The Obese Church

It’s getting harder and harder to tell the difference between “secular” and “christian”.  With divorce numbers being almost identical in the two groups, and addictive tendencies being no less prevalent in one or the other, there seems to be very little that differentiates a believer from a “non-believer”.

Some would say that what distinguishes Christians is their good moral behavior.  The problem with this though is reality.  While so many Christians would react negatively to alcohol, smoking, drugs, tattoos, piercings and adultery, they altogether ignore the fact that every buffet restaurant in the nation is filled with church goers on sunday afternoons, stuffing their faces uncontrollably with food and drink, they ignore that a large portion of pastors, elders, and deacons, are really just “christian” business men, trying to turn a greedy profit.  They ignore that 50% of their marriages are over, that large portions of their male congregants are addicted to pornography, that large portions of their female congregants are gossips, and busibodies.

I’d rather go to church with a drunk who sees he needs Jesus, than a fat, gossiping, divorcee who thinks Jesus owes them something, becuase they “serve” Him.

So heres my point.  As the body of Christ, I think we, much like the overwhelming population of our nation, have become obese.  We’re so fat with sinful, undisciplined, ungodly “Christians” that we can’t move, act, work, heal, redeem, engage, and operate they way we’re supposed to.  We’ve made church so individualized, and selfish, that the body is destroying itself for the sake of the part.

We need to heed the Bibles instruction, to “discipline ourselves for the sake of godliness”.  We need to go on a diet and exercise plan. Maybe it’s time to start enacting so real, loving, firm, Biblical church discipline.  We should not be holding “non-believers” to the standard of Scripture, but we are commanded by God to hold belivers to it.  But we let things slide, in the name of tolerence, “kindness”, and “love”.  Last time I checked I thought we were doing things in and for the name of God the Father and His son Jesus.

We’ve allowed too many local churches to become impotent, self-serving, sin-tolerating, fat, lusting, obese bodies, who care more about their own comfort than Jesus Christ.  Who would rather spend their time lusting after the things that Jesus made, than the Jesus who made them. 

Discipline yourself for godliness.  It is not easy, it is not natural, and it is not always fun, but it is entirely neccesary, if we’re ever going to attain the calling the we’ve received to be the hands, feet, eyes, ears, and mouth of Jesus Christ, to declare His redemption to all of mankind, and to worship Him through all eternity in Spirit and in Truth. 

It’s time to start showing people what real love is.  Love somebody by taking them aside and in love and gentleness showing them their sin.  Love somebody by commiting to work together, to sharpen one another, to shape one another, the love one another. Love sombody to take the time to invest in their spiritual well being.  Christianity was not created to be done in isolation, it was meant to be done in groups, to work together, to offer different insight, and giftings, and perspectives, to build each other up.  You’ll never get there on your own.  You were never meant to. 

Don’t be spiritually fat.  Get to work, ask for help, train to be godly.

The 3 H’s of Pressing Needs

Titus 3:14 says “[The local church] must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.”

I don’t have a lot to write tonight.  I really just want to pose a question.  Spark a discussion.  Ignite some passion.  Generate some creativity.  Fulfill some callings.

There are so many pressing needs in our world, in our country, in our state, our county, our city, our town, our community, even our own houses.  I want to point out 3 of them, and ask for your prayers, your ideas, and your efforts in how we can, as Christians, and members of the local and global church, engage the pressing needs of our community.

Homelessness
It is an ever increasing reality for so many.  And not just lazy people who don’t want to get a real job.  We are talking about individuals and families who have jobs, who make money, who work hard, but who still cannot afford reasonable housing.  Rent is too high, and substandard housing is far too prevalent.
How can we provide quality, affordable housing for the people who need it most?

Hunger
From Africa to China, from LA to DC, from Brazil to Greenland, hunger is an issue.  It’s not just in Ethiopia, it’s next door.  Everywhere hunger is, our hearts should break.  Food is a life or death item, therefore we cannot afford to hesitate any longer in addressing this ever present issue.  What can we do to get food to those who are dying because they don’t have what we throw away tons of everyday?

Health Care
Quality health care costs. And it costs big.  The number of individuals without health care is unbelievable.  From babies, to 40 somethings, to the elderly, health issues don’t escape anyone, and neither do the bill collectors.  People need quality care, at a reasonable cost, without miles of red tape and paperwork.  How can we mobilize a volunteer army of doctors, nurses, health care professionals, and insurance agents to provide these services?

