Famine Relationships (Know People 2)

In my post from last Friday (“Know People”), I am not suggesting that everyone completely ignore our election and the people involved. I am saying that we have become captivated with macro people—those on a large platform at a far distance—that we can never actually know and the false relationships offered by them, while true relationships available all around us go wanting. We are starved of the benefits of genuine relationship and friendship, and I don’t believe we recognize our famine.

We have formed a preference, we like the presumed safety of talking about people we don’t know, world events and our opinions of them, rather than wade into the insecurity of genuine and caring relationships with people who are actually a part of our days. Commonly, even the friendships we have are stuffed full of discussing macro people of politics, music, sports, fashion and film and the opinions found there, rather than vital issues of the heart, including fears, loves, hopes, failures and successes, and how to navigate our days with Jesus.

Macro relationships avoid those things by offering us a television or computer screen at which to vent our opinions. Even though there will be no response, we think there’s value. We feel better, and we avoid messy, real people. As a consequence, we also avoid the Savior, who is best found and felt in the messy.

He is the way, the truth and the life, and we are distracted from Him by pretended surrogates, which, since they can never truly satisfy the heart of a human, twist us into caricature humans. There is no wonder why we act like idiots and asses—we are deluded away from Him who makes real people in real relationships.

My advice? Get off of the addiction to fake relationships. Don’t accept starvation. Start talking and listening to Jesus about everyone, everything and anything that concerns you, and watch what He will do with you on the inside and the outside. Don’t hurry. He will filter out the false and surrogate, and you will find a purity and authenticity to who you are and what you do with people. You’ll care for them. As you grow in knowing Him, He will share with you what He knows and feels about people—real people you can truly know. He will offer you to people because He is the Relationship King, and has a lot planned for them. Come on people—know people. That’s life. Have it to the full.

Know People

In my view, we have listened to people who demonized Trump and Clinton beyond reality, and those of us who believed them are afraid of the images they created. We do not actually know Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, nor do we know Barack Obama, for that matter. But the media-cast images of these people have found a home in our minds—some to please, some to traumatize; some to make light, some to make dark.

We cannot bear this. We’re not supposed to.

My advice? Draw back from the media, draw away from the personality images they press upon you, and go love your neighbor as yourself. You are far more likely to like what you find, and you will know people in truth. It’s supposed to be that way.

For example, my family and I are hosting a Fall Festival party tonight for the families who live on our street. We’ve done this maybe half a dozen times, and there will be Indians, Mormons, Christians, Skeptics, Republicans, Democrats, Rockies fans and Cubs fans, those who like sushi and those who don’t, those who like iPhones and those who like Samsungs here. And we will do great together. Everyone is bringing food and drink to share—a representative part of their lives—and we will probably find a way to cram everybody into the kitchen, where we will enjoy a holy evening of fellowship.

We will know each other. This is one way that life is found and shared. That other stuff—the flimsy representations the media offer—strangles it. So come on, people—know people.

Battle of the Pharisees

Citizenship is a crazy thing.  And lately, it’s a double whammy of crazy.

If you’re an American and feeling stressed-out today, it’s likely because of dual citizenship—you’re a citizen of God’s heavenly Kingdom, and a citizen of the United States of America on the earth.  That’s going to be messy and probably make a mess of you, since on the one hand you’re learning to relax with God and His perfect judgments, but feeling forced to make judgments about people all around you on the other.  That’s not going to go well.  It’s not supposed to, either.  I’ll try to explain.

God took care of your election to heaven by taking care of all of the judgments necessary for your victory.  All of your condemnation was finished at the cross, and the resurrection was God’s invitation for you to vote “Yes.”  Now that you’ve voted, you’re a citizen of God’s condemnation-free country.  You belong, and there’s no place better.  However, in this world—right now—YOU have to make all of the judgments and condemnations necessary for victory.  What a burden that is.  I hope you’re feeling it.  That’s important.

A citizen of heaven estimates no one by the judgments of this world and after the flesh, and approaches everyone with the knowledge that Jesus is their perfect hope and future for life.  He is it, and there is no other judgment.  A citizen of earth estimates everyone by the judgments of this world and after the flesh, and approaches everyone as though judging the “right choices” is their perfect hope and future for life.  It’s all about judgment.  The citizen of heaven, the “member of God’s household” is growing confident of the Spirit within him, who is right now leading and building him into a dwelling where God is obvious (See Ephesians 2:11-24).  The citizen of earth accepts the mantle of a Pharisee, an earthly judge, in order to instruct himself and others in the building of something better than the other Pharisee might—in this case, Democrat Pharisees versus Republican Pharisees. 

However, the struggle of a Pharisee has always been “what to do about failure,” since not one of them has ever led a successful life.  Not one has ever been anything other than a failure.  But in order to “keep on Pharisee-ing,” they choose the life-navigation style and pathway of pretended success and pretended righteousness.  This explains why there are people who appear to be thrilled with their candidate for President.  They are pretending.  By ignoring glaring failure, they Pharisee-forward, championing their candidate while judging and condemning the other.  This “Battle of the Pharisees” has never been more evident to me than during this election cycle and its two candidates.  The hypocritical and judgmental gymnastics is wearing us out.  Have you been caught up in it? 

