I’ve stayed home all day as a plumber has wrestled with 80 year old pipe, clogged almost beyond belief, in a valiant effort to get us hot water once again. When that happens I will be satisfied but Vonnie, my wife, will be thrilled, happy, elated, overjoyed, excited, ecstatic, and, quite possibly, euphoric.

I’ve been thinking about clogs this morning – those little things that block the living of life. Most times clogs are little things that over time interconnect in such away that the arena in which they are located gets very messy and stops healthy living dead in its tracks.

I think of how clogged the world is today. Violence is everywhere, even in the beautiful city in which I live. Broken relationships that seem to be irreparable abound everywhere. Racism, unnecessary poverty, political demonizing and name-calling – the list goes on and on.

Can the clogs be unclogged? That is the question of the hour. I think we may need a good plumber or two, and it may take a while; but healthy living is not beyond the human experience. That things can change and that the future can be different than the past are remarkable thoughts to think.

As a Christian I am hopeful about the present and energized about the future. Reality is a hard pill to swallow sometimes, and I refuse to be naïve about clogs. However, We’re not Stepford wives and we do have power to choose. Whether or not people choose wisely may be in question but that they are free to choose isn’t.

How do we unclog the obstructions and barriers? The answer to that question may lead in a thousand directions for solutions, but one thing is certain. The unclogging begins with admitting to the clog. Maybe that’s the rub. Admitting might just be too much to handle.

I sure hope not.

Jesus told His questioning and unsettled disciples, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever -- the Spirit of truth…he lives in you and will be in you" (John 14:15-17). On the day of Pentecost that promise was fulfilled and the world hasn't been the same since; or, at least, the people of God haven't been the same since.

The life of Holy Spirit in the heart of a human being is a marvelous wonder to behold. The Spirit makes strong the weak, makes bold the fearful, makes clean the impure, and make faithful the unfaithful. This wondrous Spirit of truth moves into the open and hidden places in the life of believers, and baptizes them in the very life of God. Where the Holy Spirit is free to do His divine work all the possibilities of God are present.

It is in the life of the Spirit that Jesus makes His home in the life of His followers. Before His death Jesus said, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18). In the Holy Spirit the Savior lives in His Church. We are not alone, orphaned, or disenfranchised. Jesus has come to us and Jesus is Lord.

In the Spirit the Church of Jesus is enabled to live truthfully and faithfully. In the faithfulness of Jesus we are free to ask the Father anything we need in order to be what He has called us to be, and He will give it (John 14:13-14).

Live this day in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and God will draw near to you. He will live in you and make His home in you. He will re-narrate the story of your life and work the wondrous work of God in you.

Jesus gave great comfort to His disciples when He said to them, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). This promise has been at the heart of the Christian faith for twenty centuries now, and it has been the source of great hope as the Church continually looks forward to what lies ahead.

Because His Church would live in light of what He had done and with the promise that something wonderful yet remains, Jesus prayed. At the heart of His prayer Jesus said to the Father, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:22).

The Church does not wait passively for the return of Christ. Rather, it seeks to live faithfully to Jesus’ prayer that those who are of Christ “may be one.” Why is this important to Jesus? He answers the question, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them, even as you have loved me” John 17: 23). To let the world know; that’s why unity in a world that tends to disunity is so very important.

Perhaps the way local congregations best represent their God to the world is through the unity they embrace in the midst of the diversity they experience.

Being a community of faith in Jesus Christ means that we are a community in which the prayer of Jesus is being answered. We may be different in language, culture and even convictions, but we are one in Christ. This is our calling, our passion, and our pursuit.

Christians believe God is a relational God, that He is One God who manifests Himself in three unique personalities -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This mystery, referred to as trinity or tri-unity, has at its very core the sense of community. This being said it is no surprise that when God incarnated Himself into the human situation, He did so in a self-revealing Messiah who continually calls people into community -- community with God and with each other.

So it was Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23). Did you catch it? "We will come to him and make our home with him." And exactly how does God do this? Jesus says He and the Father do it through "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name" (John 14:25).

Jesus says the Holy Spirit is a "Counselor" who continually leads God's people into a community of truth where Jesus is at the center of everything. This is the Father's will and it is that for which Jesus Himself died.

The Church is a community of the Counselor who continually woos the community into everything Jesus. The Good news in this is that wherever Jesus is allowed, through faith, to be Himself the peace of a sovereign God is in that place and in that people.

Prayer: O God. Show us how to be the Counselor-enabled community of Jesus that allows You to make us into all you would have us be, extending the fellowship of Your community into our world. In Jesus Name we pray; Amen."

