Children of God or of the Devil (john 8)

How do we know whose children we really are?

I have been visiting my parents in my childhood home for the last several weeks while on Christmas break. It has become more and more clear that I am their child in the last few years of my life. They say that in your 30s is when you discover what it is you really want to take from your parents and what it is you want to leave behind. My mother is a truly godly woman who seeks after her relationship with God and values relationships in her words and actions. She loves our daughter well and is active and engaged with her. I would like to keep this in my life. My Father loves us dearly and he serves us through the cooking of many meals and the giving of many gifts. He has a generous heart and these are things that I want to keep. There are patterns of life that I do not wish to keep and the reason I can recognize them is because they are in my own life; times of compulsion, times of anger, times of worry. I have prayed many times for the cloud of depression over our multiple family homes to be broken.

How do I know that I am the child of my parents, because I have taken upon myself their words and actions. My life is patterned after theirs. In some ways I am different, but in many ways I am the same. In John chapter 8 Jesus confronts the people around him with whose children they just might be. He gets very blatant and strong about it actually. "You are not children of Abraham, for Abraham looked forward to my coming, but instead you are children of the devil, for you speak in lies and he is the father of lies." (Cory's paraphrase) What does it mean to be children of God? Over and over again Jesus says to be children of God we must accept his words, his teachings, and the words of his Father. 

One of the unfortunate patterns of our family and for many families is the worry over money and finances. Most people are concerned about how they will live. For us is goes into our value as people and whether we are doing everything we can to be good fathers and provide for our families. It is easy to become obsessive about it and let is drag us down. I have spent many days is prayer over this even just this morning. If I am to be the child of God then I am to believe his words, the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount for example. Don't worry about what you will wear or what you will eat, for you Father in heaven knows what you need before you ask. Today has enough worries for itself. To be a child of God I need to accept, believe, and act upon these words.

Our fates will also follow the father that we choose. If we do not accept his words, which is what it means to believe in him, then we will die in our sins. Death is the fate of the devil and his children. But if we do accept his words of truth then we will be set free "for if the son sets your free then you are free indeed." Freedom and life are the future of God the Father and his children.

Oh Father, May we believe in your words today! May I live in the freedom of depending on you to provide for the needs of our family! May we all be children of God.

Cory the "playboy?" (John 7)

How much of God do we miss in life?

I remember having a conversation with a girl in high school. I was trying to get to know her a little bit and I found out on senior survival as we talked that I had a reputation that I didn't know anything about. Apparently I had gotten this reputation as a guy who would date someone and then whenever I decided I was finished with them I would simply leave them behind, love them and leave them kind of thing. The strange thing was, I was a marathon dater. As a sophomore the only dating relationship I had lasted 10 months and I was the one who was heart broken and dumped. It was “mutual” of course, we both knew that we were in different places and it was over, but she was the one who was ready for it, not me. And by the time my senior year started I had been dating another girl for more than a year. So love them and leave them wasn't really my M.O. but that was the perception among some of the girls.

This reputation was obviously not based on reality. This girl had never talked with me before, and she obviously had not been observing my actions either. We do this so often, we think we know something about a person and we just go with it, not listening and not seeing we believe what we want to believe because of hearsay or the little box of understanding within which we live.

The same thing is happening in chapter 7 of John. Jesus has been teaching, healing, and acting now for a while and there are those who believe based on these actions and words because they have been listening and seeing.  When the temple guards are sent to arrest Jesus they come back empty handed because they have listened to Jesus and tell the Pharisees, "No one speaks like this man." But the Pharisees, others in the crowd, and even Jesus' own brothers do not believe in him. They are stuck on where Jesus is from. "No prophet comes from Galilee," the council responds to Nicodemus when he tells them that they should listen to what Jesus has to say before judging him. They are unwilling to listen and they choose not to see the works of Jesus as miracles from God because they are outside of their own Sabbath box of understanding.

Jesus tells them that he comes from the Father; he tells them that he is doing the works of his father, and he tells them that he is going back to the Father to a place where they cannot find him, a place where they cannot go. But the deaf and blind minds of the people say he is from Galilee, doing the works of the devil because he heals on Sabbath, and he must be going to the people who are dispersed in Greece or something. There is more to Jesus, there is a need to believe in order to understand. The people who listen to his words and really see his miracles conclude his must be from God, “what more evidence do we need?”