I hope you’re tired.  I hope you’re bothered.  I sure am. 

I know that there are very real differences and futures envisioned by Democrats and Republicans, and this election is important.  I’m going to vote.  Please know that I am not condemning you for your involvement in this world’s particular party of Pharisees.  I AM CALLING YOU HOME.  I am not hoping that you’ll repent and quit national interests; I am hoping that fatigue and frustration complete their work upon you so that your homeland, where you really live, will re-capture your interest and you will once again enjoy the full benefits of heavenly citizenship today. . .or tomorrow. . .or the day after.  Soon.

My prayer is that, over the next few days, the judgmental torture devices that are “Democrat” and “Republican” will be lifted from the heavenly citizen sons and daughters.  How does that happen?  A Pharisee does not simply choose to drop pretended success and pretended righteousness.  “De-Pharisee-ing” a deluded Pharisee is the grand work of the Spirit through the good news of God’s gift of a better homeland, where true success and perfect righteousness are free and fantastic.  In other words, God’s election work for victory is this:  Jesus for you, and a new and true citizenship.  It’s way better.  It’s supposed to be. 

Enjoy. 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

Wow

How beautiful is it that the man who gives up the lead in the eighth inning of the seventh and final game of the World Series (and who shed tears during the rain delay) receives from his teammates the gift of the win in the tenth? I’m so attracted to the beauty of a community of friends, who know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and who prefer the goal of shared success to anything else. Wow.

God's Form of Self-Examination

When you examine yourself, what are you looking for?

A healthy, New Testament, grace of God based, self-examination begins not so we can uncover and rectify wrongs with God and man, but so God can show us who we are.  It’s not for penalty, it’s for revival—the Spirit’s favorite hobby with you.

There are many ways we think that God’s got something against us, and He wants to draw us into prayer so He can get His prosecution going.  It’s not true.  When you or I do something that’s not in keeping with our God-given nature, His first effort with us is not prosecution of the deed, but a renewal through what we think about who we are—our nature.  In other words, “Who do you think you are?” rather than, “What have you done?”

Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

The Spirit renews us—Hooray!—by restoring to us our godly-natured self-image, which is the only one that’s accurate.  He reminds us that Jesus’ cross and resurrection made us new, and that puts wrongs done in their proper light—they are foreign to us and harmful to relationships, making them much easier to confess and talk about.  We might say, “That wasn’t like me.  I’m sorry that happened.”  Like shaking off leeches, we’re happy to be free of them because they’re not of us.

So if you’re going for some self-examination, have a really good look.  Take your time.  You won’t be alone and you’ll like what He shows you, which is God’s form of self-examination.

(This is a transcript of yesterday’s video, “God’s Form of Self-Examination,” and is for those who might rather read than watch.  To see the video, go to: https://youtu.be/_wk5uk4xabo, or scroll down this blog page.)

God's Form of Self-Examination

Do you know what self-examination is for? It’s better than you think. Take 3 minutes to find out.

Pancake People

Do you like being shallow?

One should not believe that because I have not said anything about which candidate I support for the Presidency that I do not care which one is elected.  I care.  Okay?

Sadly and tragically, it has been my experience that talking very much about current issues, specific candidates and the like quickly draws people into the shallow end of relationship, and it then becomes difficult, if not impossible, to talk deeply and of the heart.

We lose each other and become “pancake people.”  We become shallow, have heat only for a moment, and lack any real value.

We abandon our inner selves in favor of an attractive and nicely positioned look or prosecuted argument, which then becomes our exterior identity.  Although the apostle Paul warned us against viewing people from a worldly and surface view because it isn’t true, it isn’t enough and it will hurt us if that’s all we get (2 Corinthians 5:16-21), we take hold of it anyway while our depths remain remote and malnourished.  We’re starving ourselves.

Some of us have become quite accomplished as pancake makers, flattening people into shallow, issue-oriented identities like Republican and Democrat, conservative and liberal, heterosexual and homosexual, global warming alarmist, global warming skeptic, and on and on it goes.  If I accept you as any one of those things, you’re a pancake to me.

There are those who have already made me into a pancake by placing me into a category (Republican, wacko-Christian, white male, or whatever), and that has become for them more real and more important than my true, below the surface identity: 

I am a son of God, who has been loved, hurt, rejected, rescued, betrayed, accepted, disappointed, hurt again, healed and loved again—both battered and buoyed over and over again.  I’ve lived a lot.  I have quite a story.  And those people can’t know me or hear me anymore because they think of me with a worldly ID emblazoned upon my forehead:  “Republican.”  “Wacko Christian.”  Whatever.  Frankly, we’ve lost each other, even if we see each other every day.  We’re pancake people, like it or not.

I don’t like it.  Actually, I hate it.  I despise it. 

