Though I am loathe to admit it, my daughter rose from bed at 04:00 to witness the nuptials of Prince William and one Kathryn Middleton. I am given to understand that approximately 1 billion of her fellow humans did likewise. I appreciate the “romance” of the proceedings, and I understand – at some marginally intellectual level – the ‘draw’ to these events, but frankly, I can’t be bothered. This isn’t because I am not a romantic (I’m not), and it isn’t because I could care less about ‘royalty’ (I can’t). It isn’t even because I can’t stand what qualifies as “newsworthy” any longer (I can’t). So, why can’t I be bothered by this grand event? Simply put, because this isn’t the royal wedding I am waiting for!

What could possibly rise above the event witnessed this morning? What could have more pomp, richer surroundings, and more meaning?Well, first some “backstory”. There was a King who had power over all that was known, and He had a bride who He cherished deeply. He lavished active love and relationship on His bride, but eventually she grew more enamored with the creatures and surroundings in her garden than with her King. One day, she broke the only rule in the land, effectively divorcing her husband, the King. She was forced to leave the garden, and she had a difficult life with many ups and downs (mostly down).

The King watched and grieved from a distance, but nothing could be done; she had broken the only rule. Finally the King – in His infinite wisdom – sent His Son (in disguise) to live with His bride, walking with her, talking with her, and experiencing what she experienced. This Plan culminated with the Son taking on the consequences of the rule that had been broken – in full – and paying for that Fall with His own life. The King had won back His bride, but she still didn’t accept that great gift!

Over many years, the King reached out to His bride and for brief moments it ‘felt’ like she was beginning to admit that the debt was paid, the battle won; that she could return to Him, but it didn’t happen. The King – and all His host – strained at the bounds of the palace as they tried to reach the bride, but the King knew it wasn’t time. As the bride suffered and grew older, the entire palace wept for her. Finally, the land the bride lived in was in constant battle and natural disasters raged across the landscape. Her very existence was coming to an end. The King knew this was the time. He and His hosts left the palace to go to the lost bride to bring her home at last.

The King and his hosts appears in a moment, and all the land sees them and trembles. The masses had relegated Him to the ages as a myth, a story told by children to other children; certainly not real, and definitely not all-powerful. Yet, here He is – in power and glory – white, shining as a thousand suns! Undeniable, and present. The earth shakes under the force of His army, and He raises up His bride, and takes her home to His palace. He has been preparing her home for thousands of years, and now she will see it! They can be together forever.

THE Wedding

The renewal of their vows, THE wedding, will take place outside a city with golden streets. This city has 12 gates, each made from a different precious stone. The groom will sit on a throne so bright that one can barely look toward it. That throne will be surrounded by angels with several wings, raising their voices in praise to the King and His Plan for His bride. The bride herself will stand on a sea of glass that is fed by a river, over which is a tree whose fruit changes each month; the Tree of Life. The bride will sing in praises to her King, and the vows they renew will never again be broken. After this wedding, the King will sit down with His bride and eat, and drink. He has not done this for thousands of years, as the Son vowed would come to pass. Once again relationship rebuilt, the bride renewed, and the King’s Plan complete!

Men and women of the Lord, that bride is US! We are those for whom He died so that we could be reconciled to Him. This Plan, in place for eternity past, to save those that were lost; to bring us back to Him, into perfect relationship as He intended from the beginning. How awesome, and how humbling a thought that He would do this for us after we were unfaithful in so many ways. You and I will stand together on that sea of glass and sing praises to Him, we will partake in the cup with Him, and we will rejoice with Him in Heaven for eternity. THAT is the wedding I am waiting for, and nothing we can do here take even one step toward the royalty, the environment, and the meaning of our heavenly reuniting with God the Father through Christ the Son.

For those of you who are reading this that have not yet accepted Christ as your Savior, I urge you to pray right now. Ask the Lord to guide you as He draws you to Him. Be part of this glorious resurrection. He loves you, and wants you to live with Him for eternity. Don’t let this pass!

P.S. I am aware, that in the quick telling of this story that I have left out some critical theology and the judgment(s) entirely. Forgive my license and know that I know these things will come to pass as well, but I haven’t entire days to write these entries!

If you post a blog entry after being prompted to do so by a Youtube video that was posted on Facebook and Tweeted to you, does the very fabric of the universe tear? I hope not, because that’s what is happening in this post!

A Youtube video was posted that showed a compilation of soldiers ‘arriving home’. In each case, the child, spouse, or family member didn’t know the appointment was coming and was pleasantly surprised. I have posted links to videos of this ‘genre’ below. If you have a few minutes, I’d like you to watch them (the first one for sure), dry your tears, and read on.

Soldiers Coming Home – Compilation Part 1

Soldiers Coming Home – Part 2

Soldiers Coming Home – Part3

I’d like to draw out a few things that we all notice as we watch these videos of touching moments in people’s lives and then provide some thoughts about parallels we could also experience.

There are several common threads in these videos. First, each of these relationships had been forced to be “remote” or “long-distance” for some period of time. Second, each of these relationships had some level of “life” when the soldier returned from deployment. Finally, every person was overjoyed to see that individual “in person” in a real way.

I would guess that you also noticed several different responses to the returning soldier. I’d like to suggest that the different responses were not due – as much – to personality differences in each family member being surprised, but much more to do with the previously existing relationship, its length, and its health. Suffer me a moment…

You saw a couple of very young children greeted by soldiers in units that had been deployed on extended engagements, or by soldiers in the Special Forces (high operational tempo, gone a long time). These kids knew who Daddy was, and were happy to see him, but were bewildered by the surroundings, the entire emotional experience, and the overload due to “the moment”. These kids looked to Mom or siblings to understand how to experience the moment. They were awed by the presence of Dad, knew that this was a powerful moment, saw the impact on others, but didn’t have the relationship in place to fully process what was going on.

Most of the kids, wives, husbands, and family members that were greeted responded in a very different way. Even the older girl in Technology Class! For those that knew something was happening, there was anticipation and general eagerness. Then, a moment of sheer disbelief.. “is he really here.. can I trust my senses”? This was followed by an instant abandonment of self and a complete disregard for surroundings, environment, everything for the moment experienced between the soldier and the family member. This is pure JOY, and you can see it in their faces.