I agree with those who say that the local church is the hope of the world. 

The hope of the world = Jesus Christ

The body of Christ = The local church

The local church = the hope of the world

We are followers of a man who set the perfect example of how to love God and love people.  We are called to do the same.  Not only are we called to meet peoples pressing needs of housing, hunger, and health care, but their actual need of salvation through the gospel of Christ Jesus.  Organizations, Christian or secular, all over the earth are capable of providing food, housing and health care, and many are already doing a great job at it.  But as the local church, we alone have the privilege, ability and responsibility to meet the pressing needs and their actual need.

We must do more good.  We most do more good, more often.  We must be more fruitful.

Join me in praying; for ideas and resources, join me in planning, join me in doing.  Let us meet these pressing needs, and in the process show people Christ in us.

The Shadow Proves the Sunshine

I think I’m gonna start a blog series all based off of song lyrics.

Switchfoot has a song titled, strangely enough, “The Shadow Proves the Sunshine”.  It’s a brilliant, thought provoking song, at least in my opinion.

Now I won’t pretend to know what the intention of the song actually is, but I will elaborate on how I take it.

The key two lines of the song are, “We are crooked souls trying to stay up straight”, and “The shadow proves the sunshine”. 

Firstly, crooked souls trying to stay up straight, that line just knocks me over every time I hear it.  Just picturing the state of my soul, bent, broken, fractured, out of alignment; and all the effort I put into to trying straighten myself back out.  But it also shows me why I tend to do the things I do. 

Like I’ve said previously, we all have a bent, a tendency towards something.  This shows us why.  At the “fall”, our original state of wholeness, was broken, fractured, and bent from its original purpose.  So now we are inclined to lean towards sin, selfishness, pride, jealousy, anger, bitterness, and malice.  And ever since then, mankind has been trying to straighten itself back out.  This is called religion.  By definition religion is man’s attempt to get back to God on his own.

We’ll come back to that thought.

The second line, The shadow proves the sunshine, give us an interesting insight into the nature of sin, hope, and God.
The way I interpret this, is that the shadow is our sin, or the reflection of our crooked soul, and the sunshine is God.  Try to stay with my logic here. 

Maybe the fact that we even recognize something as being wrong, is proof that there is a God.  Even Scripture tells us that we inherently know that God is real, and that He has standards, and that we must live up to them, because He has written His law on our hearts, and has shown us His glory through His creation. 

But we often see God more clearly through the reflection of our brokenness, than the directness of His beauty in creation, and revelation.

And so we try, and try and try to fix ourselves, to reshape our crookedness, iron out our bents, and patch up our ugliness.  But as hard as we try we can never do it.  This is why religion never works, because man can’t get to God on his own, He needs God to get to him.  Because religion screams DO, DO, DO and God will have to accept you, and Jesus declares, from the cross of love, DONE, and He says I came down to earth, I came to you, I paid YOUR debt for you, and now say that it is finished.

So there is hope.  Hope in recognizing the shadow of our crooked soul from the sunshine of His love, grace, forgiveness, and mercy.  Because if we recognize that there is a God who sees our brokenness, than we can also surmise that there is the same God who can do something about it, and not only can, but did.

So let the shadow of your crookedness point you to the sunshine of God’s grace, and the hope that He can make you whole again.

unQuenchable Compassion

I like to reflect, every now and then, on myself.  I know, I know, it sounds incredibly selfish.  Maybe it is, but it is usually painfully insightful. 
I find it can become exceptionally painful when I frequently discover the same flaw, or area of lacking.  This is the case with compassion.

We all have a bent.  We all tend to lean one way or the other on just about everything.  My bent, in this instance, happens to be towards fundamentalism, and I mean that in the worst way.  I tend to applaud truth, and honesty, and forthrightness, while allowing compassion, grace and mercy to slip quietly to the wayside.  It’s not that truth, honesty, and forthrightness are wrong, I really do believe they need to be taught, applied and used far more often than is currently the case.  But without compassion, grace and mercy taught, applied and used, right along side of those things, it just becomes hypocritical, Pharisaical, uselessness. 

