreds who have been convicted by the Spirit of God. Immediately I precipitate myself over into an act, that second I live; all the rest is existence. The moments when I truly live are the moments when I act with my whole will.
Never allow a truth of God that is brought home to your soul to pass without acting on it, not necessarily physically, but in will. Record it, with ink or with blood. The feeblest saint who transacts business with Jesus Christ is emancipated the second he acts; all the almighty power of God is on his behalf. We come up to the truth of God, we confess we are wrong, but go back again; then we come up to it again, and go back; until we learn that we have no business to go back. We have to go clean over on some word of our redeeming Lord and transact business with Him. His word "come" means "transact." "Come unto Me." The last thing we do is to come; but everyone who does come knows that that second the supernatural rush of the life of God invades him instantly. The dominating power of the world, the flesh and the devil is paralysed, not by your act, but because your act has linked you on to God and His redemptive power.
Can we just take a moment to really meditate on that....
The feeblest saint who transacts business with Jesus Christ is emancipated the second he acts; all the almighty power of God is on his behalf.
When you tell the truth, you create the possibility for more truth around you. Period. the truth will set us free... the truth will set us free...
It seems like for the majority of my life, I have been doubted. i have wasted the last 11 years defending my character and defending my story and im not really sure why. What's the point? People are going to say what they want and attack who they want regardless of what is true.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four; calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
This is not a debate of absolute truth vs relative truth... im not Plato and I don't claim to be a philosopher. But I do know this:
The thief comes to kill steal and destroy... and he also comes to deceive and lie and distract... there is only one enemy.
Psalm 15:1-3
LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart
and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,
Psalm 15:1-3 (The Message)
God, who gets invited to dinner at your place?
How do we get on your guest list?
"Walk straight,
act right,
tell the truth.
"Don't hurt your friend,
don't blame your neighbor;
despise the despicable.
God, whatever is true and noble - let me think on THOSE things. I don't want to waste my time with liars and lies and the sin that so easily entangles. Forgive me for my part.
You don't have to remember what story you told to what person and if today's story is going to match with the one you tried to remember last week... truth is essential to authentic relationships and transparency is golden. I have a core of people who know everything about me. Everything that I've done and everything that's been done. There is nothing to hide from this core. There is such freedom in that.
So, as you can see, I've been on a truth hunt. Maybe it's because today is election day. Maybe it's because I continue to hear stories about me that even I was unaware of. Maybe it's because I continue to find out that people are so comfortable with lying - especially if it can benefit them in the slightest. We hear all the time that the truth will set us free... well, i want freedom.
This is what my boy Oswald Chambers has to say today...(i love how God ordains certain things sometimes)
"Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." James 4:8
It is essential to give people a chance of acting on the truth of God. The responsibility must be left with the individual, you cannot act for him, it must be his own deliberate act, but the evangelical message ought always to lead a man to act. The paralysis of refusing to act leaves a man exactly where he was before; when once he acts, he is never the same. It is the foolishness of it that stands in the way of hundreds who have been convicted by the Spirit of God. Immediately I precipitate myself over into an act, that second I live; all the rest is existence. The moments when I truly live are the moments when I act with my whole will.
Never allow a truth of God that is brought home to your soul to pass without acting on it, not necessarily physically, but in will. Record it, with ink or with blood. The feeblest saint who transacts business with Jesus Christ is emancipated the second he acts; all the almighty power of God is on his behalf. We come up to the truth of God, we confess we are wrong, but go back again; then we come up to it again, and go back; until we learn that we have no business to go back. We have to go clean over on some word of our redeeming Lord and transact business with Him. His word "come" means "transact." "Come unto Me." The last thing we do is to come; but everyone who does come knows that that second the supernatural rush of the life of God invades him instantly. The dominating power of the world, the flesh and the devil is paralysed, not by your act, but because your act has linked you on to God and His redemptive power.
Can we just take a moment to really meditate on that....
The feeblest saint who transacts business with Jesus Christ is emancipated the second he acts; all the almighty power of God is on his behalf.
When you tell the truth, you create the possibility for more truth around you. Period. the truth will set us free... the truth will set us free...
It seems like for the majority of my life, I have been doubted. i have wasted the last 11 years defending my character and defending my story and im not really sure why. What's the point? People are going to say what they want and attack who they want regardless of what is true.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four; calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
This is not a debate of absolute truth vs relative truth... im not Plato and I don't claim to be a philosopher. But I do know this:
The thief comes to kill steal and destroy... and he also comes to deceive and lie and distract... there is only one enemy.
Psalm 15:1-3
LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart
and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,
Psalm 15:1-3 (The Message)
God, who gets invited to dinner at your place?
How do we get on your guest list?
"Walk straight,
act right,
tell the truth.
"Don't hurt your friend,
don't blame your neighbor;
despise the despicable.
God, whatever is true and noble - let me think on THOSE things. I don't want to waste my time with liars and lies and the sin that so easily entangles. Forgive me for my part.
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