The question for me from this is; what am I missing when it comes to Jesus? What don't I see? What don't I listen too? In what way am I stuck in my perception of who Jesus is? What could Jesus do in my life if I was open to him? Jesus references the man healed on the Sabbath, that his whole body was healed (see previous blog on john chap 6). This man listened to Jesus and followed his words, thus he saw the healing in his life.

May the eyes and the ears of our hearts be opened today so that we may hear with our ears, see with our eyes and turn so that we might be healed.

Belief is Work (John 6)

Is it work for you to believe in Jesus?

It has been for me. My greatest spiritual struggle over the years has been doubt. I have gone into some very dark places in the thought patterns as I think away God. There have been multiple ways and for multiple reasons that I have done this, my own sinful desire for one. If God didn't exist then I could go as far as I liked into a lustful addiction. If there is no God then I don't have to listen to what he has to say. I find at this point in my life by greatest struggle with unbelief is in God's provision. I am back in school once again and this means no income from my side only lots of output. My disbelief manifests itself in worry and uncertainty where rent will come from and then if I am in the right place with doing this whole degree thing. The work of belief has to be done to remember the call upon my life to come to this place.

In John Chapter 6 Jesus does amazing miracles -- he feeds 5000+ people on the hillside, and then he walks on water. And then he has one of the most difficult conversations for his followers. He could have keep the energy going and been made king that day. But instead he uses the great miracle of feeding so many to winnow his true disciples. The people ask him what they must do to be doing the works of God. In verse 29 Jesus answers them that the work of God is to believe in the one whom he sent. The work of God that the people must do is to believe in Jesus. Then he goes on to give them something very hard to believe. "You must eat my flesh and drink my blood." This is the work of belief. Only through this action can his followers abide in him.

Jesus clarifies in verse 63 that he is speaking of the words of life that he is offering to them. They must believe his words, they must believe in him as messiah, they must believe that as he offers his flesh on the cross for all of us that he has done so to save us. The work of God is to believe in the one whom he has sent...to believe in Jesus.

Thanks be that his is the work of God! Jesus also tells the people that those who come to him only do so by being drawn to him by the Father. So this work of belief is not all up to us, it is rather the work of God. He draws us to Jesus all we have to do is surrender.

All I have to do is surrender my sin and those addictive desires and find freedom in Christ. Is this hard? Is this work? Oh Yes, but it is the work of God in me. I must surrender to his provision in my life and do the task, which he has set before me to accomplish believing that he will see me through.

May we surrender to the work of God in our lives today and believe anew in the one whom he has sent...Jesus Christ.

Do you want to be healed? (John 5)

What was the last good idea you actually put into action?

I am a great dreamer. I can dream up new possibilities all day. We could do this and this and the other thing, would that be great!?! But how often do they actually happen? I do this with ministry all the time I also do it with physical health. I could start a new blog that would perhaps help me to loose the rest of the weight that I want to loose, but the amount I have started to put back on. I could start a fitness club or group at the YMCA. I could have an online facebook accountability group. But have a done any of these things? No. Have I lost the weight? No.

Following this line of thought there comes another question: How bad do I really want to loose the weight? Cause if I really wanted to then wouldn't I do these things, wouldn't my thoughts become action? I could just get back on my exercise and eating program and accomplish these goals -- if I really wanted to.

In John Chap 5 Jesus approaches a man who has been lame for 38 years. For 38 years he has been laying by this pool believing that if he could just get in the water when stirred by the angel then he would be healed. Jesus approaches the man and asks him, "Do you want to be healed?" The man responds with an excuse, as most of us do, "I have no one to help me to the water." Was that a yes? Jesus then gives him the chance to make his thoughts a reality. "Take up you bed and walk," says Jesus. And the man does so...he takes up he bed and walks...he has been healed! 

Do we want to be healed? Do we really? Yes I do want to be healed...am I willing to hear the word of Christ and then act upon it? Will I take up my bed and walk? 

This same sort of question is asked of the Pharisees in the rest of the chapter. Jesus challenges them with the reality that they seek the scriptures seeking eternal life and when eternal life is there before them, in Jesus Christ. They don't take the action to believe and accept him. Jesus tells them he will not judge them, but rather it will be Moses, the very one they cling to. Moses wrote about Jesus and they are not accepting Jesus so they we be condemned by the writings which they cling to. It is one thing to talk about ideas it is a whole different think to truly accept them and act upon this with belief in Jesus.

