There is a great robbery taking place before our very eyes. It is so easy, quite common really, to be all bent out of shape because someone took our parking place or didn't return a call or, maybe, forgot to pass along a key message. Oh, how we tend to live in a touchy world of irritation and upset.
I once lived on those streets. If I wasn't annoyed, I was angry. And if I wasn't angry, I was injured. And if I wasn't injured....well I seemed to walk right into yet another crisisistic disturbance...so I thought. But a heartbreak here and a death there and I began to refrain from fretting over the tedious and the trivial. I encourage you to do the same.
Here's my day today. I will try to speak in vagueness for it's the weight that I wish to convey; not names and details. A childhood friend of mine was to have been incarcerated today in a Federal Prison. I'm heartbroken for this one and have counselled for weeks long distance. This dear one is a treasure to me (and to so many) who made an error in judgment and it has cost this one's freedom for awhile.
And then there's another friend who is devastated over a dear relative who has been arrested and is apparently in deep trouble. This one's heart is so broken that it leaves one hardly able to get one's bearings. The pain is devastating. The agony remains with tight grip. The worry is real. And the heartbreak causes even the simplest thing like breathing to be most difficult. Tears are aflood.
These two would give anything right now if their worst worry was that gasoline prices went up a dime or that the clerk overcharged one of them a dollar. Much of what one frets over would feel like a reward to either of these two if they could only suffer our very minor infractions.
Do what you can to not waste your life bemoaning what some would count as a true relief. We can do this...day by day. Don't sweat the small stuff. Rather, pray for those who are in over their hearts with the unbearable stresses that really are heavy.
Count. Your. Blessings. And. Pray. For. Others. Much. Worse. Off.
Monday, January 15, 2018
Sunday, January 14, 2018
I COULDN'T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE LOGS IN MY OWN EYES
We must be ever on guard against the insistent trait of normalcy that we criticize others with little attention to our own falsehood. This sensitivity warning was declared by Jesus and admitted by Paul. We are never better than the next person...every...next...person.
That disposition is not what I held in the beginning days of my ministry. I was deeply trained in how right my religiosity was. To find elevation was simple. All I had to do was note the erring ways of others; especially other groups of Christian name who didn't do (I thought) church right. But then...Jesus entered my terrain and ruined my delight of living by comparison.
As I watched the Son of God move about each day, he encountered two distinguishable sorts; (1) the broken who needed His strengthening words and touch, and (2) devoted religious leaders who couldn't see the needs of the hurting community because being right (the most scripturally right) was their incessant talk.
I was more of the latter. And, I was wrong. I couldn't see the forest for the logs in my own eyes.
The only example I am to anyone is that God can extract the trash of man from Hell's incinerator and transform him into a useful messenger. Never is the tone to be about how much I've gotten figured out; but, rather is to be about how off-base my conclusions are from what God has desired. Thus, I have a deep ministry for one main reason. I understand any who believe that they aren't enough.
Not enough-ism is the story of every person I know. So...our natural tendency is to strive to overcome via personal elevation of some degree. The problem with self-improvement is that, every time such markers are placed against the Son of God, we only seem to gain demomentum. God looms larger and, thus, we shrink into diminishable fractions of who we had hoped to be by now.
ANNOUNCEMENT: This is precisely where God would lead us so that we can develop a daily dependence upon Him. We must not ever believe we have conquered any turbulence on our own...lest we elevate ourselves as having been the self-source of recovery. If it is to be...it is up to Him.
That disposition is not what I held in the beginning days of my ministry. I was deeply trained in how right my religiosity was. To find elevation was simple. All I had to do was note the erring ways of others; especially other groups of Christian name who didn't do (I thought) church right. But then...Jesus entered my terrain and ruined my delight of living by comparison.
As I watched the Son of God move about each day, he encountered two distinguishable sorts; (1) the broken who needed His strengthening words and touch, and (2) devoted religious leaders who couldn't see the needs of the hurting community because being right (the most scripturally right) was their incessant talk.
I was more of the latter. And, I was wrong. I couldn't see the forest for the logs in my own eyes.
The only example I am to anyone is that God can extract the trash of man from Hell's incinerator and transform him into a useful messenger. Never is the tone to be about how much I've gotten figured out; but, rather is to be about how off-base my conclusions are from what God has desired. Thus, I have a deep ministry for one main reason. I understand any who believe that they aren't enough.
Not enough-ism is the story of every person I know. So...our natural tendency is to strive to overcome via personal elevation of some degree. The problem with self-improvement is that, every time such markers are placed against the Son of God, we only seem to gain demomentum. God looms larger and, thus, we shrink into diminishable fractions of who we had hoped to be by now.
ANNOUNCEMENT: This is precisely where God would lead us so that we can develop a daily dependence upon Him. We must not ever believe we have conquered any turbulence on our own...lest we elevate ourselves as having been the self-source of recovery. If it is to be...it is up to Him.
Saturday, January 13, 2018
VOTE WITH YOUR VOICE
The voice is the creationalistic part of a powerful person. God created with His and passed the baton to us. Such an instrument is to be regarded as Sovereign in the Kingdom scheme of reality.
Therefore, may we be a people who speak up regarding hope, emphasizing potential, and anticipating fantastic results. We have the power to change the family, the community, and the world one word at a time. May we break from this cowering silence of which far too much of mankind is embedded.
May we learn to use our voices.
I struggled with this myself. Believe it or not, at one time in my early stages of serious church life, I did not have the confidence to speak life and hope to others. I hid in the, "Somebody else could do it better." Gradually, I learned that every person on earth surely could use a word of confidence and encouragement......As. In. Every. Person.
I urge you to use your voice--not in criticism of the bombarding negative reality around us, but--in order to lift the spirits of dear, wonderful, oft-times hurting, friends and neighbors. We can all make a difference...a positive one...by lifting our voices tone to be heard clearly that today has remarkably wonderful traits about it...for every person, indeed.
Vote with your voice. Children and grandchildren are listening in and being trained by your language.
Therefore, may we be a people who speak up regarding hope, emphasizing potential, and anticipating fantastic results. We have the power to change the family, the community, and the world one word at a time. May we break from this cowering silence of which far too much of mankind is embedded.
May we learn to use our voices.
I struggled with this myself. Believe it or not, at one time in my early stages of serious church life, I did not have the confidence to speak life and hope to others. I hid in the, "Somebody else could do it better." Gradually, I learned that every person on earth surely could use a word of confidence and encouragement......As. In. Every. Person.
I urge you to use your voice--not in criticism of the bombarding negative reality around us, but--in order to lift the spirits of dear, wonderful, oft-times hurting, friends and neighbors. We can all make a difference...a positive one...by lifting our voices tone to be heard clearly that today has remarkably wonderful traits about it...for every person, indeed.
Vote with your voice. Children and grandchildren are listening in and being trained by your language.
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
WHAT JESUS BRINGS TO THE TABLE
Fundamentally, basically, and quite-a-bitly, the world is either engaged in or sick of religion. God didn't come via His Son that we might have abundant religion. Rather, Jesus came that we all might experience abundant life. Yay Jesus! And yay for us!
