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And Justice For All

Posted in Commentaries on May 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

In the last few years, the question of whether the United States is still (or ever was) a “Christian Nation” has become a popular topic of debate.  Of course how a person perceives that question is likely to depend on how they define the associated terms (e.g. Christian, Christian Nation…) and how they interpret the available data.  The fact that the vast majority of Americans still profess to believe in God (or in some form of higher power) would seem to be a positive data point, though it’s difficult to pin down exactly what that means.  Though many from that group might still identify themselves as “Christian”, statistics would seem to indicate an ever widening gap between their professed beliefs and even the most fundamental tenets of Christian doctrine.  In the absence of a traditional Judeo-Christian pattern of belief, it might be tempting to simply refer to these people as “God-fearing”; though a closer examination of their theology would seem to indicate that may be an even less accurate term.

 

The Bible says that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, which only really makes sense in the context of a holy God, who cannot abide with sin.  If a person believes that God is simply love, with a corresponding capacity to turn a blind eye to the inequity of man, there would really be no incentive to fear Him at all.  To be sure, the scripture tells us that God is love; that He is good and faithful and full of grace; yet it also says that He is a holy, righteous and an unwavering judge, who finds all sin to be an abomination.  While our finite minds might struggle to understand how all of those traits function together within the same being, our inability to comprehend does nothing to diminish the reality of who He is.  It is the acknowledgment of God’s inherent requirement of justice that produces a holy fear of Him; and without that acknowledgment, the Christian doctrine makes little or no sense.

With the rise of secular humanism in western culture, our societal philosophy has changed dramatically over the last forty to fifty years.  Statistics indicate that more than three quarters of adults in theU.S.now believe that the truth is relative (i.e. that every man defines truth for him self), which undoubtedly has radicalized our cultural view of God.  If the truth is not absolute, then God really has no basis with which to judge anyone; and without that, we really have no reason to fear Him.  Just as moral relativism allows the individual to decide what they are willing to accept as truth, it also allows them to pick and choose what characteristics of God they are willing to accept.  Culturally, we are willing to believe in a loving God, a God of provision, a God who heals and One who will ultimately take us to “a better place” when we die.  We like the idea of heaven and angels and sometimes we can even handle the image of a baby in a manger; but we absolutely reject the notion of a God who might hold us accountable.  I don’t believe that it is at all a coincidence that the cultural symbol for Christmas has become a jolly fat man who gives us the things we want; and that for Easter, we embrace the image of a cuddly bunny, whose colorful eggs are meant to symbolize new life.  These images retain the elements of God’s character that we’re willing to accept, while expunging those characteristics we don’t want to acknowledge.

While those of us within the traditional church structure might want to think of this as a cultural issue, the evidence strongly indicates that “the church” is veering wildly off course as well.  Statistics indicate that approximately two thirds of the people who identify themselves as “Christian” also adhere to the idea that the truth is relative.  This of course directly contradicts Jesus’ claim that, amongst other things, He is the embodiment of truth.  Just as the culture has expunged what they see as the undesirable characteristics of God, “the church” is slowly eradicating those parts of the Christian doctrine that don’t support their contemporary worldview.  Mainstream Christianity inAmericais rapidly adopting a revised view of God, creation, marriage, human sexuality, sin, money, Satan and hell; all of which directly contradict the foundational teachings of Holy Scripture.  Though many of these new doctrines are draped in spiritual sounding arguments, they are rooted in a hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world, rather than on Christ.  They encourage covetousness, comfort, and complacency; while ignoring our very real need to die to ourselves and to our inherently selfish compulsions.  They create the illusion that wide is the way to righteousness and that everyone is bound to stumble upon it eventually.  We stick verses like John 15:5 (where Jesus says, I am the vine and you are the branches) on our refrigerators, because we love the image of being connected to God and having all our needs supplied; but we ignore passages like the very next verse (John 15:6), where Jesus talks about branches that don’t produce fruit being thrown into the fire.  I believe that it is time that we, who claim the name of Jesus Christ, examine the fruit of this post modern brand of Christianity.

To be sure, the good news of the gospel is that God has made a way for us, but He says that way is narrow and that few find it.  While He is a God of love, He is also One that demands justice for all.  If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, I believe that it follows that losing our fear of the Lord is the pinnacle of foolishness.

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A Theology of Giving

Posted in Commentaries, tagged , , , , on March 21, 2011| 4 Comments »

Foreword:  Please notice that the title of this writing is “A Theology of Giving” as opposed to “The Theology of Giving”.  My understanding of God and His purposes (i.e. theology) is dynamic and this is simply where I find myself today.  I’m not foolish enough to believe that this is the final word on giving nor am I apt to criticize anyone who might arrive at a different conclusion.  All I can say is that though I’ve never heard anyone teach what I’m about to present, this is where I feel the Lord has brought me to.  If it doesn’t ring true to you, feel free to dismiss it (as we’d all undoubtedly be wise to do with much of the fodder that makes its way about the internet).