I’d like to suggest that these moments are what God meant when he wrote “Abba, Father” through His apostle Paul. For those new Christians that don’t quite know how to experience “God moments” in their lives, they need fellowship with Christians who have a longer and deeper relationship with Christ. They need to lean on others to see how to connect and how to have true joy. They must learn to rejoice in His presence. For those that know Christ, and keep a “long-distance” relationship going, they must continue to “remain in Him” by having an “Abba, Father” moment every morning, and each time trial comes in their lives.

When Christ stands at the door and knocks, He isn’t looking for you to shuffle to the door while you are texting to your friends, open the door, mutter, “Come on in.. make yourself at home”, and shuffle back to your sofa.. texting all the while. He wants us to throw the door open and run to Him, jumping into His arms, yelling “ABBA, FATHER”.. Daddy’s Home!

Viewing God as “Daddy” is heart change required, and gives the emotional and spiritual dimensions to our relationship with Christ, but it doesn’t speak to the power aspect. Here’s what I mean; in order to set ourselves aside, we must take our joy in Him. If we are focused on self, our desires in the flesh, our will, gratifying self.. we cannot have real joy. Real joy only comes from reaching up to Him and saying, “Daddy!”, and that joy is the only thing that can take our minds away from what others think of us, what others are saying about us, and it’s the only thing that can erase our temporal desires, replacing the thoughts of earth with thoughts of heaven and our Dad.

Christian, with these video moments in mind, reach up to our God and say, “Daddy!”, right now. Rejoice in Him, let this world fall away, and He will give you the desires of your heart. He loves you, and desires to do that actively, in relationship with you. An Almighty God.. and He wants to actively love us. “Daddy” indeed!

“I keep thinking of the Scripture where Jesus said, ‘Come, Follow me’ and the disciples just dropped everything, right then, right there.. and followed. No 12 step program, no ‘easing’ into it.. they just dropped everything, and followed.. they were wrapped in just as much flesh as me…..yet they dropped everything to follow Him”.

And so they did.. but their walk was not consistent thereafter, and they went through the same growing pains we do as Christ-followers today. My response to her follows..

None of us follow Him “like we should”.. not always.

This Western world has much to offer that will all be consumed as stubble in the Light of that Day. This – as Paul writes – “light and momentary trouble..” seems so persistent to us, but this world and its trappings will one day be consumed, and the only thing left will be the souls of those that accepted Christ and obeyed Him.

I hear several things in your note, and I could have written it! Since this resonated with me so deeply today, I’d like to offer some commentary, and as a result, form my own thoughts and focus my heart on Him too!

Who We Are In Christ
I don’t pretend to know what Robert Heinlein’s faith life was like, but he wrote a book that described a man called Valentine Michael Smith who was raised on Mars, by Martians, and after returning to Earth, he encounters many strange things that seem completely foreign to him. Ignoring for a moment the strong parallels in this book to the Corinthian church during Paul’s ministry, Smith’s influence on Earth changes the face of humanity in a fairly short time.

Shouldn’t this be us!? Shouldn’t the world be changed by our having been here? Go, and preach to all nations… right? When the Word is preached, people are cut to the heart. When their hearts change from stone to flesh, significant changes are seen in their lives. When this happens in a family, it is powerful; and when it happens in several families, the community is transformed!

Like Smith, we should – after being transformed – look upon this world as Smith looked upon Earth. Though he was human (‘of’ Earth’), he was raised by Martians and had a Martian outlook. He saw the world through Martian eyes. Shouldn’t we – more and more as the Day draws near – see this world through His eyes? This place must, more and more, become an enigma to us. Strange, scary, and sad. We should ever more feel less at home here, and more at home with Him. An interesting corollary here is that, if we are coming closer to Him, we will – necessarily – have an ever-heightened need to share the Gospel with this dark and declining planet!

We are strangers, have been declared such by God and have at our disposal the power that raised Christ from the dead! Still, we rush home to watch “Survivor”. Really?! We have the power of a Savior, a God who shed His ultimate universe-creating power, to take on human form as a helpless babe, lived a life of privation – even by earthly standards at the time – and was tortured and the killed in the worst way known to us; was raised from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven where He sits at the right hand of our Father.. we have THAT POWER, and we rush home to see who might get voted off the island!? You can’t FIND a better ‘Survivor’ story than our Lord, unless you count the myriad stories of the saints He has saved by His mighty power.

This is why we must preach – and hear – the simple Gospel regularly and share our personal testimony with one another. Yes, growth is important, but a warm glass of milk every now and again is soothing and helps us remember that we are His children, secure in Him but with astonishing power at our disposal.

Growth in Him
I hear your frustration in the fact that our walk is a faltering one. We fail often, we stumble, we may even walk the wrong way for a time. An image that sometimes helps me is related by C.S. Lewis in “The Four Loves” where he talks about a man that begins down a steep canyon after a long trip. He has already walked many miles, and he can see the smoke rising from the chimney in his home just below, but because there is no (safe) quick way there, he must traverse the dangerous and rocky trail of switchbacks many miles to get down that canyon. He is so close, but has so far to go.

It seems like that for us, doesn’t it? At times we feel so close to God, and so close to really ‘being in Him’.. working out His will, etc, but at other times we see only the rocky trail and it feels like we are so far away, with so much toil and pain between us and the goal. How are we to ‘remember’ that we are yet ‘in Him’ at those times?

The most important thing to always remember is something you are already very good at, and that is the knowledge that our eternal security hinges on His faithfulness, and not on our own. This does not make a person who is truly saved ‘complacent’ with an easy faith that produces no fruits in the life, but it is that solid ground upon which we place our feet when the storms blow and all else is taken away. We stand with Job when he has lost all, and his ‘friends’ are ‘helping’ him.. he is personally ‘lost’ and is left with only one hope, one cry to the winds, one things he knows; and he cries, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth”.

Take heart in the fact that your heart has been renewed, and hold the line when the wind blows. When you are ‘in the zone’, you feel His presence, share it with others openly! Then, try to find ways of getting your heart and mind in that ‘zone’!

Focus on Him
In ancient Hellenic legend, the Sirens were several creatures with bodies of women and birds who inhabited the flowery island of Anthemoessa. Their haunting songs would float over the water, mesmerizing sailors and drawing them into the rocks, and to their deaths. Jason and his Argonauts, on a quest, solved this issue by bringing Orpheus the poet along. Orpheus sat on the deck and played his lyre and sang, and instead of blocking their ears (as Odysseus’ men had done), they listened only to the sweet sounds of the lyre. Their focus was on Orpheus alone, and thus they did not fall prey to the Sirens.

