Until It Becomes Your Own

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Watching an infant baptism can be quite mesmerizing.  At a glance, it might seem to be another “church ritual”.  And depending on the tradition you grew up in, it might raise some theological questions.  Just recently we participated in such a celebration as one family (someone who grew up at Westminster and said her ‘yes’ to Jesus here) presented her child for this covenant-making ceremony.

This experience can be deeply impactful for our community.  There will be those who join this family in adult Bible study and volunteers and nursery workers who sing lullabies and whisper-sing “Jesus Loves Me”.  Some of you even will tell the Story of Jesus through Scripture-infused song and projects at VBS, coach and mentor with basketball teammates, guide and challenge at youth retreats, build trusted relationships through Community Groups. Through it all, they will see Jesus.

There is a line from a baptismal rite from the French Reformed Church that gets me every time.  After reciting the great deeds of heaven and mission of God to rescue mankind, the pastor says,

“…All of this was done for you, though you do not know any of this yet.  But we will continue to tell you this good news until it becomes your own.  And so the promise of the gospel is fulfilled: “We love because God first loved us.”

In these words, I am mindful that we enter a community experience like no other!  We are storytellers and keepers of the hope found only in Jesus Christ.  Every little child (and their family) who enters into this covenant shall be blessed by our watchful and tender care.  Every young person will be encouraged and challenged to nurture this lifelong relationship with a Savior.  Every adult – no matter how old or young – will bear the Name of Jesus and shine brightly in our community… all so that the next generation will discover life in Jesus Christ.

In doing so we are not participating in a “ritual”.  Instead, we are enjoying God and making Him known.

How Should We Feel?

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Like most of America, I sat through the results of the election last week with anticipation and concern.  In my 20 years as a voting adult, I’ve never felt this way.  Of course, I’ve dabbled in both hyperabsorption and abstinence of the media’s coverage.  The result is the same: I don’t know how to feel about all of this (– probably because I feel too much).

A few days later, Holly and I ran through some of her favorite communicators and their topics.  She shared that one in particular – an author gaining in national renown and encouraging thousands of women daily by her posts and speaking – recently confessed her love for another woman.  It was the first time I witnessed a Christian woman/leader redefining her sexuality on such a public stage.

Now, there was no “coming out” parade.  Conversely, there were no heralds of blasphemy or rebuke.  She simply identified that she is in love with a (particularly well known – besides the fact) woman.  I asked Holly, “How does this make you feel?” And she said, “I don’t know.”

To use the word confused would certainly come to mind for me.  But I don’t think it’s that really.

inside_out_emotions-03So let’s look at the Inside-Out top 5:  Am I sad?  Not exactly, it’s hard to be sad for someone who feels the love from companionship when she never thought she could.  Am I happy?  No.  Angry or afraid? Not really.  Disgusted?  Not at her choice, but maybe at how it’s being easily accepted by the Christian community.

I think we struggle with our feelings on the current climate of political discourse and those of sexuality, gender identity, and relationships because we stress too much how we ought to feel.

The reality is we ought to feel a lot.  It’s how God made us.  In the beauty of his divine design, He bestowed upon us the attributes of himself – physically and emotionally.  We understand this in its base form when someone says they have “fallen in love”; we recognize the beauty of that sentiment.  God is love (1 John 4:8), so the recognition of “love” is something – at least in our basic English understanding – beautiful.  However, if I were to say (and I’m not!!!), “I love my wife…and I love another woman” – this stirs concern in you and rightfully so.  As a result, I hope, you would articulate a loving, biblical response and walk with me through grace and truth.

A biblical response here is key.  In the example above, we know of God’s best for marriage because of His Creation narrative as a design of holy companionship (Gen 2:24), which I understand as between one man and one woman.  But that speaks only to my covenant relationship, not my feelings.  So it will take a concerted realignment of my heart to understand that even though I love this hypothetical other person, it is outside of God’s design for my holy relationship with Holly.

I end my thought here with this: our feelings usually influence our opinions.  Our opinions, then, are simply that… ours.  This means they will continue to conflict with each other and even our biblical knowledge and tradition because they stem from our own motives and desires.  That’s our world.  That’s our reality.

But there is also another.

In June 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States published their ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges, and as a result, effectively legalizing same-sex unions nationwide. With this new “law of the land” change, I preached a sermon and was terrified that I was supposed to address this monumental decision. Across the country, preachers did the same. Some spoke. Some led their congregations in prayer. Some rejoiced. Some tweeted. And I was silent on the issue.