I was taught from a very young age that it is more blessed to give than to receive; and so the principle of giving is foundational in my being.  Growing up in church, I always saw my parents give when the collection plate was passed, so I just assumed that this is what Christian people do.  Though I didn’t get serious about the Lord until many years later, I’ve always tried to slip something in the basket at offering time.  My first steps on the journey of giving were relatively small ones, as I learned to become a “cheerful giver”, that you “reap what you sow” and eventually the principle of the “First Fruits” (i.e. that if I gave God the first part of any harvest, He’d bless the rest).  While all of these principles can be found in scripture, I’d suggest that simply using these elements to draw a conclusion will make for a woefully incomplete picture in regards to what the Bible has to say about giving.

Eventually, I was confronted with the whole issue of tithing (i.e. giving ten percent of my increase) and after hearing many sermons to the affect that a failure in this area amounted to “robbing God”, it became my normal practice.  I liked tithing; it made me feel like I was somehow doing my part for God and so, to some degree, it was a matter of pride.  When the person taking up the collection at church, testified to being a lifelong “Tither”, I could give them a hearty “Amen!” because I was a “Tither” too.  I was aware that some people said that tithing was part of the Old Testament Law and thus was no longer required; but I tended to dismiss that argument as a convenient excuse not to give.  I was pretty happy with my theology of giving at that point and assumed that it was what I’d always believe.  It wasn’t until some people, who were much younger in the faith, asked me if tithing was still “required” that I began to look into the issue for myself.

At first blush, the argument about being a part of the law seemed pretty valid; but then I heard some teaching that pointed out that Abraham had tithed to Melchizedek, which seemed to indicate that the practice of tithing actually preceded the giving of the law.  If that was true, then it seemed logical that tithing didn’t necessarily pass away just because we no longer lived under the law.  By this time in my Christian walk, I had begun to sense the internal stirring of the Holy Spirit and on more than one occasion, had felt impressed to spontaneously give something other than the requisite 10%.  This practice of following the leading of the Holy Spirit was quickly incorporated into my giving theology; as I would give ten percent unless I felt the Spirit move me to give something more.  That soon changed to praying about what to give and giving ten percent if I didn’t feel a specific leading.  Once again, I was pretty happy with this giving theology and undoubtedly, it remained a matter of pride.  It wasn’t until I began to come to a greater understanding of the differences between the old and the new covenant that this theology would once again be challenged.

Though anyone who’s knowledgeable of the scripture would undoubtedly agree that the new covenant, that Jesus afforded us, is superior to the old covenant, the magnitude of that change seems to be lost on most believers.  Jesus was the “perfect sacrifice” and the absolute fulfillment of the law; when He said that “It is finished!” that’s exactly what He meant.  Regardless of whether tithing was a part of the law, it was a part of the old covenant and because of what Jesus did, we now have a much better covenant.  I don’t believe that it is an accident of the scripture (i.e. an oversight on God’s part) that tithing is not directly addressed in the New Testament.  We are no longer required to give in order to receive; we are required to believe so that we can receive.  We are no longer required to offer a sacrifice to demonstrate our faith in what God will do; we now demonstrate our faith by believing in what He’s already accomplished.  For a heart that struggles to give, that may sound like good news, but the reality is that to whom much is given, much is required.  While the old covenant allowed for a sacrifice of ten percent, to get the ninety percent blessed; the new covenant requires much more than that.  Under its provisions, only those things that are brought into submission to Christ’s lordship are truly and fully blessed.

The arrangement that God intends for new covenant believers goes much deeper than the former agreement.  He avails Himself to dwell within us, not to be a passive bystander, but so that “in Him, we might live and move and have our being”.  For partakers of this new covenant, all that we have must now be forfeit to God and to His purposes.  I am not suggesting that we are required to give away all of our material possessions, keeping nothing for our families (unless, of course, the Spirit directs us to do so); but I am suggesting that it is no longer acceptable to give ten percent of our increase to God’s purposes, while spending the other ninety percent in whatever way we choose.  The indwelling of His Holy Spirit was meant to revolutionize every facet of our lives, not simply to give us goose bumps about what heaven might be like, while we indulge ourselves in the things of this world.  All that a new covenant believer has was meant to be at God’s disposal.

If we’re looking for a New Testament reference on giving, I believe that Acts chapter 5 provides a powerful picture.  This scripture tells us that God was moving on His people to share all that they had with one another, when a couple named Ananias & Sapphira decided to hold back a little for themselves; if tithing was still the requirement, then selling their piece of property and giving ten percent of their gain, should have been enough.  In fact, the story would seem to indicate that they gave the larger portion of their gain to the apostles, keeping only a part for themselves.  But something within them (e.g. the Holy Spirit) knew that God was asking for more, so they tried to create the illusion of giving their all, which ultimately became their undoing.  I believe that we “Tithers” can fall into a similar trap, as we comfortably give our ten percent, when the Spirit of God is urging us to give and do much more.  If we truly believe in what Jesus accomplished at the cross and that He is the source of our blessing, than why wouldn’t we trust Him to guide us in the dispensing of “all” of the increase that He has provided for us?  Could it be that we’ve maintained the Old Testament mindset that the harvest really belongs to us and that we just want God to bless it?