Last night we watched the original "Guess who is coming to dinner." A powerful story in the 1960's when a white girl brings home her black fiancée to me her liberal parents. The question is posed directly to the parents, will they take action on the values that they raised there daughter with and embrace the marriage or will they shrink into hypocrisy? (It's a good movie, you should watch it.)

Jesus, I want to be healed today...Dear Lord I will take up my bed and walk!

Float and Consume the story of my life (John 4)

Do you ever have a ache you just don't know how to fill?

We are on Christmas bread right now, its one of those perks of being back in school. We are visiting my parents and have a nice time with family. Two days ago after a fun filled day of decorating a gingerbread house and playing multiple board games with my sweet daughter I found that I was feeling empty. I told my Dad I was going to go to the store in our little tiny town just to get out of the house for a little while. My usual M.O. in these situations would be to find some fast food restaurant or some snack at the grocery store to console myself. I could tell though that I needed something more. I realized I had not been in the bible or prayer for a couple of days sense coming to my parents house. So I plugged in my phone to the car stereo and began to listen to the book of John. The words I heard were a substance that seemed to fill my ache of spiritual thirst.

In John chap 4 we have to story of Jesus meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well. John tells us that Jesus was weary. There are several times in the gospels where Jesus was described as hungry or tired, he really did become human, he really did get weary. On this occasion he sits down at a well while the disciples go into town to buy some food. This Samaritan woman comes along to draw water and Jesus with all the political incorrectness speaks to this woman…this Samaritan woman. He asks her for some water and then tells her of the living water that he has to offer her as the messiah. She runs off to tell the towns people about Jesus being the messiah and the disciples return with some food. Jesus however has already be refreshed by doing the will of his father. Many believe in that town because of the testimony of the woman, many more believe after hearing Jesus for themselves as he remains there for the next 2 days.

I heard a speaker the other day call out what my life usually looks like. He said that much of our life is spend in floating and consuming. This is especially true of my “free time.” When I am in school or working on some project I am pretty solid, but when I get to these open free times I start floating and consuming. I don’t know what it is I really want out of life. I don’t know how to fill the ache I feel inside. But every once in a while I recognize it for what it is. I have a spiritual thirst for living water that can only be filled by the words of Jesus and doing the will of the one who send me.

Are you thirsty today and you just can’t figure out why? May you come to Jesus and drink deeply from his words of life and find fulfillment in living a life filled with the mission of God.

SEE: Griller sandwiches and the kingdom of God. (John 3)

What are we missing?

In just one week Lorelai will start kindergarten. We have been looking forward to this for a while, the full school day. When I thought about going back to get my doctorate I always thought it would be best to do so once Lorelai had started school. So here we are right on schedule. I got a sudden ache today though for the little girl who comes home at lunchtime and eats her favorite griller sandwich that her daddy made for her. Those days are passing away she is growing up. I realized that I liked this point of view much better then the send Lorelai to school so I can get my work done point of view. I found myself praying that God would help me SEE the moments with my daughter in the light of love rather than the darkness of duty.

In John chapter 3 Jesus has a conversation with a teacher of Israel. Nicodemus comes to him in the middle of the night, cloaked in darkness to ask him some questions about eternal life. Jesus tells him that in order to SEE the kingdom of God he must be born again. Jesus tells him that he is testifying to the things he has seen. Only Jesus has been to heaven and only he can testify to the heavenly things. Unless we are born of the spirit we will be unable to SEE the kingdom of God. Later in the chapter John the Baptist reiterates this point, Jesus is testifying to what he has seen and heard. Jesus is the one who is from above. Without believing in Jesus we will not SEE eternal life.

Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus that being born again, born of the spirit, it to live in the light. He even defines judgment as rejecting the light in order to live in the darkness. It is pretty hard to SEE in the dark. This life is an awful lot like seeing in the dark. All we SEE is the physical world around us, which is broken and diminished by sin. But Jesus is testifying to that which is above this world, the world of light, eternal life.

Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song called SEE after losing his little girl. They found a piece of paper she had written on just before she died and it had a flower drawn on it and the word SEE written on it. Steven took comfort in the idea that there was a time coming when he would be able to SEE. All he can see now are the tears of sorrow and the brokenness of this world. But there is a time coming when he would SEE the earth made new, when he would SEE his daughter again, because on February 20^th his little girl had chosen to believe in Jesus and live in the light.

