I've been volunteering recently with a place called The Urban Ministry. It's a colorful little place that practically fully serves the homeless community of Charlotte. They have doctors, nurses, counseling, food, job training, art classes, etc. In my opinion, it embodies Christ's view of helping the homeless. The ministry works hard to not enable people to remain homeless but instead, with great effort, strives to free them from their current trials and help them toward a better life. I was sitting at the desk just a few days ago, listening to all the stories people came up and told me. It's interesting how uninhibited most of these people are, so willing to tell you a story, even if it may not be the complete truth, still a heart-breaker nonetheless. They make me realize that we're not so different and the chasm between us is often not as wide as some of us like to believe. I tell tales to mask my real life as I know almost everyone does.
I met a particular man, nice looking guy probably once was middle class. He didn't seem like the homeless type (and we all know we unfortunately have a stereotype in our heads). He came up to my desk and began to tell me his story. The sincere remorse and hurt he felt telling the story made it much more plausible for me. He stood in front of me, practically shaking with insecurity, telling how he had just left rehab and now had no place to go. He'd been sober 12 months and needed a bus pass to get to a job agency that he knew of to help him get work. He wasn't asking for handouts or anything of that nature. He was asking how to get to the agency.
Thoughts rolled through my head as I listened to this man. What happened to him before? Where did he come from? Where was he planning on going? Does he believe he can truly recover? Does he have family or friends to help him? Does he know a great God that can take his past and use it for great good in his future? But above all, I sat and wondered why he felt so ashamed of where he had been.
I feel that way sometimes- ashamed of my past or thinking my present as a failure. We mask our lives to represent ourselves as better than we actually think we are. We dance around the truth or put it into eloquent words to either obtain pity or a positive impression from people, whatever we're looking for. I saw this man and wondered why he felt so ashamed of a life God knew about, a life that, if he's meant to follow God, can be used to reach all those in his same position and outside of it to glorify, truly magnify this great God that can do all things. I wondered why we're all so ashamed of where we've been and where we are. When I think about it, those things really don't matter. What matters is where we're going.
I'm going a long, long way. I'm going toward and am currently in eternity with God. My past blemishes have either been erased or have been forgiven such that they can be used to carry with me to relate to and love others. I look back on a few of my past "mistakes" and realize God knew all along and has since used every one of those moments to bring me back to him and to help some other person feel God's warmth and grace.
I wanted so deeply to transfer that saving knowledge to this poor man standing in front of me at the desk. But as I tried, I too realized it's a concept that's impossible to grasp without knowing our value in the eyes of a God that made us perfect. I pray that man too will go a long, long way in life. I pray we will all realize that what really matters is where we're going. The impression that I leave with people and the accomplishments that I've had are really insignificant if you think about it. All that matters is where I'm headed.
To be ashamed of where we've been is really to tell God He hasn't been the God of our lives and hasn't been with us all along. Sure we sin but grace abounds all the more when we do. He's promised to never leave us or forsake us. So really, if you think about it, we should never be ashamed of where we've been and the only adjustments to be made are if we're not proud of where we're going.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Pumpkins
My sister-in-law just sent me an email that rang rather true. It compared Christians to pumpkins. As cheesy as it may sound, the comparison is right on. If you think about it, when we becomes believers, I mean true believers, God picks us up out of the patch where we've been growing since our birth. We've been fertilized there and sown in all kinds of weeds that have previously been used to harm us. Now, God picks us up, just as we pick pumpkins out of the patch.
When you pick a pumpkin you take it home and wash it off, just like God washes all our sin and yuckiness off. It sound incredibly cheesy, but it's so accurate. Think about the rest of the process. You cut off the top so you can get all the junk out and carve a face. A person's top is his or her brain. I think where many Christians go wrong is that when we believe and put our faith in Christ He has to chop off our human thinking. We still try to function and do things on our own and we can do nothing apart from Christ. So when we do, we exist in our humanness. Our human mind is filled with our old ways of thinking and our old plans that don't include God. We have to let God chop that off and stop thinking apart from Him. We have to stop the life and the thinking we used to have and learn a whole new way of living.
