Do you love me?

Posted on by justinlewis78

One of the most haunting scenes in Scripture to me is the conversation that Jesus has with Peter at the end of the Gospel of John (21:15-19).  Three times Jesus asks the question, “Do you love me?”  I’m reminded of this scene as we move through The Jesus Creed and are consistently being invited to reflect upon, declare, and demonstrate our love for God and others.

Most scholars see the three-fold re-affirmation of Peter’s love as a contrast to his three-fold denial days earlier.  If the scene with Peter and Jesus feels awkward and oddly repetitive …and you find yourself experiencing the angst of Peter as he declares, “of course I love you!” then be comforted in knowing that the awkwardness is the point.  We too find ourselves hearing the repetitions of themes and questions and if can feel laborious to return to our same ol’ answer. Sometimes it’s our shame or fear that keeps us from drawing near the Savior.  Like Peter, we need not hear Jesus’ questions as a “shame on you” but more as an “are you ready to come home?”

Take heart, dear church!  Jesus knows the Abba’s heart so well that he wants to convey his never-ending, never-exhausted love, never-second-guessed love to all of us who need to be invited back.  Let us return to the feast with Jesus and confident in his reception.  Then, listen to His voice and trust that he will use us to reflect his love to the world.

The Goal of Groups

Posted on by justinlewis78

With all the different types of groups at WPC, it’s helpful at the launch of a new season to remember that groups have a goal.  Think about it, every group has a goal: the choir leads in artistic worship, a basketball team plays to compete and win, and a youth group provides challenging and dynamic experiences for youth to begin their faith journey.

So what is our goal for adult small groups? Simply put, it’s GROWTH. Spiritual growth is the follower of Christ’s endeavor to become more like Him and live missionally in the world that He died to save.

Now, the realistic challenges of each group are numerous. Irregularity changes the ability to fellowship consistently.  A growing and robust size changes the ability to experience personal depth.  And time… time is always the enemy of groups!

A quick test for every group should be are we growing?  If we are growing spiritually, then our faith seems stronger, our knowledge of God is richer, and our personal application of study becomes increasingly practical.  If we are growing missionally, then our groups shepherd one another in life’s difficulties and joys and we are introducing others to Christ in our community. If we are growing in size, then our community is multiplying!  With multiplication, however, comes NEW groups – with new facilitators, fresh voices, and resources.  We try new things.  We let others step into the gap to live out their giftedness and be used by God.

So my friends, let’s ask the question about our groups…are we growing?  I anticipate that many of our groups will say “YES!”  And if we say “not quite” then let’s boldly ask God to help us get on track!  

 

Learning to Pray

Posted on by justinlewis78

I’ve always found prayer to be one of the spiritual disciplines that everyone wants to improve on.  We often think of prayer as the times we give God our words and thoughts.  Sometimes we mistakenly try to “update” God on the comings and goings within our minds and neglect the truth that his omniscience clarifies this thinking as foolish.

So then, what are we doing when we pray?  We are entering before “God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16)  This is done in full participation of the Godhead: the Spirit delivers, the Son presents, the Father hears and blesses.  This holy dance happens as we pray and somehow experience the cosmic interplay of power, humility, and glory.

I confess that so often I pray because I want to change God – change his mind or move him to act on my behalf or my loved ones.  The reality, of course, is that prayer – true prayer that is aligned with the will of God – will often change me. 

What if we began to pray with this assumption and posture?  What if we as a church prayed expectantly and with hope that the discipline of prayer is not a checklist or debrief of the day?  Instead, I submit, we offer our hearts to God and ask for his Voice to change us.  Not only would this change our private prayer life, but doing this in community (small groups) might lead to richer times of prayer together.  Try asking questions of God and allowing space or silence to wait.  Read the psalms as corporate prayers – as they were intended.  Pray the Lord’s Prayer or psalm as a group and in your own words.  Have someone keep up with answered and unanswered prayers in a group journal, revisiting past entries for celebration or for persistence.

Prayer – both corporately and privately – can truly transform your life and your understanding of God.  Richard Foster once wrote, “In prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after him: to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills.”  In this way, we pattern our lives after our Lord Jesus and become more like him as well as more intimately know and be known by him.