While I also long for the day when I will SEE the kingdom of God fully realized. I know that I want to start to SEE through the goodness of God’s light now. I want to SEE the glowing moments I have with my daughter now. I want to SEE the kingdom of light break through this present darkness at every moment it possibly can in my life.

May we believe in Jesus today so that we can be born of the spirit and SEE the kingdom now in glimpses and then in fullness.

I’m not safe for Jesus (John 2)

He did not entrust himself to the people because he knows all men.

So I’m flying back from a great vacation right now. I just visited my family. Dad and I played golf 3 or 4 times we floated the river and I had a great date with my wife. I’m headed back to school back to the books, back to the study of theology, the study of God. Why then do I, the man studying God, find myself fighting my demons again on the plane? My mind and body are so preoccupied with the ache of my own sinful desires I can’t seem to think of anything else.

I open my bible on my iphone searching for some sort of safety some sort of salvation. What do I find? Jesus knows me…he knows us all. In John 2 Jesus turns water into wine, he cleanses the temple, he is giving sign after sign of who he is and the people are beginning to believe in him. His disciples believe at the wine tasting at the wedding and they remember the zeal he is to have for his father’s house has he makes a whip of chords and tosses the temple tables. Many others come to believe in him because of the signs he is doing and yet Jesus doesn’t entrust him self to them because he knows all men.

Jesus knows our thoughts, he knows our hearts, he knows our desires and intentions. Believing in him doesn’t make us safe. Just because I am studying God for my life’s work and I am doing so with full faith in him doesn’t mean that he can entrust himself to me. Why…because my sin still requires the cross. I still need his life for my life. The battle was raging only moments ago in my heart, mind, and body require the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to set me free. Even though I believe…I am not safe for Jesus.

But he came here anyway.

He knows it wasn’t safe and he came here anyway. The light entered the darkness knowing the world would not receive him, knowing even though some might believe they would still not be safe. Even his disciples abandoned him when he was arrested. But he came anyway.

And he came again today. He came and met with me and gave me strength. He is my refuge I dove into my prayer journal crying out for help as the psalmist did and then help came. The Holy Spirit came and met with me and the void of sin was filled with completeness and wholeness. My desires are peaceful once again.

I am not safe for Jesus…but he comes anyway.

May he come into your life today as well.

Darkness turned into a reason to believe. (John 1)

Why don't you believe?

I am drawn to the book of John. I always have been. I never really understood why until today. I think it is because of John's emphasis on belief, which is tied directly to my struggle with doubt. So many times in my life I have been unsure whether or not I believe in God. Does this whole thing really make sense. Because of that struggle I often see faith or belief as a very mystical thing. I tend to read the Gospel of John as a very mystical book. So other worldly and beyond understanding...so mysterious and ethereal. The strange thing is...John doesn't write this way about belief at all.

In John chapter 1 there is all this seemingly mystical stuff about the word being with God in the beginning and being God in the beginning. Then there is this light that comes to darkness and then the light/word comes to "his own," which is the "world" by the way. They whole world not just those going to synagogue or church every week. The fullness of God and all creation are in Jesus and he makes his dwelling among us. Jesus moves in to the neighborhood. Then John, the author, points out that John the baptist is here to testify about Jesus so that those in the world will believe. If they do believe then they will become the children of God. Ok this all sounds rather mysterious and ethereal.

But John goes on to anchor it all down. John the baptist is told that the one he baptizes who has the Spirit of God descend of him is the messiah. Well Jesus is baptized and down comes the spirit. Then Jesus is cruising along collecting disciples and Phillip goes to find his brother Nathaniel. Jesus tells Nathaniel that he was sitting under a fig tree before Phillip found him and Nathaniel all of a sudden declares his faith in Jesus. Jesus laughs a little at Nathaniel's expense..."You believe because I told you which tree you were under, you will see much greater things than this. You will see angels ascending and descending on the son of man."

Now all of these proofs for belief are rather ethereal in nature, but they are presented as logical proofs. People were told things which then come true. They are offered concrete observable phenomenon to give evidence to their faith. John's whole premise for writing it that the people who read his words might believe. He is presenting signs of evidence.

There are many different reasons for doubt. God doesn't show up when we ask him too. According to John the darkness just didn't understand the light. There are lots of things we don't understand because they are so other than us. Which is where my struggle came in. I choose not to understand because my sin what so other than the light. I didn't really want God to exist because then I didn't have to keep my self in check morally if there was no God. But God saved me from my addiction anyway and my own life became the greatest evidence for me to believe.