I don’t believe that it is incidental that many of the Old Testament heroes (e.g. Job, Abraham, David, Jacob…) were rich in material things; after all, under the old covenant, this was an outward sign of fruitfulness.  But with the indwelling of God’s Spirit came a new standard for fruitfulness and the lives of the New Testament heroes looked much different because of it.  While we love the picture of God’s people shouting down the walls of Jericho, I believe that the image of an imprisoned Paul and Silas, shackled and singing praise choruses at midnight, is more applicable.  In the former, they were shouting for what God was going to do for them; while in the latter, they were praising Him for what He’d already done.  God didn’t promise Paul and Silas that he’d bring the walls of the prison down and for all they knew, this might be their last few hours on the earth; yet they praised the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness.  They understood that it was now Christ, within us, that was the hope of glory; and not that we would have the largest flocks or the most land or be the most powerful nation on the earth.

My heart goes out to anyone in ministry, who relies on the giving of the saints.  Even with the fervent preaching of the tithe (and/or sowing your seed of blessing), the giving rarely gets anywhere near ten percent.  I would suggest that if believers truly sought the leading of the Holy Spirit in matters of giving and were genuinely obedient to that guidance, no God ordained ministry would ever lack the needed resources.  Unfortunately, too many of us are still more interested in tapping into the resources of heaven for the purposes of building our own earthly kingdoms; as opposed to allowing God to bring His Kingdom rule through us.  Oddly, the preaching of the tithe and the concept of sowing your seed of blessing, both feed that mentality.  They make God seem like a heavenly vending machine; so that if we put in the right amount of change and punch the right buttons, He’ll be obligated to deliver what we want.  And ultimately, “what we want” is the problem.  The new covenant only really works as designed, when what we want is Jesus.  When He becomes the means instead of the end, we’ve missed the point completely.  In light of Christ’s sacrifice, the only “reasonable” response is the offering of our bodies and indeed our very lives, which is simply an act of our spiritual worship (Rom 12:1).  At this point in my life, I’ve come to believe that anything less amounts to “robbing God”.

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Manhood

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Parenting / Family, tagged , , on March 14, 2011| 4 Comments »

I was the youngest of three brothers*; two years younger than the oldest one, and a year younger than the other.  Because we were so close in age, I was always trying to prove that I was their equal.  That desire deepened in me when I wound up in the same grade as my middle brother, and was compared to him on an almost daily basis.  Despite my best efforts, I never could quite measure up to either of my brothers.

 

In hindsight I can see that it wasn’t really a fair comparison, as a year (or two) makes a very significant difference in the development of a child, but at that time in my life I didn’t understand.  Combined with the fact that I was slightly built, with poor eyesight, and very emotional, I grew up with a deep sense of inadequacy.  These feelings were magnified during adolescence, when I found that girls never seemed as interested in me and as I was in them.

 

In those years I struggled to find a place where I felt significant, or where I sensed that I fit in.  During high school I was working at a downtown restaurant, where for the first time I encountered openly gay men.  For many of these men, a skinny teenaged boy was a thing to be coveted, and they had no trouble expressing their desire for me.  While I was not physically attracted to men, I had to admit that it felt good to be seen as desirable and special; and those feelings began to open a door way in my mind.  I began to wonder if the reason I didn’t really fit in and that women didn’t seem very interested in me was because there was something deficient in my manhood, which could somehow make me gay by default.

 

While it may sound a little strange for a boy who was wildly attracted to girls and not attracted to men to wrestle with the idea that he might be gay, I had adopted the world’s philosophy that some people are just made that way and it made me wonder about myself.  The issue wasn’t really about sexuality as much as it was about identity; because I was insecure in my identity as a person, I started to become insecure in my identity as a man.

 

Fortunately for me, one of the most significant elements in forming the identity of a child is its relationship with its parents, and the relationship of its parents with each other.  In this regard, I had been blessed with two parents who loved me, believed in me and modeled for me the God given roles of a man and a woman.  Even though I was not conscious of it, these things were strongly encoded in my being, and eventually this sense of my identity as a man was strong enough to keep me from being drawn into the gay community.

 

Though that experience cleared up any potential for confusion about my sexuality, it didn’t necessarily solidify my identity as a man.  I continued to struggle in finding much common ground with the cultural images of manhood (e.g. Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Rambo…) and as such I drew the conclusion that I must not be much of a man.

 

Over the years I found ways to compensate for, or to conceal, those traits which weren’t seen as being particularly manly (e.g. being expressive, showing emotion, loving children…) and eventually I came to what I thought was peace about it.  Years later, when I came into a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ and began to read the scripture, my whole concept of manhood was revolutionized.

