Instrument

God, use me as your instrument, as a voice that speaks not from within myself but as a voice that calls out from the wilderness of 2011, the suburbia and comforts of today and my setting and proclaims the Lord.

Help me to be the blessing you designed me to be, for as a man blessed beyond my wildest hopes I am inclined to focus inward-help me to focus outward, to be a blessing that your plans set forth so long ago for all of us.

I pray that when given a chance to speak, or stand or demonstrate your love, I do that and give that situation my all. Help me to less of a fan, and more of a teammate.

Amen.

Circle

"The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are."
C.S. Lewis

I appreciate these words, and the more I converse and church with those around me, the more I am assured of this. The people and the places around us shape us and mold who we are and how we grow.

I had a conversation this last week with a friend about a lot of different Orthodoxy/Orthopraxy subject matter. In this discussion, we were able to (at least in my opinion) challenge each others thoughts and ideas, and hear what the other person said and see how they worked it into their own life. I have heard and try to practice the idea of putting what I believe "on a shelf" and hearing what someone else is saying, and I think this friend did as well.

The neat thing about it-there was no fighting, no name-calling, no childish behavior exhibited...we were sharing how we felt and what we thought and believed and how that looked in practice with an open, inviting discussion. I love that. I need that, and I think we all need that. We all need to be challenged and to challenge someone else, if it is the same person or with others in your life, you need those that fit both areas in your circle.

I appreciate the wisdom of friends, and I hope they appreciate mine. It is my hope that when we do this thing we call "church"--aka "body of believers", that it is done in a positive, engaging fashion that screams wisdom, love and Jesus to those around us.

Orthodoxy/Orthopraxy

There is a word that has continued to be an important, spoken word in the Christian world that is the subject of books, discussions and the like. That word in Orthodoxy. But there is another word that goes along with it, and it is not discussed, and not as popular. That word in Orthopraxy. Odds are, you have heard of one and not the other.

According to the website for Merrian-Webster's Dictionary, these are the definitions for the following words:

Orthodoxy-Conforming to established doctrine especially in religion, conventional.

Orthopraxy-Correctness of action or practice.

Most of our focus in the Western Churches is on the subject and training of Orthodoxy, and what we believe, should believe and know. The doctrine, the ideas and the proper way to process out what we think.

But what if, instead of Orthodoxy our focus was on Orthopraxy? What would it look like if the actions, the activity of my life was more important than what I studied and what I wanted to believe was the right thing to do? Instead of thinking and discussing, I acted and practiced the right way, the way I was intended to function.


For me, I an trying to be less focused on what i read and formulate in my head, and more on how I treat those around me, how I communicate God's love and His plan to the world. Today, what is your spiritual walk focused on? Are you more concerned with proper thought, or proper action?

What I learned about the Rapture prediction

This week, we waited and watched on Saturday, May 21st for the "Rapture" to happen, and well; as far as I know it did not. But a few things struck me the most in this process...


1. Christian or not, many people found this funny.
Yes, I know the group that originated this on FamilyRadio has done it before, and there are claims that should not be made, because no one knows when Jesus will be coming back. I agree with that, hands-down. We don't know the date, the time and should not make those predictions or promises or assumptions.

But do we need to laugh? And what are we laughing about? And why are we laughing? Don Miller, in his book "Searching For God Knows What" talks about the notion that we are all on a lifeboat, pushing someone else over the edge or "under the bus" if we can. Trying to make ourselves look better but at the expense of another. It is the school bully/bullied persona-if we can get out of the way so others can laugh at someone else, than no one will laugh at me. These are fellow Christians who need help in better understanding the Words of Jesus-they don't need us to join in with the "Rapture Party" humor and laugh at them.


2. The people of FamilyRadio had a few things right.
When was the last time you had a chance to talk to someone about the Rapture? When was it out in the mainstream, or all over your facebook/twitter/work conversations? Although the date wasn't right, they gave us a chance to discuss it and bring it into the forefront. Jesus is coming, there is a plan in the future for a new heaven, and new earth and a reconcilliation with our Creator.

A local mega-church preacher was just interviewed on the news about this. And after his joke of "oops, I am here but I did not prepare a sermon", he focused on the "no man knows the hour" idea, and said that the man making the prediction "is a kook". Where is the mention of Jesus or the need to get aligned to God or so many other things? The nightly news just gave you a chance to talk about God's love-instead you used it to showcase humor and "oh, not me-it's him who is wrong"...which brings me to:

3. Many missed an opportunity.
The question needs to be asked-did you use it as an opportunity to share God's love and his plan for the world-or did you use it a chance to say something witty and funny, and loose the opportunity to share? This was a chance that you may have missed. What do we discuss now as Christians? How wrong this guy was? How we were in the "correct" camp by not saying he was coming May 21st? How about just telling someone that He is coming-have you done that to anyone recently who wasn't a believer? Really threw out your convictions and faith to them?

