As Christians we often re-invent the proverbial wheel. Many Christians have gone before us and left lessons - encouragements - and glimmers of truth that could greatly enhance our Christian journey if only we took the time to listen. One of these was a monk named Thomas a Kempis. This Catholic monk lived around the late thirteen hundreds. He wrote a devotional book entitled The Imitation of Christ which is more than worth reading. I am sharing this because his potent words come from a life lived fully devoted to Christ - they convict, encourage, and help shape us to be powerful Christians. Thomas a Kempis wrote:
"We are too much occupied with our own affections, and too anxious about transitory things. Seldom, too, do we entirely conquer even a single fault, nor are we zealous for daily growth in grace. And so we remain lukewarm and unspiritual.
3. Were we fully watchful of ourselves, and not bound in spirit to outward things, then might we be wise unto salvation, and make progress in Divine contemplation. Our great and grievous stumbling-block is that, not being freed from our affections and desires, we strive not to enter into the perfect way of the Saints. And when even a little trouble befalleth us, too quickly are we cast down, and fly to the world to give us comfort."
Seven hundred years after a Kempis penned these words, they still ring true. How easily we enslave ourselves to worldly things, falling into the belief that this world has something to offer us. In reality, we are only visitors on foreign soil - waiting for our true home.
These words convict me because I am too easily ensnared with fleshly desires. Rather than focusing on my path with Christ, I am distracted by a nice dress, new television show, or the newest celebrity gossip. Oh how vain and ephemeral this world truly is, if only we could see the Truth that is beckoning us.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Enough
So this has been one of those weeks. You know the type – Satan has been attacking me from every angle possible. Now let me tell you, I am a firm believer that a lot of times Satan does not even need to do anything because we bring ourselves down, but my week is definitely the work of the great deceiver. You see I know this because it is always the same – a barrage of thoughts. You aren’t good enough – you aren’t smart enough – you aren’t a leader – no one cares – you just aren’t enough. Finally I realized that one part of these lies rings true – I am not enough, nor will I ever be enough. And guess what, you are not enough either – Mother Theresa, Paul, Moses, Billy Graham – not enough. We can never be enough.
Romans 6:23 says “but the wages of sin is death.” Earlier, Paul says in Romans 3:23 “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We are flawed – sinful human beings. I can never be – and you can never be - enough. But thank God there is a part b to Romans 6:23 that asserts “but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Can anyone give a resounding AMEN to that??
I mean really, lets look at the Old Testament law. We cannot covet – lie – steal – pretty sure that we have all done one, if not all of those. Then Jesus comes and raises the stakes. This is what Jesus declares in Matthew 5:
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother[b]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,[c]' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell
Really? I was having a hard enough time trying to fulfill the commandments! Now my thoughts count – I am doomed! I can never be enough. But somehow, out of an astounding gift of grace, God stepped in and said you are not enough but I still love you. Not only do I love you, but I want you to follow me – to have eternal life even though you deserve death. Amen and Hallelujah – we have a great redeemer that loves us even though we are not enough. Satan’s lies can never trump the Truth that even though we are not enough, God says you are a crown in His hand. Praise God – He has made us enough!
“3 You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” Isaiah 62:3
Romans 6:23 says “but the wages of sin is death.” Earlier, Paul says in Romans 3:23 “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We are flawed – sinful human beings. I can never be – and you can never be - enough. But thank God there is a part b to Romans 6:23 that asserts “but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Can anyone give a resounding AMEN to that??
I mean really, lets look at the Old Testament law. We cannot covet – lie – steal – pretty sure that we have all done one, if not all of those. Then Jesus comes and raises the stakes. This is what Jesus declares in Matthew 5:
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother[b]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,[c]' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell
Really? I was having a hard enough time trying to fulfill the commandments! Now my thoughts count – I am doomed! I can never be enough. But somehow, out of an astounding gift of grace, God stepped in and said you are not enough but I still love you. Not only do I love you, but I want you to follow me – to have eternal life even though you deserve death. Amen and Hallelujah – we have a great redeemer that loves us even though we are not enough. Satan’s lies can never trump the Truth that even though we are not enough, God says you are a crown in His hand. Praise God – He has made us enough!
“3 You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” Isaiah 62:3
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
A word from Jeremiah...