 

In the light of God’s Word I could see that the culture had adopted, and even promoted, a faulty image of manhood; and that only “The Creator” could reveal to me my true identity.  When I read about Gideon, I heard him essentially say that he was the least of the least, and the facts surrounding his life seemed to support that claim; but God’s assessment was that he was mighty, and once Gideon got that revelation, his life went on to validate that view.

 

It struck me that God knew who He made Gideon to be, and that nothing from his past had the power to change that.  I understood that if this was true of Gideon, it was true of me too.  It didn’t matter what my history had been; only God’s assessment of me was valid.

 

When I read that God said that David was a man after His own heart, I decided that he must be an example of what God was looking for in a man.  And while David possessed many of the traits that are typically associated with men (e.g. strong, bold, fearless…), he also manifested others that aren’t (e.g. expressive, emotional, vulnerable…).  Through this I began to understand that God’s concept of a real man was quite different than that of our culture.

 

As I read the Gospels I realized that Jesus Himself was God’s model for manhood and in the Epistles I learned that He’d predestined me to be transformed into that image.  With this understanding I stopped trying to live up to some false idea of what a man should be and began to pursue becoming the person God made me to be.

 

Not long into that journey I discovered that many in the church are more in tune with the cultural image of what it means to be a man (or woman), than what is portrayed in scripture.  As I heard teaching on the subject of men, women, children, marriage…much of it seemed more rooted in Psychology than in the Word of God.

 

I remember as a young father, I volunteered to be in the Nursery to watch the kids, and that there were actually parents who refused to leave their children with me because I was a man.  If Jesus is our model, why should a man who is willing to serve, and who loves children be so unusual?  I would suggest that it is because we’ve been more influenced by cultural images than by the image of Christ.

 

There are certain images of Christ that men seem to willingly embrace, like Christ preaching the Sermon on the Mount, or turning over tables in the temple, or dueling with the Pharisees; but are men willing to embrace the image of a lamb led to slaughter, or His open display of emotion at the tomb of Lazarus, or of Him washing the feet of the friends.  Love, kindness, patience, and gentleness are all hallmarks of His character, but these things run counter to the generally accepted concept of being manly.  Are we endeavoring to mold our little boys into the image of Christ, or are we more interested in molding them into the next Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Bill Gates…

 

The people of God need to see “manhood” in a different light than the culture.  The tenets of scripture stand in stark contrast to the principles of the world.  The Apostle Paul said that “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself as love”.  David said that the kind of heart that God honors is broken and contrite; and Jesus said that unless we come as little children, we would not receive the Kingdom.  If outward expressions of love, having a broken heart, or possessing childlike trust don’t sound very manly, I’d suggest that maybe it’s because we’ve studied the wrong model for manhood.

 

* I also have a sister who is eleven years younger than me.  While she is the jewel of our family, she was not around in my formative years, and thus didn’t impact the sibling rivalry dynamic I developed with my brothers.

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My Generation

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Social / Political on March 3, 2011| 5 Comments »

I was born in 1963; about a month after John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  I vaguely remember Charles Manson, Woodstock and the Vietnam War; but I was really more a product of the Cold War era.  Back then, kids were raised with the notion that if we didn’t all perish in the midst of a nuclear holocaust, or succumb to the “killer bees” that were steadily migrating from the south, we’d inevitably be consumed by the coming of a second ice age.  This might explain some of the skepticism that people of my generation have about this whole global warming thing. 

It was a strange period in history, but as American’s we had the distinct advantage of having that “one thing” we all agreed on, which was that the Soviets were the “bad guys”.  By default, that meant we were the “good guys”.  That may not seem like much, but in hindsight, it was a lot more valuable than we understood.  The Cold War was largely fought in the fertile imaginations of the people and so it was quite a relief when we finally saw the Berlin Wall come down.  Since the Soviet Union soon broke into little pieces, it seemed obvious, even to the most casual observer, that America must be the winner.  This was sweet vindication for democracy, the US Olympic team and for our space program; all of which had bore questionable results in the past.  Presuming that the whole episode was a titanic struggle between the world’s two “super powers”, one had to conclude that we (i.e. the USA) were now the world’s preeminent “super power”.  After a mere two hundred years of history, all our hard work and struggle had paid off; and now we could rightfully claim to be the most powerful country in the world.  Certainly we had biggest middle class, the highest standard of living and the most fearsome military-industrial complex.  We even had a president that most American’s believed in, which turned out to be another thing that would soon become a distant memory.  That’s the ironic thing about making it to the pinnacle; the best you can hope for is that you stay there for a while.  Arguably, we did.