The religious world has bought into two grand mistakes; attendance and doctrine. Don't misunderstand. Both are activations and participations are significant matters in the scheme of God's call. However, it is most amazing that both also may serve as distraction from (not to) knowing Jesus. If these to become a lower-case church practice without relationship to Jesus, we are of the wrong belief system.
Jesus brings a most fascinating element to the table...every table...every time. He cuts through the moldiness of tired religious practices and presents new and exciting and vibrant....daily life. Jesus invites us into a non-explainable reality which refuses to abide by earthy measurements and description.
The discouraged can hope. The uncertain can experience stability. The fretful can relax. The confused can wait for clarity. Because Jesus experienced our delight and our darkness, He knows a thing or two about life protocol. Due to his excruciating death and grave-defying resurrection, it can be said that Jesus has "been there and done that"! He gets us!
What Jesus brings to the table is the greatest hope on earth...because his office complex is already in Heaven. So what many of you might need to do is to be quiet...and invite Jesus to pull up a chair. He will forever change the discussion around your morning coffee time.
The religious world has bought into two grand mistakes; attendance and doctrine. Don't misunderstand. Both are activations and participations are significant matters in the scheme of God's call. However, it is most amazing that both also may serve as distraction from (not to) knowing Jesus. If these to become a lower-case church practice without relationship to Jesus, we are of the wrong belief system.
Jesus brings a most fascinating element to the table...every table...every time. He cuts through the moldiness of tired religious practices and presents new and exciting and vibrant....daily life. Jesus invites us into a non-explainable reality which refuses to abide by earthy measurements and description.
The discouraged can hope. The uncertain can experience stability. The fretful can relax. The confused can wait for clarity. Because Jesus experienced our delight and our darkness, He knows a thing or two about life protocol. Due to his excruciating death and grave-defying resurrection, it can be said that Jesus has "been there and done that"! He gets us!
What Jesus brings to the table is the greatest hope on earth...because his office complex is already in Heaven. So what many of you might need to do is to be quiet...and invite Jesus to pull up a chair. He will forever change the discussion around your morning coffee time.
Tuesday, January 09, 2018
STANDING ON COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP VERSUS GOOD FEELINGS
Leaders face constant and incredible challenge. We want to be liked (and loved). In preserving such desire, we do not want to be found divisive. Yet, the very nature of leadership is naturally separated from followship...essentially and importantly so. Such does not mean to create a heavy-hitting boss mentality. It very much calls, however, for decisive risk-taking that will take the flock into uncharted waters of the next Promised Land.
Edwin Friedman, A FAILURE OF NERVE, pegs the nature and the need of courageous leadership in this day and age. For decades the objecting fearful have held strong voice in the church system. As a result, our populace landscape is strewn with "once members" of some church because the life of the place had been choked by the naysayers who were adamant about keeping things the way they've always been.
What's exasperating to me is how many who lived in the church in opposition to sawing off the limb behind us have seen their relatives bow out of the church scene. The fearful Law still kills. It is the Spirit who gives life and He is perpetually changing directions. We, as believers, are always challenged to adjust and adapt. The Truth is always Truth. The Truth is that we have a tendency to learn a few, very few, things in Scripture and stop to hang our hats on that peg. At that point--the point of failure to keep learning by shifting to protecting--Truth slips out the back door...and withers.
Consider this brief comment by Friedman:
The most important ramification of the herding phenomenon for leadership is its counter-evolutionary effect. In order to be "inclusive", the herding family will wind up adopting an appeasement strategy toward its most troublesome members while sabotaging those with the most strength to stand up to the trouble-makers. The chronically anxious, herding family will be the far more willing to risk its losing its leadership than to lose those who disturb their togetherness with their immature responses. Always striving for consensus it will react against any threat to its togetherness by those who stand on principle rather than good feelings. The herding instinct will move an emotionally regressed family to a position where it endeavors to accommodate the disruptions of the immature and of those who think in terms of their rights rather than their responsibilities. Rather than support those who stand tall and take on the most disturbed members, the herding family will adapt to the symptom-bearer (alcoholic, delinquent, substance abuser, gambler, hot-tempered one) and undercut anyone who attempts to define himself or herself against the forces of togetherness. They often characterize that person as "cruel", "heartless", insensitive", "unfeeling," "uncooperative", "selfish", and "cold".
Edwin Friedman, A FAILURE OF NERVE, pegs the nature and the need of courageous leadership in this day and age. For decades the objecting fearful have held strong voice in the church system. As a result, our populace landscape is strewn with "once members" of some church because the life of the place had been choked by the naysayers who were adamant about keeping things the way they've always been.
What's exasperating to me is how many who lived in the church in opposition to sawing off the limb behind us have seen their relatives bow out of the church scene. The fearful Law still kills. It is the Spirit who gives life and He is perpetually changing directions. We, as believers, are always challenged to adjust and adapt. The Truth is always Truth. The Truth is that we have a tendency to learn a few, very few, things in Scripture and stop to hang our hats on that peg. At that point--the point of failure to keep learning by shifting to protecting--Truth slips out the back door...and withers.
Consider this brief comment by Friedman:
The most important ramification of the herding phenomenon for leadership is its counter-evolutionary effect. In order to be "inclusive", the herding family will wind up adopting an appeasement strategy toward its most troublesome members while sabotaging those with the most strength to stand up to the trouble-makers. The chronically anxious, herding family will be the far more willing to risk its losing its leadership than to lose those who disturb their togetherness with their immature responses. Always striving for consensus it will react against any threat to its togetherness by those who stand on principle rather than good feelings. The herding instinct will move an emotionally regressed family to a position where it endeavors to accommodate the disruptions of the immature and of those who think in terms of their rights rather than their responsibilities. Rather than support those who stand tall and take on the most disturbed members, the herding family will adapt to the symptom-bearer (alcoholic, delinquent, substance abuser, gambler, hot-tempered one) and undercut anyone who attempts to define himself or herself against the forces of togetherness. They often characterize that person as "cruel", "heartless", insensitive", "unfeeling," "uncooperative", "selfish", and "cold".
Monday, January 08, 2018
FOR EVERY PROBLEM THERE IS A SOLUTION
God changes everything...truly. He is both Creator and Master of life. Our goal is to be alive while we live. For some time, I wavered from one struggle to the next battle. Inferiority was my plague so I tried to dress it up as outgoingness all the while striving to hide. Eventually, breakthrough came and such provides valuable understanding in ministry.
Just this morning I saw what appeared to be two homeless men cross the street in front of my car. Maybe they aren't homeless; but there facial expressions caused me to believe that they felt beaten down and hopeless. I prayed for them that they could sense, somehow and some way today, their true meaningful value.
God changes everything...truly.
Embedded within our own struggles, it is our hyper-active God who has already absorbed these distractions upon the Cross. We, in this very location, are free to imagine and dream and wonder. Every problem is also pregnant with a dynamic solution.
One of my wars is that earlier referenced inferiority. It still hangs around. Since it insists on lingering, I learned to make it serve me rather than boss me. It launches me; not curtails me. If "power is perfected in weakness" (II Cor. 12:9) then I will give my weakness permission to be useful. How does that work?