When Judas had left the gathering Jesus said to His eleven men, "I will be with you only a little longer." (John 13:33). Its true, He was going to leave them but He was not going to leave them alone. He was going to go and prepare a place for them, with the promise that He would come back for them" (See John 14:2-3).

In the mean time He promised them "another Counselor … the Spirit of truth" (John 14:17). Of this "Spirit of truth" Jesus said that He would be with them and in them (John 14:17). Life, for them, wasn't going to skip a beat. In the Holy Spirit Jesus was going to be with them in ways their minds, at the moment, could not possibly comprehend.

And of all the things the Spirit of truth was going to help them do, the most important was to "love one another" (John 13:34). The Spirit was going to work the works of Almighty God within them and through them, and at the heart of all He was going to do He was going to enable them to love one another.

How important is the love of God in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ? Jesus said, "Love one another…By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35). By this! By what? What is the this to which Jesus refers? Simple and to the point: LOVE ONE ANOTHER. That's the this (pardon my English).

How are Christians to be in the world? Jesus says they are to be there as a people who love one another. Our witness is weak if it is not lived out in a community of the love God. Our testimony is flimsy if it is not lived out in a community of the love of God.

The love of God in the community of God ought to be the most outstanding feature of a faith that claims Jesus as Lord. May it be so. God help us; may it be so.

The Bible says the Holy Spirit is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Eph. 3:20, NIV). This is a very hopeful statement for the Church these days and it constantly reminds us that God is present in ways our minds and imaginations cannot fully grasp. Every moment we are presented with infinite possibilities as we live embraced by the power of God.

This is crucial because we certainly have our challenges, challenges rooted in contemporary issues such as the complexity all around us of multiple cultures, materialism, hedonism, conflicting ideologies, post-modern thinking, post-Christian thinking, spiritual warfare contending for the lives of people created for God, how to be church, how to do church, how to worship, how not to worship, how to reach lost and broken people, how to share the love of God through the means of compassionate ministries, to name just a few.

As we face our times a question is pressing down on us. Are we willing to “re-narrate” ourselves; that is, are we willing to do whatever is necessary to tell our story, the story of Jesus, in such a way that people will be drawn to Christ, even if it takes us out of our comfort zone?

Oliver Windell Holmes once said, "I find that the great thing is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving. To reach the port of heaven we must sail, sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it but we must sail and not drift, nor lie at anchor."

Using this metaphor, regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves we must sail with focused attention to wherever it is our faithfulness to God takes us.

We are the church of God so let's set our sails to the winds of the Spirit, and let Jesus captain this boat.

April 22, 2007

Have you ever wondered what a resurrected Lord has for breakfast? Does fish come to mind? I didn't think so. Yet, the third time Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples after the resurrection was at a breakfast to which He called them (See John 21:1-14). The disciples were fishing and weren’t catching anything and Jesus told them they were fishing on the wrong side of the boat. They switched sides and, wouldn't you know it, they caught 153 large fish (I wonder why they counted them) Anyway, not too bad for a carpenter, huh?

When it was over they came to shore to find that Jesus had started a charcoal fire and was preparing a fish breakfast. He invited them to place a few of their fish onto the fire, and soon breakfast was served, complete with bread; it was like communion on the beach.

Don’t you just love it that Jesus said to His men, "Come and have breakfast." I believe Jesus is always saying something like this to His people. On Sundays He says to us, "Come and have Sunday lunch with me. We'll have bread and wine. We'll sing and fellowship and read the Word of God. We'll pray and pass the peace to each other. It will be a great lunch. See you Sunday." On Mondays He says, "Meet me on your break, and we'll have coffee together. We'll encourage each other and remind each other of how good the Father is."

Being a resurrected Lord means that Jesus can meet us any place, at any time, under any circumstance. And, when we get there He'll probably invite us to have fish and bread, or maybe a cup and bread. These days He is calling me to Thursday lunch where three other men and I share sack lunches, our lives and prayer.

I have discovered that His life embraces all of life for me. Is that not wonderful? The living Lord draws near and invites us to eat with him (See Revelation 3:20). That's pretty special don't you think?

Easter evening found ten of the disciples behind closed doors for fear of those who did not believe in Jesus. However, their world was rocked and changed forever when Jesus suddenly appeared to them in that locked room. His first words to them were, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19).

