Learning To Live For Something Better

In a world that teaches pride in the guise of self-esteem, it's a difficult teaching to say that we aren't the most special person alive. But none of us are. Even more importantly, nobody is special enough or good enough to be right with God through their own strength, looks, money, or intelligence.

But what you are is loved. With all your faults. With all your problems. In the midst of your brokenness, you are loved.

In Japan, they have a practice called kintsugi:

"It's the art of fixing broken pottery with lacquer resin dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. As a philosophy it speaks to breakage and repair becoming part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise."

"It is the embracing of the flawed or imperfect. Japanese culture values marks of wear by the use of an object over time. This can be seen both as a rationale for keeping an object around even after it has broken, and as a justification of kintsugi itself, highlighting the cracks and repairs as simply an event in the life of an object rather than allowing its service to end at the time of its damage or breakage."

Your brokenness makes you uniquely you. Despite the flaws being things that we may wish that never happened, they are what makes us who we are. God is a lot like the Japanese mindset that values an object that is broken and fixed. He loves us despite us being broken. And He fixes us. 

Here's the thing with God's unconditional love. Being loved by God doesn't just apply to me. I'm not super special being the only one that is loved by God. Everyone is loved by God.

This is the heart of the gospel message. God loves you despite you being broken. He knew you would be broken and He still paid the price for you to be right with God. Yet He did the same for your neighbor. And He wants you to love your neighbor despite them being broken just like He loves you despite your brokenness. He knew we would all be unfaithful, yet He still came down to earth to show us how to live. This wasn't because of our greatness; this was because of His great love. This is the message we need to share with the world through both our words and action, all in love.

I find myself playing out of tune with God at times. I get distracted. Lose focus. Start worrying about things of this world rather than things of God, yet I am called, as are all of us, to be primarily spreaders of the love of God to others. That is our primary occupation whether we receive a paycheck through any other full-time occupation. No matter what our paying occupation may be, our primary occupation, if we claim to be Christians, is to spread God's love and bring about His will here on earth as it is in heaven.

The problem with the church today and the world around us is that many just claim to follow Jesus, yet they don't make following Jesus their life. This is ridiculous because we can't fool God. He knows whether we have given him our lives or not. He sees our heart.

After David had his affair with Bathsheba, he wrote a song. This is the David who God loved because David was a man chasing after God's heart. Yet David wasn't perfect. He made some serious mistakes. And having an affair with Bathsheba and having her husband killed was one of the worst. Yet this is what he said to God after facing the seriousness of his mistake.

You would not be pleased with sacrifices, or I would bring them.
If I brought you a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit.
A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psalm 51:16-17 (NLT)

David knew what God wanted. God wanted his heart. All of him. His passion. His focus. His goals.

He wants the same from us. Yet we get distracted.

I get focused on this or that. I stop trying to love others, and I become self-absorbed. Maybe you find yourself doing that at times too. When we fail, we need to be like David. He turned right around and gave God his heart.

We start to forget that we are all broken vessels who have been put back together by God for use by Him. We begin, once again, to think that it is all about us. We deserve what we have. We deserve to be selfish with our blessings.

But it's never about us.

We can't forget that.

It's never about us.

Everything gets messed up when we start to think things are about us.

Our society teaches us to look out for ourselves first -- that our needs and wants are the most important things to be met. And we all know that in following Jesus and getting right with God, our lives will have to be surrendered from loving ourselves to loving God and loving others. Our life will no longer be about us. It will be about Jesus.

The most baffling thing is that at the end of the day, loving God and loving others is actually the most loving thing we can do for ourselves. In giving ourselves up, we will find true purpose. In emptying ourselves for others and allowing God to refill us, we will find true contentment. In denying ourselves and living for God's higher vision, we will find true meaning. If you don't believe me, try it this week. Take twenty dollars and spend it on someone that you would never spend it on. They may think you're weird, but they will appreciate the gift. And you will also appreciate the giving. And in that, you may just find God.

The Needed American Revolution

I hear the word "revolution" thrown around these days. Maybe it's the rural area I live in. Violent rhetoric. Thoughts of a new government. Freedom. Liberty. The American dream.  It's like we're in the last days of America.

The revolution sounds more like a nightmare to me. I've walked the dirty streets of Liberia, traveled the crumbling roads, and seen the results of a modern-day "civil" war. There is nothing glorious in it. Electric boxes that haven't had power flowing through them in thirty years hang lifelessly on the wall. It's not good. Children starving. Dirty water filled with microscopic death. It's more than not good. It's the face of evil.

I get asked questions after giving a lesson that I cannot even fathom despite being in what was once one of the most prosperous African nations. They ask me, "Can someone still be saved if they've killed a man?" Because many of them have killed others in the "civil" war. They follow it and doubt, "Why should I have faith in our bedtime prayers that God will feed me tomorrow if my family went to bed yesterday hungry and are going to bed tonight without having anything to eat?" Imagine going to bed with starving children. Imagine clinging to faith in that situation. We say that we would just go out and hunt, but you can't when all the animals have been killed because of decades of hunting. We say that we go and live in the country and start a better life for ourselves, and we can't because we  will be overtaken by a rogue group stealing, raping, and slaughtering us. When I hear "revolution", I hear echoes of the Liberian "civil" war. I see our children and grandchildren starving, our nice men and women turning into killers, and our village streets flowing with unnecessary blood.  Our pleasant country estates will become unsafe. Our bustling cities will become cesspools of disease, depravity, and death. All the things we take for granted will become luxuries. I see an aftermath that is even worse than the situation being revolted against.