In my problem of feeling least in every setting, I know that the room is full of like-minded strugglers who yet do not realize how powerful....they are....right now. How do I know that? I was that/am that. These do not need improvement; although they hunger for such. These need the acceptance of their own lack that their weaknesses are productive for the good and forward uplift of mankind.
The two men who walked by me today most likely do not sense their personal wonder and value. The secret power of God, however, would make them new men. How do I know this? He makes me a new person day by day. I choose to not let my inferiority be my problem; but rather serve me as a solution to better understand the workings of nearly every person on earth from homeless to celebrity.
Be encouraged. Be highly encouraged. Even your bad days are to bow to you in service to others. We are benefitted by struggles and blessed by such with increasing understanding of how our neighbor feels. Don't fight life. Really live, instead. What Satan meant as harm; Jesus used for good.
Just this morning I saw what appeared to be two homeless men cross the street in front of my car. Maybe they aren't homeless; but there facial expressions caused me to believe that they felt beaten down and hopeless. I prayed for them that they could sense, somehow and some way today, their true meaningful value.
God changes everything...truly.
Embedded within our own struggles, it is our hyper-active God who has already absorbed these distractions upon the Cross. We, in this very location, are free to imagine and dream and wonder. Every problem is also pregnant with a dynamic solution.
One of my wars is that earlier referenced inferiority. It still hangs around. Since it insists on lingering, I learned to make it serve me rather than boss me. It launches me; not curtails me. If "power is perfected in weakness" (II Cor. 12:9) then I will give my weakness permission to be useful. How does that work?
In my problem of feeling least in every setting, I know that the room is full of like-minded strugglers who yet do not realize how powerful....they are....right now. How do I know that? I was that/am that. These do not need improvement; although they hunger for such. These need the acceptance of their own lack that their weaknesses are productive for the good and forward uplift of mankind.
The two men who walked by me today most likely do not sense their personal wonder and value. The secret power of God, however, would make them new men. How do I know this? He makes me a new person day by day. I choose to not let my inferiority be my problem; but rather serve me as a solution to better understand the workings of nearly every person on earth from homeless to celebrity.
Be encouraged. Be highly encouraged. Even your bad days are to bow to you in service to others. We are benefitted by struggles and blessed by such with increasing understanding of how our neighbor feels. Don't fight life. Really live, instead. What Satan meant as harm; Jesus used for good.
Saturday, January 06, 2018
I CHEER YOU ON IN YOUR BELIEF IN AND OF GOD
I speak with zero criticism of others regarding what I'm about to address; but rather I possess intense compassion. The number of ministers and ministry leaders who are struggling with believing that God works seems to be increasing. At least it is becoming more vocal. The honesty is, indeed, encouraging and I desire deeply to be supportive of these in the midst of such struggles. We take our turns.
Belief/unbelief is a real battle. Our mouths can imply expressions of spiritual confidence while, simultaneously, our hearts are debating with us internally. This is no vague matter. And it certainly is an ongoing war of the emotions.
While I know very well that I am the least man of all men, I want to do what I can to cheer you on in your belief in and of God. Of course the challenge is a faith matter. We either believe by faith that He exists and functions among us or we don't believe anything of the kind. Both parameters hinge on faith.
My opinion is that one of the detrimental influences to a strong faith is the substitutes society (even the church) has presented which were intended to be effective; but in reality, undermined God's call. Faith in God has been substituted with seeing that church operates according to "my" assumed portrait of what pleases me. This thread is not new as it has been embedded within what we note as the "believing community" for decades. Centuries?
Sheer trust in God's participationistic style among us has taken a back seat to various people-pleasing activities: singing style, preaching style, architectual style, location, harmony, convenience, friendliness, and singing style, preaching style.... What goes on with our moods having attended our assemblies can be a stronger force than what goes on with our faith enhancement. We are called to believe past the visible and into the invisible attributes of right now.
I cheer you on in your belief in and of God. May we arise in fervent heart to passionately believe in and of God because He is Master of all things. May we not flinch when prayers don't unfold the way we had expressed; but rather, may we believe He is hearing and responding according to the deep sacrificial love He has for us. Life will work out by His brilliant plan.
Understand this, I am the least of anyone that is or ever was. I'm below average and, regarding faith, no further along than Kindergarten. So please let me not distract from the truly urgent plea that we become increasingly serious about believing God when circumstances often pose one huge denial and one persistent threat after another.
We win....in Him.
Belief/unbelief is a real battle. Our mouths can imply expressions of spiritual confidence while, simultaneously, our hearts are debating with us internally. This is no vague matter. And it certainly is an ongoing war of the emotions.
While I know very well that I am the least man of all men, I want to do what I can to cheer you on in your belief in and of God. Of course the challenge is a faith matter. We either believe by faith that He exists and functions among us or we don't believe anything of the kind. Both parameters hinge on faith.
My opinion is that one of the detrimental influences to a strong faith is the substitutes society (even the church) has presented which were intended to be effective; but in reality, undermined God's call. Faith in God has been substituted with seeing that church operates according to "my" assumed portrait of what pleases me. This thread is not new as it has been embedded within what we note as the "believing community" for decades. Centuries?
Sheer trust in God's participationistic style among us has taken a back seat to various people-pleasing activities: singing style, preaching style, architectual style, location, harmony, convenience, friendliness, and singing style, preaching style.... What goes on with our moods having attended our assemblies can be a stronger force than what goes on with our faith enhancement. We are called to believe past the visible and into the invisible attributes of right now.
I cheer you on in your belief in and of God. May we arise in fervent heart to passionately believe in and of God because He is Master of all things. May we not flinch when prayers don't unfold the way we had expressed; but rather, may we believe He is hearing and responding according to the deep sacrificial love He has for us. Life will work out by His brilliant plan.
Understand this, I am the least of anyone that is or ever was. I'm below average and, regarding faith, no further along than Kindergarten. So please let me not distract from the truly urgent plea that we become increasingly serious about believing God when circumstances often pose one huge denial and one persistent threat after another.
We win....in Him.
Thursday, January 04, 2018
WE KNOW WHERE WE FIT
Being put in our place is a common understanding. We do our best to fit in the best we know how. Hoping for acceptance is a pertinent thread for reaching that...place. I want to encourage you to avoid letting your fit be far to meager compared to where God would take you.
Imagination and adventure tend to get short-sheeted by the good qualities of being successful. What we want to do is to capture the dynamic of being effective plus the experience of functioning beyond our best and into His marvel.
Enter the wild reality of the God-style!
I urge you to develop a faith that is not comparative to others; but rather, is your own...you...and God teaming together to change the world far beyond your sight, beyond your reach, and beyond your best shot. God is not living within us to barely get by.
God wants to take us places that we could not possibly go on our own. We are the new generation of Bible characters living in the Presence, with the Presence, and for the Presence. Our lives are not average. They have gone through a regenerative cleansing when we were immersed at baptism. There we died to our restrictions and arose to advancement in the most unfathomable dimensions.