So here I am, about to post a blog, but I am in such a funk I can barely force a smile. Why? I have no idea. Just one of those "I hate life" days. No particular reason, just a mood. It is in this mindset that I cannot stop thinking about the word of God Jeremiah prophesied to the Israelites in Jeremiah 29.
Jeremiah relayed this message:
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
This verse is scattered throughout yearbooks, letters, and sermons. It is such an encouragement to us – that God has great plans in store. As I read Jeremiah the other day, I came across this verse and its context astounded me. In Jeremiah chapter 29 we have the Israelites in exile. They are not in their homes – and do not have their temple. They are living in foreign land and are definitely not enjoying times of hope and prosperity.
Jeremiah wrote this to the survivors in Babylon that king Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of exile. This is what Jeremiah prophesied:
"Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
Can you imagine? The Babylonians have uprooted them from everything- all the Israelites have left is hope that God will deliver them. Now, God instructs them to settle in to the new culture – make families – and seek peace with the Babylonians. I cannot imagine being forced to move to another country and God telling me to settle there. It is in this context that God says I know the plans I have for you – plans to prosper and give you hope.
When I think of this verse my mind drifts to a future full of promise, hope, and peace. Yet in this context, It does not seem like the Israelites felt any of these blessings. Even though they did not understand their situation, even though they were not happy, even though they did not have their native homes – God promised them hope.
This is such an encouragement to me. It does not take long for me to think of times in my life when I could not understand why things happened, or why I had to endure difficult times. Yet through these circumstances God says it is okay, I am here with you. Seek peace – do My will – and I know your future which has greatness wrapped right into it.
Jeremiah relayed this message:
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
This verse is scattered throughout yearbooks, letters, and sermons. It is such an encouragement to us – that God has great plans in store. As I read Jeremiah the other day, I came across this verse and its context astounded me. In Jeremiah chapter 29 we have the Israelites in exile. They are not in their homes – and do not have their temple. They are living in foreign land and are definitely not enjoying times of hope and prosperity.
Jeremiah wrote this to the survivors in Babylon that king Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of exile. This is what Jeremiah prophesied:
"Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
Can you imagine? The Babylonians have uprooted them from everything- all the Israelites have left is hope that God will deliver them. Now, God instructs them to settle in to the new culture – make families – and seek peace with the Babylonians. I cannot imagine being forced to move to another country and God telling me to settle there. It is in this context that God says I know the plans I have for you – plans to prosper and give you hope.
When I think of this verse my mind drifts to a future full of promise, hope, and peace. Yet in this context, It does not seem like the Israelites felt any of these blessings. Even though they did not understand their situation, even though they were not happy, even though they did not have their native homes – God promised them hope.
This is such an encouragement to me. It does not take long for me to think of times in my life when I could not understand why things happened, or why I had to endure difficult times. Yet through these circumstances God says it is okay, I am here with you. Seek peace – do My will – and I know your future which has greatness wrapped right into it.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
In search of God
I have come to the realization as of late that both my God and my Jesus are too small. I guess I just can’t help it sometimes. I would rather have a nice, kind, friendly Jesus than a Christ that pushes me to change every day I encounter Him. I would prefer to pray to a God that is more like Santa than the God that spoke the world into being, or cast plagues onto a nation. Simply put, I build a nice clean boring box and vainly attempt to fit my idea of God inside. You see, when I need a vengeful God, that is what I create. When I need a radical Jesus, that is where I focus. But somewhere in my fallible human state I loose sight of the big picture – a God that always has been and always will be who set the earth into motion that is big enough to create but also low enough to love a wretch like me. A Jesus loving enough to humble himself on the cross, but righteous enough to eat with the sinner. I sell myself short.
I f only I could grasp onto the entirety of God – the great big and the small, the God that we should fear and the God we should run too, my faith would be greatly enhanced. When Moses encountered God on Mount Sinai his face began to glow – so much so he had to cover it. I want that God. The true God, not tainted my our fallible and human misconceptions. The God that is I AM. How great would it be if we could just let go – let go of our preconceptions, or of who we think God should be – and just allowed God to reveal Gods self to us.