We do need a revolution. But like the things of God typically arrive, the revolution will not be like that.

The discouragement around me is palpable, like a shroud smothering our communities, reminiscent of the blanketing fog in spring. Except the sun doesn't break through and shine its light.

That is a lie. The Son always breaks through.

But we aren't helping ourselves. It seems like many are comfortable electing liars and thugs to lead us. We reward laziness. We promote greed as a virtue. We instigate violence. We encourage debauchery. I say this knowing that the thugs, liars, lazy, greedy, warmongers, and sexually depraved are all made in the image of God. Yet they have been wallowing in the mud of this world. Tarnishing their shine. Losing their gleam.

The solution is still a revolution. But a different revolution. An unusual revolution. A Kingdom Revolution.

Jesus established a kingdom that conquers by changing hearts through love and truth. Sacrificial love and unpopular truth.  

But what does that look like?

We have to focus our efforts and energies in creating local communities that create something greater. The church is God's ideal instrument for this, yet the change must start in each of us who call ourselves Christian and spiral out of hearts permeated by the truth and live lives of loves.

We are struggling to find our identity as followers of Jesus in a post-Christian America. We're like a debutante who hasn't prepared well for her first dance. We dressed up all pretty and look the part, yet we haven't learned the steps. God knows the dance. He's playing the music. And He hasn't given up on us despite all of our missteps. He will forgive us and work with us where we are at. But, rest assured or hesitantly fear, he loves us too much to let us remain where we are at. He has something better for us.

Nebuchadnezzar was once given a prophecy. Not the sort any of us would like to have. It was a prophecy of judgment.

Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity (Daniel 4:27 ESV).

Like all prophecies of judgment, Nebuchadnezzar could avoid the upcoming punishment by changing his life. He had the opportunity to avoid the prophesied punishment and continue in prosperity. To do this, he was challenged to practice righteousness and show mercy to the oppressed. Daniel gave him this advice, which I think all of us who are greatly blessed would do well to take to heart. Nebuchadnezzar didn't change and was punished by being like an animal for seven years.

I feel that God is saying a prophecy of judgment over us. We don't like that. We're prosperous. We're doing well. So was Nebuchadnezzar. He didn't listen. Will we?

We would rather receive a prophecy of success, health, and wealth.  So would have Nebuchadnezzar.

But like all prophecies, the upcoming wrath can be avoided. The message is the same: Stop our iniquities and practice righteousness. Show mercy to the oppressed. Truth and love. An unpopular truth and a sacrificial love. A truth that we don't often want to hear, and a love that we often don't want to live.

If we're honest, we're in the state we are in because of you and me -- because of our churches. We have lived in such a way to make us who we are. Let's change. Let's have a Kingdom Revolution. Let's start with our churches. Let's start with ourselves.

Six Points For Christians to Remember in the Wake of the Duck Dynasty/Phil Robertson Story

In the wake of Phil Robertson being suspended for his recent remarks on homosexuality in GQ, I thought I would remind Christians of a few points that I think we quickly forget in situations like these.

Here's the relevant section of the interview.

What, in your mind, is sinful?
“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

#1. This is not a first amendment issue. 

Phil is not being imprisoned for stating his religious beliefs, nor is he prohibited by the government from saying what he believes. His employer has the liberty to fire him for projecting an image that they don't want projected. That's A&E's right just like it is the right of Phil Robertson to state his beliefs. Don't claim it's a first amendment issue.

As for what Phil stated, I don't believe he crossed the line and expressed anything wrong here. He didn't say homosexuality leads to bestiality like some interpret what he said as. If that is your take on it, then reading comprehension classes are necessary. He was just listing what sin is in response to being asked, "What, in your mind, is sinful?" His jokes about homosexuality being less preferable than heterosexuality were tasteless, but that doesn't seem to be what the furor is about.

Here's the thing. I get in trouble as a pastor for expressing the view that Phil expressed even within the confines of a church. That's to a crowd who should believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. So we have to be careful of where we are when we address certain issues and how we address them. For the world, the issue of homosexuality is not the issue we need to approach them with. They need to hear that we are all sinners in need of a Savior, that we need to be part of the kingdom of God, and that Jesus gives us access to that despite the sin in our lives. Jesus wants them to make Him Lord of their lives. He will deal with the other stuff after that.

We must always be people of grace and truth to the world because we want the world to see Jesus. All grace. All truth. Be graceful, not hateful. Be truthful, not compromising.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 ESV).

#2. This is a persecution issue.

I hate to throw the word persecution around because I think the Christian community sometimes suffers from a persecution complex. Yet that is what this is. A brother in Jesus was suspended from his job because of his Christian beliefs. It may not a persecution of deathly proportions like the founders of the faith experienced or our brothers and sisters around the world experience at times.

Phil Robertson's story isn't anything new. Orson Scott Card lost a Superman gig because of his view on gay marriage. The Superman story itself wasn't controversial. Gay activists just didn't want someone who was against gay marriage to write a Superman story despite the story having nothing to do with the issue of homosexuality. The gay activists won. Orson Scott Card lost the job.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them (Romans 12:14 ESV)

#3. We must remember how to respond to persecution.

We respond in love. Turning the other cheek. Not pounding our chests. We don't go around and take vengeance. We don't stand up and selfishly declare our rights. We're trying to project the light of Jesus into the darkness.

Jesus. The one who, lest we forget in our attempts to force our faith on others, had his rights violated to the point of nails being driven through his wrists. He suffered so that others may live.

He modeled grace and forgiveness in the midst of persecution. We must do the same. That is if we really want to follow Him rather than just claim to follow Him.

