High Quality Dirt

“’Listen!  A farmer went out to plant some seed.  As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it.  Other seed fell on the shallow soil with underlying rock.  The plant sprang up quickly, but it soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil.  Other seed fell among the thorns that shot up and choked out the tender blades so it produced no grain.  Still other seed fell on fertile soil and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted.”  (Mark 4:3-8) NLT

Have you ever ignored really good advice only to regret it later?  The advice giver was essentially trying to sow seeds of truth into your soul.  For one reason or another, the seeds were unable to take root.  When this happens (and it has probably happened to every one of us many times), what is the reason for the failure?  What if you’re working with lousy dirt?  In the passage above, Jesus gives a parable that describes this very issue as it relates to whether or not we accept and believe the gospel.  But I think this dynamic exists anytime truth is spoken into our lives.  Jesus says that the issue is primarily about the quality of the soil, and he identifies three ways in which our soil could give us trouble. 

First, we could be a footpath.  Having been walked on repeatedly, the footpath becomes hard and difficult for the seed to penetrate.  Feeling trampled?  It could be that church going people have treated you with harshness and animosity.  Or possibly the circumstances you deal with on a daily basis have caused you to doubt God’s love for you.  Maybe you have been hurt or abused by someone in your past and one of your coping mechanisms is to be closed off relationally or to run from being under authority.  Or, maybe your pride just gets the best of you.  Is there a wall around your heart?  If so, the seed intended to give you life or protect you from bad decisions can’t get where it needs to go. 

Second, we could have shallow soil.  Shallow soil is not very deep due to the proximity of rock underneath, and there’s very little room for water storage.  The roots can’t grow like they’re supposed to.  Improving the soil is hard work and time consuming, but it’s important for a tree to have strong roots when a storm comes.  For those of us who are Christians, are we doing the work necessary to have strong deep roots?  How strong is your faith?  Trouble will come to all of us.  Many of us have not taken the time necessary to prepare for those times.  We have not invested in relationships with wise Christian men and women, studied the Bible regularly, or invested in relational God time. 

Third, we could have soil surrounded by thorns.  As the seed sprouts and develops, it could be surrounded by “bad neighbors” that prevent it from growing.  Who is in your life that prevents the good seed planted in you from growing and maturing?  Our natural instinct is to surround ourselves with people who make us comfortable.  Abuse survivors are naturally attracted to other abuse survivors, many of whom have not recovered sufficiently.  They instinctively look for someone who can understand what they have been through, and they assume that only another abuse survivor could do that.  What an abuse survivor really needs is to be surrounded by healthy people who can show them what love really is (especially God’s love).  Often we are attracted to people who are not good for us.  These people are thorns that choke out our potential and prevent us from recognizing wise counsel when we hear it.

So how do we guard against developing bad soil?  First, we must remove the hardness around our hearts.  Maybe you need to forgive someone in your past so you can move on.  Some of us need to go to counseling to deal with traumatic events in our past.   For others, it means letting go of the fear or pride that holds us back.  These things can be very difficult to do but it’s also incredibly important.  Not dealing effectively with these things will keep us stuck and prevent us from reaching our true potential.  Next, we need to treat the soil.  Spending quality time with God relationally in prayer, studying the Bible, and building relationships with fellow Christians are critical ways to create a strong root system.  We just need to choose to make the investment.  And finally, we need to evaluate our relationships to see if they are helping us or hurting us.  Are your friends hurting your ability to grow and mature?  Are you in a dating relationship with someone who is not good for you?  What can you do to remove the thorns that are choking out the seed that has been planted in you?  It’s important to build relationships with those outside the church so we can draw them to Jesus.  But those closest to you are your support system and most trusted advisors.  If your advisors are not believers, you will probably have difficulty discerning the right path because of their influence. 

When the good seeds are planted, will your soil allow them to grow?  The trajectory of your life may depend on it.  We have no idea what is coming down the road for each of us.  What next step can you take to ensure that you are working with high quality soil?

Christmas 2010

This year, Christmas brought snow to Alpharetta, GA.  A white Christmas (mostly)!!  My 6 year old son very much enjoyed the snowball fight with his dad out in the front yard.    Unfortunately my wife was still sick, and wasn't able to enjoy it   Tonsillitis makes it difficult to enjoy most things, it turns out.  We had actually opened presents about a week ago in preparation for a trip we were planning which ultimately had to be canceled.  So having spent some time with my gifts now, I thought I would brag on a couple of them.  I love all of my gifts of course, but there are two that I am especially excited about:

Gift #1:  the Word of Promise Audio Bible (New Testament)

I have been wanting one of these ever since I saw it in the Christian bookstore.  This is actually not just a Bible where someone sits and reads the text.  This is a dramatic rendition, where actors and actresses play various characters who speak in the Bible.  Examples are Marisa Tomei as Mary Magdalene, Stacy Keach as Paul, Luke Perry as Stephen, Ernie Hudson as Peter, Louis Gossett, Jr. as John, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Mary (Jesus’ mother).  I really like Lou Diamond Phillips as Mark as well.  And of course Jim Caviezel reprises the role of Jesus.  This comes complete with sound effects, crowd noises, etc.  According to the bonus DVD which has cast and crew interviews, their goal was feature film quality audio to actually put you there in the scene.  It’s great for those of us with long commutes who want to experience the Bible in a completely different way.

