What is the next great challenge in our life in Christ life. Often it shows up in the circumstances that we face at other times it comes from conversations that we have both oral and written and sometimes the challenge shows up in the still small voice of the Beloved. Of late it has shown up to me on the pages of one of my literary mentors, Dallas Willard. His words have stretched me when he has challenged his readers with the thought that Jesus call on our lives is not just to have faith in Jesus, but to gain the faith of Jesus.

The image that comes to my mind is centered on one of the gospel stories of Jesus fast asleep in the bow of the boat in the midst of the storm-tossed Sea of Galilee. In a panic the disciples roused him from his slumber. Awakened, he calmed the storm and then castigated their lack of faith. Rather than repent, they were awe-struck at “what manner of man” Jesus was. It tells me that the faith of Jesus is revolutionary faith and the kind of faith I want in my life.

Therefore, I am eager for faith that fears nothing because of the intimacy with Jesus. I admit that I carry fears from false narratives left over from childhood, but I ask the Holy Spirit to teach me the truth so that I live by the truth of Jesus’ faith. I want to be able to peacefully sleep “in the midst of the rocking boat.”

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The more I tune into what God has said through the Old Testament prophets, the more serious life becomes. God shows His great patience, but He also shows the certainty of His will. Many conversations that we experience both within the community of Christ as well as those on the outside seem to show our utter ignorance of biblical theology, namely the nature of God. I think the point that is raised most consistently is our need to shape what God has revealed into our preferred image.

The need to remake God in our own image if not our need to massage truth to fit our own preferences creates a peaceful presence that requires nothing from us. Our inability to live in light of something greater than ourselves creates a moral and character weakness within us that leads us to dead-end living. By dead-end I mean pointless living. The revelation of God has made it abundantly clear that we are here for the purpose to glorify God, not ourselves.

This self-referenced living is living for the temporary end of self-satisfaction. It suggests that we are our own voice that there is no greater Voice. Honestly, that schizophrenic living, living in a fantasy. The most troubling part of that is that somehow, we can shape our own eternity through our self-absorbed thinking when in reality we have no power to do that. It seems that we are saying to ourselves that we can will or speak a reality into existence. Which sounds like making ourselves into gods.

I hear a great deal of lament in our day. One would think that suffering is dominating the atmosphere in which we live. As though there is no air to breathe. The reality of accountability is able to remove the air with which we fill our lungs. What about this suffering? I wonder if the pace of life is such that we have been caught off guard and are in need to recalibrate the speed at which we live. What if the circumstances of life in which we now live is demanding that we slow down and pay attention to what is and what we are called by God to do to make the world a better place.

Maybe our circumstances are demanding that we slow down to a pace in life in which we can represent the Holy One through our engagement of caring for others. Who is it that is near you that needs your love and care? What if you were to pick up one “hitch-hiker” on life’s journey that you could invest the love of Christ in? That person could become your assignment for ministering the grace of God. Whether it is someone who has lost a job, is hungry, or needs a roof over their head, who is it that needs you?

There is a difference between 1^st world suffering, which is rather thin suffering, or 3^rd world suffering which hard-fought suffering. I wonder if suffering is simply the call of God to return to Him. Maybe this is the time for a deeper reconciliation or restoration. Maybe the stresses of tightening our belts so to speak is in reality a beckoning of the Spirit to turn our attention back to our foundation.

We face a great challenge in our day! We are so used to the noise that it makes it hard to listen to and hear the whisper, the still small voice. I think it is a hard discipline to make enough empty space to actually hear the voice of the One who loves us most and the One who has a dynamic purpose for our lives in its many stages. In considering the issue of God’s will for us, Trevor Hudson makes the case for discernment. As followers of Jesus, we have been placed in a discerning environment to listen and then to act for the sake of Jesus.

I think it has always been a dilemma for followers of Jesus and not just a matter for modern man. Therefore, I think it is a unique practice for those who live in a personal active relationship with Almighty God. When we make empty space that is meant to encounter the God of the universe in a completely personal way, we still bring ourselves into the environment which tends to garble the silence. Sometimes God’s voice is easy to hear, but often it is not.

I remember several years ago when I had purposed to get away to an abbey with a cadre of Benedictine sisters. Their rhythm included gathering in the chapel during the hours to sing the scriptures. During the first day I was struck by how quietly the sisters sang. After the first day and I had had a chance to get quiet, I found the second day that I did not have any problem hearing them, which told me how noisy my head had been. Rich silence is not a common thing, it has to be practiced.

It seems that we are faced with more and more of our fallen nature day in and day out. If we pay attention to ourselves, we can see the battle as it plays out often every so subtly. But like most of our experience we can easily see it in others. It seems that the dominating theme is power or control. Whether we are able to face ourselves in truth or we can watch what happens in the news of our culture the moral commands of God are continually violated. Leaving the world confusing and in a mess.

It tips the scales of decadence and ugliness as over against beauty, goodness, and truth. The deception shows itself with corruption, greed, and pride. When we attune ourselves to the prophecies of God, especially in regard to the end times, it is easy to see how societies will be easily deceived and conquered. Bending the will seems rampant and standing strong is a natural threat. I am reminded to a radio program from my childhood that we are in desperate need of today, “Back to the Bible” broadcast.

As Billy Graham used to say we need to be admonished again, “the Bible says.” Maybe societies have forgotten if they ever knew the Bible is the standard for truth. If we knew and lived by the Word of God, we would have less confusion clouding our days. The common reaction to biblical living is moving backwards. This “backward” kind of living is life lived in the Light of Christ. For far too many they have exchanged biblical living with “living a Christ ethic” which is a personal massaged standard that fits their preferences.

Lately, I’ve noticed an algorithm that I somehow got connected to which is essentially about rescue missions to wild animals. I don’t know who funds these services, but I find it intriguing. Intriguing in its impact on me. I find a lot of compassion welling up for the animals. Maybe that is because they are at a loss and will certainly die unless human beings get involved in rescuing them. The animals are usually covered with blood sucking parasites or leeches or ticks or some other vermin. The heroic actions of the rescuers are commendable. Then I get to thinking….

It makes me think about our responses to other humans. Do we have the concern for our fellow man that we have for animals. I have friends that clearly prefer animals to humans. Why is that!? What does that say about our shallowness that we can’t deal with others on their terms, and we are only willing to engage with the “other” when we have an over/under kind of relationship? When we can dominate the other. When we deal with our fellow man it is a horizontal connection.

From God’s perspective we are of equal value. No one is above the other. It brings into focus the “love your neighbor as you love yourself” kind of thing. It seems that this is the path of humility. I need to be able to see myself in the other person as I see them in me. The boundaries with animals are definite and clear, the connection with people is not bound the same way. When I think of animals it requires much less from us. Our instincts are not confronted as they are with people.

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I’ve been giving some thought to two antithetical human responses to what happens reaction and responsiveness. There is much to gather from the perusal of the Scriptures. It seems that those who were rooted in the God of the universe were able to face circumstances or events with more of a responsiveness rather than a reaction. Those who were not so much rooted in the God of the universe were left with their own devises and those consistently led to reactions or reactive behavior.

One vignette that comes to mind in the Old Testament was Daniel facing the possibility of death in the lion’s den. It seems he was at peace within his soul that came from his trust in God that the possibility of death in a lion’s den was not his greatest concern, but the presence of God in him and around him was what mattered most. It seems he found God present in his everyday pattern of prayer three times daily. When we know He is always here there is nothing to fear.

Consistently the Apostle wrote to his fledgling churches with the solidarity that allowed him to focus on responding to whatever happened. In his letter to the Philippian Church from prison he wrote, “… for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” To the Corinthian Church he wrote quoting God, “… my grace is sufficient for you….” Reacting is a deception that makes us think that we should be in control.

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Wisdom from the past seems to shine in our day with a greater sheen than much of our present-day thinking. I often think we suffer from our lack of awareness of that which is part of history. Try this on for size from a thoughtful Christian from the previous century, “I am not judged by the light I have but by the light I have refused to accept.” (Oswald Chambers) At issue is uncomfortable truth that challenges my ego.

In what ways has my self-perception overruled the truth. Another wise thinker (Robert Mulholland) challenges us with the importance and role of our perceptual framework. If the lens through which I look at reality or things is distorted it is unlikely that I will realize the truth of things. His particular focus is on whether our perception is rooted in the Word of God. God has revealed His thought through the scriptures. Do I look at things that way?

When we reject what God has said through the revelation of the Bible, we live with a temporary foundation the one that we create “on the fly” if you will with no solid roots. The challenge from Chambers and Mulholland is that we need desperately to discern the light that we receive no matter how uncomfortable and inconvenient it may be. Living in accordance to what God has revealed is the central task of life.

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Recent conversations both verbally and literarily have brought critical things into view. What are we willing to settle for in our faith in Christ. Are we simply satisfied with controlling the story and shaping our faith so as to worship the god of our making or do we desire more? Someone mentioned in my presence that the Old Testament helps us with the rules of God and the New Testament helps us with the relationships with God and man. As I think about that my way of looking at the same two my description would be the first testament is about the vertical and the second testament is about the horizontal.

Either way God is calling us to an on-going relationship in which the relationship is always personal. He addresses His Personhood and our personhood. The relationship is always dynamic – growing and changing. The relationship between the two of us is very individual and personal and the dynamic is in our growth in our being – the way we are. The goal is always Christlike and adorned with spiritual fruit from the inside out. The relationship within our earthly existence is a dynamic of doing what we are being assigned to do, both in our being and doing to the glory of God.

When our life in Christ is lacking any personal dynamic of being and doing, we become what more than one author describes as “dead-end living.” By nature, the Spirit that lives within us is alive which means He is moving and breathing. There are events in God’s way like Good Friday and Easter, but that is not all there is to our salvation. Life in Christ then is a matter of becoming what we are “freed” to become before God and among men.

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As fruit of my reading, study, and reflections it seems that what has presented itself is the “long view.” Where I am writing from there is a very cold Artic front that has made its way into the Colorado high plains and central mountains. It is easy to complain about the weather, but we forget that God operates in sovereignty. I’ve been thinking about the importance of several 24-hour periods below freezing that it takes to confront the survival of irritating bugs and insects that normally show themselves in the summertime. I’ll gladly take the freezing temperatures in order to not have to deal with bugs and insects. Taking the long view.

In our faith community we are engaged with Daniel and his biography in the Old Testament. As it relates to the subject, the dailiness of Daniel’s living for the glory of God created a life that can impact today’s reader three thousand years later. How we choose to live now tells our story that can make the difference later. Keeping the long view in mind can energize the sacrifices of my life now. I doubt that Daniel ever thought that his day-to-day life would matter 3 millennia later. He was my hero as a kindergartner in 1953. Long before Mickey Mantle.

When one takes the long view the days that we have are pure gift. The gift of preparation for life later, the time when we have no more time. What we choose to do with today will shape and form tomorrow and who can know how soon tomorrow will come. de Cassaude’s little book, The Sacrament of the Present Moment is both about the glory of now and the shaping of tomorrow. I think the more we take the long view the wiser we become.

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I’m not much into commercials but given a new year and fresh opportunities I have a serious suggestion to consider as we are past the hurry of the holidays and ready to settle into a solid wintry focus. The suggestion is this: make the space to watch the Netflix movie, “The Forge.” If nothing else this is an example of what we need to be about, especially those of us in the second half of life.

I have a confession to make – I have not done a particularly good job of passing on the faith to the next generation. It takes time to make a disciple and that is part of the commission that Jesus left us with. It is not just an informational task, but a formational task that requires walking with others and devoting oneself to prayer for the aspiring disciple.

As one who is in the last quarter of the journey it is clear to me what we need to be about. Solomon said it well, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” That which is required is what is needed: an unhurried life, devotion to one another in prayer, commitment to living the truth and teaching the truth, loving one another above all. So, I challenge you to make disciples teaching others what Jesus teaches us.

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This is one of those seasons that our culture encourages new beginnings – a new year. I suppose there are advantages to that, but most emphasis in our common culture is on putting away the past and moving on. However, for those of us who are followers of Jesus, it may behoove us to consider what we have learned over the past year and how we might consider how those valuable lessons can be transforming the substance of our being. And then open us to the year ahead.

I usually choose a word or two to emphasize throughout the year. This past year it was a compound emphasis with discipline and diligence. I don’t want to lose the fruit of that work as I move into the next step. That means I must make space to consider what I have learned occasionally throughout the present year. My words for this next year are risk and assertiveness.

What I am learning is that I need to make the present words a part of my daily examen. To give thought to as to how each day is an opportunity to consider new risks and the attending assertiveness in a positive and helpful way to engage life. This helps me with my two core spiritual disciplines of awareness and attentiveness. I find that if intentional these considerations can become formational in the person that I become for Jesus’ sake.

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As I am thinking about the “shadow season” in our Western culture when we acknowledge aspects of our Judeo-Christian history between the ‘giving of thanks” and the “giving of gifts” and we tune in briefly to the needy all around us. I call it the “shadow season” in that our investment remains convenient and comfortable without any sense of the substance that is offered to us. In particular, I am thinking about the qualities of the Advent that undergird the Incarnation that we supposedly celebrate.

When positing the purpose of the Advent someone I spoke with recently immediately responded with Easter. While facing ourselves in truth and recognizing the need for both the cross and the empty tomb I think there is a beckoning to us in the ways of hope, peace, joy, and love. I suspect that in this season we are being offered a relationship in which we can find a reason for hope, the path of peace, the fruit of joy, and a calling to love.

I think we are being offered a completely different way of life so that the best of the season around us is but a shadow of what God is offering us. The substance is Jesus and what being possessed by Him creates in us. Think about it! Don’t we more naturally consider our possessing Him rather than Him possessing us. Even in the most subtle way we are given to want to control the relationship that we might have with Him rather than Him controlling the relationship He might have with us. To be possessed by Him is the path of surrender in which we are to be shaped by hope, peace, joy, and love and is meant to form us not us forming it.

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The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to go by in the blink of an eye. Already we are in the second week of the Advent season as we focus on peace. We remind ourselves that Isaiah described Jesus as the Prince of Peace. As followers of Jesus His way of peace is our calling. However, Jesus’ peace is not necessarily a “soft opening” of ourselves, but instead peace rooted in truth.

Truth lived out in the midst of a fallen world by nature is almost always in conflict. The peace of Christ differs in that it is rarely an angry peace. It is a gentle but firm peace informed both by love and holiness. In that the peace of Christ is often experienced as a confusing peace. The peace of Christ hears a different voice and desires more than simply the secession of conflict. The voice of wholeness listens for repentance in the heart of the other.

The peace of Christ is devoid of expectation. It is concerned for the good of the other. The peace of Christ brings the sense of good into every encounter. Peace brings with it beauty, goodness, and truth. As we move through the week before us may we be peacemakers through our very being in each day.

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The season changes. We move from gratitude to expectancy, from Thanksgiving to Advent. The season of expectancy is raised on the supports of hope, peace, joy, and love, pillars of our faith. A faith that is built on the substance of truth and the experience of that truth. For some the thought is only of Christmas, a commercial event. Therefore, the weakness of faith built only on the substance of silver bells, Christmas trees, food, and activity.

Like so often in the scriptures Jesus and the biblical writers renew their cautioning of us to not be identified by the world but by our faith. Followers of Jesus have a special opportunity in this season to reveal a life unknown to the entertained world.

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The great enemy of gratitude is expectations. When we live on the energy of expectations, we in fact are never content and certainly not satisfied. Expectations are all about control and keep us unprepared for the mystery of life. Expectations are designed to place us in the center of the universe taking God’s absolute position. The fact is we live under the authority of God and it is to our benefit to always remember that.

We do have control over ourselves but nothing else. It is of vital importance that we learn the wisdom of surrender, surrendering ourselves to the love of God. God made it clear in Jeremiah’s prophecy that He is a God who has a plan. In Jeremiah’s context it is a plan for Israel, for those of us who believe and have a personal relationship with our Creator we can hold to the promise that God has a plan for each of us.

Life is not about our plan for our lives, but His plan for each of us. His plan is good and is spiritually prosperous. Our lives are shaped and formed by how we respond to what happens. Expectations colored by comfort and convenience operate in contention with God’s “prosperous plans” as He is interested in the person that we become. So, as we celebrate Thanksgiving this year our gratitude is rooted in the works and ways of God, not primarily the fulfillment of our expectations.

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Can we slow down enough to care for others? One of the consequences of our worship of speed is our inability to get out of ourselves enough to consider those right around us. It takes slowing down enough to notice. I’m always impressed with Elijah’s encounter with the Living God. The Scriptures tells us the story. God didn’t show up in the earthquake or the fire or the wind, but in the still small voice that was barely above a whisper.

What is right around you? Do you notice and can you wait for whatever it is until its reality unfolds its wings, and you see it for what it is? I think that has been Jesus’ way of living fruitfully. I’ve been rereading Alan Fadling’s book, An Unhurried Life and have found great wisdom for us as apprentices of Jesus. Learning Jesus’ way is our first task of doing. It is hard to see and hear the hands of God when we are living in a hurry.

There is a huge difference between fruitfulness and productivity. Our common culture raises productivity to the pedestal of worship which equates to busyness which equates to speed. On the other hand, fruitfulness is rarely fast. It takes time to produce fruit. Fruit often requires pruning and patience and attending to. Fruit is rich and flavorful and sweet to the taste, productivity is often mediocre and temporary and dry. In the process of meaningful productivity it must become fruitful to be sustained.

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Now that we have our election cycle behind us maybe we can get on to the kingdom of God we have been assigned, bringing light to the darkness. I admit, sometimes we are bent from time to time to lose our focus because of the noise that surrounds us. This is the season to hear the bells of gratitude and the shining light of the Advent of our Savior. This is an excellent time to create some empty space to listen to the still small voice of the Lord of the Universe.

The immediate season before us has its roots in the gratitude and relief that followed both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War during those two centuries in our national history. Yet, for me I bring the emotional image of the Pilgrims and Native Americans celebrating God’s protection and provision from His faithful care of both survival and peace. Maybe this would be a good practice this year given the atmosphere of our culture to look for survival and peace.

It behooves us as followers of Jesus to bring the peace of Christ to bear on our culture. In every encounter, event, and experience our world is groaning for the peace of Christ. It is not some flabby altruism or niceness, rather it is a penetrating peace that shakes the soul from its lethargy. In a world that is bent on skimming the surface of life, the light of Christ lived through the peace of Christ is a penetrating light in the midst of the darkness.

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This week we celebrate a watershed event in human history, the Reformation. It was an event of deeply held value which occurred on the wings of protest. The Reformers as a group were protesting the abuse of the most important subject of humankind, one’s communal relationship with Almighty God. The authority and tradition that had developed over centuries had become debased by ignorance and abuse. The protest was meant to be a purifying effort of that which is of eternal value, man’s relationship with God.

The fruit of that protest, initially intended to right the ship in the waters, produced something quite different. Something that wasn’t necessarily intended, but because of pride, ignorance, and control created something quite new. The substance of the protest has benefitted those of us who believe as it has created the hooks upon which we hang our relationship with God. Protest over truth vs. untruth is the essence of the battle in which we are at odds.

The hooks are five solid commitments that cover the vast variety that makes up Protestantism. Scripture alone is our authority for faith and practice. Christ alone provides our salvation with His sacrifice for our sins. Our salvation is established by faith alone. And it is by grace alone that we have been included in the salvation story. And finally, the glory of God is the point of it all.

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I think the most common obstacle that modern man deals with is perspective. With our worship of speed and the assumption that the present is all there is we are ill-equipped for living fruitfully and honestly. Augustine shared wisdom that we might need as we live out our days with vigor. The past is the present plus memory. Isn’t that the value of history, what happened and why and can we reproduce the good and learn from the bad? Then there is the present and here the wisdom of de Cassaude, “the sacrament of the present moment” or where do we see God in what is going on. And then we have the future which is the present plus our expectations.

The common struggle comes when we pay no attention to the past and learn from it. I suspect that we don’t know how to look at the past and how what happened, happened. Learning is never a complete blank slate. There are always residual effects in what has happened in history. There are themes to recognize and information to gather. The other obstacle is in our impatience with waiting preferring to simply act and move life along. The practice of listening and thinking are for the most part unpracticed. Maybe because they require empty space, and we are afraid of empty space.

Perspective also requires an openness and readiness to move beyond ourselves. When we are afraid of openness it seems that our identity is rooted in the stability of our ideas and notions about things. Learning to be secure in what God says about us and His love for us can give us a strength beyond our self-generated orientation. The perspective then does not need to be self-generated but can come in submission to the One who loves us most. Perspective can then be generated and malleable in the hands of God in our lives. Thus, we can grow in our perspective.

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Confusion is not new to humanity! The root of it is that often we do not know the truth, or we have become sloppy in the pursuit of truth. When Jesus told Thomas, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” it was because Thomas was confused by some of what Jesus had said and done. Truth is at the center of who God is and it is paramount to God that we know the truth and that we stick to the truth. He knows that the evil one is about disrupting the truth, so in the advent of the Holy Spirit we are taught that the Spirit will guide us into all truth and will reveal the truth of Christ to us.

The truth doesn’t originate in the mind and heart of depraved humankind but is rooted in the Author of Truth. Our natural bent is to bend the truth to fit our own preferences. The fact is the truth exists apart from the mind and heart of man and it is our task to live in relation to that which is beyond us and then the process includes appropriating the truth in order to live according to the truth. That is where the Word of God comes in.

I have felt that it is most helpful to take the truth of God in so that I might be shaped and formed by the truth – the Word of God. That exercise provides a cultivation of the mind and heart in order to truly become the kind of person that God created me to be. God has promised the Holy Spirit as the One who can take what has been written and enlivened it so that same Word can become living within us. In addition, the best preparation for dealing with the “truth talkers” in our ordinary day is to become intimately familiar with the truth of God. When dealing with contradictory “fact checkers” the residual sense that is gained from God is helpful in everyday discernment.

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It would seem that we are in a state of confusion. Just as fact checkers can’t agree on the facts, so we are recipients of conflicting information. When we consider the evil ones, basic strategy is one of deception, no wonder in a informational society in which we live that the confusion resides in the midst of information. In addition, our own perceptual framework impacts how we see what we see. It would seem that for followers of Jesus, the Word of God ought to be our foundational source of truth.

In addition, as sinners redeemed by Christ, we also have been blessed by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit of God who has been given to us as our Teacher and revealer of Christ. It seems that it is God’s strategy that His righteous ones who find their center in Him and what He has revealed of His way, truth, and life. It sounds simple, but His way, truth, and life is meant for the “inside of the cup.” We are created to live from the center out.

Inside out living is the power that God uses to tell the world what He is like. That is the glory that God has bestowed upon His children when we become like Jesus (Rom. 8:29) we represent the stability of the universe. If we do not embrace the re-shaping of our lives in the “image of Christ” we failed at our very purpose of our existence. This isn’t heaven no matter what Archie said. Baseball in an Iowa cornfield is not it.

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Here is something to think about. Though Jesus did not have a sin nature like us he had to face the tempter with temptation that the Scriptures described like us when it says, “He was tempted in every way like us.” Temptation isn’t in and of itself isn’t the result of our humanness because Jesus was fully human. Jesus was tempted to disobey His purpose or vision. He came to provide a path of redemption in light of the glory of God. It was His commitment to that vision that enabled Him to choose to resist Satan’s direct attacks.

We as fallen creatures have to deal with the self-centered self or ego, but on another plane of our humanness the issue is the glory of God. If the glory of God is our vision, we have what we need to resist the weakness of our egos or self. Maybe the issue at some level is our commitment to our purpose, the glory of God (Isa. 43:7). Maybe that is what we need to reflect on each day, living for the glory of God.

Jesus is our example for what it is to be human. So, maybe we ought not shame our humanness and instead confront our lack of vision or commitment to the vision into which we have been born. Being conformed to the image of Christ is not just a commitment to His character, but also a commitment to living out the vision of God for us with a consistent intentionality. Maybe the question each morning as we arise from sleep is, “How might I envision the glory of God today in all that I am and all that I do?”

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Weekly Blog

Integrity is important to Jesus. Usually, we think that has to do with whether we speak truly or whether we lie, but it seems according to the Scriptures that Jesus is talking about a much higher standard. When we are converted to Christ it is so much more than simply moving from hell to heaven. Jesus intent it seems to me was to bring about the transformation of our lives that we might grow into Christlikeness and then represent Him to the pagan world in which we live.

I find it interesting that most of the New Testament writers in their letters to the believing community focused on what the gospel of Christ lived out in the followers of Jesus and that our task while we walk the firmament of earth is to learn to know God more fully in our experience and then to show the world what the grace of God is meant to do in the re-formation of our lives. As an example, the Apostle tells us in Romans 8 that we are here to be conformed to the image of Christ.

The development of grace is what is often missing in life. Somehow our understanding of grace is completely passive since we know that salvation does not come through works of the flesh. However, I think we have missed Jesus’ point. Grace or God at work is meant to exist in stereo. The sound of grace, the sight of grace, and the experience of grace is meant to be residual, resident, and resplendent throughout our lives. It is meant to be a reservoir of quality that irrigates the fields of our lives.

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Weekly Blog

It is a typical reality for serious followers of Jesus that no matter when and where we live the world in which we live is pagan. It was true in the 1st century, and it is true in the 21st century. Jesus’ way, truth, and life has never been the common culture no matter when and where humankind has lived. Simply put, this is not heaven which is the absolute dominion of Almighty God. He rules with absolute holiness and love. I am becoming quite aware that at our best we are only a caricature of what we were designed to become.

What is usually mission for us is a vision of what we are to become – Christlikeness. In the modality Dallas Willard put forward, we need a clear vision, a solid intentionality, and a commitment to the necessary means to honestly pursue the vision. To become a delight to our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer is worth every effort. Our conversion to Christ is a conversion from the natural instincts of our pagan world. In that sense what we are becoming is so much more important than what we have been.

We have one life to live and the person we become is our main work. In the words of Gordon Smith, we have been called to vocational holiness. My work, your work is holiness before God. Holiness is a matter of wholeness as well as the transformative separateness that sets us apart from the pagan instincts with which we exist. Our journey is the process of replacing those old instincts with the vital living instincts demonstrated by Jesus. In that every day that we breathe as an eternal purpose.

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Weekly Blog

As we engage with Jesus as He turns His attention to the cross that awaits Him, we are challenged as to whether we draw near to Him, or we begin to pull away. The disciples were quite confused as He began to talk about leaving and going. For the last nearly three years they we used to Jesus dropping out for short periods of time (for prayer), but He always came back and then they were off to the next place never sure where or why, but they were always invited along.

As the focus for Jesus changes His language changes as well and He begins to bear down on yet inexperienced terrain for them. He begins to talk of things that were confusing for them. Yet, we know the rest of the story, but like the disciples Jesus is asking to join Him in these days and join Him closely. Join Him using your imagination and opening our hearts to Him so that we actually join Him in the story.

Weekly Blog

With the advent of Lent, the journey with Jesus takes both a deeper cut and a darker swath as we head to the cross. The cross is about sin and sacrifice and love and the path to real freedom in Christ. It is such a “heavy” road and one that we often need to be reminded of. Substance is often hard and requires a greater engagement from us. The deeper we experience the darkness of our sin, the greater the glory of forgiveness, love, and freedom. Seeing the ugliness of sin is not morose but choosing to move more intimate with Jesus.

No wonder those who have gone before us saw this season as one in which we would genuinely fast as we become more fully aware of the seriousness of the encounter with Jesus’ love for us that would lead Him to the cross, not flippantly but through a well thought out submission. It is in His humanness that He would fight the good fight for us. The cross is a serious spiritual moment a grievous moment that made not only atonement for our sins, but also an entry into the life Jesus came to offer to us.

Weekly Blog

On the one hand the journey is so very simple and on the other it is so very difficult. What Jesus has put before us is simple, “Come follow me.” But the following is so very difficult because we would rather lead than follow. The problem is we cannot do both, they are mutually exclusive. As is made clear in the series, The Chosen the disciples of Jesus had to get used to the fact that they rarely knew where they were going, how long they would be there, and what they were to do while they were there.

It is so very difficult not knowing and not having clarity ahead of time. Jesus simply called them to follow Him. Ultimately it was a matter of trust, would they trust Him when they didn’t have all their questions answered? They had to deal with “soon” or “not now.” How are we then when it comes to following Him, our followership usually requires trust, patience, and simple obedience with what He has already told us.

Weekly Blog

As followers of Jesus, it is imperative that we learn how to live out our purpose in life by watching Him. In a way the journey of life is so simple, just follow Jesus. We have the story from the perspectives of His first followers. These are first person accounts of what He did and how He did what He did. I think the way has become somewhat vague to us because we are not like what He first spoke of, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Apparently, what is most common to us fallen creates is that we are not naturally poor in spirit, yet read from right to left, “the kingdom of heaven is populated by the poor in spirit.” I suppose in our contemporary vernacular, the kingdom of heaven is populated with those who live a Christ-referenced life and for the most part the kingdom of earth is populated with those who live a self-referenced life.