But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. (Matthew 5:39 ESV).

#4. The world does not, nor may it ever, understand the difference between us saying something is a sin and not combining that belief with judgement.

We know that claiming something is a sin doesn't mean that we hate the sinner. We claim that homosexuality is a sin, but we don't hate homosexuals. The same is true with every other sin. We love sinners. We hate sin.

I haven't quite put my finger around why this is so hard to grasp. It may have to do with the fact that we also recognize that we are sinners saved only by His grace. We are not worthy of the blessedness of the presence of the Spirit in our lives, yet God gives us it anyway thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. So we recognize the sinfulness in ourselves, so we can't hate other sinners. 

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24 ESV.

#5. God will work this out for His glory.

We seem to always get worried and worked up when situations like this happen. We forget the peace that God has given to us. The patience that we are to live in. The presence of God in our lives, at work in and through us.

This situation will bring Him glory. We just need to remain faithful, pray for the people involved, and be a witness to the love of Jesus in your sphere of relationships even during times like these.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28 ESV).

#6. Love.

We need to always be loving. When we don't want to, we need to love. When we find it difficult, we need to love. When we are unpopular and attacked for our views, we need to love. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we need to love. The world needs the love of Jesus now as much as it ever has. We are the way that love is poured out. We need to love.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV).

The bigger issue is us rather than Phil Robertson. How do we deal with persecution or perceived persecution. Do we lash out? Or do we turn the other cheek? Do we seek vengeance and boycott? Or do we seek to bless?

I can't control GLAAD or Phil Robertson. I can influence myself and hopefully a few others. We need to be more loving, even when we feel like we are attacked. We need to be more graceful when presenting truth.

Nobody wins in the conversation when you compare homosexuality to any sin because the world doesn't want homosexuality to be considered a sin. Robertson made a big mistake in mentioning bestiality in connection with homosexuality. I would compare bestiality with my sin of materialism or gossip. I am just as much of a sinner as someone addicted to bestiality, yet I am still saved by grace.

Grace. It's a concept that frees us from hating murderers, pedophiles, warmongers, and whatever sin we despise. For if we hate them, then, in a way, we should hate ourselves. Our addictions and sin do not lessen God's love for us. We are made in His image. We shouldn't tarnish that. Yet when we do, God's grace still covers us.

The Beauty of a Loved One Dying

I was in Liberia when I heard the news that my Uncle Glen had died. Halfway around the world, my heart filled with sadness as I heard the words over the phone. In the midst of some of the greatest poverty in the world, my heart was stilled by the lost of a beloved uncle and friend. Going to his funeral would be one of the first things that I would do when I returned.

The funeral was a bittersweet experience. My uncle had been suffering with cancer, and I felt relief at his passing. His pain was over, yet he would be greatly missed. He was the sort of Uncle who always made me feel welcomed and special at his house when I would stop by, which I didn't do nearly as much as I should have done.

As I sat there with my own children, wife, parents, and other relatives, holding my little one-year old, I could see those sitting up in the front. His sons. His daughter. His grandsons and granddaughters. And his wife of fifty-five years. My heart went out to them, for in my grief I knew that their grief was greater. I wished that I could somehow magically heal the pain and sadness, but all I had to give was my presence, a hug, and kind words.

Just after that funeral, my high school librarian and friend faced the loss of his wife after forty-three years of marriage. He posted on Facebook, "When the LOVE of your life is in the loving hands of aides and nurses of Home Hospice, all seems so irrelevant. Every moment is MOST important. Life has its journeys, even the final one."

Although it does make the passing so much more painful, there is beauty in being in love with someone for such a long time. In those final moments, we are reminded of how great of a blessing the one we love and are about to lose has been to us all along. Sometimes we forget that important truth during the arguments and disagreements - during the ordinary moments of life. We should cherish every moment that we have with the special people in our lives. There is almost nothing more beautiful than loved shared for many, many years. That truth becomes all too real in those final days.

The passing of someone is more painful when the love shared with them is deep, rich, and long-lasting. Despite it being more painful, it is worth it. For some never get to experience the joy of true, genuine, and lifelong love.  

On January 25, 2006, officials went Joyce Carol Vincent's home to repossess it because she was extremely behind on her rent and had not been communicating with them. When they opened the door they found a decomposed body sitting in a chair. Joyce Carol Vincent had been dead for three years. Unopened Christmas presents sat on the floor. She had friends, but no deep connections. She had floated in and out of people's lives for years, and nobody in her life was close enough to her to actually check in on her when she fell off the radar. 

Some loneliness may not be as stark as that of Joyce Carol Vincent's. But that sort of loneliness is the type of loneliness that shows we are not living life the way we should. That we are missing out on something greater. We were designed to be in relationships with God and others. As Christopher McCandless, whose story was shared in Into The Wild, wrote in his journal as he was dying alone in the Alaskan wilderness, "Happiness is only real when shared."

At my uncle's funeral, my one-year old started to get fussy during the ceremony, so we made our way out to the church foyer. On the screen was a slideshow of my uncle's life. Time spent with his family. Vacations. Holidays. Just the normal, daily moments of life. Seeing his familiar smile, you could tell he was enjoying life. In the midst of the slideshow, there was a video. It was the last dance of my uncle with his wife of fifty-five years. And that same smile. As many people do in passing, they get a last burst of energy , and my uncle used his burst of energy for one last dance with his wife. His greatest friend. The love of his life. Happiness. Shared. Life as it was intended to be.

