Google Me?

Have you ever Googled yourself? Using only my name for a search parameter, a few years ago I combed through twenty five pages of Ralph-the-comedian, Ralph-the-barrister, and Ralph-the-recently-deceased before giving up on myself. But this year, there I am—top of page three, #20 out of a possible 12,800,000. Could #1 be far off? Ooooh. Like a rocket, I'm on my way to the top of the Ralph Harris heap.

This morning I felt like God drew me out of all the chaos and confusion of this world—like He personally Googled me. It felt like Google Earth, where the view on your monitor can take you from England to Colorado in about a second. Whoosh! Out of the teeming masses I was drawn to be alone with God, and immediately I felt my fit with Him. I knew I belonged.

I don’t know how He does that, but I’m delightfully glad He does.

I was newly reminded that in the midst of a ruined world filled with tragedy and turmoil, God is making for Himself a perfect bride—you and me. And I suppose that from His perspective (and that would be the right one), the church of the redeemed must look astonishing against the backdrop of madness and imperfection.

But I often get lost and caught up in the smallness of my view. That seems particularly easy right now when the usual noisy stuff of this world has been joined by all the political noisiness and nonsense. There is so much clamoring for my attention! So my need of God, who carries on with the sovereign plan for His glory, increases. When He Googles me, I can see what He sees, and I am stunned all over again.

When one day God Googles us for real, we will exchange perishable for imperishable, mortal for immortal, and we will be like Him. Raised in glory, when we cross over we will be like Him—and not a single angel will be surprised, having been looking at us for a long, long time already. (1 Corinthians 15:42-56; Ephesians 1:3-10)

My prayer: “Father, way to go! Glory to you! Google me again tomorrow?”

“To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen” (Jude 24-25 NIV).

His Three Days Were Our Three Days

Today we're celebrating that we are well because of the will of the Father and the successful giving and rescuing acts of Jesus Christ. It is finished! And we live in grace and peace with God.

As we were brought into Him at the cross (Romans 6:1-11), so we were in Him in His resurrection. His three days were our three days. When He was crucified, we were crucified. When He was buried, we were buried. When He was raised, we were raised. We're new. We’re secure. We’re in Him and He is in us.

“Made like Him, like Him we rise! Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies! Alleluia!”

He is Risen! And in Him, so are we!

“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6-7

For always and forever, we will be the evidence of His stunning love and ability. Isn’t that fantastic?

If that's what we'll be throughout the ages, we might as well start getting used to it now—don't you think?

Happy Easter!

No Easter Discount

Do you have some thoughts about Easter?  Let me ask you a question:  When Jesus was on the cross, where were you? 

If we think of Jesus as going to the cross by Himself, we have a discounted Easter, as the retail sign implies.  That’s no bargain.  We don’t have everything, and we need to.

While enduring the awful human torment of carrying a shameful cross through the streets of Jerusalem and out to Calvary on the edge of the city, Jesus—God Himself—knew what was before Him.  Through the pain, He was overjoyed!

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  (Hebrews 12:2, italics mine)

Seemingly all alone in His tortured trek through town and the many people lining the streets, Jesus held a fantastic secret:  He was taking them with Him.  They thought they were onlookers to a tragedy; He knew they were participants, not just in the cause but also in the act.

An incredible, miraculous, retroactive and future fact of Easter is that Jesus’ faithfulness to the cross was the initial act of bringing to an end one creation—darkened, stumbling, sin frustrated mankind—and of making another—a glory-sharing, innocent and holy new race (See Ephesians 2:14-22).  That was His joy, and now it’s ours!

On the cross and knowing what was coming in three days, Jesus reached for you in the crowd—the crowd in the past, the crowd right in front of Him, and the crowd in the future—and accomplished God’s timeless desire; union with His people.  He didn’t simply hold you close, He brought you in.  Jesus removed what hindered us and brought us into Himself, where there can be no distance, no transgression and no fault, making us new, safe and secure with Him, who loves us perfectly.  And He did it in three days through two acts:  the cross and the resurrection.

Romans 6:6  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

Ephesians 2:6  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Easter is all about life to the full—Christ’s and yours.  When Jesus rose and fairly strutted out of the tomb (as I picture it), He was full and full of joy!  We were in Him, and He was joyously satisfied, just as He planned. Do you believe the good news of His cross and resurrection?