Peace had not been with them since Friday evening when their hopes lay dead in a borrowed tomb. Suddenly everything changes. Jesus comes among them and speaks the word of renewal, the word of life, the word of hope -- PEACE. Interestingly enough, John tells us that Jesus didn’t just say it once but twice. “Peace be with you” (John 20:21).

I don’t know why He said it twice but I like to think that they were so shocked at seeing Him alive after the atrocities of Friday, that they didn’t hear Him the first time. I have no idea really. I just know He said it twice on that occasion and that seven days later when the eleven disciples were present in another gathering, He said it again, “Peace be with you” (John 20:26).

It was a common greeting so in a way we ought not to take it more seriously than we should. His presence, however, wasn’t so common. It was very shocking, incredible, as a matter of fact. So, if we just take it as a normal greeting, that makes it even more special; especially if one takes into consideration that the one giving the greeting is supposed to be dead. After all, they saw Him die.

The resurrection simply changes everything. It changes hearts. It changes goals. It changes life-focus. It brings peace into places where once there was despair and confusion and shattered dreams.

Be aware today that Jesus is on the move and that His first words to you might just be, “Peace be with you.”

Jesus Lives That Death May Die
An Easter Message

Jesus' resurrection lies at the heart and foundation of all it means for Christians to be Christian. Without the resurrection of Jesus there is no message of Christ. All He was is defined by the quality of His life, death and resurrection. His death and thus His resurrection speak to the deepest needs of creation and to that unique situation called, human. A brief progression of thought might be might be helpful.

The Bible says "the wages of sin is death" and that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 6:23, 3:23). John 3:16 reminds us that "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that who ever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Based upon this reality the apostle John wrote, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9). This reality led the apostle Paul to write in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." Further, this led Paul to teach, "Sin shall not be your master, because you … under grace" (Romans 6:14). He went even further when he said, "If God is for us, who can be against us... We are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans 8:31, 37)

The entire Jesus event, particularly the cross and resurrection, reveal just how much God is for us. "He is risen," is our mantra. It embraces all that we are. It defines who we are and how we do life. It brings the possibilities of God to us and shows us that Jesus really is God who "actually entered into and authentically participated in our creaturely realm."[1] The truth is "We have a great high priest who is…able to sympathize with our weaknesses" and who invites us to live out our lives at "the throne of grace" where “we receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:14-16).

It is a humbling and yet exhilarating thought to think that our lives are covered by the God we see revealed in Jesus. At minimum this means we are never without hope, that God's grace is sufficient. Take from us all that can be taken and there is still God in Jesus. Do to us what you will and there is still God in Jesus. Bless us, curse us, or snub us, Jesus is Lord not blessings or curses or snubbing. Kill us, and the last word isn't death but life, Eternal life in the One who is Lord, even over death.

In Jesus is life and His life is the light of God to us and in us (See John 1:4). To embrace Him is to take His hand, as it were, and to live both now and when this life is taken away from us.
There is no place we can go to hide from His grace. Isaac Watts reminds us in a hymn we sing at Christmas time,

No more let sin and sorrow grow…
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.[2]

So it was that Eliza Hewitt wrote[3]

My faith has found a resting place,
not in device or creed;
I trust the ever-living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.

Enough for me that Jesus saves,
this ends my fear and doubt;
a sinful soul I come to Him,
He’ll never cast me out.

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

God has spoken in Jesus Christ, hasn't He? That's our message. It begins and ends right here.

It is interesting to note, too, that Easter doesn't take us out of life; it puts us right down in the middle of life. In Jesus we don't run away from the world into some fantasy place where weak people go (an accusation that is often made against people of faith). Instead, we run to the world with the greatest news ever to come into the human situation ~~ He has risen.

After Easter life is never lived without a risen Lord and Savior in it. He can be ignored. He can be denied. He can be shunned. But, He cannot be driven off. He cannot be made less that who He is. This is His world and He lives in it as the One who has risen from the dead.
For those who will allow Him, He makes all things new. For those who will receive His grace, the reality of sins forgiven becomes their reality. For those who will let Him be Lord, He comes to live within them, administering His grace at every level of life. He doesn't take us out of life; He cleans us up in it.

I totally love the poem by Maya Angelou that speaks of the human situation but also of God's activity in it. She writes[4]

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin".
I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumbleand
need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace, somehow!

On Easter an angel and Jesus, Himself, told the women who had come to the tomb to go and tell His disciples that He was alive. The Church has been doing that ever since. Somebody, somewhere, every minute of every day is telling somebody, somewhere, about Jesus and how He died but lives again. It's a story that resonates in the human heart. It is a message of life and hope. It stirs our imaginations to believe again that there is a future in this world and in the life to come.

