Take Heart

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. – 2 Cor 4

Take Heart.
Hold On.
God is still in Control.

Portable Bible

If you have been searching for a Bible for your iPhone or SmartPhone
Check out YouVersion at http://m.youversion.com.

They have the NIV, TNIV, Message and some others. It works great on the small screen and allows all you smart phone users access to a Bible everywhere you are. The best part is – its free! You don’t have to get software which costs money or take up memory on your device, just point your browser to http://m.youversion.com.

Technorati Tags: online bible, iphone, smartphone, treo, bible, niv

a cup of water – filled

I took my kids to the park and after playing for a bit, we packed up and were getting ready to go home.  My daughter wanted her water, so I gave it to her and noticed it was almost empty.  Our conversation went like this:

let me fill that for you
no
its ok, I just want to fill up your cup
no (tears begin)
Don’t cry, I just want to give you more water
DONT TAKE MY CUP! (hysterical crying)
But I know that you are thirsty and you are almost out of water.
NOOOOOOO!!!
(in a very calm voice)  Maddie, I am not going to take your cup away, I am going right over there to fill it up and bring it right back. (pointing at the place I am going to fill up the cup, which she can see)
ok… (reluctantly)
(I fill up the cup and bring it back full) here you go
thanks, dad! (happy again!)

How often do I hold onto something half full in my life for fear of losing it?  And God the Father comes along and says, I want to give you more.  But, in order to give you more, you have to let go of what you have.  I find myself acting a lot like my 2yo sometimes…

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” – Matthew 6:30-33 (The Message)

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” – Matthew 6:33 (TNIV)

UnChristian

Came across this quote today from the book UnChristian, written by David Kinnaman (President of the Barna Group – www.barna.org) and Gabe Lyons (founder of the Fermi Project – www.fermiproject.com).

“Being salt and light demands two things: we practice purity in the midst of a fallen world and yet we live in proximity to this fallen world.  If you don’t hold up both truths in tension, you invariably become useless and separated from the world God loves. For example, if you only practice purity apart from proximity to the culture, you inevitably become pietistic, separatist and conceited. If you live in close proximity to the culture without also living in a holy manner, you become indistinguishable from fallen culture and useless in God’s Kingdom“. 

Does this resonate with the struggle between Buster, Boomer, X, Y, Modern, PostModern, Emergent, Emerging, Christian, Non?

Lord, help me not to become separatist or indistinguishable to the community, but to actually be the salt and light you have called me to be; in the world but not of it. 

Tags: unchristian, non christian, christian, emergent, emerging

The Next Best Thing

Do you ever look for the next best thing?
I do. For me it is a new guitar, or since my car is 15years old and the AC just broke, maybe a new one.

How bout in ministry? Do you ever look for a new place because yours is difficult, or challenging, or because of that “one person.” (you know who I’m talking about

Jesus has an interesting perspective on this which I just came across.
I was reading in Mark chapter 6 where Jesus has given the disciples authority and instructions on the ministry. In verse 10 he says a curious thing:

“When you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.”

I think that is incredibly interesting. Garland in the NIV Application Commentary on Mark says,

“Jesus instructs the Twelve to accept the first accommodations offered to them and not to move if they chance to find something better. This demonstration of commitment is a testimony of their devotion to their mission and not to themselves. It also reduces the chance they will create jealousy by moving to better quarters, which will interfere with their mission.” (241)

I just look at the statistics of how long (or rather short) most pastors and staff stay at a given church and wonder if Jesus saw this coming…

One of the things God has really been teaching me about my current situation and unemployedness is that He is going to select my next appointment and make it clear that it could only have come from him. This is both a great peace and a bit of an insecurity at the same time (or at quickly vacillating times). I trust that God will lead me into a place that he chose for me, but, like most guys, I am a doer and I want to “get er done!” I am learning to wait…and still learning to wait…

Is there any resonance with Mark 6:10 for you?
Is there greener grass you have your eye on?
How do Jesus’ words affect your thinking about ministry?

Much Love

I am continuing my readings from the book, Devotional Classics edited by Richard Foster and this week have struggled through the passage from Julian of Norwich. She is an English Mystic from the 1300′s and her experiences have been, for me, hard to understand.

However, she has some great perspective on God’s love for us and how that is how God teaches us to love others.

“Contemplating and loving the Creator made my soul seem less in its own sight and filled it full with reverent and true meekness and with much love for my fellow Christians.” So for those of you who thought you invented “much love,” she had you beat by about 700 years!

God loves us and as we pursue him, he pursues us. As we search out his love and his will, we are filled with love for those around us. When God says to love others it is not out of our own strength, for we could never love enough. But when we focus all our soul, our life, our energy on the pursuit of God, he is our strength

Song: You are my strength – Hillsong

Song: How He Loves Us – McMillan

Tags: much love, julian of norwich, devotional classics

Prayer Stinks

Or rather, I stink at prayer.  I have been reading Thomas Merton from the book, Devotional Classics and it has enlightened me of how poor my prayer life truly is.  I pray. I journal.  I read (and read and read.)  If you ask my wife, she may tell you I read too much…  But still, sometimes prayer doesn’t make me feel better.  Merton helps me here.  He writes, “a hard and apparently fruitless meditation may in fact be much more valuable than one that is easy, happy, enlightened, and apparently a big success.”  He goes on to say that sometimes prayer follows the passage of death to life in Christ.  (See Psalm 39 and 56)  In other words, sometimes prayer helps us recognize that we are helpless and broken.  I thank God for the Spirit which enlightens, guides, and even prays for me when I don’t know what to say. 

