Ridding Ourselves of Rules

"Remember when you said yes to Jesus the first time? You didn't know all the rules, but you knew Jesus. Sadly, the church immediately stepped in and told us we needed to know more than Jesus; we needed to know the rules of the Christian faith, otherwise we might end up in confusion and spiritual anarchy. The church is always worried we might make a mistake!"

"Every time the disciples started establishing rules - no children near Jesus; Don't let the crowd touch Jesus; Don't talk to Samaritan women; Don't let people waste expensive perfumes - Jesus told them to knock it off, and His rebuke was usually followed by a lecture that said, 'You still don't get it! We are not substituting religious rules with our rules. We are substituting religious rules with Me!' Jesus kept saying 'Follow Me,' not 'Follow My rules.'

"So most of us have spent our Christian lives learning what we can't do instead of celebrating what we can do in Jesus"

~ Mike Yaconelli, Dangerous Wonder

How Spoiled Are We?

This is great ... and makes an awesome point.

If you're under 30, you might not have a clue what this guy is talking about.

Fiscal (Ir)Responsibility

I just heard on the radio that there is a meeting being convened in the White House today. The subject: Fiscal Responsibility.

This from the people who just spent $800 billion dollars (the largest spending bill in the nation's history.) It's kind of like Rosie O'Donnell holding a meeting on diet and weight loss.

Would Jesus Recognize Our Christianity?

The most critical issue facing Christians is not abortion, pornography, the disintegration of the family, moral absolutes, MTV, drugs, racism, sexuality, or school prayer. The critical issue today is dullness. We've lost our astonishment.

The Good News is no longer good news, it's okay news. Christianity is no longer life changing, it's life enhancing. Jesus doesn't change people into wild-eyed radicals anymore, He changes them into "nice people."
~Mike Yaconelli - Dangerous Wonder

Is It Really That Easy, Paul?

"Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
~ Romans 6:11

Our home Bible study group now knows somewhat the despair this verse has brought me over the years. I have struggled with these words for about nine years. It's not that I don't believe them to be true. I do.

We've been studying Romans together and last evening we were in Romans 6 when I shared my frustration. If the power of sin has been broken (and it has - see Romans 6:1-10), why do I struggle to do what this verse so clearly tells me to do? Why do I have such a hard time considering myself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus?
Is it as easy as the Apostle Paul here makes it seem?

After a lively discussion (I hope I didn't hurt any feelings) my struggle continues. I really do believe I'm dead to sin. (After all, that's what the Scriptures say. That's what Romans 6 is all about.)
But it seems I keep returning to the carcass.

The Key to Forgiveness

Some things I seem to have to learn the hard way. Maybe that's so I learn it well enough to share with others.
Learning the key to real forgiveness has been one of those things.

We know the Scriptures teach us to forgive those who wrong us. And I believe that, most of the time, when we feel we've been wronged we really do desire to forgive. We may be angry for awhile, and we may struggle with some emotional hurdles for a time. But we come to the place (hopefully sooner than later) that we really want to live in obedience to God. So we want to forgive.
Yet so often forgiveness is a monumental struggle, isn't it?

Our problem isn't a lack of desire. And we don't lack the capacity for forgiveness. After all, we have the Spirit of God residing inside of us.
Our problem is that, often without even realizing it, we feel as if we are owed something when we've been wronged. We want some kind of justice; an apology perhaps, or some other kind of emotional repayment that will give us a sense of satisfaction. And when the apology doesn't come we end up harboring unforgiveness.

We say we want to forgive; we say we'd like to move forward. Yet there's always that underlying sense that we need something in order to grant forgiveness.

The truth is that, in most instances, those who have wronged us either don't see that they have, or they lack the capacity to give us what we're holding out for. So what do you do?

Here are three simple steps to true forgiveness:

1. Make up your mind that the one who wronged you owes you nothing.
2. Realize this: The apology isn't coming. There will be no justice in this situation.
3. Forgive anyhow. Without any kind of retribution being exacted, choose to forgive.

