No Easter Discount

When Jesus died on the cross and rose again three days later, where were you?  The answer to this is an invaluable aspect of God’s plan to make you a perfect fit with Himself.  Have a look at this 4 minute video, and see if the death and resurrection of Jesus isn’t worth at least a little leap or shout for joy.  Maybe even a big one.

A Receiver of Love

God is love, and genuine love comes from Him.  Relationship with God is the only relationship that can produce authentic love.  That’s why we become so attracted and devoted to Him—we do it for love!  No matter how good any other relationship is, it cannot produce God’s love—it can only be a receiver of it. 
It seems like that might be a plan, right?  I’ll have more to say about this tomorrow.

Words Count

Some people take the words of Jesus and Paul and James and Peter, et al, and use them as bricks and whips to bruise, cut and prosecute, while others make them into pillowy platitudes and positive pleasantries, stripped of meaning, power and effect. Their words (and ours) are not letter only, which profits little, but Spirit, which brings life. With that in mind, use them carefully.

2 Corinthians 3:6 “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

What To Do?

"Suppose for a moment that in a flash of insight you discovered that all your motives for ministry were essentially ego-centric, or suppose that last night you got drunk and committed adultery, or suppose that you failed to respond to a cry for help and the person committed suicide. What would you do?"

"Would guilt, self-condemnation, and self-hatred consume you, or would you jump into the water and swim a hundred yards at breakneck speed toward Jesus? Haunted by feelings of unworthiness, would you allow the darkness to overcome you, or would you let Jesus be who he is—a Savior of boundless compassion and infinite patience, a Lover who keeps no score of wrongs?"

~Brennan Manning

Jesus' Success Is Mine

God remembers my track record no more. While the world obsesses upon how I’m doing and how I’ve done, He doesn't ever point to it and say, "See?! This is why you're such a success. Pat yourself on the back!” or “This is why you’re such a mess. Pull it together, man!" Instead, He points to Jesus and says, "I've given you His record, and it is perfect. His success is yours. Get used to that. It will change your life."

If God Is Moody, You're In Trouble

Is God moody? Can you put Him in a generous mood or make Him stingy? Can you do something to move Him close, or something to move Him away? Can you do something to get into His presence, or do something to get out of it? Is He fickle? Does He leave you?

The Christians at Corinth wondered about those things and they had good reason. Their behavior was awful—headline news. Epic. While Corinth was well known as a city where people took cruel advantage of each other, non-Christians were especially repulsed by the behavior of some who called themselves believers. Many in the church there knew they were a mess, so it caused them a lot of stress concerning the security of their relationship with God. The Christians at Corinth had to have been worry-warts.

Naturally, they were aware that their spiritual daddy, the apostle Paul, knew all about their sloppiness and their ugly failures, and they were afraid that he wouldn’t come to be with them because they were so often so bad. “Will Paul,” they might have asked, “who loves us so deeply, draw away from us to punish us, or as a way of teaching us a lesson? Will he go somewhere else, to people who are better than us? Why would he want to come here?”

Knowing their fears, Paul wrote a second letter to the worried Corinthians, and said essentially this:

“Are you kidding? I brag about you! Every time I think of you, even just a little bit, God fills me with love for you! How can I help but want to be with you in the same way that He does? I’m crazy about you! Did I not make that clear by my first letter? I know it’s been awhile since I’ve visited—it simply hasn’t been the right time. But my heart for you is exactly like God’s heart—everything is ‘Yes!’ Yes, I will never leave you. Yes, I have given you all things. Yes, I have secured you in Christ for always. And, Yes, my love and grace for you is unchanged—it is and will always be “Yes!” Can I get a Corinthian ‘Amen’?” (2 Cor 1:12-2:11)

Paul did what so many of you do: he answered their questions and vanquished their fears by telling them about God’s love in him for them.