Gift #2:  Two tickets to a “sing along” performance of the Messiah (and sheet music to go with it)

When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to have learned and performed two of the choruses from the Messiah (“Hallelujah” and “For Unto Us a Child Is Born”).  In addition, I had also had exposure two a couple other choruses I didn’t even know were part of the Messiah.  So earlier this month, I was able to enjoy singing the Messiah with at least 1000 other voices.  It was a great experience.  Michelle and I are currently negotiating to make this an annual event.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday.   May God bless all of you and your families during this time of celebration.

Mission Statement

“If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to eternal life.  But a person who has no love is still dead.  Anyone who hates another Christian is really a murderer at heart.  And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.”  (1 John 3:14-15) NLT

For quite a while now I’ve felt a calling to do something from a ministry perspective, but I haven’t really been sure what exactly.  I’ve been on staff at churches in ministry before, both as a youth minister and a worship leader.  The thing I discovered through those experiences is that I am not cut out for that life.  While I enjoy the ministry side of those things, there’s a lot of planning and organization that I’m simply not good at.  And, those things are critical to having a successful church ministry.  Recently my church did a series called “Game Plan”, which (among other things) encouraged us to lean into our gifts and the way God designed us.  I have known my gift is not speaking.  Too often I get stuck for words or lose my train of thought.  But finally it dawned on me that my writing is something in the past that people have appreciated and enjoyed.  It’s also something I love to do.  So I began praying about it and was hit with the idea of doing a blog. 

When I first started this, I was wading in and I wasn’t really sure what the goals should be.  But having experienced other Christian blogs, I now feel like I have a pretty good idea of where God is leading me where this blog is concerned. 

The Christian blogs that are out there seem to fall into the following categories:

• Sites that encourage arguments and divisiveness between Christians
• Sites that focus on believing all the right things (ie. head knowledge) to the exclusion of things that are applicable to the Christian life
• Sites that provide cultural or political analysis through a Christian lens

I simply haven't found a blog out there that is what I hope this blog becomes.  That doesn't mean they're not out there.  I just haven't bumped into one yet.

I think it’s important to have a safe place for Christians to come and share their views, free of antagonistic, disrespectful, and (in some cases) spiteful messages.  It’s easy for us to become prideful in our own perceived rightness to the point where we forget how to be kind, patient, and loving.  And yet that is the fruit of the spirit that should be evident in us as we mature as Christians.  If we are not understood or if our opinions are not accepted, maybe we should look for things to learn ourselves rather than treating others with contempt. 

“So now I am giving you a new commandment:  Love each other.  Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.  Your love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”  (John 13:34-35) NLT

I believe that one of the goals for this blog is to foster respectful, kind, and nurturing conversations where people learn to humble themselves and come to learn rather than teach.  I feel like my role is to write about the things God has laid on my heart and give room for other ideas, other opinions.  I hope that we can share how God has shaped us and what God has done for us.  I hope that we can share passages from the Bible that are meaningful to us.  But most of all, I hope we can love one another so that love will be evident to the world.  Other blogs are divisive, right out there in the open where the world can see them--with arguments between Christians in plain view.  I believe this misrepresents the message of Jesus to the world, and I don’t want any part of that.  Let’s come to learn from each other, to share with each other, without pride or prejudice.  God will certainly be glorified in that.

Rulebook Wrapping Paper

“And so by your own tradition, you nullify the direct commandment of God. You hypocrites!  Isaiah was prophesying about you when he said, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away.  Their worship is a farce, for they replace God’s commands with their own man-made teachings.’”  (Matthew 15:6-9) NLT

Have you noticed that some religious people like to create rules to act as a barrier to other rules?  In some cases this might be legitimate.  For instance, nowhere in the Bible does it say that a married man should not go out with or be alone with a woman who is not his wife.  In fact many married people may see nothing wrong with going out alone with someone of the opposite sex.  Maybe it’s a friend you’ve had since high school.  Technically, doing this doesn’t violate a commandment.  And yet many married couples have incorporated rules like this into their marriage.  This includes my wife and me. This may seem legalistic, but at the end of the day we believe that our marriage is so important that we want to have “guard rails” in place for added protection.  While we may encourage others to consider protecting their marriages in this way when given the opportunity, that’s all it is-- encouragement.