If you're struggling with unforgiveness today, ask yourself honestly: What is it that I want in this situation? What am I expecting from that individual? What do I hope happens to give me some satisfaction?

Now realize: It ain't happening! Choose to forgive anyhow.

"Are You Kidding Me?"

Upon arriving at the prison facility today I found the whole place in an uproar. It seems an inmate leaving the Bible study last evening was so happy he skipped down the hallway leaving black marks on the floor from his state-issued boots.

That's right.
Charlotte Correctional Center is going crazy, threatening lock-downs and all kinds of disciplinary actions, over black scuff marks on the hallway floor leading away from the chapel.

One of the sergeants asked me what I thought we ought to do about it.
My response: "Sarge, if the Bible study is so good it makes a man want to skip all the way back to his block, I think we ought to have more Bible studies."

The Jesus Style

Do you have a favorite book? One that grabbed you and shook you and ultimately changed the way you live life? (Okay. Besides the Bible.)

Somewhere around the same time I began my ministry at Charlotte Correctional Center, I read a book called The Jesus Style by Gayle Erwin. That book had a profound effect on me. In fact, it helped to shaped the way I do ministry. I've reread it a few times in the years since.
I've also recommended the book to many others over the years, lent my copy to more than a few, and even once began facilitating a class at church based on its content. (We never finished the class. It was interrupted by the events of 9-11.)

The book is, at its core all about servanthood. Jesus came "not to be served, but to serve." He came in such a way as to be accessible to all people. There was nothing intimidating or threatening about Him. He was totally 'others-centered'. These are characteristics very unlike the way we operate today. Even in ministry we often manipulate others to get them to do what we want or to respond the way we want them to. We're very often 'me-centered'.

Well, I've decided its time for a refresher of The Jesus Style in my life and in my ministry. It's time to shake-off complacency, and wrong expectations, and manipulative game playing. It's time to get back to really stretching myself to be living in the style of Christ - unselfish, unintimidating, and accesible to others.
It's time.

PS: The Jesus Style is currently out of print. You can probably find a few copies through Amazon if you're interested.

My Favorite Title of All

Just to the right of this post is a list of titles, all of which I am known by: "Husband, Father, Grandfather, Preacher, Teacher, Chaplain ...."

Now, I've got a new one: "Papa"

"Papa" is what Olivia has taken to calling me. And I love it!

"Papa" makes me smile. It makes me stand a bit taller and puff my chest out a bit. It gives me a warm, happy feeling all over. "Papa" makes me glad to be alive. It can chase away a month's worth of frustration and aggravation. It makes me want to shout and run and dance and sing - all at once.

When I hear my beautiful little granddaughter say, "Papa," I feel like I could climb the highest mountain peak or swim the widest ocean. But she's not looking for me to do anything like that. She just wants Papa to sit on the floor and play with her. Or to play hide-and-seek. Or chase her around the house. Or read her a book.

Life is good.

What an Opportunity!

Do we believe God?

That's the measure of all who call themselves 'Christian', isn't it? We're saved "by grace through faith." The just are called to "live by faith." And without faith, the Bible says "it is impossible to please God."
So, do we believe God?

If we truly believe Him, we'll have an entirely different take on the current economic situation facing us. Instead of joining the rest of the world bemoaning how bad things are, we'll begin to see this as our greatest opportunity in decades.

• In this economy, we have an opportunity to reach the poor, and those left hurting by the recession that we cannot miss.
• With the state cutting prison chaplains positions (announced just this morning), the church has an opportunity to put more godly men and women inside of prisons to be the light of Christ and to minister to the needs of the incarcerated.
• With government worried more about bailing out big banks and Wall Street, we have an opportunity to minister to people and help meet their most basic needs.
• We have an opportunity to show the world that our God is more than able to provide; and to give us peace and joy in the midst of trying times.
• We have the opportunity to be what Jesus called us to be: Salt and Light

Do we really believe God? If so, what an opportunity we have before us.

Working for God

"If God gives you a watch, are you honoring Him more by asking Him what time it is or by simply consulting the watch?"
~ A.W. Tozer