I post this in the hope that a few people will be awakened by a good kind of pain found in discovering that they, too, do not like pancake relationships—even if they’ve been the pancake makers, they recognize that they’re starving.  Perhaps they will wonder why people do not talk heart to heart with them—maybe with you.  Why they don’t share their inner fears. Why they’d never confess failure or admit weakness because they’ve never ventured into anything deeper than shallow-end stuff.  Pancakes are the daily special, and the only thing on the menu.  Is that clear enough?

I like playing around in the shallows of humor and cartoons, and post pictures of seasonal beauty and stuff like that, which you’ll sometimes see on my Facebook wall and blog.  Some of you post pictures of your lunch, and I’m actually interested…a little…well, sometimes. 

But I would much rather get out of the shallows with you so we can actually get somewhere that counts, somewhere that’s deeply true and real.  Life is found there, and I want to share.

And if you and I can’t share because we’re too far apart or something, I hope you hunger enough to start telling Jesus how badly you want to be real with Him and with people.  He will be with you in that!  Oh, there’s fear and some pain involved—yes—but there’s real food for real life that you’re supposed to have and give away, because none of us can live on pancakes.

(This is a transcript of yesterday’s video, “Pancake People,” and is for those who might rather read than watch.  To see the video, scroll down this blog page, or click https://youtu.be/DDW1mXoFMpk.  And PLEASE SHARE.)

Speaking in Ohio

For my friends in Ohio, I am headed your way this weekend! I will be speaking at GracePointe Church, in Lakewood, on Friday night, October 28, 7-9:00pm, on Saturday, October 29, for two Men's Retreat meetings, and on Sunday morning, October 30, at 10:00am. I would love to meet you.

For more information, go to: http://gracepointelakewood.com.

(If you would like to invite me to speak with your group or church, whether in person or via Skype or Facetime, send me a message, or go to http://lifecourse.org/Schedule_Event.html.)

Pancake People

Have you got 5 minutes?  I’d like to talk with you about something that’s bothering me, something that’s hurting us, and how to grow out of it.

A Needed Shower

The Problem with Passionless Christians

For many years I have heard and read people’s warnings to uninvolved, passionless, heatless believers.  Always the cure prescribed was to get more involved, to get heated and fired-up for Jesus by doing more things for Him.  In other words, “Get busy.  Here’s how . . .”

However, whatever is heatless, whatever is lukewarm, be it water or human, cannot heat itself.  It requires something else for heat.

Works do not provide the heat for the non-Christian of what is lacking; belief in the gospel provides what is missing.  Works do not provide the heat for the Christian of what is lacking; belief in the gospel provides what is missing.

Yes, it’s the same for both.  Faith without works is certainly dead, but works without faith are just as dead. 

A focus upon works requires the skilled judgment of motivation, effectiveness, frequency and number.  Some church gatherings have postured heat through a works focus, and everybody examines everybody.  What fun.  Judgments galore.  But even if the pastor or speaker tells the listener to examine his own works—not the works of anyone else—the works focused person will have put himself into the position of Pharisee to himself.  Nobody does well from there.  Who among us could accurately estimate works sufficient to pass a works or heat test with God?  (Shudder.)  The only test, and the only thing upon which we rest is whether or not we are “in the faith” (see 2 Corinthians 13:5-6).  In other words, do you believe?  That’s it. 

If and when the “fire” or the motivation of passion for a Christian should grow cold, works are not the wood that will heat the hearth of the heart.  Works are the result of the Holy Spirit fanning to flame the heart that takes in the truth of the good news of Jesus Christ. 

Perhaps the worst thing we can do to a presumably passionless or “heatless” believer is to tell him to have heat.  The best he can do is to try for the appearance of heat, which does nothing for the heart.  What he needs, what we need, is the great gospel—over and over again.  The gospel is that because of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, we have no worries with God; we may approach Him as a friend, with confidence and without fear, and have been given all things already in Christ for free.  That is the wood for a genuine, heart-held fire made by the Spirit. 

If you or someone you know, Christian or not, appears to lack heat, add the kindling that is the gospel of the grace of God in Jesus—take time with it and with them—and the Spirit will take care of the heat and the works.  That’s what He does, and He’s pretty good at that.  Right?

(This is a transcript from yesterday’s video, “The Problem with Passionless Christians,” and is for those who might rather read than watch.  To see the video, click https://youtu.be/fAy42Z2qlrM.)

The Problem with Passionless Christians

Got 4 minutes?  If you’ve ever been passionless or bothered by those who are, this video is for you. 

One or the Other

Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous

Got 2.5 minutes?  There is a lie that has been offered and sold to millions of people over centuries of time, fouling their enjoyment of Jesus and frustrating their lives.  Find out the truth. 

In Him, Move On

If God is constantly leading us successfully and perfectly in Christ—no slowing, no detours, no stopping—then maybe it’s important that we see ourselves IN Christ as He does, always together, instead of following Christ, trying to catch up. 

2Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

During how much of each day do we try in our mind to get somewhere or to become something when, IN Christ, we have already arrived? And He is always doing something in and through us. Always. Thinking about that might do you some good.

2 Corinthians 2:15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.  And who is equal to such a task?