 

Keeping the Stream

Posted on by justinlewis78

First…a parable of our souls. (watch below)

I’ve been reading John Ortberg’s Soul Keeping in the days leading up to a trip to the Dominican Republic with Mission Emanuel.  Part of my assignments for these days is to lead 2 seminars on “Getting the most out of our time with God.” 1

Here in the beauty of Cielo (meaning “sky” or “heaven”) we work and play and dig deep wells of beautiful relationships.  Americans and Dominicans (and sometimes Haitians) work together to create and dream for justice and healing.  For these days (or rather, hours) of teaching, I gather with two groups: American teenagers and young adults serving here for 3 weeks and Dominican men and women who work in the ministry office.

There are two distinct cultural perspectives at work: young people who are just learning about their spiritual journeys…still forming to words and phrases to capture the relentless love of Christ and a personal relationship with their Creator.  And then there are those who serve the ministry every day – keeping the books, organizing projects, managing staff, maintaining the campus and its resources.  Amazing men and women who come from different walks of life and together care for an entire community. No matter the differences between these two groups, it is clear… every soul hungers for God.  That’s why every hand goes up when I ask, “who here would like to have a better devotional life?”.

Our first day is spent on “Spiritual Personalities”.  I discovered this phase almost 8 years ago when leading a group study on An Ordinary Day with Jesus, by Ortberg and Ruth Haley Barton.  A major premise of the study is to admit that each of us is designed uniquely, and in our rebirth in Christ, we have particular tendencies defined by our soul’s hunger and learning styles.2

Just like the video above and the story of the “keeper of the stream”, we must be caretakers of our souls.  With debris on the edges and branches that fall and disturb the flow, our souls require attention.  The personalities each of us discover can point to the way we connect to God (Relational, Worship, Intellectual, Creation, Contemplative, Activism, Service) and categorically experience nourishment in his presence.

It’s amazing how throughout my life and most other Christians, we adopt a discipleship strategy that’s akin to “one size fits all”…or as one friend described a bad medicine experience, “when I was sick, (my friend/non-doctor) gave me an antibiotic that worked for him, so I took it.  But I got sicker.  Later, my doctor told me I was having a reaction and it would take weeks or months to recover from taking that antibiotic.”

Imagine the freedom of discovering that God has wired your soul to connect with Him while being relational with others – and the frustrations you experience in being in solitude or attempting contemplative disciplines are simply not your personal pathways to growth.  It DOESN’T mean we can avoid those disciplines (in fact spiritual disciplines is our topic for the remaining session).  But it DOES mean that we understand our souls better and stop taking the proverbial medicine that works for someone else and expect the same result in us.  It means that we can stop pushing others to experience the same emotional joy that we experience at a breathtaking sunset, a piece of art, a song in the order of worship, an explosive teaching of Scripture, a cause of justice or a humbling act of service.  We free ourselves from such expectations and bless others by doing the same.

So let’s return to the stream of our souls and care for it well.  Let’s enjoy the beautifully unique ways God has made us and be grateful.  Let’s pursue an experience with the Lover of our souls and connect with him in the life-giving ways we would incorporate with a loved one.  And let us learn from others and appreciate the ways they are uniquely encountering God.   If you have not taken such an assessment, I encourage you to do so.  For you might discover what I and thousands of others have and grow stronger in your devotional life by living in the “personality” you already have and enjoy God more fully in the process.

Footnotes:
1 I came up with the title a few days ago and regret how consumeristic it sounds. Perhaps “How to enjoy our time with God”…

2 I have since also discovered Gary Thomas’s work on the same – Sacred Pathways.  Yet I found the former assessment works a bit better when translating to young people or in Spanish.)

“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”

Posted on by justinlewis78

This post was written upon reflection of the ESPYs and clips of Jimmy Valvano and Stuart Scott prepare us for the award show tonight.

I first heard Jim Valvano’s words back in 1993: “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” (If you haven’t watched this…please do.)

I was just a 15-year-old kid who loved UNC basketball, yet here was our rival’s coach drawing every human emotion out of me and I could not understand why.   Twenty-two years later, I can now resonate with the need for Jimmy V’s challenge… and how so many of life’s challenges invite us to choose a path of fight or flight. Stand or surrender.   Being a person of faith in Christ usually means we do a bit of both. Sometimes, we pick battles that stand for something—a moral code, justice, defending the little guy or a decision to believe something our culture does not.  Sometimes, we have to look a little more like our rabbi Jesus who taught us to love our enemies and pray, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done” and in doing so, we deny our agenda and yield to Another’s.

So how do we choose? When do we stand or fall?