I don't envy my aunt learning to live without him. But she is doing well. She is strong, with a beautiful heart, and will learn to live with that hole left in her heart. The love people share when they are together for 55 years may make the death of one all the more sad, but that life lived together makes the life itself all the more great. There is something incredibly beautiful in dying when you are truly loved. There is something beautiful in truly living. There is something special about living and passing from this life in the Lord. There is beauty in a loved one dying. We just have to see it.

Toward True Love

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A reader asked me the question: 

How do we answer the cultural idea that morality should be based upon that which does no harm to others rather than biblical values. (My question is - setting aside the Bible for sake of discussion - how do we offer an effective response to that?) I hear this a lot with college age students.

At the heart of the issue is the question “What is Love?"

Is love giving people what they want whenever they want it, however they want it? I wonder what our children would grow up to be like if we took that approach.

Does love come in the shape of discipline at times? If I tackled someone out of the way of a speeding vehicle, would they not be grateful despite the scrapes and bruises?

One of the things we have been created for is to love people. The problem is that we have morphed love into something that it is not. Love is never giving someone something that will harm them. Love is never telling a lie. Love is never condoning a behavior in someone that is destructive. Love is never enabling someone to continue down the wrong path.

But those statements define love. What do we believe are wrong paths? What behaviors do we believe are destructive? What is harmful to people? How we answer those questions will shape how we love. Well, that is true as long as we aren’t self-absorbed entertainment sponges, vampires who suck life from the world and never give back.

Now in those statements, we see that we believe there is a wrong path. We all believe there is a path that leads to death. Even the most tolerant hippy would tell you that intolerance is wrong. The debate isn’t about whether there is a wrong; the debate is always centered on what is wrong.

We also see in those statements that we believe things will harm people. It is easy to identify the immediate harms. Shooting someone for no reason is harmful. But the discussion gets sticky when we talk about long-term harm and/or psychological harm. Is feeding someone McDonalds every day harmful? Is drinking eight alcoholic beverages a day harmful? Is spending too much time watching television harmful? We all know that they are because we have seen the long-term impact of people who have abused things that were designed for good. Well, McDonalds might not ever be able to be used for good, but I think you get the point.

The immature mind will only look at the now. Does this feel good to me now? Then it can’t be that bad. Does this make me happy now? Then it can’t really be bad. But what happens when we wake up the next day and the man or woman who gave us so much pleasure the night before is gone and our heart is broken? What happens when the hangover comes? What happens when I am dying of liver disease? What happens when I have to face my personal crisis alone? True love has to look at what an action is doing to us, not just today, but tomorrow. Is it building better relationships? Is it making me into a better me? Some things might give a momentary rush or satisfaction, but if continued regularly, the behavior will destroy.

So when it comes to loving someone, we actually have to ask if what we are doing is to their benefit, not just in the moment, but tomorrow and the day after that. [A brief disclaimer. We have to be careful though that we do not stray into never doing any loving actions for others because we have a pull up your own bootstraps definition of love. Not loving is always a terrible definition of love.]

Is it more loving to give someone a free handout or is it more loving to give someone work to earn money to buy the food? Is it better to give someone free housing or is it better to help someone learn the soft skills necessary to hold a job and get their own housing? Now we would always answer the latter on these. But are we willing to make the sacrifice to give the work if it means I pay someone to mow my yard rather than do it myself? This might take away from my date night money or my vacation money. Are we willing to invest the time and energy into a person to teach them the necessary skills for living rather than enjoying another book, movie, or that extra time with the kids?

Now this brings us to biblical values. God gave us biblical values, not to enslave to some outdated moral code, but to free us to be loving. When we are enslaved to bad behaviors we are bad lovers. When we are free, we are empowered to love the way God intended us to live. When the Bible teaches values to live by, those of us who believe in God and his inspired word view those instructions as liberating. They are given to free us from the chains that often bind.

True love is more difficult than the “make me feel good because I have done something” type of love. We need to really make a difference in people’s lives. This won’t usually happen through a quick one time fix. This takes time, training, and a serious relational investment. Love is always sacrifice, our sacrifice. 

His sacrifice. 

“But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18 ESV).

Mourning The Celebration Of Our Christian Victory Of Collective Might

On Wednesday, many people flocked to eat more chicken in a groundswell of support for Chick-fil-a, who if you have been living in a shell, is facing protests from the LGBT community for statements made by Chik-Fil-A’s President and COO Dan Cathy on biblical marriage.

First, I think the groundswell of support is a good thing. A business who faces societal ramifications for taking a biblical stance on an issue should receive our support. Due to the support, Chick-fil-a saw record sales.

Second, the outpouring of support is encouraging. A lot of times we feel alone in this world standing up for biblical principles in a society that treats us like we are growing a second head. It’s nice to see that we are not alone. That there are others out there who share our convictions.

Finally, I don’t think we should be celebrating. In our effort to stand up for ourselves, we hurt the cause of Jesus and brought about more hatred rather than peace. True, it made those of us who are frustrated with being attacked on our belief that homosexuality is a sin feel better, but the chasm between the two sides widened rather than us building bridges that the Gospel can go across.

Jesus taught us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek. Instead, we flexed our muscles and showed our collective Christian might. We can choose to keep fighting. What will our response be to the kissing day on Friday? How do we one up that one?

Or we can do something else. Something Christian. Chick-fil-a needed encouragement. In the future, we should figure out a solution, if possible, that is loving to both sides, even if we are one of the sides. All the while, keeping the priorities of Jesus as our priorities – love, peace, and turning the other cheek. Instead of flexing our muscles, we need to ask how we can be servants to all in such a situation.