We have put a lot of emphasis in our lifetime on getting people converted, but sometimes I wonder. Maybe we haven’t challenged our spiritual family to embrace the way of the kingdom of heaven. It begins with being poor in spirit. If what Jesus said is true, maybe the kingdom of heaven is what Jesus showed us what it was and our natural lifestyle is our problem, a big problem. Maybe we haven’t known that we have been converted from accumulation of wealth, seeking honor, and control of all things. If I understand the word, conversion spiritually speaking is to be converted from something and converted to something. I suspect simply following Jesus takes away from what has been and to what hasn’t been.

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Weekly Blog

As we track the movements of Jesus this week, He takes us with Him to the synagogue in Simon, Andrew, Big James, and John’s hometown, Capernaum. Rabbinically-trained, Jesus stands to explain the Old Testament text and suddenly the audience is exposed to authoritative teaching. Not the same “humdrum, mind-dulling” expose’ of the sacred text. Jesus stands out in the most elementary way.

In the words of William Manson, British theologian, “The rabbi taught, and nothing happened, Jesus taught, and all kinds of things happened.” I suspect that when we are truly open to the Spirit who has inspired the text and when we are hungry for God, then the text comes alive to us, and we are transformed little by little. Being shaped by the Word is a glorious experience in the adventure we live.

Jesus audience is often taken with the phenomenon that attends His words, but when we are truly open in our minds and hearts to truth, the truth stays with us. It is the nutrition for the soul. The phenomenon is simply the packaging. It is meant to get our attention. It is meant to illustrate the power that lies in the truth. It is through the Word in our hearts and souls that creates the light of Christ in us.

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Weekly Blog

As we track the movements of Jesus this week, He takes us with Him to the Jordan River and His encounter with His cousin, John, the one we have come to call “the Baptist.” The point of John Mark’s description of that day is that the way of Jesus is the way of humility. I turn to Paul for the most direct definition of the term when he wrote to his brethren in Rome when he said, “… rather think of yourself with sober judgment….” I think that is an excellent definition of humility…sober judgment.

In my vernacular I describe this humility as being “comfortable in your own skin.” There is no deceiving oneself, no “kidding ourselves.” Humility is based on the truth of things, on reality. It means living without inflating oneself or deflating oneself. Humility only truly exists when we can see ourselves as beloved sinners. God sees us for who we are not who we are not. And yet His love for us remains consistent.

Jesus begins His work with a clear-cut declaration by His Father as beloved and a delight. All before He begins to function in the assignment that He was given…the Savior of humankind. Like Jesus our creation is a beloved delight in the heart of the Father. Being beloved delight is meant to set us free to love Him more nearly and walk with Him more clearly day by day. We are meant to start the day with affirmation not living the day striving for affirmation. It is ours but we have to receive it. Living for our glory is the perpetual carrot on a stick. The carrot never becomes ours.

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Weekly Blog

Today we celebrate the first week of Christmas. The journey leads us through the “showing” of who Jesus is to the beginning of His official incarnational work. Jesus said early on “I must work the works of Him who has sent Me while it is day for the night comes when no one can work.” Ironically, that became my life verse about age 10 or 11. It still describes what each day is about. Along with that comes a meaningful life purpose.

The principle and foundation for those of us who follow Jesus was stated in Isaiah’s prophecy, “… for you have been created for My glory.” The point is we are here for the sake of the Other – the glory or shining of God. We are here to make Him shine throughout the planet. The life that we have been given is a gift that we can choose its shape and substance.

Jesus has given us the freedom of partnership with Him. He made that concrete when He described our role as a yoke, designed to keep us aligned and in cadence with Him. As we enter a new calendar year, this is a great time to evaluate our alignment and reflect on the speed of our cadence. Often, we push ahead of Jesus but at the same time we are often speed by the opportunities that He places before us. Stopping to reflect is a grace, the pure unmerited favor of God where God is at work.

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Weekly Blog

The candle for our celebration of this fourth Sunday of Advent is the angels’ candle. The lectionary gospel readings highlight the experience of the shepherds (the lowest class of folk) out doing the dirty stinking cold and lonely work of attending to flocks of the wealthy. It is to these people on that night that the angels of the Most High came and announced the salvation story.

The conversation the angels brought was the announcement of what had happened. The physical reality could be discovered in a “trailer park” of sorts in the midst of farm animals. The encouragement was to go and see for yourselves and then tell everyone. It is a message from the ground up not the top down. It has remained that way.

The message becomes reality as the shepherds confirm what has been told them. The message becomes Good News for everyone. God only waits for us to come to grips with the importance of the Good News – news that lasts, that never loses its dynamic. Maybe we live fast asleep needing an angel of the Lord to reawaken us to the Good News of Bethlehem.

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Weekly Blog

The candle for our celebration of this third Sunday of Advent is the shepherds’ candle. The lectionary gospel readings highlight the conversation John the Baptist had with the Jewish leaders. John’s conversation entailed what the Baptist had said about himself and how he referred to Jesus as one among them that they were blind to.

The conversation regarded light in the midst of darkness. Unless one recognizes one’s own bent toward darkness, it is hard to recognize the light. It always has been, and I suppose it always will be. I’m reminded of something Jesus said later in John’s gospel when He was describing the arrival of the Spirit and announced His task. “… He will convict men of sin, righteousness, and judgment.”

The purpose of the Light is to reveal itself in the midst of the surrounding darkness. I think that an important posture for us as we anticipate the Advent celebration and the second Advent event it is a good time to make space for reflection on the light of Christ within us. The purpose of the light is to shine. As it takes up residence within us our work in this Advent Season is to shine the light on the Light.

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Weekly Blog

The candle for our celebration of this second Sunday of Advent is the Bethlehem candle. The lectionary gospel readings highlight the prophecy of Isaiah regarding John the Baptist. John Mark was most likely a teenager in the Baptist’s day, and he recalls his experience with the Baptist from his youthful perspective. The prophet impacted Mark in a way that prepared him to respond to Jesus.

The Baptist’s message prepared a dry spiritual climate with the vibrancy of confession and repentance. We probably minimize the connection between confession, repentance and salvation faith, but it seems from God’s perspective since this was His plan from centuries before that as fallen people, we would need a message and action of preparation before we would be ready to receive from Jesus.

I think that an important posture for us as we anticipate the Advent celebration and the second Advent event it is a good time to make space for reflection on the condition of our souls. Are we living in the vitality of Jesus’ way, truth, and life or have we lost the edge of our spiritual openness to the conviction and work of the Holy Spirit. Make this Advent Season one for a greater intimacy with the Prince of Peace.

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Weekly Blog

The candle for our celebration of this first Sunday of Advent is the candle of prophecy. The lectionary gospel readings highlight Jesus’ conversation with the disciples just before the beginning of what turned out to be the Passion week. They we about to lose Him in flesh and blood and yet they could not conceive of such a thing, so I assume much of what He said about His return escaped their comprehension.

How could it be that you are leaving, you just got here as far as they were concerned and yet here is Jesus describing something they would not experience in their lifetime. That would suggest to me that He was talking to them for our sake as much as for their sake. The main thing in all that He says seems to me to pay attention. Learn to live alert! Not only in order to be ready for His return in power, glory, and judgment, but also to simply live well.

Living in light of Christ and living with a sense of accountability for that which is beyond oneself is to live well. Living life for ourselves is dead-end living. Maybe that is why there is so much deadness around us. Someone wrote a book about that with the descriptors of “terminal thinking” and “relational thinking.” Relating the events, experiences, and knowledge for the sake of others breeds vitality and dynamic. Acquiring accomplishments, experiences, or knowledge as an end in itself is terminal or death creating. Make this Advent Season one for the sake of others.

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Weekly Blog

I was struck with the contemporary importance of the Protestant Reformation this week. I had coffee with a Catholic brother, a true brother in Christ. I have no doubt as to the genuineness of his faith in Christ, but I so disagreed with his theology. One of the things that the Reformers did for us was to call us to certain certainties call sola or “alone.” Not everything that is popular is true. There have always been traditions that enter our frame of thought that “fit nicely” but are not true.

The spirit of the Reformation was one of pushing away from certain traditions and embracing true truth claims. Traditions form around taking our earthly definitions of God instead of God’s biblical definitions of Himself that can be observed in the scriptures in how He reveals Himself. Inevitably in time man’s ideas of reality trump truth, especially when man’s sentiments digress from God’s way.

It was a good experience for me as I had to consider how I responded in the midst of the conversation. I am clearer about the theology than I am about myself. The conversation was greatly fruitful for me in that it caused me to face myself and what the issues are that God would have me face. I saw in myself one of the “sins of the fathers” that I was somewhat aware of but ignorant of its impact in how I relate to others. The net is, it was a very healthy conversation for me.

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In the rhythm of the church that some are aware of and others not so much, but I think it is a worthwhile celebration. It is usually referred to a “All Saints Day.” I think it is worthwhile to remember those who have gone before us that God used to lead us to faith in Christ. God used some to explain the gospel of Christ to us and others he used to show us the way through their lives.

Many times, in modern history there have been multitudes of efforts to draw attention to the salvation message. In my lifetime whether it was a Billy Graham Crusade or other evangelist or the “I Found It” strategy or simply sharing the Four Spiritual Laws with fellow college students. We are a very media savvy population, but in my life, it was the influence of those who were living out the character of Jesus in one way or another that had the most impact on me.

When I think of saints, I think of those that grasped the way of love and sacrifice to provide a path with clarity in pursing the Jesus way, truth, and life. Since childhood I have had the grace of spiritual writers who speak to the deeper issues in discipleship. These writers who have passed on to glory continue to speak to me of what the way of the greater glory of God is. I have discovered true saints from different theological stripes who grasped God’s love and His ways from biblical days throughout the following history.

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Weekly Blog

Today we celebrate an event in history that makes a great difference in the lives of those who follow Jesus. Reformation Sunday is a commemoration of a time of choosing the Word over tradition, truth over supposition, faith over works, grace over penance, Christ over the Church. The practical point is that to be a disciple of Jesus is to focus in on the “freedom of the Christian.”

As followers of Jesus, we have a heritage of courage, not just courage in the past but the way of courage in the present. Standing on the truth of Christ and standing up for the truth is part of our DNA. As is often the case we tend to depend on the work that those in the past did for our sakes while the challenge is to do the work to refresh and sustain the truth in the present.

Truth separates fact from fiction, but the learning to live Jesus’ truth is an expression of compassion, not judgment. Judgment is God’s bailiwick not ours. But we can and are called to hold to the truth. In both the heavenlies and on earth truth is always under attack. As disciples of Jesus we are called to step up and fill the gaps all around us with truth.

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I’m thinking about the “wisdom of stability” these days. Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove wrote a book by that name to describe the work that God had given he and his wife to do in Walltown area of Durham, North Carolina. A group of believers made a commitment to live in a run-down area of Durham and bring the way of Jesus through their personal and communal lives. It required staying put and living out the gospel of Christ.

In our faith community we have been studying the attributes of God over the last several months as we seek to learn to know who God is and how He is different necessarily than ourselves. Our final theme focuses on the immutability of God, a God who does not change. What occurs to me is that God knows that the immutability of God is important for us. Everything in temporal life is on the move usually in dissipation.

The stability of God is life, eternal life. His staying the same is anything but boring. The stability of God as He enters our lives is the source of a dynamic life. His immutability when we embrace Him allows us to be the creatures that He created us to become. Steadiness of life is the environment for profound change. I am thankful that the unchanging God of ours is continually present and accessible.

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Weekly Blog

One of the great dilemmas in living as humans is our natural bent toward fulfilling our own will while we live in a universe governed by God’s will. It some ways we are simply kidding ourselves when we think we have power over the will and ways of God. I suppose that the very nature of sin is to think we are who we are not and to think that we have power over all circumstances of life. I think about that when I hear someone say, “I’m never going to let that happen again” as though they have the power over every uncomfortable circumstance.

The fact is we live under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty. Only God is totally free, and our freedom is rooted in Jesus. Our self-protective instincts can control our actions. It is only when we receive our freedom from Him and in Him that we have any semblance of true freedom and yet it is freedom to find ourselves safe under the will of the One who loves us most.

God’s sovereignty becomes our friend when we make space to reflect on the many showings in our lives where God showed up with goodness, beauty, and truth. Seeing God go before us is a way for us to embrace His sovereignty. I’m so glad that God is sovereign that He has always known what was good and He has always had the power to work within His will of “prosperity” of spiritual goodness for me. Learn to pay attention to His ways with each of us is the path to so much joy.

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Weekly Blog

It is God’s job alone to maintain the wholeness which is the healthiness of the universe. That is why He gets angry over sin. Sin disrupts and destroys our wholeness and the universe’s wholeness because we are part of the universe. That is why we need to tune into holiness. Holiness maintains our wholeness as well as the universe’s wholeness. Holiness is our friend because it is for our good. Unholiness robs us of our well-being.

God is always interested in our good. It would seem that we aren’t always. Why would I choose that which is to my detriment? Maybe the fact is I have been tricked by the evil one and frankly, I trick myself. That is the hard thing to keep in mind. Often, I don’t know what is best for me and I am willing to settle for less than God is willing to do.

My point is holiness is our friend. If we don’t hold out for it in our world, who will? There is a beauty in holiness, and we need to learn to see it that way. It is up to us as followers of Jesus to hold fast to holiness. That is our first assignment. Gordon T. Smith makes a great case for the fact that our main work is vocational holiness in his book, Called to Be Saints.

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Weekly Blog

We have officially entered the autumn season and with it a different rhythm. Along with the weather in this season it is like a reprieve before winter. It is a perfect season to notice, attend to, and wonder. I think we are okay with noticing, not as good at making the space necessary to attend to, but utter failures at wondering. Wondering requires stopping and allowing ourselves to enter into awe.

Awe speaks to our souls and our souls provide the sacredness of our lives. If we make empty space to notice that leads to wonder, we need the space to use our imagination as well as our thinking. Our imagination brings color to our lives. It helps us see beyond the surface of reality and engage the depths of life. Wondering leads us beyond our self-referenced thinking in order to see God behind all that is.

Autmn is also the season for preparation. Though it never last as long as I would like, it does provide enough time to take on the richness, the spiritual calories if you will that will be needed for the natural transitions and challenges that no doubt are ahead for us. Preparation takes time and it is a process of good labor that enriches the soul. I think the challenge of autumn is to make empty space that is not distracted so that we can receive what God has to give us.

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Weekly Blog

This week I am giving thought to the compassion and mercy of God. What is difficult for us is that according to the scriptures (Ex. 33:19) God chooses who He has mercy for and who He is compassionate toward. What God does is governed by His own will and His actions are not according to a principle. I think we want life to be governed by impersonal principles so that we can be assured of what will happen. But in fact, that is on us, not on God.

On one hand we are quick to confirm that God is Person and relates to us personally, yet we are not ready for what that means. Our first error in our thinking is that we know what God’s attributes mean and how they will be expressed in our “earthly” life. It behooves us to study the scriptures to see how God’s ways have been with His created ones and how it varies in accordance with His purposes.

What is consistent is that in compassion and mercy God came to earth to provide a way for our salvation. That is available to all who believe. We can choose to place our lives in His hands for His purposes (Isa. 43:7) and that is a compassionate path. In His compassion He offers to shape and form us in the way of Jesus. Compassion and mercy is all around us, but always on His terms.

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Weekly Blog

This week I am giving thought to the justice of God. Our most common distorted attachment is that we have a tendency to think about justice from the center of ourselves out. Such as if it seems just to me then it is just. If it doesn’t seem just to me then it isn’t just. I suspect that most of our practical theology is not with God and His Word and actions, but with our “take” on things that fit our way of thinking. Thus, when it comes to our understanding of life we live with a distorted perspective.

When we look carefully at how God looked at things through His story with us, we see that the notions of righteousness and justice stands apart from our normal human self-referenced perspective. It would seem that with absence of God as the center of reality we are particularly at a loss to come to grips with the fact that reality defies our sensibilities.

We can glibly declare that we need to let God be God, but are we ready for that? To let God be who He is requires that we live in submission to Him, how He thinks and how He acts. The scriptures are replete with story after story of what God says and what God does. Can we learn to let Him define the meaning of the words that we are given. If we choose live what He says and if we accept what He does our lives become more of what we were created for.

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Weekly Blog

If we learn God’s way and if we walk in the light as He is in the light we will stand apart as odd, irrelevant, and out of touch. Things have come to that in our world! Living tossed to and fro by the ever-changing mood of our day has come to be known as an in-step, progressive mindset. No wonder there is such a stressful spirit that describes ordinary life in our contemporary world. To stand apart has never been acceptable. It wasn’t in Jesus’ day, and it isn’t in our day.

The Chosen has informed us that Jesus was mostly known as a “rogue preacher” to the establishment. To walk in the light as He is in the light continues to identify us as radical or revolutionary. Our greatest challenge is to stay the course to the end and not bend to the forces that surround the followers of Jesus to “not be ridiculous” and “find a middle ground” in which to carry our “religion.” Among the many influences that his solitary life revealed, Jesus’ “centeredness” was and is the most powerful.

I think our challenge is to learn the cadence that Jesus set for us and walk in it. It becomes a personal choice and in the vocabulary of Ignatius of Loyola, it is a matter of our election, our choosing a deeper way and fuller path. Doesn’t it seem that our days are more like Jesus’ day than the day into which we were born. These are the days of Elijah. The days of meaningful separation, separating our hearts to Christ. We can lament the direction of our days or we can embrace the unique call of Christ in which we are daily called to “carry our crosses” and thus live for His glory alone.

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I confess I grew up believing propositional truth and doubting human personal experience. My misunderstanding came from believing that in my fallenness everything about my humanity was distorted except for my brain and if I were to think rationally, logically, and in a linear way that we be the only path to reality. What I didn’t recognize was some of the very truths that I believed. For instance, as Moses wrote in the Genesis, that we were created in God’s image with all the human capacity that we would need to obey the will of God and to experience Him as Adam and Eve did.

I’ve come to see in the writers of the Text of God’s story with us, they wrote out of their experiences with God that we have come to see as truth. From Genesis to Revelation God has been speaking and working and listening to those who tell us the Story. I think one of the reasons that the film, The Chosen, has connected for so many people is that the text that we are so familiar with has “come to life” through the imagination of the writers of the screen play.

The disciples have come to life with real character depth. We can see ourselves in them and their personal stories speak to us just as Jesus’ words and way speaks to us. We are able to see that the message is in the experience. Words on the page are certainly true, but they are more than words on the page. They are realities to be experienced. Each character models a common human experience in coming to follow Jesus and that is the point – coming to follow Jesus. We each have obstacles to overcome for the sake of our genuine discipleship with Jesus. Their story spurs me on!

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Weekly Blog

I’ve been giving thought to discernment as a way of life. For a follower of Jesus there is both knowledge to be gained and wisdom to be acquired and a present sense of openness to be experienced. The reading I have been doing goes to great lengths to make discernment a practice broken down into numerous rules of discernment. But as helpful as they might be it seems that specific awareness and attentiveness spiritually provides the necessary spiritual intuition.

There are three categories of knowledge that fill our spiritual base: what is God’s way for us in the Jesus, “way, truth, and life.” What is the evil one’s way for us, “to steal, kill, and destroy.” And what is the way of the flesh, “lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life.” All three of these influences are part of the discernment journey. If our core question is, what is God’s will for me in this or that situation that needs to be our beginning question.

As the Apostle warned us, “we war not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in heavenly places.” The evil one’s main goal is to disrupt our journey of walking with God. He is the great disrupter. He uses pride and deception to distort the journey always wanting to “steal, kill, and destroy.” Spiritual discernment is meant to be part of our daily story of life, living with God in the atmosphere of the fruits of the Spirit.

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Weekly Blog

Ignatius of Loyola has had a significant influence both in his lifetime and since his death. His experience of conversion has provided humankind with fruitful path to be wholly converted to Jesus. The journey begins with a vivid engagement with the love of God for each of us personally and intimately. The journey includes walking with Jesus through each phase of our conversion story.

The preparation for the journey leads us to encounter the gracious created reason for our existence on earth, created for the glory of God. If we can learn to hold that truth in the reality of our souls and not let go, it becomes a beacon that continually draws us into it and sheds light on the way before us day by day.

The pursuit of God is our life-long cadence. As we engage the way of Jesus we are faced with the continual process of praise, reverence, and service. It is meant to lead us to a life of greater and greater intimacy with Him. As we draw close to Him, His radiance transforms our souls so that we might follow the Teacher even above the teachings. In this God separates us into a relationship with Him above any religion.

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I’ve been giving thought to the fact that we have been created for God’s glory (Isa. 43:7). It is the purpose of our existence. I’ve thought about what that means for me and to me. I don’t think we are all that used to the word glory, so I’ve been seeking out what Mirriam-Webster have to say about it. Surely, they could be of some help – and they were. The word that resonates most for me in my study is the word, radiance. Thus, we have been created for His radiance. I find that stunning!

In my study of the nature of God that is given to us through the Holy Spirit is palatable. If I read it right, I’m to radiate every day all day, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Yes, I have to contend with my fallen but deeply loved by God nature, but the question is, do I envision life as a created one who exists for the radiance of God?

I think the saddest thing that can exist is a Christian who does not know that he was created on purpose for a purpose that brings glory to God in the radiance of his life. Maybe our struggle is that we have become attached to lessor things so that we never rise to our calling in Christ. Our created purpose from God is meant to set us free to pursue the greatness that God has always had in mind for us.

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Weekly Blog

Journeying through the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises can be a life transforming experience. The focus is on experiencing God as a way of life and entering into the freedom that that brings. I’m reminded of Paul’s statement in his letter to the Galatian Church, “It was for freedom that Christ set you free.” The Ignatian term for that freedom is indifference. Not our usual definition of the term, but the focus is on Christ so that the other influences in life take a backseat to Jesus. It is meant to give us freedom to live in His atmosphere.

When we learn to breathe Jesus there is an amazing freedom and centeredness that the chaos that often encircles us in circumstances cannot take away from our hearts and minds and souls. I think that gives us the opportunity to live in accordance with our true selves, not the false self of lust and pride.

It doesn’t matter the Christian tradition or era, there have always been saints of Christ who have undertaken the path that has led to a meaningful encounter with Jesus from Paul’s statement to the Galatians, “I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…” to Teresa of Avila to Thomas a Kempis to Julian of Norwich to Ignatius of Loyola to A.W. Tozer to C.S. Lewis to Dallas Willard.

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I read something a week or so ago that has provoked me, and I have given a fair amount of thought to it since. In one of the groups, I am in we are working our way through the book, Following the Call. My friend, Chuck Moore who is a part of the Bruderhof has assembled a weekly reflection on the Sermon on the Mount. One of the questions in the first chapter has stayed with me, “How is following a teaching different than following a teacher?” I’ve been provoked that the first disciples were simply following the Teacher.

The dynamic of that pulls at my heart. I’m all for following what Jesus taught, but I am even more excited about following the Teacher. The question is not what would Jesus do, but rather what did Jesus do? It is of a completely different mood to consider the existential dynamic of walking with Jesus throughout the day, day in day out. I cannot get away from the draw of the present personal dynamism that the disciples experienced.

I don’t think it is all that unusual for us to give ourselves to want to follow a script. However, it is a whole new thing to follow the Person of Jesus. We have to get used to not knowing where we are going, what we are going to be doing, and how long we are going to be there. It seems like the Lord’s Prayer makes a lot of sense if we are intent on following the Teacher. There is a dailiness about it and there is an immense practicality to life with the Teacher.

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Weekly Blog

An important aspect of life is the dimension of growth resident in our minds and hearts. Over time we are meant to be engaged in the transformation of letting go and embracing. I think that is what is required to continually experience vitality. There have always been things that we have thought and valued that we know now are not what we thought they were. Growth is about choosing what we come to understand to be more important.

Experience has to be experienced and we cannot know what we have not experienced. We can make a commitment early in life to be shaped by that which has stood the test of time – the Word of God, but we rarely can perceive its importance when we are young. So much of what we think is gathered from the surrounding world and its influences. It is hard to anticipate that which sets life apart in its fullness when we have so little experience.

Frankly, the richness of life is meant to grow and in order to grow, fresh water must enter into our minds and hearts. It is not unlike the two bodies of water between the Jordan River. The Sea of Galilee, fresh water in and fresh water out. The Dead Sea, fresh water in, no water out. One is the metaphor of life, the other the metaphor of death.

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Weekly Blog

I may have written about this before, but actually I don’t remember. It is so important that if I did it is worth repeating. Dallas Willard wrote a book titled, Life Without Lack. It is about living out Psalm 23. In dealing with faith as a central aspect in our spiritual lives, he uses Job’s experience as an example of the progression in our faith development. In a very helpful way, he identifies the most common experience that we have with faith when it names it, the faith of propriety. It is the common notion that if we are being blessed, we are where we should be.

On the other hand, if things are going wrong, then there is something we need to correct in our faith. However, life in the ways of God is meant to deepen our trust in Him. We don’t come by trust easily as it requires that we put our full weight on Him and that is an uncomfortable dependence for us. Putting our full weight on Him requires that we let go of being able to control everything in our lives. Letting go feels very risky, yet that is often what He asks of us. The second stage of our faith development he calls, the faith of desperation.

It is when we are desperate and are genuinely not in control that we are finally open to faith on His terms. Faith on His terms is the faith of sufficiency. When God is enough and we have no other protection, it is then that trust in Him means something. I don’t know if we have to go through the challenges that Job did in order to come to the faith of sufficiency, but if we are willing to challenge our simplistic definitions and live with the risk of sufficiency, I do think it can change the arc of our life in Christ.

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Weekly Blog

I’ve been giving some thought to the importance of experience. For some of us in the Christian paradigm we have been taught that truth is limited to propositional statements and the theological defense of those statements. But I think God has shown Himself in the scriptural account that though he does not need anything, he wants to be known in our experiences. It is difficult to have relationship without experience of the “other.” It seems to me that what we believe about God is meant to be experienced with Him. It is hard to imagine a relationship without experience.

We only know in the deepest most genuine way through our experience. What we believe about God it is only of help to us when we experience it. In other words, to know Him is to experience Him. I can love the Lord thy God with my head, only with my heart. What is it then to engage my heart if not with the experience of life.

Experience is historical, it happened in time, it is emotional, or it engages my feelings, it is meaningful or memorable. When we encounter God in creation, in conversations, and in circumstances those are all experiences. Thinking and feeling are both essential in the process of experience. All the great spiritual writers from former times wrote from what they had experienced with God, and I think that is why we still are impacted by what they have shared with us. It might behoove us to take some time this week and collect some of the experiences that we have had in creation, conversation (including meet Him in the scriptures), and circumstances. He reveals Himself all the time to us if we can see His hand and recognize His voice.

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Today is Pentecost Sunday, a watershed day in the life of the Church. The water of life flows in a completely different direction from before the coming of the Spirit to live in us to now, the season of the Spirit. Life was measured by obedience to the Law of Moses and now it is measured by growth and consistency in walking in cadence of the Holy Spirit. Historically, so much of the churches focus has been on the event of Pentecost, yet Jesus focused on the on-going role of the Spirit for the sake of the kingdom of God.

The teaching, revealing, empowering work of the Spirit makes all the difference in our lives. The empowerment of the Spirit in essence is for the person we are to become. Jesus’ concern for the disciples was always about the kind of persons they were to become because as a different way was being shaped in them a different expression of life would come to characterize their lives. The immersion in the Spirit is what engendered a radical way of life.

In light of our forefathers in the way, truth, and life of Jesus are we in any way a replica of that radical life? Pentecost was a radical day! A day that would be a day for the message of the kingdom of God. Is that true of our lives? Is the way that we are both an insight into the work of the Spirit as well as a replica of what the Spirit came for? Or do we view this day as a day in the past that carries little weight in the present? That would be a tragedy of tragedies! Or as Paul was inclined to say, “miserable of miseries.”

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One of the central themes in our life in relationship with God is faith. I’ve been reading about Job’s faith in Dallas Willard’s text, Life Without Lack. As I have been reading, George Mueller of Bristol has come to mind. He is my hero in living out the Lord’s Prayer. I have been especially impacted with how he remained faithful to “… give us this day our daily bread.” And yet when his daughter took seriously ill his comment was that it was to test his faith in God at a deeper level.

