Viking Style

I hope you're enjoying the weekend!

Fear Of The Jalapeno

At breakfast with my youngest daughter yesterday, I realized that Jalapeños frighten me—always have.  I confess that here.  Sometimes it's like there's an angry army in the eggs I'm served, or an unruly mob of them in otherwise innocent grits. I'm really okay with a relatively smallish band of brother jalapeños in dishes. It's just that sometimes they horde together, overwhelming the host, and then their only purpose is to burn everything everywhere.

As a small group, jalapeños think of adding warmth and character to their host--they understand their place. Nobody throws a fiesta like they do.  But as they grow in number, their natural heat incites their neighbor, and, now crowded together, it is only a matter of time before they become uncomfortable, bitter and enraged. And then Jose Jalapeño hurls his sombrero skyward and shouts, "Vamos, mis amigos! Aprovechar el dia! Ahora es nuestro momento para descartar los huevos tristes y sin sabor! Quemar todo!"  At that point, all is lost.

(Translation:  “Let’s go, my friends!  Seize the day!  Now is our time to rule the sad and flavorless eggs!  Burn everything!”)

By the way, before “Carpe diem” was brought into vogue by the movie, “Dead Poets Society,” “Aprovechar el dia!” was the cool thing to say.  Those of us among the west coast intelligentsia during high school used to measure ourselves based upon how skillfully we inserted the phrase into conversation.  For example, a friend might ask, “Do you think we dare go to Del Taco at lunch?”  Speaking the phrase at that moment would have been unforgivable.  However, if a friend asked, “Do you want to take out the furniture from a classroom tonight and re-arrange it on the sloping roof so everyone will see it in the morning?” THAT would be the moment.  “Aprovechar el dia!”  Perfect.

But anyway.  I suppose I write today to encourage those who have silently suffered because of their well-founded fear of the jalapeno.  You are not alone.  You are not wrong.  I have appointments with the principals in my daughter’s schools next week so we can begin educating and encouraging students to take a stand against bullying those who have Fear of the Jalapeno (FOTJ).  I’m certain they will be delighted to help.  Additionally, I hope to meet with my congressman on Monday in order to work out the details of a bill that would regulate the jalapeno industry (“Big Jalapeno,” as it is known) and restrict jalapeno sales and purchases, requiring background checks and three day waiting periods.

Real Love

If we are going to live by the Holy Spirit (and, it seems to me, that is the way for a new creation), then we’ll need to think of love more as a person—Jesus—and less as a behavior. Otherwise, love easily becomes an imitation, a copycat, rather than the genuine article—the real deal—alive in us.

Love From The Inside Out

How’s your imagination? Is it powerful? Vivid? Or is it wimpy?

Well, try this: Imagine Jesus loving your husband or wife or kids or neighbors. Would He be good at it? Or would He have to act like He loved them? Would He be all marshmallowee, ooowee-gooey, put on, lovey dovey? Or would He have the heart and the truth and the feelings for it? You know the answers.

And here’s the big question: Where is Jesus? He’s inside of a lot of people. That was always the plan, right? And that’s what He’s been doing for a long time now—making homes for Himself. We are His personal housing project, and it’s likely that He is inside of you; paid off the mortgage and everything. Think of the work He could do from where He is.

Have a few chats with the One who lives in you. Listen for Him who will never burden you with what He is particularly good at doing for Himself. Ask Him to show you or tell you what He thinks of your spouse, of your kids, or your neighbors or co-workers, or someone across the world. Pay attention. Watch what He does in you about them. He will produce in you what He is like. He’s given you the heart for it, because He’s at home there. And that is the very best of life, with you and God.

Remember that thing about His yoke being easy, His burden light?

Well. Yeah.

1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

(This is a transcript of yesterday's video, “What God’s Personal Housing Plan Means.” It's for those who might rather read than watch.)

What God's Personal Housing Plan Means

Have you got 2:05 minutes? Here's another quick video meant to remove religious burdens in your life by helping you to know Jesus and to find Him incredibly perfect--even inside of you. See what you think.

Love Is Always On!

Does love drive you crazy? A little bit insane?

The love we most often experience is a love which is stirred-up or awakened within us by the beauty or wonder of someone or some thing, as the case may be. You know how this goes. For me, I might see a sleek and gorgeous car, and my inner car lover is ignited – “I so badly want a Porsche Panamera! I’ve gotta have one!”

I’ve also been captivated by the beauty of a woman, whom I thought just had to be the very best thing in the world. She made me feel so good—how could I make her mine? And that’s the result of this world’s common love; it wants to possess the object of its affection because it feels so good having it.