With that said, I must tell you that God is amazing.  He is taking my shriveled, cold, dead heart and revitalizing it, right in front of my eyes.  He’s showing me, little by little, how to see the world through His eyes.  He’s showing me how He desires that ALL men would come to Him and receive eternal life, He’s showing me how He wants the poor, hungry and needed to be taken care of, by ME.  He’s showing me that I am a part of His plan for the redemption of this fallen, broken world, and I’m doing worse than just sitting on the sidelines by not having His compassion towards fellow humans.

He’s breaking me of my judgment, He’s breaking me of my arrogance, He’s breaking me of my false righteousness, and reminding me that it was only by His free gift, and His work, and His power that I ever received His salvation in the first place. 
He’s teaching me what grace means all over again.  And I’m loving it.  It hurts sometimes, but I’m loving it.

My prayer, my desire, my goal is to be filled with the unQuenchable compassion that God has for this world.  And to do far, far more than just blog about it, or even only pray about it.  The call is, the call has always been, to do it.  So I ask that you pray for me, that you show grace to me when I fail at this, so that I could be pointed in the right direction, that maybe you would join me in seeking to do the next right thing.  Feed the hungry, provide for the poor, offer the hope of Christ to the despairing, and the truth of His word to the deceived.

A glass can only spill what it contains

A glass can only spill what it contains.  It’s a mewithoutyou song, and a good one at that, but it’s really so much more.  It’s a profound Biblical truth that is mostly overlooked, or at least grossly misapplied.

Matthew 12:33-37, Mark 7:14-23 and Luke 6:43-45 all speak of this idea.  The writers reference such things as, salt water does not produce fresh water, nor does fresh water produce salt water, they each produce what they are. Or a fig tree doesn’t grow olives, and an olive tree doesn’t grow figs, they each grow what they are. Or a good tree does not produce bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit, they each produce what they are.  They also say that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

This is where the cup analogy begins.  If we view our heart as a cup, and the condition of our heart is the content of that cup, then when our cup spills out of our mouth (or actions), the condition of our heart is revealed.  So just in the same way that when a glass of sweet tea is bumped, it will not spill bitter coffee, but rather sweet tea; when our hearts are bumped by life and people we will invariably act out of the condition of our heart.

I will speak to Christians, for as Scripture says who am I to judge non-Christians, but I am rather called to judge, rebuke, correct, teach, instruct and sharpen Christians.  To put it another way, you can’t blame non-Christians for acting sinfully, because we as Christians know that it is only by the power of the blood of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in us that we have the freedom to not sin.

As Christians there are two great enemies to the condition of our heart.  Being unrepentant to God, and unforgiving to people.  Having a heart full of unrepentance and sin leads to guilt and guilt leads to shame, despair, depression, and hopelessness.  Also, having a heart that will not forgive those who have wronged you, will invariably lead to bitterness, and bitterness will lead to wrath, anger, slander, clamor and malice. (Ephesians 4)  Bitterness is also directly correlated to giving Satan and demons room to work in your life.

If our cups are filled with either or both of these two things, when we are bumped by life and people, invariably we will spill out despair, depression, hopelessness, bitterness, anger, wrath, malice and others.

But if we chose the other route, of keeping short sin accounts with God, and confessing our sin and turning away from it (repenting) as soon as possible, as well having a gracious, forgiving attitude towards people who have wronged us (even if they haven’t asked for forgivness) we will invariably spill out joy, peace, grace, mercy, love, compassion, truth, and others, when we are bumped by life or people.

In conclusion, lets be careful of what we’re letting fill our heart, because the problem with spilling anything, whether it’s coffee, hatred, or grace, is that everyone around you notices.

Position Papers

So I’ve decided to take on a self-imposed challenge.  In my spare time, which is not as much as some people think, I am going to one-by-one formulate my stance, based on Scripture, on the following topics:

The Trinity – Who is God
Scripture
Creation
Man and the Image of God
The Fall and Sin
The Cross and Redemption
The Church
Stewardship
The End Times
Heaven and Hell

My hope, through this challenge, is to be able to more clearly define and defend what Scripture says regarding the aforementioned issues.  I’ve been told that writing things out helps you to work things out better, and to come away with a better overall understanding.

While these papers will not be exhaustive lists of Scripture references and views, they will be, to the best of my ability, an attempt at giving the best overarching picture of the topic.

I hope to, when completed, post each one here in a separate section.