We know where we fit. We fit into the framework of no frame; limitless breaks and surreal opportunities. The Christian life is the most crazy-wonderful path that is too good to be true. That, my friend, is the precise description of "gospel"....too good to be true. Therefore, may we live that exact kind of life!
Go. For. It.
Imagination and adventure tend to get short-sheeted by the good qualities of being successful. What we want to do is to capture the dynamic of being effective plus the experience of functioning beyond our best and into His marvel.
Enter the wild reality of the God-style!
I urge you to develop a faith that is not comparative to others; but rather, is your own...you...and God teaming together to change the world far beyond your sight, beyond your reach, and beyond your best shot. God is not living within us to barely get by.
God wants to take us places that we could not possibly go on our own. We are the new generation of Bible characters living in the Presence, with the Presence, and for the Presence. Our lives are not average. They have gone through a regenerative cleansing when we were immersed at baptism. There we died to our restrictions and arose to advancement in the most unfathomable dimensions.
We know where we fit. We fit into the framework of no frame; limitless breaks and surreal opportunities. The Christian life is the most crazy-wonderful path that is too good to be true. That, my friend, is the precise description of "gospel"....too good to be true. Therefore, may we live that exact kind of life!
Go. For. It.
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
THE UNIQUE EXPRESSION OF FAITH
Faith is absolutely a fascinating concept. It functions in solid reality; yet well beyond what eyes can see and minds may fathom. Faith may have become a generic church term; yet its height, width, and depth are always out there beyond our most aggressive imagination.
I cheer you on to believe when it would appear to many that believing would be useless. Express faith in the God of what-can-be when earthly strongholds of homespun philosophy vow that such will never ever happen. Believe into people and past our flaws. Believe in the three great Ps: Power, Potential, and Possibility. All three are His....given to us!
You won't need an army to make progress. Nor will you need a superior understanding of the Bible's original Hebrew and Greek languages to unlock life's fortresses which try to block you from being a productive winner. Jesus took common ordinary life and ushered it into a three dimensional life-thrilling color. Our Savior kept us from being lost...saved us from missing life while here on earth and then, forevermore, in Heaven.
Faith is such a unique expression because it can't be noted, toted, measured, nor earmarked visibly. Believing is the godly inner tool of transportation; one day to the next, one challenge to the next. It is to be in every one's possession.
Be of good cheer. All those things that bring you perplexionalistic consternation? Blow them up by staring holes through their tempory armor....by your faith eyes which see a new reality far beyond what visibility tries to present.
Thank you...God!!!
I cheer you on to believe when it would appear to many that believing would be useless. Express faith in the God of what-can-be when earthly strongholds of homespun philosophy vow that such will never ever happen. Believe into people and past our flaws. Believe in the three great Ps: Power, Potential, and Possibility. All three are His....given to us!
You won't need an army to make progress. Nor will you need a superior understanding of the Bible's original Hebrew and Greek languages to unlock life's fortresses which try to block you from being a productive winner. Jesus took common ordinary life and ushered it into a three dimensional life-thrilling color. Our Savior kept us from being lost...saved us from missing life while here on earth and then, forevermore, in Heaven.
Faith is such a unique expression because it can't be noted, toted, measured, nor earmarked visibly. Believing is the godly inner tool of transportation; one day to the next, one challenge to the next. It is to be in every one's possession.
Be of good cheer. All those things that bring you perplexionalistic consternation? Blow them up by staring holes through their tempory armor....by your faith eyes which see a new reality far beyond what visibility tries to present.
Thank you...God!!!
Tuesday, January 02, 2018
IF WE LOVE...
If we love Truth...but do not love others we simply bring more religious noise (noisy gong) to society.
If we love Church...but do not love others we are still as clanging cymbals.
If we love Systems and Regulations...but do not love others...we have misunderstood Jesus.
If we love People...we will find that Truth and Church and Systems and Regulations will become effectively productive for the Kingdom of God.
If we love Church...but do not love others we are still as clanging cymbals.
If we love Systems and Regulations...but do not love others...we have misunderstood Jesus.
If we love People...we will find that Truth and Church and Systems and Regulations will become effectively productive for the Kingdom of God.
Thursday, December 28, 2017
KNOWING THE ABSOLUTELY ASTONISHING GOD
Would you perhaps be in need of refocus? Is there a slight chance that you have slipped into a commatic motion of going through yours days--day in and day out--operating more from habit than adventure? Are you noticing that life doesn't seem to have much creativity within its fold? Are you about routined out?
I'm wishing to speak to those who have hit a point in life--maybe a rut--where you eat, drink, sleep, and function more like a human robot than a pioneer forging the new in every day. Are you thinking? Are you believing? Or, are you mostly repeating the programmed format that you have allowed to overtake you? Maybe your schedule has grown up like brush in the woods and you didn't realize the smothering negative growth.
You are not a lamp post that stands while the world passes by. Neither are you an aging individual good for collecting dust and gathering cobwebs. You are to possess an energy-pack from the Spirit of God! You...yes you...are to be thrilled, and wowed, and astonished at the opportunities God affords you!
Read your Bible. No, I mean really read it. Which story begins with a common basis that ends with a "You gotta be kidding me!"? Read your Bible. Were there two such impossible stories? Five? Fifty? Oh...it is crammed full of such...happening to very down-to-earth individuals....sorta as yourself?
Quit living in the distracting fury of the moment. Awaken to the blessed glory instead. Learn. Learn to speak about life in transformative language. Don't just see the positive. See the absolute wonder. Talk of the grand possibilities. Note the potential buried beneath the struggle and the hope embedded within the darkness. If God is consistent about one thing it is that He is the Author of BREAKTHROUGH!!!
Our God did not bring us on board to live out some sort of spiritual minimum wage. He did not hand us a church life to restrict nor punish us; but to thrill us, to maximize our amazing existence. We are called to be related to God; the absolutely astonishing True One! If so, THEN LET'S LIVE IT!!!
Me? I get pretty bummed sometimes. And then someone dear to my heart reminds me of the things of God...the very things I've taught for years...but even I find the Robber has momentarily stolen my joy. I need that to happen to me...so that I can know where you possibly hurt. See? Even rugged days bear fruit for/of good when we continue to learn of the absolutely astonishing God!!!
Jesus beat the grave so that the deadening things of the world could not hold us for very long either!!!
I'm wishing to speak to those who have hit a point in life--maybe a rut--where you eat, drink, sleep, and function more like a human robot than a pioneer forging the new in every day. Are you thinking? Are you believing? Or, are you mostly repeating the programmed format that you have allowed to overtake you? Maybe your schedule has grown up like brush in the woods and you didn't realize the smothering negative growth.
You are not a lamp post that stands while the world passes by. Neither are you an aging individual good for collecting dust and gathering cobwebs. You are to possess an energy-pack from the Spirit of God! You...yes you...are to be thrilled, and wowed, and astonished at the opportunities God affords you!
Read your Bible. No, I mean really read it. Which story begins with a common basis that ends with a "You gotta be kidding me!"? Read your Bible. Were there two such impossible stories? Five? Fifty? Oh...it is crammed full of such...happening to very down-to-earth individuals....sorta as yourself?