This kind of love is found when the object of desire elicits it, earns it, and, if all goes well, keeps on earning it. There’s a lot of pressure involved in this kind of love, and a lot of maintenance that has to go on in order to “stay in love.”

We know a lot about this love, even experiencing it toward God. You know how it goes. When things are going well in life, when we get a promotion at work, when we get that car we prayed about, or that girlfriend or boyfriend we want, oh, how we love Him—He’s being so good to us. He’s earned it, and we love Him so much. But, when life isn’t going so well, when we lose a job, get in a car accident, or a relationship ends, what then? We likely become suspicious that something has gone very wrong somewhere, somehow. Our passion for God isn’t ignited by Him because His behavior toward us isn’t earning it; or so we believe. And the only heat we may feel is anger or fear. We wonder what happened to love, since ours isn’t fired up.

But God doesn’t love us at all like the world does. God’s love toward us is never stirred-up in Him, it’s never called-out in Him, or awakened by a lovely or likeable or a really obedient person. He is never impressed in such a way that, “Wow! I just have to make you mine! I just have to win you!” God is His own source of love.

God does not have love, and God is never surprised by love. God doesn’t calculate or strategize about how He might get love because, well, He’s running low on love. He is love, and love is lavished upon you and me at all times, know it or not, deserve it or not. Always we can turn to Him and find love. He loves us perfectly and constantly, regardless of our behavior. We’ll never deserve His love (and, therefore, have to keep earning it), and we’ll never lose His love (and have to work to get it back again).

Believing that His love is like that, believing that He is like that toward you is, I think, the most vital ingredient of your life. It’s what keeps your motor running! It’s the thing that keeps your heart beating and longing for expression.

God’s love toward you will never be “if” and “then.” In other words, “If you do right, then I will love you.” It won’t ever be like that. God’s love is always “because” and “therefore.” In other words, “Because I love, therefore I sent my Son, therefore I gave, and therefore I keep giving.” God keeps you in love and offers perfect grace to you everyday, at all times, to everyone, like it or not, embrace it or turn away, fail or succeed. It will not deter Him, and it will not change Him. Love is always on with God!

My hope for you today is that doubts about God, fears about how He feels toward you, those things that become inside “stop signs” in your head, might lay down. And then the love He has for you, which is always on, might become the thrill and certainty of your heart, even becoming the motivation for it.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (I John 4:7-10 NIV, italics mine.)

That’s love. And you have love with Him.

(This is a transcript of yesterday's video, “Love Is Always On!” It's for those who might rather read than watch. My thanks to Malcolm Smith who, many years ago, helped me put into words what God had already shown me: the wonder of His love for me.)

Love Is Always On!

What’s the difference between God’s love for me, and my love for a Porsche Panamera?  Or God’s love for you, and your love for Him?  Here’s a short video that goes well beyond answering those questions.

What's Fruit Got To Do With It?

We talk a lot about “fruit” in the church today:  what it’s supposed to look like, how to have it, how to have more of it, and, maybe especially, what to think or do if you or someone you know doesn’t “have any.”  What then?!

But I think it would be wise to keep the following in mind—it will help you, and maybe help you help others.

Here’s the question I’d like you to think about:  Is Godly fruit the evidence that you’re saved, or the evidence that you’re loved?

Godly fruit in your life is not the evidence that you love God, but the evidence that God loves you.  As you rest and believe in Jesus, convinced by Him that He’s wonderful with you, you will see the evidence that He loves you and is fully capable in you:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.  This is how He is with you.  Yours is to rest and believe Him; His is to love and produce fruit.  This is how He is glorified in you, which is a fancy way of saying “He gets the credit,” or “He makes a name for Himself” by actually doing things with you, by doing life with you.

John 15:8 – Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory (It’s to His credit, it’s because of His work with you), that you become fruit bearers.”  (Italics mine.)  He does the loving and the producing and the working, and it becomes evident to you and through you.  Fruit.

There really isn’t much for you to do.  Is that so bad?

(Today's post is a transcript of yesterday's video with the same name, and is for those who'd rather read than watch.)

What's Fruit Got To Do With It?

Okay, all you fruit detectors and measurers and worriers. Here's about 2 minutes that should lift a burden and encourage you.

Question:  Is Godly fruit the evidence that you’re saved, or the evidence that you’re loved?  With all of the talk about "fruit," would it surprise you to find that it has become more of a judgmental breeding ground than God intended? 

A Snowy Sunday!