So, the story of Job was like that. It was to test his faith in God at a deeper level. Like most he had had a faith that was simple and linear. If you are religiously good, God would bless you. He knew a lot of that blessing in his life. If things went “south”, then there was a problem in what you were doing. Linear thinking is like that. It is unprepared for the mystery of heaven’s conversations and intentions.

When we make the mistake of thinking that all of reality is visible and understandable, we have a problem in our thinking. Our thinking is always at issue. Job didn’t know what he didn’t know. He didn’t know about the conversation taking place in the heavenlies. Maybe he would have come to the end of himself sooner if he did, but it isn’t God’s way to always inform us of what is going on. The point was for Job to come to the place that Dallas calls the “faith of sufficiency.” The destination of faith is trust when we place our full weight on God. That is the point of the Job’s life story.

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I’m being confronted with terminology that I am somewhat unfamiliar with. As I have been writing a paper for a class I am taking, maybe it would be more accurate to say, “it is taking me.” Anyway, the terminology that I have been less familiar with as it references our attitude toward God’s work within us is the notion of generosity. I know what the biblical value of generosity is, it includes a sense of sacrifice. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian Church, he appealed to them to sow generously and that included varying degrees of sacrifice.

Ultimately the question put before me is, am I generous toward God? The context is about much more than money. The question I have been dealing with is, “am I generous with my life in both pursuit of and receptivity toward God?” In my more familiar verbiage, “do I want all that He has for me, and do I hold back anything?” Do I put any limits on my relationship with Him trying to maintain control? Are there any limits I put on my efforts in pursuit of Him?

In 2 Corinthians 8 Paul describes the generosity of the Macedonian churches essentially saying that they put no limits on their generosity. They found great joy in their generosity. Generosity was not limited by what they had, but what they were willing to give. When I think about what God has been willing to be give to me, why would there be any limits on my generosity toward Him? It is a very convicting consideration.

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It is my perspective that if we are to develop a relationship with God, we need to learn to know Him in our experience with Him, just as we would if we have any other relationship. I confess that that the relationship I grew up with was simply to know the truths about God so that a relationship with God was primarily a cognitive encounter. Yet, so much of the scriptures are written by or about characters that knew Him in their experience. So much of the Psalms are written to reveal the dynamic in David’s experienced relationship with Yahweh.

I wonder if that is the obstacle in our faith. Do we have so little impact on our day to day living because the truth of God has not been our experience? Are we any different than our neighbors? We face the same kind of human (earthly) circumstances, but do we respond to them differently. It seems that if we are indeed the light of Christ on earth and that is part of our purpose, what evidence is there that we are indeed the light.

I think the progression of our growth in Him requires that we learn to face ourselves in truth. Are we being transformed in any genuine way. Do I respond to the challenges that face me any differently than my neighbor. The challenge is whether the substance of who I am on the inside is any different because I say that I have a relationship with Christ. After all the scripture tells me that I am “predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ” in this life. We need to ask those around us, “do you see the light of Christ in me,” how do you see that.

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My afterglow following Easter has been to consider, “How Then Shall We Live.” There is a great pull to simply fall back into line with “what needs to get done” but what if we were to resist that and consider what Paul called, “heaven’s realities” in Colossians 3? I admit, I have been watching the seasons and episodes of The Chosen and I’ve been struck with the fact that Jesus work was in the midst of the hustle and bustle of His day, but he did His kingdom work anyway. It wasn’t always easy for his followers to keep their focus.

I think that is one of the realities of kingdom of God living. We have to accept the hustle and bustle of ordinary life, but it is critical that we are not shaped by it. In fact, it is essential that we find out how God would have us live apart from it. It doesn’t have to distract us if we know how to immerse ourselves in what matters most. I used to use the illustration of the submarine. How a submarine operates depends on what it is filled with. Whatever it is filled with determines what it does. So it is with us.

If the Person and the Presence of God is what fills me, then I am able to live in a “centered” way. The weight of Presence is capable of steering the course of my living. Do you carry that kind of Weight, do I carry that Weight? Not talking about physical pounds, but are you a Weighty person? Am I a Weighty person. Substance is meant to outweigh form just as character is meant to outweigh talent. Everything about Jesus was substance and character.

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The process leading up to significant biblical events like Christmas and Easter can easily capture our attention with both Advent and Lent, but what about afterward? I wonder if these crescendos dissipate too easily. What is profitable to celebrate and then move on without a meaningful afterglow? In the lectionary there is at least the intent to stay with the message for a number of weeks. What if we were to hold the significance of Jesus’ story with us intentionally for some time?

Just think about the past week. What if we were to hold our visual image of Jesus astride a donkey’s foal for a while. Let the lesson of that vignette reside in our minds and hearts. What if we were to hold the Upper Room with a last Passover meal, the first celebration of holy communion, and foot washing kept in our frontals. What if the movement of the Passion stayed with us? How might it shape our minds and hearts. And then Easter.

Use your imagination, had you been at the tomb what might you have felt? What difference would it make if your whole way of thinking were changed? Is it possible for us to carry a truth that was first experienced long ago in a continuing, even fresh way? I suspect that we suffer from forgetting what we know. I’m reminded at how Solomon treated wisdom, he often kept saying to keep the truth “on your frontals.” Don’t let transforming truths escape your everyday living.

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I’ve been giving thought to foundations upon which we build our lives. As we make space to listen to the pain and thinking that guides our day, it seems like the foundations have to be recalibrated. I’m wondering if each new generation needs to revisit the foundations that set the disciples of Jesus apart from those who are simply Jesus admirers. What does it mean for us to “love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your mind?”

I’ve been rereading the work of A. W. Tozer, solid disciple of Jesus in the middle of the 20^th century, The Knowledge of the Holy. What stands out is that we are almost completely ignorant of who God is and how God works in our day. The renewal that is needed in the church it seems is to restore the truth of God as our foundation. Rather than our shaping God in our own image, it behooves us to let God shape us in His image.

For all the desire in recent days to make the gospel of Christ relevant in our cultural milieu, it seems that our calling instead is to call the common culture to the gospel of Christ. I am struck with Jesus words in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, “Enter though the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” In these days of an ever increasing volume it seems that Jesus calmly calls us to just live the gospel and our Father will rejoice.

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I have given some thought this week to forgiveness. As we pray the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray, forgiveness of trespasses, debts, or sins (depending on the translation and the location of the Lord’s Prayer) seems to be central to kingdom of God living. Knowing that our culture no longer recognizes personal sin as a reality, though evil is attended to as long as it is seen as “out there” away from “in here” we are left with tolerance. Tolerance requires nothing from us.

In the words of N.T. Wright, “forgiveness is richer and higher and harder and more shocking than we usually think!” When it comes to personal experience forgiveness requires more from us. We are required to see ourselves in truth understanding our own sin and then not hold the “other” more accountable than we hold ourselves. It is true that wrong is wrong, but sometimes our expectations of others is misplaced. Sometimes we expect of others what God alone can do.

In our common culture forgiveness itself is other offensive and to forgive becomes a point of contention, but is the way the kingdom of God will always be in earth’s fallenness. When Jesus warned his disciples that they will be hated because he was hated we often forget that. For some reason we have never owned that as part of our spiritual heritage. Consequently, we have often failed to live out our identity in Christ. If we could remember what Jesus said and just lived that out, we could come to understand better that we are “strangers and aliens in a foreign land.”

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I have given some thought this week to forgiveness. As we pray the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray, forgiveness of trespasses, debts, or sins (depending on the translation and the location of the Lord’s Prayer) seems to be central to kingdom of God living. Knowing that our culture no longer recognizes personal sin as a reality, though evil is attended to as long as it is seen as “out there” away from “in here” we are left with tolerance. Tolerance requires nothing from us.

In the words of N.T. Wright, “forgiveness is richer and higher and harder and more shocking than we usually think!” When it comes to personal experience forgiveness requires more from us. We are required to see ourselves in truth understanding our own sin and then not hold the “other” more accountable than we hold ourselves. It is true that wrong is wrong, but sometimes our expectations of others is misplaced. Sometimes we expect of others what God alone can do.

In our common culture forgiveness itself is other offensive and to forgive becomes a point of contention, but is the way the kingdom of God will always be in earth’s fallenness. When Jesus warned his disciples that they will be hated because he was hated we often forget that. For some reason we have never owned that as part of our spiritual heritage. Consequently, we have often failed to live out our identity in Christ. If we could remember what Jesus said and just lived that out, we could come to understand better that we are “strangers and aliens in a foreign land.”

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I’ve been reflecting on Annotation #6 in the Ignatian Exercises this week and I think it is relevant for all aspects of spiritual growth. When evaluating the readiness of someone who has indicated a desire to be led through the Ignatian Exercises the standard is; are they open, generous, and courageous. The synonym that is common within the Navigator Ministry is faithful, available, and teachable. I have often found that people don’t change unless they are hungry. These would all be good indications that someone is hungry.

Unless in crisis of some kind most don’t live in the realm of openness, generosity, and courage. The problem with crises is that they can be resolved more quickly than what is needed for actual growth. I wonder also about age. Do most young people have the hunger of openness, generosity, and courage necessary to face their lives in truth and want more from God and more with God? Too much of one’s identity is tied up with possessions, position, and opinion.

Richard Rohr has written to the effect that real growth is a second half of life thing. It is true that with reflection, realization (experience), and restoration (appetite) change and growth has a chance. Change itself is not the answer as there are many who make changes that are morally deficient, but with the Way, Truth, and Life of Jesus as the standard, but enriching genuine growth can take place. When the God of the Bible is our point of reference, there is hope that is good hope.

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Even during the intentional season of Lent the ordinary battle presents itself to us – distracting noise. No wonder one of the first disciplines in the disciples’ life was the practice of solitude and silence. It is hard to imagine that in the first century A.D. believers had to deal with it, but when the Desert Fathers and Mothers of second and third centuries headed to the desert to escape the church, they were escaping the worldliness and noise that kept them from hearing the Word of God.

What must the Lord bring about to get my full attention? Maybe we need to learn to “read” our circumstances as tools to get our full attention. I remind us that God is not a competitor and usually speaks in a still, small voice. Is there empty space in my life in which I can hear Him? In the practices of Lent, namely, prayer, repentance, and giving am I making space for Him?

We need to remember in the midst of the noise, God is personal and He wants our relationship with Him to be personal. In any healthy growing relationship communication, personal communication is what makes the relationship personal. If He is not personally communicating with us our relationship is hardly personal. If I am not actively communicating with Him, then our relationship is not personal. The life we have been given in Jesus is personal in every way.

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Here we are at the beginning of the season in the life of the Church called, Lent. It is a season of preparation, preparation for the sincerest of celebrations, the celebration of Resurrection Sunday. To get to the joyous celebration of the resurrection of our Redeemer and Restorer, it behooves us to walk carefully and soberly through the days of sorrow and sadness that sin requires of us.

It is so ugly that sin ruined the beauty that God created in the First Garden that made Gethsemane necessary, but that is the nature of sin – to create suffering. If we join Jesus in the journey, we know that there is an ominous nature to life that requires that we not flippantly race to Easter unscathed. For the Resurrection to maintain its substance we have to come to grips with reality.

That which is real is that in light of living in the Light of Christ we have before us an excessive self-referenced orientation that minimizes the forsakenness that Jesus built up to endure for our sakes. This is a season meant to bring us to the end of ourselves and to bring us to a heart-felt love for the One who loves us most. These days are days of stunning love!

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The Bible is replete with episodes of God’s people communicating with God directly and honestly. I wonder if we tend to miss that and not understand that this is what it looks like to be honest or people of the heart. The truth is God is omniscient and He knows things as they are. If we find ourselves reluctant to “tell it like it is” because we want to see ourselves a particular way, it is an example of self-deception. As my good friend, Luther, is frequent to say, “It no use kidding ourselves.”

God makes a distinction between honesty and dishonesty. “With their mouths they praise me, but their hearts are far from me.” As followers of Jesus are we not called to be the people of the heart? Without our hearts engaged we are simply people of façade. Maybe it is a matter of self-protection or worse that we think that we can have a relationship with God with only part of us.

I suspect that many of us were taught that discipleship was essentially a matter of learning biblical theology and practicing evangelism. On the other hand consider the disciples experience with Jesus which was a holistic encounter 24/7. No wonder that Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Does this not include our whole life, whole experience, relationship with Jesus? It behooves us then to live honestly with Him because He is always honest with us.

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Numerous stories in the scriptures reveal the nature of godly characteristics. I think that is intentional on God’s part so that reality is beyond concept. I’ve noticed that the Old Testament is rich with stories that reveal the characteristics of godliness. If we are serious about becoming people after God’s own heart, we need the examples of character lived out. We can learn in the classroom, but we only come to know as godliness is lived out in the laboratory of life.

I’ve been dealing with commitment at the beginning of Ruth’s story this week. It is a normal process for any characteristic to be tested and tempered. The circumstances of life are both the arena for expression as well as the testing environment. Circumstances reveal what is real and what is false. It is always easy to perceive ourselves inaccurately. Self-perception is almost always distorted.

It is the grace of God that we are not faced with everything about ourselves all at once. Living life, a day at a time is sufficient to be faced with the truth about ourselves an eye dropper drop at a time. Life lived well is lived with a growing knowledge of the ways of the kingdom of God. Not knowledge about, but knowledge of.

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Perseverance, what does that godly characteristic look like in your life? From time to time that is part of God’s agenda with us. I suspect it is what is often the purpose behind suffering in our lives. I don’t think we learn perseverance apart from it. Obviously, there are many levels of suffering from mild struggles as in frustration with ourselves to actual physical and emotional suffering. Sometimes we bring suffering onto ourselves through our expectations that are not met and at other times we experience suffering through the losses in our lives.

According to the scripture writers suffering leads to perseverance and perseverance leads to hope (Jas. 1:1-2). There is so many connections in the development of our character that includes “hard” that leads to “good.” Left to ourselves we would always choose comfort and convenience leaving ourselves shallow and weak. The weakness that the scriptures offer us is always humility and actually meekness or strength under control.

As life becomes foreign to the apprentice of Jesus, we have the challenge of holding firm which will require perseverance. If we hold out for the ways of the kingdom of God, we will always experience “push back” from our dark world. Simply stated, perseverance is necessary if we are to remain faithful which is to remain loyal to our God.

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What does a new year offer us? Some would say, “nothing new!” But, in the spirit of the Advent Season that we have just completed there is so much more in the shadow of the Almighty. If we keep the Savior in view, we are offered genuine hope, peace, joy, and love. If we keep our eyes fixed on Him, we will have so much that our neighbor is not possessing. We have the substance of an amazing ambassadorship. We are meant to carry the way of the invisible within us.

In a new year, we carry an invisible reality within our hearts, minds, and souls. When Jesus entered our lives, we were remade to be different and then sent back into the darkness of a sin immersed world to be its light. So, a new year offers us a new opportunity to shine with the light of Christ. We should be able to be identified by the light of Christ shining through us.

This is the feedback that we need to offer each other as a source of accountability. We need to feedback observations from time to time to keep our light in focus. Plus, we need to encourage one another as a means to build up one another. That is part of our regular work within the community. The challenge is always before us and in light of a new year, a fresh commitment to build up one another is on the agenda.

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The ultimate night in the Holy Season has arrived – Christmas! Is it a celebration of good news for you? For many it is an event to get passed instead of a moment of new beginnings. I’ve given much thought that in the divine announcement the angel said, “a Savior has been born unto you.” What is it for the Savior to be born unto each of us? I think the point is he is there and where am I to him. Like most things in the first Advent, it is here and where are you in relationship to what God has given?

This is an invitational season. The invitation is an invitation to hope once again. It invites us to embrace peace once again, embracing the wholeness of life that the Savior came to offer. We are invited to rejoice in the gift of a Savior. The love that we are drawn into is a first-time love. For the first time agape love was revealed on earth. This was to be a new kind of love, an unconditional love for the other.

Frankly, the sentiments of the Christmas holiday celebration fall so far short of what is being offered to us in the Christmas Story. This is one of those times that the original cannot be improved upon. The announcement was a revolutionary moment in history. And if we take the message seriously it remains a revolutionary message for all time, “a Savior has been born unto you.” To everyone who will believe.

There is truth that has been revealed to us in the scriptures and most of it we forget because it hasn’t been shaped and formed in us. I’ve been thinking about God’s ways that Moses learned of as he walked with Yahweh, experiencing fellowship with Him day by day. David draws our attention to that fact when he wrote, “Moses knew the ways of God, Israel knew the deeds of God (Psalm 103:7).” That has led me to reflect on something that the Lord said in Isaiah’s prophecy, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.”

The fact is we get completely “bent out of shape” as we discover the reality of that truth unless we can remember it on a practical basis. Ultimately, the issue is to learn to live in submission to God. To not live that way creates our own stress. When we struggle with wanting to get God to fulfill our wills, we are in an endless drama that God has nothing to do with.

We can throw our hands up in frustration or we can seek to learn to know Him and how He works in our lives over the times of our lives. Moses lived a very practical life with God, and he was conscious of what God’s ways had been with him. God’s character is the same for everyone, but His ways are often very personal. Think about it! What have God’s ways been with you over the last 50 or whatever years?

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God’s ways are predictably unpredictable. His character isn’t, as it stays the same, but what is often a mystery to us is that we often are at a loss because we don’t know His will. Our tendency is to take our will or how we think and project it onto God. It is hard for us to grasp that He alone gets to define the terms under which He is operating.

Our temptation is to think that He should operate under the ways of heaven while we still live on earth. His ways are redemptive and restorative and reconciling, but still in accordance with His will. The key for us is to grow in intimacy with Him. He always allows His created ones to choose His will or their will. There is always more for us to learn in seeking Him.

The ways of the Kingdom of Heaven are our calling. It behooves us as the hands and feet of the Holy One to devote ourselves as the servants of His ways. As we learn His ways as we come to know Him more intimately, we have the opportunity every day to live the ways of the Kingdom of Heaven among humankind. That is how we live out the prayer Jesus gave His disciples.

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The human ego can turn on a dime. If our lives are built on an identity that is temporal, wealth, power, position, and all self-referenced living, all that needs to cause it to come crashing down is a change in our circumstances. No matter how good it feels that it is, when a problem arises that we cannot control the response goes directly to an extreme.

The scriptures are replete with examples of characters that crashed because one or more of the big three fell apart: wealth, power, prestige. That is why Jesus’ teaching was so difficult for so many to comprehend. When he tells us that we can gain the whole world and lose our soul, maybe the confusion was that his audiences didn’t really understand or recognize their souls.

It sounds simple, but if we are rooted and grounded in Christ, the ego is set aside to its proper role and not the fallen notion that it normally takes. Our rooted and grounded experience is the impotence to focus our well-being on that which does not change and is not destroyed by circumstances.

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Every episode of life is full of opportunity. The opportunity is to reveal the ways of the kingdom of God as it resides within our hearts and minds. As an example, there is a great difference between someone who can behave in a loving way from time to time and someone who is a loving person. The one is a situational choice and the other is the natural way of living.

The work of God is the transformation of the person so that in whatever circumstance there is the consistency of one’s way of being. It seems as though our modern approach to discipleship has been satisfied with expressions of behavior. Historically from the beginning of the Christ-life the emphasis has be on the transformation of the heart of persons.

Paul describes it in Colossians 3 this way, “Since you have been raised to new life in Christ, think about the realities of heaven where Christ is seated in the place of honor at the right hand of God.” The point is that we have been raised to a new life, a new way of being in Christ. From day one it has been about being transformed into a new way of being. May we not settle for anything less.

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God gives us stories and incidences to teach us about His ways with us – the people of God. These stories are gifts for us, and He wants us to open the gifts and enjoy the contents of those gifts. We are unwise if we do not learn from these gifts what God is like, because learning what He is like adds to the reality of our experience with Him.

We add these stories to teach us the dynamics of our theological structure. The encounters in history provide the skeleton that the muscles, organs, and skin of our faith and knowledge of God are supported by. That is part of how our faith becomes a “living faith.”

We add the revelation of God in the Scriptures as the backbone of what we come to know of His relationship with us by faith. In the times that we lack faith, these biblical stories of God with us can lift us up from doubt to belief. When God has met this character in this way, He can meet me in a similar way. Then faith is built.

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Looking for the fingerprints of God in our life story is time well spent. When we reflect on what God has done when we were not looking for Him can be a great encouragement that He has always been there, and He has always been at work. Where we are today is simply another stop on the journey to where He is taking us.

I’ve been freshly made aware of something that God told us through Paul’s letter to the Roman Church when he said, “You have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ.” Whatever is going on in our lives has a reason, to conform us to the image of Christ. Our conversion story is only the beginning of the journey.

The circumstance of life is simply the setting for God to be at work in us to conform us to the image of Christ. Circumstances are just circumstances. The issue before us is always how do we respond to the circumstance; I think that is the substance of what God is interested in most. He is about the work of shaping and forming our hearts so that we become like Jesus in our hearts. When our hearts are changed, we live differently.

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I am almost embarrassed to say what the Lord has been saying to me this morning. There is a connection with James 4:17, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” I’ve been reflecting on the “theory” of the Lord’s Prayer and realizing that it was given to us as the way to live. I have been thinking about the things that I “trust” in that are usual, but transitory.

I have been rebuked by the Word as though I had thought that I didn’t need to live the way that Jesus instructed, but simply that I “ought” to live that way. How foolish of me that I would treat what Jesus said as “theory” and not reality.

One of the many ways that we(I) have been deceived is to think that Jesus’ teaching is a suggested way of life. Those in history who have taken the Word seriously have much to teach us. In particular this summer, I have been confronted with “The Stories of Great Christians” and George Muller in particular. His commitment to the Lord’s Prayer is deeply convicting.

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We are truly indebted to those who have gone before us in our faith. As they have lived out the gospel of Christ, they have drawn attention to the many shades of Jesus’ way, truth, and life. No one lived every color of the spectrum of the gospel perfectly, but each of the great Christians can enrich our spiritual lives.

Every apprentice of Jesus lived in a particular time and circumstance, and they faced the world, the flesh, and the devil in their own time. As Jesus took root in their lives and they apprehended the Word of God, the path before them reflects the light of Christ.

Since Eden darkness has pervaded the human experience. As someone has said, the saints of God are to be punching holes in the darkness with the light of Christ. Each life story has been given to us as an inspiration and inspiration, faith and faith, hope. Therefore, we need to know our world-changing ancestry and its help in our own journeys of faith.

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We learn through our own experiences, but do you learn through other’s as well. I know we don’t learn with the same dynamic as our own encounters, but isn’t it wisdom to learn from others as well as at least learn the revealed truth through the Scriptures? This week I am learning through John Wesley’s story, and it draws me back to the Scriptures.

He was actually a very wise man, and you can go online and discover at least 35 of his quotes that are gathered there. When we expose ourselves to wisdom whether in the Scriptures or through a servant of Christ, I think it behooves us to read, absorb, and apply truth when it comes to us, especially in the easy way of someone else’s experience.

I had a wise professor say that in his estimate if we read and absorbed and applied one Proverb a day (there are 31 chapters of Proverbs) we would do well to learn wisdom. If one thing is missing in ordinary life it must certainly be wisdom.

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In Surprised by Joy we are gifted with a sacred narrative of one of the 20^th centuries “Greatest Christians.” What is the story of your journey to faith in Jesus Christ? Can you look back and see the hand that was wooing you to a new life? One of the gifts that C. S. Lewis gives us is that however the “moment” occurred, life was meant then to change forever. It seems to me that we often celebrate the moment more than we celebrate the life that follows.

One thing that Lewis does for us is that in his fiction he revisits the past and its impact on us in light of the journey that God has called us to. A journey that shapes our experiences with Jesus as we move into fresh encounters of joy. Joy is the term that C.S. Lewis uses to describe the arrival. And as he is quoted as saying, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” Added to the depth of that observation, Dallas Willard is quoted as saying, “God is the most joyful Person in the universe.”

Why have we so often lost our way in this world of chaos and suffering? God is fully aware of all the chaos and suffering – that isn’t anything new to him. Yet, He is by nature joyful and if we are truly in Him and He is us, why would we let the chaos and suffering rob us of joy. Joy is a matter of seeing things through the eyes of the Divine. Maybe it is time we move onto that!

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“What God gets out of my life is not what I accomplish; it’s the person that I become.” The wisdom of Dallas Willard turns the way of this world on its ear. The difference between a self-referenced life and a Christ-referenced life is a universe apart. I am challenged by Paul’s comments to the young church in Colossae when he said, “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven…. Think about these things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”

As followers of Jesus, we are called to think differently, what is important, what to invest in, and what to live for. Our identities are meant to be rooted differently than our neighbor. Dallas also helped us with the notion of reality. God is real and life in Christ is what is real. When the scriptures tell us that we are “strangers and aliens in a foreign land” it is telling us that we are meant to be transformed in our minds and hearts and called to be “different” than the culture in which we have been born.

Summer is a time of growth. Maybe this is a summer in which you grow more deeply in your experience with God. Our whole salvation has been to lift us up into a realm of real encounter with the God who loves us most. Summer is also a time to rest, so maybe your rest is simply to slow down so that you take in God’s loving presence and make empty space to hear His voice which usually comes as a whisper.

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“The way of God’s kingdom…which is the best way in the world, is accompanied with the most difficulties.” Thus, spoken in the words of John Winthrop, first Governor of the Puritan colony in Salem, MA. I’ve given considerable thought to our founding fathers in this present season of celebration. Winthrop’s arrival to the shores of Massachusetts was some 10 years after the arrival of the Pilgrim sojourners at Plymouth.

In the midst of the variant notions regarding the founding influences that we are immersed in today, it takes a courageous posture to look at the facts once again. In the pre-1620 world of adventure and exploration, the investors from Europe funded the voyages for economic gain, but both the Pilgrims and the Puritans risked their lives and their fortunes for the single purpose of religious freedom.

The intent from both Pilgrims in Holland and England and the Puritans from England was to establish a world built on the “way of God’s kingdom life.” Though both endeavors have since been swallowed up by the greed and flesh of unredeemed man, the original pursuit was entirely valid. It is my conviction that their intention ought yet to be the intention of the church of Jesus Christ wherever it exists. I stand humbled by their grace and hope.

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“Courage is borne in adversity!” I don’t know if you are familiar with the author, Corrie ten Boom, but you should be. As followers of Jesus if ever we needed to own this truth, the moral chaos of this present day should call us to out once again. To say the least this is a culture-wide day of moral adversity, when right is declared wrong and wrong is declared right. I’m especially aware of the confusing message for children and adolescence.

The struggle for biblical morality is not a new thing. It is as old as human existence, but it is new presently because it has become a national and political strategy to influence society intentionally against the truths of God’s Word. It is not that we have every been a truly Christian nation, but we have been a people with a deep respect for what the Scriptures teach.

Courage is a positive statement of what is right and what is wrong. Courage as a virtue has brought about most of the greatest acts from the people of God. Where is God asking you to stand up and be courageous for truth and righteousness? Courage begins with faithfulness to the Word in our own ways of living, that is, we were meant in Christ to live righteously. Be what you speak!

There are basics that make all the difference in life, not the strange and unusual, but the basic. I have in mind something that was developed by Dawson Trotman in the 1930’s that is so essential that it has not been improved upon. The development of the individual has three streams of behavior that reflect the nature of character: faithfulness, availability, and teachability. In reverse order, are we open to be taught? Do we make ourselves available or present to life’s teachers? Are we willing to hang in there and be consistent in the learning process?

We are examining the lives of some of the “Great Christians” that have gone before us. Are we willing to learn from them as to how they lived out the gospel of Christ through their lives? We are each unique, but what can we learn from others as they took the Word of God seriously and they had dynamic personal relationships with God in Christ? Each life had an emphasis that we can learn from. But the question is, are we learners or boxed-in “knowers?”

It is wisdom to observe how specific truths shaped and formed the character and activity of another of the Saints. Can we open ourselves to learn from them? They obviously had shaping and forming experiences that God gave them to live out His kingdom in fresh ways. In our work this week we are giving our attention to George Muller whose work continues more than a century later.

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Beginning with this week the rhythm of the church moves again into ordinary time. Ordinary Time has the support of the redemptive pillars of the Lenten Season leading up to the great celebration of our salvation accomplished on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The scent of Easter has been with us for seven weeks culminating this past Sunday with Pentecost and the advent of life in the Spirit. So, what of ordinary time?

The summer season before us is naturally fruited with growth and rest. These feel like contradictory realities, but I assure you they are not. Rest or making empty space with God is critical to our growth. Growth is not pure activity but is the result of the intimacy created through “empty space.” In God’s way with us He speaks in whispers and learning what His will is requires quiet so that we can hear Him.

The shift that is required in our “perceptual framework” is to realize that God’s will and our natural wills are not the same. If we choose to live for the glory of God, then His will becomes paramount. If we live for our own glory, then we can settle for the lesser reality – our will. No matter how loud our world is our self-referenced will is a dead-end path.