I don't know why you don't believe in your moments of doubt. I don't know what it is in your life that is so dark that you just don't understand the light. But I invite you to let God shine in, because he has some evidence in mind for you which you probably just don't understand right now. I still argue with God about his reality and my belief, but he can take it. I still stumble in sin but he still forgives me and low a behold I have yet another evidence to believe.

May God get through to us today...may he turn our darkness into light and give us the very evidence we need to believe.

Yoga and Faith - strengthening your core (Philemon)

Have you ever notice how much stronger you faith is the more your exercise it?

The last 10 days I have been bach'ing it at home with Lorelai while Laura is finishing the recording for her new CD. It has been good enough as time alone goes. I have lots of support and helpful hands to aid in Lorelai's care and haven't felt too burnt out at all. The only real trick I have found is getting in exercise. Laura and I had worked out this system in the evening. One of us would go for a walk once Lorelai was in bed and then the other one would go after that. Well this works great when there are two of you at home. Now that Laura is not home, I can't leave the house once Lorelai is in bed. So what do I do for my exercise time? I was trying to get it done at another time in the day but that just wasn't working. So I did some searching on Netflix and found a yoga workout. I thought well this won't be the same level of exercise I am used to but it will have to do. Well I was right it wasn't the same level it was much, much harder!

The real push with exercise like Yoga is strengthening your core muscles. Those muscles that give you foundation and balance and stability, the muscles that hold your hold body together. It's really hard work!

As I was reading through Philemon there was a phrase that stood out too me. "I pray that you may be active in sharing our faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good things we have in Christ."(Verse 6) This prayer that Paul is offering is a striking one. The idea that when we actively share our faith the fuller our understanding becomes. This is not a strange concept, when I teach something I better understand it. That's simple enough. But let's take this a little bit further, a little bit deeper.

Paul is not telling us to be active in sharing our knowledge, but in sharing our faith. What is faith? Well by definition faith is trust. So we are to be actively sharing our trust with others to fully understand the good things we have in Christ. So many times we think of the christian faith as a foundation of knowledge which we stand on and share. But that really keeps our faith outside of us. Trust has to be at our core. Philosophically postmodernism has rejected foundational-ism, the idea of absolute objective truth which we can stand on. While I am not in favor of rejecting absolute truth, I do see a need to rethink our foundation.

Jesus promises to give us a new heart and a new mind. He offers to give us a new core. He wants to write his laws, his law of love, upon our hearts. He wants to shape our desires. He wants to bring the very center, the very core of our being in line with him. He wants to dwell in our core by the Holy Spirit. Our faith is not so much about a foundation of knowledge to stand on, but a new core of trust growing in strength as it is actively exercised every day. When people see a life of trust in God expressed from our core, through our actions, our love, our words, and yes our knowledge too, they will be drawn to the new remade center of who we are. The core of Christ in us the hope of glory.

May we exercise our faith/trust daily so that this new core will be strengthened bringing us the stability we need of a deeper faith. A faith that holds all the rest of us together. Then we will have a fuller understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

Live in harmony...but you don't mean him, right? (titus 3)

Have we forgotten where we came from?

I have an issue with saying things I shouldn't when I get too hungry. My blood sugar gets low and I start wanting to tell people just what I think about them. When I'm hungry my thoughts usually aren't very nice. When I was in college I was over at my girl friends house, her roommate came in to fill us in on the date she just had. Well she was really telling my girlfriend. This was talk not intended for male ears. I don't mean in the mushy romantic sense either. It was female locker room talk concerning the physical build of this guy.

We were in the kitchen and I was working on making dinner, so I was getting close to having food in my system, sugar in my blood, and control of my mouth, but I didn't have it yet. I couldn't take it anymore and my not nice thoughts came bursting forth. "I'm sure glad you got your slab of meat for the night, that's all you think guys are!" It got so quiet, she was stung, and I felt like the biggest jerk ever.

In Titus Chapter 3 Paul tells Titus to remind those around him to submit to authority and be obedient. He goes on to say, we also need to live in harmony with everyone and not bring slander against anyone. We are to treat everyone with humility. Why? Because we used to be the same way. We used to be consumed with the lusts of this world, malice, and all kinds of mess.