My goodness, we're getting buried with snow today! Blizzard in the Rockies. My wife, daughters and I wish it could happen tomorrow so we'd have a snow day. Alas. . .

The Antidote For Weakness

Do you have anything that you hate?  I do.  I hate that I hate weakness.  It totally gets in the way of the usefulness that weakness has for me, because it leads me to Jesus, who is perfect in weakness.  Oh, how I have found him there!  But sometimes I am so slow to call His name or to turn my thoughts toward him.  Instead, I try to work my way out of weakness, to stop being angry, to blockade against envy, to deny that I’m disappointed, to pretend I’m not hurt by a particularly pointed insult, or that I’m not frustrated when EVERYTHING’S frustrating!

I know that I am experiencing what the apostle Paul did.  He wrote a lot about weakness—more than anyone else, and I’m thankful to be included with him for the grace and power of Christ in me, which is what weakness is about.

There are lots of New Testament passages that Paul, the former King of the Stuffy Pharisees wrote that you can look up (including 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; 2 Corinthians 4:7-12), but maybe the Grand Poobah passage of them all is 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.  He writes about a weakness that threatened him, and God’s grace, God’s work in Paul to keep it away from him.

7 To keep me from becoming conceited (that’s the threatening weakness—conceit, cousin to arrogance) because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. (Have you ever done that?) 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you (which I often hear from the Lord, but not always the next part), for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  (Parenthesis mine.)

That’s God’s design.  I’m not always sure that I like it, but, nevertheless, it works!  I suspect that I’m not the only one who relates to Paul and his experience—weakness in the midst of doing something important.  Have you ever had that?  That weakness, however, brought him into focus, it moved his thinking to God, who then revealed himself to Paul—and that’s the greatest thing there is!  Knowing God.  And Paul had that—the treasure—through weakness.

What do I do?  Well, rather than hate weakness for long, I accept it, and let it take me to the One who has no such weaknesses, but who is very well acquainted with them.  You and I are set up in this life to find that Jesus is perfect for and in all of our needs.  He is strength, He is love—He never runs out of it!—He is grace, He is caring, He is comfort—there’s no one better at it, no one who has more—He is smart and wise—infinitely so.  And those are all the things that we try to champion on our own, but where we stumble and look ugly.  And then we fall under fleshly judgment in them, because we’ve been trying to do our best. . .and failed.  And gotten angry, envious, greedy, and lustful and fearful. . .but He doesn’t struggle with any of that, neither does He judge us.  That’s all over with, and you and I have come out rather well.

Jesus is the antidote for weakness because He takes the hate out of it, He takes the poison and uselessness out of it because He shows up in it!  He jumps on the stage inside of you and says, “Here I am!  I am the one for this, and I am with you. I find no fault with you!  Have you forgotten that I am easy to be with and gentle with you? I’m not here to ever put burdens upon you, I’m here to remove them!  I am and will always be all about rest with you.  You can count on it.”

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

(This is a transcript of yesterday's video, “The Antidote For Weakness,” and is for those who might rather read than watch.)

The Antidote For Weakness

Is there anything that you simply hate in your life?  How about weaknesses?  Are you really happy with them?  That’s where hatred goes in my life.  But God is doing something, well, God-like in weaknesses (which means really good) that is making them all have purpose. See what you think after about 5 minutes.

Spiritual Warfare

A true form of "spiritual warfare" is personally entering into God's rest and assisting others to the same. We have all things in Christ! We need do nothing to earn anything. We've had all of our sin completely removed, been given all of the benefits of Jesus' perfect life, and God himself now calls us his home--all moved in, paid off the mortgage and everything. We are completely secure with him, and have little to do but rest and enjoy him. And that's the battle--we don't believe it.

But what if we did? Battle won.

Love In The Institution

Some of my friends are very angry at the “institutional church,” and not without reason. I’ve had my anger bombs, too.  But I deeply love the church and many of them regularly collect inside a building. That's not a problem, but sometimes stuff happens to them while there that’s the problem.

I say, know who the church is and love wildly. That's going to be wonderful and that's going to hurt.  Both.  But there’s nothing new about that.  So we’ll need regular care from the Spirit, who reveals to us the beauty of people as well as the mud that smears them, concealing them even to themselves.  We are His workmanship, even in the institution.

Identify Yourself

Perhaps the greatest change that God is bringing about is for you to identify yourself more as He does—as a true son, perfectly compatible with Him, a noble foreigner in this world, fit for heaven—than you otherwise might by looking only at your reflection in the mirrors of this world.