This has become my prayer. Lord, reveal yourself to me for who You truly are. As humans we usually have good intentions, but through the past thousand years we have vainly attempted to try to explain an infinite God with finite minds. Because of this, we often leave out important aspects. I do not want that. I want to serve the one true God – not my explanation on who I think God is. I want to see God in such a way that my face glows because of God’s presence. Lord, let that be our heart. Oh that we could be freed from our finite minds just so we could see God in all of God’s glory – I do not think we could ever make a box big enough to contain that.
I f only I could grasp onto the entirety of God – the great big and the small, the God that we should fear and the God we should run too, my faith would be greatly enhanced. When Moses encountered God on Mount Sinai his face began to glow – so much so he had to cover it. I want that God. The true God, not tainted my our fallible and human misconceptions. The God that is I AM. How great would it be if we could just let go – let go of our preconceptions, or of who we think God should be – and just allowed God to reveal Gods self to us.
This has become my prayer. Lord, reveal yourself to me for who You truly are. As humans we usually have good intentions, but through the past thousand years we have vainly attempted to try to explain an infinite God with finite minds. Because of this, we often leave out important aspects. I do not want that. I want to serve the one true God – not my explanation on who I think God is. I want to see God in such a way that my face glows because of God’s presence. Lord, let that be our heart. Oh that we could be freed from our finite minds just so we could see God in all of God’s glory – I do not think we could ever make a box big enough to contain that.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Us versus Them
I read a tragic story today on Yahoo news. The article told the account of an evangelical church planning on burning copies of the Quran to commemorate September eleventh. How devastating. Where is Jesus in that? Now I understand that this church is fanatical and not representative of most churches, but I do believe it is an extreme example of something that has gone terribly wrong. For decades the church has pitted itself in a battle of "us versus them" rather than being proponents of the love of Christ. It does not take more than a cursory view of history to see Christians verses Muslims, Catholics verses Protestants, Christians versus homosexuality, evolution, intellectualism, and the list never ends.
I find myself torn because often it is imperative to take a stance, but what the church has come to be seen for is what we are against rather than what we are for.
John 4:1-42
In this poignant passage we have Jesus, a Jew, asking for water from a Samaritan woman. Not only does this make him unclean because she was a Samaritan, but she had multiple husbands and lived with a man who was not her husband! Jesus, in typical religious fashion, could have removed himself from the presence of this repeat sinner but instead he built a relationship. A relationship so powerful, the text says this sinful woman’s testimony caused many Samaritans to see the power of Christ. Jesus could have taken many different approaches towards this woman. He could have ignored her like the other religious leaders, gone around preaching about how wrong adultery is, or demonized her for her sins, but he did none of these. He built a relationship that instigated eternal change.
The "religious" of Jesus' day constantly condemned him for dealing with sinners, like this Samaritan woman. Not only was he seen with sinners, but in their view he made himself unclean by being with sinners - it was THAT important to him. The interesting thing is that it was the very same people the religious so often push away that could not help but run to Jesus. The thiefs, adulterors, even murderers were drawn like flies into the light of Christ.
So what has gone wrong? Why do these people now run from the Truth that only the church can offer? Why do we not draw them in?
We, as Christians, are blessed because we are all the benefactors of the greatest gift of grace - due to this reality it should never be us versus them. Our opinions should only come second to the abundant story of love Christ offers.
Rather than burning Qurans, maybe we could build relationships - show people the story of love we have to offer rather than the list of "cannot" we have created.
Here is where I come to a crossroad. I know I am no better than anyone - a wretched sinner saved by the undeserving grace of the cross. But what do we do? When what the world sees is Christians who shoot abortion doctors, or burn Qurans, how do we draw people in? Why would they want to come in? The only conclusion I can come to is the example Christ set. Maybe we can build relationships with "outsiders" so strong that they run back to their villages spreading the Truth of Christ as they go.
I find myself torn because often it is imperative to take a stance, but what the church has come to be seen for is what we are against rather than what we are for.
John 4:1-42
In this poignant passage we have Jesus, a Jew, asking for water from a Samaritan woman. Not only does this make him unclean because she was a Samaritan, but she had multiple husbands and lived with a man who was not her husband! Jesus, in typical religious fashion, could have removed himself from the presence of this repeat sinner but instead he built a relationship. A relationship so powerful, the text says this sinful woman’s testimony caused many Samaritans to see the power of Christ. Jesus could have taken many different approaches towards this woman. He could have ignored her like the other religious leaders, gone around preaching about how wrong adultery is, or demonized her for her sins, but he did none of these. He built a relationship that instigated eternal change.