But what happens when the rules we create are preached from the pulpit as if they were given to us by God?  My favorite example of this is the memorable war against dancing waged by a local pastor in the 80s movie “Footloose”.  While he knew dancing was not a sin, he was afraid dancing would lead to other things.  As a teenager, I heard disparaging references to distorted guitar coming from the pulpit at a time when bands like Petra and Stryper were trying to use the hard rock sound as a vehicle for the gospel.  Well meaning Christians rose up against the band DC Talk due to their song “Jesus Freak”.  I doubt if any of them had actually read the words of the song.  These things did not conform to the man made rules for what is and isn’t acceptable to God.  As a result, people were stepping in the way of God reaching people in new ways.

Wrapping rules around rules which wrap around other rules is a symptom which could point to a deeper problem.  What if you can see this in yourself?  What does it mean?  Is it possible that your focus is on performance (following the rules) rather than relationship?  God wants us to know Him--to be in relationship with Him.  He wants us to help guide others into a relationship with Him.  Is a focus on rules getting in the way and preventing you from focusing on Him?  Or are you trying to earn God’s approval? 

“God saved you by his special favor when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”  (Ephesians 2:8-9) NLT

Sometimes we try to earn God’s approval rather than accepting the free gift of His grace.  But the Bible is clear that God’s acceptance isn’t based on our performance.  What we do matters to God for a lot of reasons, but not because He’s trying to decide if we measure up.  God’s acceptance is given freely to us when we choose to follow Him.  Performance-based Christianity is in a way like rejecting the gift of grace.  It’s as if we’ve said, “No thanks, God.  I’ll gain your acceptance on my own.”  Have you ever caught yourself doing this?  What are the dangers of falling into performance mode and how do you avoid this in your own life?

Homosexuality Part 3 - The Role We've Been Given

For the past few days we’ve been looking at homosexuality in general, how God views it, and how the church should respond to it.  Today we’ll look at specific verses in the Bible that address homosexuality and attempt to understand how this issue affects the church. 

The verse below is taken from the Mosaic Law given to Moses at Mount Sinai.  We are no longer under the law and the legal consequences of this act are not applicable anymore, but we do see that homosexuality is not accepted by God.  In fact it was one of the offenses that would result in death. 

“The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties.  They have committed a detestable act and are guilty of a capital offense.”  (Leviticus 20:13) NLT

Other examples of offenses in this same chapter that also resulted in death under the law are:

• Anyone who curses their father or mother (died)
• A man who commits adultery with another man’s wife (both die)
• A man who has intercourse with his father’s wife (both die)
• A man who has intercourse with an animal (both die; very sad for the animal all the way around)

The death penalty was not something set aside for homosexuality specifically.  It was used for several other sins as well.

In the New Testament, Paul makes it clear that homosexuality is a sin, just as theft, greed, and adultery are sins.

“Don’t you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God?  Don’t fool yourselves.  Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers—none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God.  There was a time when some of you were just like that, but now your sins have been washed away, and you have been set apart for God…”  (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) NLT

The key to understanding this passage is not stopping in the middle.  Otherwise we might think that people who do these things have no hope!  But that is not the intent here.  The labels that Paul uses here are for those who are not followers of Jesus.  He does not consider a follower of Jesus to be in this list, not because we’re perfect now but because we have been forgiven.  We were declared to be righteous even though we still sin.  And over time, God removes the sin in us as we submit to His authority and lean into Him relationally.  The important point in the verse as it relates to homosexuality is that it is sin like other sins.  It is not unforgiveable any more than stealing or adultery. 

It seems foolish to think that God is unable to love a person because of their sin knowing what Jesus did on the cross for all of us.  God certainly despises their sin just as He does yours and mine, but He loves all of us anyway.  He doesn't wait for us to clean ourselves up completely in order to begin a relationship, regardless of what it is that we've done.  As followers of God, shouldn't we follow His lead?  Maybe we should love them too, despite their sin, as we were loved despite ours.  Maybe we should respect them, pray for them, and guide them to Jesus.  If we can’t do that, I think we should ask ourselves why.  Are we in a position to decide for God who is worthy of His forgiveness? 