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The end of God’s written revelation to us emphases the imminent return of Jesus. The exclamation and the invitation are the same, “Come, Lord Jesus!” In the midst of the context in which John’s letter is written to the seven churches of Asia Minor, the most precious thing for them given the impending persecution would be the return of Christ to escort them into the New Jerusalem. That would be the least painful outcome.

At the same time Jesus is inviting people to come to Him. The return of Jesus will be a great relief to those who know Him, but tragedy to those who do not. Therefore, there is a standing invitation to those who will come to Him. For all who long for the peace of Christ both now and later the invitation is absolutely good news. If people still reject the offer, His arrival is bad news.

The fact is that we only have one life to live no matter what Hindu philosophy suggests. What is true is that life with Christ is surely a new life apart from the life before Him. The lie of the evil one is that we have “second chances” and that some how we are on a progressive cycle upward. The is truly a “line in the sand” that is drawn by our Creator, Redeemer, and Friend. Never forget that we get to choose.

I’ve been interacting with John’s letter to the seven churches in his letter called, Revelation since Easter Sunday. Historically, my experience with Revelation as a child was all about end times and listening to spokespersons trying to figure out when Jesus is coming back. But this time I perceive that the point is somewhat different. Some have noted that John is writing a letter describing his celestial experience to encourage his audience as they anticipate a dark time of persecution. That makes a lot of sense to me.

The hope of Easter is a promise of redemption and a challenge to develop a faithful life, trusting in the truth of Christ and the hope of the New Heaven and New Earth and in particular a New Jerusalem, Jerusalem being the place we go to meet with God. Given the experience of deception and hostility that Satan has originated among us, to gain a clear minds eye of the endgame or destination of all who remain faithful is a great encouragement.

Living in light of the New Jerusalem is a whole new way of living. Though we are not there yet, we get a chance to recognize what is substantially important about living life that will not change. Substance is the essential to living in the reality of God. Substance is what is genuine. Based on the New Jerusalem, the glory of God is the attraction not the glory of man. In the end, all of our human glory will be subsumed into the only glory that lasts. The good news is, we can live that way now – not perfectly but intentionally.

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Easter hope is a redemptive restorative characteristic. It is meant to renew the relationship between man and God, but it is even more than that. It is restorative in that it is meant to restore the developing intimacy with God. This Easter hope provides the open avenue, but we must make an investment as individuals in the cultivation of the intimacy. Our investment is not about earning anything, but it does require effort.

The best metaphor for me is the metaphor of the work of the farmer. His work is cultivating work from plowing, or pruning, or watering, or weeding, and certainly patient waiting and praying. God always causes the increase. There is both the process of effort and yet it is also the humility to know that he is not making something happen.

Intimacy with God is kingdom of God on earth. Out of that intimacy, God directs us to the actions He has prepared for us, Eph. 2:10. Our struggle is when we take up the ways of the kingdom of man and assume they are the same in the kingdom of God. When we live that lie, we are either “puffed up” or we are consumed by despair. As Gordon Smith made clear to us that God’s kingdom is the experience of mankind is built on “vocational holiness.” Our calling or work is holiness as God is holy, 1Peter 1:10.

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Easter hope is a redemptive characteristic. If we learn to live Easter hope in our hearts and minds, we are positioned to live out the kingdom of God in the kingdom of man. There is no real sense of redemption outside of Jesus. People attempt to massage their lives, but their messing around is limited to their sin-sick potential. The best that we can do as humans is always lacking as to what is needed.

Easter hope is a life that lacks nothing because Easter hope is lived out under the supervision and enabling power of the Great Shepherd, the Holy One of Israel. Easter hope enables us to live in light of the throne of God upon which Jesus sits. Easter hope narrows the space between the now and the then. Easter hope captures the vision for our lives as we seek to live out the prayer that Jesus first gave his disciples.

When we pray in the now that God’s kingdom come His will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are praying that it would first be done in us and then around us and through us. Without Easter it would be just noise, but because of Easter we enter a new but old kingdom for which we were first designed as workmen. Lift up your hearts, lift up your minds we live in the kingdom of eternal Easter!

Easter hope is not just a theological concept, but a living reality. This past week I attended the memorial service of my brother-in-law, Richard Eugene Thiessen. Easter hope is a statement as to how we shall then live. My brother lived with the scent of Easter filling his nostrils, not just at the end years of his life, but throughout his life from his first encounter with Jesus to his last breath. Easter hope is meant to be the air that we breathe, energizing our spirits all along the path.

For most Easter is but an annual event to be celebrated each spring, yet its dynamic is meant to ingest our lives with the hope of Christ every moment of every day of our lives. Easter hope allows us to live in the present moment with the Spirit of eternity filling that moment. It is meant to shape and form our presence as we encounter what is placed before us.

Easter hope is not a description of the past, but a commentary on the present. It determines as to whether we live life well or whether we live life poorly. Easter hope is a matter as to whether we live life from the inside out or the outside in. If our souls are at the center, then everything that we do to enrich the substance of our souls is effort and time well spent. Easter hope is carried in the soul.

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One of the great benefits of celebrating Easter each year is the subsequent reminder that He is coming again. The next time He comes will be as judge of the living and the dead. The fact that Jesus has earned every right to be the Judge is encouraging. The encouragement is that justice will be served. Justice as to the souls of men. The text of prosecution is the Book of Life. Is my name there or not.

Judgment is God’s expression of morality. The fact that Jesus comes to render judgment is necessary to maintain the morality of the universe. Some don’t want to consider the importance of morality, but it is God’s task to maintain the morality of the universe. Holiness is the separateness of God. Morality is the nature of that separateness.

So, Easter reminds us of the moral separateness of God. Without this moral separateness, sin would not need to be forgiven. Sin has to be forgiven because of morality. God alone can maintain the moral nature of the universe that He created. When we read of the “wrath of God” it is always because it is His desire to maintain the moral nature of the universe. The forgiveness of sin is no small thing. It is the largest thing in light of the universe.

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What is life like in the aftermath? If Easter is simply an annual holiday of family/friends gathering with Easter eggs and chocolate for the kids and ham and sweet potatoes for the adults, then we have missed the point. Just like any celebration in common culture, it usually misses the point. The social pressure to celebrate with food and activities tends to drain the resources.

Easter is a unique season in the life of the church. The part of the church that practices Lent actually keeps things in perspective. Easter requires that we prepare for it spiritually. Though I did not grow up with the 40 days of preparation, it makes sense to me to walk with Jesus in sobriety, fasting, and grace in order to deepen my sense of victory over sin and death.

In the aftermath the lectionary this year takes us into the Book of Revelation. Honestly, we either avoid Revelation like the plague or we become fixated on it at the exclusion of the rest of Scriptures, especially the Gospels. In the aftermath Easter has needed to give us a perspective or perceptual framework from which to view our world and the importance of the kingdom of God.

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Like most things spiritual when the object of the spiritual is God, they remain invisible in our noisy world. To engage Holy Week, we have to be intentional because there is nothing about it save Easter Sunday that is noticed even a little in our common society. It seems to me that the further we go in the Jesus journey, the more we need to be intentional. It is not particularly about religion per se, but it is definitely about spiritual in light of our spirits and the Holy Spirit.

There is a richness to be gleaned when we consider the last week of Jesus’ life in the flesh assignment. I’m pretty sure in the following days and years the 12 minus 1 had many a conversation reflecting on what was about this week that they did not realize as it was happening. That’s one of the benefits of memory, convergent things come to mind. The is an illumination that comes from recalling the story.

We’ve lost the value of a great word in the midst of our world culture, fundamentals. Fundamentals have been co-opted by the term “fundamentalist” which has in kind been co-opted by the word “terrorist”. Most of what Jesus taught us were the fundamentals or the building blocks of the kingdom of heaven. He taught us that “this is the way it will be in eternity in the Presence of the Trinity.”

As we encounter the N.T. Epistles by one author, or another simply explain the application of those gospel of Jesus fundamentals. These are the building blocks for the Jesus Way, Truth, and Life that Jesus came to give us in order to live out heaven’s realities. Fundamentals when used historically were able to teach us what something was built upon. When you change the foundation, you change the building. The building can be weak or strong depending on the foundation.

As we head toward Jesus’ last pre-resurrection week, the fundamentals will be on graphic display both in Him and in fallen humankind. Celebrating joyously one day and crying out for assassination the next is so fundamental to man’s sinful nature. This would be a great week to read through John 10-19 and pay attention to the fundamentals of Jesus’ actions and words.

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The Christian ethic remains revolutionary from when it was first declared on the Sermon on the Mount through every century including the present. The Apostle Paul taught that ethic over and over in his epistles to the churches that were being formed in city and village after city and village throughout the known world. Much of the God-with-us Story is characterized by the moral will of God lived out among people.

Though the Story is old, it’s effect remains revolutionary. Just as in the founding of our nation revolution is meant to secure territory and instigate moral knowledge rooted in the Book. Our opportunity as followers of Jesus is as vivid now as it has ever been. As the “Word” lives in us given the nature of our world, we become necessary activists of the revolutionary message of God among men.

I must confess that I do not like to be an activist because “I am not cut out for this” but I’m coming to realize that I do not have a choice – really. The great Apostle tells me in 2 Cor. 5:18 that I have been given the “ministry of reconciliation.” It has been assigned to all of us who are called by His name. It is time to stand up! I must see that I am, we are, called to punch holes in the darkness!

We live in a world full of suffering! I don’t think that is a new thing, but since our world has shrunk because of technology we become aware of suffering both near and far. In this Lenten Season it is a good question to consider, “How do I respond to suffering?” Has it simply become a distraction because of the sheer volume of incidents? What does it strike in us when it is not our own suffering? I wonder if our hearts are “glazed over” with a self-protective membrane in order to survive?

Appeals are constantly made that are designed to gain a sacrificial response from us. Apparently, that works well in marketing. For some of us suffering becomes like white noise that is not actually heard. Yet, in the Apostle’s concern for us is that we become people who are “tenderhearted merciful people.” I wonder if what is missing in us is an intimacy with Jesus that would lead us to always pray, but only sacrificially respond when He tells us to.

The more complex the world becomes the more we depend on intimacy with Jesus to keep us whole, holy, and healthy in body, soul, and spirit. The complexity is fraught with a cacophony of voices. We need to learn the tenor of His voice, or we will get lost in the static of everyday life. The Lenten Season is a great time to make some space for silence empty of everything but oneself and Him.

It seems like the further we go in the journey, the more we need the fruits of the Spirit. Today I am thinking about self-control. Actually, the subsidiary of self-control or self-discipline is what I am thinking about. Every time in contemporary culture is chaotic, but as followers of Jesus we are continually called to a different realm in the midst of the chaos. I’m thinking today of our precious Lenten Season while the growing noise is like static to the soul.

Our sense of rhythm leading up to the Resurrection is so important for the sake of the soul. The Cross of Jesus and the Empty Tomb are the eternal realities, the heavenly realities that deserve our attention. These are the facts, truths, and events that will last. To give ourselves to this Story is what is needed. It lasts beyond the next headline or news story. Living real life is rooted in these two events that happened. It no longer needs any present-day fact checking. It is settled history, settled reality.

The self-discipline that is required is to carve out empty, quiet space in which we can meet God alone. Fasting, prayer, and sobriety is needed to gain a focus that is given us to reshape our perceptual framework. How we see things and think about things and what we are able to hear in the silence are the disciplines that are necessary to gain life in its eternal fullness. There is nothing that naturally causes us to make these choices. We need a vision for what reality is and then an intentionality that puts us on the good path and then the actions that we need to take.

We are on the precipice of the pinnacle of the Church’s spiritual seasons. Beginning Wednesday with Ash Wednesday we are invited into the days leading up to the Cross and the Resurrection, the two events that set Christianity apart from all other religions. This is the season of our salvation story. Our story is unique in that salvation was instituted by God because He loves His creation and wants to redeem it from its path of destruction and lostness.

In these next 40 days we rehearse the focus on Jesus’ part to prepare his twelve for his soon departure from earth. This was an intense training season to raise the economy and philosophy of the Kingdom of God front and center. Through the parables and teaching moments leading up to Holy Week Jesus is making clear the Jesus Way, Truth, and Life to his disciples.

The practices that are traditional during Lent are meant to capture the consistent themes of Kingdom of God life. Fasting or choosing a path of sacrifice for the sake of focus is essential for us as followers of Jesus. Sobriety or facing life with truth and honesty is meant to keep us sensitive to the truth about ourselves in light of God’s holiness. Alms giving is about generosity and openness. Living free of the grip of materialism is meant to live for the sake of others. This is not ritual but grandness! The grand life we have been given in Christ.

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What has come to my mind this week is the connection between spiritual seasons and natural seasons of life. Here we are in the midst of winter, though I am much fonder of spring and am anticipating it arrival. Winter is our lives can be a season of hard suffering or it may not, but what is characteristic is that it is a season in which the growth from the growing seasons is solidified. Winter is when the growth rings in a tree are solidified and distinguished from the previous year.

The activities of winter include solitude, silence, and prayer. I find it interesting that sometimes our growth is most distinguished by our willingness to listen, reflect, and respond instead of plan, direct, and act. The will of God is not natural to us, but is expressed by God through his Word, through our hearing his Voice, and through our obedience.

Therefore, winter can be the most fruitful season of growth because it is a matter of getting God in front of us instead of behind us. The images we have of Jesus and the sheep always has him in front. Not just because of Middle Eastern agriculture, but we have never been likened to cattle who have to be driven. If you get in front of cattle, they do not follow…sheep do, however. May the remaining weeks of winter find you embracing the posture of solitude, silence, and prayer.

Through many FB posts I am struck with the continuous battle over the Bible. It’s as though many know that the Bible is important, but they do not want the Scriptures to speak to our times because it challenges the narratives that we carry within ourselves. The assumption is that contemporary thought should trump ancient texts rather that the Word of God is to correct our present-day wrong thinking.

The inclusiveness of God’s love and yet the exclusiveness of God’s plan and way is continually rejected because of the power of contemporary sociology. It seems that so much of righteousness is defined and exported by the “thought police” instead of sought out by a sincere study of God’s Word. We reside in a time when sociologists and psychologist and academics become the writers of holy script.

I’m sure it is not news to us, but in case we need to be reminded every generation has to “battle for the Bible.” The serious study of the Word of God requires that we have some grasp of the science of interpretation (hermeneutics) and the a sincere study of the text so that we recognize its inspiration and hold on to the historical accuracy of the text.

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What do you desire for others that like the Apostle you are willing to “struggle in prayer” for them? Many in history grasped the path to the heart of God and often it led to prolonged seasons of prayer. When I think of prayer I am struck with the nature of our prayers. Frankly, it is most often for “things” or “healing.” Rarely is our prayer for ourselves that we might grow in the character of Christ and if we pray for others, it seems to me that it is most often that their circumstances might change.

Many of our forefathers, George Mueller comes to mind, understood both the “long term” aspect of struggle and the absolute dependance in the midst of struggle. I am also mindful of something that C.S. Lewis said, “Prayer changes the pray-er.” The more we learn to prayer the greater the realization that “we cannot make happen” what we care most about. I think the Apostle’s challenge to us is, what do we really care about for the sake of others.

I think the challenge of prayer is also whether we think all things are possible with God. For the sake of others are we asking God to do what only He can do? Are we familiar enough with the will of God that what resonates in our hearts is what resonates in His heart? Are we willing to enter the Lion’s mouth where spiritual battles are fought? I confess that I have not been consistent in prayer over the character of Christ in my own life. Will you join me in prayer for your own life, for the sake of others?

“I’m just not cut out for this!” Isn’t that a common response when we are called to do something that is hard? The shaping and forming us in the image of Jesus is not a painless process. Often times hard is good! The transformation of our souls is not easy, it creates friction for us and is not our preference. What is natural to us is to be able to control the agenda of life.

I suspect that when we encounter the “hard” it would behoove us to consider that what God is facing us with is meant to change us, to mature us. “Cleansing the inside of the cup” is Jesus’ way to describe our growth in him. This is the inside/out transaction that is meant to mature our being. In order to do what Jesus did in the way that Jesus did it requires the re-formation of our being.

Hard is a flag to remind us to turn our attention to Him. The prayer, “show me what you want me to see” is the necessary prayer of openness to open the aperture of our minds and hearts for the Spirit’s fresh working within us to “will and work according to His good pleasure.” The shaping and forming into the person that we were created to be is on-going until the day we meet Him face to face.

What is the nature of opportunity? It comes with our “seeing.” Robert Mulholland is his little book, Shaped By The Word shares a term that has been potent since I came across it, perceptual framework. I’ve come to see that how we see is one of the most important aspects of our discipleship. When you think about it, the perceptual framework of Jesus is one of the ways he was set apart from us in his humanity.

When the scriptures tell us that “we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ” does it not suggest that we are to be conformed in his humanity since we never become divine. Seeing things from Jesus’ point of view is substance for our ordinary lives that sets us apart from the noise and distraction that permeates the world around us.

When we walk through life saturated with the presence of Christ in us, we see differently. We see opportunities because our perceptual framework is changing. We are seeing with spiritual wisdom and understanding. It is what Paul often prayed for bodies of believers that he wrote to, Col. 1:9-14. Jesus is formed in us through how we see.

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One of the most impactful chapters that I have read period – and that is saying something when I consider that I am almost 74 years old – came from a little book that Gabe Lyons wrote some 12 years ago, Next Christians. The title of the chapter is, “Creators, not Critics.” The gist is this there are those in the years to come who will use their energy to create good culture rather than use their energy to critique culture. That resonates deeply within me.

In every encounter and opportunity in life am I invested in creating or critiquing. It seems that it is quite easy to see what is wrong if we are shaped at all by the Word of God. The great challenge remains, how do I create that which is clearly stated as the kingdom of God in my day-by-day interactions and activities. God has always been the Creator of good, beauty, and truth. Am I willing to walk in those same steps?

As a follower of Jesus, I think that might be my mantra for each day and each encounter that is presented to me. Creating good culture is something that seems to me is consistently reflective of Jesus. The conflicts that arose only existed because there are “forces” that are bent on stealing, killing, and destroying. Creating good isn’t always easy because it requires a stability, certainty, and wisdom. Join me in this work, would you!?

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As I have been thinking about the contrast between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man it seems that the difference is peace versus chaos. Truly, chaos brings the worst out of us, and peace is the best of us. Maybe that is because we were created for peace. The further we go in the journey the more we understand that we were created for the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of man.

Is it not true that Adam and Eve were genuinely created for the Garden and that their resistance was not what they were here for? The fact is that we have been created with the freedom to choose. So, it is our choice as to which kingdom we will live in. Like most things in earth life what we experience comes down to choosing.

It seems to be a very vivid circumstance in which we live. We are surrounded by chaos. To not live in chaos is a daily choice. It takes genuine effort to focus on the invisible kingdom of God and it takes effort to position ourselves so as to not react to the chaos but to respond to the presence of Jesus day by day. If in the Spirit, it still takes a pushing against the chaos rather than a submission to it. Life takes effort that has nothing to do with earning anything.

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According to the lectionary we are still in the season of Christmas up until Thursday with is Epiphany or the showing of Christ. I’ve learned that for those in the Jesus Movement that the lectionary leans heavily on the Gospel readings throughout the year. My education focused more on the Epistles as the living out of the Gospels which is good, but sometimes to the neglect of the Gospels except around Christmas and Easter.

There is a tacit movement of Jesus’ story through the lectionary gospel passages and, in this week, the second week of Christmas we know that focus of the Magi was to come worship the King. It is to our advantage to broaden our sense of certainty that God sent non-Jews, the Magi from an astrology perspective to confirm what God had done in the birth of Jesus. It adds support to the Christmas Story.

It behooves us to live at Jesus’ pace as we enter a new year of life. His pace is resident in the Scriptures and given the three years of active ministry out of 33, there is a great deal of preparation in God’s time. Scholars tell us that the Magi most likely came some two years after the birth, thus Herod’s assassination plot. Isn’t it interesting that the whole story is reduced to one night in our celebration? My main take away is that living at Jesus’ pace is a lot slower than we are inclined to live.

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As we approach the fulfillment of the Advent Season in a week, I am reminded to the declaration, “I bring you tidings of great joy!” I’m concerned that we have lost the edge that we have been given as pilgrims of great joy. Have we allowed the concerns of the day to rob us of our birthright? The fear and confusion of our day is actually a perfect opportunity for followers of Jesus to rise to the occasion with sincere joy. Speaking from hearts filled with the joy of redemption.

We have been saved and are being saved not just for heaven but to bring the messengers of heaven on earth. We pray that from time to time, “thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.” For the kingdom to come to earth God has chosen his messengers, not angels, but his children to be the bearers of the kingdom.

C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” If that is so, and I think it is, we are meant to be the joy bearers. Our message is the message of Gabriel at Christmas time, announcing the reality that cannot be seen except through the lives of the Christ-followers, “Glad tidings of great joy.” Do you think our world needs to be reminded of that life-giving truth?

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The thread in our Advent season is the thread of love. It’s not the love that strikes most peoples fancy, but the love that moved the Trinity to shuffle its dynamic at great sacrifice for humankind. We love the gentleness of the Incarnation story, but the essence of that love is sacrifice. Just as we have focused on the substance of hope being trust and the substance of peace being wholeness, so the substance of love is sacrifice. One wonders about the prevalence of love in the midst of the redeemed.

In the Biographical History of Christian Missions, Ruth Tucker tells our stories as followers of Jesus. One of the constants among these known and unknown heroes of the faith is their commitment to sacrifice for the good of people who have never known the redemption story of God’s love. That is what biblical love looks like. It is important that we not lose sight of the central nature of love.

Often times we are educated in the definitions of love, but that can cause us to lose sight of the power of love. In non-religious terms love is often described as “making the world go ‘round.” Maybe this Advent Season it would be a good time to let God define love. His defining activity always brings us back to the soul-building sense of sacrifice. What are we willing to go through for the sake of others? I’m reminded of something missiologist, Ralph Winter once said, “Risk is not to be evaluated on the probability of success, but on the value of the goal.” Love sees the value of the goal.

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Suddenly the colors of the season have changed from green to Royal blue. For those of us who are conscious of the liturgical seasons, we know something is afoot. The weekly scriptures turn to the Jesus Story and the Advent of the Christ. This year we begin with Jesus’ account of the Second Advent when things are different than the Story of the Nativity. By nature, we love to remember the baby in the manger account, but we don’t like the power and upheaval of the Advent of the Judge. We like love, but we don’t like holiness so much.

The accountability of holiness is one of our least favorite sports. I have a friend who told me a true story of a customer who refused to pay for the repair/replacement of her tire after she had hit a pothole and blew out her tire, because it wasn’t her fault that she hit the pothole. It was the municipality or government entity who was accountable for the blow out. It was the pothole’s fault, not hers. In the mindset of our world, everyone goes to heaven, the world lives unprepared for the return of Christ.

One of the things I most notice in the life of the Christians today, the lack of compassion for those who do not yet believe. Luke 21: 25-36 is this week’s gospel reading. Jesus tells us that when he returns and he surely will, he will come as the Judge, not the Savior. It will be the market day for the sheep or the goats, this is the day when things will be seen for what they are. It is my hope that we will return to the great compassion for men’s souls that lead us to step it up and step out.

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Weekly Blog

What is your vision of the holidays of this season? What is most unlikely is that we might have a difficult time sorting through the jungle of common notions to get at one of the most certain aspects of either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Both events are rooted in sacrifice. For the Mayflower pilgrims what is a significant part of the scene is the sacrifice of ordinary people to leave family and friends to travel to a new land in hopes of a better life only to be faced with a harsh land that would require great sacrifice to simply survive.

Sacrifice is something that people both Europeans and Native Americans were willing to accept as part of living life. There is a real sense of strength of character that is on display in all our sentimental scenes of the first Thanksgiving meal. At least there is a clear notion of strength that carries the scene, and the strength is expressed in generosity and true community. What was true is that the Europeans knew that they needed the natives in order to survive. The Native Americans knew the nuances of survival.

Whatever the strength of character that enabled our forefathers to survive seems to have ebbed away in our present-day culture. The circumstance of pandemic seems to have captured our attention to the degree that our humanity has shrunk, and we are so much less than we have been for the most part. We have in the season before us a clarion call to step up in the strength of our hearts to step into the gaps that exist all around us. May this years’ celebration call us to the meekness (strength under control) that the circumstances that we face are asking of us.

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The holiday season is right in front of us. I know some dread the thought for various reasons. It may surface disappointments from the past. It may conjure up burdensome expectations. It may produce frenetic anxiety, or it may generate buried feelings of loneliness. In conversation with a friend, sometimes the temptation is to see the holidays as uninspiring obligations. But in reality, I think they are given us as gifts to help us slow down not speed up.

Take Thanksgiving for example. We have drifted away for the agricultural culture that our nation was founded on. The new emigrants from Europe, most of our forefathers, came seeking a new world and a new opportunity. It was an unfamiliar land with unfamiliar inhabitants. Thanksgiving was a celebration of God material provision and protection through the preceding year. It was a celebration of life with new friends and families. No matter what has happened in this past year, we are here and with much to be grateful for, so it behooves us to slow down and embrace the joys of the day.

Then there is Christmas. We should know better than to get caught up with the cultural parts of the American celebration that do not really matter. There is a lot of fun to be had in the weeks leading up to Christmas day, but the season is about hope and peace and love and joy. Don’t let the noise drown out those graces for your life. What matters is that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but has eternal life.” Maybe that is why “giving” has transcended everything else about our culture. Somehow, we know that it is the season for giving. So let me encourage you to let your giving be the fruit of your loving.

As I have been listening and reflecting on the consequence of the COVID pandemic for people, one thing has become clear. It has caused people to pause. What ever their normal speed of life, they have had to stop in some sense. If they have come to work at home, or if they have lost their jobs, or if they have come to the realization that they are not in control of everything about their lives, they have experienced a pause.

I have heard all kinds of reactions, some reflections, and some fears that they never realized. What I have not seen a lot of is people coming to the end of themselves and asking the important questions. Maybe it is because of so much noise and national emotion, but then again, maybe it is because of such a lack of self-awareness.

Which raises the question for me, since God has such love for his creation, what will it take to get people’s attention and what will it take for people to actually come to the end of the rope of control in their lives? I suspect that it will have to get worse to wretch away the grip people hold their lives with. But, then again, maybe it is time for followers of Jesus to be bold in their conversations regarding the hope that lies in Jesus alone.

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As I talk with all kinds of people from many walks of life, it seems that most feel chaos deep down in their souls. For followers of Jesus, it seems like you have to deny so much of what God has said if we choose the path of chaos. Maybe it is an indication that we have hardly been shaped or formed by the Book that we say is so very important to us. I suspect that our living notion of what God has said to us is only in slogan form.

I’m not sure how we have gotten to where we are in the superficiality of our faith, but it seems like we are satisfied with placing our favorite biblical passage or phrase on a plaque and call ourselves disciples of Jesus. I wouldn’t be surprised if God were to allow so much chaos in our circumstances just to get us to return to actually living by the Book.

Our spiritual anemia seems to be rooted in the fact that we are hardly trained by and formed by the “inspired Word of God.” In some ways it comes down to the basic question, “what is the revealed Word of God – the Bible” for? I fear that we have separated life into compartments and disconnected the Word of God and the in Christ life from ordinary life. Maybe it is time once again for Back to the Bible.

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Discipline is an important reality in kingdom of God living. Surprisingly the scriptures tell us that “God disciplines those that he loves” and one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives is self-discipline. On the one hand discipline by God is about bring correction or correcting the course that we have set our compass on. On the other, self-discipline is about maintaining or orienting our focus.

One of the phrases in Psalm 19 tells me that for a “man after God’s own heart” like David knows that there are hidden “hidden faults” that God is perfectly aware of if we are not. The desire is for forgiveness, but more often it is inviting God’s discipline because not only is there a need for forgiveness, but there is also a need for change. The confrontation of conviction of sin is painful but necessary for transformation.

The self-discipline of the Spirit is because our focus is in need of regular refocusing. Self-discipline also includes learning to restrict our mouths and our actions. Not everything that our mind or heart is aware of needs to be expressed. It is a natural struggle to discipline ourselves instead of expressing our selves. The only place we need to always “get it off our chests” is with the One who loves us most.

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There are some basic things about a biblical worldview that sets the Christian apart in every generation. In our present world and its concerns, it is a season of exposure, exposing what people genuinely think. The season seems to be about fear, anger, and hopelessness. Simply because the circumstance of life seems out of control. The response of many is to accept anything that promises control.