Twenty-one years after Jimmy V’s challenge, another fighter stepped into the spotlight. In 2014, Stuart Scott (UNC alum and ESPN icon) gave this clarification:

“When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live. So, live. Live. Fight like hell. And when you get too tired to fight then lay down and rest and let somebody else fight for you. That’s also very, very important. I can’t do this “don’t give up” thing all by myself.”

Scott’s inspirational words remind us that our humanity shows us what we are capable of and also how needy we are. Our strength and weaknesses are both part of the story God is writing for us.

I was recently speaking with a mother of a young adult who was raised in our church, but chose a lifestyle of rebellion and pleasure. Recently, this young man attended church and has asked his parents for some biblical wisdom and affirmation. “We’ve been through this,” she said. “We can’t afford to go down this road again and get our hopes up, only to have our hearts broken again.”

How do you convince a parent to keep fighting for her beloved son? I could only offer her a reminder that this boy too was baptized and loved. Parents and the church made a commitment to never give up. We made promises. And we keep them. We continue to fight for him and so many others on our trembling knees before God. After all, it is His will we are seeking, so we should be approaching Him, pleading with Him, thanking Him through each challenge that throws us into uncertainty.

I am reminded of Paul’s words to a young discouraged man leading his church in Ephesus,

3-4 Timothy, you are constantly in my prayers. Day and night I remember you before God and give thanks to Him whom I serve with a clean conscience, as did my ancestors. I really want to see you, especially when I remember how you cried the last time we were together. Yes, I know it would make me joyful to see you again. 5 What strikes me most is how natural and sincere your faith is. I am convinced that the same faith that dwelt in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, abides in you as well. 6 This is why I write to remind you to stir up the gift of God that was conveyed to you when I laid my hands upon you. 7 You see, God did not give us a cowardly spirit but a powerful, loving, and disciplined spirit. (The Voice translation)

Paul tells this young pastor that while things are difficult now, he is being prayed for and loved on. The problem might linger, but his heart will be strengthened through days of earnest faith. Paul reiterates that the faith of others (his mother and grandmother) has been instrumental in his past and current situation. In short, the tapestry of prayers weaved by the saints bring Timothy present encouragement.

So for now, we wait. With faith that wavers, ebbs and flows. Yet we are also strengthened by moments on our knees or tweet-prayers shot to the heavens while we’re stuck in traffic. Our God — and “the cloud of witnesses” from our spiritual family – allow us to never give up.

We will never run out of fights. Some of them will take us to our final breaths. But we should never believe the lie that we can be defeated.   For only one, allowed Himself to be defeated by the weight of sin. Yet even then, our glorious King Jesus rose again to defeat death and show us that HOPE will always remain.

So fight. Fight like hell. And if things don’t go your way, let the grief of loss take you into the arms of a resurrected reminder of everlasting victory. Don’t let fear keep you from praying for those you love. Don’t let pain keep you from climbing that last hill. Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.

When fears are stilled

Posted on by justinlewis78

Have you been to the movies lately? My guess is that most of you have. There are a lot of good films out right now and it would be a shame to miss them on the big screen. So far within the New Year I have seen a wide variety of flicks from Frozen to Captain America and even God’s Not Dead (of which I recommend to students).  All of them have been good, but as I was reflecting on the sum of them I realized that they all encompassed prominent themes of fear.

So naturally I start to wonder the logic that Hollywood uses to determine a “best seller” for an audience that is largely made up of our generation because we aren’t parents and will pay to see the movies twice. Or perhaps they look at our larger national or cultural trends and choices.

Perhaps they aren’t saying that we’re a fearful society, but I do think we are a generation who needs to understand what we fear and more importantly what to do with it.
Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting in on a live Google chat with other college ministry directors across the nation.One of them was conveying a common struggle among his students was a constant fear of failure that was keeping them from reaching their full potential. Whether or not this is true nationwide, I think everyone has something they are afraid of. It is not much a question of if we fear, but when. Fear in its self is not a bad thing, but when it works hand in hand with lies it will cripple us every time. This leads to my next point, that we have an enemy looking to bring us down. If Satan is mindful of are fears and how to use them, don’t you think you should as well?  We will not be doing ourselves any favors either when we think we can handle them on our own and belittle them from what they really are, because when it comes down to it we are not meant to do this life alone.