The web site at the link below gives a few examples of former homosexuals who have been changed by God and no longer live in that lifestyle. 

http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/ex-gay.html

Over and over I’ve heard stories of homosexual men and women who followed God, chose to identify with Him rather than the label they’ve always worn, and have since found joy and fulfillment in heterosexual relationships.  There are many Christians who stepped out of their homosexual patterns and still fight same-sex-attraction urges.  Fighting is a huge step.  Those who are moving in God’s direction will need someone to come alongside and support them as they re-learn how to be connected with another human being the way God intended.  Who will do that?  The secular world?  Rather than pretending it doesn’t exist or despising them for being sinners (like we were), we should encourage them and pray for them.  Struggling homosexuals deserve be treated the same as struggling adulterers, struggling liars, struggling addicts...  Don't we all struggle with some sin?  They certainly need accountability like we all do.  But it should be done with love and respect, not judgment and scorn.  Jesus died for them too, after all.

Homosexuality Part 2 - The Legacy of Sodom

Is homosexuality something God despises over any other sin?   Many Bible teachers use the story of Sodom and Gomorrah to show that God in fact hates this sin so much that he was willing to destroy two entire cities over it.  But there's a rarely discussed background detail related to this story that makes clear the full scope of God's frustration with Sodom.

The story begins with two angels meeting Abraham’s nephew, Lot in the city of Sodom.  He insisted that they stay at his home for the night.  They had a great time!  Until…. [cue sinister music]

“After the meal, as they were preparing to retire for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house.  They shouted to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to spend the night with you?  Bring them out so we can have sex with them… Then [the angels] blinded the men of Sodom so they couldn’t find the doorway.  ‘Do you have any other relatives here in the city?’ the angels asked.  ‘Get them out of this place—sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else.  For we will destroy the city completely.  The stench of the place has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it.’”  (Genesis 19:4-5, 11-13) NLT

So here we have an entire city of men wanting to sleep with two angels.  Suddenly God is going to destroy the city.  Clearly God is so upset with their homosexuality that the entire city must go.  That may be the impression we get from the account in Genesis, but that’s not the whole story.  Ezekiel gives us more detail into what happened to Sodom.

“As surely as I live, says the Lord, Sodom and her daughters were never as wicked as you and your daughters.  Sodom’s sins were pride, laziness, and gluttony, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door.  She was proud and did loathsome things, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.”  (Ezekiel 16:48-50) NLT

God was unhappy with Sodom for many reasons.  As an entire city, they were doing things that made God unable to bear it any longer.  While clearly homosexuality was on the list based on the account in Genesis, it wasn’t explicitly named on Ezekiel’s list at all.  This doesn’t minimize or excuse the sin of homosexuality, but I think it does put it in its proper perspective.  God hates all sin.  While some sins have greater or more lasting consequences, no sin is excusable and no sin is irredeemable. 

When you really examine what the Bible has to say about homosexuality, you find that there isn’t much ambiguity.  Many Christians have looked at this lack of ambiguity and made the assumption that this sin is so bad that God won’t begin to have a relationship with someone until this sin is completely irradicated.  Some have even questioned whether or not homosexuals can be saved at all.  Why is that?  In the next post, we’ll look at what the Bible has to say about homosexuality specifically and hopefully understand how this issue effects the church as well.

Homosexuality Part 1 - A Common Standard

How do we as a church deal with the topic of homosexuality?  Where is God leading us as we deal both intellectually and socially with this issue?  

According to multiple passages in the Old and New Testaments, homosexual behavior is sin.  But before we consider that, I think the first and most important thing to examine is what God says about sin in general.  We know everyone is guilty of sin (Romans 3:23); none of us can claim that we have been good enough to deserve to go to heaven on our own.  A single sin is enough to condemn us, and it doesn’t matter which sin it is.  We are reminded by the verse below that Jesus paid for all types of sin—every form of disobedience.

“But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.”  (1 John 1:7)  NLT

So how does homosexuality fit into this?  Many of us are confused about what homosexuality really is.  The secular world wants us to believe that homosexuality is an identity—that it’s who you are.  Even some of us in the church have followed their lead and have adopted this way of thinking.  We may think of homosexuality as a label that defines the person.  But the Bible teaches that homosexuality is not who you are but rather what you do (or what you have done).  According to Jesus, your identity is defined one of two ways:  before salvation and after salvation. 

“Jesus told them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God…  Why can’t you understand what I am saying?  It is because you are unable to do so!  For you are the children of your father the Devil, and you love to do the evil things he does...”  (John 8:42-44) NLT

From Jesus’ perspective, either we identify ourselves with God if we are saved or the Devil if we are not saved.  A person is not defined by their sin but rather by who their “father” is.  When we are saved, God adopts us into His family and we become children of God, heirs of eternal life.  Jesus came to "adopt" all men regardless of their spiritual condition at the time.  Many of us know that but are unable to mentally apply that truth to those who have lived in homosexuality.  And yet nowhere in the Bible does it stipulate that your salvation is contingent on you cleaning yourself up first.  Even Paul struggled with recurring sin in his life.