Later that night, Holly and I visited Passion City Church and joined with thousands in worship. Pastor Louie Giglio admitted what I too had felt, yet his words assuaged my tongue-tied heart. He said (and I paraphrase here), the best thing he can do as a follower of Christ is to read God’s opinions in scripture. And as a pastor, his obligation is to communicate God’s opinions from scripture. He then went on to preach his prepared message.

Now, that doesn’t mean that he or the thousands of pastors across the country sat in silence out of fear or shame of the Gospel. It means that they…we accept the Kingdom reality that God’s opinions are authoritatively set above all others – a matter of fact that will continue to be incomprehensible and incompatible to agnostic intellectuals…or even professing evangelicals. It means that when I lead correctly, I will tell only what I know God gives me to tell. And of my feelings, I can be assured that God understands and allows for me to feel everything I feel about the issues and perplexities around us.

This leads me to prayer and reflection, to examine my own heart, to repent for my actions, inactions, and thoughts. And friends, I confess I do not do this consistently enough. Yet, when I do, this saves me from the abyss of despair, rage, prejudice, terror, or even ecstasy. For as a communicator of God’s authoritative word, I set my mind at ease that I can trust Him and more often than not, accept that my opinions will continue to shift, while God’s will stay the same.

When the day comes when I open my mouth to declare his promises and truth, I want to be the man who will speak what is his and not what is mine. That way, how I feel, will pale in comparison to the power and beauty of what I know to be true.

Exposed

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magnifying_glassStanding in front of a dermatologist for a skin test is an interesting way of being examined.  I know I’m not about to start a modeling career, but it’s a tad unsettling to see the flashy, laser magnifying class coming at you to examine the imperfections, flaws and questionable dots. After my exam today (everything’s good, btw) I couldn’t help thinking that I sometimes think of God that way.  I imagine his probing eye and his throat clearing way of telling me that there are spots…flaws in my character, my soul.

But is that who He really is?

Certainly God’s own character reveals his deliberate concern for his people’s thoughts and actions.  He knows what’s going through my mind and how I behave when no one’s looking. When I hear the Lord say “My grace is enough to cover and sustain you. My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9) I hear God’s encouragement to accept that he doesn’t just know every imperfection and flaw in me, but he is covering me with his grace.

May you too feel the realness of this covering.  You do not simply stand exposed before him… you are being covered in His infinite grace.

Good. Bad. Redeemed. (Pt 2)

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Read Part 1 here.

Yes, we are good.  AND, yes, we are bad.  

In his book, Changes that Heal, Dr. Henry Cloud discuss a mixing of Good-Bad. The G-B nature we have received has potential to destroy our perceptions of ourselves and others. Cloud mentions that a mature persecutive on our true nature will both accept our capacity for both. Apart from this maturity, we find ourselves self-loathing, unforgiving, bitter and alone. Such depravity means an existence void of trust. In its deepest state we refuse to even allow God’s grace to be sufficient over our sin. Such an existence leads to unconscionable misery and utter loneliness.

Too often we allow the proud of our accomplishments to cloud our rightful standing before God. At times we will even pursue a “Pride of failure” – believing that our mistakes are ours alone as well as all suffering that comes with them.  Such an attitude stems from our born-addiction to the flesh – that natural inclination to choose disobedience, painful burdens and

What do we do then with what remains? How do we embrace a stained mark upon every heartbeat and live for and serve others? How did the Savior embody such a love knowing what capacity for both good and bad lurked within his followers – and enemies? And yet, he offered his very blood as a ransom for all.

And this leads to the final truth and main point of this blog: Not only are we GOOD and BAD…WE ARE REDEEMED.

AW Tozer once wrote in prayer, “Lay upon the Thy easy yoke of self-forgetfulness, that through thee I might find rest.”  It was for rest…for freedom of self…that Christ offered himself into the wrath of God.  Such an extravagant gift was paid so that you and I might relinquish the pride of all we have wrought and discover that God’s goodness in us and our natural tendencies to sin are interwoven in a new fabric of Truth, namely that we are His.

If you, like me, tire of the constant ebbing and flowing of righteousness and repentance, it is because we are being remade to enjoy God forever.  Such enjoyment does not ignore the progress of Holiness in us, nor does it ignore the gravity of sin.  It makes us grateful.  It makes us Christ’s workmanship, it makes us ready to be used.  Perhaps this is the journey of healing for so many of us.

So may the journey bring you freedom to be God’s cherished child without fear, pride or guilt. And may you find rest in knowing that you are good, bad and redeemed.

Good. Bad. Redeemed. (pt 1)

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We have all heard it before – the familiar tune of a spoken defense of humanity’s attempt to live out its days without complete fault. Even we have fallen victim to its enticing tongue that whispers, “people are mostly good.”