After the top comes off all the goop and seeds come out. As the email went, the seeds of guilt, doubt and I can't remember what else, but the point still remains. There's still more ugly than just removing our way of viewing life. We have to let God dig it all out and scrape us until we feel like a skeleton. We may feel bare, but it's because God's tearing away the bad to put in the light that can consume us. I know when people become believers they often feel alone in the beginning. It's because you're going through the scraping process that hurts. But think about it- if you don't get all the junk out of the pumpkin it stinks and the excess could catch on fire from the flame. God graciously makes His light bigger than our junk and allows it to consume anything we could try and smooth back on to ourselves in sin.
It's an interesting comparison when I think about it. Interesting that the ordinary things in life, the traditions and daily functions, might actually hold symbolance to a higher order and a better way of living life.
When you pick a pumpkin you take it home and wash it off, just like God washes all our sin and yuckiness off. It sound incredibly cheesy, but it's so accurate. Think about the rest of the process. You cut off the top so you can get all the junk out and carve a face. A person's top is his or her brain. I think where many Christians go wrong is that when we believe and put our faith in Christ He has to chop off our human thinking. We still try to function and do things on our own and we can do nothing apart from Christ. So when we do, we exist in our humanness. Our human mind is filled with our old ways of thinking and our old plans that don't include God. We have to let God chop that off and stop thinking apart from Him. We have to stop the life and the thinking we used to have and learn a whole new way of living.
After the top comes off all the goop and seeds come out. As the email went, the seeds of guilt, doubt and I can't remember what else, but the point still remains. There's still more ugly than just removing our way of viewing life. We have to let God dig it all out and scrape us until we feel like a skeleton. We may feel bare, but it's because God's tearing away the bad to put in the light that can consume us. I know when people become believers they often feel alone in the beginning. It's because you're going through the scraping process that hurts. But think about it- if you don't get all the junk out of the pumpkin it stinks and the excess could catch on fire from the flame. God graciously makes His light bigger than our junk and allows it to consume anything we could try and smooth back on to ourselves in sin.
It's an interesting comparison when I think about it. Interesting that the ordinary things in life, the traditions and daily functions, might actually hold symbolance to a higher order and a better way of living life.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Our Salvation
"Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death" Psalm 68: 19-20.
God is our salvation. Webster defines salvation as "deliverance from the power and effects of sin". God is our salvation. God is our deliverance from the power and effects of sin. Often I focus on being forgiven, asking for it and realizing I'm going to heaven if I follow God. I forget that the road is not about my pursuit, it's about God. Our salvation is not our passion, our drive or our fight to achieve eternal life, our salvation is God. I think we focus on our life here on earth, trying to do good, to be good, to produce good. Really, life's about God. God is our deliverance from sin if we have our salvation in Him. If we do, then our focus should always be on God, not on the deeds, successes we have or the souls we're winning to the Lord. Maybe it' s not a profound truth to you, but it hit me just now that God is our salvation- not OUR commitment, our Bible reading and prayer schedule, not our missionary successes, but God. We focus too much on the outer layer of Christianity instead of focusing on God. When we focus on God the other stuff just happens as a reflection of His worth to us.
God is our salvation. Webster defines salvation as "deliverance from the power and effects of sin". God is our salvation. God is our deliverance from the power and effects of sin. Often I focus on being forgiven, asking for it and realizing I'm going to heaven if I follow God. I forget that the road is not about my pursuit, it's about God. Our salvation is not our passion, our drive or our fight to achieve eternal life, our salvation is God. I think we focus on our life here on earth, trying to do good, to be good, to produce good. Really, life's about God. God is our deliverance from sin if we have our salvation in Him. If we do, then our focus should always be on God, not on the deeds, successes we have or the souls we're winning to the Lord. Maybe it' s not a profound truth to you, but it hit me just now that God is our salvation- not OUR commitment, our Bible reading and prayer schedule, not our missionary successes, but God. We focus too much on the outer layer of Christianity instead of focusing on God. When we focus on God the other stuff just happens as a reflection of His worth to us.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Listening
"When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, 'Do you want to be healed?' The sick man answered, 'Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.' Jesus said to him, 'Get up, take up your bed, and walk.' And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked" John 5:6-9.