I’m fed up with politics and “Christians” who spam in the name of Jesus

I got a very disturbing email today.  It really floored me.  I won’t go into detail about it because it’s not even worth the effort to type about it.  Suffice it to say that “Christians” and their fear-mongering spam about political Armageddon’s make me madder than a rhino with it’s horn on the wrong end.

Here’s my point.  Barack Obama will be the President of the United States of America as of January 20, 2009.  Is it neccesarily my cup o’ tea?  No not really, but that doesn’t even matter, even if it were John “The Maverick” McCain being sworn in on the 20th my point would be the same.  Politicians aren’t going to save the world.  Government agencies and tax cuts, or increases, or more spending or less spending, more oversight or less, isn’t going to save the world.  Wall Street, or main Street, Big Business or Small Business, Home Owner, or “wish I never did this” Owners aren’t going to save the world.  No one in the world is going to save the world.  And let me tell you why.

IT’S ALREADY BEEN SAVED!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s some really good news for you fear-mongerers, and for you who are fearful, for those who love government, and those who hate it, for those who have health insurance and those who can’t afford it, for those who love God and those who don’t; for EVERYONE:

You are in a pit.  Your life is broken, and painful, and you can’t fix it, and seemingly neither can anyone else.  This is the result of sin.  We’ve all done it, and we don’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.  But the universal problem with all of mankind everywhere ever is sin.  Sin is this – We have all fallen short of the standard set for us by the one who created us…the God of the Bible (Romans 3:23).  And because of this sin we find ourselves in a world that is not the way it was supposed to be.  One that needs help, and fixing, one that hurts, and seems to fight against us at every turn and one that will ultimatly kill us, because that is the payment for sin…death. (Romans 6:23)

But here’s the good news, God came to earth as a man (Jesus the Christ) to live the life that you could not live, to meet the standard that God set, to live a perfect life without sin, so that He could die the death that we deserve to die, and ultimatley give us the gift that we could never ever earn – life with our Creator that we were separated from because of sin.

Here’s the deal. Politics, governement, businesses, groups, organizations, people can all do “good things”, they can all help in some way.  But these ways are only to address the symptoms of the much bigger universal problem of sin.  So none of them can save us from the actual problem only the symptoms that bug us.  Jesus came to fix the real problem…He died a physical death on a Roman cross 2,000 years ago, was buried in a real borrowed tomb, and rose from the dead three days later so that the penalty for our sin could be paid in full, and we could be taken from sin and brokenness to righteous and whole again.

So for all of you fear-mongering “Christian” spammers – Stop your whinning about how evil people are.  The truth still remains – you’re not going to save the world by convincing everyone how evil a man is…because Jesus already saved the world by dying for your sin and mine.  The truth is God is good, and righteous, and just, and we should be trying to lead people to the cross of Jesus not to the fear of man.  So shut up and save your energy for when you’re going to have to bow your knee and confess the truth that Jesus alone is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and He alone is worthy of our praise and adoration.  Your political views are worthless if your view of Jesus isn’t right.  So shut up please and stop pretending to be sending us lying, fearful, divisive, and ignorant information in the name of Jesus.  The name of Jesus is above every name, so please stop insulting it by acting like Jesus has a political agenda – His agenda certainly isn’t yours, and you assuredly need to read more of your Bible and less of the extremeist newsletters on your desk.

Seriously for the love of God silence yourselves, cause I assure you the day He comes back will be most uncomfortable for you.

The Valley of the Hope of Sanctification

It’s usually the same every time.  That same pain, that same confusion, that same hopelessness.  It rarely changes even when there are months in between.

It’s usually different every time.  Different time, different place, different reason.  It rarely stays the same even when there are only hours in between.

We’ve all been there…the valley of the shadow of death.  We all get there for different reasons, at different times, but always with the same feelings; pain, confusion and despair.

Sin is usually a factor, either by us or against us, but other things play into this valley as well.  A death in our inner circle of family or friends, or uncontrollable circumstances such as disastrous weather or war.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.  And I’m a little angry about it.  My whole life I’ve been taught about this valley, and I feel now my whole life I’ve been taught wrong.

I’ve been taught, or at least indirectly it was insinuated, that Satan had control of that valley.  That we were there because Satan led us there, and that we needed to get out of it as soon as possible; bypass it, climb out yourself, abandon all else and get out!

I struggle to find something I disagree with more at the moment.