It’s is strange that most often hold this thought captive when we desire to value life – often choosing to trust someone when others might be less willing. Some might hope beyond reason that people are capable of change, believing a cosmic force to relinquish wrath for the sake of the good left among the earth-dwellers.

I have wished it myself a countless number of times. Yet the perfect Word of God speaks clearly on the subject.

  • “There is no one righteous. No, not one.” Romans 3:10
  • “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

It is not without hope one subscribes to such a sentiment. Believing we are essentially good takes considerable faith — only in the wrong Being. When man and woman were carved from the flesh of the earth, there was a glimpse of humanity’s perfect reflection of the Creator. For a breath of a moment, we were good. In fact, all things were good.

It is in that reflection – that we are made in his Image – that we hold any glimmer of goodness. It is something that God still sees when he looks at broken mirrors, a likeness to himself. Something akin to good-ish-ness.  Still marred by the stain of sin, yet reminiscent of the Garden.

Unfortunately this is not what makes God “like us” or even “save us”. Since it no longer possesses holiness, that marred image of divinity is worthless. The choice(s) of Adam and Eve to disobey the Creator in the Garden (Gen 3) has been passed into all and thus whatever good remains has also been spliced into the Bad.

(to be continued.)

Why “not a corner”

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My story in faith includes many of the typical facets of discovery, rebellion, apathy, obedience, courage and doubt. I do not downplay any of these moments – for they are deeply rooted in the trials and explorations of a rich relationship with God.  Yet these glimpses do not capture the magnitude of the greater calling of my heart.

Over the years I have discovered the most confusing thing about being a Christian is the way we try to manage the person of Christ in day-to-day, week-to-week realities.  To many, he is a story or someone to think about for a few hours a week.  Often he is someone who embodies the guilt trips and voices that clamour – “why don’t you pray more?” or “why don’t you give more money away?”

buddy-cornerI have found in both study and in experience that the story of Christ is more than a category to be filed into our emotional file cabinet.  Or another way of looking at it – he isn’t given a corner of my room, (like Buddy sitting awkwardly in Walter Hobbs’ office).  He is not a roommate to divvy up space with – he is the Sovereign and Supreme ruler of all things.  He is Judge, He is Beginning and End.  He is everlasting.  He is love.  He is Lord.

This became clear to me when Brennan Manning quoted Dorothy Sayers in Lion and Lamb: The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus.  Sayers wrote:

The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore – on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him ‘meek and mile,’ and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.

The stunning realization of my ridiculous attempt to “pare the claws of the Lion” floored me.   It is as though a stony heart within me begins to cry out. One cannot make declarations of Lordship without yielding every part of yourself to Christ.  And yet we try.  Many make it through an entire lifetime thinking that we gave God “enough”.  But is that the calling into spiritual adoption?  Is that what the faithful live for?  Is that what I want to live for?

I am not saying this has been fully implemented in my spiritual life.  I am saying this is my daily endeavor: to give God everything.  To live fully for his glory and fame.  To belong to the Spirit’s ebb and flow while being used as a weapon to pierce the darkness however he sees fit.

Repurposed

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saulThis past Sunday, Bill Robinson recently spoke to our church about a truth that often gets overlooked — especially when we get too caught up in our shortcomings and failures.  The author ofIncarnate Leadership said that when Christ interrupted Saul(before he was Paul) on the road to Damascus, he saw and chosea zealous, persistent, obedient, academic servant-leader.  Saul of course had a reputation for the violent religious persecution of those belonging to the new movement of Christ, called “The Way,” and it’s clear that Christians were fearful of him (Acts 9:13).

Saul was “re-purposed” for God’s purposes.

I love this.  I love that God doesn’t see all the stuff-about-me as counterproductive to his plans.  I love that he sees me.  He chooses me.   Think about that… sure there is a bunch of baggage (poor decisions, moral failure, …straight-up-sin) attached to our story.  But it doesn’t deter Him.  He sees what is good and bad and chooses to give us HIS SON and HIS LIFE!  (…you hear it, right?  Real life in Jesus Christ!)

So today…take a breath and hear his voice calling out to you.

My child, I have great plans for you.  I made you and I delight in the ways you are unique, strong and gifted.  I’m joining you in your day so that together we can bring my light to your campus…and this world I love.  Will you join me?   

Not about the “Nail”

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438313505_6404408bbe7954eIf you haven’t already seen the YouTube clip “It’s not about the nail,” you should humor me by taking a few minutes to watch it. This past week it seems the reoccurring theme of sin has been the topic of different discussions I have had with others and with God. Be it about temptations, having enemies or the fall of man, they have all led me back to the problem of sin. It’s a topic no one wants to talk about and everyone can relate with.  In his book “The Me I Want to Be,” John Ortberg presents the idea that our temptations are unique to each of us much like our finger prints are each our own. If this is true, then you could argue that our sin is too.