That’s a pretty good picture of what we can do here in the West, isn’t it? We can ‘block out’ the noise, not by denying it, ignoring it, or removing it, but by focusing exclusively on Him and His calling in our lives. We start with the Word and prayer, and we follow God’s general will as revealed in Scripture. As we mature, we listen to His calling and direction.. hearing His instructions as we walk, “Turn to the left, or turn to the right”.

We must be willing to leave it all behind (physically), but it isn’t a prerequisite to following Him (leaving it emotionally is absolutely required for upward growth). Having things is not wrong. Having idols is wrong. Having much and knowing – every minute – that it all belongs to Him and has been stewarded to you is good!

Don’t you feel that God knew how this world would pull at us, confuse us with blaring horns, bright lights, and so on? This is why He gave us gifts of knowledge like, “Be still, and know that I am God”.

Take heart O woman of faith! Keep your feet on that solid rock, and focus on Him. He is your reward, your spring of joy, and your ever-present help.

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And blog reader, He is yours as well. Praise the Lord!

1. I do not typically watch Dancing With The Stars

2. I think the show objectifies both men and women – to some degree – and most of the outfits they wear should be illegal (and are, almost everywhere in the Middle East!)

3. I am taking no position on whether or not Bristol Palin can dance, whether or not she should ‘be there’ with Kurt Warner or Brandy gone, and in this note, I’m taking no comments on Bristol’s famous mother.

Here’s what really hacked me off on this show. First, Bristol has gotten snail mail with white powder, comments about her thighs, dancing like ‘an elephant on crack’, and death threats. DEATH THREATS!!! Seriously people, stop shooting your TV, put down the Marlboro and the coffee and go RELAX somewhere; it’s a SHOW. Second, Bristol, through one choice of her own and several by her mother, is destined to be stalked and to live in her mother’s shadow for life, and that’s sad. She’s a woman in her own right, a beautiful person, and has had to weather an incredible storm of hatred, brought on not by the show itself, but through a proxy battle of conservatives and liberals with all the vitriol you’d expect as a result. Finally, she’s on the show and she’s started to listen to the comments and read her own press; and it’s starting to hurt her heart. Today, during the comments after the second dance, she said something like, “..I know I needed come out and be a sexy girl, but I’m just not a sexy girl“.

WHAT!?!? This 20 year-old single mother is more woman than most women will ever be. She has lived to the limit of happiness and grief, she has endured, and she carries herself well; regardless the criticism. NO woman should be made to believe that she “isn’t sexy” by people with shriveled hearts, jaundiced eyes, and evil on their mind.

Men, I challenge you to treat your wives with respect, cherish them, and make them feel like queens. Make them feel “sexy”. For your daughters, please teach them what to demand from a man, teach them what godly attraction looks like, and PLEASE teach them that they are beautiful women; inside and out!

Technorati Tags: bristol, dwts, palin, sexy

First let me say that I understand that their tagline does not imply an ‘across the board’ use of everything that comes into the home, but it does imply that we should deny ourselves nothing and pour everything into our homes that our hearts might desire. Think of all the knowledge you might have if you ‘let it all in’ and think of how much you’ll be entertained as well!I’d like to look at this from our perspective (self-health and God-focus), rather than from an external perspective (regulation and media industry). Let’s look in the mirror, not out the window. Should we trust “our hearts desire” when choosing what to consume? Should we filter anything that comes into our home, or view it all and then ‘choose what to remember’? Should we spend much of our time taking information into our minds, so that we can be informed?

Our Hearts

Our first step is to examine our hearts. This is an excellent approach each time we begin to look at a situation or decision as our internal motivations color – in a very real way – how we perceive a decision. The Bible says that, “..out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). Since we see and hear so many horrible things coming out of people’s mouths (and our own), it seems reasonable to conclude that our hearts are not 100% clean and trustworthy. In addition, Scripture says, “..the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer 17:9) and this tendency toward self-deception certainly raises its ugly head when we start looking carefully at what we are thinking and doing, doesn’t it? Don’t you find yourself rationalizing a TV show, news story, or movie with thoughts like, “..it has some good things in it”, or, “..the information I’m getting from it is substantially weightier than the fact there is some skin in it”? Many Christians argue that – once saved – the Holy Spirit causes us to desire only the things of God, and therefore if we have a desire for a thing after salvation, that it must be from the Lord. The clear theological ‘miss’ aside, let’s look at the apostle Paul’s words when he says, “..fight the good fight of the faith”, “..put on the full armor of God”, and finally, “..I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand”. Paul goes on to say that he desires to do right “in his inner being”, but that sin is in his flesh and he sins even when he doesn’t “want to”. (1 Tim 6:12, Eph 6:11, and Rom 7:21)

It is clear that our hearts – even hearts regenerated by the Holy Spirit – are insufficient as a sole arbiter of what we should think, say, and do; but what does this have to do with what we “take into” ourselves?

Filter

Why can’t we just view and listen to what we want, and then ‘throw away’ the learnings we don’t want? Aside from Paul’s words on the idea that we will keep some things our “inner being” desires not to, what we watch and hear changes who we are; it changes our heart. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. Can you view and hear things without them changing you? If so, how is it that movies like Gladiator, Braveheart, and even Top Gun get our male aggression and leadership ‘blood’ moving? We are very emotionally moved by what we see and hear. Many studies have been done on the effects of sight and sound on the human brain and all of them conclusively show that what we take in via our senses deeply affects our minds. Job talked about his issues with beautiful women and the sight of them in Job 31:1 when he states that he had made a, “..pact with his eyes, not to look upon another woman”. Job knew that the right time to stop a thought from taking shape was before the stimulus reacher his brain. Keep out those things that darken your mind. Don’t even look at them at all!

Why shouldn’t we listen or see things that are not good for us? Because they will desensitize us to the things of God, those things that we need to reach closer to Him; those things that are of eternal value. In Acts 28:27 Paul is talking about the Jews to whom he’d preached and asserts that their hearts had been calloused.. and by whom? By years of listening to the Pharisees and their religion that replaced God and a relationship with him, these Jews had stopped listening to the inner voice of the Spirit and could no longer accept the teaching of Christ crucified. In that same way, our hearts will be calloused by years of listening to and watching things that are not Godly. God has not commanded us to “..listen to your iPod while exercising, the TV while eating, the radio while driving, all three while doing homework, and know that I am God”. What has His command been instead? To drive these things away from ourselves and keep nothing between us. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10). Note that our understanding of God’s place in the universe is preceded by our shutting out other influences.