The Corinthian Christians were the perfect people by which to make the point: no matter how things look, no matter how WE look, God’s affection and grace are never at risk, never threatened. In fact, they are even more in view. That’s the perfect relationship God has given to us already. You don’t have to go get it, you don’t have to earn it, you don’t have to work on it. It has been given to you. It’s His gift—yours to enjoy.

God has plenty of motivation to be with us and to do for us; He doesn’t need more. He doesn’t run out of motivation or have a shortage one day, and He doesn’t need convincing. You’ll never need to woo God, and you’ll never need to do anything right in order to attract Him to you. There’s no class on successful flirting with God! He’s the One who loves and behaves perfectly—remember? Believing that slips away sometimes, I know, but that’s the gospel that the devil keeps trying to move you and me away from. So if you’ve wandered, as I sometimes do, wander back.

You and God are tight and secure. You’re together! He made it happen. And He will never be moody with you. He’s not like that. I can tell you.

(This is taken from yesterday’s video, “If God Is Moody, You’re In Trouble,” and is for those who might rather read than watch. If you’d like to see the video simply scroll down, and/or to subscribe to them, click http://youtu.be/v4WTvaRtTJw.)

If God Is Moody, You're In Trouble

Many of us are worried about life because we think that God determines His behavior always upon ours; like He’s making this all up as we go along, or as if we are leading, and He is following.  Watch this 4.5 minute video to see if your worries are valid. . .or not. 

A Fight Worth Having

Do you like arguments?  You know, a discussion seasoned with some passion?  There’s an important one going on right now about what Jesus did for us all at the cross.  That’s important, and I’ve been a part of it at times.  And I will be.  But I want to say that the risk, and maybe the cost of prosecuting our particular side of the argument is often that we lose the wonder of knowing Jesus Himself; you know, Christ in you.  Him.

In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul writes that the primary battle—the big fight!—for the Christian, is this:  demolish, wipe out, fight off, throw away ANYTHING that threatens you from knowing God.  That is the prize that is threatened by other “stuff” or arguments.  Demolish them!

This doesn’t mean, “Trash your television!  Don’t watch March Madness or Downton Abbey or American Idol.”  It doesn’t mean, “Throw away your iPhone or Samsung.”  It doesn’t mean, “Stop talking about ‘Big Oil’ or ‘Big Government.’”  Neither does it mean, “Come to a conclusion right now!  Choose a team and fight concerning exactly what Jesus did at the cross.  WE MUST WIN THE ARGUMENT NOW!  Prosecute with us!” 

For you and for me, it means, “Don’t get lost!  Don’t get so caught up in debate, even over important things (maybe especially over important things), that knowing and enjoying Jesus in you, with you and for you, becomes and remains less of an anticipated thrill and solution and hope and joy than those other things.” 

We write and talk about the gospel, which is the very power of God, not simply so people can be smarter and well armed in a debate.  We, who love the gospel, offer it to people because it enables and promotes in them what it does in us:  the knowing and the loving of God Himself.  That’s the prize.

Some of the arguments we’re having go toward knowing Jesus.  I know.  That’s good!  But there are an awful lot where that’s lost.  So in your mind, in your writing and conversation, be careful to hold to the prize, to the real treasure above all treasure:  knowing Jesus in you and with you and for you. 

This is the God we get to know, the mystery hidden from the ages, but now revealed to us and received by us.  Christ in you means life for the first time; what He does and how He is from there (in you) reveals and directs life.  That’s the prize and that’s where the wonder is!  Right?  You should have it.  Fight for it.  It’s worth it.

(This is a transcript of yesterday’s video, “A Fight Worth Having,” and is for those who’d rather read than watch. . .or maybe you’d like both.  If you’d like to see the video, simply scroll down, or click http://youtu.be/5BHk5TNXn5Q.)

A Fight Worth Having

Have you been in some verbal scraps about the Bible?  Have you ever fought or witnessed a fight about God, and felt like you got beaten up?  Take four minutes, and see what you think.