For myself I have discovered that much of the sin I have been stumbling around in lately comes from a temptation that speaks to a deeper longing I am looking to fulfill with misguided judgment. Just like Eve in the Garden, we can often find ourselves deceived by taking that which looks fulfilling and good for gaining wisdom, only to receive the shame and guilt from our sin. It can become the never ending cycle of bondage that keeps us from living life more abundantly in Christ. We will never know that kind of freedom if we don’t seek the love and forgiveness He gives us in dealing with our sin, and remind ourselves that He is the only one who can satisfy our deeper longing that brought us to that point in first place.

This is where the video clip comes in, because much like the woman with the nail in her head, I will sometimes sit in denial and tell God that my sin is not the problem. I come to Him with all the grief and misery resulting from my sin and argue that all I need from Him is His understanding, which thankfully He gives, but arguably that’s not really what I need. Instead I ought to receive His forgiveness and allow Him to pluck the nail from my head.

What is the nail in your head? The unfulfilled longings you’re trying to fill on your own?  Are you able to recognize your sin and allow God to take it from you? There is grace and freedom to be had in the asking. Let Him remove it and love you in this way.

Jealous

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funny-kids-boy-and-girl-kissing-while-other-girl-gets-angryMany times in scripture we read that God is “jealous” for his people.  Strangely to our ears, jealousy is bad. It’s true. Any time that a person is jealous, it’s usually never good.  So why can God be jealous? Surely there are attitudes and behaviors that God reserves for himself alone (ie. wrath, atonement, judgment).  Yet his revealed demeanor usually indicates something true for his people;  something we can absorb into our grace-repairing hearts.

God’s has tremendous passion for his people. In his character he loves and orchestrates heaven and earth to bring people closer to himself.  Jealousy then is his character opposing any other passion that comes in between us and God.  It speaks of the intimacy that he longs for and the absolute best that he has in mind for us.  If a human could muster this kind of desire, it would absolutely be holy and in accordance to his will.

In fact, this is exactly what the venerated prophets of old experienced.  As God’s spokespeople and covenant enforcers/renewers, they longed to see Israel break up with other gods and return to the One True Jehovah.  It was painfully difficult for every one of them.  Even Elijah – one of the greatest – begged God to take his life because he couldn’t sway God’s beloved back (1 Kings 19…you gotta read this!).

So imagine how this very intense and real emotion grips God’s heart.  Imagine how it moved him toward seemingly reckless behavior in allowing his only begotten son to die.  Imagine that very heart – in that very son.  Such a great desire was lifted upon that cross that you and I can only respond in blessed awe.

And so we return to Him.  For he is jealous for you.  For me.  And his love has moved heaven and earth to reach us and bring us back.  What a great God…that teaches us how to be jealous for the only thing we could ever be jealous for… to be his again!

[inspired by “How He Loves” and the opening line…”He is jealous for me.”]

Ragamuffin

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brennanLast Friday a dear mentor-author (who I never met) passed away.  Brennan Manning, author of The Ragamuffin Gospel and The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, often captured the simplest truths of God in ways that often helped me murder my unhealthy opinions of myself and my God and discover what it meant to be loved by the persistent and captivating love of my Abba-Father.  Today, we bring you some of his words, in hopes that you too will discover childlike faith and be loved.  Simply loved.

There is a wondrous open-mindedness about children and an insatiable desire to learn from life. An open attitude is like an open door – a welcome disposition toward the fellow travelers who knock on our door during the middle of the day, the middle of the week, or the middle of a lifetime. Some are dirtballs, grungy, disheveled, and bedraggled. The sophisticated adult within me shudders and is reluctant to offer them hospitality. They may be carrying the precious gifts under their shabby rags, but I still prefer clean-shaven Christians who are neatly attired, properly pedigreed, and who affirm my vision, echo my thoughts, stroke me, and make me feel good. Yet my inner child protests, “I want new friends, not old mirrors.”

When our inner child is not nurtured and nourished, our minds gradually close to new ideas, unprofitable commitments, and the surprises of the Spirit. Evangelical faith is bartered for cozy, comfortable piety. A failure of nerve and an unwillingness to risk distorts God into a Bookkeeper and the gospel of grace is swapped for the security of religious bondage.

“Unless you become as little children …”

Heaven will be filled with five-year-olds.

– Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel.  

To learn more about Brennan’s legacy, read this terrific article.