Informed

Oh, we love to “know stuff” don’t we? It’s not wrong to seek knowledge, but it is how we do it and for what reasons we do it that are important. Knowing what the scores are, who died on your favorite soap, and who got ‘voted off the island’ are not incredibly meaningful in the eternal scheme of things! (There are many who would argue that they aren’t even important in the earthly scheme of things).

I’d like to suggest that while being informed is important, that God intends for us something far more meaningful, amazing, and useful than consuming media to be informed. He intends for us to take Him in so that we will be transformed. In Romans 12:2 Paul exhorts the brothers and sisters not to conform to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds! Huge application here, and the immediate question, “How do we renew our minds”? Paul answers this in the preceding verse by saying, “offer yourselves as a living sacrifice”. How do we do this today? By having a focus on Christ before ourselves, taking every thought captive (2 Cor 10:5), and by replacing thoughts of the world with thoughts of Christ. Paul says to the Corinthian church in 2 Cor 3:18, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit”. Looking at Christ, and walking toward Him is what keeps us on the path, with the continued ability to hear His voice.

Men, I challenge you today; each podcast you save, each radio broadcast you hear, every TV show and movie you watch, before you begin, read Phil 4:8 and only proceed if the media matches that description. Each time the media does not, substitute God’s word (in book or sound) and let me know if after a week you can feel a transformation taking place.

Do it, I dare you!

I posed a hypothetical question to my son the other day, to his ever-growing amusement. I asked him, “RJ, what would happen if I told you to go upstairs and clean your room, and you disappeared and returned in 90 minutes and sat on the couch to read a book, without having cleaned it? What would I do if I asked you what was going on and you said that you memorized what I said, and then went back to reading”? My son, laughing now, said that I would likely think he was being a wise guy. I asked, “What if I told you to go clean it again, and you disappeared again, return in 30 minutes, and the room still wasn’t clean? This time when I ask about the room, you tell me that you’ve invited three friends over to have a Bible study – in the dirty room – to discuss what it might look like if you cleaned it”? RJ laughed and said, “I wouldn’t dare do that Dad”!

Wouldn’t dare indeed. Isn’t this what we often do with what God has told us? …We pray, begging the Lord to show us His face, to reveal His specific will for our lives – and that’s good – but don’t you think that He sometimes looks down and says, “Your knowledge already far outpaces your obedience. I have given you my Word, and you cannot follow it; what more should I tell you now”? We are to be “doers” of the Word, and not hearers only. The “one anothers” of Scripture demand relationships and “action”. Each “one another” is preceded by a verb. Now I was never good at English, but I think verbs imply action on the part of the subject of the sentence. Each of the “one anothers” has YOU implied as the subject. YOU, love one another. YOU, bear one another’s burdens”. I challenge us today to be active in our faith. Exercise the “one another’s” in Scripture, and do what the Lord has instructed.

I am not advocating “works theology”. Some imply that the mere mention of “doing something” – even if for the Lord – hints at working for salvation. Men; everything that you can possibly do – all of it – cannot move you one fraction of an inch closer to deserving the gift of grace. It is free not because it is cheap, but because it is priceless; and praise the Lord that this is so! But works are important. How important? Read Matthew 25:41-46 below:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Well, how important is that? At the end of it all, the One who gave us His life to redeem us will separate those who will live eternally from those who will not; and He will do this based on whether or not they did what He asked them to do. It is important. Praise the Lord that we have good works that have been prepared for us to do, and that we have the Spirit enabling us to do them. Let us therefore do what He commands.

I know that by now many of you have heard that a large men’s conference will be simulcast here at Highland Community Church on the 5^th of February, 2011. The name of the conference is “No Regrets” and has been held in Wisconsin – down near Milwaukee – since 1994. We’ve sent men to this powerful conference, and now we have the distinct honor to bring this life-changing event to north-central Wisconsin. To prepare our hearts and minds to host this conference, and to awaken in each of us a desire to serve Christ with other men, I’ve prepared this short talk on the background of the name, “No Regrets”.

Lord, may each of us deliver as much service and dedication to your Kingdom on earth in a long lifetime as young William did in his short 25 years. I’d like to take each of the things Mr. Borden wrote and lived and break them down a step further, into something real that we can take home and do for Christ.

No Reserves

When I think about “No Reserves”, I remember all the people I have heard – Christian people – talking about their desperate need to do something for themselves, to “recharge” so that they can give again. I always worry that we are taking a selfish approach to that. William Borden captured it fully when he said, “Say no to self, and yes to Jesus; every time”. We are to be decreasing, and Christ is to be increasing; so who are we taking time for again!? If I stop the talk here, many of you will assert that even Christ moved away from the masses to a quiet place to recover, and He did; but He went there to pray to His Father, to re-fill Himself with God so that He had enough of God to give to others. God made us who we are, gave us a personality and unique gifts, and we should be who we are – genuine and transparent – but we should concentrate on the infilling of the Holy Spirit, so we can liberally splash out Living Water when life jostles us. When we find our calling, we should invest ourselves in it fully. I don’t mean work hard at it, I mean put ourselves out for it, all of  our energy and heart. Leave nothing on the field of battle.  Though it’s a weak analogy, here’s a video clip that sums up a piece of the fight we see ourselves in.

Did you hear the passion and force in his message? The inches we need are everywhere around us.. every minute and every second. Men, the people that Christ intends us to reach for Him are all around us and we have opportunities to affect them, every minute, and every second. On this team.. we claw with our finger nails for that inch.. because we know that’s going to make the difference between winning and losing, between living and dying. For us, that’s a sobering though; isn’t it? The difference between living – forever – with God, or dying – forever – and going to hell. I’ll tell you this, in any fight, it’s the guy that’s willing to die, who is going to get that inch. Will we each fight that hard for the Lord’s Kingdom here on earth? To save other men from the fate that awaits them if we do nothing? Look into each other’s eyes; do you see men that will go that inch with you? Let’s commit to going that inch together, leaving it all on the field, arriving in heaven with nothing held back, No Reserves.

No Retreats

Here, Borden showed that regardless his surroundings and pressure from peers, he would not sway from the work he was doing for the Lord. He would not shrink from the fight, no matter how pitched it became.