Quit living in the distracting fury of the moment. Awaken to the blessed glory instead. Learn. Learn to speak about life in transformative language. Don't just see the positive. See the absolute wonder. Talk of the grand possibilities. Note the potential buried beneath the struggle and the hope embedded within the darkness. If God is consistent about one thing it is that He is the Author of BREAKTHROUGH!!!
Our God did not bring us on board to live out some sort of spiritual minimum wage. He did not hand us a church life to restrict nor punish us; but to thrill us, to maximize our amazing existence. We are called to be related to God; the absolutely astonishing True One! If so, THEN LET'S LIVE IT!!!
Me? I get pretty bummed sometimes. And then someone dear to my heart reminds me of the things of God...the very things I've taught for years...but even I find the Robber has momentarily stolen my joy. I need that to happen to me...so that I can know where you possibly hurt. See? Even rugged days bear fruit for/of good when we continue to learn of the absolutely astonishing God!!!
Jesus beat the grave so that the deadening things of the world could not hold us for very long either!!!
TWO KINDS OF SINNERS
There are two kinds of sinners. On most days we are them, both of them in one person. Jesus spelled it out in Luke 18:9-14. Present was a noted religious superior along with a low-life, advantage-taker-of-the-public fraudulent tax-gather. Both had a problem; a serious sin problem. One knew it was so. The other? He was ignorant of his own sins.
I once believed that we were one or the other on any given day. Life experiences, however, cause me to question whether we might be a bit of both...well...a large amount of both. We are either sin-admitters or sin-deniers. Sin is the force which makes the role of Savior, indeed, essential.
Jesus was profoundly unique in that he was the begotten Son of God; yet, he was the deepest sinner of all because he became the world's sin factors all in one heap when upon the Cross. Jesus...gets us.
When we absorb the reality that we are two kinds of sinners, we are more likely inclined to cast down our swords of defense. Apology and repentance are our garb. Arrogance and comparison are not. Such a conclusion is a firm blessing to ourselves and to others. We have the true grasp of our need of His blood. Simultaneously, we back off from smug criticism of all others.
However crude, rude, or nasty others are, we equal their sins and can raise them two. We are effective participators within the Kingdom of God because we point the accusing finger toward ourselves first. No one is more guilty than self. When this happens, much of our nagging gripes toward others tends to move toward the back of the bus.
Relief followed by inclusion (accepting of others whom we assumed inferior to our elevated walk) followed by joy begins to build the Church in the fashion of its Architect. The world awaits a saved people who can admit our own weakness and sin.
I once believed that we were one or the other on any given day. Life experiences, however, cause me to question whether we might be a bit of both...well...a large amount of both. We are either sin-admitters or sin-deniers. Sin is the force which makes the role of Savior, indeed, essential.
Jesus was profoundly unique in that he was the begotten Son of God; yet, he was the deepest sinner of all because he became the world's sin factors all in one heap when upon the Cross. Jesus...gets us.
When we absorb the reality that we are two kinds of sinners, we are more likely inclined to cast down our swords of defense. Apology and repentance are our garb. Arrogance and comparison are not. Such a conclusion is a firm blessing to ourselves and to others. We have the true grasp of our need of His blood. Simultaneously, we back off from smug criticism of all others.
However crude, rude, or nasty others are, we equal their sins and can raise them two. We are effective participators within the Kingdom of God because we point the accusing finger toward ourselves first. No one is more guilty than self. When this happens, much of our nagging gripes toward others tends to move toward the back of the bus.
Relief followed by inclusion (accepting of others whom we assumed inferior to our elevated walk) followed by joy begins to build the Church in the fashion of its Architect. The world awaits a saved people who can admit our own weakness and sin.
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
ENCOURAGEMENT IS STILL IN DEMAND
Encouragement is in demand. You need it. I thrive on it. We love it. Think about it...the reason we need it is because we are peppered with the opposite. Everywhere we turn...or perhaps every time we turn...discouragement pokes us in the eye. This pattern is draining.
But I say to you to hunt for current reasons to be cheerful and focus upon them. Delight is the nature of a believer. Some of you reading are very ill, others lonely from a death, and yet others are scared as you read from your lonely prison cell. I know you. Life is hard.
And God says what? Be of good cheer. Why? Because not every moment is such without our intentional insertion of choosing to be happy. And...the good news is we can do this. Really...the better news is that we are already doing it!
Being encouraged isn't some sort of fake Pollyanna smiley-faced pretender. No, to be encouraged is to be determined to not let mishaps have permission to run your show. We hit those pesky moments of urrrghhhravation--ah, a great new word--but we must not let them set the course of our day. Bad stuff doesn't own us.
Not. Ever.
Count your blessings. Pray for those who are being challenged to find even one. And, know that you are more important than you can ever imagine. Be encouraged...I only know awesome people...and you just happen to be one of them!!
Merry ChristmUS!!! (Ooooh, that was a good one.)
But I say to you to hunt for current reasons to be cheerful and focus upon them. Delight is the nature of a believer. Some of you reading are very ill, others lonely from a death, and yet others are scared as you read from your lonely prison cell. I know you. Life is hard.
And God says what? Be of good cheer. Why? Because not every moment is such without our intentional insertion of choosing to be happy. And...the good news is we can do this. Really...the better news is that we are already doing it!
Being encouraged isn't some sort of fake Pollyanna smiley-faced pretender. No, to be encouraged is to be determined to not let mishaps have permission to run your show. We hit those pesky moments of urrrghhhravation--ah, a great new word--but we must not let them set the course of our day. Bad stuff doesn't own us.
Not. Ever.
Count your blessings. Pray for those who are being challenged to find even one. And, know that you are more important than you can ever imagine. Be encouraged...I only know awesome people...and you just happen to be one of them!!
Merry ChristmUS!!! (Ooooh, that was a good one.)
Monday, December 18, 2017
JUST WHAT ELSE MIGHT GOD BE HIDING?
It seems, historically speaking, that every generation of mankind is sorta lulled to sleep by discovery. I mean there is a tendency on the part of those who have little interest in imagination and adventure to believe that the latest great finding about wraps it up. What's left in life, they believe, is to live it out the best we can. We've hit the ultimate of ultimate findings and now let's be about preservation.
But not true of God nor His creative drive. He's brilliant. He's genius. He's full of endearing surprises.
Edwin Friedman comments, when Columbus discovered America in 1492, that many in
Europe were astonished that God had been hiding His biggest piece of earth-property all these many centuries. They were fascinated that all along there had been....more...much, much indescribable...more. Oklahoma had been found...eventually!
Think about it. Since 1492, what sort of adventure has been found in the Discovery Lane of being human? Electronics? Baseball? Medicine? Radio? Baseball? Surgeries? Monopoly?Automobiles? The Statue of Liberty? Planes? Movies? Contacts? Phones? Baseball? Printing presses? Microphones? Eye drops? Scrabble? The Wheel of Fortune? Cape Canaveral? Sewing machines? Putt-Putt? Electric Drills? Hearing aids? Telescopes? On and on and then....on the grand list goes.