He is risen!  And so are we. Happy Easter!
(See Romans 6:1-7; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 2:6-7)

See the Miracle

To the fleshly mind, looking away from sin is counterintuitive, even irresponsible. It wants to do something about it, and that’s the problem—it can’t! But the mind set on the Spirit IS life and peace. The mind “looking” at Jesus reaps His very life. And that’s when you’ll see the miracle of “Christ in you.”

Have Fun!

You can catch the flesh and the devil at his game by growing wise to their tactic of remembering for you what God has already forgotten; your sins. (See Hebrews 8:12.) It’s not that you’ll never remember anything regretfully from the past, but their strategy is that you should accept and bear a heavy load of remorse as a way of navigating the future. It isn’t so. Jesus took responsibility for your sins (2 Corinthians 5:21) and got rid of them. After all, He is The Great Sin Bearer, so why should you try to bear what He already has? It is finished. Faith in Him is the way forward now. That might mean some fun—a little shouting and dancing—don’t you think?

Great New, Part 1

Today is Part 1 of, “Here-comes-a-bunch-of-great-new-stuff-from-Ralph.” Ten years ago I built my web site (lifecourse.org), and today it sure looks like it. So, I did not build my new web site. With over 150 free videos, all gathered together and categorized, as well as lots of ways for you to be regularly encouraged by the truth of the gospel, I hope you will take advantage of everything you want at ralphharris.org. Have a look and subscribe to my newsletter, “Knowing God More.” Thank you!

Giving Life

Don't Listen

Surrendering

His Ride

Many of us make tremendous efforts to smooth out any and all bumps we suspect might be ahead, thinking proper smoothing techniques measure our Christian maturity. It isn’t so. Christ in us is our treasure, which means we’re already doing rather well, no matter the bumps. Think of the apostle Paul’s bumpy-life ride, and ours in comparison seems fairly tame. First things first: enjoy Jesus today. He will provide through the bumps. After all, you’re his ride.

Your Puzzle Master

It is very easy to turn to and get fouled up by self-scrutiny in our approach to God. “Is my motive pure? Am I seeking Him for what He does or for who He is? Why am I reading my Bible or praying? Am I trying to get favor with God? Am I doing it right? Oh, I’m such a puzzle!” Frankly, these kinds of questions often tangle me up in the sometimes hidden pursuit of self-righteousness with God. That never goes well—my history shows it. Maybe yours does, too.

Here’s the thing: I am often a mess when beginning to talk with God or to read the Bible, and one of my greatest delights is how He restores me to my right mind and brings forth the new creation Ralph. Oh, how I like that Ralph! Fear is gone. Rest is restored. And love, God’s love, fills and moves me again. I think that's a pleasure for Him, too. “Ralph! Look what I’ve found—it’s you!” I have found Him to be perfect with me, so I now care less about why I’m approaching Him and what my motive might be in the deep and dark recesses of my mind than I once did. I care far more about knowing and enjoying Him in any condition I might encounter.

While I sometimes discover that rickety Ralph has been tripped up by fleshly demands that God be more obvious, more helpful, more useful, or more like Santa Claus than He evidently is to me, He fixes all of that craziness in me. He’s cleans up the mess! He is good with me (and with you), and I find all over again that He is the solution—The Solver—of all that confuses and harasses me, Mr. Puzzle, pure motives or bad, honorable intentions or not, doing it right or doing it wrong.

Although it is a powerful temptation, the flesh that plagues me cannot be solved by me. That fact makes room for my sometimes reckless and rickety approaches to God, who then emerges in me as The Righteous One, The Rescuer, The Victor and The Solver of the lifelong puzzle that is Ralph Harris. Maybe you’re that puzzle for God to solve, too. He doesn’t mind. He’s The Puzzle Master, and He’s good with bringing you together—especially when you know you cannot. Right then.

During those times when your puzzle pieces are scattered all over the place, and the picture in your mind of how you should look and how you should be (like the puzzle box top) is condemning and eluding you, those times actually keep you to the free and perfect effort of God in you—the Spirit of grace. Those crazy times keep you from believing the lie that you’re supposed to have this all figured out: “Move your own pieces into place, for God’s sake!”

The apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians about the danger of trying to do everything right and of not needing Jesus:

Galatians 5:4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.

I know that I eagerly wait sometimes, don’t you? Well, that’s a good thing!

If just now you’re a puzzle box of craziness, don’t worry about how to do anything properly with God. Simply tell Him what you’re thinking and feeling, however reckless, rickety and ugly it might sound. He’ll put you together because He knows the fit. He’s great at it because He’s your Puzzle Master.

(This is a transcript of the video, "The Puzzle Master," and is for those who might rather read than watch. To see the video, click https://youtu.be/9-2l32OrSoE.)

Dependence Upon God

The Return of the Unicorns

Most people agree that God gives us children as a gift. You hear them say it and see them write it all the time. “Happy birthday, Babushka! You were the perfect gift from God to us ____ years ago!” But years later, whether 18, 20, 22 or 42, they are willing to say that God leads those same perfect and precious gifts away from them. “God has plans for our children. It’s normal, even godly for them to leave,” they’ll say. Well, THAT’S JUST WRONG. The GIFTS and callings of God are irrevocable—HE NEVER TAKES THEM BACK or puts them elsewhere! (See Romans 11:29)

So I think it would only be right to revisit this deceived willingness to let God’s gifts leave us, REPENT, and create new paradigms wherein our precious gifts remain with us. Okay, they can move across the street, maybe a block or two over, or just down the country road a couple hundred yards. With our permission.

THEN, God’s gift-giving plan will work as originally intended and we will reap His blessings: ever-flowing springs of gold-filtered water will bubble up and give rise to non-GMO food crops and organic, sustainably grown coffees that burst forth in the world’s deserts; gas-free cows will repopulate the earth; clouds of butterflies will cleanse the air in China and legally emigrate to the North Pole, where their bodies will feed the baby polar bears; certain people will stop tweeting, others their manic fault-finding; Fergie will get a do-over; FOX and CNN will merge into the WARHN network (We Actually Report Helpful News); and friendly, multicolored unicorns will once again flourish upon the earth and fulfill their divine design as crossing guards and school guardians.

Can I get a witness? Amen?

The Simple Joy of Design

Doing a “great thing for God” might mean doing the smallest and simplest thing. Maybe even the easiest thing—the thing you just want to do. That simple. It doesn’t have to be a BIG thing in order to be great. The real thing is really the thing. No more. No less. I know that some want to motivate us to reach beyond, to dare to dream big, because THEN it must be God. But what if for most of us it’s easier and simpler than that? On purpose?

God has given you real faith and a real gift to go with it. It’s a package deal. Try to make more of it, and it’s going to be a mess—maybe a big enough mess that a lot of us will be bothered with it, too. Try to make less of it, and we’ll all suffer the absence. Try to make everyone have what you have, and we’ll leave you because you’re not as supernatural as you think. You don’t have the Creator gift. But you do have the expression.

Do you simply “get” people? Do you see past their facade to their inner design, and it’s a beautiful thing? Then tell them why—exactly why—they’re so good and you’re so impressed.

Do you like doing stuff for people? Then have at it, because that’s the gift, and you’ve been given the heart and faith to do it. No fuss. No muss. Brilliant!

Do you like assessing a situation, a need or opportunity, and then offering a sort of prescription as to how to “get there” or fix it? Rock on, man! That’s the thing. Remember to be nice when some of us are slow to get the fix.

Do you somehow see or find that little spot of depression, that little area of doubt that haunts and hinders somebody, and you have just the real and right thing to say? It’s easy? Then that’s what you’ve got! Don’t look for more, don’t apologize, and don’t despair that it’s not enough. That’s God’s design.

Do you like—really like—giving to encourage and take care of needs? Then give that $5. After all, size doesn’t matter...unless it’s supposed to be $5,000. Then keep it real simple and give it. Either.

Do you think or hear of a way that you can get involved in something, and you wind up at the front of that effort? “Oops.” Then give yourself wholeheartedly to it—all the way. Because you fit, we’ll benefit.