Stupid Days Stuck In-Between

Do you ever feel like you’re caught between what you want to do and what you have to do instead? Do you ever struggle between some kinds of business principles or workplace rules and those of the Kingdom? And does it ever get so frustrating that you have a blow up or a break down? You know, really lose it?

I simply thought from Jesus this morning that He knows we’re prone to frustration and anxiety and outbursts of temper: “I can’t handle this!” And He has not one iota of condemnation for us—not one. I think He wants you to know that.

You and I are living life caught between two worlds—the temporal and the eternal. The one we can see, and the one we can’t. The one that passes away, and the one that lasts forever. Just as the world in which we fit and belong begins to get into focus—“I can see it! I can taste it!”—the other one comes barging in. I can be enjoying the day, knowing Jesus and trusting in Him, when suddenly something worldly knocks me over. . .or knocks me mad or regretful. I remember a bill I forgot to pay (and now, because of the interest added, I don’t have enough to pay it), I get a phone call from my daughter, telling me I forgot to pick her up at school. (Great! Don’t I care?!), or my health shows signs of getting bad, and I’m uncomfortable about how the future looks. And then some clown in the parking lot cuts me off, and one of those, “I’m saving the planet” electric cars silently (and arrogantly, I’m sure) zooms into my parking space before I can. And, I can tell you, it all starts adding up and boiling over.

It’s like I’m happily flirting with spiritual maturity, and then it rudely breaks up with me. “Not happening, baby breath! Change your diaper!” I don’t like it at all.

Or maybe I read someone’s facebook post that’s supposed to encourage me, but it’s got so much, you know, over-the-top, “everything and everyone is beautiful, life is good, butterflies for everyone!” junk that I want to throw up on their post.

But the truth is that I’m no less of an attractive target for the life and love and grace of God Himself than I was yesterday. Maybe I’m a bigger target. “Hooray for me!” I can imagine my picture on a big billboard alongside the freeway with the title: “God’s most needy!” Frankly, we’re all in competition for that title; I just think I’m winning.

I know that none of us really wants to be the most needy place for God’s work today. But, if it’s true, He doesn’t mind! He doesn’t have something better to do. When you consider how He moved to get to the most needy during His days among us, do you think He’ll stop before getting to you, repulsed by your neediness? No way. He’s really good with that.

And He doesn’t have far to go in order to get to you, right?

Romans 5:5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. (Where’s the glory or evidence of God going to show up best? In me! In you!) 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Parenthesis mine.)

So, if you’re having one of those sloppy, stuck-in-between days, take a moment to breathe. There is such purpose to this life, and through it all, God holds us securely in Christ, holy and righteous, priests of the earth.

While this life is a mess, the next one won’t be. But in the next one there won’t be any chance to live by faith in what we cannot see, no opportunity to grow and succeed in the battle against temptation, no one to lead to Jesus, no friend we need to pray for, no groceries to buy for a down-and-outer, and no forgetfulness that means we need to apologize to our daughter. Nothing will be in-between anymore. Everything will be exactly—no, way beyond exactly—as our hearts long for it to be.

That will be such a good day! Just not today.

(By the way, this is a transcript of yesterday's video, "Stupid Days Stuck In-Between," and is for those who would rather read than watch.)

Stupid Days Stuck In-Between

This little video is for the frustrated and ready-to-pop, “Why can’t this stupid life work the way it’s supposed to work?!” among us.  You know, people like me, and maybe like you.  Have fun watching.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Alongside many happy (wannabe) Irish men and women, today I will celebrate my Scottish lineage by toasting Saint Patrick, a Scottish boy kidnapped and stolen away to Ireland, who escaped only to return years later armed with a heart full of the gospel of God’s grace to us in Christ. To the Irish and to all, “Sláinte mhaith!”

Small Bladder Syndrome

If my wife and I had gone to Rome early this week to see who the new Pope would be, this would have happened. We didn't go.