It leaves society in a state of panic and confusion, even in parts of the Church. It seems to me that this is a beckoning call to those who say they are servants of the Faith to become people of faith, the verb. Biblical faith is a relational faith in which God is the object of our faith and our faith is a response to Him. Our calling is different than people who are not part of the Faith.

The question is do we live life in response to God not a response to the panic of world culture? Biblical faith requires a real communion with the Godhead, Father Son and Holy Spirit. Maybe the weakness of our day is that it has exposed the lack of deep communion with God. Are we willing to attend to the Voice of God in the scriptures and in prayer more than the voice of the panicked and confused?

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Yesterday I attended the memorial service of an old friend. The time reminded me of a story that Tony Campolo tells of his pastor talking to the high school senior class in their church when he said, “You can live for titles, or you can live for testimonies!” Well, my friend lived with a great well-lived out testimony. She was one of the most faithful and faith-filled people that I’ve known. I will certainly miss her. She was a person who lived out the Word (Rom. 12:12). She was a person who was faithful in prayer.

One of the consistent themes in Jesus’ parables is faithfulness. If we are to live out the kingdom of God while we are on earth it will be through our faithfulness. Faithfulness never makes the headlines because the headlines are always about drama. Jesus’ faithfulness was such that he could go about his mission without distraction. It makes me wonder about myself. Does faithfulness describe my m/o? Am I consistently willing to give up notoriety for faithfulness? My friend certainly was!

Maybe one of God’s strategies to bring light to the world is for his children to bring faithfulness into each encounter and faithfulness to the spirit of life. My friend suffered greatly for a number of years, but she remained faithful in prayer for the world, for her friends, and for the church of Jesus Christ. It makes me realize that her prayer was a great pillar that held up the highway to heaven.

Is it fair to say that we live in a “trustless” society? Maybe at the root of the trust lessness is fear, but more likely having been deceived. I wonder if there isn’t something within the soul of man that he needs certainty to be trusting and in trusting to be free. So, what is certain, what is worth our trust? It seems to me that we ought then in our society to be in the perfect position to find our soul’s center in God alone.

It is my observation that in our contemporary culture that humankind will come up with all kinds of strategies to assuage their fears of deception – except to turn to God. Control is the predominant force in many people’s strategy. What I see is the anger expressed in judgmentalism and hostility. It seems like everything is held with an “edge.” Very little peace and joy!

This ought to be an ideal time for followers of Jesus to step up into the maelstrom with the fruits of the Spirit. Maybe that is not happening because we are not filled and controlled with the Holy Spirit of God. Imagine what it would be like if love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control characterized your life and my life in all our human interactions.

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God is a God of rhythm which is why He created the seasons of the year. Each season of the year carries a flavor that also characterizes the seasons we go through in life. Though it is unseasonably hot in September, still we have entered the autumn season of the year. In agriculture this is a harvest season, especially harvesting grains and some fruits and vegetables. In like manner we are encouraged by God to begin harvesting what was planted in our souls throughout the other seasons of the year.

It is also a time in nature to gear up for the winter months. In the wildlife in our part of the country this is both a time for bears to prepare for hibernation and elk and deer to mate. It is a time of taking on astronomical amounts of calories for the winter season when the great sleep will begin. It is calculated that bears consume 20,000 calories a day in preparation for hibernation.

Autumn is also a spiritual season, not only of harvest, but also a time to take on the “calories of God’s Word” in preparation for the winter season or any hard seasons that are ahead. This is a great time to begin memorizing scripture if you don’t already do it. Personally, as I consider being in the last quarter of the “race” it is my deep desire to be shaped and formed by the Word. The truth of God has always been, but even more so in our day, a key to living life to the full.

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Hope is demonstrated through faithfulness. Maybe that is why there is so little hope in our world. I wonder if most have succumbed to the panic of “quickness” and therefore have no substance of long-suffering (patience). Most deadlines in life are arbitrary if not synthetic. I wonder if one of our stressors is that we assume if something doesn’t happen now, it won’t happen. Tyranny has become the opioid of our present reality.

It brings to mind the prayer of the children of Abraham in Egypt. Praying that God would deliver them from slavery was their continual prayer for 400 years. Yet, God was listening to them all along. It is hard for us to live under the righteous, yet loving hand of God. It seems embarrassing to say, but don’t we think God should live under our hands of the tyranny of the present?

Faith and trust take a lifetime to build and as our literary friend, Brennan Manning used to say, “Trust is deeper than love.” I hear most often our lament is often, “If God loved me, he would….” The truth is, it is not about His love, but about my trust. We cannot not truly experience the depth of hope without the reality of trust and the requirement for trust is faithfulness.

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My grief in genuine! When I read the accounts of my brothers and sisters in Afghanistan who are being martyred, I hurt. I am aware that martyrdom continues day by day in many places in the world, so I keep that in my mind and heart, but when the anger and injustice is brought to our senses in a dominating way there is a new wave of grief. It brings to my mind a song written early in my generation about the return of Christ, “I Wished We’d All Been Ready.”

The issue before us in not a doctrinal point of view, but the harsh reality of evil in the hearts of those who deny the “Fear of the Almighty” (Psalm 19). As tragic as it is wherever martyrdom takes place among God’s children, it is a stark reminder that we always need to live “ready.” It is never a surprise to God, but I do think he hurts with us when we encounter the works of the Serpent. The challenge before us is to uncouple ourselves from the ways of our world so that we might be separated unto Him.

I’ve been working my way through Psalm 19 very slowly. The investment our lives in the “law of the Lord,” the “statutes of the Lord”, the “precepts of the Lord”, the “commands of the Lord’, the “fear of the Lord”, and the “ordinances or the Lord” prepares us for whatever comes our way. It seems like God has made it clear that training is essential for readiness. May we all live Ready!

In the midst of all the noise and calamity of life what are we being shaped and formed by? Good question! It is our choice as to what we let in and what we limit. The “noise” tends to want to force its way into our minds, hearts, and souls, but we still have choices. The most important practice is to know what is real and focus on that. We combat the “forces” most effectively by homing in on what is, has been, and will be whether in the body or not.

I just had a conversation with friends who encouraged me to “get up to speed” with what is going on so that I am not deceived or taken advantage of. However, I remember something that I learned a long time ago. For the experts to discover forgeries they needed to be expert on the real so that they could spot the counterfeit. I think that wisdom remains in place.

Life in Christ and being shaped and formed by the Word is essential to know and not just know about what is real. It is as our minds and hearts are being formed by the revelation of God and enlivened by His Spirit that we come to know the truth in our being. When Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” that is something we can know in our whole being. We then need to set out a vision to be transformed from the inside out so that we can consistently live the truth and reject the false narratives that we hear every day in the world.

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For the first time ever, I entered a conversation on Facebook. It is not something I expected to ever do, but I did. I don’t really expect anything to come of it, but it was an act of obedience to God. In July, Norma and I celebrated our 50^th wedding anniversary and as a consequence some strange things took place. I have a friend in New York who has been talking about “finishing well” for quite some time. He is a year or two younger than me. I have been giving it tacit agreement for a long time, but for some reason it is different now.

I think I have to blame the Olympics for providing a metaphor for what I am thinking. Because of my age I know I am in the last 100m of a 400m race. As is true in any race including Paul’s in Philippians, it is about how you finish. What has come into focus is how I think the Lord wants me to finish. I think this is a good exercise for all of us. How am I running the race and what will it take for me to finish well?

Two things have come into view for me. First, I feel led to focus my energies in being “shaped and formed” by the Word. I want to be a part of the solution to what is wrong in the church today: people who neither know the Word for its reality nor are they truly shaped by it so that they have little impact in the world today. Second, I want to be devoted to bold prayer, praying for what only God can do in my life and in the world. Think about it! What is in view for you?

Change is upon us as we turn the page in the calendar. Creation seems to also confirm that truth as it seems like summer is yawning in exhaustion from the oppressive heat. Almost overnight God takes pity on what he has made as he is sending rain that the earth may now drink deeply of the life-giving refreshment. The leaves on my lawn are not because the season is changing to autumn, but because they are all dried out and crispy for lack of water.

It won’t be long before the seasonal change does take place in truth, but we endure the month of transition before it gets here. As Mark Buchanan notes, “Summer’s warning is dehydration.” We can be just like the trees in nature and burn to a crisp unless we intentionally drink deeply of the Spirit through the Word and prayer. Just because we know “cooler” weather will soon be upon us, it doesn’t preclude our grasping hold of that which our souls most need in this season. Summer is not over!

I have grasped the Word in fresh ways this summer knowing that it is essential for staying “upright” in the encroaching suppressions in our contemporary life. The Scriptures cannot be “squeezed” or drained of their Spirit inspired power. In the midst of the delight of summer, distractions can suck the life out of us if we don’t remember that the core of our being still needs to be fed. We never get past the need for empty space to sit alone with the One who loves us most and we can find Him in the Word and prayer. All of that to say, finish the summer well.

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I’ve been giving gratitude a great deal of thought this week. Like most things if we give it unhurried thought there is much to glean from most anything. Gratitude or gratefulness is a chosen posture of life that can deliver a wealth of meaning for our lives. Much has been made about purposefulness, but in a rather simple way gratitude can raise the attitude to such a degree that the angle of life is naturally purposeful.

Norma and I are celebrating 50 years of a rich meaningful marriage that surfaces a very deep gratitude. Like most deeply meaningful experiences of life God brings them to us and it becomes a source of richly held gratitude. Much of gratitude comes in the form of being a recipient rather than a generator. Gratitude is not something that I do, but it is something that I am. Do I approach life responsively or generatively?

Approaching our days as God acting and simply noticing, attending, and wondering about His acting seems most to produce gratitude within. Seeing the hand of God is the source of richness in our experiences. However, it requires patience and setting aside self-directed expectations. We must walk at “Jesus’ speed” in order to see the hand of God daily. When I think of 50 years with my life companion gratitude washes over me. Noticing how much of life’s riches were simply beyond me.

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This Sunday we celebrate a specific American holiday – Independence Day. The history of the day was to celebrate the founding of a new country set free from European control. Obviously, it was a national freedom that came at great cost with the loss of many lives. Over the past 245 years much good has been done through from these shores to distant shores. When I think about the missionary effort within our own boundaries as well as to far off pagan lands that was incubated here, I am feeling blessed.

One of the great threads that has been sewn into the fabric of our national psyche is freedom. In the present as well as the past that freedom has continued to need to be contended for. In the culture it is always under attack. As fallen creatures we want our freedom, but at the same time we don’t want others to have their freedom. What instead has surfaced is the paradigm of “offendedness.” If your freedom offends me, then you ought not have that freedom. Honestly, I just shake my head – sideways!

Surely for those who are Jesus followers our focus is on the freedom of soul that He has provided to us by faith. Freedom is an important value in the kingdom of God. A word-study on freedom begins in the scriptures with Galatians 5:1, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free.” Jesus wanted us to be free from the bondage of sin so much so that He was willing to take on our sin upon himself on the cross that we might be free of it. No matter the freedom of our circumstance we can live free in our souls. It has been purchased for us. Celebrate that this “Independence Day!”

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As if we couldn’t tell summer is upon us by the calendar, we certainly can by the thermometer. But summer is also a spiritual season of joy and blessing. As Mark Buchanan notes it is most like heaven itself. With the invitation to play and rejoice it carries the spirit of heaven itself. I find it interesting that most in our common culture look for retirement to have earned a life of leisure but fail to grasp the importance of the rhythm of the seasons in daily life. I’m sure that God did not create us to eventually burnout and that the joy of summer was something to have earned.

Yet God has given us the summer as a gift, not something to be earned. But we have to learn how to practice summer as a normal part of life. Summer brings with it both a warning and a particular blessing. According to Buchanan, the warning is to avoid dehydration. We know physically that dehydration is a matter of the need for water/fluid. Spiritually it includes the spiritual practices that are core to health: the Word and Prayer. Whatever is involved in the summer season of practices, the Word and prayer are always essential.

The blessing of summertime lies in the “first fruits.” Where we live the first fruits are the strawberries, bib lettuce, and early peas. The first fruits of the season. There is something especially sweet about the earliest crops. The first fruits spiritually is in offering the best of ourselves to God. My first fruits this summer is in making sure that my alone time with God comes at the beginning of my day. For the summer (at least) I have made a commitment to memorize complete psalms and then to journal my way through it so that God might fully shape me through the Word. Why not join me!

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There is a text that I take out periodically called, Spiritual Rhythms. It was written by Mark Buchanan. Mark is a pastor in BC and is a very inciteful observer of the spiritual journey. In this particular text he uses the seasons of the year as a metaphor for the spiritual life. I just reread the season of spring and gained a fresh reminder of the natural activities of the season: plowing, planting, and cleaning. He contextualizes these activities with three spiritual practices: listening, doing something new, and discarding that which is dead of any present meaning.

Spring is a natural season for growth and freshness. I love spring and I resonate with these activities of listening, newness, and letting go. Sometimes I find it most difficult to “let go” of something, but spring has a forward lean to it and somethings just need to be prune out of life so that the best can find root. The assumption often has been that if something was best it must always remain that way.

The fallacy is to think that with God the journey is into the right box, but our understanding is so limited that God can only reveal one thing at a time. When we engage the eternal, there is always more to learn. I think that every time we read a particular scripture it continues to speak to us in greater and greater ways. I think that is why there is no need for “new revelation.” It is my experience that when we “dig deeper” the soil of reality has no bottom. Therefore, never tire of engaging God’s Word.

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If we are willing to slow down and think, the discoveries can be profound and transformational. I have been aware of the notion that just as there are natural seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall, there are also seasons in our lives somewhat similar to nature’s seasons. There are circumstances that arise that can be associated with nature’s rhythm, but there are also ways to intentionally identify with what God has created.

Though it has seemed unseasonably cold and wet here in our locale, it is spring. Spring is the season of new growth and in general newness of life as it follows winter which is a natural season of internal transactions. Trees establish the solidifying of the growth rings that have taken place during the growing season. Human beings face internal responses to their life encounters.

But spring has now showed its colors, and this is an ideal time to slough off “deadness,” letting the “leaves that have hung on during the winter” fall. It is time to consider fresh practices in the Spirit in order to open oneself to any new thing that God wants. Our journey with Jesus is always evolving. There is always more to the journey than what we have traveled.

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This is a season of joyful celebration ignited by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That is the theme of Eastertide. No matter what is going on around us we have truth that has been entrusted to those who believe in Jesus that has given to us as a gift that ordinary man lives ignorant of. Our joy is rooted in substance, the substance of Jesus overcoming death and dead-end living.

In order to live out the truth in any meaningful way, we have to live with intentionality. I have to choose to keep the Easter story alive in the quiet moments of the day, remembering who and whose I am. I have a friend who used to introduce each Sunday’s worship with a statement about our being Easter people. What he meant be that was an encouragement to embrace the joy that is ours.

A critical part of life is rooted in the attitude with which we live. Easter is meant to be an on-gong attitude that strengthens us in the midst of the “storms of life.” And life can be quite stormy from time to time. The Easter attitude requires cultivation and effort to engage the truth of God more than we engage the truth of man. So, be encouraged this week to make space to sit with the Good News of who God is and what richness is resident in Him in us.

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This season between Easter and Pentecost is called Eastertide in more liturgical churches and for good reason. Like most things with God life is rhythmic. Think about it! Aren’t the seasons in nature’s realm different from each other? Isn’t winter, spring, summer, and autumn God’s idea? There are spiritual roles in each of these seasons in our life experience. The winters in our lives are equivalent to the hard times when we are faced with the reality that God has to be enough. The spring times are the seasons of new growth and recovery. We need that to keep our breathing working. Summer is the season of growth and rest. Not everything can move with the same intensity. Autumn is a season of harvest and preparation for winter. We gather fruit from the seasons of growth and take on more of God’s word to prepare us to navigate the winter.

Eastertide is the season of celebration of the resurrection with an eye fixed on the ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is a time of joy and gratitude, but also of anticipation that God with reveal Himself in his totality now to live within us in the Person of the Holy Spirit. With our eyes fixed on the Spirit, it becomes a season of newness and power. Where would we be without the resurrection, most miserable!

In Eastertide we have the luxury of gathering up all the rich glory that came to earth through the Resurrected One. Overcoming death is the last marker in our mortality. If we choose to live in the life of the resurrection, all fear is now gone. Life is now connected between the now and the not yet. The movement is now the journey in the words of Dallas Willard, “moving from one room into the next.” We are at home now and if we choose to live in it, we can live with a new assurance and power.

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One could say that no week in one’s life is any more important than any other week, but the week before us could be different. There are times and seasons rooted in the scriptures that seem to set us up as followers of Jesus to naturally open the aperture of our minds and hearts to something more. I wonder if with the disciples that a year after the first Holy Week if they spent any time reflecting on the previous year.

In each of the gospels this week’s journey from the two days before the Triumphal Entry to the early morning on the First Day of the week after the Resurrection the account is quite expansive, covering a large part of each gospel writer’s essay. This week is one of those times that it behooves us to “drill down” into the story and using our God-given ability to place ourselves in the storytelling.

The great privilege is to surrender ourselves to the rhythm and sequence of joining Jesus and the disciples in an incredibly unique week in history. At each place and in each day, you are there if you allow yourself to be. Use your five senses to participate with Jesus and your fellow disciples. We have the benefit of being able to sit with what we read. Let it benefit your spirit.

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Time seems to march on no matter what, does it not. Here we are only a few days before the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem for the final time. I wonder what he was thinking and feeling as the scriptures tell us that he had turned his face toward Jerusalem knowing what was about to happen. In the events before him the astounding statement in a way was that nothing caught him off-guard or by surprise. Why is it that we are so often “caught off guard” or are surprised by what goes on?

Learning to live in the “already” and the “not yet” simultaneously seems to me what it looks like to follow Jesus with every step in the journey. I have a friend who used to introduce worship with the invocation, “Jesus Christ is in this place and anything can happen here.” Isn’t that the truth of living in the kingdom of heaven here and now? In the days over these next two weeks in Jesus’ life we are faced with the absolute worst and the absolute best.

In these days leading up to Maundy Thursday (the upper room incident), Gethsemane, Good Friday, and Resurrection Morning I have been reading the story of eight women in recent history who have been persecuted severely for their faith in Christ. There is so much history to support the fact that we need to learn how to live in the “already” and the “not yet” and not be surprised by the best and worst rolled up into the one life God has called us to live. This isn’t heaven yet, nor is it hell. As someone that I know used to say, “Good is often hard.”

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I wonder why in every season in the church year, prayer is always one of the primary disciplines? What is it about prayer that seems so central to everything in our lives in relationship to God? Is it like any human relationship – communication?! I think that is what is essential with anything that is animate. It is the difference between all that God created for the sake of relationship. Is there a reflection on the Genesis statement that animals were created to fill the relational need of man? Only to find them as inadequate.

The creation of woman was for fulfilling the image of God as well as to fulfill the relational need of man. Man was incomplete without woman and the purpose was to be completed in the relational dimension of human existence. Relationship seems to be everything in the creation of humankind. Relationship with the Almighty has everything to do with prayer.

Some have defined prayer as talking to God, put the saints of old have helped us conceive of a much higher role for prayer. As much if not more prayer is a matter of listening to God. Throughout the scriptures, prayer has emphasized both if not more on the listening side. The will of God is central to existence not the will of man. From Adam through John of Revelations, prayer carries the weight of the relationship that begins with birth and carries on into eternity.

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Repentance as a theme in the Lenten season is probably one of the least appreciated and understood of the Jesus Way. It is most commonly perceived as confessing sin and feeling bad about it, but is that really what Jesus was calling us to? You are probably quite aware that the Greek word in the New Testament is metanoia or to change one’s mind about. That repentance requires so much more from us than sorrowful emotions.

Repentance is seeing things as they are. It is not unlike Paul’s word in Romans 12 when he calls us to “sober judgment” or having an accurate judgment of ourselves. Repentance begins with facing ourselves in truth. What is the truth about me in thought, word, and deed? Is it possible that in light of repentance we have been living in denial of what God says about us? For instance, am I living with false narratives about God, myself, and life in general?

In that sense repentance is not reserved for the season leading up to “The Day the Revolution Began” to use N.T. Wright’s title. It is meant to be a way of life in which we are growing aware of falseness within ourselves, both in the sense of unrighteousness as well as distortion within our hearts. In the Lenten season there is a fresh emphasis to own thoughts, words, and actions that are less than what we were created for and what God says. Repentance is not my enemy, but my friend.

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Sacrifice is what this season is about. These days are all leading up to the price Jesus paid for the forgiveness of sins and what it took to introduce the kingdom life on earth. The price was sacrificial, it was the laying down His life for ours. Sacrifice is not understood in our day with deep respect and appreciation, not just on Jesus’ part, but on anyone’s part. The only sacrifice that has a path in our world is one that would eventually be remunerated, usually with money, power, or prestige.

I’ve been reading the stories of eight women in history, some in the century behind us and some quite contemporary. The consistent theme is the theme of sacrifice, sacrifice their faith demanded of them. I wonder if there is a willingness to sacrifice for the sake of our faith, my faith, your faith? Or, have we become so weak that we will no longer sacrifice in the face of persecution, easy persecution or life and death persecution?

The mantra Jesus taught anticipated how his sacrifice would be viewed when He said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I wonder, is there enough in my faith to merit persecution? The issue it seems to me is, “Has the quality of my living faith enough to be a threat to the ways of my world?” Living differently no matter what the difference makes our world uncomfortable. Is there a difference in our lives, the difference that sacrifice creates, to make my world uncomfortable? Lent should remind us of that difference.

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I did not grow up with any knowledge of the seasons of the church year, so I didn’t know anything about Lent as the 40 days before Easter to give ourselves to enter the last 40 days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. I did not know what it was to give oneself to “preparation” for the Cross and the Resurrection. They were just an extra day off from school (Good Friday) and new clothes for Easter morning. How shallow and cheated my spirituality was.

Since this past week beginning with Ash Wednesday, we have entered into a sober season that our sin created for Jesus and if I’m going to take my apprenticeship to Jesus seriously wouldn’t I want to be with Him in these days. The traditional spiritual practices for this season include repentance, fasting, prayer, and alms giving. I’ve learned that those are good not just for Lent, but as an ordinary part of one’s life in Christ. But I’m sure there are other disciplines that may also be helpful in this season.

The point is to “turn our eyes onto Jesus.” I know it is also a consistent challenge to “always keep Him before us,” but specifically this is the time to focus on the heavy season that we learn to carry His concerns all the way to the Cross in hopes that we will be readied once again to join Him in His heart for redemption, reconciliation, and restoration in our own hearts and for the sake of the whole world. Look for something that you can attach yourself to that can gain your attention.

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The culture hangs onto religiously oriented holidays, but for different reasons. St. Valentine was known for doing good out of a heart of love, so what can secular culture do with that? Of course, all that natural man knows is the romantic love between people but lacking a more substantial love as in “love your neighbor as yourself.” Don’t get me wrong, I think it is a delight to share romantic love if you have a spouse or girlfriend or boyfriend, but I doubt that we need to be reminded of what we “feel.”

What might be a greater need is to have a holiday to emphasize, “love your enemy, do good to those that persecute you…”. I guess that is what sets the Christian faith apart from all others. Maybe in light of Valentine’s Day we could make space to consider who we think of as “your enemy” and set aside a day to make a list and then consider praying God’s blessing on them one at a time. What if we were to set aside one day a week to pray for our “list of enemies?!”

I suspect the reason that we don’t do that is because we doubt that it will change them or us and besides, “we don’t want to.” We would rather use the negative energy that “enemy” provides to energize our anger or hatred for those persons, rather than invite God to change us and bring transformation in them. Since we all get exercised about politics and politicians, why not start with them in praying God’s blessing. That is the “cold water” that we can pour on them while releasing the pent up feelings within us.

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What after all is the “good?” When Paul writes that “all things work together for the good,” what is the “good?” It seems when we turn to the pages of the Scriptures, “good” takes on an expanded meaning. If we were the center of the universe instead of God, “good” would have a limited meaning since we are finite creations. Our finiteness makes “good” to also be finite.

Like every other quality or virtue God defines the terms. The amazing (to me) reality is that God always has my good in mind as he works through my mind. My “good” from an infinite perspective is not necessarily my finite sense of comfort and convenience. Sometimes it is, but most times not. As God’s creation I have little natural sense of the eternal. It has to be revealed to me. When God says something in His Word as truth the issue for us is trust.

Am I willing to trust God for his plan for my life (Jer. 29:11)? It is more difficult for us to trust Him from a distance, than it is to trust Him up close. Therefore, once again we are faced with what Paul had learned from his desert experience with Yahweh way back in the Arabian desert soon after his conversion. When he writes this affirmation in Romans 8, he has experiential data to support what he is declaring. The practice of reflection sets us up for confidence in the truth. It is not hard to believe when one gathers the evidence.

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Facing ourselves in truth is the foundation for personal transformation. If we give ourselves to an honest openness in dealing with ourselves in the midst of everyday life, we position ourselves in the healthiest way to capture reality. It gives us the gift of seeing what God is doing in our inner person as well as recognizing needed changes. Facing ourselves is an exercise that the Holy Spirit is glad to engage in with us taking the lead.

It seems that it is easier to seek to live out life in Christ by committing to certain principles rather than to live in response to the direct leadership of the Spirit. In some ways to live by principles is no different than arranging life around the Old Testament law-keeping. The New Testament provides a testament of the will of God as well, but there is a difference between living out an ethic and living out a living relationship with Almighty God.

Living by principles leads us to think that we know God’s will in any particular situation. It is a messier process to “seek his face” to listen to Him, converse with Him, and ask Him for his help in following through personally in an immediate circumstance. There is a great diversity among people who are “trying to live out Christian principles.” Sometimes those approaches are in conflict with one another. Our own subjectivity, or ourselves, is the most determining aspect to how we see and then act. The most effective aspect of living out truth remains, “facing ourselves in truth.”

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“In the world, but not of the world!” It is always easier said than done. The world in which we live has a competitive pull on all of those who belong to Jesus. The “pull” is the tension that exists between the two kingdoms that we live in, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man. The challenge is in the fact that we live in a temporal world with the calling of the eternal world. Our vocation is holiness, and our worldly environment is power.

In this season of testing, it is a “refiner’s fire” of sorts. What will be burn off and what will rise to the surface. I hope that you recognize the stressors for what they are. If we choose to listen to the eternal Voice in the midst of the noise, we will benefit if we listen to the noise, we will suffer. This a great time to sort out the voices.

The season we are in is the time to listen for Jesus words to us. This is an ideal time to immerse yourself in what Jesus has said to us in the gospels. I would highly recommend that we devote ourselves to the memorizing of the scriptures and to prayer. How we respond to the chaos around us is dependent on the condition of our inner man.

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After the cultural holidays how do you approach your days? For some of us with the reduction of activities we begin to feel the backwash that can lead us down, but in the realm of the kingdom of God what we have before us is the “sacrament of the present moment” which can keep us engaged in the movements of God right in front of us. One of our challenges is to let God lead us into each day looking for his presence or his direction.

One of my favorite verses was expressed when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prayed, “Glorify me Father for I have done what you showed me to do.” As we enter each day, we can bring that prayer with us. I’ve learned to pray, “Father show me what you want me to do today.” There is more than enough agenda in his hands for each day.

Part of our spiritual disciplines includes living in light of Jesus’ agenda for our lives as his followers. That way we can know that each day has enough in itself and we don’t have to depend on the way of our common culture to decide what is of value. The hard part for our natural egos is to learn to live responsively – responsive to God and his will.

We often quote Jer. 29:11 as an encouragement, but what is in his promise is the challenge to engage the plans (will) of God each day. The promise requires our daily participation in those plans. This is meant to be a very active interactive participation.

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As I contemplate Advent and Christmas, I know that I used to think of life differently than I do now. I used to move from event to event, not even season to season. I see things differently now. It has become a major mantra to me, slow down, slow down. As I think about that one of my favorite songs from many years ago is entitled by those words – “slow down.” The gist of the song is to slow down so that you may encounter the Holy One. It is quite difficult to fully encounter anything or anyone while in a hurry. The wisdom of Richard Foster’s response to the question as to the major obstacle in today’s world to the spiritual life is obvious – distractions. Whether technology, speed in its many forms, or superficial appetites a distracted life tends to squeeze all the meaningfulness out of human existence. Therefore, it is essential to learn to make empty space for God alone. Isaiah’s prophecy identifies Jesus in the terms that we desperately need: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. God works independent of the circumstance, but I think it behooves us to do our part. And that part is to slow down and make empty space for God. Intimacy with Him takes that empty space for God to transform our experience with the counselor, God, the father, and the prince. Join me in the “emptying” way this year.