Next time, let’s reach out and love all people. We need to always put others first, even those we disagree with.

In the end, we must realize that eating more chicken and taking public stances on biblical issues is not what will make us Christians.

Jesus taught, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35 ESV).

Thriving as a New Resident in a Small Rural Town

Photo by and ©2008 Dustin M. Ramsey under 
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license. 

It is tough to connect and make friends with the towners when you move into a small town. Towners, like myself, have grown up here and been friends with one another since birth. We went to school with one another or went to school with a brother, sister, child, or parent of another towner. The connections that are shared go back years.

Unfortunately, many of these circles of friends are closed. They aren’t letting anyone new in. They will allow another superficial friendship but not an endearing one that will be there when you need it.

Towners and new residents are somewhat like Romeo and Juliet’s Montagues and Capulets with the new residents being the Capulets and the towners being the Montagues. They just don’t mingle well.

So what is a solution?

Church is a solution. I understand the purpose of Church is far greater than just making friends. But a church is not the Church unless the people in the church are friends. You may be wondering why the capital “C” and the lower case “c” in “Church” and “church.” Well, the lower case “c” stands for the local church. Local churches can be out of whack, misguided, and distracted. That’s why we have developed a vocabulary to distinguish a local church from the Church universal. The Church universal is the Church that God intended and consists of people who are totally surrendered to God who reside in all churches. Hopefully, the local church reflects the Church universal, but we all know that is not always the case. We will not reach perfection this side of the grave, but that does not mean that we should not strive for it.

Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” [John 13:34-35 (ESV)].

In the Church, people connect with one another in real, meaningful ways. A healthy church doesn’t care if you are well connected to people in the church or have lived in town forever; a healthy church cares whether you are connected to God through Jesus our Savior and King. That is the connection that matters. Whether you are a new resident to town or a long-time towner does not matter; all that matters is Jesus.

So if you’re struggling to connect with people as a new or even as a long-time resident in a small town, I encourage you to get involved in a church. But look for a church where the relationships within it reflect the love of Jesus.

Churches are not immune to acting like the Montagues and Capulets, Christians and non-Christians. Unfortunately, they are pretty prone to that dysfunctional fallacy. A healthy church is not one who views society as us versus them, Christians versus non-Christians. The paradigm in a healthy church is us loving them, Christians loving our neighbors, enemies and everyone around us. Christians are not better than anyone else. Neither are towners. The healthy church is to be known by its love, not by its elite status as being part of the “in crowd.” A healthy town should be the same.

May we all strive to be more loving to people we know and people we don’t, so that we can reflect the love of Jesus in this world.

Satan's Disguise

Satan doesn’t swoop in with horns and a pitchfork. He sneaks in with justifications, selfishness, and complacency. Eventually, after giving in to one small compromise after another, we find ourselves abandoning the simple way of Jesus and living a life full of complex explanations, worthless excuses, and/or general apathy. Although we would never admit that because we have justified away all of the selfishness and complacency to fit nicely in the idol we call Jesus but is nothing like Him.

I’m sure we all know people whose lives have fallen apart. Bad decisions have placed them on the wrong course, and they seem incapable to put their life back in gear. Maybe you are that person that needs to get your life together. If so, there is hope. For starters, the honesty to admit that your life has been misguided and is off course is the beginning to fixing it.

For those who think they have it all together, it’s easy to point at “those people” whose lives are in shambles. But what about ourselves? I see many church people who have found themselves caught up into all sorts of legalism, spiritual selfishness, and an uncaring attitude toward the suffering in this world. They are just as lost as the person on the easy to diagnose wrong course, but their situation is worse because they don’t notice the predicament they are in.

The other day we were cutting a board at my house. My friend came over with his saw and a chalk line. The chalk line sets the path that the blade is to follow. You line it up and snap it down. It creates a nice line of chalk between two points.

It’s easier to stay on the right course when it is clearly laid out. When it comes to our spiritual lives, it’s difficult to find every nook and cranny that will lead us down the wrong course. But what if, instead of fearing the wrong course, we focused solely on the good course.

Jesus is our chalk line. A line between us and the us that God wants us to be. Anything in our lives that distracts us from living a life of love in Jesus and imitating the sacrifice that He modeled for us is off course. It could be a mini justification to do something that is wrong. It could be just a slight excuse to live selfishly. It could be a complacent blind eye toward a little injustice.

Eventually, if we continue to justify and stray, we find ourselves off course. Each little compromise adds up. If we are too far off course, we may stop looking at the chalk line. The good news is that off in the distance Jesus is hanging there, up high, so that we can see Him no matter how deep of a valley we might find ourselves in.

Jesus taught, “The most important [commandment] is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” [Mark 12:29-31 (ESV)].

So whether we find ourselves in a self-righteous, spiritually selfish valley or a chasm of despair and hopelessness, Jesus is the way. That is not just some abstract metaphor. It is a proclamation that we are to live the life Jesus designed us to live. That is what it means to be saved. If the people who claim to be followers of Jesus would stop giving in to little justifications, acts of spiritual selfishness, and turning a blind eye to the injustice of this world and started living the life Jesus saved us for, then the world would see Jesus.

May we learn to love the way He loved and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

The Cure That Is Love

Dr. Karl Menninger was a psychiatrist who was revolutionary for his time. His approach is still challenging to the psychiatric field today. Before World War II, when mental asylums were overcrowded, conditions were terrible, and the mentally ill were scorned by society, Menninger opened up a clinic that actually loved patients and cured them of their problems rather than just isolating them from society. In current times. we don't isolate them; we just medicate them. But Menninger was looking to cure them.