In World War I, American Marines fought for control of a small forest near Marne, in France. The frenzied battle they fought, while horribly outnumbered, earned them the name “TeufelHunde” from the Germans. It means “HellHound”, and it is the genesis of the title “Devil Dogs” that the Marines carry today. This 25-day battle saw the Marines fighting with their bayonets and fists more often than firing a weapon, as their supplies were low and reinforcement was problematic. In the midst of this hell on earth, a Lieutenant by the name Clifton Cates reported, “I have only two men out of my company, and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left, and only a few on my right. I will hold”. Lt. Cates gave this report on the 19^th day of fighting. Think about his situation.  He is surrounded by the enemy, has 22 men from two companies that began the battle with 160 men each. He wasn’t in command when the battle began, an infantry company is commanded by at least a Captain. He knows help is available but will not call for it because he knows it cannot arrive without taking heavy losses, and he will not sacrifice them to save himself! If the last three words “I will hold” do not rouse your heart as a man, check your pulse. He is pressed from every side, death has taken most in his command and is coming for him, and he says, “I will hold”. He will not surrender, and he will not retreat. I challenge you, when life begins to make things tough on you – Christian men – don’t give in to cursing, a fit of rage, playing the blame game, or retreating from a life ministry. Take a moment to look at Christ, then stare down your circumstances and say, “I will hold”. No Retreats.

No Regrets

One of my favorite quotes says that our humblest moments come when we open the book of our lives and read the story as it was written, as compared to what we vowed to make it. “No regrets” doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t elect to do anything differently if we had another crack at this life. It means, rather, that we do not regret following God, being a soldier for Him, regardless what happens here on earth. We know that as persistent as this vision seems, that it is timed and temporary. We are destined for eternity.

William Lloyd Garrison was an anti-slavery writer in the first half of the 19^th century. He published a paper called the Liberator. He began publishing this paper in 1831, and published it until the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. In that time, he never failed to release a paper; 1820 issues in all. Garrison was ridiculed widely, and even served jail time for speaking against slavery, but had no regrets, because he knew he was on the side of right. Garrison followed all three of the statements we’ve covered  today, and you can see his philosophy summed up in the opening line of Liberator, Issue One; “I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation.. I am in earnest – I will not equivocate – I will not excuse – I will not retreat a single inch – AND I WILL BE HEARD”. When it’s done, let’s ensure that we can say that we have No Regrets.

Summary

Men, the life we lead in the United States of America is indeed a blessed one, but I am encouraging us not to let our prosperity and “things” get between us and a holy God. Nothing we try to build here matters unless it is God-ordained, and we “labor in vain” if we do it. I challenge each of us – in our various seasons of life – to discern what He is calling us to do, and then to do it with reckless abandon. Let us each fill ourselves with the Spirit, and then bring that Light to the world in our every interaction with others. May we be faithful every minute of every day, and when at last we lie down to sleep, be able to say, “I held for myself No Reserves, when faced with hardship I took No Retreats, and with the grace of my Lord, I have No Regrets”.

What is “leadership”? Is it a skill? A quality? Is it innate? Can it be learned? If you can get people to follow you.. a lot of them, are you a leader? Hitler did that. Was he a good leader? I’d like to suggest that Christian leadership is a bit different than what we view leadership to be today, and then discuss why I believe that’s the case.

First off however, let’s ask ourselves why it is important to ask ourselves about Christian leadership as men. Why should we try to be good leaders? I suggest that the church is not being the church it needs to be, and one of the largest reasons is because we are not turning out men that lead! Too many of today’s leadership books are written from a secular perspective. Too much Harvard Business School, and not enough of the New Testament in these books! There are critical pieces of leadership from a Christian perspective that are not in these books.

Christian leaders are required to lead people into a personal discovery of God’s purposes. This is not an aspect of corporate leadership. Ray Kroc, President and CEO of McDonald’s was asked about his priorities in life. He correctly stated his priorities as God first, family second, and McDonald’s third. He then followed up this rousing display of integrity with the statement, “..until Monday morning; then they reverse”. Men, God is first and if you recognize that, recognize that He doesn’t move! Ask yourself in your daily coming and going, “Am I leading people toward goals that may be leading them away from god, or that are not leading them TO god”? The Christian leader is not free to merely vision, lead, mobilize, and push. We must discern, and lead people with the idea that they come to god.

Christian leaders are required to reflect something of the divine image. You cannot reflect that which you are not pointed at. In word and deed, we must live our conviction that we are His and He is ours. We must have character. There was a President recently that left office and a two-question poll was taken of him. The first question was, “Was this man a good President”? 80% said yes. The second question was, “Was this President a good man”? 80% said no. You can be a good secular leader and be a bad man. You cannot be a bad man and be a good Christian leader. We must treat people as if they are created in the divine image. Imageo Dei matters – all the time – to the Christian leader. People are not units of labor that we make to work at a given rate and compensate them, they are children of the King.

We are intended to have a unique impact on the communities we are in. We must act in a Christian way regardless the surroundings to impact others for His church.

Character. Let’s dig in a bit on this. A man, Joseph, born in Cyprus, moved to Israel, was a landowner, a Levite. Many people talking about a crucifixion. This guy though, had been raised from the dead and was all over the news. This is likely because women told the men this story, and men often have trouble believing what women tell them they thought up. Messiah eh? He didn’t do what their messiah would have done, and weren’t then sure if it was him. Some were starting to think that it was. This man (Joseph) believed it, and was in the minority. He became a follower of The Way. They stopped calling him Joseph, and started calling him Barnabas. Means son of the prophet. Prophets may encourage, but they have funny ways of doing it (think Nathan and David). Barnabas also means “encourager”. His character was allied, aligned with, his name and actions. He did what he was named and it matched his character. Today we have ‘image’, and precious little character. Plastering over the cracks of your character and appearing righteous (image) means little to the Christian. Character means everything. Reputation or “image” is what people think you are in the daylight. Character is what God knows you are in the dark.  (read Acts 11:24) Barnabas is described as a good man, full of the Holy Spirit, and in faith.

Stuart says, I was a bank auditor. Accept nothing, question everything; and my theology training began (the Bereans approach). So I hear that Barnabas was a “good man” and come back with Romans, saying that there are no good men. Barnabas took the law of god seriously, and lived a life that encouraged and helped others, and people saw that. No one has intrinsic goodness as viewed by God, by viewed by men, Barnabas was good, and had moral fiber. Ask yourself, “Do I want to have a ministry for the Lord or do I want to entertain my personal desires and have my special needs fulfilled”? What matters and what lasts?

Filled with the Holy Spirit; this is contrasted with being drunk. I have been drunk, more times in my distant past than I care to admit. You drink, your inhibitions leave. You are captivated, motivated, and activated. The drink gets you, then your motivations change, and then your actions change. It piques my curiosity, changes my desires, and finally stimulates my action. Drink does this negatively, and I’d like to suggest that the Holy Spirit, drunken regularly and in as much quantity as beer in this fine state, will do this positively! As Christian leaders, we should drink of the Spirit freely, allowing Him to captivate our hearts, motivate our thinking, and activate our lives in service to Christ.