4. Jesus is coming.
This isn't funny. It is isn't humor. Jesus is coming. He will be here, and we won't know the date or the time-and when He comes, we will know it according to the Revelation to the Apostle John. Make sure you have all of your heart where it needs to be, and that you have done everything you can to help those around you know it as well. Love will win-Jesus will win. That is the side I want to be on.


“Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book.” Revelation 22:7

Communion

In many churches around the world, there is an essence of shared experience that we go through...

There is fellowship, prayer, singing, teaching, offering, invitational

And all of those components to the experience help move US closer to God.

But the Lord’s Supper is different, isn’t it?

While all of these forms of worship move US towards God, Communion is unique in that it isn’t about us and what we do that is so important, but it is what we receive here that frames the moment

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

The words of Jesus reflect that it is HIS actions, HIS giving to us.

We understand how we do something, taking the bread and cup but we may not see how God does anything.But during Communion, God does something-He acts.

We do not come to the table to learn something with our minds---we come to meet God. God and people meet here and something happens.

Here we touch eternity. Here God gives love, forgiveness and grace and we receive.

He graces us, and for a moment we are in the presence of the Almighty reaching out to us. Heaven meets earth, like a wet sloppy kiss. There is an essence of God meeting us here on this plane, this moment and reality and it is real and it is present.

In prayer we go to God. In the Lord's Supper He comes to us.

In the moments you get to experience Communion, focus on the knowledge that God through Jesus is reaching out to you and asking you to remember, asking you to experience His presence and feel His love.

Relate

I have heard people ask, “How do I do a relationship with Jesus, when I can’t see or hear Him or touch Him?” The frustrations that are accompanied with the lack of a present God in the here and now ring deep for many people, and I can say it has been a frustration I have experienced as well-if we compare the child-to-parent relationship, or the bride-to-groom, each one of those relationships at least has a two-way aspect, a reality in the moment of interaction and discussion for both parties.

But what does it look like to have the relationship when you can’t interact? I can’t have a discussion or feel a bond to someone who doesn’t talk back to me, or discuss things or embrace me, or can I? I can’t really say I have a friendship with Paul McCartney, even though I would like too-it is a 1-way street, even if I do know (or at least think I know) how he feels and thinks and what he believes. Without the interaction, what kind of connection is it really?

But for us, Jesus gives us a keystone to starting and keeping a relationship with Him. Numerous times in the Gospels, He tells us that the way to Him is through each other…that the way I interact with Jesus is the way I interact with you. And not just my minister or wife or guys I like to hang out with, but how I interact with that person that annoys me, or the not-so-popular person at school, or the atheist/agnostic/non-Christian in my life. It has little to do with me, but more to do with them.

In John 21, Jesus asks Simon Peter if he loves Him, and in response to that with a yes, Jesus tells Him "than feed my sheep". In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus tells us that there is a time in the end, when there will be two camps you can be in-the group who saw Jesus in the ones around us and cared for Him through them, and the ones who didn’t. The sick, the broken, the homeless and the ones truly in need around us-these people are Jesus. These individuals are the way we relate and bond to God.

When I look you in the eye-I see Jesus. And in that, I can treat you like a friend, like a person who I need and desire to love and serve. How can I see you any other way if I really yearn to be in a relationship with an Almighty God?

"If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen." 1 John 4:20

Image: tungphoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Horse and the Cart

"The popular notion that the first obligation of the church is to spread the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is false. Her first obligation is to be spiritually worthy of it." AW Tozer

Sometimes, in my own life, I feel like I am trying too hard to put the cart before the horse as it were. Many opportunities to "spread the gospel" arise each and everyday, and when I am posed with those chances, I either take the chance to speak or feel a sense of guilt for not doing it later.

In the Acts if the Apostles, Jesus tells his apostles:
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

And we read this, and the first notion is--do it, spread the Word and get it out there in whatever package that looks like and however we can. That sometimes is productive and worthwhile and positive in growing people in their realization of their walk with God, but sometimes...sometimes it's a bullhorn or a judgment with condemnation or a harsh tongue or a clanging cymbal.