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“Do not be afraid. I bring you glad tidings of great joy that will be for all the people…” Yes, we are quite familiar with those words, but what do they actually mean for you? We have a hard time thinking about a time when we did not know these words. We know the story. We rehearse it annually. But what does it actually mean for me? What is the joy of having a Savior?! The promises that seem destined for the future, like “when I die” or “when Jesus comes back” are hard to hold in the frontals of our minds.

There is a difference between historical truth and spiritual truth. History can be confirmed through an intellectual process, but spiritual truth is quite another thing. Spiritual truth is entered in through our Creator/creature experience. Spiritual truth has to be revealed and cannot be known any other way. We cannot come to spiritual truth simply through our intellect, God has to bring it to us.

What was the spiritual truth that came alongside the historical truth of the Incarnation? The spiritual truth was that this Jesus, fully human and fully divine was sent to enter into personal experience with each who would receive Him. Reception included a complete makeover of our human experience. We were then invited into a real relationship with our Creator. How then would you describe what that relationship means in your ordinary life? The Nativity that stands before us this week is not just historical, but fully spiritual. Can you enter the spirit of that good news this week?

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Our Advent week before us is focused on love. Certainly, it is the character of everything that has to do with Yahweh. It is out of love that the Incarnation was conceived. What we have before us is a standing call to love as God so loves. However, most of the love intended in our day is the feeling it gives the one who loves, and we miss the sacrificial nature of God’s love.

We need to know what loves is generated out of and I think love as it relates to followers of Jesus is captured by the great American theologian and pastor, Jonathan Edwards when he said, “A true love of God must begin with a delight in his holiness, and not with a delight in any other attribute; for no other attribute is truly lovely without this.”

I think we know so little of true love, so it behooves us to gather the wisdom of others to capture what is truly transformative in the Incarnation. More recently the wisdom of MLK is helpful at this point when he said, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” In the sense of these two Christian thinkers Advent love is about overcoming the gaps that naturally form in our lives. May this Advent Season bring you the strength to overcome the disappointments and wounds that our life has brought you.

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Times and dates change but truth does not. Jesus remains the Prince of Peace though it was heralded so very long ago. Matthew Henry said it so long ago, “What peace can they have who are not at peace with God.” First things are always first! Our weakness is when we ignore the power of our inner life and settle for a reduction of conflict in our public life. The substance of life is often ignored for the sake of image.

Our lives are actual inside out affairs. What the reality is, is what is on the inside of us. Thomas `a Kempis brings us wisdom in this Advent Season when he said, “All men desire peace, but very few desire those things that make for peace.” Ironically, real peace comes through our surrender to Christ. Why wouldn’t we do that?

It seems to me that we are too busy and frenetic to actually embrace the peace that Jesus offers to us day by day. Empty space must be created to dwell in the peaceful Presence of the “Holy One of Israel.” In order to pass on the peace of Christ to the other, we must experience it ourselves. That is surely the way of God in everything.

I’ve been giving thought to foundations upon which we build our lives. As we make space to listen to the pain and thinking that guides our day, it seems like the foundations have to be recalibrated. I’m wondering if each new generation needs to revisit the foundations that set the disciples of Jesus apart from those who are simply Jesus admirers. What does it mean for us to “love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your mind?”

I’ve been rereading the work of A. W. Tozer, solid disciple of Jesus in the middle of the 20^th century, The Knowledge of the Holy. What stands out is that we are almost completely ignorant of who God is and how God works in our day. The renewal that is needed in the church it seems is to restore the truth of God as our foundation. Rather than our shaping God in our own image, it behooves us to let God shape us in His image.

For all the desire in recent days to make the gospel of Christ relevant in our cultural milieu, it seems that our calling instead is to call the common culture to the gospel of Christ. I am struck with Jesus words in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, “Enter though the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” In these days of an ever increasing volume it seems that Jesus calmly calls us to just live the gospel and our Father will rejoice.

In anticipation of a holiday instituted by presidents (Washington and Lincoln), Thanksgiving Day has more of a biblical spirit than a cultural one. In the culture most make Thanksgiving a favorite simply because of celebrating family, food, and a break from the “hurriedness” of most people’s lives, but from a biblical worldview it is something much more substantial.

Thanksgiving is about gratitude in the midst of whatever is the cultural circumstance. Few of us were alive during World War II, but I’m confident that Thanksgiving was celebrated even in the midst of war, or even the Great Depression. Thanksgiving provides a deeply needed heart posture – gratitude.

Thanksgiving reminds me of Millet’s famous painting The Angelus in which two peasants with bowed heads are expressing their heart-felt thanks for God’s simple provisions in life. Thanksgiving is a time to bow our heads is genuine gratitude for God’s beauty, goodness, and truth. Personally, I intend to make space this week to take each area of my life and “count the blessings” of what God has done. Do you want to join me in that?!

Absolute necessity! As we seek to follow Jesus and be shaped and formed by the Scriptures – God’s revelation to us we each have different lenses. In a political world we tend to develop a hierarchy of values as to what is most important down a ladder to least important according to what we see in the pages of God’s Word to us. Therefore, what is highest on that ladder is an absolute necessity.

The hard part of living life together is that our hierarchy of values can become ways of separating ourselves from people instead of understanding that God doesn’t use that same set of values to decide who he loves and who he doesn’t love. That which joins Christians in family relationship is something else.

As John says in his first epistle three things, three times a true believer: believes the truth about Christ, walks in the light, and has love for the brethren. We are going to have differing hierarchies of values. Our focus is meant to be on what is truly is a biblical absolute necessity. It needs to come from what the scriptures treat as absolute.

Righteousness is a unique phenomenon in our world today. It maybe that for most, we are either ignorant of the blueprint or the Source or both. It seems that we suffer from the myopic notion that we, individually, are the center of the universe and therefore, we are in the vaulted position to massage reality to fit our personal preferences.

However, it seems that we are set up to experience the consequences of that false thinking. Righteous is naturally beyond everyone of us. We have the Source and the sources necessary to live in light of righteousness, but it requires a humbling of ourselves to understand that true righteousness is not self-generated.

We have been blessed with the gift of the revelation of God both in the flesh, Jesus and in the written text, the Scriptures. It would seem to me that we have lost touch with both and are left somewhat high and dry. With the givens of our culture, this is certainly the time to renew our commitment to learn Jesus Way, Truth, and Life and become genuine people of the Word.

When asked what the chief obstacle to spiritual progress in our day Richard Foster responded, “distraction.” There are issues that we ought to be cognizant of in our day, but not to the extent that we are living distracted from that which is of eternal value, our on-going relationship and intimacy with Jesus. Some things are more important than other things.

In fact, the deeper we walk with Jesus, the better prepared we are to respond to what is placed before us. “Issues” can move us away from living in the present which is all that we are accountable for. Living in the present moment and finding God’s presence and purpose in it is eternal work. I cannot live tomorrow today, but the best preparation for tomorrow is being fully present to God today.

It is the shape of our character that contributes most to today and tomorrow and being present to God is the most dynamic aspect of character shaping. The scriptures say something about that when it is said, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Isa. 64:8).

We are all familiar with a variety of scriptures that we most likely agree are true, but in fact we hardly ever do what those scriptures teach us. Maybe that is because we think that since we know the scriptures that is all that is needed or we haven’t been able to “read” the reality of our situation in order to see what it is that we need to “do” in the midst of it.

It seems apparent to me in these days that the evil one has been successful in sowing mistrust in our society to a seemingly “victorious” extent. Between mistrust and hate does it not smack of the “thief” who Jesus said would “steal, kill, and destroy?” Look around at what is being stolen from us. Look around and see what is being destroyed? The “killing” has grown exponentially in taking life, taking speech and taking hope.

But what has God given us with which to battle the “thief?” “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” The successful strategy is laid out for us. Will we participate as the soldiers that we are?

I ran across something in my quiet time several days ago that I think could be helpful for us every day, but especially in our present politically violent context. The general focus was on living the compassionate life and the key passage was Luke 6:27-28, “… love your enemies…”. In this period of history, most differences are treated as personal enemies that are painted with the “hatred brush.”

Hatred is not a new thing, but an old thing, as old as Cain feelings toward Abel. I think the hatred today reminds us that humankind, both personally and collectively is sinful and fallen from the grace that was offered in the Garden. Choosing rebellion against God either passively or actively colors the heart of every human being. This hatred makes people into enemies.

I found great wisdom in the words from MLK. This is why we must obey Jesus. “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate.” “Hate scars the soul and distorts the personality.” “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” “We must love our enemies, because only by loving them can we know God and experience the beauty of his holiness.” Obedience to Christ is always better for everyone.

In the midst of the chaotic world in which we live, I’ve given thought this week to the notion of nobility. Back in the day nobility was a social status which was relevant in days gone by, but I’m wondering that we might gain a sense of the scriptural sense that is not a matter of social status, but a matter of individual character. I’m wondering if part of what David is getting at in Psalm 139 is the created nobility that is shaped in each one whom God has made.

In fact, the wonder that David wonders is in the nobility that lies in the reality that each of us are first of all, made in God’s image. There is I think a nobility in the path God has called us into as reflections of him. As we usually use the term nobility is a human calling to rise above the ordinary to the place of extraordinary. I suspect that God has given each of us the potential to “rise above” where we have been.

I think the reality of nobility involves courage, perseverance, and risk. Our greatest nobility is in arising to challenges that have been placed before us. In that we have to have a sense of the invisible world of God’s kingdom life that calls out from us at least circumstantially our very “best self.” When faced with the challenge, are we willing to lay aside our personal comfort and convenience for the sake of a greater good? I think that is the question. Any time we say or hear, “these are challenging times” it ought to be a clarion call to “step up” to accept the challenge. I think that is what human nobility looks like.

From time to time someone says something that seems so very timely though it was said at a different time. I ran into one of those things this week that seems so timely in our present circumstance. Michael Cassidy, “The sort of person I am, is largely determined by how I handle the negative situations in which I find myself.” We get to choose whether we will be persons of peace or persons of chaos.

One of the great fallacies that we have learned to live into is to assume that circumstances create our responses to it, but Jesus showed us a different way. When Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives….” The question is, from what source do I find my peace?

Our world lives and breathes turmoil and has no peace to offer its citizens. Yet, that is the only peace that most are aware of. It would seem that this is a great opportunity for the apprentices of Jesus to offer real hope. We have a real Object for hope, having hope in Him is hope that brings peace, real peace.

As a philosopher, Dallas Willard engaged in the discussion and pursuit of “just what a good life” actually is. Good living is not as popular as the pursuit of happiness. They may seem somewhat the same, but they are actually quite different. A good life carries a quality of goodness, which is a moral statement. Therefore, what is a morally sound way of living?

Happiness on the other hand is the contemporary replacement for the historic sense of goodness. Since the focus has moved from a cosmic definition to a completely personal definition, the measurement has completely changed. As C.S. Lewis stated, “Happiness is about what happens, joy is not.” The deep inner sense of joy contributes to the cosmic sense of goodness. Joy is a descriptor of the reservoir of the soul.

As external circumstances change and the change all the time, happiness is always in question. As such, the pursuit of happiness has become all consuming because of its variance. This distraction is a subtractive element to life, always taking and never giving. Goodness on the other hand has a filling and stabilizing influence on the individual life as well as our communal life. As we learn to embrace “goodness” we naturally are drawn to the Definer of the Good and that helps us live differently and peacefully.

On one hand our world has come to relish in diversity and on the other not so much. It seems that we are bent on the same path as civilization has always been on. There are acceptable aspects of diversity that are championed; race, sexuality, and creed, in modern society and there are aspects of diversity that are denied; political incorrectness, a biblical worldview, and disagreement. Often the outcome is reduced to socio-political power. Then we are back to the same bent who has the power.

It would seem would it not that the Jesus Way is not bent on power, but on a different Way. Isn’t it more about simply going about creating “good culture” wherever we go? Truly being redemptive, restorative, engagers of faith, hope, and love. If indeed Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 is a description of God, then doesn’t that call us to His Way in this world differently?

It is easiest for us to expend our energy in what we are against. In a way that seems to be “angry energy.” It is more difficult for us to spend our energy on what we are “for.” I’m calling that “restorative energy.” Knowing what was originally intended requires that we pay attention to history so that we can invest in restoring and rebuilding that which is broken. Wasn’t that, isn’t that simply what Jesus’ work has been, is, and always will be about?

I read an article in the present issue of Christianity Today magazine asking the question, “Can voting be a sin?” The responses gathered were as diverse as were the respondents. The only thing in common among the respondents was that they were all “spokespersons for Christ.” It may suggest that the Church is as divergent as its adherents’ worldviews. I’m sure that every respondent believes that their worldview is resident in the scriptures.

No wonder the world is confused about righteousness and justice. There is little certainty in the Church, how could there be certainty is the common culture? After reading the differing viewpoints I found in my own reaction wondering whether this person or that person is even a Christian. The redevelopment of our worldviews from childhood or provincial adulthood to a serious apprenticeship with Jesus is the task of every serious disciple of Jesus.

How we see things and what we value constitute our worldview, and we are accountable to God for our conclusions. I am reminded of Paul’s admonition in Romans 12:2, “Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” One thing is sure, we must be men and women of the Word and rearrange our thinking and our living in light of God’s Word as best we can.

Self-reflection seems to be one of the least practiced disciplines in contemporary life. I’ve wondered why that is and the best I can come up with is that our “center” is rather mushy, so we do not have a solid center made up of something more than simply opinion. In order to reflect we have to bounce things off something that doesn’t change easily. In order to know who I am and where I am, I need to recognize a “center” within oneself.

The question: “Who am I” is not an untested question. I’m reminded of Bonhoeffer’s poem by that name in the midst of a world “coming apart” in the early 1940s. The reality is that circumstances can never hold the weight of my identity nor value or I will come crashing down. Gordon MacDonald calls that a “sink hole.” But I am much more than my worldview – the way I think things ought to be.

It is in my “private world” that substance exists, and it is in our “private worlds” that we are held together. I suspect that the “driven-ness” and noisiness of contemporary life leaves us scattered and distracted, not knowing which end is up. The certain truth is who God says I am since He is the one who “dreamed” me up and brought me to life. As we continue in uncertain circumstances, may we find great solidarity in the Word of God and the Jesus Way, Truth, and Life.

There are many challenges before us. What do you use to confront those challenges? The more I talk to a variety of people the more one of those “hidden” dimensions of life surfaces – worldviews. How we see things and what the nature of our own certainties are for the most part how we experience life. I’ve been asking this question to many, “How does one become strong emotionally and how does one become weak emotionally?”

When our worldview is based on how we think things should be and is rooted on the conclusions that we came to as members of our families of origin and the messages that have been prevalent in our society, then we are rooted in that which is temporary or transient. The challenge for us as followers of Jesus is to make an unpopular decision, base our worldview on the revelation of God – the Scriptures.

The worldview of the kingdom of God is the best and only eternal worldview that transcends time as it was given to us as “best.” God’s way has been, is, and will always be best. The best way to live makes us strong and centered in whatever the circumstances. Just as the battle rages over what is truth or right, we can contribute a solidarity in a truly broken society. Join me in living our “salt and light!”

Some have observed that a root problem in our “Judeo/Christian” society is that instead of influencing society sadly the common culture has influenced the Church. It seems to me that just maybe the church has required so little of itself so that Christian discipleship has come to mean almost nothing. I’m not sure how we have gotten to where we do not take the Bible seriously as an essential means of becoming followers of Jesus, but I think we are there for the most part.

If we become satisfied with an altruistic ethic, rather then the painful process of true spiritual transformation, we not longer are true cross-bearers. I’m afraid that we are keen on alluding to our favorite Bible verses without ever coming to grips with the depth of human experience that lies in each one. Galatians 2:20 comes to mind, yet we have hardly entered into the substance of what it means to be “crucified with Christ…” Have we joined him on the cross in our hearts? Do we know how to “take up your cross and follow Him?”

Honestly, I find it deeply disappointing that we have come to a place in which we embrace social theories above our embracing the inspired Word of God. God has shown us how to “love one another.” He has shown us what it is to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” When we forget what we “know” we are particularly susceptible to living in a self-referenced manner which is simply rebellion against God.

In light of the “revolution” that is going on around us, I uncovered a statement from David Bentley Hart that I found very helpful that you may as well: “Violent, sudden, and calamitous revolutions, are the ones that accomplish the least. While they may succeed at radically reordering societies, they usually cannot transform cultures. They may excel at destroying the past, but they are generally impotent to create a future. The revolutions that genuinely alter human reality at the deepest levels – the only real revolutions, that is to say – are those that first convert minds and wills, that reshape the imagination and reorient desire, that overthrow tyrannies within the soul.”

The “gradual, subtle, exceedingly small and somewhat inchoate at first – like the revolution of Christianity in its first centuries – slowly introducing its vision of divine, cosmic, and human reality into the culture around it, often by deeds rather than words” is the revolution that lasts. The task before us is to simply live out the truth of Scripture beginning with the Great Commandment…”Thou shalt love the Lord thy God will all of thy heart, soul, and mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” Or, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is sufficient to fill the gaps that have been exposed in recent days.

Our present culture is being held hostage by the false teachers of Critical Race Theory. It is our challenge to know the truth that will set all men free. As followers of Jesus may we enter others pain with listening ears and compassionate hearts and grounded in truth…not someone’s theory.

In a world in which some are pushing for systemic change through political influence I keep wondering if it becomes anything different than any other social power movement? The intrinsic problem of “power over” others is that it is only temporary. Temporary until the next political movement pushes forward to regain a new foot hold. The problem is the unredeemed nature of humankind remains the same. See the consequence of the desert exile of Israel until the previous generation of faithlessness died off – literally. In time the new generation would become faithless and be destined to be exiled.

It seems to me that until humankind is changed by experiences of spiritual restoration, most change will remain political in the throes of political power. Though some righteousness may come out of the present mayhem, I have doubt that it will last unless the source of change changes. Unless there is a spiritual conversion of the human heart, the seed will grow up only to be strangled by the “thorns and thistles.”

The seed of change must be sown in the soil of the kingdom of God and his righteousness for it to last. Yet, I admit according to the revelation of God, that which we have tells me that the progression of the “progressives” will eventually lead to more tribulation. Hope in any other manmade stripe only leads to disappointment. The ugliness of fallenness will simply raise another “savior” to whom man devotes himself only to be disappointed once again.

The world outside of us is different! What is the world inside of you like? The kingdom of heaven that we pray in every day as we pray like Jesus taught us to pray does not depend on what is around us, it is a matter of what is in us. The kingdom of God is the seed that was planted in us when we “gave our lives to Christ.” Have we cultivated that seed? Have we watered that seed? Has it sprouted and bloomed?

The weakness that seems to dominate is the weakness of non-germinated seed. God placed within us the seed that was given to us to change the world for the good not for evil. What is the condition of your seed? Have you given any thought to that? Have you ever asked God to cause the seed to flourish?

Our “religion” has settled for productivity in life instead of pushing onward to fruitfulness. The fruit depends on the seed becoming a stalk or trunk, and the trunk producing branches (passions/talents/gifts) and the branches producing fruit. If there is something to grasp in this it is to always make space to cultivate the “seed” in your life rhythms. It is meant to be the priority in life. Don’t forget that!

We are residing in a unique time in our lifetimes. We choose to live in reaction or in response to the stressors that are upon us. It seems that when we look closely at Jesus, we always find Jesus responding from the inside out. It is in his perfect humanness that he was always ready to respond to what was before him.

We often simply ascribe his behavior to his divinity, but in fact his responses were rooted in his continual cultivation of his relationship with the Father. If his work was to show us the Father in flesh and blood, the challenge to embrace the “Jesus Way” stares us in the face. Do we respond to the world we live in rooted in the Word of God or have we exchanged that Life for the common culture’s way?

If we embrace the stressors that we are engaged in from the perspective of politics, we have given up the wholeness and holiness that remains certain under the authority of the Trinity. “Saltiness and Light” are rooted in the personal reality of our relationship with God. As legitimate followers of Jesus it would seem that Jesus alone ought to direct our steps, because it is in Him alone that salt and light are defined.

With Pentecost now in the rearview mirror, what do we have in front of us? This week we keep our sights on the gracious provision that God has made to us in our finite world of time and space. We have the great mystery of the Holy Trinity set before us. Though incomprehensible in every way, God has expressed Himself and continues to express Himself for us in intimacy and deference. The image of the Trinity, though inconceivable is three in One.

What we are left with is Love. “We love because He first loved us!” How and why God would reveal Himself in the sense of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we know not, but what we know is that He has done that to show love in its full dimensions. He has done that for our sakes! This is our comprehension of the Incomprehensible.

So, what then does it matter? It is for our sense of Mystery and Awe! Our humanness is incomplete without mystery and awe. Our inadequate understanding is necessary to come to grips with the truth that we are “nothing” and He is everything. To be made “a little lower than the angels” includes this humility that sets us apart as “made in His image.” As we pilgrim on through this week, I encourage you to do so with the spirit of mystery and awe. Look and listen with amazement!

The path narrows this week to arrange our focus on the Holy Spirit. In the season of Easter, the Holy Spirit is the promise that Jesus offers all who would follow Him. These weeks leading up to Pentecost are weeks of celebration, learning, and anticipation of that which personalized the mystery of God’s way with humankind.

The Spirit’s work of revealing Jesus more fully, guiding us into all truth, and conviction humankind of sin, righteousness, and judgment is life itself for us. Jesus becomes our exposure to beauty, goodness, and truth. Opening us to truth in every endeavor, the Holy Spirit does the inner work of conviction of sin, declaration of righteousness, and life apart from Christ daily and eternally. Without the Spirit we would be left alone in Moses’ Law.

As we embrace this “season of the Spirit” over the next week, I would like to challenge you. Is the Holy Spirit a definitive member of the Trinity in your thinking? What is your relationship with the Holy Spirit like? Is the Spirit as personal and intimate as the Father or the Son? I’ve been giving some thought to that question this past week. Consider what it means to you to love the Holy Spirit with all of your heart, soul and mind!

This week in our pilgrimage to Pentecost the message is simple. The ministry of the church is an important chapter in the story of resurrection life, purchased and demonstrated in the Easter event. Lest you think of a smorgasbord of busyness like is often the case in contemporary churches, I want to offer us a simple and profound statement that Jesus made while in the Upper Room after the Seder dinner.

John recalls it this way, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:12-14)

For all the complicated and sophisticated programs we are capable of creating and developing, the call and command is really rather simple. We are simply to be about what Jesus did that the Father might get the attention and amazement that is his. Our lives will be completely full if only we would do what Jesus did.

In this third week of Easter our focus is on worship. Too often we have a very narrow definition of worship, usually thinking it is the same as songs and singing. However, the root of worship is found in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice to God which is your spiritual service of worship.” (KJV). It is so much more than singing.

Worship is very physical! Consider Mary in Jesus’ last week when she poured perfume on his feet and wiped them with her hair. Worship in light of Easter is submission to God in whatever place God calls you to. It could be to serve your neighbor, it could be in praying for others who are in need, it could be in contacting or writing a letter of encouragement; in a way it could be anything that requires physical action on your part.

Worship in light of Easter is very tangible. The resurrection of Jesus was a very tangible event and in the spirit of that event there is a path now provided for us to carry the scent of resurrection into our world day by day. Can you see how utterly different than anything that is natural to human beings? By the way, worship isn’t about how it makes me feel, but how I have invested myself.

Many in the church view the events like Christmas and Easter as simply one day affairs. It seems like it is quite normal for us to simply move on after the crescendo event but let me suggest that there is a whole symphony that follows if we can quiet our hearts enough to hear. In the weeks that follow Easter (7 of them) leading us to Pentecost, we have the opportunity to digest the experience of the salvation, restoration, reconciliation, redemption, and renewal that Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday brought us.

May I encourage you to make space over these weeks to think about the salvation that has been offered to you including its cost. Gather up experiences that you have had of restoration, of reconciliation, of redemption, and in what ways your life has been renewed when it so desperately needed it.

We could take a week for each one of these experiences and fill a journal almost of the richness and depth of experiences we have as a consequence of Easter. It is truly an amazing gift given to us when we think of the Risen Christ! What he did for us even after we turned our backs at Him is nothing short of awe-inspiring!

Many in the church view the events like Christmas and Easter as simply one day affairs. It seems like it is quite normal for us to simply move on after the crescendo event but let me suggest that there is a whole symphony that follows if we can quiet our hearts enough to hear. In the weeks that follow Easter (7 of them) leading us to Pentecost, we have the opportunity to digest the experience of the salvation, restoration, reconciliation, redemption, and renewal that Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday brought us.

May I encourage you to make space over these weeks to think about the salvation that has been offered to you including its cost. Gather up experiences that you have had of restoration, of reconciliation, of redemption, and in what ways your life has been renewed when it so desperately needed it.

We could take a week for each one of these experiences and fill a journal almost of the richness and depth of experiences we have as a consequence of Easter. It is truly an amazing gift given to us when we think of the Risen Christ! What he did for us even after we turned our backs at Him is nothing short of awe-inspiring!

What does Easter mean to us, really mean to us? Meaning is not simply print on the paper of our Bibles. Meaning has dimensions of heart, soul and mind. Meaning changes us in the way we see, hear, think, and act. It has substance of length and width, but even more so height and depth.

As humans made in the image of God, our substance is in part the substance God created in us. How often are we described in tangible and intangible ways! Our heart is not the muscle beating in our chests. Who can measure the soul or even the mind? So, when I ask what does Easter mean to us, I am asking, “in what ways does this week from Sunday to Sunday shape and form our hearts, souls, and minds?

Often, we have been keen on declaring ourselves, the Easter people, but is there the evidence in us or is it simply a little ditty that makes us feel good. Has Easter gripped our hearts, souls, and minds sufficiently to reveal the kingdom of heaven through the way we live, breathe and have our being? The circumstance in which we presently live is in dire need of Easter people who live meaningfully.

Holy Week stands apart from the other 51 weeks of the year. The story that unfolds before us in John 12-20 sets the redemptive tone to the lives we live. Always remembering that as disciples of Jesus and not simply “Jesus admirers” the path that we tread was walked before us by the One who loves us most.

In this time of suffering in our present circumstance, Jesus knew it so well and because of that this is the laboratory in which we prove our faith and trust in Him. It is so much easier to sit in the classroom taking notes than it is meeting in the laboratory to test out the ideas and theories that we have garnered in the classroom.

Sometimes we miss what is there for us if we cannot use our imaginations to help us understand. Do we forget that the pages of John’s gospel here are describing a real series of events? The Passion of the Christ only picks up the story in the Gospel of John, Chapter 18. From before the Triumphal Entry through Calvary’s Tree to Resurrection morning history records a story that could be screened powerfully as it tells of the event that changed the world forever. Do yourself a favor by making this story real in your heart, mind, and soul.

We are entering the fifth week of Lent and it is a transition week. Jesus is closing in on Jerusalem and the week of solemnity leading up to the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday. In this week of contemporary time there is a reason for sobriety and sobriety is not panic. Just as Jesus knew what was ahead of him and yet stayed focused on giving his life away in all its dimensions, so we learn how to live from him.

The O.T. theme this week is taken from Ezekiel 37 and his vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. The point was that that which was dead was going to be made alive. You might want to reread that portion of scripture this week. The spirit of the vision was seeing the redemption, regeneration, and restoration that lies in the hand of God.

During this time of fear or suffering, I encourage you to look to God and the power of redemption that lies in him. Redemption is simply the capacity to “buy back” that which was lost. To the extent that you have given up peace to fear, or love to self-centeredness, or trust to doubt, this might become your own Valley of Dry Bones.

The season of Lent is always a challenge for us. Usually because of the distraction of ordinary life, but in God’s sovereignty this year Lent and ordinary life fit like a glove in our experience. I connected the Lenten practices last week with what is needed in our present circumstance with the coronavirus.

We are being asked to fast from the busyness of life and hunker down at home. I think the richness of this circumstance is to move through the day in a more hurried way, in our conversations and any other domestic experiences. Making space for quiet, reflection, and listening has always meant to be the path to true wholeness and holiness (Psa. 46:10, read the whole verse). Prayer has been given to us as the richest expression of our Divine/human connection. This is a season for helping others carry the weight of life through our devotion to others.

Our culture continues to value the ethic of alms-giving or sharing resources with those in need. I pray that this week will find you, setting aside fear through prayer and opening yourself for availability to living out the “kingdom of heaven on earth” for those around you.

I find it ironic that during our Lenten season we would be faced with a circumstance that sets us up for the spirit and activities that fit with the practices characteristic of this season of the church year: fasting, prayer, and alms-giving. We are being asked to fast from social settings; probably a fast that no one planned on. Clearly, this is a time to come before the Father in prayer for ones’ self, for our “neighbor”, and for national repentance of sin and the seeking of the Righteous One. This is the perfect situation that encourages followers of Jesus to stand in the “gap” for others.