Faith, has different dimensions. There is a cognitive dimension; I believe something is true. There is an emotive dimension; because I believe it, I am moved by it. It has an evaluative dimension; I am moved in this direction by what I am convinced is true, and it matches with reality. A man of faith can tell you how Christ changed his life as a result of what he knows. He can tell you why he does what he does and why it matches with the Lord’s will and guiding. A Christian leader makes others want to be like him.

When it is said and done with you, will you be remembered as a good man, full of the Holy Spirit, and in faith? Are you a Christian leader?

You see, I cautioned the young man to be careful about where he rode that four-wheeler, how fast to ride it, and how fast to turn it, because those wheels don’t always spin out. Sometimes they hold! When they do, you can roll or high-side the vehicle, and either one will result in you getting dumped; hard. In addition, I told him always to wear gloves and a helmet, along with long pants. When he hit the top of the drive, going WAY too fast, he tried to slide a corner, the wheel grabbed, and it flipped him; hard. No protective gear resulted in some bumps and bruises, and I may now have his attention (I certainly have his 4-wheeler and he’ll not have access to that for some time).

So, what does it take for you to see things God’s way? We will all see things His way in the end (Isa 45:23, Eze 7:17, Rom 14:11, Phil 2:10), but I think that rather than begging the rocks to fall on us, I think it is a far better thing that we find God’s will and live in it now, rather than become after-the-fact converts. The joyful thing – for me – is that God draws those to Himself that will be with Him in the end. Remember however the ways in which the Lord humbles us. Much like my son, He is willing to cause us whatever discomfort is needed in order to bring us to a clear and complete realization of who He is, and what He has done for us. Read this next line, pause, then read it again and commit it to memory. God does not – necessarily – want you to be happy; He wants you to be saved. Got that? We can have a discussion about taking our ‘joy in the Lord’ and living life ‘to the full’ as outlined in the Gospels, juxtaposed against this statement of mine; but suffice it to say that Christ’s main purpose through His death was not to make us happy, but to provide us a path to the Father that prior to His sacrifice did not exist.

I told my son where not to ride that 4-wheeler. The Scripture makes it clear that we should not go places where temptation exists. If you are prone to over-drinking, don’t go into a bar. If you are addicted to porn, don’t have internet access that is unmonitored with no accountability partner. Do you purposefully go places where you know you have a personal weakness?

I told my son not to speed or to turn quickly because the vehicle would not perform the same way under those conditions. Do you have a consistent walk with God that grows every day, or are you erratic, leaving the door open for Satan to tempt you? Do always have more “month than money”, leaving one of the most powerful temptations a free pass to get in? Do you ‘stalk’ the person you are personally convinced should ‘be with you’, even though they aren’t interested? Do you fail to wait upon the Lord and forever insist on forcing things in “your time”, rather than accepting that the Lord has an eternal view? When we design an erratic life, or try to push things faster than God intends, we do not behave the same way and we leave doors open for the evil one.

Scripture outlines the precautions we should take (Ephesians 6:11-18), while putting on the armor for the fight. My son thought he was just going out to have fun and didn’t armor up. Why? Because he only intended to have a little fun and didn’t think he was going to do anything to warrant an accident. I have news for you; they call it an accident because you don’t see it coming! Do you bathe your family in prayer every day? Do you “armor up” in the Word and prayer before going off to slay dragons at work?

If we humble ourselves, breaking ourselves on The Rock every day, God won’t have to use this existence and circumstances to do it. God loves us, and He will do what it takes to save us, even if that means we become wholly broken and miserable (for a time) here on earth. My intent for my son is that he live long, and well, and to be a powerful force for his Lord, and the Father’s goal for you and for me is the same. He desires that we glorify Him and live with Him forever.

I challenge you to break yourself today, and to seek His will, living in it; rather than being dragged there in a broken heap. You’re going there anyhow, do it in style, serving your Lord!

I am a tireless proponent of strong, lion-hearted Christian men and my heart is roused in me when I hear, watch, or re-tell the stories from the pictures above. How then can I say that these representations of men are “not what it takes”?

While the men portrayed in the pictures above have characteristics that are precious today (because they are so rare), there is one aspect of our lives as Christians in which the approach that these men take to life will never work. Regardless their strength, their will, devotion to a cause, willingness to sacrifice all; there is one place where none of this will bring results…

In Mark 10:13-16 Christ tells his disciples that without accepting the Good News “like a little child”, that they will never enter into it. Regardless our strength, our “goodness”, our service, we cannot enter into His rest without accepting the free gift “like a child”. In Matthew 18:1-4, Christ says that we must have faith like little children. This leaves us with questions, “How does a child receive a gift?”, and, “How does a child’s faith manifest itself differently than an adult”?

Let’s skip all of the Christmas-time experiences where your child gets a gift that he or she didn’t want and is upset with. This experience (that we’ve all had once or twice) is borne of a combination of consumerism, selfishness, and false expectation. Think back to a time that you gave your child a gift that they didn’t expect, that was something they wanted desperately, and that filled them with awe. Do you remember the look on their face? What about the catch in their breath, or the heightened tenor of their voice? Perhaps the screaming and jumping? The free gift of the Kingdom is accepted by us often in the first way, grudgingly, as if it comes with strings and things that we don’t desire. If we are disgusted by our child’s behavior when they get socks instead of an XBox 360, how much more must God be pained when we grudgingly or resentfully accept the gift of His Son, stretched out on a cross, dying for our sins? Christ said that we must accept the Gift in that second way. A child cannot believe that this is for them, that it is happening now, and they wonder how you kept it a secret for so long! Have you felt that way about the Good News? When it finally ‘hit’ you… the gift was meant for YOU, that you are now truly SAVED forever, and why on earth did it take so LONG to find it?! What does your child do next? They explore the gift, in awe… and when they have a surface knowledge of what it is and does, they RUN to share their mystical good fortune with others. Folks, you can’t hold this sort of thing in! Once we are saved we cannot help ourselves.. we must share the Good News with others!