A friend of mine was talking about the full breadth of this passage earlier tonight and this particular part struck me as I read it in her car. It doesn't take long to realize that most people have a problem with, or simply don't listen. Everyone has a different mindset about how questions should be answered, to what extent and with how much depth. It's interesting if you think about it how often people don't respond well to the long answer, or a different answer that expected, to their question. But mainly how we are often prone to not even answer, or at least not directly, many questions we are asked. I was thinking just this morning about how much more productive many conversations would be if people specifically answered the question assigned or asked. We instead beat around the question, answer with a story or make an excuse. Now those things are not necessarily bad all the time, but as I read this passage in John, my mind filled with empathy for Jesus. Jesus asks a simple question- Do you want to be healed? The man does not answer, a simple yes would have sufficed, but instead responds with an excuse and a complaint as to why he hasn't been healed. I realize he didn't know it was Jesus, but it makes me realize how often we don't really listen to people's questions or statements. We respond according to what we want/need to say aloud to someone or simply to fill the empty air with words. In conversations I am sometimes prone to think 'just give me an answer to the question I asked' and not tell me some circular answer that takes forever.
Now I'm a big fan of story time and I love to stay connected with what's going on in friends' lives. But I hate it when people don't listen. But what's interesting is Jesus doesn't get mad. Jesus immediately heals him. It's not because he had great faith or because he did a great deed, Jesus just recognized this guy's humanness and desire and healed. I often wish people were totally honest with me. I think Jesus' silence speaks volumes in many instances and probably taught much better lessons than Him possibly saying something. His prayer life This man didn't really listen to Jesus, but Jesus loved him anyway.
A friend of mine was talking about the full breadth of this passage earlier tonight and this particular part struck me as I read it in her car. It doesn't take long to realize that most people have a problem with, or simply don't listen. Everyone has a different mindset about how questions should be answered, to what extent and with how much depth. It's interesting if you think about it how often people don't respond well to the long answer, or a different answer that expected, to their question. But mainly how we are often prone to not even answer, or at least not directly, many questions we are asked. I was thinking just this morning about how much more productive many conversations would be if people specifically answered the question assigned or asked. We instead beat around the question, answer with a story or make an excuse. Now those things are not necessarily bad all the time, but as I read this passage in John, my mind filled with empathy for Jesus. Jesus asks a simple question- Do you want to be healed? The man does not answer, a simple yes would have sufficed, but instead responds with an excuse and a complaint as to why he hasn't been healed. I realize he didn't know it was Jesus, but it makes me realize how often we don't really listen to people's questions or statements. We respond according to what we want/need to say aloud to someone or simply to fill the empty air with words. In conversations I am sometimes prone to think 'just give me an answer to the question I asked' and not tell me some circular answer that takes forever.
Now I'm a big fan of story time and I love to stay connected with what's going on in friends' lives. But I hate it when people don't listen. But what's interesting is Jesus doesn't get mad. Jesus immediately heals him. It's not because he had great faith or because he did a great deed, Jesus just recognized this guy's humanness and desire and healed. I often wish people were totally honest with me. I think Jesus' silence speaks volumes in many instances and probably taught much better lessons than Him possibly saying something. His prayer life This man didn't really listen to Jesus, but Jesus loved him anyway.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Watching
"Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save" Lamentations 4:17. "In the morning I lay my request before you and watch" Psalm 5:3. There are many parts of scripture that talk about waiting and watching for God to fulfill His promises, to fulfill His word. Many times The Bible talks about laying our requests before Him and allowing Him to take our burdens and sustain us; not only sustain us many times but relieve our anxieties and fears to allow us freedom from the previous bondage we put ourselves in. Watch. Wait. Allow God. Give it to Him. They sound right...and good... but do we actually do it? Do we actually give everything to Him? Do we actually watch and expect God to answer? Are we really that confident and do we really believe that much?
The first verse, the one from Lamentations, hit me as I realized how much I share in common with it. I too often watch vainly, irratated or maybe even angry or confused at God for "not helping" or not answering immediately or how I saw fit. But it's profound and incredibly humbling to accumulate the times I watched for a nation which could not save. We expect ourselves to carry the burden, to win people over, to look good and be successful. We expect our friends and family to treat us not only respectfully but kindly and we often come down harshly on them to others if they don't fall into line with how we think they should be. We expect people to do things or be things that make our lives fit and seem perfect. We also often pray to a god that doesn't exist.