I lost a good friend in death on Saturday morning, March 31, 2007. He was my friend, my colleague, a confidant. He was a pastor, a scholar, a leader, a shepherd. Today, somebody else is preaching in his place at New Life Church of the Nazarene in Lancaster, California. His name is Chuck and I will miss him until I go home to heaven and fellowship with him around the throne of God. And, that's the point that resonates in my very being today.

In the resurrection of Jesus Christ we are inundated with hope. Death spoke and we had no recourse but to listen; but for those of us who believe in Jesus death is not the final word. The life that is in Jesus is the final word.

At the of the last book in the Chronicles of Narnia called, The Last Battle, C. S. Lewis has Aslan, the lion, and a Jesus figure, speak to Peter, Edmund and Lucy. He says to them:

"There was a railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are — as you used to call it in the Shadowlands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."[5]

This is the hope we have because of Jesus ~~ hope for today and hope for tomorrow.

Because He lives we can face tomorrow triumphantly.

Because He lives we can face today in the power of the resurrected Lord.

Because He lives, we live.

Because He lives we too can say and know in our very being,

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

Prayer: Father, fill us with Jesus until our very lives are captivated by His life. Help us to be the people you have created and called us to be. Help us to embrace the life of Jesus that the life of God may embrace our lives. Help us to be a people of the resurrection. Help us to live and move and have our being in Jesus. Amen.

[1] Thomas Jay Oord and Michael Lodahl, Relational Holiness: Responding to the Call of Love, (Beacon Hill: Kansas City, 2005), 93
2 From the third verse of “Joy to the World,” by Isaac Watts, 1719
[3] "My Faith Has Found a Resting Place Word" by: Eliza E. Hewitt, in Songs of Joy and Gladness, 1891. Hymnals often show the author as Lidie H. Edmunds, Eliza’s pseudonym.
[4] Christians by Maya Angelou
[5] C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle, 228

Palm Sunday is a most perplexing day in the church year. It looks great what with all the praising and celebrating and affirming the Kingship of Jesus, but one doesn’t have to look too closely to see that, in fact, there is trouble in River City, or Jerusalem as the case may be.

It’s a paradoxical day, too. The average guy on the street apparently gets what the most learned of the Spiritual scholars couldn’t grasp. They saw that Jesus was the One who came to them “in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:38). It looks like they knew their Scriptures too, because that’s a quote from their Psalms (118:26). And, in looking at Him they could affirm the truth, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest” (Luke 19:38).

How deeply the truth ran in them we don’t know. We do know that five days later in Luke, many of them were calling for Jesus’ crucifixion. Maybe their vacillation was what led Jesus to weep over the city as he approached it (Luke 19:41). We don’t know; we just know that on this one day they got it right, so much so that Jesus said “If these become silent, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40).

Here’s my concern. From “praise Him” to “Crucify Him” in a period of a few days is scandalous information. I fear that it is far too easy to get caught up in crowd mentality and lose oneself in the swarm.

I can’t speak for anybody but myself but may God help me to know what I know, to believe what I believe, and to stand for Him on Palm Sunday or Good Friday. If I’m going to praise Him on Sunday then surely I will have enough gumption and drive to live for Him when the powers that be call for His demise.

After all, if He is Lord on Sunday then He is Lord everyday of the week and in whatever situation we find ourselves. If He is Lord on Sunday then we must pick up our cross and follow Him on Friday.

To the Jewish faith the Exodus out of Egypt and into the Promise Land is huge. It is the pivotal point of everything. God showed up in history in that event and worked His sovereign works in such a way that nobody could ever look back and say, “This is what we did.” No! The exodus was what God did.

As huge as the exodus was, however, Isaiah told the people in his day, “Do not call to mind the former things or ponder things of the past” (Is. 43:18). Isaiah asks the people to let go of the past, not because it wasn’t important anymore; it was important. It was just that God was going to do “Something new” in the world, so huge that even the exodus pales in comparison (Is. 43:19).

And what exactly was this “something new”? As God made a way when there was no way, so, too, He was going to make a way out of spiritual darkness and deserts and bring into the dry, barren places the fresh flowing river of God. It would flow “far as the curse was found,”[1] and deeper than our deepest sinful stain. It would bring life into death and new beginnings into dead ends.