Just as adversity has a way of bringing people together, prosperity has a way of dividing them.  This problem is compounded when that prosperity is inherited instead of earned, because then it is viewed as a birth right instead of the byproduct of blood sweat and tears.  Indeed, the people of my generation were the benefactors of the generations who came before us and who were willing to pay a price, that we now seem unwilling to pay.  They believed that the good of the whole outweighed the needs of a few, while my generation ascribes to the belief that every person has a God given right to pursue happiness on their own terms.  We were raised with the idea that every generation ought to prosper even more than the last, but we failed to recognize that this principle only works when we are willing to put forth the same kind of effort and sacrifice that our predecessors did.  Indeed, democracy and free market economies only work when there’s a consistent level of effort and reinvestment in them; but we’ve become a generation of consumers.  As if that weren’t bad enough, we somehow managed to convince ourselves that we could somehow circumvent the principle of “supply and demand” simply by voraciously consuming the world’s goods.  Though we were able to pull that illusion off for a while, the economic equivalent of the law of gravity has finally caught up with us.  While we may have admired our grandparent’s gardens and while they may have left our cellars stocked with canned goods, the cupboards are now getting barren and we’ve never bothered to learn how to work the land for ourselves.

In moments of crisis, there is always a temptation to blame someone else for our condition, but to do so is rarely productive.  Though external forces are certainly a factor, we are generally hard pressed to change much outside of ourselves.  The cost of successfully finding someone to blame is that we become powerless to alter our course.  Sadly, my generation has made “The Blame Game” America’s favorite pastime.  We’re not fat because we have no self discipline, it’s because our parents damaged our self esteem or because McDonalds doesn’t have the right nutritional standards; we’re not in debt because we spent all sorts of money that we didn’t have, it’s because interest rates are too high or employers don’t pay enough; our marriages aren’t failing because we haven’t invested ourselves in them, it’s because our partner just isn’t meeting our needs; our kids don’t struggle in school because of our lack of genuine parenting, it’s because the teachers just don’t know how to motivate them; it’s the governments fault; it’s those right wing fanatic’s fault; it’s those bleeding heart liberals; it’s the radical Muslims, it’s Christianity; it’s everybody and everything, but me.  It is the proverbial “them”; and sadly, that has become the American way.

Our forefathers were raised under an oppressive regime and because of that, the government they formed was constructed to ensure that its leaders never attained that kind of control over the people.  They envisioned a government that would be a support to the people, but wouldn’t impede their opportunity to prosper.  They never intended for the government to be the source of that prosperity.  But in today’s world, as America’s collective prosperity seems to be teetering precariously, the people of my generation seem to be looking toward the government for the fix.  We expect them to make sure that we have a high paying job; that we always get to negotiate our price; that we all have good medical insurance; that the price of gas doesn’t get too high and that our borders are safe from terrorists, without causing us a corresponding delay at the airport.  Not only do we want that and more, we don’t want it to cost any more than the relatively sparse governmental model that our founders envisioned.  We keep electing people who promise those things, even though there is no possibility that they can deliver them.  Because my generation has never really experienced genuine governmental oppression, we clamor for them to take care of us; failing to realize that a government that is able to take care of the people, will ultimately control them.  We need only watch the rioting all over the Middle East to see what that looks like.  

On the rare occasion that the government does produce something to help the people, there never seems to be a shortage of individuals who stand at the ready to exploit it.  Like “The Blame Game”, exploiting “the system” for our personal gain is just part of the way that my generation does things.  When the Capitalists gave corporations incentives and tax breaks, in an effort to create a prosperity that would “trickle down” through the economy, corporate America exploited it into record profits; thereby blunting the intended effect.  When Socialists created programs to help those in need, many in our society made an industry out of exploiting those systems as well.  Regardless of what program our current administration may initiate, we can be sure there will be a group of American citizens who feel perfectly justified in exploiting it.  While the statue of “Lady Liberty” in New York’s harbor may be a symbol of the virtuous intent of our forefathers, I fear that if we had to recast her today, she would rightfully be in rags; ravaged and robbed by the very people who claimed to love her.    

Ultimately, I believe that the greatest crisis that we face in America today is not our collapsing economy, or the sky-rocketing national debt or even the threat of terrorism; it is the crisis of our national character.  Unless that changes, we will likely lack the unity and resilience needed to deal with any other issue.  It’s not them, it’s us, it’s our generation, it’s me!

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Distinctions

Posted in Commentaries, Lists on February 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

In speaking to the religious establishment of His time, Jesus lamented their inability to “discern the signs of the times”.  In the book of Isaiah (5:13) it speaks of God’s people going into exile due to their lack of understanding and in Hosea (4:6) it says that God’s people perish for their lack of knowledge (understanding).  As a people who live in what has ironically been called “The Information Age”, I believe that we need to move beyond simply having the information, to a place of understanding and discernment.  To that end, I felt led to share this list of distinctions that could be important.