God is not a God of controversy. He's not a God that throws hissy fits when we don't come to Him. He's not a God that begs us to adore Him as though He needs us. But He's a God that saves. He's a God of miracles. He's a God that provides a way when there is none. "The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem" Lam 4:12. You may have strong defenses or a strong hold on something that you're sure of. But it seems like Jerusalem, as well as the rest of the world, was fully convinced that their walls were impenetrable. Look what happened- God scatters them, burning their cities and making their land desolate to put it mildly, very mildly. Not to say He acts towards us in the same manner, thank the good Lord for Jesus paying our penatly and enduring the full wrath of God on the cross, but He's still a God who acts and a God that can do and will do according to His ways and His will.
I often find myself praying to a god that doesn't exist. A god who couldn't really take away my problems. The real God can.. and He will... and He does exist. We just have to believe. We also have to be honest with Him- He knows anyway.
The first verse, the one from Lamentations, hit me as I realized how much I share in common with it. I too often watch vainly, irratated or maybe even angry or confused at God for "not helping" or not answering immediately or how I saw fit. But it's profound and incredibly humbling to accumulate the times I watched for a nation which could not save. We expect ourselves to carry the burden, to win people over, to look good and be successful. We expect our friends and family to treat us not only respectfully but kindly and we often come down harshly on them to others if they don't fall into line with how we think they should be. We expect people to do things or be things that make our lives fit and seem perfect. We also often pray to a god that doesn't exist.
God is not a God of controversy. He's not a God that throws hissy fits when we don't come to Him. He's not a God that begs us to adore Him as though He needs us. But He's a God that saves. He's a God of miracles. He's a God that provides a way when there is none. "The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem" Lam 4:12. You may have strong defenses or a strong hold on something that you're sure of. But it seems like Jerusalem, as well as the rest of the world, was fully convinced that their walls were impenetrable. Look what happened- God scatters them, burning their cities and making their land desolate to put it mildly, very mildly. Not to say He acts towards us in the same manner, thank the good Lord for Jesus paying our penatly and enduring the full wrath of God on the cross, but He's still a God who acts and a God that can do and will do according to His ways and His will.
I often find myself praying to a god that doesn't exist. A god who couldn't really take away my problems. The real God can.. and He will... and He does exist. We just have to believe. We also have to be honest with Him- He knows anyway.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
God is never late
I attended a prayer meeting at my home church last Sunday and as we prayed one of the men in my group said something that caught my attention. He said "You are never late". I run on my time, my goals, my schedule, my planning. I pray about those things often but I'm still fixated that God comes through in my timing. When things don't line up or happen according to the way I think they will I simply believe I've done something wrong instead of realizing that the wrong lies in not listening to God's timing, God's schedule, God's plan, God's goals and events. We're often prone to conclude that because we're doing "good" by helping at church, organizing something for a missions organization running an outreach program that they must all be things we should be involved with and should be successful in. I think our thinking is skewed. God never promises to fulfill our dreams, our hopes and desires of ourselves. He promises to fulfill the dreams, hopes and desires of the people IN HIM, focuced on him, consumed in the things He's focusing on. Those things really are and should be our hopes anyway.
But as I thought about God not being late it sparked something in me. As I read through the Bible, I have just currently finished the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah makes everything he prophesies seem so immediate. He condemns the people of Israel for not following God, for turning away on countless occassions and God Himself punishes them for the sins they've committed. I found myself thinking that I wish God was as immediate with me as Jeremiah's prophesies seem to be for the people of Israel. But as I dug deeper I realized the tremendous lag that often occurred between his tellings and the actual events. Months, years, sometimes days between Jeremiah asking for a word and God delivering, between Jeremiah saying something would come true and it actually happening. God is not a God that works on our time, because our time is not perfect. We think in the here and now, the immediate, unfortunately. God thinks in the eternal and sees the big picture, literally. Even with these truths, we are prone to getting frustrated and impatient, thinking God to be mistaken or not really in control. I'm realizing in my current life that if I'm thinking along that road then there are two possible scenarios going on: 1) I'm going on my timing and even though I say outwardly I'm giving it to God, inwardly I'm still in control and working things out on my own; and 2) I'm not praying about the situation enough to really know anything for sure.
Jeremiah knew God would answer, even when people put him at the bottom of a cistern to die, when they jailed him, when they hated him, when they loved him and admired his direct line to God. Jeremiah knew and expected God to answer his every question and asking. God is never late. Never. And if we expect Him to answer we will never have to be disappointed with His timing instead of ours.