While Satan certainly desires to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8) and he certainly has plans to drag us down in to that valley of the shadow of death and to keep us there; I reject, with the utmost fervor and ferocity I can muster, that he reigns over that valley.

God reigns over that valley equally as much as we believe He reigns over the mountain of the joy of salvation. We sing and quote Scripture that talks about how great God is, how He reigns, how He loves us and how He provides for us; why don’t we ever talk about how He disciplines us, how He sanctifies us and purifies us as gold in a fire.  We gladly praise God for all the good He gives us, and eagerly give Satan all the credit for the bad things in our lives.  Satan deserves no such credit, especially not so eagerly.

God reigns over the valley of the shadow of death.  This phrase comes from Psalm 23.
1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

I’m sure you’ve heard or read or memorized or quoted this passage at least once in your life.  It’s every where, coffee cups, t-shirts, banners, emails, flyers, etc.  I feel as though I, at least I, have missed some amazing things from this passage though.  For the rest of this I’ll speak for myself, but maybe it applies to you as well.

I usually read this passage and get fixed on the “valley of the shadow of death” part.  ‘Cause I usually only read this verse when I’m there.  I just want to go through and break it down a bit.

It starts off talking about how good God is, and how good His provision for us is. How He gives us good food, and good drink that restores our souls, and leads us in paths of righteousness.  This is great to hear.  But I believe this is where the problem comes in.  I think I’ve been taught to make distinction between the “paths of righteousness” and the “valley of the shadow of death” as two different places.  What if they are really the same?

It says that in the valley I will fear no evil for you are with me.  To me that says He’s leading us still; even in the valley. It says His rod and His staff comfort me.  Quick lesson on shepherding, the rod and the staff are for correction and discipline, typically these two things don’t conjure images of comfort; especially when I’m hurting or confused.

It then talks about how we will have victory in front of our enemies and rejoice with the Lord in heaven forever.

At first glace it looks like the three sections of this Scripture go: good things, BAD things, good things.  I beg to differ (like on my knees begging).  All three are GREAT things.  The reason the middle one seems so bad is cause we don’t like discipline.  But in view of the last section, the valley should really be called “The Valley of the Hope of Sanctification”.  Because it’s in that valley, that God leads us into, that He corrects, convicts, disciplines, prunes, and ultimately sanctifies.  It’s in the valley that we learn to become more like Jesus.

I need to pause here for a second to make a second but equally as important point.  We need to change our perspective of Jesus.  Too often I find people saying “Well he was God, so He had it easy”.  Pardon me but YOU’RE WRONG.  Jesus was most certainly fully God (John 1). But he was also fully human.  He cried, He laughed, He hungered, He thirsted, He bleed and He died.  He suffered His entire life, He was tempted, His friends betrayed and abandoned Him, His peers ridiculed, falsely accused, and tried to kill Him, He even had some prayers not answered the way He would have liked.  That is why the writer of Hebrews says that we have a High Priest (Jesus) who can sympathize with us in EVERY way, some one who has suffered like us, lived like us (yet did not sin). (Hebrews 4:14-16) Isaiah says He was a man well acquainted with grief and suffering. (Isaiah 53:3).  And it was all to set an example for us on how to and why we must suffer.

You see it is through suffering, it is through hardship and pain, it is through trials that we develop perseverance that leads to character which leads to hope. (Romans 5:4)  It is on these “paths of righteousness” that we learn to be more like Jesus, because He walked them as well.  And so as James says, we should take JOY in our suffering because we know that it makes us more mature so that we lack NOTHING.  (James 1:2-4)

Suffering is real, and it hurts and I hate it just as much as the next guy.  But I am learning to love it.  Because I know now, what I wish I had known years ago, that in that valley of the shadow of death, I am being led by my Lord and God down paths of righteousness, and that I HAVE to go there, and I HAVE to endure the pain, because the only way for me to be more like Jesus is to walk the paths that He walked to their end.  And when I stand on the other side, knowing that I ran the good race and I didn’t take the short cut or the easy way out, but that His mercy and goodness followed me all the way through, I can rejoice with the Lord as I live with Him in heaven forever.

That is how I can now call that valley The Vally of the Hope of Sanctification, because I know my God Reigns in that valley to the same extent that He Reigns over the joy of the mountain top and everywhere in between.