But what does it look like to put the spreading of the Gospel in front of the actual implication and understanding of it in our own lives? Tozer touches on this, in that as Christians, we get to the latter-the spreading of the Word and message of God sometimes well before we are truly worthy of it. Our lives become more of a check mark-based system of do this, do that and "get them in the doors", with little regard to our own self-reflection of growth and deemed worthiness of the gospel message of love. When we try this, we are literally trying to get the cart to lead the horse-it isn't going to go where you point it and ultimately leads way off path or sits there and does nothing because it wasn't constructed to work that way....all of which leads to danger or idleness. Which is worse?



photo © Elizabeth Alcinoe
for openphoto.net CC:PublicDomain

Admiration

Do you admire Jesus?

There are a lot of fans of Jesus, of God, of religion and spirituality and doing the right thing and volunteering or standing up for those whose rights are being trampled and loving others and being a good example or the right kind of Christian according to whatever box you can fit that into…

But are you just a fan-or are you on the team?

Regarding the life of an admirer, in the book Story: Recapturing the Mystery, there is a quote that reads as follows:

Soren Kierkegaard states: "The difference between an admirer and a follower still remains, no matter where you are. The admirer never makes any true sacrifices. He always plays it safe. Though in words, phrases, songs, he is inexhaustible about how highly he prizes Christ, he renounces nothing, gives up nothing, will not reconstruct his life, will not be what he admires, and will not let his life express what it is he supposedly admires."

When I read these words, I had to ask myself---am I an admirer, or a follower?
I don’t think Jesus is impressed with my “fan” collection of Bibles, books, etc…I have a lot of memorabilia, that fits into the books or study guides I like to read, the notes I’ve taken, the ideas I write down-but it’s all just a collection of stuff, isn’t it…

Jesus didn’t say, “admire me”, kind-of like me but still do your own thing…do it as you’re comfortable…


As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea… And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
Mark 1:16-18


Immediately, they left it behind to follow Jesus…
Follow Him where? And left what behind?

Their lives, their ways, their hurt and rejection and family and friends and everything they were to follow…

To follow Him to the cross, to die to themselves and live for God, to follow God’s will

Follow me, says Jesus-be on my team.
Follow me to death and ultimately to life

The road starts right here, right now with each decision we make
On Sunday mornings we can make the decision as well with the cup the bread—living the life, not admiring but living…

“This do in remembrance of me”

Each day, I try hard to remember that I need to be on God’s team, striving each and every second to trust and obey.

Not to enshrine, not to be a fan…
Not to admire, but to follow

serve

I am Jesus, and so are you.

Before you string me up, or assume me to be a heretical writer here, listen to what I mean. In the NT, we are given to views of how people on Earth can be Jesus to those around them:

"Then he will turn to the 'goats,' the ones on his left, and say, 'Get out, worthless goats! You're good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.'
"Then those 'goats' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?'
"He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.' (Matthew 25:41-45 Message)

And

“Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.” (2 Cor. 5:16-20 Message)



We are Jesus when we serve and represent what Christ it to people here on earth and Jesus is in those same people that we serve and help (or are supposed to be serving and helping). We get the notions at times that we are Jesus helping those without Him, but He shows us that He is in those downtrodden, overlooked people as well. When we stretch out our hands and feet to help those who hunger, thirst and desire-we are doing the right things, being the representative we are called to be.

When I put these verses together, it brought me to the idea I don’t think about too often-that the same faces looking for a chance to survive belong to Jesus. If I can’t love those right here, right now-what does that say about me? If I can’t make time for someone who needs it, what does that really say about my honesty in making time for God?

Do you serve those around you and love those near you knowing that it is like you are serving Jesus?

The middle

The more I read, the more I want to write. And sometimes, I read and think it was something I had felt or thought or should be feeling or thinking, and I feel good and/or pitiful with how I am living life. Reading has always inspired and challenged me in so many ways.

Recently, I started reading Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years and got to a section where he discusses the middle of our story we call life. It hit home and hit hard. He says:

“I think this is when most people give up on their stories. They come out of college wanting to change the world, wanting to get married, wanting to change the world and the way people buy office supplies. But they get into the middle and they discover it was harder than they thought. They can’t see the distant shore anymore, and they wonder if their paddling is moving them forward.”

This blog is my way to share the middle with you. What I am doing here, and what I hope to accomplish. I am in the middle in so many ways-financially/economically, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally-the list goes on and on. I want to explore what it means to be here and be a part of the journey that gets me to the other shore, advances me and grows me in my journey. I continue to desire growth but relish rest-this is the constant fight isn’t it? I want to reach the end but not without loving the middle and every second it gives me. Come walk with me…