Faith is that thing which goes beyond reason and allows us to maintain an eternal and godly view of the temporary and temporal. How then does a child interact with this mental/emotional/spiritual thing? First of all, the child doesn’t deconstruct it as I just did! They just DO it! Second, the faith is complete. Kids – at a certain age – know that their Dad can do anything. When someone says anything that flies in the face of this, the child doesn’t – for one split-second – question their Father; they laugh at the person making the statement. Now, blind faith is not what I am advocating here… not carte’ blanche and across the board, but a humility that allows for the idea that there are things that we don’t know, and that God is that all-powerful Father that will never let us down, regardless what things ‘look like’ right now.

Christians are often accused of being robots to Scripture, in the face of evidence to the contrary. Faith does not demand that we do not question and it does not demand that we do not think. Indeed, the prophets of old often prayed for God to fill them with wisdom, and then they moved forward boldly, in faith. Do children ask questions? All parents of four year-olds are laughing out loud right now. Sure they ask questions, and that’s fine, it’s how they (we) learn! God never gets tired of answering our questions, ask Him! We need to be able to defend our belief, and that requires knowledge. Just don’t let man’s knowledge get out in front of your faith.

Here’s a short story about a child’s faith written as a first-person account by Dave Snyder. We can each learn a great deal about what our mindset should be when we ask God for something, or when He asks us to do something.

I will never forget his face. Looking up at me he appeared close to tears. I felt terrible for putting him through this but I had to finish the process even though it was breaking my heart.

I was sharing morning chapel with a group of fifth graders and had placed three cups of water on a table in front of the class. I proceeded to explain that I added a colorless, odorless substance to one of the cups that could kill them in four or five minutes. Then I asked the question: “Is there anyone who is willing to come forward, choose one of these three cups and drink it?”

I know. Sounds cruel, doesn’t it? But invariably, in the many times I have used this illustration in school groups, someone comes forward.

On this particular day a little red-headed boy raised his hand and soon stood before me and the three ominous cups. I reiterated the situation he faced regarding the deadly substance I had added to one of the cups. The boy’s countenance began to change from confidence to anticipation, and then to fear. I was beginning to wonder if I should ever do this illustration again and if I could be sued for mental cruelty.

With Shaky Hands

Little Ken felt he must go through with his commitment to save face with the class. With shaky hands he took the middle cup and raised it to his trembling lips. I was feeling worse about myself by the minute. Was I scarring this kid for life? Would his dad look me up and do me in?

We all watched as Ken slowly emptied the cup, placed it back on the table and looked up at me with questioning eyes. Placing my hand on his shoulder I quickly assured him, “Ken, you didn’t drink the wrong cup. The clear, odorless substance I added to one of the cups was nothing but more water. If you put your face in it long enough, yes it can kill you. Right?” Ken took a deep breath of relief and offered a weak smile.

I continued by asking Ken the question I always did at the conclusion of this experiment: “Ken, why did you drink that cup knowing you could die if you picked the wrong one?” The answer broke my heart and still does today. Looking up at me, his eyes misty, he softly said, “Because I knew you wouldn’t let me die.” What an incredible model of faith I will never forget! I now understand more clearly why Jesus said, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

Here is the simple yet profound conclusion: little Ken knew me. By knowing me he trusted me with his very life. I am reluctantly confronted with this question: do I exhibit that same child-like trust in my Savior? I must confess–I too often hesitate to drink the cup

They quickly learned that whenever one of them climbed on the table, all of them were soaked with cold water. They realized climbing on top of the table was a bad idea. Unbeknownst to the monkeys, the high-pressure cold water hoses were disconnected and removed.

The next week, one of the five monkeys was removed from the room and replaced by a new monkey. The new monkey saw the table and the banana dangling from the ceiling… Realizing that the banana was there for the taking, the monkey headed for the table. But fearful of being drenched by the high-pressure cold water, the other four monkeys pounced on the newcomer and beat the tar out of him. Every time the new monkey got near the table, the others beat him up. Soon the new monkey no longer went near the table.

By the third week, another of the original five monkeys was replaced by a new monkey. And like the monkey the week before, the newest member of the group tried to get near the table to move it over to the banana. Once again, the others beat up the newest member of the group. Even the first new monkey joined in.

Each successive week, one more of the original monkeys was replaced. The same thing happened every time; when the newest monkey attempted to get near the table, the others joined in to discourage him.

By the sixth week, not a single monkey was left from the original group. Not one remained that had been squirted with cold water. But when the newest monkey headed toward the table and tried to reach the banana, the other four monkeys “trained” him by beating the tar out of him.

If you could ask each monkey why it was beating up the new monkey, each probably would say, “I don’t know, that is just the way we do things around here.”

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This exercise in operant conditioning with simian primates might be amusing, but don’t you see a clear parallel in life? We tend to do things to a pattern, a routine, and we tend to resist change. Some of this is natural, helps us to maintain some emotional comfort, and allows us to keep and respect tradition. This focus on being comfortable and suppressing new thought brings some other consequences however, as some change is good, change always provides opportunity for personal growth, and progress is predicated on change.

I think that there might also be a parallel between this story and the way that Christians interact with other believers. There are positive and negative aspects here as well. We need to unite on the essentials (Admit you are a sinner, Believe in Christ crucified for your sin and raised again to heaven, and Confess your faith and conversion to others), rather than dividing on non-essentials (everything else). Resisting change in this area (The Gospel) is the duty of every Christian and God is glorified when we share an untainted and joyful Gospel of grace with others. However, resisting change in the non-essentials provides fractures in the body of Christ and He is not glorified when we find things to divide on. In fact, as Christ sweated blood, suffering in Gethsemane, He prayed to our Father that the world would look at believers and see that we were united; and as a result, believe that the Father sent Christ, and that God would be glorified.

Christ chastised believers and told them that even the heathens give good things to those they love. God is not glorified when people that think the same things, give priority to the same things, and do the same things all get along. He already said that’s not a big deal! God is most glorified when people that could not possibly have gotten along DO get along because they are all filled with His Spirit. Let us each be Spirit-filled, concentrating on our walk with God, extending His grace to all, unifying in Him on the Gospel. In this, our Lord is glorified.

And when you see one of the Lord’s servants trying something new… cut them a break would you? Remember that you’re both His servant, and at least the other person is doing something for Him.

Carrying My Wife for 30 Days

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, “I’ve got something to tell you”. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. “I want a divorce”, I raised the topic calmly.

She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, “why”?

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, “you are not a man”! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said, for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her crying was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce, which had obsessed me for several weeks, seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane.

When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our eldest son had his middle school exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door every morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. “No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce”, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our younger son clapped behind us, “..daddy is holding mommy in his arms”! His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; “don’t tell our sons about the divorce”. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given twenty years of her life to me.

