dont be cheap

during this season of remembrance... this season of reflection... this season of focusing on the one true Christ... I really wanted to take the time to focus on His words... the things He taught... to try to relearn some of the things that my Messiah taught. Christmas - like the video below shared- has become so much about stuff and things and only about an hour on the 24th about our Lord. I could go into more depth about how I feel about Christmas, or how I feel like Americans have more or less de-Christianized it, but I won't. Youre welcome. :)

But it does bring me to something that has been very close to my heart recently... I am relearning what it means to walk with Christ - to truly be His disciple. To be covered in the dust of my Rabbi... Can i tell you that i am hungry for Him. I am starving for Him. And it's not just a "Lord please rescue me from this time of uncertainty," even though that is very relevant today. It's a "Lord, expand my mind so that I can truly learn from you - I want you to make me wiser, smarter, more intelligent... with the things that You want me to learn."

I'm reading this book called The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and im letting it change my life. So here's where we've come so far.

There is a HUGE difference between cheap grace - and costly grace... Cheap grace is the stuff that we have sorta created throughout the years... the stuff that says "we're saved..YAY!" but doesnt transform our lives. Costly grace is the stuff that calls us to follow - to forsake all else, and to follow Christ with everything. Yes, yes, grace is free in the sense that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us - for our ransom. But it is oh-so expensive when you understand that grace was never meant to just be a stocking stuffer. It was intended to cause a stirring in you - out of love - to follow the Messiah.

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship.

But costly grace is the gospel that must be sought again and again, the gift that must be asked for, the door at which we must knock. It is costly because is calls us to follow... and it is grace because it tell us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs us our life, but it is grace because it is the only way to truly live. It is both costly and grace because God gave His son - but for our deliverance. You see, costly grace is the only grace that was ever intended to be given and experienced.

But the world has Christianized and Americanized grace, making it common property. Held at a low cost. Believe me, if it was cheap grace that called Levi out of his boat, i dont think he wouldve followed. If all Levi had to do was to leave his boat for an hour or so once a week to truly experience grace in its truest form, I think he'd still be fishing.

Bonhoeffer says this:
The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity (that is, in truth, into the absolute security and safety of the fellowship of Jesus), from a life which is observable and calculable (it is, in fact quite incalculable) into a life where everything is unobservable and fortuitous (that is, into one which is necessary and calculable), out of the realm of finite (which is in truth the infinite) into the realm of infinite possibilities (which is the one liberating reality).

Christ calls. The disciple follows. That is grace and commandment in one.
Costly grace has turned into cheap grace because of our lack of discipleship.

Christianity without the living Christ is inevitable Christianity without discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.

the Advent Conspiracy

cleansing

Could it be that the enemy has it out for us so badly that he will take lies and make them so apart of our DNA that we cant even visualize what our life would be like should we break free from them? I think the answer is absolutely.

I don't travel a lot. I'd love to but dont really get the opportunity. I've been on just one trip really... but it was a good one. I got to go to the UK. It was December of 2005 - the day after Christmas, and I'm boarding a plane for an overseas trip. As a non-traveler, I didnt really know how to pack. So I packed somewhat lightly. It wasnt just an overnight stay - and I wasn't exactly thinking about the weather over there... winter... England... ouch. I live in Houston - our winters are about 65 degrees. You get my point. The term "winter coat" to me consists of a sweatshirt hoodie. I had checked one bag, and brought a carry on suitcase... sorta small... it even had wheels! :)
Anyway, I found out that I had a 3 hour layover in Newark when I landed there. So my bright idea was to take the train to Manhattan since I had never been before... i had time, right? So all goes well and I make it to the Big Apple and i clearly wasnt thinking about my stupid carry on bag that I now had to drag behind me all over the streets of NYC... the whole 'try to blend in' thing wasnt working for me. for 2 hours im dragging this suitcase behind me wherever i go... ugh. needless to say, i didnt really get to enjoy my layover one bit.

I say all of that to say this:
what is the unnecessary baggage we continue to carry with us, day in and day out, that is effecting our life to the point of disappointment?

For me, it has been lies from the enemy that ive carried with me for years - lies that have stunted my growth and my ability to enjoy life to its fullest. If our Lord came to give us abundance of life, how can we fully become alive carrying this extra baggage?
And the truth is, i dont think you can. if we have a thief that comes to rob us of our joy, and if Jesus says that He comes to restore joy... then we have to face the liar head on.

This is what God has to say:
Being clean comes from redemption.

And i've said it before, and ill say it again... there is a certain freedom in getting your feelings of redemption from God and not other people.