“When I want to do good, I don’t.  And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.”  (Romans 7:19) NLT

I’ve heard many people teach that homosexuals must stop sinning in order to be saved, but holiness is not something we just choose and go implement without God's help.  We can't be holy on our own.  It’s based on the ongoing work of God in our lives as we lean into Him relationally!  When Jesus called his disciples, he didn’t demand that they stop sinning in order to follow.  The life change they experienced was because of their relationship with Him.  We choose to follow first!  Then change will happen over time.  Sin should never be encouraged or swept under the rug.  It always brings consequences and it dishonors God who sent His son to save us.  We should partner with God to rid ourselves of it over time.  But as we are in the process of doing that, amidst the struggles there must be grace for our failures.  The church should not present a double standard when it comes to salvation (or the grace of God, for that matter).  There’s only one path to righteousness, and it’s the same for everyone.

The Message

“‘Teacher’, they said to Jesus, ‘this woman was caught in the very act of adultery.  The law of Moses says to stone her.  What do you say?’

They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.  They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, ‘All right, stone her.   But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!”  Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.  When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.” (John 8:4-9) NLT

We Christians can certainly become passionate about our beliefs.  Many of us are very passionate about political issues.  Others are very passionate about boycotting or protesting.  We can come off as argumentative, dogmatic, and preachy with little to no effort at all.  It seems justified, since we have the Creator of all things on our side.  Onward Christian Soldiers!  But the world watches and sees judgment, scorn, even hatred.  I wonder if God watches us and sees something reminiscent of these stone throwers.

I’ve known many people who are very focused on believing the right things.  We act as if our responsibility is to be right and speak that rightness out to the world.  We put little thought into the actual delivery of the message, apparently because we bear no responsibility for how that message is received.  I certainly do agree that ultimately each person is responsible for how they respond to the message of the gospel.  But shouldn’t we be delivering the message in a way that will draw people?

For those of us who are Christians, who was the catalyst for your becoming a follower of Jesus?  Who led you into a relationship with God?  Did they do it by proving their rightness to you?  Or did they leverage their relationship with you and treat you with love, respect, and understanding?  How would you have responded if they had come off as judgmental, arrogant, or dogmatic?  I fear that we push away and turn off people who may never step foot in a church because of the way they were treated by church people or because of what they’ve heard people who profess Christianity say on the radio, TV, etc.

Just what exactly is supposed to be our message to the world?  Is it things like “pornography is wrong”?  Or is it how Jesus died to save us from the penalty of our sin?  If we spent an entire lifetime focused on stopping pornography and finally the pornography industry was shut down, who would be going to heaven as a result of our efforts?  Clearly “pornography is wrong” is an important message to give to the church.  It damages the way we think about sex and it damages our ability to be intimate with our spouse the way God intended it to be.  Jesus calls his followers to be holy.  But the message to the world is somewhat different.  First we need to get them to Jesus.  Then we focus on holiness.  Trying to get the lost world to conform to God's standard of holiness is a backward implementation of what we were called to do. 

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son  and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.  And be sure of this:  I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) NLT

Jesus is the light of the world.  It feels like we try too hard to get those in this dark world to act as if they’ve found the light even though they haven’t.  We want them to be able to navigate correctly but they can’t because they’re still in the dark.  So our solution is to become the “seeing eye dog”.  We try to lead them where we want them to go without bothering to turn the light on for them.  Maybe it makes more sense to give them light so they can actually see where they're going.

The Cover Up

“Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed.”  (Proverbs 13:19) NLT

Have you ever ended up having to cover some lie with other lies?  I’m fairly confident that every one of us has attempted it at some point in our lives.  It always starts small, doesn’t it?  For one reason or another, saying something dishonest makes sense in the moment.  Maybe it’s to avoid a story we don’t want to go into, or maybe we want to be viewed in a certain way.  There’s always justification.  We assume that will be the end of it.  But the people we told that lie to will inevitably have a memory like a steel trap and it will come up again.  A request will be made for more detail, and then the lies will begin to stack up.  No matter how slick we are, eventually our dishonesty will be exposed. 

When I was eight or so, I was on my way to bed one Saturday night and my mom asked if I had read my Sunday School lesson so I would be prepared in the morning.  Of course I hadn’t, but I said “Uh huh”.  I didn’t feel like doing it, and I expected her to smile, pat me on my head, give me a kiss, and turn out the light.  My mom smiled at me and asked, “What was it about?”  I’m pretty sure my eight year old sleepy eyes got as big as saucers.  Suddenly I was wide awake.  I quickly scanned through what I knew of the Bible (didn’t take long), came up with something that seemed sufficiently generic, and threw it out there.  “Moses and the Battle.”  My mother was not impressed.  Moses clearly did a lot of stuff, but it turns out he never actually had a “Braveheart” moment.