Paul emphasizes it was only through the kindness, love, and mercy of God that we have been saved, renewed, made clean by the Holy Spirit. In fact the only people Paul tells us to shun are religious people who are stuck in arguments over the law dividing the body of Christ. In other words those who are not living in harmony with those around them. Those who have forgotten that they were forgiven, those who have forgotten where they came from.

Making that kind of comment to my girlfriends roommate that night was sooooo not in harmony and humility especially coming from a guy who has his own issues with purity. I had forgotten who I was, where I came from, and the loving God who had forgiven me.

When I approach God with my sin I do so expecting to find a loving God who will forgive me. This is the God the scriptures teach about and promise we will meet when we confess our sins and even if we are caught in the act. Jesus forgives the woman caught in adultery, he hangs out with prostitutes and sinners. Jesus didn't even have anything to be forgiven for and he was still merciful.

Why shouldn't people who approach me come with the same expectation of kindness, love, mercy, and grace. If I am made in the image of God, forgiven and recreated in the image of God, shouldn't people be able to expect the same from me? Can people come to you with the expectation of finding love and forgiveness?

Today, may we truly learn what it means to be kind, humble, loving, and grace-filled. May we remember were we came from and how far we still have to go as we live in harmony with those around us. 

Stop the world, I wanna get off. (Titus 2)

Do you wish things could just slow down sometimes?

I love Friday nights! I especially love them now that I am back in school. When I was pastoring in my last church I had the wonderful Friday night experience of youth vespers every week. There was a joy there and a rest there as well and I loved creating that space for my students. But now that I am in school again and have Friday nights to myself and my family once again. I have discovered the deep delight of settling in for the night and having time for reflection and a search for God. We really do need this don't we? A time to stop and rest, a sanctuary in time so to speak. When the world just slows down a little. The truth is the rest of the world doesn't really slow down all that muchl. It keeps on spinning. I have found that we can get off the spin cycle if we want to. We can slow down even if everything else does not.

In Titus chapter 2, Paul is encouraging Titus to teach those around him how to have self-controlled lives. He says that when older men and women learn what it means to have self controlled lives then they can mentor those younger men and women around them to have the same. Paul also encourages Titus to live such a life and be an example. He tells Titus to learn how to say, "No!" to worldly passions. What does he mean by the phrase worldly passions or lusts as some translations have it? Is he talking about immorality and sex? Well maybe, the world is pretty sex crazed. But as I thought about it more, the passion of the world seems to have much more to do with getting ahead in live. This might include sex, career, money, the perfect family doing all the perfect things in the perfect SUV, but so busy they never actually see each other.

I wonder if living part of a self controlled life actually has more to do with shaping our priorities enough so we can actually slow down and live. As I slow down tonight I have to say this seems true to me. Sense I have slowed down my activity level and entered into school and study again, I have found time to live deeper and richer. I can still get caught up in school work, but my business has slowed down enough that I can get a restart in the way I look at life. Some things have changed already. I started taking better care of myself physically, eating right and exercising, even attending a health seminar. I have written papers yes, but also found time for an article I have been thinking about for years and I have found time to blog again. Our living expenses have been cut in half and its a good thing we are living more simply.

I know that many of you can't press the reset button on life right now, or at least you feel like you can't. But you can start small. Get off the merry-go-round of the world at least once a week. This is what Sabbath is for. Slow down, breathe, think, pray, and live a little bit better balanced life. Self controlled...hmm...sometimes it takes doing just what the text said. Just...say...no.

No I'm not going to do that extra thing tonight. Sometimes we have to say no in order to be able to say yes to something else.

May we all learn to live self-controlled lives, lives where we can say no, stop, and rest. I pray we would choose to leave the worldly passions behind and live deeper and more richly. Start today, stop right now.

Hey everybody, make me famous!! (Titus 1)

What is the motive behind our desire to inform others of what we know or have found?

It's time for a little reality check for me. Why do I write this blog? Why after writing this blog do I check the stats daily to see how many people have read this blog? Why am I thinking about trying to get this blog published? I had to think about this as I was sending in some samples to a publisher. They wanted to know the purpose of why I wanted to write this book. The answer I gave was to hopefully open the hearts and minds of its readers to the real life application of scripture. To put skin on scripture so to speak. By sharing my life along with the words of scripture I could help people connect faith with life. This sounds like a noble purpose doesn't it? But is this really why? Or am I just trying to create some sort of following for myself and receive a pat on the back and praise for what a talented writer and spiritual person I appear to be.