As God provided the way out of Egypt and into the Promise Land so He would provide the way out of the bondage of sin and into the life of God. God made a promise and what He promised He has now done in the life of Jesus Christ. In Jesus the past has met the future and as a result our present moments are embraced by the grace of God. Indeed, God is up to something great and we, and everyone in our world, is invited to be a part of it.

This is why local churches in neighborhoods around the world exist. They are here to let the river of God flow through them into the lives of everyone within their sphere of influence.
[1] From the third verse of “Joy to the World,” by Isaac Watts, 1719

Once upon a time there were two brothers who had a prosperous father and so enjoyed the benefits of wealth. One day one of the sons expressed to his father that he was tired of his life and that he wanted what was his so that he could go to new places and explore the wonders of the world. It broke his father’s heart but he gave him his inheritance; and off he went to the wonders of wine, women and song, and soon he was caught up in a life where to eat, drink and be merry were routines of his days.

One day his money ran out and, ironically, so did all the friends he had made in the new world. Suddenly he was alone, broke and friendless. In time he began to yearn for the good old days of his home and finally, broken, embarrassed, sad and alone he made his way back home. To his surprise his father was waiting for him and threw him a "coming home" party the likes of which he could never have imagined.

At this point the sins of the second son surface. Anger surged in him. Resentment at the fact that his father had never thrown him a party burned in his very soul. After all, he had been the faithful son, the good son, the son who always did what he was told. How could his father give a party for his brother when his brother had hurt his father so badly? The father explained that everything he had was available to him, everything. He thought he had lost a son only to find him again. How could life go on without a party?

Once upon a time a father had two prodigal sons. One looked better than the other but, make no mistake about it, they were both prodigals. The one was an obvious sinner; the other not so obvious.

Moral of the story? "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 3:23, 6:23). I think it is time for some parties around here.

Jesus gives great hope to us when He says in Luke 13:29, “And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.” That’s why you and I are in the kingdom of God today. Jesus didn’t stay in Jerusalem. He has come all the way to North America, all the way to the South Western United States, to Southern California, and a town there called, Pasadena. When Jesus said they would come from the east and west and north and south, He meant it, didn’t He?

Once upon a time some folks asked Jesus, “Lord, are they just a few who are being saved?” (Luke 13:23), and He never really answered their question. He just said, “They will come from east and west and north and south.” It’s almost as if Jesus in his silence is saying, “a head count is not what we’re looking for. What we’re looking for is the ever-expanding table of the Lord where there’s always room for one more.”

It took the ever-expanding table of God about 2000 years to work its way to the place where I came to know there was room for me at the table. Where were you when the folks at the table made room for you? Maybe it really isn’t head-counting we need. Maybe we just need to always be on the lookout for that one more who will come from the east or west or north or south.

We can be sure of one thing – Jesus is certainly on the lookout. And, our faith tells us that He has called us to be alongside Him as He makes his appeal to citizens of the planet.

We’ve a story to tell and a life to live. Let’s tell the story clearly and live the life unambiguously.

February 25, 2007

Sometimes the will of God can take you into the wilderness. That’s how Jesus got there, anyway. The Bible says, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness” (Luke 4:1). It was under the influence of the Holy Spirit Jesus ended up in that place where for forty days he faced the full assault of the devil.

In the season of Lent we are reminded that there are forces at work in the world that are unsympathetic to the ways of God revealed in the life of Jesus. That means they are also unsympathetic to those who embrace Jesus. And why wouldn’t they be? In the life of the Christian the enemy comes face to face with the life of the Spirit of God. So it is that Christians, too, can find themselves “led by the Spirit” into wilderness places.

Just like Jesus, those who live in His life, are enabled in the wilderness to experience the victory that Jesus Himself experienced when He met Satan head on, defeated him three times, and began that winding road to Calvary where He would defeat Satan once and for all, forever. In the wilderness we do not live in defeat. We are nourished by the life of Jesus.

This is why the Gospel is such Good News. To everyone who experiences the wilderness there is a Savior who experienced it, too, a Savior who conquered sin and death and lives as Lord in the world today. Wildernesses can be hot, humid and devastating but they are not Lord. Jesus is Lord. In the desert He brings a stream of life giving water.

So it is every local church is present to invite people to the living water, to that oasis of life where the grace of God flows and where people are renewed, re-energized and redeemed to everlasting life.

February 18, 2007

Sometimes its tough to love the people you already love but Jesus calls us to do more even than this. He says, (are you setting down?) "Love your enemies" (Luke 6:27). That just complicates everything, doesn't it! I mean, good grief, how much can He expect from us? We're only human.