"Love cures people-both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it."

"Love is a medicine for the sickness of the world; a prescription often given, too rarely taken."

"Love is the touchstone of psychiatric treatment ... to our patient who cannot love, we must say by our actions that we do love him" (1).

When Menninger was asked, "If you knew for a certainty that you were going to have a nervous breakdown, what would you do?"

He replied, "I would close my house; I would move over onto the other side of the tracks; I would knock on doors until I had an opportunity to meet somebody who had more problems than I did; and then I'd spend my time helping them solve those problems" (2).

Meninger knew that loving others is the best cure for the problems we face.

***
1. Quoted in "Menninger's long history began with a small idea."  Menininger Institute. Web. 27 Nov. 2010. 
 2. Quoted from Clarke's personal file in Clarke, J. Richard. "The Royal Road to Happiness."  Brigham Young University. 30 October 1979. Web. 27 Nov. 2010.

Guerilla Loving

I am looking for help here. 

Below are some of the Guerilla Loving Assignments from Vince Antonucci.  He wrote Guerrilla Lovers: Changing the World with Revolutionary Compassion, and it inspired me to encourage some guerilla love at Riverside.  But I am looking for more ideas because some of his ideas just don't work in Antwerp.  Anyone out there have any ideas. They don't have to be great. Just share it. It might prove to be better than you think. 

While you are at it, maybe you would like to choose one of these and do it yourself next week.

These are all lifted from various entries at the Guerilla Lovers blog.  

Choose one of your neighbors who could use some encouragment. Give them a call and let them know that you're delivering pizza for dinner. You can have it delivered to your house so you can pay for it. But then walk it over to deliver the goods.

Identify a charity, and GO SERVE THERE! If you can't find a charity, pick the dirtiest park or roadside and clean it up. But even more... invite other people who DON'T go to church or have a relationship with God to come with you!

The goal is to visit someone who doesn't get many visitors and bring them a balloon or flowers. You may not know anyone in the hospital, so you'll have to talk with a nurse and ask them for permission to do this. Just explain that you want to show some love and compassion for someone who is hurting.

Make cookies for your garbage man. You have until next Monday to complete this mission.

Take the next 7 days and give away a certain amount of money each day. It could be $5, $10, $20 or even more. But as Guerrilla Lovers, we have the capability to impact other people's lives with our generosity.

Take the furthest parking spot away from the door... every single day this week. The goal here is to not only let other people take the closer spots, but to spend your walking time praying for those people. Usually, we fight with everyone else to get the closest parking spot, but this is an opportunity to be selfless.

Tip the dishwasher. The next time you visit a restaurant this week, bring a generous tip ($10, $20) and ask to visit the kitchen after your meal. They might give you funny looks, but go with it! Work your way to the kitchen where you can tell the dishwasher how much you appreciate them. Explain that you like to show people God's love in ways like this. You'll make thier day. If you can't get to the kitchen, then bring a back-up envelope to hand to the wait staff. Ask them to pass it back for you.

This week, sit down and write a meaningful letter to someone who has impacted you in a positive way. It could be someone from your childhood or, even better, someone you know who doesn't know Jesus. But don't settle for a five-word note. Take the time to write a substantial letter.

Pick-up a phone card for $10 or $20 and give it to a homeless person. If you don't know where to find someone who is homeless, give it to someone who could use it the most. This card could make it possible for that individual to do something they couldn't otherwise do.

Go out to dinner! But rather than being served by our waitress or waiter, Vince wants us to look for ways to serve them! This might be through laughter, kindness, encouragement - whatever you think might work. But take this opportunity to make a difference in their lives! And then... when you're ready to go... leave them the biggest tip you can afford. It'll take some sacrifice, of course, but it's what Jesus asked us to do.

Religion is Still Relevant

On a forum that I interact in, it was posted concerning attempts at expanding gun control legislation in the aftermath of Representative Giffords shooting: 

"Or people with knives, or gasoline and ball bearings, or just stupid religious pronouncements to people not able to think for themselves. Hell religion is responsible for more death historically than the short period of time we've had guns. Ban religion."

His sentiments echo many of the comments I have read following the stories of this tragedy in Arizona.  There is a deep-seeded hatred toward Christianity stirring under the surface of our society.  I had to reply.

First, I want to say that I am not for the banning of guns.

Religion has been a tool that power-hungry politicians have used at times to get their will.  As we have seen in this nation and in the Soviet Union, when religion does not march along with the power hungry, they will just use nationalism and self-defense as a rallying cry.  The problem is people pursuing power at all costs, not religion.  Religion is not at fault for the deaths you are tossing at its feet.  Ignorant and power hungry politicians are. 

I admit that religion has been tainted at times throughout history; there is death on its hands. 

But there are glorious moments.  And they are still happening.  Every day across this nation. 

Just this week, I saw a doctor open up a free medical clinic in my town.  The first day was a trial run without much promotion, so we only saw three patients.  But Christians paid for $2000 worth of medical treatments for those three patients.  They had to be people who were too wealthy to have government insurance, yet too poor to have insurance on their own.  A category that is pretty massive in America right now.  Religion, throughout history, has helped in medical treatment for those whom society has deemed unworthy.

Last week, I sat through a presentation of an organization (Hope 2 Liberia) that is trying to bring hope and stability to the civil war torn nation of Liberia.  There was a banker in the audience who made the point, through a question, that he didn't think it was wise to make an investment in Liberia since it was not a stable nation.  In that setting, the investment would just go to waste in the midst of another crisis.  What he didn't grasp is that the Christian organization is not making an investment; they are just trying to be loving through providing safe drinking water, the best education possible, and health care.  It's not about an investment, but about loving people and bringing stability where investors won't put their money.  Our church will be doing a fundraiser in the fall to help them reach their $15 million dollar goal.