Titus Chapter 1 really brings this warning out strongly in my heart. Paul writes a comparison in this chapter comparing the type of person who can be an elder (a person of integrity, who takes care of their family and does not seek dishonest gain) and the type of person who has "spiritual" rituals and words but does them for dishonest gain ruining whole households in the process. Paul really goes after these guys who are emphasizing these myths of what will make you holy. He goes so far to say that for those who are pure everything is pure but for those who are corrupt everything is corrupt even their thoughts. You can tell by their actions what kind of men they are. These men who say "spiritual things" and tell others to do them as well, just to gain a following. Even the good things they do are corrupt. So why do we do what we do?

I remember being asked once what I most want to be. The only thing I could come up with was, "a humble man of God." I really didn't know what else to say. This sounds like the perfect kind of political statement for a spiritual leader. But the truth is that is a dangerous desire to have. To be a humble man of God means I will need to be humbled again and again and again...this doesn't mean that I grovel in self pity, but that I take a look at why I am doing what I am doing. To be a humble man of God is to realize the things that I do come from the gifts that he gave me and their purpose is to bring him glory not to lift me up or gain me influence. But to life him up and gain him influence.

May the actions we do today bring God glory. May this be our only hope of gain. Nothing dishonest not using spiritual things for temporal gain, but glorifying God with all that we are and all he has gifted us with.

Research papers and the grand canyon (2 Timothy 4)

Are you longing for anything tonight?

Well the last five days or so I have been alone at home. My lovely wife and precious little girl have gone off gallivanting with my family. Strange I know that they would go and I would stay, but that is they way it works when you are in classes. To tell you the truth I was kind of looking foward to the time alone. Yes I was wishing I could see my family and I've never been to the grand canyon, but I had things that I wanted to get done. You can only get so much work done on a 35+ page papers when you have a wonderful family around to distract you.

So I know the last few days were going to be productive ones, if I could stay on task that is. And I really did quite well I get my whole rough draft punched out which turns out to be about 48 pages so I have done my scholarly duty. But I can tell you there is some definite loneliness setting in. I get to a certain point in the evening and I don't know what to do with myself other than find some sort of show to watch and play stupid apps on my phone. I am really looking forward to picking up my girls from the airport tomorrow.

In 2 Timothy chapter 4 Paul lets Timothy know he is done in. He has fought the good fight he has finished his calling, he has been poured out like a drink offering. Paul is spent he knows he has come near to the end of his ministry here on earth. 2 Timothy is believed to be the last letter Paul wrote before he died. Then paul tells Timothy what he is expecting to come next. He is completely sure there is a crown of righteousness waiting for him to be given him by his faithful judge Jesus Christ. Then he adds this crown is not only for him but for all those who have longed for the return of Christ. There is a work to be done, Paul has done his work faithfully be he longs for his Savior to return and for the work to be finished. This is the assurance of the reward of heaven, the longing to be with Jesus.

I think about the longing I have right now to see my girls, I had work to get done. I have finished it. The time while they were gone was well spent, but I am longing for their return. Now I let the thought sink a little bit deeper. I know I have many years of ministry ahead of my still, but I have to say I am longing for the return of Jesus as well. And...well...according to Paul this sense of longing means there is a crown waiting for me on that day.

Do you long for the return of Christ? Are you tired today? Are you worn out by the strain of life and you would just like some rest? We then be assured there is a crown of righteousness waiting for you to be given by your faithful judge Jesus Christ. You are in his favor and he is longing to place the crown on your head as well.

May we be haunted by a deep sense of longing tonight for the soon return of Jesus on this Easter weekend. He rose again and he has promised he is coming back for us. Let it sink if open yourself up to longing today.

Lovers of God (2 Timothy 3)

What does its really mean to be lovers of God?

It's funny to me the different ways that men and women get ready for dates. I noticed it one day when my wife and I were getting ready to go out on a date. I was taking in the romantic mood and setting which my wife had set up as she got ready. She had a bath with nice smelling salts and candles. She turned on some lovely peaceful romantic music and she was using the time to make herself as captivating as she could be for an evening out with her husband. It was a nice ritual and it fit her so well. When she is done she is ready to flow out the door and be swept away on a romantic night with her husband.