The people of God must understand (or discern) the difference between:

Resting and slumber

Remorse and repentance

An experience and an encounter

Ritual and relationship

Peace and quiet

Pleasure and joy

Abundance and prosperity

Imagination and inspiration

Brokenness and depression

Being discerning and being critical

Being called and being commissioned

A visitation and a habitation

Tolerance and forgiveness

Spirituality & Christianity

Believing and trusting

Justice and mercy

Personality and anointing

Association and brotherhood

Information and understanding

A gesture and a commitment

The sin and the sinner

Petition and prayer

A wish and a hope

Affection and intimacy

Favor and good fortune

A blessing and comfort

Fellowship and friendship

Confidence and presumption

Knowledge and wisdom

Admiration and adoration

Reverence and submission

Humility and low self esteem

Cooperation and covenant

Grace and compromise

Ideas and revelation

Adrenaline and passion

Goals and covetousness

Being an heir and being a son (or daughter)

What is pleasing to the flesh and what is pleasing to the Spirit

A Savior and a Lord

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5 Handicaps of Western Christianity

Posted in Commentaries, Lists on February 7, 2011| 4 Comments »

1.    Impatience:  One of the most prominent features of western culture is the ongoing quest to make everything faster and more convenient.  Things like, stopping at toll booths, standing in line at a fast food counter or even writing on a piece of paper, are quickly becoming passé.  Unfortunately, these “advances” also have the net effect of making us less tolerant for anything that isn’t convenient or instantly gratifying.  This is problematic for “followers” of Christ, who are often required to wait on the Lord or be stilled by the knowledge that He is God.  It is also in direct opposition to His character, which is ultimately supposed to be our destiny.  

2.    Self Sufficiency / Stubborn Independence:  The United States was birthed in rebellion; and though most would argue that the tyranny of our early history was ample justification for it, that rebellious nature has engrained itself in our national character.  American’s are famous for their brashness and their failure to adhere to conventional thought or established wisdom.  As such, Americans seem to idolize the traits of stubborn independence and self-sufficiency.  Of course, these traits stand in stark contrast to the character that Christ presented; as He spoke of coming to the Father like little children and allowed Himself to be a lamb led to slaughter.  He said that He didn’t do anything that He didn’t see His Father do first and that apart from Him, we could do “nothing”.  That is a picture of absolute dependence, which isn’t a portrait that most Americans would want to hang on their wall.  

3.    Market Based / Consumer Driven:  Misguided ideas about evangelism have caused much of the western church to become market based and consumer driven.  This causes ministers and ministries to fashion themselves after the whims of popular demand, instead of the unchanging character of God and His Spirit.  It keeps them focused on cultural trends and marketing data, instead of on the Author and Finisher of our faith; and it transforms the church into more of a network than a family.  Watering down the gospel certainly doesn’t make it any more palatable and it absolutely diminishes its potency.

4.    Vanity / Insecurity:  To some, vanity and insecurity might seem to be almost opposites, but in truth, they go hand-in-hand.  Vanity is the exaggerated portrait that we try to paint when we fear that people would be disappointed if they could see us as we really are.  Unless a person genuinely invests their sense of identity in what God says about them, they are bound to battle the very common fear that “if you really knew me, you wouldn’t love me”.  Such deeply rooted insecurity breeds competition, jealousy, offense and results in a continual struggle for recognition, position and power.  Sadly these things are commonplace in churches across America.

5.    Comfort:  Many would say that money is the god of western culture, but I would contend that at its root, the love of money is generally motivated by a deeper love of comfort.  Though many Americans are willing to part with some amount of their money for charitable causes, I would suggest that few give to the point that it might affect their own level of comfort.  For the follower of Christ, a love of comfort turns out to be a serious spiritual handicap; as the scripture tells us that what is pleasing to the flesh is not pleasing to the spirit; and that what is pleasing to the spirit is not pleasing to the flesh.  Jesus told His followers that they would be hated for His sake and that anyone who was unwilling to take up their cross, was unfit for His kingdom.  Though we like to think of ourselves as the “Army of God”, heaven help us if the battlefield isn’t air conditioned.

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5 Things Our ‘Christianity’ Can Be About Instead of Christ

Posted in Commentaries, Lists on January 21, 2011| 2 Comments »

In the years that I’ve endeavored to walk with the Lord, I have encountered an amazing number of people, who identify themselves as “Christians” and yet possess few (if any) of the characteristics that the Bible would use to describe a follower of Jesus Christ.  Most statistics seem to indicate that this phenomena is quite common in the United States, where the vast majority of Americans still describe themselves as “Christian” and yet adhere to a belief system that would seem to have little in common with the tenets of scripture.  As I’ve pondered this disparity, I’ve come up with a few ideas about what might motivate such people.

1.      Heritage / Tradition:  Despite popular revisionist history, a Judeo-Christian belief system was an inherent thread within the original fabric of our country and as such, it has become a part of our national heritage.  Similarly, there are many people who were raised in the “Christian tradition” (e.g. a reverence for God, trying to live by the Golden Rule, celebrating Christian holidays…), which has made it a part of their family heritage as well.  For such people, their sense of connectedness may not be as much with the person of Jesus, as it is with their family and its history.

2.      Being Good / Morals:  Most of us were raised with the idea that we should at least try to be a good/moral person; and many of us were also raised with the idea that ‘good people’ are ‘God fearing’ people.  For much of America’s history, a popular way to demonstrate such a reverence for God has been through church attendance.  For some, going to church is just what ‘good people’ do on Sundays and it lets their friends and neighbors know that they belong in that category.