Merton ends with this encouraging statement which I totally resonate with.  “We do not want to be beginners.  But let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything else but beginners.”  Does that ring true for you at all?

Tags: ThomasMerton, Contemplative Tradition, meditation, the Spirit, prayer

Priestly People

I came across this quote from Barbara Brown Taylor, in Pastor; The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, and I thought it a fitting discussion of the state of ministry in many churches.  Who does ministry?  Is it the pastor alone, or is there something more intended when Jesus said to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (also see 1 Peter 2)

“Somewhere along the way we have misplaced the ancient vision of the church as a priestly people — set apart for ministry in baptism, confirmed and strengthened in worship, made manifest in service to the world.  That vision is a foreign one to many church members, who have learned from colloquial usage that “minister” means the ordained person in a congregation, while “lay person” means someone who does not engage in full-time ministry.  Language like that turns clergy into purveyors of religion and lay people into consumers, who shop around for the church that offers them the best product.” 

Personally, I cringe at the very mention of “purveyor of religion.”  And almost equally as unsettling is the trend of consumerism in churches.  How do we get out of this paradigm? 

Taylor would suggest education.  I would tend to agree, but I’ve got to think on it some more… 

Clearly, one of the church’s designs is to facilitate a community where followers are taught, together, what it means to live in faith, hope, and love.  But, I would challenge that every church you asked would say they do this.  What is going wrong? 

I would have to come back to my standard philosophy of church.  It needs to fulfill two main goals:  Living in Christ and Living out Christ.  In other words, I have seen or been a part of several churches which do a “good” job of teaching the bible. They call this discipleship.  BUT, these churches fail to show Christ to the outside world.  This is very understated, but I believe this is what “Love God, Love Others” is all about.  We must form communities which teach true doctrine and practice love to the community and the world.  I just don’t ever want to be called a “purveyor of religion.”   I want to be called a lover of Jesus and people. 

Anyway, still processing…any thoughts?

Tags: pastor, consumer church, love, religion, priesthood of believers, ministry

Complete Surrender

Why do I do what I don’t want to do and why can’t I do what I want to do? 

Augustine in his Confessions wrestled with this very fact.   He realized, as did Paul, that "my action did not come from me but from the sinful principle that dwells in me (Rom 7:17)." 

Augustine also realized he cannot do the right thing by himself.  "Why do you try to stand in your own strength and fail?  Cast yourself upon God and have no fear.  He will not shrink away and let you fall."  (Psalm 55:22)

Foster relates to Augustine’s Confessions with this: "We try by sheer willpower to seek the good, but we fail.  We need the transforming power of Jesus Christ alive and present among us."  (Jn 14:15ff)

Have you surrendered your life completely to God, today?  Even in the midst of all the suffering, hardship, unfairness that life has given you, do you choose, today, to give all of it over to God and trust that he will take care of you? 

I find it easy to say "yes."  But then, I take a deep look at my life, moment by moment, action by action and realize, like Paul and Augustine before me, I need Jesus.  I have been a Christian for 20some years, but still, every day I realize I still need Jesus as much, or even more, than I did when I first met him. 

How are you doing with God today?

Song: Great is Thy Faithfulness – Brewster version

The quotes come from the book Devotional Classics edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith. 

Bernard of Clairvaux ~ all about love

I am continuing in the book Devotional Classics edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith.  This week the text is written by Bernard of Clairvaux,  entitled Four Degrees of Love. 

This passage is all about perspective and the question ~ Why should God be loved?  The simple answer Bernard gives is because he is God.  Who deserves our love more than a God who sacrificed himself for someone like me who was undeserving?  (Romans 5:8) 

How much does God love us?  His love is never failing, never ending, always true.  "True love is precisely this: that it does not seek its own interests," and God is always True. 

Bernard takes the reader through a progression of four degrees of love.  A person begins at loving self for self’s sake.  This is the natural inclination of humanity.  We are self-centered, narcissistic, and focused solely on taking care of our own needs.

The second degree is the progression from loving self to loving God for self’s sake.  When we are happy, we take credit for the happiness, when life gets hard and disaster strikes, we turn to God.  The realization is that in this case we are loving God for self’s sake.  We try to preserve our precious life by clinging to the creator of it. 

Now, if the trials continue and there is no end in sight, but God continues to save us we begin to love God for God’s sake.  In other words, we love God because of who he is.  Because he is God and because he is good.  (Psalm 100:5)

The final degree of love Bernard says is very rare.  It happens when we love self for God’s sake.  This is the true meaning of "Thy will be done."  We no longer think of the cares of this world, but are solely concerned with the affairs of heaven. 

So it seems we must strive to move from our narcissistic love of self to the view that God has of self.  This life was not designed to be a reflection of what I think this life is supposed to be, God designed my life to be a reflection of who he is. 

Song: To Know Your Name – Hillsong

Song: Surely We Can Change – Crowder

"But the problem it seems, is with you and me
not the Love who came to repair everything
and I don’t know, what to do with a Love like that
and I don’t know, how to be a love like that
and all the love in the world is right here, among us
and hatred too, so we must choose what our hands will do…"