Let’s not run away from suffering anymore.  Let’s not try to remove all the obstacles for the easiest possible route.  Let’s rather endure.  Let’s rather follow God down the paths of righteousness, that at points will go where we don’t want to be, but with our eyes fixed on the ultimate hope and joy of being made into the glorious image of Jesus, so that we can rejoice over our enemies with God in His house forever. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

The fear of losing Fear

We as humans spend a lot of time being afraid. We’re fearful of certain animals (snakes/spiders) afraid of gaining weight, afraid of what people think of our clothes, cars, houses, and friends, afraid of disappointing ourselves, our families, our friends and co-workers. Fear disables us, it tears us down, and it leaves us longing for something different, something more secure, joyful, and fulfilling. We have wonderfully elegant, albeit somewhat confusing, quotes about fear, such as, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”. We all deal with it in one way or another, but what if FDR was only half right in his first inaugural speech. What if the answer to fear is fear?

I find that rather consistently that there are two main causes of fear and poor decision making, especially regarding sin, but also in other areas of life, like relationships. The first is an inappropriate understanding of who God is and what He asks for. The second is an inappropriate understanding of who we are in Christ, by Christ and for Christ. In other words we don’t fear God enough and we misunderstand the freedom, joy, fulfillment and responsibility that comes from being a child of God.

We live in a micro obsessed culture. We want everything to be smaller, more mobile, more compact, quicker, easier and cheaper. We even try to make God fit into those characteristics. We want pocket-sized genie Jesus, who whenever we’re desperate we can pull out of our pocket and ask for a bailout or a favor. That is a drastically inappropriate view of who God is.
God is the ONLY ONE who made the universe from the largest galaxy to the smallest particle. He grants us each breath (none of which we deserve). He physically, and spiritually holds us together. He provides food, water, shelter, rain, sun, wind, animals to observe, flowers to enjoy, people to socialize with. It’s all by Him, through Him and for Him according to Romans 11:36. Psalm 19:1 says that the beauty of the heavens (stars, galaxies, space, etc.) speak to the greatness and glory of God. Now space is huge; it is literally immeasurable, and if it is to be called a depiction of the glory of God, than God must be immeasurably huge and unbelievably magnificent. Romans 1:20 tells us that the power and divinity of God can be seen in the beauty, precision, uniqueness, function, power, and harmony of all of creation.
This is what it comes down to. We fear things of this world. We fear sharks, tigers, bears, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, food, criticism, and relationships. So why don’t we fear the one who was powerful and creative enough to create these lesser things? It’s very similar to freaking out and running away screaming from a new born kitten and then turning around and brazenly smacking a full grown male lion on the nose. Matthew 10:28 puts it best “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
I propose that if we had a more appropriate view and understanding of the true characteristics of God, we could not only live a life with less fear but a life of less sin. Because we are told that the same power that created the universe with naught but a word and raised Christ from the dead is working in us to defeat the things we’re addicted to, the things we seek in place of God, the things that control us. (Ephesians 1:15-23) Now understand that when the Bible speaks of fearing God (and it does A LOT) it is speaking of an awful revering and respect of God (which as stated above He is obviously worthy of). (And when I say awful, I mean not in the horrible way but in the Full of Awe kind of way. I think awesome is overused and understated because we shouldn’t have some awe towards God but we should be Full of Awe or awful) (Pardon my overuse of parenthesis (I don’t know any other way to display sub-thoughts (sub-thoughts being thoughts that explain the main thought))).

Secondly, we have an inappropriate view of who we are by, in, and through Jesus.  Part of why we fear so many things in life is because we feel like the question of who wins in the end is still undecided.  It is by no means undecided. Have we seen the final victory and are we free from the battle? No, but when we understand God, who He is and what He has done, than we know that we are forgiven, and free, and He is victorious for us.  So we have nothing to fear if we fear (revere) God.  We live our Christian lives so defeated, so worn down and broken, like there is no hope.  We posses the knowledge of the ONLY hope, the ONLY victory, and the ONLY source and sustainer of physical and spiritual life.  We know Jesus, we’ve experienced His salvation and his forgiveness personally, and yet we run back into sin, we run back into patterns of addiction (not just addictions to “the big four” of sex, smoking, drinking, or drugs, but addictions to food, money, work, sleep, technology, sports, oh the list could go on.)  We take our freedom, and do one of three things with it.  Two are completely different yet exactly the same and extremely dangerous and one is unequivocally fulfilling.