3.      Being Blessed and/or Empowered:  One of the major themes of the Bible is God’s love for mankind and His abundant provision for those who belong to Him.  Undoubtedly, it is His desire for His children to live blessed and empowered lives, but our human nature has little trouble with trying to exploit that arrangement.  One can easily develop a taste for the blessings of heaven, without developing a corresponding love for the dispenser of those blessings.  In such a case, God’s role is reduced to little more than that of a divine vending machine.

4.      Being Right:  While becoming an heir to Christ’s righteousness is certainly a part of our relationship with Him, that differs dramatically from the very natural desire we have for others to view us as being ‘right’.  For those endeavoring to come out on top of every argument, having a scripture reference to back up every point can be a handy tool.  But this latter form of righteous is rooted in self-serving pride, which actually repulses God.

5.      Avoiding Hell:  No one who truly understood the implications of eternal separation from God would desire such a fate; but simply wanting to avoid hell is a far cry from knowing and loving God.  Though there are many religious practices that we can adhere to, unless they lead us into some sort of genuine relationship with the person of God, they may amount to little more than faulty fire insurance.  As it is with a bad insurance policy, by the time we figure out that we’re not covered, it’s probably already too late.

 

This is important because the scripture so clearly warns us that their will be people who refer to Jesus as Lord and rightfully claim to have done things in His name, who will be denied access to heaven because He never “knew” them (i.e. had a relationship with them).  The word “knew” in that passage is the same word used in Genesis, when “Adam ‘knew’ Eve” and she conceived a son.  Throughout the New Testament, there are warnings for people who profess to believe one way, but who live in a way that denies those beliefs.  Though the Western church often promotes a doctrine of inclusion, the scripture still says that “narrow is the way that leads to life” and “few find it”.

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Thought for the Day – Knowing Me, Knowing You

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Thought for the Day / Quotes on January 20, 2011| 2 Comments »

“The danger in coming to a genuine understanding that God is always with us, is that we can easily become complacent in our efforts to always be with Him.”

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We the People

Posted in Commentaries, Free Verse / Poetry, Opinions, Social / Political, tagged , , , on January 18, 2011| 1 Comment »

I am a man of unclean lips

And I come from a people of unclean lips

Indeed, we are a people:

Who value political correctness above honesty

Form above substance

and

Comfort above resilience

*

Who esteem ideas over truth

Charisma over character

and

Instant gratification over an honest days work

*

Who prefer victory to integrity

Tolerance to moral standards

and

Stimulation to fidelity

*

Who have traded diligence for convenience

Foundations for facades

and

Self-sacrifice for self-indulgence

*

At this late date in our history

‘We the People’

Hold no truth to be self evident

And though it would be premature to say that

this nation has completely turned from the idea of ‘god’

We would certainly be hard pressed to agree on

his, her or its

name

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Trump Cards

Posted in Commentaries, Word Pictures, tagged , , , , on January 5, 2011| 1 Comment »

When I was a child, I was very sensitive and emotional; which kind of sounds funny since I don’t suppose that I’ve ever stopped being those things.  But somewhere along the way I figured out that wearing my heart on my sleeve and allowing everything to penetrate my soul, was not the most expedient way to live.  The first step was suppressing the urge to express every thought that came into my head and eventually I began to develop my mind as a way of heading off those powerful emotions.  I learned to anticipate situations and to think my way through them as a defense against getting overwhelmed by circumstances.

 

It is interesting how dramatically that changed the face of who I was.  As a child I was driven by the winds of my feelings, while as an adult I have largely been driven by pragmatism and my own sense of what is “reasonable”.  Though I doubt many men would express it this way, I would guess that most have gone through some sort of similar process.  If you’re ever around little boys, you’ll find that most start out as emotional, expressive and affectionate; while grown men generally exhibit limited evidence that this was ever the case.

 

At the point I became serious about living for the Lord, I immediately found Him pushing me back towards this sensitivity.  I felt as though He said that this was part of how He designed me; that my gifts were wrapped up in that sensitivity and that a childlike heart was the only way I’d experience His kingdom.  While I understand that He doesn’t want me to be driven by my emotions, I have found that He is equally dissatisfied with idea that I would be guided by my rational thoughts.

 

God and His kingdom far exceed the bounds of my natural mind’s ability to understand them and to rely on my thoughts as a guide greatly diminishes the influence He means to have in my life.  To that end, He has graciously given us His Holy Spirit, that we might have the mind of Christ and the heart of the Father.

 

As I ponder all of this, I am reminded of some things my mother taught us as children.  At a very early age she began to play card games with us.  She used this as a way to help us with our number recognition, counting and learning simple arithmetic.  It was very effective.  She started with simple games like “War”, in which we learned that an eight was greater than a seven and that a king beat a jack.  We went on to “Go Fish”, where we learned how to match pairs together.  As she taught us more complex games, we eventually came to the place where we needed to learn the concept of “trump”.  Many card games include the use of a trump suit, which is when one suit usurps the power of all the others (e.g. Spades).