Just what else might God be hiding? Ah, that's where the heart is free to dream and the mind to wonder for we know it's out there! I love God's eternal salvation truth. And, along with it, I love His capacity to show us a type of living right now that is daring, freeing, and always escalating.
Imagine...just imagine...what all God has accomplished already that we can't even (and won't ever) fathom. And then add to that the powerful truth that more is yet to come because much more is out there. It's like we are always living in the gasping of 1492 all over again!
But not true of God nor His creative drive. He's brilliant. He's genius. He's full of endearing surprises.
Edwin Friedman comments, when Columbus discovered America in 1492, that many in
Europe were astonished that God had been hiding His biggest piece of earth-property all these many centuries. They were fascinated that all along there had been....more...much, much indescribable...more. Oklahoma had been found...eventually!
Think about it. Since 1492, what sort of adventure has been found in the Discovery Lane of being human? Electronics? Baseball? Medicine? Radio? Baseball? Surgeries? Monopoly?Automobiles? The Statue of Liberty? Planes? Movies? Contacts? Phones? Baseball? Printing presses? Microphones? Eye drops? Scrabble? The Wheel of Fortune? Cape Canaveral? Sewing machines? Putt-Putt? Electric Drills? Hearing aids? Telescopes? On and on and then....on the grand list goes.
Just what else might God be hiding? Ah, that's where the heart is free to dream and the mind to wonder for we know it's out there! I love God's eternal salvation truth. And, along with it, I love His capacity to show us a type of living right now that is daring, freeing, and always escalating.
Imagine...just imagine...what all God has accomplished already that we can't even (and won't ever) fathom. And then add to that the powerful truth that more is yet to come because much more is out there. It's like we are always living in the gasping of 1492 all over again!
Sunday, December 17, 2017
NEVER GIVE UP. LEARN TO ADJUST.
My target this morning is those of you who have about had it with some one, some thing, or some...something regarding church. During my earlier years of ministry I wasn't aware of this which I am about to share. I had to learn it through repeated conflict and failure.
As a brash young minister equipped with Bible answers galore, I took my family off to Kahoka, MO. to a congregation of eight adults. It was a disappointing year of ineffectivity on my part. Next, I moved to Quincy, IL. where I lasted two years. But eventually a conflict on a larger scale awaited.
In the midst of that struggle I was invited to move to Tulsa to preach for the Memorial Drive Church of Christ. Totally afraid because I didn't know how to manage the previous congregational struggles, against my better judgment, I accepted the Tulsa invitation. Immediately, I found I had linked up with a hornets nest of bickering and division that made my former congregations look like Country Clubs.
I was, at that point, 0-3. Failure was my resume. Foolish innadequacy appeared to be my trademark. No wonder (as I learned years later) so many in the Dallas area where I attended a small school didn't believe that I could make it as a minister.
What's very strange is that, simultaneously, during my rough introductory years at MD, I was receiving an exaggerated amount of invitations to move to preach for other congregations. For these, I was grateful. But, I decided that there was something seriously wrong with me. To move, if I didn't make adjustments, would only create failure number 4. So, I stayed where I was to learn about myself; my flaws, my inhibitions, my extreme immaturity. Honestly, I was afraid.
I learned, though, to never give up. Rather, I learned to adjust within myself before one can expect others to take similar action. I stayed to learn what was lacking in me. I stayed to learn what it meant to endure. I learned.
I learned that we were operating under much Church of Christ law; rather than the Bible that we promoted. I learned that change doesn't come easily; but with patience, it gets here. I learned that people want to move forward in God; but are not sure if or how. I learned that leadership that matters can be very lonely. I learned that building up others boomerangs into a new kind of joy.
So, I say to preacher or member who is about to believe that you obviously have nothing to offer for you've gotten the clear message that you can't cut it...stop. Stop and ask yourself the following:
(1) Is there anything at the moment where you are believing that if others would wake-up, church would be better?
(2)Do you have names in mind of some who are holding the church back?
(3)And who has the greater faith...your regarded enemies that things must stay the same or you as you believe the entire landscape can change?
Who has the greater faith. Them or you? I was faced with this very question and concluded that I had developed an attitude of "I can't...it won't work". I was the problem; not my opponents.
It was me who didn't have this wild faith I assumed I possessed. It was me who needed to change first. Others steadily made their own adjustments. God breathed life into us! The Spirit of God received an invitation to join us. I continue to celebrate!
Never give up young leader or old member. Never give up. The empty grave is His calling card...and it is now ours. Believe. Really. Big. Possibility changes the world!
As a brash young minister equipped with Bible answers galore, I took my family off to Kahoka, MO. to a congregation of eight adults. It was a disappointing year of ineffectivity on my part. Next, I moved to Quincy, IL. where I lasted two years. But eventually a conflict on a larger scale awaited.
In the midst of that struggle I was invited to move to Tulsa to preach for the Memorial Drive Church of Christ. Totally afraid because I didn't know how to manage the previous congregational struggles, against my better judgment, I accepted the Tulsa invitation. Immediately, I found I had linked up with a hornets nest of bickering and division that made my former congregations look like Country Clubs.
I was, at that point, 0-3. Failure was my resume. Foolish innadequacy appeared to be my trademark. No wonder (as I learned years later) so many in the Dallas area where I attended a small school didn't believe that I could make it as a minister.
What's very strange is that, simultaneously, during my rough introductory years at MD, I was receiving an exaggerated amount of invitations to move to preach for other congregations. For these, I was grateful. But, I decided that there was something seriously wrong with me. To move, if I didn't make adjustments, would only create failure number 4. So, I stayed where I was to learn about myself; my flaws, my inhibitions, my extreme immaturity. Honestly, I was afraid.
I learned, though, to never give up. Rather, I learned to adjust within myself before one can expect others to take similar action. I stayed to learn what was lacking in me. I stayed to learn what it meant to endure. I learned.
I learned that we were operating under much Church of Christ law; rather than the Bible that we promoted. I learned that change doesn't come easily; but with patience, it gets here. I learned that people want to move forward in God; but are not sure if or how. I learned that leadership that matters can be very lonely. I learned that building up others boomerangs into a new kind of joy.
So, I say to preacher or member who is about to believe that you obviously have nothing to offer for you've gotten the clear message that you can't cut it...stop. Stop and ask yourself the following:
(1) Is there anything at the moment where you are believing that if others would wake-up, church would be better?
(2)Do you have names in mind of some who are holding the church back?
(3)And who has the greater faith...your regarded enemies that things must stay the same or you as you believe the entire landscape can change?
Who has the greater faith. Them or you? I was faced with this very question and concluded that I had developed an attitude of "I can't...it won't work". I was the problem; not my opponents.
It was me who didn't have this wild faith I assumed I possessed. It was me who needed to change first. Others steadily made their own adjustments. God breathed life into us! The Spirit of God received an invitation to join us. I continue to celebrate!
Never give up young leader or old member. Never give up. The empty grave is His calling card...and it is now ours. Believe. Really. Big. Possibility changes the world!