Consider the anxiety and stress of trying to think fast and maintain consistent laser focus so that the picture you painted is always viewed as reality.  It’s not sustainable.  It always seems to escalate.  Things get more and more complicated, and the anxiety and guilt become constricting.  Finally some random question or detail we aren’t even aware of will do us in.  In Proverbs 13:19 (shown above), God warns us that our failure is not something unexpected that is specific to this situation.  When we lie, our dishonesty only stays hidden for a while.  Eventually, we are found out and our reputations and our relationships are impacted.

How do you tell your kids to do the right thing when they’ve watched you lie to your spouse?  Dishonesty damages our relationships.  In some cases, the damage is so severe it will take years to repair it.  The single most important component of a relationship is trust.  That can’t be earned back with an apology or two.  You may receive forgiveness but not trust, at least not right away.  All of us seem to want an easy, relaxing, uncomplicated life.  It’s pointless to create our own stress and anxiety.  What if you were completely honest with your spouse about what you do and where you go?  What if you were honest with your business partners about where the money went?  What would it be like to live a life of integrity so that you aren’t tempted to lie and cover and scheme?  That’s where God wants to lead us.  Are you following?

Where Is Justice?

“He is the Rock; his work is perfect.  Everything he does is just and fair.” (Deuteronomy 32:4) NLT

Can you think back to a time in your life where you would have argued vehemently with the author of this verse?  For some of you that time might be today!  I think I can safely say we have all endured things in our life that we would not have considered fair and just.  We’ve all been the victim of either someone else’s selfishness or what seems to be the natural pain that comes with being alive on this planet.  Shouldn’t God intervene?  Our instinctive response is to naturally question God’s love for us.  He created the world we live in, after all.  Why doesn’t He just fix the things that are wrong with it?

I admit that I have asked that question myself in the past.  After several years of infertility treatments, my wife and I finally reached the point that adoption was the best option remaining to us.  We bumped into a single mother (someone with ties to my extended family) who was actively looking for parents to adopt the baby she was carrying.  We went down the path all the way to the hospital where a little baby girl was born.  We were so excited!  We were on our way to the hospital to take this baby girl home when we received a call saying the birth mother had changed her mind.  We drove home empty handed to a house where a nursery sat waiting.  Four months later we heard the baby died due to criminal negligence.  As I processed all of that, I couldn’t help but look at God and ask “Ummmm…. Whatcha doin’?”  Was God paying attention at all?  Many of you can identify with this as you think about your own story.

The tricky part is that, based on what I’ve read, there really isn’t an answer that would make us happy.  When we ask “God, why don’t you intervene?” there’s only one answer we’re interested in, which is: “Oops.”  We can’t see a valid reason why God allows injustice to continue on his watch, so the only acceptable answer would be a sincere apology and either "I'll fix it" or “I’ll do better next time.”  We want to straighten God out!  We forget that God doesn’t see the way we see.  Our perspective revolves around our experiences, our frustrations, our desires...  While we’re sure we have it all figured out, God the creator just sees the world he made more clearly than we do.  I’m going to share a few things I believe about this topic, but going in I want to communicate that there isn’t an answer that will magically take away the pain you may feel about events that occurred in your life.  Only God can do that as you lean into Him.  Your circumstances are not a reflection of the level or quality of His love for you.  They are a reflection of the brokenness of the world we live in.

I think the bottom line is that, when sin entered the world, people became selfish, violent, hateful, rude, stubborn, prideful... Sin made this world a hostile and dangerous environment.  Sin brought with it sickness and eventual death.  Our bodies work against us and it gets worse over time.  God didn’t make it that way.  Sin did.  Do we consistently do the right thing?  Of course not.  We are part of the problem.  Haven’t you hurt people (including yourself) with your actions and your words?  Our sin creates collateral damage.  Children are abused, people are murdered, reputations and relationships are destroyed...  because of sin.  God could do something about it, but in order to do that He would have to do one of three things:

1.  Take away our free will so that we could not choose to directly or indirectly hurt another person.
2.  Just get rid of those who cause the pain.
3.  End it all and move on to heaven (and the judgment for those who have not accepted salvation).  

Maybe we could ignore the fact that we are all pain causers (although I doubt that God would be able to) and just ask Him to do away with the pain causers we’re most concerned about.  But for God, there is one more thing standing in the way: mercy.  