Last night I went to a concert (Winter Jam).  The entry to the concert was cheap ($10 a pop for big name bands).  The goal of the performers and producers was to get some of the 11,000 people attending to adopt children or support orphanages in nations where child abandonment is prevalent (through Holt International).

I am in negotiations with an inner city church in Ft. Wayne to let our country church partner with them in meeting the needs of the poor in the city.  They have a good system in place to not be abused by money grabbers, but they also don't ignore the down and out.  It's on that balance beam of being charitable yet responsible that these religious organizations live. 

So we can look at the terrible moments of the church, or we can look at the great moments.  As Sarah Palin said during the 1984 Miss Alaska beauty pageant, "In Alaska we have mosquitoes. We also have the most beautiful mountains in the world. The choice is ours as to which we'll focus on." 

Religion has brought a lot of good.  And guns, along with making wars bloodier and killing easier, have made it easier to hunt.  Mosquitoes.  Mountains.  You can choose what to look at.

Legalism brings about Division, Love Knits Us Together in Unity

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4 ESV).

This part of the letter from Paul to the church at Colossae came immediately after Paul dealt with two attacks on the church there.  The first attack was one on the nature of who Jesus was.  The second attack was legalism in the form of philosophies, Judaism, angel worship, and asceticism.  Paul's remedy to legalism and losing focusing on Jesus was to seek Christ in the things that are above rather than the things of this world.  This echoes Jesus' teaching during the Sermon on the Mount: 

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matt 6:33 ESV).

When I was a kid and would play hide and go seek, I always liked to hide with someone.  Although less effective, it made the game all that much more enjoyable.  Earlier (in Colossians 2:3), Paul wrote that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus.  Paul (in Colossians 3:3) is saying that we are hidden with Christ in God.  Unlike when I played hide and seek, hiding with Jesus is still enjoyable yet more effective for our life.  For us who are in Christ, the secrets that are hidden and do not make sense to the world are revealed.  If we live in that same mystery, our lives shouldn't make sense to the world around us.

We're supposed to set our mind on the things that are above, we're supposed to seek His kingdom and His righteousness, and we're assured by Jesus that if we seek we will find (Luke 11:9-10).  What if what is above is actually all around us?  What if His kingdom is here in our midst, yet we fail to see it?  What if finding Him is much easier than we thought?

**

Dr. Karl Menninger was a psychiatrist who was revolutionary for his time and his thoughts are still challenging to the psychiatric field today.  Before World War II, when mental asylums were overcrowded, conditions were terrible, and the mentally ill had a stigma with society, Menninger opened up a clinic that actually loved patients and cured them of their problems rather than just isolating them from society or medicating them like they do now.  

"Love cures people-both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it."

"Love is a medicine for the sickness of the world; a prescription often given, too rarely taken."

"Love is the touchstone of psychiatric treatment ... to our patient who cannot love, we must say by our actions that we do love him" (1).

When Menninger was asked, "If you knew for a certainty that you were going to have a nervous breakdown, what would you do?"

He replied, "I would close my house; I would move over onto the other side of the tracks; I would knock on doors until I had an opportunity to meet somebody who had more problems than I did; and then I'd spend my time helping them solve those problems" (2).

Meninger knew that loving others is the best cure for the problems we face.

**

Jesus taught:

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,   I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,  you did it to me' (Matt 25:34-40 ESV).

It seems that I have taken a tangent from the idea that legalism brings division while love knits us together in unity, but Jesus' teaching that we love Him by loving the less fortunate isn't a tangent.  It's the cure to legalism.  Loving others, especially those who society deems unlovable, is exactly how we "seek the things that are above."  We can get hung up all sorts of crap when we are the church together.  We can get hung up on what music style we us, what songs we sing, whether we sit on pews or pew chairs, whether we have the lights dim or brighter, what programs we should or should not do, or one of the hundreds of other inane subjects.  But the real heart of our life together is love.  Love for one another and love for those around us.  When we let the other issues get in the way of us loving each other and loving those around us, we have become legalists.

A healthy family is not a family who always agree with one another.  A healthy family is one who works through their problems and disagreements because they love one another.  They don't give up on one another when times get tough or family decisions do not go their way.  "Hatred stirs up strife,  but love covers all offenses" (Prov 10:12 (ESV).  Hatred toward one another causes a family to disintegrate while love frees them to disagree.  The same is true of a healthy church.  We need to love one another through thick and thin because we have been knitted together in Christ.

"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving" (Col 2:6-7 ESV).  This walk in him does not come through self-centeredness that manifests itself in us warping Jesus into who we want Him to be or morphing our walk into a series of legalistic obstacles that we expect others to traverse.  This comes from living a transformed life, a life that is focused on loving others no matter what others might think of us.  For we have been "knit together in love" and hold "fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God" (Col 2:2, 2:19 ESV).  

Legalism brings about division, but love knits us together in unity.


**

1. Quoted in "Menninger's long history began with a small idea."  Menininger Institute. Web. 27 Nov. 2010.

2. Quoted from Clarke's personal file in Clarke, J. Richard. "The Royal Road to Happiness."  Brigham Young University. 30 October 1979. Web. 27 Nov. 2010.