But as I thought about God not being late it sparked something in me. As I read through the Bible, I have just currently finished the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah makes everything he prophesies seem so immediate. He condemns the people of Israel for not following God, for turning away on countless occassions and God Himself punishes them for the sins they've committed. I found myself thinking that I wish God was as immediate with me as Jeremiah's prophesies seem to be for the people of Israel. But as I dug deeper I realized the tremendous lag that often occurred between his tellings and the actual events. Months, years, sometimes days between Jeremiah asking for a word and God delivering, between Jeremiah saying something would come true and it actually happening. God is not a God that works on our time, because our time is not perfect. We think in the here and now, the immediate, unfortunately. God thinks in the eternal and sees the big picture, literally. Even with these truths, we are prone to getting frustrated and impatient, thinking God to be mistaken or not really in control. I'm realizing in my current life that if I'm thinking along that road then there are two possible scenarios going on: 1) I'm going on my timing and even though I say outwardly I'm giving it to God, inwardly I'm still in control and working things out on my own; and 2) I'm not praying about the situation enough to really know anything for sure.
Jeremiah knew God would answer, even when people put him at the bottom of a cistern to die, when they jailed him, when they hated him, when they loved him and admired his direct line to God. Jeremiah knew and expected God to answer his every question and asking. God is never late. Never. And if we expect Him to answer we will never have to be disappointed with His timing instead of ours.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Against the Flesh
There are people I am not fond of. Among these people, there are those I am not fond of their manners or their demeanor towards people; those that I do not admire their path with the Lord; those that I do not bare resemblance to as a brother or sister in Christ; those that have a strangeness about their spirituality that I cannot shake. The list could go on really, but I don't want to make too many generalities to confuse my readers. There are people I am not fond of, plain and simple.
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Eph 6:12).
Satan uses bodies and humans to infiltrate ministry opportunities for evil. He uses able minded people that sound good on paper and in speech to come in and wreck things. He creates tempers and resentment to bring about problems and fights among Laborers. I came upon this truth tonight as I contemplated someone I am not particularly fond of. But here's what I realized- Satan uses humans in their humanness to sabotage ministry AND he also makes it so that those able minded souls against these foreign thoughts coming in become useless. He distracts the true believers from fighting the infiltrating evil and turns them to fight flesh and blood. We get caught up in disagreeing with people, we vote people off of ministry teams, we argue in meetings and we talk behind people's backs because we fight flesh and blood and not the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil. They exist. They not only exist, they thrive in most circumstances because they've either fully taken over someone or their distracting people with gossip, pride, criticism and self-righteousness so much so that they leave fantastic people helpless and useless.
Wow, I fight flesh and blood all the time. I can make a person the problem in any situation, but the problem is really that evil is in our midst and fooling one party while distracting the other. Neither is effectively and unrestrictedly serving Jesus. We forget to pray for protection against evil. I'm not criticizing regrouping a ministry and weeding tares out, I'm saying that we, or I, often judge people and target them as the problem. Satan is the propblem. Evil is the problem. Sin in the problem. We get so caught up in fighting against people for superiority that we lose sight of the real battles.
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Eph 6:12).
Satan uses bodies and humans to infiltrate ministry opportunities for evil. He uses able minded people that sound good on paper and in speech to come in and wreck things. He creates tempers and resentment to bring about problems and fights among Laborers. I came upon this truth tonight as I contemplated someone I am not particularly fond of. But here's what I realized- Satan uses humans in their humanness to sabotage ministry AND he also makes it so that those able minded souls against these foreign thoughts coming in become useless. He distracts the true believers from fighting the infiltrating evil and turns them to fight flesh and blood. We get caught up in disagreeing with people, we vote people off of ministry teams, we argue in meetings and we talk behind people's backs because we fight flesh and blood and not the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil. They exist. They not only exist, they thrive in most circumstances because they've either fully taken over someone or their distracting people with gossip, pride, criticism and self-righteousness so much so that they leave fantastic people helpless and useless.
Wow, I fight flesh and blood all the time. I can make a person the problem in any situation, but the problem is really that evil is in our midst and fooling one party while distracting the other. Neither is effectively and unrestrictedly serving Jesus. We forget to pray for protection against evil. I'm not criticizing regrouping a ministry and weeding tares out, I'm saying that we, or I, often judge people and target them as the problem. Satan is the propblem. Evil is the problem. Sin in the problem. We get so caught up in fighting against people for superiority that we lose sight of the real battles.
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