God chooses to wait.  He leaves these pain causers here with us because He wants a relationship with them too.  He wants them in heaven with us.  While we may want to lock them up and throw away the key, God loves them and wants them to have every opportunity.  He leaves us here with them so we can try to guide them and help reach them.  Living in this world isn’t about having a pain free life.  The sin in this world prevents it.  A pain free life is coming; God has promised us that.  It just won't be here in this life.  In the meantime, He wants us to help get as many people in the door of heaven as possible.  If we really contemplate the alternative to heaven awaiting those who refuse the love of God, we would understand why this is so important to Him.  Hopefully it has become important to us too.

Knowing What You Believe

When I was in college, everything I knew about God or Christianity was based on what someone else had told me.  I grew up as a preacher’s kid and was in church every Sunday.  I had learned a lot from my parents, in Sunday School, and of course from being required to actually sit and listen to the sermons.  I knew what I was supposed to believe.  I just didn’t know why.  At the time I didn’t care!  It didn’t seem important.  One day in the dorm, my roommate (who had a different Christian background than mine) began to attack my beliefs and the beliefs of the denomination I grew up in.  Many of them were core teachings of Jesus Himself, including the phrases “born again” and “being saved”, which he said were invalid doctrine.  He had developed an entire laundry list of things to complain about.  I listened and was shocked that he would be saying these things.  I wanted to straighten him out!  But I didn’t know enough about why I believed what I believed to be able to contradict him.  So I just sat there and listened.  And when it was over, having lost the battle by forfeit, I was left to wonder if I actually had gotten it wrong all these years.  What exactly was the truth?  How would I know?

This was a huge, life changing moment for me.  I wasn’t prepared, and I began to question everything because I had no proof of anything.  It wasn't about his questions anymore.  It was about finding truth and knowing it when I see it.  Is there a God?  If there is a God, is there really only one path to find him?  What do I really believe?  At that point I was completely adrift and didn’t know which way was up.  Where could I go for real answers?  I began to question God’s motives, His love for us, and I started to seriously contemplate all of the questions we like to ask about God.  I looked down dark alleys for truth and didn’t find it anywhere.  Finally, circumstances in my life brought me back around to examining the Bible.  This time I really examined it, and started with could I even trust the Bible at all.  I didn’t want to just believe what I was told.  I wanted to know for myself.  Is what I believe what’s actually true?

This experience for me eventually began a passion for reading and studying the Bible.  I wanted to know who God was, and what He wanted from me.  I wanted to know the truth so I could stand firm when attacks came. 

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  (1 Peter 3:15)  NIV

Eventually, someone will come into your life who challenges your faith.  Someone will look you in the eye, present arguments, and put you on the defensive.  What will your response be?  Will you question God’s very existence like I did?  Or will you be able to stand and be a light in a dark world, having given yourself at least one leg to stand on?  Maybe it would be good to decide ahead of time, before they come knocking on your door.  I wish I had.

Is Your Hand Up?

“You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion--how I violently persecuted the Christians.  I did my best to get rid of them.  I was one of the most religious Jews of my own age, and I tried as hard as possible to follow all the old traditions of my religion. ” (Galatians 1:13-14) NLT

Have you ever thought that there's too much in your past for God to use you?  Maybe something you would consider shameful or embarrassing either in your past or your present has come to light.  Maybe your reputation has been damaged.  Or maybe it's something no one ever found out about; no one knows except you... and God.  Many of us have argued that we can’t be used by God because of the ugliness in our past.  Paul (called Saul before his conversion to Christianity) is a great example of how untrue that statement is.  Over and over we find examples in the Bible of God intentionally choosing people that we might not have chosen for one reason or another.  Moses had enough trouble speaking that he needed a spokesperson to talk to Pharoah for him.  Jesus’ disciples were probably not who we would have chosen to be the leaders of the early church.  Jesus seemed to really like fishermen.  But honestly, how many fishermen do you need?  Matthew was a tax collector, which at the time was considered worse than the more general euphemism of “sinner”.  Shouldn't we find someone to help with administrative tasks?  And maybe a marketing specialist?

Could it be that God chooses people because of their weaknesses?  Because of their past?  Maybe God wants to show that His impressiveness and His ability are what matters--not ours.  Actually, Paul’s past made his conversion that much more surprising, unexpected, and powerful.  It caused people to ask how this man who murdered Christians suddenly become one of their key leaders seemingly overnight.  The sudden and profound change in Paul gave enormous credibility to the eyewitness accounts of the resurrection of Jesus.  Clearly this is a man who had a life changing experience!  

“Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath.  He was eager to destroy the Lord’s followers, so he went to the high priest.  He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there.  He wanted to bring them--both men and women--back to Jerusalem in chains.

As he was nearing Damascus on this mission, a brilliant light from heaven suddenly beamed down upon him!  He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ’Saul!  Saul!  Why are you persecuting me?’

‘Who are you, sir?’ Saul asked.