1) We take our freedom and run with it.  We say I am forgiven, I am not under the law anymore and can do whatever I please now.  The problem with that is…well the Bible.  Paul reminds us in Romans 6:1-2, 15-18 that if we “exercise our freedom” in that way all we do is end up back in the slavery of sin and far from free.  With our freedom comes the acknowledgment that our previous way of life was wrong, unhealthy and left us in bondage.

2) We take our freedom and leave it where we found it and cuddle up to our old familiar way of life.  We don’t fully understand who God is, what He asks of us, the instructions He gave us as to how to live a life of worship towards Him.  So we run back to what we know and what we enjoy.  But as with the first option we end up merely back where we started, in bondage, unfulfilled and confused.

3) We take our freedom and we recognize that the reason we were enslaved before is because we are really lousy at running our own lives, and we are even more lousy at willingly running toward God.  So we submit ourselves to Jesus and His direction.  We discipline ourselves in growing deeper in our understanding of God, His characteristics and His ways.  We understand that as long as Christ is for us, no one can defeat us. (side note: this does not mean we are physically or spiritually invincible, it simply means that our hope is secure, our victory is won, and our home is in heaven).  We give ourselves over to worshiping the ONLY one who is fully, completely, entirely, undeniably, unequivocally, intentionally, internationally, worthy and deserving of every last ounce and breath of worship we have to offer.  And then we are fulfilled to do what we were made to do.

I like the third option the best.  But admittedly, as with everyone else I fall to number one and two along the way.

My point is simply this.  We are not invincible, we are not perfect, we are not God and at no point along the way did God say we would be. We will struggle, we will fall, we will hurt and we will die.  The point is we are saved.  The point is we are God’s children.  The point is that the God that saved us and adopted us as His very own sons and daughters is a God of immense power, immeasurable strength, breathtaking beauty, everlasting love, undeniable grace and awful majesty.  And that is something to fear.  And fear is something to be joyful about.

Crossroads of a heart and a head

2 months ago…

What do you do when you come to a crossroads? There’s that classic scene where a dusty old car pulls to a stop at a crossroads in the middle of Indiana (it is the crossroads of America after all) and an individual gets out and looks at each of the four options splayed out around him in a way only two converging roads can. You can see, for miles in every direction, nothing but flat ground surrounded by amazingly clear skies.

This is not that scene.

I’m talking about a crossroads in the midst of a jungle, or a vast mountain range. This crossroads offers no such view of several miles in every direction but only of branches, rocks and other obstacles inches in front of your face.

This is the crossroads of your heart and your head.

Honestly, I stopped at this point of writing this for 10 days. I couldn’t finish it. The wounds were too fresh and the salt piled far too high. Maybe it still is.

The crossroads of my heart and my head is encircled with foggy misconceptions, rocky prejudgments, and an overgrown ego followed closely by a self-deprecating brand of humbleness. And I make decisions in these conditions, as do most people, albeit with some different obstacles.

These are the results of my decisions.

I’m a coward, a liar, a thief, a grumpy brat, a prideful young man, an addict, a glutton, a hypocrite, and a gossip. I’m a sinner. I lack integrity, and character. I seek dissension, and trouble. I’m a sinner. I’ve hurt my family. I’ve hurt my friends. I’ve disappointed so many. Some of them don’t even know of the hurt I’ve caused. I’m a sinner.

Proverbs says twice “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov. 14:12, 16:25). And Paul says in Romans, “The wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). I guess thats what happens. In your head it’s all so clear and right because your head assumes that your heart is right. But what happens when your heart is so encased and saturated with sin that the decision your head thinks is right is the farthest thing from it? I guess you die inside.

I’ve got to pause again.

Proverbs says several times – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. Maybe the idea is to fill yourself with the fear of the Lord instead of the things that cloud our judgment, like fear of people’s opinions, or fear of being wrong, or fear of having to give up something we enjoy but know is wrong. Maybe it’s not so much of a crossroads as a merge lane, where the heart and the head don’t go opposite directions but they meet and continue down the same road together. But maybe the ultimate key is that the heart has to be filled with Christ and the fear and respect of Him before it can lead the head and the actions in the right direction. Because as right as it may seem if it ain’t, it ain’t.

I apologize for my rant.