Do you bubble up with feelings of kindness and compassion when you see or know of someone who deserves a penalty or punishment? That’s real—go with it. Don’t look for someone else to feel the same way. Go bubble-over on that person, no matter the result, no matter the appearance.

It’s simple and real. Maybe you’ve noticed. It’s supposed to be because it’s by design, and that’s where the joy is.

Romans 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Our Hope In The Dark

I hate it when my daughters are in danger. Dark and dreadful thoughts and passions suddenly come to my surface. My jaw and fists clench tightly and my eyes narrow, testifying that calamity is almost unleashed. I feel maybe like a fighter pilot engaging a terrible enemy as I prepare to fire missiles. I have a single thought; “Targeting . . . Targeting . . .”  

I suspect similar dark thoughts and passions welled-up in the parents, teachers, law officers and care-givers in Broward County, Florida, just days ago. I wish I could have been with them because I understand. I would have held them. I would have cried with them. I would have “okayed” their awful thoughts of destruction for those responsible. “I know those thoughts! I know those feelings! I know! And I’m here with you.”

And in the midst of those ugly, awful, vengeance-seeking thoughts and feelings of wrath would be the Jesus I know, and the Father of compassion, the God of all comfort. God would be obvious to us. Not in how He forcefully restrained us—“Stop it! How can you call yourselves Christians?”—but in how He moved in us, drawing out and filtering the poison, while gently loving us in our inability to protect our very own children.

He knows a lot about that. He knows all about fury that targets any and all responsible for evil done to His children (Romans 9:22-24). He knows all about suffering as an innocent (1 Peter 2:22-25). And He is with us. When and as we know that—when and as we know Him—we are clothed anew in an inner security that seems otherwise flimsy. A cruel joke. A religionist’s satire. A security that cannot prevent a beating. An unjust accusation. A broken heart. A bullet. But for us, a security that is Christ—Him!—the power of God.

While we will examine old laws broken and consider new laws to take their place, our hope is not found there. Not really. Our hope is not in what must now be done to finally prevent this “from ever happening again”, but in knowing Jesus. Not just about Jesus, but Him. The One who is with us. The One who understands us. The One who is perfect in compassion. Perfect in comfort. Perfect in love. Remember what Perfect Love does to fear? “Be gone!”

I couldn’t protect my four year old daughter from being mistreated by an IV needle-wielding nurse, nor could I protect my 19 year old daughter from being misled and mistreated by ministry leaders, who promised provision and opportunity, only to prove false at her expense. I couldn’t stop it! I couldn’t prevent it! And there were plenty of other events over the years that proved my best intentions were sometimes failures at protecting them. Even now anger heats up in me, and I think: “Targeting . . .”

Here’s what I know. The best I can give my daughters is an assist in knowing God. Him. Through the insults, injustices and injuries, He is with them. He thinks that’s the deal. And increasingly, my daughters agree. They’re captivated with Him. On their own now, and having their own “dark and dreadful thoughts and passions”, it’s not long until “Targeting” is replaced by knowing the Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort. In sum, they’re glad they know God when shit (I mean crap) happens—because it does.

If you’ve got kids or the care of kids, who are worried about their safety, fearful that someone might bully them, or scared that someone might harm them, I suggest entering into conversation with them. You might ask your son if he thinks Jesus will ever leave him—for anything or any reason? You might ask your daughter if she believes that Jesus finds no fault with her, loves her perfectly, and will never ever cause her harm? That He is with her and for her at all times—no matter how the passing away world looks or treats her? And listen to their answers—don’t shape them. Be with them. They’re not your clay to mold and form, they’re His. God loves giving people their own reason to love Him back. That’s how He makes true witnesses, right? They cannot have confidence in your witness, and God loves giving them their own. Open the door for that.

You will be helping them to consider Jesus; His character, love and faithfulness. That means you will be helping them to be attracted to Jesus and to knowing Him, which means they will be living by faith in God—and that’s the way to live, that’s the way to life, especially in the ugly chaos of this world. That makes them courageous and strong in Him, without even telling them to be courageous and strong. You’ll be setting them up for all of their days.

In a crazy, ugly, mixed-up world that always wants to “get it right” but never can, He is the gift, the treasure that treasures us back, and keeps us secure in an insecure time. He is our hope in the dark.