Nobody said being a Christian was easy. It isn't; at least if you take Jesus seriously, it isn't easy. It will cost you everything. It will affect your finances, your possessions, your values, your decision-making, your relationships, and even your time management. It will even affect how you relate to people who believe differently than you, who think differently than you, and who embrace values and morals you would never embrace.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die."[1] That about says it all. The old timers use to call it dying out to God, and putting everything on the altar, and consecrating all to God. Pick a phrase. They all work. What they all means is that people who take Jesus seriously and live as Christ-like followers, have let go their natural way of doing things and have come to embrace the ways and means of God. The apostle Paul said it this way, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20).

We will probably never love our enemies in our own strength but that's okay. We're not living for ourselves but for the Jesus who "emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adams helpless race."[2] In Him all things become new, and "by His scourging we are healed" to live redeemed lives (see 2 Cor. 5:17 and Is. 53:5).
May God help us to be a place and a people of love in a world where everybody needs a place and a people of love.

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
[2] Charles Wesley, "And Can It Be?"

February 11, 2007

I am intrigued with the title of a book I saw recently called, Wherever You Go, There You Are.[1] The book itself didn't seem that interesting to me but I love the title because it is absolutely true. There is no way for each of us to get away from our self. Wherever we go, there we are. 24/7, we are on the clock living out the seconds of our lives, doing what we choose to do, being who we are.

All of this is sobering especially when we are confronted by the word of Scripture that tells us "the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9). Human beings are on the clock 24/7 with questionable hearts. How is that for a dose of reality? We're stuck with deceitful and hard-to-understand hearts, and there's not much we can do about it.

Fortunately there is a healthy and realistic way out of the mess we are in. The Bible tells us, 'Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord" (Jer. 17:7). What a turn of events that is.

How does one get from "deceitful" and "desperately sick" to "blessed"? The Biblical answer to the question is for us to put our trust in the Lord, to build our lives on God and to trust His presence is our story. To do this says the prophet of God is to "be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream" (Jer. 17:8). This place is the place of refreshment and nourishment, the place where one is not driven by anxiety in the time of drought.
This is the place to which we invite people and where we live ourselves. It is the place of God, and everyone is welcomed there.

[1] Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn (Paperback)

February 4, 2007

It doesn’t sound too challenging to those of us in the 21st century but to fisherman of the first century who had fished all night and caught nothing, hearing a challenge to “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4), could have been a real challenge, especially when the one putting out the challenge was a carpenter, not a fisherman. Still, the fishermen listened to Jesus, did what He challenged them to do and, wouldn’t you know it, “They enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boats for them to come and help them. And they came and filled the boats, so that they began to sink” (Luke 4:6-7).

What an interesting story, but it gets better. Peter, the fishless fisherman to whom Jesus had given the challenge, seeing what was unfolding before his very eyes, falls at Jesus’ feet and says to him, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8). Isn’t that interesting? How do you get from what finally becomes a great day business to “I am a sinful man, O Lord”?

I suppose we would have to talk to Peter to get a sense of what He was really experiencing in that moment but Luke tells us the reason Peter did it was because, “amazement had seized him” (Luke 5:9). There was something about the moment and the Man that captivated Peter and, in a heartbeat, he moves beyond a-great-day-at-work to self-awareness that leads him to confession and a heightened sense of himself.

Moments and events like these are dangerous because they connect people with God. Moments and events like these are wonderful because they connect people with God.
God is at work in Jesus Christ, and we do well to listen to this Carpenter.

Join me in sincere and daily prayer for God to be among us in extraordinary ways. We've a great field white unto harvest within driving distance of our church. As we pray and seek God's face and quiet our hearts to be where Jesus is, the workers, the resources, the material, the visions and dreams, and strength will be given us. Pray for people who don't know Jesus. They are everywhere among us. And, should they join us, let's open our lives to them and receive them just as Jesus and the church has received us. If they choose not to join us, let's love them with the same kind of love with which Jesus has loved us all ~~ everlasting and unconditional.

Powerless And Powerful Because Of It
Each of us is powerless to be effective for Christ in our worlds. We simply don't have what it takes to touch a disinterested and distracted world for God. However (and this is huge), we don't have to have what it takes. We simply need to be in Jesus because as we abide in Him He is able to release the power of God. Apart from Him we can do nothing but in Him we will be like a healthy branch in a healthy vine, bearing the fruit of God's amazing love. In this way we will bring glory to the Father, Jesus will give us His joy, and our joy will then be complete. Stay close to Jesus and enjoy the journey.