It seems to me that this is the time in which we separate ourselves from the panic, fear, hopelessness, and greed that is presently rampant. These are the times when the “cream rises to the top.” The world should be able to look to the church for the faith, hope, and love that it is so desperate for in these days. In light of Lent we ought to see the implications of the cross quite clearly. Obviously, there are imprints from the cross that shape our lives; take time to give unhurried thought to them.

I’ve been a devotee of Henri Nouwen’s little book, The Way of the Heart. Maybe this is an ideal time to reflect on the three activities that he summarized: solitude, silence, and prayer. Believe it or not, this is a strengthening pilgrimage.

When we join Jesus and during this season have the cross in view, the notion of fasting makes a lot of sense. In the past when life was more about subsistence food was an absolute necessity for survival and the discipline of fasting was a great sacrifice. Felt sacrifice puts us in touch with the heart of Jesus as he headed toward the cross.

Since most of us in the Western world could benefit a great deal of setting aside a few meals, it hardly captures the sense of fasting that carried a great meaning in former times. On the other hand, we can struggle to set aside the conveniences that often govern our lives. There are parts of life that distract us from our attention on God’s coming kingdom.

It is in those conveniences that a path to sacrifice is set. The cross of Christ is meant to draw us forward in the ways of the kingdom of God. It behooves us to attend to the movements of the Spirit and let God show us what it is that would benefit us to set aside during this season.

This season in which we turn our focus on the Cross of Christ is a true blessing to our souls. The blessing lies in knowing that there is a Reality that is invisible to the naked eye as well as the background noise we call, “the media.” Aren’t you grateful that what you hear every day from the various pundits is entirely secondary to what truly matters?

Lent captures kingdom of God practices that are often out of sight to the naked eye. As we re-emphasize fasting from that which distracts our hearts from the One who loves us most, prayer that engages our heart of hearts, and alms giving that opens our hearts to the needs that present themselves every day; we are blessed with the Life that gives us life to the fullest.

The truth is we have to fast and pray and give openly just to not lose the joy and freedom that the cross of Christ secured for us. So, in a way we have to be willing to fight the good fight of faith, or we will suffer in our souls needlessly. These days have been given to us as a weapon to push against all that would suck the very Life out of us.

Winter is a season in nature as well as in our spiritual journey. It makes sense that Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Season would begin in creation’s winter season. We are about to embark on the season of prayer, fasting, and giving. I think those practices were chosen because they put us in close proximity to Jesus and his turning toward the Cross.

Naturally we don’t like this kind of journey puts on our contemporary desire for beauty and goodness, but there is the truth still of Jesus walk to the Cross because of his great love for us. Sad and sorrowful on the one hand, but the path to eternal hope and joy for all of us who would believe and follow.

Personally, I am always in need to reflect on what needs to be set aside even for a season to help me set a sharper edge for the plowing the soil of my life. The practices of preparation during this season leads to a greater fruitfulness in the ultimate “resurrection life.”

As often as our song writers write about it, it is probably one of the least practiced characteristics in our world today – love. Love is one of the main messages of the Incarnation of Jesus. It was because of love that we celebrate this event some 2000+ years later. I suspect that what is missing in our world is that we hardly understand the story.

Generosity, family connecting, and joyfulness are all resident in the love of God. The truth is we live such unconnected lives that we think that these attitudes and activities are separate phenomenon. I wonderful if that is why those things don’t carry on beyond the Season of Christmas.

Everything about the Incarnation event is meant to set apart life as a way of life itself. I suspect everything that is good is resident in the love of God on that manger Night. All that gives life to us is there. We need to meditate on it this week to enhance the meaning of Christmas for each of us.

In the harsh reality of our world it seems like Isaiah was simply being an irrational poet when he wrote, Prince of Peace as he described the One who was to come. I wonder how the Israelites thought about the prophecy? I would imagine that if this was to describe the Messiah who was to come, it most likely was understood as a way out of Roman occupation.

Too much of the time we shape and form our worldview around the external world, when Jesus himself was the one who said, “the kingdom of God is within you.” The resistance has always been there that “the circumstances of life is what needs changing” rather than “I” am the one who needs changing.

As we engage peace in this second week of Advent, the challenge before us is that Jesus offers his peace as our personal antidote to our lack of peace. Peace and being a person of peace takes root in our souls and then is able to be worked out into everyday life. The hard part of the Jesus Way is that every problem in the “outside” world always begins within me.

The Season of Light that we call Advent/Christmas begins with Hope. Hope is confidence in the unseen and the future. Frankly, there is an absence of hope in our world because we have placed our hope in the goodness of people. Hope now is about the thing I am hoping for i.e. a new job, a life-partner, better circumstances, to win the lottery. There is no Living Substance to hope for most.

For those who have made space to organize the affairs of their life around that which is lasting have a Great Hope. This season we begin with the Hope that will one day return to gather up those who belong to Him. In this Hope there is certainty in the future, sooner or later.

I am reminded of a song from the past, “I Wished We’d All Been Ready.” I don’t really know exactly how Hope arrives, but that is also why this Season is known as Advent or “arrival.” We look for the Arrival every day, but we also participate in the arrival as we become “servants of the Arrival” paving the way for many more to see the Light.

What experience have you had with the voice of Jesus in your daily life? I must admit that I use to think that discernment was simply for making decisions. However, I’ve come to see that discernment is meant to be a daily part of kingdom of God living. John’s quote of Jesus in John 17:4 has become a beacon to me, “… Father, glorify me, because I have done what you showed me to do….”

As disciples of Jesus shouldn’t we be aware that there is always an agenda that is invisible to use except as God reveals it to us? I always have a plan for every day, but I want to always hold it with an “open hand” so that I can be responsive to the direction that God gives to me. The fact is there is much that we can be involved in that simply does not matter. That is not how I want to live!

Choosing the path of responsiveness is not normal for us. It seems that in our flesh we have taken to trying to control or dictate life to fit our perception of comfort and convenience. I don’t know about you, but I want to live as meaningfully as I can, so I don’t want to waste life on that which does not matter. Fruitfulness is God’s destiny for us, not productivity! I know that is a hard one for us in a world that is dictated by power, sex, and money

“Hunger is an essential for true spiritual growth.” Have we gotten so over-stimulated that we no longer have a sense of our soul’s hunger? I wonder if we have lost our sense of soul so that we cannot recognize anything that does not simply “slap us in the face?” I wonder if we have become so spiritually lethargic that we can no longer hear the “still small voice?”

We are quick to lament both the circumstances in our lives as well as the general direction of “things.” But, in fact, we are still here, and we are the players in our own “play.” It is easy to think the problems and the solutions are all “out there.” We, however, are participants in life, so that we are either part of the problem or part of the solution.

Someone much wiser than I said, “Remember, politics is downstream from society.” I don’t think that relationship is restricted to politics. Society as a whole is downstream from each of us. It seems that if we were to live out our mandate (2Cor. 5:17-20), we might complain less and influence more.

It is almost impossible for us to take our hands off “making something happen.” I find it stirring to my soul when I consider the formation and practices of the newborn church in Acts 2. When we consider that there was no evidence of a manmade strategy for the formation of the church, it informs us beyond our normal ability to think.

It seems that we cannot get away from needing to project our own thinking into our circumstances. I wonder if we have difficulty with discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit and rest instead on our “best thinking?” From where I sit, it seems like the Holy Spirit knew exactly how to organize this new thing. Humanly speaking, what people needed was the openness that comes through conviction of heart, restoration of soul, openness of mind, and willingness to act.

Given our forefathers in the faith, is it time for us to detach from much of what we are holding onto for our comfort and convenience, and then attach to the “holy wild” of the One who brought us to the Saviour?

Biblical history tells us that those who are prepared for God to act are the ones that God did not have to act in spite of. They became assets or useful in the execution of God’s plan. The question before us is always is: are you prepared to be an asset or are you and obstacle. The only way we become an asset is when our hearts, souls, minds, and strength is directed toward God continually.

It is easy to approach each day on our own terms, since we can justify the legitimacy of our concerns. However, in Jesus’ own words he directs us back to the reality of living out of relationship rather than principle when he said, “Glorify me Father for I did everything that you showed me to do. The dynamic of the relationship to the point of being shown the will of God is the key.

Yes, there is much that our eyes can see that “ought to be done.” But, when Jesus also said to those who came to him in the end, “Lord, Lord, look what we did in your name, depart from me for I do not know you” it seems harsh to us unless we know that there are “first things” and “second things.” The first thing is always learning to know Him and then doing what he “shows” us to do.

The interesting thing about devotion is that it has always been something that God has desired and responded to in us. The main issue in devotion is in what we are devoted to. As people made in God’s image, I suspect that is part of that image – devotion. I think devotion is a precious thing and is not meant to be squandered on anything that is less than what it can be.

The word “devotion” in the scriptures are usually connected to prayer and love (Acts 1:14; Rom 12:10). The prayer is a synonym for seeking God, and love is directed toward one’s “brother” or sister. Both destinations are transformative for the one who is devoting himself. What then is the measure of my devotion? Am I engaged substantially or am I simply satisfied with mediocracy?

It is not primarily a matter of effort, though devotion is active. It is a matter of desire! Do I desire the “face of God” more than the blessings of God? Truly, that is a hard one, because we are quite aware of what we feel that we lack. However, it seems to me in David’s psalm that his encounter with the “face of God” was sufficient to remove his sense of lack. In some ways this is the story of our faith. Can we come to the place that the “face of God” is enough?

Those of us who are living in the “grandparent generation” can often analyze the following generations as lacking devotion, but that is not the case. When we think of devotion, we usually think of hard work, family, country and faith. However, I’ve come to see that devotion is not missing, it is just redirected.

There is a huge devotion now in our country to personal happiness, entertainment, and play. I think that is because with the speed of life, most who are younger than I, have a sense of immediacy, that life could end at any time. That is mostly because life is dangerous. With the knowledge that “stuff happens” all the time, you are never totally safe.

It is of great value for us in our day that we would come to the realization that “Eternity is Now in Session” as John Ortberg entitled his 2018 book. We can connect now and then by how we choose to live. Eternity isn’t just a sense of time, chronos, but the purposes of God chairos. The perspective that comes “heavenly thinking” gives eternal purpose to everything we do.

The qualities of God’s kingdom reach laboratory status in the life of the community. Most of us had biology or chemistry or some kind of science in our educational background. It is comfortable by and large sitting at our desk, looking at the pictures or graphs in the textbook, but somehow that was not enough, and they had to create labs for each class to make the concepts real. Our knowledge with the textbook was inferential knowledge, but our knowledge in the lab was real knowledge – experiential knowledge.

The community of faith is the laboratory for the knowledge of the kingdom of God. It is the place for us to test out what the scriptures instruct us in. We find out what it is to “love one another” when we love one another. We learn what it is to confess our sins, when we confess our sins to one another. We learn what it is to “devote yourselves to one another” when you pray for one another with one another.

Maybe the gospel would make more sense to the outsider if they could see the actions of the insiders to each other. The formation of our character takes place in community with the Trinity and with one another. I would say after following Jesus for over 60 years that the gospel is rarely seen in the laboratory; but studied intensely and continually with the Textbook. One is by inference and the other is real.

In some circles of the Church, the Second Coming of Christ is a continual topic for speculation. When we look around and see things as they are it is our instinct to pray, “Get me out of here!” In certain pockets of the Faith that has often been the prayer. I’m going to venture a guess that in the places of greatest suffering, that sentiment is shaped by hope.

Ironically, waiting for that Great Day can actually be our most fruitful work. If we grasp the kingdom of God in any reasonable dimension, we can see that there is so much “good” for us to do. It seems to me that the deeper the kingdom of God has moved into our hearts, souls, and minds, the more opportunities we see to fill.

I think we have fallen asleep to think that this world has “gone to pot.” It has always been a domain of the evil one. There has always been the charge from on High to be servants of reconciliation, redemption, and restoration. Don’t be deceived to think this world is home, so we are disappointed that it isn’t heaven. It is our vocation to live out holiness in the darkness. We are the “light-bringers.” It may be time to re-examine our thinking and the falseness in it.

Money seems to always be an issue in our lives. When asked how much money is enough, John D. Rockefeller is quoted as saying, “just a little bit more.” It is a subject that comes up rather frequently in the “God-with-us” story – the Bible. Often the “rich” are accused of being a problem among the people of God (James 5:1-6 for example), yet, most who are rich do not see themselves as rich. I wonder why that is? Is it because they, like Rockefeller think that they need just a little more to be truly rich? Maybe “richness” is another word for security and since security is a relational reality, depending on wealth is a never-ending search.

Whatever the case, most in the Western world are viewed as rich by the 2nd or 3rd worlds. I think that if we could just see that what we have as given to us by God, that is the central issue. The way that we think is critical to how we act. One thing leads to another. The struggle with riches is in the sense of possession. When we possess what we have been provided for whether our efforts are involved in the obtaining it or not, we have the spirit of the “rich.”

If we can possess what we have for the glory of God, then our possession is open to God’s discretion. In that, possession is not burdensome and “life-taking”, but freeing and life-giving for the sake of others. Our thinking about money is the fulcrum issue in dealing with money. Our spiritual transformation is the most important part of economics.

I find it interesting the things we consider “our rights!” It is evidence once again that we are more conscious of our national identity than we are our spiritual identity, “You are not your own, you have been bought with a price.” It is not a matter of either/or, but a matter of priority – which comes first. Do I claim more of what Jesus said or more of what the Constitution says?

I had a conversation recently with a stranger who made an astute observation. He said, the problem we face is that too many people look to the law to determine what is right and wrong, instead of their own hearts. I don’t know anything about his religious faith, but I think he saw what the Scriptures reveal to us.

Apart from the Word of God and a redeemed soul we are going to be “tossed about” by every wind of legislation. We are in a world that is suffering from moral and ethical “milk” that is always changing. The “milk” curdles and is thrown out and more “milk” comes to replace it, but it remains milk. Jesus said something about that when he talked about the wiseman and the foolish man and rock and sand.

Life is hard these days. Some think it is too hard, but I wonder is it that life is any more difficult than it has been or are we less able to face its hardness. I’m reminded of a conversation I had with an educated Indian man several decades ago. I asked him to give me a thumbnail comparison of India and America. He told me that the US was a technological giant and India was a technological pigmy. He then said, India is an emotional giant and the US is an emotional pigmy. I wonder if that is still the same. It seems every more obvious that we do not know how to handle suffering. We are taught that whatever is wrong must be quickly fixed. Enduring the suffering and the “unfixed” is almost beyond us.

I think the emotional issue is that we do not know how to engage and stay engaged with the dissonance of the “unfixed.” I think this is a gap that apprentices of Jesus can fill in the national psyche. We carry the source of healing within us, maybe it is time to step up and into the depths of suffering that is all around us.

Just as soon as we acknowledged summer, we are aware that autumn is just around the corner. Early in our lives the year was scheduled around the school year, but that keeps arriving earlier and earlier. Maybe it is because the older we get the more rapidly the days pass. I don’t know for sure, but all I know is that tomorrow seems like it is already here.

So, I am stimulated by Alan Fadling’s book, An Unhurried Life. He tracks Jesus down in his “breakneck speed” of 2 MPH. There is much for us to learn from Jesus that sits juxtaposed to our common culture driven by tyranny. I think the wisdom of Jesus who had a task that it only took three years to accomplish and yet he never hurried once exceeds the wisdom of our world.

Do you find yourself looking for the affirmation of this world? I think if we do, we will at best receive resounding gong or a tinkling cymbal – disappearing into oblivion rather quickly. Why not simply live for the love of God!? Each season of our lives we are faced once again with detaching from that which is no longer important and attaching to that which has an eternal quality of meaning.

Here we are in mid-summer and knowing that the school year is just around the corner. The seasons of the year seem to march on without any hesitation and so it is in our “in Christ” life. No matter what nature’s season is upon us there is wisdom that transcends time. The wisdom of C.S. Lewis speaks clearly to us no matter the season of our lives, “It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in: aim at earth and you will get neither.”

That is to say, our daily point of reference is everything. We often find ourselves praying, “… Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The problem lies for us when we just treat those words as words and not as a spiritual reality. It would seem that Jesus’ instructions for his disciples is that we are actively about the process of bring the Way, Truth, and Life of Jesus into our everyday living.

Summer is a natural time for rest and growth. It is a time to rest and refresh our bodies and engage for growth in our hearts, our souls, and our minds. A resting body can still take in the presence of God through awareness and attentiveness of mind, body and soul. This is one time we can join our common culture in its pursuit of relaxation for the purpose of rest. However, we need to remember that relaxation is not exhaustion.

For all the criticism that Hallmark gets for creating events for celebration to boost sales, we must be grateful for the prompts. Left to ourselves we will tend to become so self-absorbed that we can easily become the persons that God did not create us to be. Honoring our mothers is just a taste of the life Jesus called us to live. Consider Jesus’ words to John from the cross, see my mother; take care of her.

The message of these kind of Hallmark days is to call us to live as intentional followers of Jesus full of honoring and gratitude. I have yet to find a human being who does not want to be honored or thanked. They may have a difficult time receiving love, but that’s their story. Frankly, most of the instructions that we receive from the scriptures raise the importance of the many ways of expressing love for one another, i.e. honoring one another, building up one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, I could go on and on.

So, I encourage you to be teachable wherever God’s truth and ethic shows up. I hope and pray that we can become the solution to the brokenness in our world. If we purport to carry the gospel of Christ within us, may we become genuine in our faith and life.

We are faced with an important time in the era of the Church. Since the 4^th century Christianity has dominated a good portion of planet earth, maybe not true discipleship with Jesus, but we have been able to become “Jesus admirers” rather easily. The Judeo-Christian ethic dominated European based societies. In a way we have been deceived by the social dominance of the Bible as the source for most of our ethics (i.e. “thou shalt not steal), but that is little by little, no longer the case.

We have entered a most important day where true believers must be willing to stand up for the ways of the kingdom of God and the priority of the gospel of heaven (Matt. 4:17). More and more discipleship will be delineated from “Christian faith.” In the days ahead, we will be weighed in the balances of “the way, the truth, and the life.” Our “conversion” to Christ will be tested as to whether it is real in any genuine way.

The cultural “political correctness” will denigrate biblical life styles as narrow and “hate-filled.” Conviction will be threatened as anti-American and as a “disease” from which to be cured. Laws based on righteousness will be challenged as “hate-filled” and unjust. The dominance of Christian morality with be only a thing of history and seen as irrelevant. Jesus and the Epistles of Paul, John, and Peter should become mastered to the glory of God.

With the celebration of Memorial Day, we are introduced to “serious” spring/summer. It brings to mind that in our journey with God, He brings the season of growth and rest to us. Those may seem like contradictions, but I think they are meant to be two sides of the one coin. In a way the more we grow, the more we need rest to gather up our resources so that we have the spiritual energy to press on.

The summer is a great time to practice the rhythms that Mark Buchanan included in his book, Spiritual Rhythms. As in creation, summer is a time of growth and blooming. It is a beautiful time, when the best of what is has the opportunity to show itself in sensual glory. At least in this Rocky Mountain region, we know that summer is not a long season, but one that is the fruit of the sacrifice of the other three seasons.

The challenge with summer, however, is to not hurry just because it is short. The growth in character needs to be celebrated, enjoyed and embraced. All of that takes a disciplined intentionality. In this season, make space to reflect on what God has been shaping and developing over the past months of deep internal work. Our greatest beauty is our character. The more you are like Jesus in your interior, the more there is for God to boast about

Spring time is a season replete with subtilties. In our scurrying world we look at a tree or even a series of trees and all we can say is green. But I challenge you to drive down any street bordered by a line of trees – but drive slowly – and see that the varieties of green seem almost endless. I want to suggest that life in Christ is no less subtle.

Yes, we can gain so general sense of the Way, but if we will tune into the subtilties of the varieties of the way Jesus lived among us, it will reveal that there is so much more for us to understand. I know the fact is that without even thinking we will naturally approach each day from a self-referenced lens. Yet, as apprentices of Jesus we are being called to alter our point of reference, so that we can “walk with Him in spirit and truth.”

In the words of our treasured contemporary mentor, Dallas Willard, “the challenge is to live your life the way Jesus would live your life.” I guarantee that we will pick up the beauty, goodness, and truth in our living that we would not have noticed any other way.

In the rhythm of the church year, these next six weeks compose the remainder of the Easter Season. As one thing leads to another, Easter leads to Pentecost in our spiritual lives. Resurrection set us up for the immersion and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, so that we would walk on a completely different path as apprentices of Jesus.

John describes us in his Patmos Revelation as a kingdom of priests for God. Now we are called to a vocation of holiness in which we are shaped and formed by the love and intention of the Trinity, in order to learn to know and serve the Author of Life. Can we acknowledge that life goes better if we can lean this in our hearts, souls, and minds?

At each season of life, we are challenged with the experience of re-formation so that we might become the person we were created to be in the first place and thereby learn to listen to His Voice and not waste time on that which does not give life and what truly doesn’t matter. Engaging in our calling is that which gives us the greatest meaning to our lives.

Easter isn’t just a day, it is a season; it is a way of life. These weeks are a bridge between Jesus in the flesh and Jesus in the Spirit. Once again, the disciples of Jesus lived in the mystery of the not yet. They had no idea what they were waiting for, all they knew was that Jesus told them to wait. The Counselor who would be with them would be coming soon. How are you with waiting? It seems like in the realm of the Almighty, waiting is always a part of the process. Isn’t our frustration about the fact that our focus is on the destination and God’s focus is on the journey? It seems like waiting has always been a part of the divine method. It seems like the absence of activity is a normal part of how God facilitates trust in us. It reminds me of an old song from my childhood, “trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” What does it take for us to learn trust? I don’t think trust can be built without the absence of activity. It seems to me that one of the ways of God that Moses learned (Ps. 103:7) was that there would be periods for simple obedience today with what had already been shown. Nothing new, no new instructions, just sheer dailiness. As we wait in this Easter Season, how about we join the disciples in waiting expectantly.

In writing this blog this week I am especially conscious of the fact that we live in two kingdoms as apprentices of Jesus. The visible one this week is blind to what is going on in the invisible kingdom this week. But, in the End that which is invisible to earth’s eyes will dramatically reveal itself in power, pure holiness and righteousness. In the historical events of this week that are out of sight of most, there is a story being retold. As followers of the King of Kings, we remember the King’s journey to the Day the Revolution began. The Friday we call Good was the day the power of sin was broken for those who would believe and follow the Crucified One. It is on that Day that we were invited into the redemptive plan of Almighty God, that through our obedience we might become the servants of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. The final victory occurred in the resurrection of the Holy One from death. He then gave us the privilege and assignment to be the hands and feet of the Resurrected Christ, that the world might know the Truth and in now knowing the Truth be set Free. Therefore, I urge you to walk closely and deliberately through each day from John 12-20. Read it over and over and read it slowly. Allow yourself to enter the story as a participant.

In so much of scripture we are faced with what appear as exhortations or expectations that simply seem impossible (i.e. “be thankful in all circumstances”). There is two realities that I think we often miss, one quite visible and one quite invisible. The visible is to pay careful attention to the grammar of scripture (i.e. “in” is not “for”). The invisible is the fact that as disciples of Jesus our vocation is to live a Christ-referenced life, not a self-referenced life.

The power of obedience is the “in Christ” life, lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Life in the Spirit requires a surrender to the love and will of God. Much of life includes living both in the body (our human being) and in the Spirit, which elevates our lives into eternity’s realm. We experience both the potential and the limitations of living in our humanity, but we also house life in the Spirit, which calls us beyond defining life in earth’s terms.

We often pray, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – now. That is a call to all of us who follow Him. I pray that we each embrace the Spirit’s call to live by his power and grace so that we can live in such a way that the Christ-referenced life becomes our source of identity.

What we do with familiar truth is a case of mistaken identity. When Jesus tells the truth by painting a picture through parables, we err when we settle for the gist of the story. There is a protective coating that is cast across his stories, but his stories reveal so much more than simple print on a page. The protective coating is so that we can learn without the direct sense of command.

We tend to take Jesus’ statements as “suggestions” rather than law like the Old Testament people took the Law of Moses. In that law there were some 620 statements that the children of Abraham were accountable to keep. The breaking of anyone of those statements required a sacrifice and repentance that could not be casually entered into.

All of that to say, the parable of the lost son in Luke 15 speaks and speaks and speaks even more deeply as to our intrinsic interior obstacles that keep us far from God. Like the sons in the story we can “live under the same roof” with God, our Father and know so little of Him and His ways with us. In the descriptive term of Dallas Willard, I appeal to us to develop and “faith of sufficiency” in who our Father is. The sufficiency that the sons had missed

Tragic events often confuse and confound us, because we have the instinct that, that isn’t the ways that “things ought to be.” We constantly look for a linear cause and effect, but we are usually wrong because our thinking is faulty. Yes, in daily life there are a lot of cause and effect circumstances, but when it comes to our understanding of good and evil, life doesn’t move in quite as predictable way.

We tend to forget the real and active presence of the evil one and his minions simply because we know that God is the Supreme Authority in the universe. In fact, there will be a time when evil will be done away with forever… but we are not there yet. The judgment of God is stayed until the very end because of his mercy in wanting “all to come to faith and trust in Jesus.”

Jesus tends to respond to our dismay over “tragedies”, by either challenging us to repent of our own unrighteous ways and then step into the “gaps” with mercy, compassion, and care. I’m convinced that “stuff” happens to get us engaged as the “hands and feet of Jesus.” This week, what is the Spirit asking you to do for the sake of others?

One of the side stories of the Lenten Season is not as dramatic as the major events of The Upper Room, Good Friday and Easter morning is the fact that the kingdom of heaven cannot be thwarted. In the conversation of Jesus in Luke 13, Jesus makes the point that he is going to continue to do what he does and Herod Antipas nor any other “authority” can keep him from it.

We often shrink back from what God has put in our hands to do for fear of the response of those around us or in authority over us. Jesus called Herod a fox. What then are the foxes in your life that want to steal the joy and blessing and life that comes from fulfilling your kingdom of God destiny?

We can see the dark clouds forming around us, but this is not the time to seek shelter. The truth of God is our hope, our strength and our assignment. I perceive that we have lost our power. We have given it up to fear. One of the great Lenten themes for us is servanthood born out of love. The Apostle John made a strong statement about that for us when he said, “Perfect love casts out all fear!” It is the season for us to claim our identity of love.

The cross was always a part if not the major part of Jesus’ story, so it is important that we begin the season with Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness to set the tone for Jesus’ life and ministry among us. Following the “mountaintop” of his baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is led into the desert where the battle begins. Henri Nouwen called Abba Antony’s desert, “the furnace of transformation.”

Jesus’ victory over temptation is our path to victory over temptation. The fullness of the Spirit and the power and authority of the Word were Jesus’ tools to resist. We battle with the narratives of our lives and we need the same tools; the fullness of the Spirit and the Word of God. It is in this Lenten Season that our own battle is brought into stark relief.

If you are intent with the Jesus Way, it is easy to recognize that the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth as the work that is placed before us. The difference between our work and Jesus’ work is that because of the resurrection the bonds of sin have been broken. Now our challenge is to walk with Him with the power that He provided for us to do the work He has called us to, servants of the restoration of the brokenness of the world.

Life’s rhythms are energizing in the variety and the dynamic that they create. The Church has rhythms that do the same thing. In order to tell the Gospel story in any experiential sense, the rhythms and season that have been created over time have become almost a necessity. We would be bounded by society and its commercialism at Christmas if we didn’t have the Advent Season to draw our attention away from Wall Street.

This week we begin another season and maybe the most important in the Church’s year – Lent. In preparation for Resurrection Sunday, we enter this season that is meant to cause us to reflect, to fast, and to open ourselves to the needs around us. In a way, this is the common life of the serious apprentice of Jesus. So, if nothing else, it behooves us to walk through the 40 days slowly, paying attention to the message of gratitude that can lead us deeply toward the Cross of Christ and the Resurrection of the Holy One.

Beginning on Wednesday this week, we are being beckoned to join other pilgrims on the journey that brought about our transformation. As noted theologian, N.T. Wright entitled his book on the crucifixion, The Day the Revolution Began this is a season to refresh our sense of the revolution that brought the invisible world into the visible.

By definition, self-control is showing restraint in regard to impulses, emotions, and desires. If ever there was a time that this way of the Holy Spirit would set people apart from one another, this would be that kind of time. We certainly live in an impulse, emotion, and desire driven time. The incidences of tragedy are a simple reflection that there is no certainty of self-control.