I don’t know why, but I feel that God wants you all to know that whatever it is He’s got it. You have no need to fear. He has so many wonderful gifts in this life just waiting for you, but you must be brave and make him first. Let’s not be a fearful generation because we aren’t recognizing them, don’t know how to deal with it or worse are just too lazy. Let’s be the generation that leans into a loving God, boldly claiming every promise he has given us and live into everything He has for us to become.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Psalms 23:4

Stretched

Posted on by justinlewis78
Building 429′s anthem on the radio proclaims, “we won’t be shaken” and declares a hopeful heart that we can take whatever this world throws at us.  It’s true.  Absolutely true… that God has given us a powerful women against the domineering assault of stress and pain.  Through his help and presence we are cared even when it doesn’t feel like we’ve got the stuff to take it.  The psalmist declares this too:

Cast your troubles upon the Eternal; His care is unceasing! He will not allow His righteous to be shaken. Psalm 55:22 (The Voice)

This important truth might just save you today…or tomorrow.

But consider too that God knows what tensions you live in.  You don’t have to pretend like the small stuff you’re sweating is irrelevant to Him.  He cares.  And He holds you through it.  Nancy Ortberg describes this tension in her book to leaders, Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands, and her suggestion (among many) is to know that some tensions are meant to be lived in…and managed.  Picture the rubber band: in it’s unstretched state it holds nothing.  When it’s stretched it finds it’s healthy purpose.  Stretch too much and…SNAP!!!  So we like the rubber band find what tensions we must manage.

Ongoing stresses of course are unhelpful and described by smarter people than me as damaging to your brain and health.  And by all means, resist the enemy’s temptation to sit in worry and frustration.  Just remember that the way we trust God…with the big stuff and the small…is learning how to used best and confident in His all-sufficient strength.

Brave

Posted on by justinlewis78

It was my New Year’s resolution last year to start a blog for my journey of discovering how to be braver. Sadly, like many of our New Year’s resolutions, it has yet to be fulfilled. To be honest I don’t feel like I’ve done enough to speak as an expert in this exploration because bravery requires more than I realized at the start of this personal chapter. In the last four years God has challenged my trembling heart to be brave. I thought He was asking me to take charge of my life, but what I have discovered is that he was asking me to get down on my knees to take charge of my faith.

Let’s be honest, being a Christian is not for the faint of heart. When you really look at what Jesus continually asks us to pursue in our walk with Him it always comes back to relationship. As I had mentioned in my last Thursday Thought, God has challenged me to give up much, because the more we draw closer to Him in relationship, the more we have to give something else up. This is true for all of our healthy relationships, but following God will require us at some point in our lives to give up everything. This would be devastating if He was an evil dictator, but He’s not. Our loving Heavenly Father wants us to trust Him with everything, holding loosely to all that is seen for the greater understanding that we are residents of Heaven belonging to Him in all that is unseen. He will never ask us to give up something that He in turn will not restore with something better. Even so, my heart must choose to be brave.

So as we start this New Year afresh, my question to leave with you and myself is, Are you willing to be brave? Will you surround yourself with the support you need to build up your faith and trust the One who is so present and yet unseen? Let’s boldly let go of things that hold us back from claiming what is truly ours in Christ. Resolve to belong to Him, not your schedule, grades, anxiety, etc, have faith and be brave.

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
2 Timothy 1:7

[I am so excited to share the journey with you.Click the picture and let the song inspire some motivation.]

4 years

Posted on by justinlewis78

I recently saw a promo for Salem College and it asked, “How will I change the world?”  The response was “I don’t know.  But I know where I will begin.”  Do you ever stop to think about where you began?

4 years ago I stepped in as Director for Emmaus.  Over the years I have been able to make and cherish relationships with so many of you.  I knew little of rolling the quad (your own quad!?!), or of Salem traditions, or Shag-on-the-what-now?  But I learned from each of you.  And I learned with you.  For graduating seniors, this is an especially tender moment as I can recall moments from your first days to laughing and celebrating with you in these final months at school.

We can’t possibly know what these years at college will do in us when we first arrive.  4 years ago, I was trying to figure out how I could possibly learn all your names.  4 years ago, you were probably thinking “Wooohoooo!  College!!!”  And that probably became “I can’t wait to be done!”  And now I’m sure there’s a new thought: “I’m not ready to leave!”

Student, you aren’t meant to tarry too long in these formative years (sniff, sniff).  Instead you are meant to capture every ounce of insight, companionship, joy, the occasional sports victory, the late night milkshake runs, romantic crushes and career preparation as well as the mistakes we learned from and the desire to grow as pilgrims on the journey.  We at Emmaus have done our part to prepare you but the road ahead is one Christ — the pioneer and perfecter of faith — is eager to meet you on.  And that’s really where you begin… and why we will rejoice when we think of you.