 

At first it seemed a strange concept; after all, we’d just come to understand that a king was greater than a ten, and now we had to grasp that if that ten was a trump card, it nullified the king’s power.   I believe that as we mature as Believers there is a similar adjustment that God means to make in our thinking.

 

As the simple games of our childhood taught us the patterns of counting and arithmetic, so our life experiences give us a sense of the world and how it works.  Unconsciously, we’ve learned these patterns and they’ve formed boundaries within our thought processes as to what is sane, rational, reasonable or even possible.  Maybe we’ve consciously studied things like science, psychology or philosophy, to come to some greater understanding of what the boundaries for man and mankind are, but I’d submit that whatever we might have learned has given us only a small view of a picture that is greater than we can comprehend.

 

As we come into relationship with God, we find that despite all the patterns that life has taught us, He has given us some trump cards, which have the ability to usurp the power of whatever hand we’ve been dealt.  As I prayed I sensed that the three trump cards He’s given us are faith, hope and love, and that the application of any one of these into our situation has the potential to overcome what our mind has concluded to be the natural order of things.

 

As we study the scriptures, we find the power of faith, hope and love, both implicitly and explicitly expressed.  Repeatedly God reminds us of the limitations of our natural mind and exhorts us towards faith as the pathway to cross these borders.  He tells us not to lean on our own understanding; that His thoughts and ways are higher than ours; and that He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ever imagine or hope for.

 

He warns us that knowledge puffs a man up; and He offers both a peace that surpasses understanding and a love that surpasses knowledge.  He tells us that the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.  Yet, despite these exhortations, it seems that much of Western Christianity is often more rooted in psychology than in the word of God.  Psychology can only study the pattern of human behavior as it has been, but it cannot hope to reach the possibilities of what we were created to be.  Only the Creator can show us that.

 

Much of the well-intentioned, self-help mentality within the church keeps us bound to finite worldly thinking and at the mercy of the world’s system.  Paul warned us against this when he said, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world, rather than on Christ”.  Jesus told us that if we had the faith of a mustard seed, that we’d be able to overcome the things that we consider to be the “laws of nature”.

 

Peter further states that love has the power to overcome a multitude of sins and Paul adds that we can possess every spiritual gift, but that if we have not love, we have and are “nothing”.  We must understand that the love they’re speaking of is God’s love and not the self-seeking human strain, which is of little value to the kingdom.  God’s love “always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres”.

 

As we look at the apostles, we see how these forces came to bear in their lives.  When Herod imprisoned Peter, he was guarded by four squads of four soldiers; with a soldier constantly chained to each side of him.  Our natural minds would say that there was no hope for Peter, but the scripture tells us “the church was earnestly praying to God for him”.  This seems a marked contrast to how the modern western church might handle such a scenario.  We’d likely call a lawyer from the Center for Law and Justice, to defend Peter in court; circulate petitions via the internet, demanding Peter’s release; and maybe even set up a picket at Herod’s palace.

 

We seem to have forgotten that our battle is not against flesh and blood, and that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal in nature.  The early church asserted their faith and appealed to the power that was higher than any natural law and as Peter slept, an angel came, woke him up and walked Him out of the prison.  Our natural minds cannot comprehend this, but the nature of a miracle is that it cannot be explained and is beyond what we believe to be reasonable.

 

We must understand that God’s reality is much higher than ours.  As the church prayed, they invited God and all His resources into the situation; which changed everything.  How often have we failed to invite God into our situation because we felt bound to the world system, and that the outcome was somehow inevitable?  The Lord said that we have not because we ask not.

 

We see examples of this intervention in Paul’s life as well; like the time he and Silas were praising the Lord in prison.  In so doing, they asserted their hope and faith into the situation and the Lord literally shook the earth to free them.  He is no respecter of persons, so it holds true that He will do the same for us.

 

I am certainly not advocating an empty headed walk with the Lord, but we must realize that there is a huge chasm between worldly knowledge and the knowledge of God.  Inherent in the knowledge of God is relationship with Him.  The Pharisees had devoted their life to the study of scripture, but were still unable to recognize the manifestation of truth when it stood before them.  They knew about Him, but they didn’t know Him.

 

God did not leave us to our own resources in this; He gave us His Holy Spirit to be the “Counselor”, the “Comforter” and to “teach us all things”.  He placed at our disposal all the resources of heaven, but in the church today those resources remain largely untapped.  When our natural minds come against a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, they tend to default to fear and discouragement; but God wants the hearts of His children to default to faith, hope and love.

 

When we don’t have the answers for people, He wants us to default to loving them where they’re at.  When situations look negative and hopeless, He wants us to default to placing our hope in Him and to assert our faith in prayer, by inviting Him into the situation.  He is a God who delights in making a way where there seems to be no way.

 

Paul said, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your minds in Christ Jesus”.  He also said that one day “fire will test the quality of each man’s work” and I believe when that test is done, all that will remain are those things done out of faith, hope and love.

 

While those without Christ are left only to play “War” with the world, hoping that the cards will fall their way; every child of God possesses these trump cards, which are able to overpower any cards that the world may deal.

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