It is a distinctive among genuine apprentices of Jesus that we would live the way of the Holy Spirit as the Apostle taught the Galatian Church two millennia ago. I wonder if this revelation took place directly from God when Paul was ensconced in the Arabian desert for those three years, Gal. 1:17. Whatever the case, self-control that is the fruit of the Spirit’s work in us makes a great deal of difference in how we then live.

The wisdom of the Scriptures is replete with the urge to slow down and even stop before you speak. What if during this Lenten Season we are about to enter into, we were to make self-control the action we were to give ourselves to in respect for Christ. It is natural for personal reflection and prayer to be a part of the Season. How about if we were to pay special attention to our tongues

The character of the kingdom of God is rather tasteless in our loud, compulsive, self-centered world. But it makes up the precious stones that adorn the “city set on a hill.” If we give ourselves to our apprenticeship in Jesus’ way, truth and life, we will find a realm that has the power of a glacier to change and transform. Faithfulness is one of those characteristics.

Faithfulness is always tied at the hip with love in the scriptures, making faithfulness connected to the Person of God. Faithfulness is not simply human determination, but rather is a response to the love of God. We cannot see the substance of faithfulness apart from spiritual responsiveness. Faithfulness is always relational just as all other fruits of the Spirit.

As we learn faithfulness to God, it will always lead us to be faithful to others. Our vocational holiness raises faithfulness out of the storage room to shine the floors of grace and mercy. Our world is want of true faithfulness that connects the parts of God’s redemptive, restorative, reconciling purposes. The truth is we need some empty space to consider God’s call to faithfulness in the ordinary life of kingdom of heaven living

Philosopher, Dallas Willard was consistently famous for asking the question, “What makes a person a good person?” Actually, that is the core purpose of philosophy, to discern what makes a person good. The way around that discipline in our contemporary society is to skirt the issue by declaring “everyone is good” and capable of doing good things. Therefore, the substance of the discussion is made moot.

However, goodness that is a moral, ethical, holy reality demands a more serious consideration. Not only did Jesus die to make men free (Gal. 5:1), but he died to make men holy, that is, godly or like God in character. No wonder that goodness is fruit that is produced by the “vine” in us. It is God who is at work in us to accomplish his good.

I wonder if the good that humanity commonly does is because we were made in God’s image (Gen. 1:26)? But, the goodness that comes directly from God is a goodness that is redemptive, restorative, and reconciling. That goodness always has as its purpose to bring creation back into relationship with the Creator, Redeemer and Friend. There is a goodness that is higher than simple good.

Everyone likes kindness offered to them, but few want to do the work to become kind people in themselves. Mother Teresa lays it on the line when she said, “Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.” The subtle message in her statement is that kindness is a matter of our “being.”

What is it that you need to let go of that keeps you locked into a self-referenced way of looking at life. If everything must run through our self-centered lens, then we are miserable of all people. It is only when we are free from our self-addiction that we have a chance to become the person God created us to be.

Kindness operates from what Paul preceded his exhortation to become people who love, are full of joy (not happiness for that is always temporary), rooted in peace – the peace only Christ can bring, and patience or forbearance with people and circumstances. With that foundation, kindness has a chance.

Is it obvious to everyone that we live in a particularly impatient world!? If we are willing to choose the methods of God’s kingdom in heaven on earth as we often pray, the contrast in our world is stark. It reminds me of Robert Mulholland’s discussion in Deeper Journey of the “self-referenced life vs. the Christ-referenced life.” We will hardly ever develop the characteristic of patience without a different point of reference in living life.

The patience of job was patience built on his deep awareness of who God is. His circumstance did not change his view. If we live with a view of life that runs through the view that we are indeed the center of the universe, we will always struggle with patience. So much of life hinges on our knowledge of God.

Patience is the brother of peace. It is when we have resolved our significance and security in the environment of God’s love that patience makes perfect sense. It is out of a peaceful heart that we are able to wait on God. Patience with one another and patience with things find their strength in the work of the Holy Spirit in us, not just the presence, but the transformational work.

Peace is an illusive thing for most because it is viewed from an event-oriented perspective. Peace as the scriptures refer to it is a characteristic of life versus a commentary on the circumstances in which we live. Yes, we would like to live in a “peaceful society” that eschews violence of any kind, but if sin exists in the heart of humans that will hardly be the case.

Peace in one’s heart is a priority of God. The birth, life, and death of Jesus was to accomplish peace between we humans and our Creator, Sustainer, and Lord. There is a spiritual peace that was provided for all who would believe through the events of Holy Week. So, we can be at peace with God, but that doesn’t tell the whole story of peace.

One of the values of God’s kingdom is that we can become peacemakers. In fact, Jesus said that is how we become the sons and daughters of God…,” blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God.” Becoming people of peace is an inside/out transaction. Peace requires that we keep our focus on the Prince of Peace and learn to walk in his ways. It requires that we let go of much of our ego-driven ways and learn to lean on His presence.

Sometimes the scriptures call us to things that make no sense! “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds….” How is that possible?! Maybe it is because we misunderstand joy. Maybe we make it an equivalent to happiness or pleasure. But, I reckon that joy is different that joy. Oswald Chambers gives us a clue to our misunderstanding when he says, “Happiness depends on what happens; joy does not.”

Joy comes through the activity of the Holy Spirit in us that keeps us aware that what happens is never the end of the story. To become a joy-filled person is not a matter of personality, but of awareness of the “whole story,” both present and future. Joy comes as we learn to know God for who he is and that whatever our circumstances, they cannot change God. God lives not in gloom, but in delight.

Joy does not mean that we are rescued from hardship, but we have a soul-peace that see Reality from God’s perspective. Joy removes the scaffolds that we use to prop ourselves up and lasers life on the good, loving, certain heart of God. Joy is meant to become the shape of our souls; a peace that smiles with assurance rooted and grounded in the love of God.

What we most miss about Advent is the rhythm identified by the four themes for the four weeks. I suppose it is because of the colorless way that we tend to think about spiritual truth. But, I have been particularly conscious of the way God reveals himself through his creation this week. Our theologians have a term for that called, general revelation. This means that God reveals himself in ways other than the scriptures and Jesus.

This week the sunrises and sunsets here in Colorado have stopped me in my tracks. The beauty and glory of God through that which he has made has bowed my heart before him. As real as the lessons of nature are the themes of Advent: hope, peace, joy and love. This week raises our sensibilities of God’s immense love that showed itself in the humility of the manger.

“I will bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.” It is an easily recognizable sentence in this Advent Season and we have a Christmas carol to match the impetus to celebrate with joy. There is joy that is attached to celebration and I suspect there was a sense of that for the shepherds on that cold hillside in Judea.

We don’t know what it is like to live in anticipation of the Messiah like these characters in the Nativity story knew, so what is our joy in the story? I suppose for most of us we look forward to the re-enactment of the Nativity for the sake of the children that are around us and their performances of their “part in the play” or the “cantata.”

But, just maybe we can enter in again in the “joy” of the angels when we step back into the mystery of salvation. I tend to think that gratitude is a major part of joy. I suspect that given the life the shepherds led that the announcement of the coming of the Messiah was filled with the hope of change – that would be an experience of joy. I wonder if our joy is like theirs in that the anticipation of change is the reason for joy.

Peace, the shalom of God! It is a hard message to comprehend in a world full of chaos and conflict. Yet, that is one of the beauties of the Advent Season. It is a time to stop and re-engage the message that Jesus was to bring to us as the Prince of Peace. Peace begins with “peace with God.” No matter what the circumstances, peace with God is the foundation of all other peace. As humankind attempts to accomplish peace in the world apart from God, the disastrous outcome seems to only increase the conflict rather than resolve it. I’m reminded of a statement Dallas Willard made when he said, “Human problems cannot be solved by human means.” This week our scripture of peace is the prophecy of John the Baptist when it was said of him, “He went about preaching the baptism of repentance that you might be forgiven from your sins.” Isaiah went on to say that his message was, “Prepare the Way of the Lord.” In the Spirit of the Prince of Peace then, what do you need to do to, “Prepare the Way of the Lord?”

“Hope springs eternal” or so we know the expression to be, but what is that beyond wanting a certain outcome to take place. It is okay for spring training and a baseball team; but is this something we can actually live on. Is there anything historical or philosophical or any other substance such wishful thinking? Hope in this fashion -the most common fashion – is about one’s comfort and convenience.

As the Season of Advent begins, we speak of hope, but quite different than simply the human heart’s hope that things will “get better.” As followers of Jesus our hope is a living hope and is rooted in a real Person, Jesus the Christ. Our hope is in you, Lord! Hope that finds its meaning in the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.

The way, truth, and life of Jesus has all the substance that we could ever desire. The is a solidarity with multitudes in history who have given themselves to walk with Him and pass down to us a living faith that is rooted in Christ who is our hope. The point of our earthly life is Jesus. Paul said it best, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain!”

One wonders what was in Abraham Lincoln’s thinking when he set aside the fourth Thursday of November of each year as a national day of Thanksgiving. Given the day in which he lived I’m certain that he assumed that the Judeo/Christian image of God was in each American’s mind. My how things have changed. It is not unlike prayer today.

In the painful or fearful experiences of life most people are keen on the idea of prayer, but like the giving of thanks, who do we offer prayer to? I think in the extremes of life goodness and hardship are the moments when we just might have a sense that life is bigger than us. Wisdom is when we can live with a constant awareness of our own smallness and God’s largeness.

The other reality that can help us is when we realize that all of the universe that God created is personal, so when we made space to slow down and reflect Thanksgiving is a very personal holiday to enhance gratitude in our lives. I trust you will make space to reflect on gratitude, but not just for a national holiday.

As early winter sets in and the season of harvest covers the earth it is time as it always is to pause from the pace of life to give thanks to God for his goodness to each of us. No matter what circumstance we find ourselves in and as reluctant to be thankful as is too common, there is always goodness if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. I often wonder when we do give thanks or even if we pray, to whom are we giving thanks and to whom are we praying. Is there any genuine notion of God when I hear the ordinary person in my world thanking or praying? Just this week I had two people ask me to pray for them. Now I wonder why; what were they thinking?

In this season in our culture, I think there is enough cultural support for some sense of God and God’s existence. I think this is a good time to follow up the terser references to God. There is a spirit in our day in which I find people anxious. Maybe that anxiety is grounds to consider alternative approaches to life. Just maybe God has something to offer. In this case ancient truths are not irrelevant.

Part of the Church has set aside a day to remember those who make up the “great cloud of witnesses” of Hebrews 12. None of us have gotten where we are in our spiritual journeys without the examples or help of others. Some are known to us and some are unknown. Many of us have been “prayed into faith” by someone who carried that mantle unbeknownst to us.

Remembering those, that is taking time to reflect on those who modeled, taught, or served, is always time well-spent. We have personal mentors, and literary mentors, and biblical characters that have all been used by God to move us forward into the Way of Christ (John 14:6).

I would like to encourage you to make space this week to prayerfully make a list of those that you can remember. You might even take time each day to journal about one person and what their contributions have been. I know we are not pen and paper people much anymore, so if you are not, why not type your story on seven pages and then make it the beginning of your own “Jesus Story.”

The “God-with-us” story that has stretched through the centuries has taken on both seasons and events that we have come to acknowledge if not celebrate. Reformation is one of them which we celebrated yesterday. We know it as a period of reforming the church from directions that had taken place that had added to the story taking away from what had originally given us.

The conflict arose over authority. Was the God-given authority resident in the organization of the Church or was it in the pages of the Scriptures inspired by the very Holy Spirit of God? That is the question! It seems that we might be facing the same struggle today though with different players. Does authority reside in the mind of modern man or does it remain in the revealed Word of God? Put another way do we “shape the Scriptures” or do the Scriptures shape us.

The Reformers did not deny authority as legitimate in our lives. The issue was under what authority are we to live life. The reforming need in the Church remains and in our present day, I suspect the reformation needed today is actually a return to sixteenth century reformation, by returning to the Word of God as the true authority for kingdom of God living.

We suffer from some of the consequences of the gaps that have formed in our society. There was a time in which in our homes that we were more concerned with “training up good citizens” than we were about producing children who were successes. It has been a subtle change, but one that has only taken a generation to change.

There was a time in which we valued the well-being of the whole above our individual successes. The fact is that any culture faces that dilemma, but we have a “higher” calling called the kingdom of heaven. If we will engage is the ways of Jesus above all other involvements, the fruit will be righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit – for everyone.

This is a hard sell in our hostile world, but it was a “hard sell” in Jesus’ world too. In the end, it is the only way that is truly sane. Jesus came to bring a reality that would save our souls and save our communities, and in the end save the world, but we get to choose. That is the hard part; sacrificing our self-referenced way for the Christ-referenced way. I hope we can embrace the only way that can bring salvation to our innate brokenness.

Blog for Week of October 8th

It feels like there should be some things that should have been settled like the authority of scripture and the revelation of God in Jesus, but it seems like every generation requires that the issue has to be revisited, studied, and concluded once again. Why is that necessary for the vitality of the Christian faith?

It seems that the reaffirmation of the tenets of the faith is always a part of shaping a new generation of believers. The confidence that is based on truth is necessary for a maturing society. The challenge lies in growing up from adolescent faith to mature adult faith. The nature of society is a factor in how willing people are to receive life and truth on God’s terms.

I suspect that authority that arises outside ourselves is always challenged by the youth of every generation, yet it seems that the self-referenced nature of humanity today lives on the extreme edge of narcissism. It is difficult to engage the modern mind in the pursuit of truth. I suspect that we are so inexperienced in our ability to reason or think through the issues logically, that the truth of God is profoundly foreign. It behooves us to return to the Scriptures and refresh our minds with the truth of God.

I’ve been thinking about our theology regarding love for God. Most any Christian, when asked would concur that they indeed “loved God.” But, I have been considering what that means. The scripture is replete with the equation, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Based on that axiom, one would have to conclude that we are “only kidding ourselves.”

The usual retort to such a challenge is that “well, I’m only human.” God is fully aware of our humanity, but he stated the connection multiple times. Is there something that we are missing? I wonder if there is a clue in John’s Gospel when Jesus makes the connecting point being, “our remaining in him.” Maybe we can’t obey his commands without the practices that “flesh out” the remaining in him.

Maybe we can love him without living life in the Spirit. Maybe we are remaining dependent on our own fleshly, self-referenced efforts that really lead in a circle, back to ourselves. Maybe we need to revisit what it means to remain in him on a regular basis. I think remaining in him involves a vision for it, a commitment of intentional action, and the means to keep moving inward into oneness with him.

Perspective is part of the role of the scriptures. Is your perspective for life rooted in truth or gleaned perception? May I remind you that we have been given the scriptures to correct our self-referenced notion of things. Our self-referenced life is shaped by both our own distorted nature and the messages in which we are immersed in from the world around us.

As we are faced with the changing of seasons, summer to autumn, I would hope that along with that aspect of creation that you would endeavor to recognize what in your thinking is dead and the life has gone from it and then to be willing to let the scriptures re-form your understanding and way of thinking.

For many, autumn is a favorite time of the year because of the mild weather and beautiful fall colors. This is a great time to take the scriptures into our minds and hearts through memorization and meditation. In this way, autumn can be a season of change moving from death of our distorted thinking and birth of truth and life in its vibrancy.

I occurred to me this week that when we contemplate our heavenly destination, most of us consider heaven being a “place in which we can be rescued from the things we find most distasteful”, but I wonder if our view is less than biblical. It seems that Jesus gave us a clue when it was said of him, “… but for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross…” It seems that joy is the destination.

If you will, it would seem that pure joy is the “pot at the end of the rainbow.” The hidden element seems to be joy. As servants of the Holy One, joy is our message! Every day we have the opportunity to bring the kingdom of God to bear on our circumstances. In the words of C. S. Lewis, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” I think he has captured the essence of the presence of the Almighty.

It was for our joy that Jesus joined us from heaven when he left the glory that he had with the Father and took on the role of a servant – a servant of joy! If we are able to see the “invisible” Presence, then we can embrace the joy set before us and become servants of joy.

This is a great time to remind ourselves of something very insightful, but rather old. “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” With all the energy that seems to go on in individual’s lives and even society as a whole that is directed toward “happiness” brought about by personal comfort and convenience, we need to remember we are called to something higher.

We are called to joy; a life lived in the “Shadow of the Almighty” and with an eternal restorative focus. Joy is so much deeper than happiness. In the words of A. W. Tozer; happiness is about what happens, joy is not. Our joy has an honest story that began with the crucifixion and resurrection; continued through the ascension and is cap stoned by the Return. Joy is meant to lift us to life beyond the brokenness of our world.

We are called to engage the world as it is as messengers of joy, bringing life to the victims of corruption and injustice. If life is about what happens to us, we have nothing substantial to offer. May your joy be filled by the Presence of the Prince of Peace.

Our breakneck speed society is bound and determined to break our necks unless we return to God’s word to us: “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it wholly, I mean holy.” We don’t seem to know holy much in today’s world, so maybe wholly is helpful to us. At least we know the synonym to wholly as completely or fully. The point is the Sabbath has both dimension and content and as such God has given us a gift from which we can draw on every week of our lives.

I suggest that one seventh of our day and one seventh of our week be devoted to activities of, in the words of Dan Allender, sensual glory, communal feast, holy time, and playing with God. We were made for sabbath rest as surely as we were given work to do. I wonder if we were more consistent with sabbath practices, if we would be able to move beyond our addiction to entertainment.

I encourage you to make true Sabbath a part of your life rhythm. Try it for the next 4 ½ months as an experiment and see if your life is not more peaceful and joyful.

One of the psalms that we often sing goes a little like this, “Create in me a clean heart in me O Lord, renew a right spirit within me…” It seems that the psalmist knows that the heart is the core of who we are. Just how then, is the heart ordered? It would seem that it can easily be disordered, so re-ordering it is an on-going transaction.

The great American theologian, Jonathan Edwards talked profoundly about our “religious affections” and in fact was talking about our heart’s deepest desires. It would seem to me that we have a day before us in which the hearts are rather tepid and do not carry the depth that God created us for.

The wise Solomon once wrote, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Based on the truth of that statement, it seems like most of the problems in our day are heart problems. I guess my encouragement today to quote Dallas Willard, “Our most important task today is the care of our hearts.” It seems more space and effort might be given to the transforming work of the Spirit in our heart’s desires.

Maturity and maturing are not terms that we spend much time with in our day and age as they are not exciting enough to garner our attention and yet they are the essence of beauty in the eyes of God. You see, maturity and maturing is the way of beauty in the hands of God. I wonder if the fact that maturing takes time and is a slow process; it is assumed to be meaningless. In our discard-oriented society I think things get “thrown away” far too soon. Especially, in the dynamic of living organisms, it takes time to reach full potential.

I was driving down the street just the other day and I was impressed with the beauty and cooling benefit that mature trees provide. It takes time to grow a tree into the image God created it to fulfill. Driving along a canopied street shaded by huge overarching trees provides a refreshing natural experience.

So, I ask you are you engaged intentionally with maturing? Do you ever make space to take a step back to notice what God is forming in you? When our heart’s desire becomes God’s heart’s desire, we take on a vibrancy that is like none other. Whatever the heart’s desire is it constitutes the reservoir of our lives from which we bless the world. I would encourage you to make regular space for the deepening and enriching of your heart with God.

There is an old term that is as dynamic as it was in the 18th century. Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley were famous for describing what God has always been after in us with the term, religious affections. It’s meaning is about as far from typical religion as it could be. In a nutshell, they were referring to the “hearts desires.” They understood correct theological thinking wasn’t the path to the keenest of things that God has desired for us. To say it simply, he has always wanted our hearts. He found it in King David before he ever became king.

The truth is we have given up far too easily and settled for a spirituality that is far short of what Jesus died to accomplish. The Sermon on the Mount exposed heart’s desires that were the worst reflection of us as his created ones. For instance, he wants the adulterous heart changed so that it wants nothing to do with lust of the flesh, but honestly seeks the love of neighbor.

When usually considered, the response is that, that is impossible. But, like Jesus said to the disciples when faced with another impossible situation – with God all things are possible. It becomes a matter of surrender of one’s will to the love of God above all else. Above all else is above all else. That is the question, “Am I willing to seek the kingdom of God above all else?” That remains the standard.

Rootedness is an interesting phenomenon. In what soil do we find our roots? It seems that we live in time when rootedness is viewed as rigidity and a psycho-spiritual disease. Yet, isn’t it true as followers of Jesus that we are continually encouraged to root ourselves in Him? The prevalent attitude is that everything is negotiable, except what the “other” person is not willing to negotiate.

If we are called by God to be “salt and light”, then we are meant to radiate that which is common to no other Source. In fact, we are as ecclesia, the called-out ones, called to speak with a different voice than that which is predominant. We must however, be those whose voice is rooted in the Way of Jesus and we must learn to speak from what God has already spoken to us.

One of the challenges that we face is that we have been shaped by values and ethics that we often not directly or indirectly biblical. I think it behooves us to reconsider our reasoning to ascertain our biases and be sure that they are directly consistent with the pages through which the Holy One has already spoken to us. There is a higher standard for those who are called by His Name.

If we pay close attention to Jesus, one of his great mysteries was his ability to adjust. I think many of his excellencies were subtle to the naked eye. I am founding that the closer we pay attention to him the more we experience true amazement, not just in the broad strokes of living, but in the fine details in each of his circumstances.

When thinking about the nuances of our ordinary lives, are there not distinct opportunities in every encounter in our days? We are always presented with the need for the many shades of grace. There isn’t a person that we meet that doesn’t need a fresh touch of the love of God. In the quiet moments of most people’s life, is there not an aridness that describes the human experience?!

The metaphor I am thinking about is the wind of the Spirit. Much like what Jesus was talking to Nicodemus about that one night long ago. As we tend the tiller of our boat, slight adjustments are required to catch the full breeze with the sails of our faith. I’m thinking if we can learn the “adjusting” ways of Jesus, the movements of the Spirit can be fully experienced. Are you, am I so intent on the movements of Christ that we can sense when his power has been loosed into the “other?”

Continuing to learn to love is the measure of our lives. Most people think your simply love or you don’t as though it were a mystery of the universe. However, the love that Jesus calls his followers to has a great deal of substance and one must learn it to make it a way of life. To learn Jesus’ love is to learn patience, forbearance and forgiveness. Gordon Smith takes us through this journey in his book, Called to Be Saints.

Once again, we are faced with a world that is rampant with anger in desperate need of peace that is the fruit of love. In our little village we grieved another killing at the hands of anger and rage. It seems to me that we are constantly accosted by the lack of love for our fellow humans, yet so often the Source of our health and holiness is rejected as somehow impractical or irrelevant. What if we were to lead the way in the ordinary encounters of life, where the world could find peace and a love that respects the dignity of every person? What if we were to lead the way in love as much as we have expected that we were leading the way with truth? What if we were known for patience, forbearance and forgiveness? Could Jesus Way be experienced as revolutionary and it was when he walked the planet in flesh and blood? He set the standard, could we rise up and join him?

Learning to love as Jesus taught us to love is once again like entering the wardrobe and coming out in Narnia. We think we have a handle on it and find out that we know very little of what loving like Jesus called us to involves. As with everything with God, there is so much more to it.

It begins with “radical hospitality” in the words of Gordon Smith. Love is simply this: “to welcome the other as you would Jesus.” Usually we think of hospitality as serving food or drink to someone who has entered your home, but I think more accurately is the welcome you receive at the door – just as you would if Jesus came.

Hospitality requires that we get over ourselves and look out for the needs of the other (Phil. 2:3-4). That is the hard part; getting over ourselves. One of the ways we can best do that is to really listen to the other person without thinking about what we want to say in response. In this hospitality is learning to be fully present to the other person. It seems simple, but it is oh so difficult to learn that the encounter is about them, not you

The way of Jesus takes the disciple into unique territory. The path is beyond what is natural to human beings: love for family, romantic love, love for country, car, golf clubs or house. The path Jesus takes us on is love for the enemy, the different or irregular and for those who are not yet born.

It seemed simple when Jesus said it, “Love one another as I have loved you.” But, the revolutionary nature of that simple command was to radically change the individual and the society. It was to stand out within the human community as the most powerful social experiment yet under taken.

No one has fully come to grips with the breadth of such a charge. At best is has been a label devoid of reality. At worst, it has been treated as archaic and the mantra of the “loser.” In a world in which humankind tries to reason itself into inaction, Jesus’ refrain remains haunting to the true believer. As disciples, it is meant to be our brand, our identifying mark

What fills your mind and heart these days; finding “happiness”, being successful according to Wall Street, being comfortable? It is easy to be completely wooed by the kingdom of self. It will guarantee that we will fit in to the world around us that is driven by the same mantra.

But then, we can instead embrace our heritage, “thy kingdom come, they will be done.” This is a way that is radically different in almost every way. Living by the passion of my will not only focuses on another way, but also another destination than what God saved me for. Let’s get this straight, we were not redeemed by Christ for ourselves, but for his eternal purposes.

When we join the world, its ways and its values, we give up our birthright and the calling that was sacrificed greatly to accomplish. Our identity is that we are the ecclesia, the called out ones that have been sent back into the world to be its salt and light.

Spring is a joy to embrace, but it is also a time to prepare for the growing season called summer. We work at preparing our yard and “beds” for the growth that we anticipate. In some ways we can prune some plants still for growth, while we fertilize and soften the soil so that what has been planted or what has sprouted can maximize its growth. This is an ideal season for immersing ourselves in God’s way, so that our hearts are prepared to receive the work he is purposing to do in us. This is a great time to commit to memorizing scriptures, increasing our devotion to prayer, and immersing ourselves in one of the Gospels so that we can live and breathe in the atmosphere of Jesus.

The challenge before us is not a natural challenge. What God has for us requires that we listen for a different drumbeat, a different cadence. God’s way is never the “common” way. It is strictly uncommon. So let me encourage you to make this season a new season cultivating what God has set before us.

The signs of spring provide a beautiful commentary on change. The change in the season moving from winter to summer is the most colorful of the year. It tells us that the harsh conditions of winter are being left behind and growth is being reawakened.

What is it that needs to be reawakened in us? We can get lost in the dailyness of our lives and miss the fresh calling of change and growth. If we keep our heads down and not up, the beauty of opportunity escapes us.

I don’t think we were created to make every day the same. There are seasons in the year and there are stages in life. What is it that you need in this spring season and this stage of your life? All is meant to bring us to a greater maturity; a deeper love, a greater faith, and a more solid hope. Ask the Lord to show you and he will!

Spring at home is a time to aerate and fertilize the yard; aerate to improve the absorption of the spring rains and fertilize to poison the weeds and stimulate the growth of the weeds. It is common in our homes to clean and organize from the season just past. We know that will the change of seasons, certain activities are needed to the sake of the rhythm of a healthy life. It is hard for us to keep in mind the invisible world of Spirit, more real than all other expressions of life, yet less tangible. Therefore, may I suggest that we give thought to the needs of our “inner man” from which all other things gather their Source. Taking care of our “being” is our first work as all “doing” flows from the reservoir of Spirit. The question for us, “Can we give as much attention to the Temple of the Holy Spirit – our souls, as we do the earth property that we possess? Think about it; what needs to be extinguished or discarded to make space for new growth. What spiritual aeration and fertilizing needs to take place for the best growth in the season ahead? I have three practices that have always helped: scripture memory, devotion to prayer and immersion in the Gospels to learn Jesus’ Way.

Spring is a great season of beginnings to consider something to be added to make a more fruitful existence. May I suggest that this would be a great time to renew our commitment to being people of truthfulness. It’s as though our culture has lost its moorings regarding truthfulness. It seems that we have to become capable researchers to find the truth about something.

As followers of Jesus we have the opportunity to once again set things right in the world as it pertains to us. We have been given the clarion call to be people of Truth (Zechariah 8:16). It is the only way for a society to thrive, let alone survive. We have been told that truth will set us free (Jn. 8:32). And yet, the pillars upon which that is printed on the architecture of modern day, the university is hardly living up to the slogan.

We can complain about society or “others”, but we have a place of impact if we will but be people of truth individually, 2 Pet. 2:2!

Spring is a season for awakening! There is something within the natural world that awakens plant and animal; those that have been asleep. God ordains his creation to be that way. We daughters and sons of the Most High – for us it is a different story.

We get to choose! Life and breath is presented to us, but we have to choose to participate. We choose to wake up to the call of the Spirt or we don’t. The dailyness of life can woo us to slumber with the busyness of life when we think we are wide awake.

It is only when we make empty space that we can hear the whisper of God that awakens us to the sound of His Voice. The fact is that when our “beliefs” do not flesh themselves out in our own flesh and blood, we remain in a self-deceptive hibernation doing all kinds of “good” things that we have not been called to do. The metrics of our common culture is that significance is measured by busyness. What a sinister deception! Responding to the Voice rather than our “best thinking” is the difference between divine relationship and religion.