The Benefits of Being A Mess With God

Have you ever gotten mad at God? You know, really given Him a chewing-out, went lunatic on Him because, well, He deserved it? I have.

Those who have gotten angry at God and expressed it—however sloppily, because it’s never neat and tidy when you’re telling God how He’s messed up your life, right?—well, you discovered something afterward, something odd and unexpected: you felt better. Not immediately. There was a cooling down and a coming to your senses first, and maybe some embarrassment. After all, “I just chewed-out God!” But you began to feel better, at peace, even loved by God all over again, with nothing wrong between the two of you. Strange, wasn’t it?

Why did you feel better? It’s not because, phew! You finally got that off your chest and emptied out your bag of fury. That’s not why. You felt better because you gave your attention to God, you directed yourself and what you were experiencing—as ugly and unrefined as it was—to God who lives in you. And God produced in you what He is like with you. Even if you didn’t think, “Hmm. Christ is in me. I ought to have a talk with Him,” He knows where He is, and He behaves Himself from there.

You accidentally approached God like a crazy, out-of-control lunatic. And God did what He always does with crazy people who come to Him—He cared for you, He calmed and loved you, without even a hint that He was bothered with you, or that He expected more of His little lunatic. Did you notice? Jesus shepherded you from the inside. See? He really thinks that when you received Him, you received Him. He moved in! Had a heavenly party and everything. He’s home in you, and He’s making it obvious. Right?

This describes what the New Testament calls, “offering yourself to God,” or “sowing to the Spirit,” with the foundation that God now lives in you. The offering or the sowing to God is not to “God out there,” or to “God who will meet me over there”, when I finally make it, or when I finally arrive. No. Your offering is to “God in here” now, to “God who has arrived in you.” This is the gospel. Even if you don’t know that God was actually serious about making new dwellings for Himself, a whole new way of housing, He’s carrying on from where He is right now. And you noticed. You felt Him, you felt better because He got to work—He got to work you.

The old way of offering yourself to God, the old covenant way, was to think of yourself as separate from God, who would lead you because He was “ahead of you” or “over there,” and calling you to come with Him. The pressure was on you to follow, and to keep following. The new covenant way of offering your self to God, is to believe what God knows to be true for all who have received Him: “Jesus, you and I are together now; you’re in me. I don’t have to look for you over there, or just up ahead, because now you’re in here all the time. . .being yourself with me. You and I are at home together. What an amazing place to have and to find you.”

Do you see the difference? God is not “over there,” watching, evaluating, and hoping you do well. He is in you, happy and content with His new surroundings, able to do anything and everything that confronts Him in and the arena the two of you share.

This all means that you’re free to explore the goodness and ability of Jesus for you in the same way as when He walked among us—however you look, whatever you do, whatever you feel, however it comes out—like when you’re a crazy, mad man. . .like the ones He loved and set free at Gadarenes; or like when you’re plagued by powerful longings and lust and fall to it, perhaps again and again. . .and are loved and forgiven by Jesus, just like the woman at the Mount of Olives; or like when you deny Jesus over and over because it seems, well, useful in the moment. . .like it did to Peter long ago, whom Jesus sought out and loved, like he (and you) hadn’t done anything offensive.

That’s our Jesus. And He is in you, perfect with you, no matter what.

Christ in you is your hope. Finding Him at home with you is the best of life. I’ll bet you’ve found or felt Him there already. So don’t be afraid to look for Him at even the worst moments, the ugliest and most “un-Christianly.” He’s pretty good with lunatics. Right?

(This is a transcript of yesterday’s video, “The Benefits of Being A Mess With God,” and is for those who would rather read than watch.

The Benefits of Being A Mess With God

Does your “Inner Crazy Person” drive you, well, crazy?  What do you suppose God thinks and would like to do about it?  Here’s an important video that deals specifically with that.  I think you’ll get a lot out of it.