The "religious" of Jesus' day constantly condemned him for dealing with sinners, like this Samaritan woman. Not only was he seen with sinners, but in their view he made himself unclean by being with sinners - it was THAT important to him. The interesting thing is that it was the very same people the religious so often push away that could not help but run to Jesus. The thiefs, adulterors, even murderers were drawn like flies into the light of Christ.
So what has gone wrong? Why do these people now run from the Truth that only the church can offer? Why do we not draw them in?
We, as Christians, are blessed because we are all the benefactors of the greatest gift of grace - due to this reality it should never be us versus them. Our opinions should only come second to the abundant story of love Christ offers.
Rather than burning Qurans, maybe we could build relationships - show people the story of love we have to offer rather than the list of "cannot" we have created.
Here is where I come to a crossroad. I know I am no better than anyone - a wretched sinner saved by the undeserving grace of the cross. But what do we do? When what the world sees is Christians who shoot abortion doctors, or burn Qurans, how do we draw people in? Why would they want to come in? The only conclusion I can come to is the example Christ set. Maybe we can build relationships with "outsiders" so strong that they run back to their villages spreading the Truth of Christ as they go.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
A trip to Israel
This past year Jason and I had the amazing opportunity to go to Israel. We saw Caesarea, Pauls’ house, Egyptian ruins, and countless other breathtaking sites. One day, we went to one of two places archaeologists believe to be the location of the crucifixion and burial. I have to admit, I have never been more disappointed in my life. As we fought the crowds to enter this holy location, all I could see was people pushing and shoving to perform their rituals at certain locations. Walls clad in gold and icons surrounded me, while prayers in different languages flooded my ears. Now please do not misunderstand me- I find great value in liturgy, ritual, and tradition but these people worshiped the place more than the person. Come to find out, priests even got into fist fights over that very location. Look it up on YouTube- priests at the holy sepulcher – it is depressing. I could not help but think He is risen – no longer here! While it is great to see the sights, even enlightening, the sight itself is not something to be worshiped.
After the sepulcher debacle, we travelled to the second sight that is believed to be the location of the crucifixion and burial. This place had no gold, no icons, no crazy tourists, no rituals – just rocks and flowers. We sat in silence and enjoyed communion together. As we walked to the empty tomb, there hung a humble sign that simply said, “He is not here – He is risen.” How refreshing – the high light to an event filled trip. But this experience made me realize we often worship the place rather than the person.
Those priests got into a fist fight over inanimate things – when in reality, they all believed in the same Christ. How many times do we fight and squabble over meaningless things – whether we should sing hymns or praise songs, whether the paint should be red or blue, or how to do any particular thing. Meanwhile, the world watches wondering why we argue over unimportant things if we have such an important message. If we have the Truth, shouldn’t we be so occupied with it that we do not get caught up in petty matters? I know we are human, but we have to remember who we serve – a risen Savior that has the power to change lives! If we keep this at the forefront of our mind, things like the color of the stained glass seem to fade away in comparison. Always remember – He is not here, He is risen!
After the sepulcher debacle, we travelled to the second sight that is believed to be the location of the crucifixion and burial. This place had no gold, no icons, no crazy tourists, no rituals – just rocks and flowers. We sat in silence and enjoyed communion together. As we walked to the empty tomb, there hung a humble sign that simply said, “He is not here – He is risen.” How refreshing – the high light to an event filled trip. But this experience made me realize we often worship the place rather than the person.
Those priests got into a fist fight over inanimate things – when in reality, they all believed in the same Christ. How many times do we fight and squabble over meaningless things – whether we should sing hymns or praise songs, whether the paint should be red or blue, or how to do any particular thing. Meanwhile, the world watches wondering why we argue over unimportant things if we have such an important message. If we have the Truth, shouldn’t we be so occupied with it that we do not get caught up in petty matters? I know we are human, but we have to remember who we serve – a risen Savior that has the power to change lives! If we keep this at the forefront of our mind, things like the color of the stained glass seem to fade away in comparison. Always remember – He is not here, He is risen!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)