And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’

The men with Saul stood speechless with surprise, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice, but they saw no one!” (Acts 9:1-7) NLT

I’m pretty sure that would have gotten our attention as well. 

Jesus doesn’t require our impressiveness to accomplish his goals.  As we follow Him, we may discover that the things we are least proud of are the things He wants to leverage.  At the end of the day, our job is to say yes.  We simply need to be available and to follow His lead.  In a way, we're just along for the ride!  He will give us what we need in order to do what needs to be done, and he will take responsibility for the outcome of the journey.  Jesus is asking for volunteers.  Is your hand up?

Change Of Heart

“You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion--how I violently persecuted the Christians.  I did my best to get rid of them.  I was one of the most religious Jews of my own age, and I tried as hard as possible to follow all the old traditions of my religion. ” (Galatians 1:13-14) NLT

Have you ever thought there is too much in your past for God to use you?  Maybe something you would consider shameful or embarrassing either in your past or your present has come to light.  Maybe some dark secrets have come out and your reputation has been damaged.  Many of us have argued that we can’t be used by God because of the ugliness in our past.  Paul (called Saul before his conversion to Christianity) is a great example of how untrue that statement is.  Over and over we find in the Bible examples of God intentionally choosing people that we might not have chosen for one reason or another.  Moses needed a spokesperson to talk to Pharoah for him.  Jesus’ disciples were probably not who we would have chosen to be the leaders of the early church.  Just how many fishermen did they need?  Matthew was a tax collector, which at the time was considered worse than the more general euphemism of “sinner”. 

Could it be that God chooses people because of their weaknesses?  Because of their past?  Maybe God wants to show that His impressiveness and His ability are what matters--not ours.  Actually, Paul’s past made his conversion that much more surprising, unexpected, and powerful.  The sudden and profound change in Paul gave enormous credibility to the eyewitness accounts of the resurrection of Jesus.  Clearly this is a man who had a life changing experience!  It caused people to ask how this man could go from murdering Christians to a leader of them overnight! 

“Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath.  He was eager to destroy the Lord’s followers, so he went to the high priest.  He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there.  He wanted to bring them--both men and women--back to Jerusalem in chains.

As he was nearing Damascus on this mission, a brilliant light from heaven suddenly beamed down upon him!  He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ’Saul!  Saul!  Why are you persecuting me?’

‘Who are you, sir?’ Saul asked.

And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’

The men with Saul stood speechless with surprise, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice, but they saw no one!” (Acts 9:1-7) NLT

I’m pretty sure that would have gotten our attention as well. 

Jesus doesn’t require our impressiveness to accomplish his goals.  As we follow Him, we may discover that the things we are least proud of are the things He wants to leverage.  At the end of the day, our job is to say yes.  We simply need to be available and to follow His lead.  He will give us what we need to do what needs to be done, and he will take responsibility for the outcome of the journey.

Seeing God

“From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made.  They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature.  So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.” (Romans 1:20) NLT

Have you thought about how amazing our bodies are?  Think back to middle school life science for a minute.  Do you remember the complexity of a single cell?  Every part of the cell has a purpose--a job it's meant to do.  Ribosomes, Lysosomes, Mitochondria…  Here’s a quick refresher if you’re interested: 

http://staff.fcps.net/pstevens/notes/cell_parts_and_their_functions.htm

Every cell has these parts, but each cell is designed for a different purpose (sensing a pattern?).  Some cells are epithelial cells for your skin, others are used for muscles, etc.  Four distinct types of tissue, which are organized into organs.  Every organ has a purpose as well.  Web MD says even the appendix apparently has a purpose!  Who knew?

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/news/20071012/appendix-may-have-purpose

And then to top it all off, these organs are organized into systems where they all work together for a common purpose within the body.  Your respiratory system comes complete with vocal chords that are in just the right place so that we can sing as obnoxiously as we want.  Our digestive system basically amounts to a conveyor belt where each organ is appropriately placed so that the job it’s intended to do happens in the right sequence.  Every system is critical to life!  Remove one and you’re pretty much done for.

What about the rest of nature?  Our moon revolves endlessly around this planet, because the Earth is constantly rotating which produces gravity.  The earth's gravity can keep a moon in check while still being exactly the right amount for us to live.  Its a perfect balance that prevents us from floating away but still allows us to jump and run without killing ourselves.  The distance from the sun is just right.  The tilt of the earth is just right.  The distance from the earth to the moon, the size of the moon, the size of the Earth, the composition of the air: just right.  So many examples of rightness.

Design and purpose are evidence of a creator.  Is it reasonable that all of this complexity just happened on its own?  I’m simply making a case.  It’s up to you to decide what you believe.  I believe that nature screams out that God is with us.  What about you?