But in my head I was thinking about the way in which I get ready for dates if Laura is not in the house or before we got married. Oh I turn on music alright, the louder the better. Whatever it is that gets me moving. The getting ready process I am playing my best air guitar and drums. It's one of those times when I scream out the melody that is way to high for me to sing and feel like I got it right on. Shave, slap on the hair gel, the whole time my feet never stop moving to the beat. When I am done I am ready to rock out the door for an evening of thrills and adventure with my wife.

Is one way better than another? No not really, we both have the same goal. We both want a great night together with each other and we are fully confident it will come. We simply approach it in a different way. We are both lovers of each other in our own ways.

In 2 Timothy chapter 3 Paul tells Timothy in the last days there will be those who are lovers alright. Lovers of themselves, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure, having a form of godliness but denying its power. But they are not lovers of God. Paul actually says they really are unloving and without forgiveness.

When we are getting ready for our date we could be going out for many different reasons. We could be going out because we like the way we look when we get all dressed up (lovers of ourselves), we could be going out to impress others with the extravagance of our clothes or a great tip (lovers of money), or we could be going out because we really love to eat good food and we know the loving we will get out of a "romantic" evening (lovers of pleasure).

But if we went out for these reasons rather than to be with each other would we really have any love at all? We would have the appearance of being in love but would we have the power of a truly loving relationship? Would we come to the end of the evening and separate to our own things and find ourselves all the more lonely?

It is good for us to want to look good...for each other. It is good for us to have a great meal and a great night when we get back home...with each other. When our days and dates are spent seeking to love the other and growing in the warmth of the mutual support we offer each other there we will have not only an appearance of a relationship but the power of our love in one another's lives.

If we read our bibles in the morning to check something off our christian duty to do list, if we dress up and go to church to show we are good people, if we give our offering so that some how we will be financially blessed, if we raise our hands in worship only to get the thrill of shocking the old conservatives next to us then we have an appearance of a relationship but we don't have any power.

As I have been pausing to listen to what God might have to say to me these last couple of days I keep sensing that he is emphasizing his love. I need God's love in my life. I need the power it brings for me to be able to live with love and forgiveness towards my family and others around me. I need to be a lover of God and I need his love in me!

May we be lovers of God today. I don't want just the appearance of godliness I want to be a lover of God. Don't you?

Flashpoint...saving kids

So this one is a little out of character. There is no next chapter for me to comment on. I have been watching some episodes of a show called flashpoint. The general story line is of a special response unit of police. So far all of the episodes have been hostage negotiations. But episode 6 of season one is a little different.

There is a girl just trying to make it through life. She is probably 17 years old. He mother is a drunk and she has turned in a lead gang guy for attempted rape. She heads to work at the mall and is pushed around by some girls from the gang. When she goes on break at the mall she is attacked by the same girls in one of the mall bathrooms. They beat her up, chop a bunch of her hair off and then begin to threaten her with guns. One of the girls drops her gun and the victim grabs it shoots one of the attackers and runs out of the bathroom. All the police know is someone is shot, but they begin to pick up the pieces of her story.

It comes down to a final scene of this beaten down girl hanging on the side of the building ready to jump and end it all. A woman on the Police force begins to try to talk her down. She gets closer and closer. Finally she clips in on the railing and climbs out next to the girl.

Out on the railing she affirms this courageous girl for being the survivor she is. She offers her understanding and promises of a stronger better life if she makes it through this. She finally convinces the girl to take her hand. The girl reaches out to take her hand and slips. The officer catches the girl and falls with her to be stopped by the strap she clipped in earlier. The are pulled up to safety battered and bruised but alive and OK.

I got done watching this episode and it occurred to me; this is what we are called to do. Youth workers, Christians, ethical human beings, this is what we are called to do. Find the people who have been pushed to the limit of desperation and reach out to them trying to draw them back. And then when they fall we catch them even if we get bruised in the process.

There are some interesting rules these police negotiators have to follow. They must form a connection with the person. They have to connect. There must be a relationship. In order to create this relationship they can only tell the truth.

Ministry is all about relationships, life is all about relationships. We are who we are based on the people we relate to and the way in which we treat them. We must connect. They bast way to do that is to be honest, to share a story some common ground, some common experience with the person.

The next important part is to recognize what is good in them and call it out. The more we can affirm the strengths in people the more they will want to continue in them.

And then sometimes we just have to be there to catch them when the fall. Clipped in to our own support network so both of us don't fall. We have to let go of the railing and catch them.

Who would you be willing to let go of your own safety in order to catch them?

It was an intense and inspiring moment. I hope we would all be so compassionate.