Saturday, December 16, 2017
LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS: THE DOCTRINE OF COMPENSATIONALISM
We hear often about schisms and isms in the religious world. Much forecasting as to the Second Coming and the end times springs forth from variational voices. Some might be true. Others might be partially true. While, yet, a portion of the spiritual predictions may simply be made up.
I introduce Compensationalism which is a much needed doctrine for every style of religion, every division of churches, and every direction of all relationships. Compensationalism is Bible-based and Jesus promoted and Spirit backed. We can't do without it...but, oh, how we try.
Compensationalism (yes, a word I created) is the doctrine of compensating for the flaws in others...all others. When it opens our hearts in love it shuts our mouths in criticism for we know we have a work to carry out in the Kingdom Force. That would be to forgive sinners...exactly like ourselves.
We are to practice what Jesus preached.
Ours is a strain to come to grips with our lack and failure. Living in perpetual comparison, we have a self-centered knack of always coming out better than others around us...especially those who sin. We note their flaws and our strengths and, wa la, we are the good ones. They (we quietly surmise) should know better.
We are to practice what Jesus preached.
The Word of God is clear that we each set the parameters of our Court Date at the Judgment. How we harbor ills or relinquish them is His measure for us. This is an earth-shaker to our haughty tendencies. Those who go to church lean toward feeling we are better. Yet, those who don't participate know who the real good guy is. This is the mistaken doctrine of Comparisonlism which leads to the false doctrine of Compenstaionalism.
We are to practice what Jesus preached.
Carry your own cross. Die for those who have let you down in huge disappointment. And rise up to a new kind of love. We. Need. This. From. Us.
I introduce Compensationalism which is a much needed doctrine for every style of religion, every division of churches, and every direction of all relationships. Compensationalism is Bible-based and Jesus promoted and Spirit backed. We can't do without it...but, oh, how we try.
Compensationalism (yes, a word I created) is the doctrine of compensating for the flaws in others...all others. When it opens our hearts in love it shuts our mouths in criticism for we know we have a work to carry out in the Kingdom Force. That would be to forgive sinners...exactly like ourselves.
We are to practice what Jesus preached.
Ours is a strain to come to grips with our lack and failure. Living in perpetual comparison, we have a self-centered knack of always coming out better than others around us...especially those who sin. We note their flaws and our strengths and, wa la, we are the good ones. They (we quietly surmise) should know better.
We are to practice what Jesus preached.
The Word of God is clear that we each set the parameters of our Court Date at the Judgment. How we harbor ills or relinquish them is His measure for us. This is an earth-shaker to our haughty tendencies. Those who go to church lean toward feeling we are better. Yet, those who don't participate know who the real good guy is. This is the mistaken doctrine of Comparisonlism which leads to the false doctrine of Compenstaionalism.
We are to practice what Jesus preached.
Carry your own cross. Die for those who have let you down in huge disappointment. And rise up to a new kind of love. We. Need. This. From. Us.
Friday, December 15, 2017
THE GOD CONCEPT
Is God real? Does He truly exist? Or, is this also one more folklore-ish concepts created by the grand imaginations from yesteryear?
The answer is that by faith many of us believe that God does, in fact, exist eternally. Others, however, have faith that He doesn't. Opposing sides can only reach such conclusions based upon invisible evidence. There is no other mode.
My goal, naturally, is to encourage those who believe that God is a figment of one's imagination to transform doubt into assurance of His reality. Yes, I know that you know that I have bias on this topic; but a foundational one nonetheless.
There is a significant roadblock to developing faith in Him. We Christians sometimes distract. We are greatly known for voicing our pet peeves, our narrow stances, and our closed-mindedness. Of course, of course, we confidently boast that each of these three arise because we are believers. Yet, too often our small thread to the Bible revelation blocks God's Word from our own hearts...as well as our passage to others.
Doubters rarely reference their conclusion based upon research of the Kingdom. Rather, these are often quick to point out the flaws of guys like myself. Their obsession with detecting my/our sins are mere excuses to be lazy-minded toward His existence. More profoundly, however, is that God is highly aware of my/our sins before we even arrived upon the scene. Jesus died on the Cross because even church people as myself are a mess at times.
We must, simply must, find someone to save us from our wretched failure to live up to His call. Reporting in to church regularly is important for cheering one another on as our repeated sins try to shut us down. But church attendance is not our Savior. Jesus is.
I am definitely sympathetic to those who doubt for ones as myself surely do distract at times. The real focus, though, is not to be found evaluating the church people for we are there precisely because we can't cover our own sins. The real emphasis is to be upon the only Man who died for our sins and then broke all of the cemetery rules.
The God concept isn't Rocket Science. It is faith...faith that just as there will be a new day tomorrow (as resurrection of the sun)...there is daily and cleansing renewal for our minds and hearts. My/our sin does not verify that there is no God. It does confirm the need for Him. Whether God is or isn't is to be based upon legitimate faith and not upon the behavior of those who claim His validity. We who believe Him do so because our own self-preservation would not hold up.
The answer is that by faith many of us believe that God does, in fact, exist eternally. Others, however, have faith that He doesn't. Opposing sides can only reach such conclusions based upon invisible evidence. There is no other mode.
My goal, naturally, is to encourage those who believe that God is a figment of one's imagination to transform doubt into assurance of His reality. Yes, I know that you know that I have bias on this topic; but a foundational one nonetheless.
There is a significant roadblock to developing faith in Him. We Christians sometimes distract. We are greatly known for voicing our pet peeves, our narrow stances, and our closed-mindedness. Of course, of course, we confidently boast that each of these three arise because we are believers. Yet, too often our small thread to the Bible revelation blocks God's Word from our own hearts...as well as our passage to others.
Doubters rarely reference their conclusion based upon research of the Kingdom. Rather, these are often quick to point out the flaws of guys like myself. Their obsession with detecting my/our sins are mere excuses to be lazy-minded toward His existence. More profoundly, however, is that God is highly aware of my/our sins before we even arrived upon the scene. Jesus died on the Cross because even church people as myself are a mess at times.
We must, simply must, find someone to save us from our wretched failure to live up to His call. Reporting in to church regularly is important for cheering one another on as our repeated sins try to shut us down. But church attendance is not our Savior. Jesus is.
I am definitely sympathetic to those who doubt for ones as myself surely do distract at times. The real focus, though, is not to be found evaluating the church people for we are there precisely because we can't cover our own sins. The real emphasis is to be upon the only Man who died for our sins and then broke all of the cemetery rules.
The God concept isn't Rocket Science. It is faith...faith that just as there will be a new day tomorrow (as resurrection of the sun)...there is daily and cleansing renewal for our minds and hearts. My/our sin does not verify that there is no God. It does confirm the need for Him. Whether God is or isn't is to be based upon legitimate faith and not upon the behavior of those who claim His validity. We who believe Him do so because our own self-preservation would not hold up.
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
WHAT TO DO WHEN PEOPLE PULL YOU DOWN
Life doesn't seem to be easy in a few places, huh? About the time everything seems to flow, disruption whacks us across the back of the neck as if to say, "Not so fast, Buster!" From there we might find that we move from rejoice to lament.