Rooted in Doctrine, Loving in Christ

The other week I posted:

There is a pendulum swing in Christianity. For so long, the church has focused solely on words. Following Jesus, in this paradigm, was a belief statement to be believed. If you believe that Jesus is Christ, the son of the living God, repent and are baptized, then you are saved. So evangelism naturally focused on getting people to believe the right things in their head. Salvation, in that world, comes through having the proper beliefs and doctrine combined with a few religious practices, not through having a transformed life of love. A good evangelist would present the gospel to people through sharing it and asking them if they accept it. It was about bringing them to a decision point. And if they accepted the belief statement proposed, we would baptize them. As a follower of Jesus, if you weren’t presenting it in such a way as to make the person come to a point of decision, then evangelism was not effective...

...Now, we are seeing a shift to not using words but just being loving. This is just as much of an error as the previous error. It’s the pendulum swinging back and forth. In this model, people just do loving actions with no intention of sharing the gospel because what people believe is fine for each person. We should not meddle in people’s beliefs.  

Since posting that, I have noticed a disturbing trend to grab theology from everywhere.  It might come from a movie that was watched, a song listened to, but I've noticed that it is not coming from Scripture.  I am not seeing people encounter God through the ancient, tried and true, method of Bible study and meditation on God's word.  God does work on us through every experience, but without a foundation of Scripture to filter those experiences through, we will come to any conclusion and go anywhere with our theology.  Scripture should be the filter we strain our experiences through to understand God.  

Paul warned, "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work" (Ephesians 4:14-16 NIV).

Aria at the ocean.  I'm in the background with Lyla.

An infant is tossed every which way by the waves.  When we were at the ocean for vacaton, Aria, our four year old, and Lyla, our two year old, would just get knocked down by the waves.  That's what waves do to little children.  But we need to be different.  We need to speak the truth in love and grow in Christ.  That does not mean that the temptation to stray won't be there.  Even once in a while, a wave would come that would knock me off balance.  But it does mean that we will be more stable.  

For many, the Bible and proper doctrine is like a drug.  It becomes its own purpose rather than purpose it was designed for.  The great heresy of right doctrine only is dealt with right before this section.  Paul wrote: "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV).

The purpose of the ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, prophets, and teachers is to get us ready to serve, not to prepare us to beat people in a Bible trivia contest or knock them out in some verbal abusive evangelism.  When we are studying Scripture, we are being taught by a Master Craftsman how to be craftsmen ourselves, not to just sit around and talk about the tools of the trade; we are learning to continue the work of the craftsman.  We're in the service business.  That work is much more than just teaching doctrine, but it is also rooted in doctrine.  

Recognizing that God is speaking through us everywhere through every experience is great.  It keeps our eyes open to seeing His work around us and how we can get involved in it.  But if our day and our lives are not rooted in Scripture, then we can be manipulated and deceived by the many marketing sirens of this culture; sirens who do not have the same purpose as Jesus for our lives; sirens that will deceive, destroy, and lead us to emptiness.  They are trying to get us to buy into something else rather than God.  Let's not sell Him out so cheaply.  Let's not confuse a good movie or a good song with the voice of God.    

A Christian Approach to the New York City Mosque at Ground Zero

Polls and opinions are meaningless when it comes to whether a certain group receives freedom of religion. Even if all of America was against the Muslims building a mosque near ground zero, our freedom of religion should be upheld and they should be allowed to build. Let's stand up for all forms of freedom of religion, even if we disagree with the religion. It's one of the things that make America great.

They came first for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
...
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me (a Christian pastor)
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

- Martin Neimoller

I pray and hope that Christians will not be calling for a move that would limit freedom of religion in this nation. Our freedom of religion is like a giant snowball at the top of a hill.  So far, we have been holding that ball on the top.  Now, some are joining forces with those attempting to get the ball rolling.  We are close enough to having the ball pushed down that slope without our help. And once it starts rolling, it won't stop until its at the bottom, has grown, and destroyed everything in its way.

I understand the fear that this mosque, or another mosque, or even a church, will be used to teach hate that will turn into violence. It's definitely a difficult issue, but the gut response expressed by Newt Gingrich (who I typically appreciate) is completely wrong. Religion should be separate from government interference. If the people from a mosque or church start killing others, then they are guilty of murder. If these people were part of the terrorism from 9/11, they would already be arrested. If they violate the laws of the land, they will be arrested. But those laws cannot be specific to ostracizing one specific religion.

I would not like the government telling me where I can and cannot have a church, what I can or cannot say as a pastor, so I expect the same for other religions. Once we take away one group's rights, we risk losing the rights for the next group and the next group.

Freedom of religion is part of who we are as Americans. Loving Muslims, is part of who I am as a Christian. I should never try to silence or shut up people I disagree with by force; I should use the sword of the Spirit and love them. God could easily ban all religions that aren't His, but He does not. He uses the faithful like you and me to shape the world into His will. I will follow Jesus' example, and give of myself so that they can also know the grace and fullness of the Lord. It's easier said than done, but it is our calling to be humble, gentle, and bear with one another in love.

I can say that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and still love Muslims.  These are not contradictory positions. Actually, I would say that saying I am a follower of Jesus would mean that I need to love Muslims; however, that does not mean that I have to say that the Muslim religion is right.

Nothing our government can do will ever chop away at our faith unless we allow our government to dictate what we can and cannot do. That is not an argument for in your face preaching of doctrine to people who don't want to hear it, but an argument for loving our neighbor and sharing the truth in love no matter what the circumstance, even if the other person is trying to kill us and even if our government says it is wrong.

What's fair for one religion should be fair for all religions in this state.  And Christians should be known by their unity and love, not their fear and hatred.  May we be Christians who are loving even in the most difficult of situations.