People pull us down. They aren't always the same few either. It can be a close friend or maybe a stranger in line at the store. Regardless, we do face challenging moments. What we want to do is manage them well rather than allow such circumstances to eat us alive.
So what shall we do when people pull us down?
1. Reflect upon those many more who lift us up.
2. Remember that we, too, have gaps within our own personalities that pull others down as badly.
3. Recall that Jesus died to cover their flaws...and yours.
Every one of us could write an essay on the unfair mistreatment we have (repeatedly) received from others. Our assessment would most likely be accurate. Our inaccuracy comes along when we approach such violation as if we have no serious social flaws of our own. Oh, we most certainly do...every one of us.
So what is one to do when someone pulls us down? Show them mercy, the very identical mercy you wish to be shown when you go a little wacko in your relationships. We are all the same to the extent that it took His bold cross to pay for our entire group (and quite similar) infractions called...sin.
Have a good day...and offer one to everyone around you while you are at it.
People pull us down. They aren't always the same few either. It can be a close friend or maybe a stranger in line at the store. Regardless, we do face challenging moments. What we want to do is manage them well rather than allow such circumstances to eat us alive.
So what shall we do when people pull us down?
1. Reflect upon those many more who lift us up.
2. Remember that we, too, have gaps within our own personalities that pull others down as badly.
3. Recall that Jesus died to cover their flaws...and yours.
Every one of us could write an essay on the unfair mistreatment we have (repeatedly) received from others. Our assessment would most likely be accurate. Our inaccuracy comes along when we approach such violation as if we have no serious social flaws of our own. Oh, we most certainly do...every one of us.
So what is one to do when someone pulls us down? Show them mercy, the very identical mercy you wish to be shown when you go a little wacko in your relationships. We are all the same to the extent that it took His bold cross to pay for our entire group (and quite similar) infractions called...sin.
Have a good day...and offer one to everyone around you while you are at it.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
MAY YOU HAVE A VERY GOOD DAY
Abundant life is God's devoted forte. Disruption is Satan's career. Healing from Satan's interference is God's specialty. He has given His life for this cause through Jesus. Plus, God provides unfathomable personal energy through His Holy Spirit.
God. Has. This. Because. He. Has. Us.
So you, dear one, need to know that you are double-targeted by two very large powers. No wonder some days are a scrambled mess, huh? Therefore, I cheer you on through reminder of who you are coupled with your Creator/Colleague.
Perhaps we could have a very good day if we could admit that we are all alike. While being regretfully injured by others, we injure....others on the very same day and often on the very same turf. Just as we must have/really need mercy, we very much must offer it to our offenders.
Perhaps we could have a very good day if we were to vocally rehearse the large quantity of really good breaks we are receiving. Yes, we undeniably encounter our own personal train wrecks. Yet even more true, we float down the steady soothing rivers riding on the boat of gratitude, joy, and love. We have so many in our lives of whom we are just crazy about! Think. On. These. Things.
Whatever it is you encounter that offends your heart today, you can rest assured that you do likewise to others. That's the broken life we navigate day by day. Such doesn't depress us as much as it reminds us to ease up on our friends and relatives. Rather than being their chiefest critic, maybe we could actually become more like Jesus and die to ourselves that others might go through their day healed because of our sacrifice.
Ah, there's an idea! May you now have a much better day than you might have intended!! When you do...so will those around you!!!
Friday, December 08, 2017
LIVING IN A SEATBELT SOCIETY
We have designed within our minds an ideal church that is two things; happy and safe. However, this isn't reality. This isn't the church that Jesus built. Yet, it is the very weave we choose to form organizational tactics.
The Jesus-Life continues to be the ultimate call for every heart. Its powerful impact remains available for today's world; yet, its designed strength has been sabotaged and weakened. And, what would I know about it as I am among the weakest? Therefore, my judgment is based upon looking at our world and looking at His Word.
I see a calling for drastic adjustment.
The Jesus-Life is often the opposite of our tendencies. We seem to believe we can/should choose where to serve; find a place that makes us feel needed and useful. The underlying criteria is that it shall not make us uncomfortable. However, this is not necessarily losing our life due to our crosses strapped to our backs. No, we are driven by a state of religious convenience which permits individuals to hide from reaching the world while carrying out various church works....in quite demanding safety.
Edwin H. Friedman spells out a concept in his book, A Failure of Nerve that we have become a "seatbelt society". He expresses this term to point out that we are creatures of safety over adventure. A thirst for safety directly impacts our talk, our doctrine, our walk, our entire mission. Fundamentally, far too many of us are afraid to venture even into additional truths of the Bible because we operate from safety of not being challenged by nor in trouble with co-believers.
Churches are clearly buckled up with seatbelts of safety and, thus, stymied from opportunity. As long as one perpetually looks over his/her shoulder to see if what one is discovering from God is going to be accepted, we are basically shut down; focused toward where we have been with no vision for where we are going.
We are left with the repeated motions of what we have always believed. To buckle up with our religious seatbelts of safety is a drastically costly move. It is costing us friends, relatives, and neighbors as they don't find life among us....just more church habit. The demand for religious habit was what called for the killing of Jesus. He was living without a seatbelt.
I would encourage us to unbuckle. Drive the lanes of faith without seatbelts. Yes, some of us might die to our biases, preferences, and whims....but hasn't this been the call for every believer all along?
The Jesus-Life continues to be the ultimate call for every heart. Its powerful impact remains available for today's world; yet, its designed strength has been sabotaged and weakened. And, what would I know about it as I am among the weakest? Therefore, my judgment is based upon looking at our world and looking at His Word.
I see a calling for drastic adjustment.
The Jesus-Life is often the opposite of our tendencies. We seem to believe we can/should choose where to serve; find a place that makes us feel needed and useful. The underlying criteria is that it shall not make us uncomfortable. However, this is not necessarily losing our life due to our crosses strapped to our backs. No, we are driven by a state of religious convenience which permits individuals to hide from reaching the world while carrying out various church works....in quite demanding safety.
Edwin H. Friedman spells out a concept in his book, A Failure of Nerve that we have become a "seatbelt society". He expresses this term to point out that we are creatures of safety over adventure. A thirst for safety directly impacts our talk, our doctrine, our walk, our entire mission. Fundamentally, far too many of us are afraid to venture even into additional truths of the Bible because we operate from safety of not being challenged by nor in trouble with co-believers.
Churches are clearly buckled up with seatbelts of safety and, thus, stymied from opportunity. As long as one perpetually looks over his/her shoulder to see if what one is discovering from God is going to be accepted, we are basically shut down; focused toward where we have been with no vision for where we are going.
We are left with the repeated motions of what we have always believed. To buckle up with our religious seatbelts of safety is a drastically costly move. It is costing us friends, relatives, and neighbors as they don't find life among us....just more church habit. The demand for religious habit was what called for the killing of Jesus. He was living without a seatbelt.
I would encourage us to unbuckle. Drive the lanes of faith without seatbelts. Yes, some of us might die to our biases, preferences, and whims....but hasn't this been the call for every believer all along?
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