On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry my wife as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger?

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.

Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our younger son came in at the moment and said, “Dad, it’s time to carry mom out”. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, “I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy”.

I drove to the office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, “Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore”.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. “Sorry, Jane”, I said, “I won’t divorce”. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us part. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away.

At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, “I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us part”.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I ran up the stairs, only to find my wife had been driven home from work early, and she was confined to bed as she was too weak to walk. She died that night, at home in the bed I carried her from every day, for 30 days.
My wife had been fighting cancer for months and I was too busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save my reputation with our sons, in case we pushed thru with the divorce. At least, in the eyes of our son— I’m a loving husband….

Men, perhaps you’ve never gotten a divorce, considered a divorce, or even taken enough time and energy away from your family to consider yourself a failure. For the two or three of you that covers, congratulations! We could all do so much more to build intimacy with our wives, and if you’ve never failed in a big way, consider if you’ve ‘been all that you can be’ to your beloved. We don’t know how long we have, and we are so rarely aware of who is watching. Let us live as though our marriages are the first and brightest reflection of Christ, because they are!

There are several points in this story worth calling out. First, both spouses were angry… and that’s fine. The key is to handle our anger in such a way that it is not sinful. Focusing on ourselves, our desires, to the detriment of our spouse is sin. Second, while we all need to be motivated by a clean spirit and real heart change, we need to be aware that sometimes, behavior can change the heart! Sometimes, orthopraxy (doing what is right) can bring us to a fuller understanding and active living of orthodoxy (right theology). Third, see the realization and change in perception that took place when this husband spent one-on-one time with his wife. Understand that the same thing holds true in our relationship with God. Time spent with one another builds understanding and intimacy.  Fourth, this combination of right living and right teaching, when practiced over time, will change our focus from ourselves to others, and will enable us to live a life that glorifies God more and more each day. This man finally ‘saw’ his wife, after so many years of emotional neglect, because he was “living right”, and only for 30 days. What a difference in that amount of time! Finally, remember that our days are numbered. Take the time with your wife whom the Lord has given you, all the days you have been given on this earth. Delight in her as the wife of your youth, regardless your age and regardless how you stand with one another today. Take the time.

Thanks for reading!

Ron

P.S. For practical tips on what to do to rebuild your relationship and really focus on your wife in an intentional way, take “The Love Dare” as a start. This works, regardless where you are, and it gives a great deal of information to you about the places where your beloved can use time and attention.

I started several devotions for this morning’s breakfast; a Father’s Day chat, and Memorial Day recognition, a direct and forceful talk about a Christian man and his calling, but I have been led to the book of Ephesians for today’s conversation with you. First.. a personal story. I went in recently for a consult on ADHD. I wanted to try some new treatment options, and needed to undergo an assessment with a new doctor. I sat in the waiting room for 10 or 15 minutes, tapping my foot, reading magazines, pacing… until the assistant came and took me to a room with nothing on the floor, walls, or ceiling. The only thing in the room was a rather sturdy looking desk with a monitor and a keyboard. The assistant explained that letters would flash on the screen and I was to press a key each time this happened, except when the letter “X” flashed up on the screen. I began, and the letters came, fast and furious, then slower… then fast again. Here and there I skipped the “X” when I should, but as I got into a rhythm, I found that the “X” would flash, and I’d press the key… just because I had become used to pressing the key. Then, I became incensed at myself for hitting the “X”… so upset that I would mess up the next couple of keypresses. “A” – press, “I” – press, “N” – press, “K” – press, “X” – press… D’OH!!! It seems that this is much like our life as Christians… we naturally do what we repeat. 14 minutes of that seemed like an eternity, and I am glad I didn’t take a blood pressure test soon thereafter. Take a guy with ADHD and put him in a small room, make him do one boring thing, boy I tell you… I’ll bet they had a hidden camera somewhere! Let’s see how this idea of conditioned stimulus and response applies to Paul’s writings.

So, Ephesians… are we going to talk about the fact Paul seemingly wrote Ephesians expressly to demonstrate Pastor Jeff’s [our senior pastor] continued focus on the difference between (and necessity of) orthodoxy and orthopraxy? After all, the book is split neatly in two between “how to believe” in Chapters 1 through 3 and “how to live” in Chapters 4 through 6! Perhaps we will talk about relationships and focus on the gender-specific verses from 22 through 26? It’s always nice to talk about submissive wives, right?

I have a confession to make; we are going to speak about only two verses in Ephesians today… that’s all you’re getting. If you feel ‘jipped’, please show up on Sunday for some preaching that’s far better than what you’re getting now! I further confess that you’re going to get a strong message about what God expects from us as Christians, with the added note that we are to lead in this regard in our homes… by example.

So, here we are in the middle of Paul’s preaching on how we ought to live, and, taking up in verse three of Chapter 5 we read, “..sexual immorality and all impurity of covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints”.  We are saints! Isn’t that cool!? Now, I know what you’re saying… “I know Ron pretty well and I can’t speak for the rest of these jokers, but he’s no saint”. Here, Christ has declared us saints and then sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, giving us the strength to live as saints. Paul extends a bit of grace to the Ephesians (and to each of us) by calling them “saints”. Paul states that sexual immorality should not exist among the saints. Sounds pretty obvious, doesn’t it? I can already hear some of you thinking, “I don’t sleep with other women, I’m good”, or, “I am a ‘normal guy’ in this regard, not extra kinky or anything”. I don’t suppose that our view changes if we bring in Christ’s view that thinking about sex with a woman is a sin, just as performing the act would be? Not convinced? Okay, let’s “rise above” the laiety and focus only on clergy for a moment. Leadership Journal did an anonymous survey on sex and the American clergy. Of the pastors responding to the survey, 20 percent said they looked at sexually oriented media at least once a month! 38% said they actively fantasized about sex with someone other than their spouse more than once monthly. When asked if in their church ministry if they had even done anything they felt was sexually inappropriate, 23 percent answered yes! When asked about physical infidelity, 12 percent of pastors answered, “yes”, after entering the ministry. When the laity were asked the same questions, the rates almost doubled, across the board. This indicates – to me – that leaders have an issue looking clearly into the mirror and confronting themselves and their sin. Let me give you a bit of a secret about that study. It was done more than twenty years ago, before the advent of the Internet. What do you think the rates are now?

Paul then goes on to talk about greed, and it may seem as though this is out of place, but greed has a great deal to do with sexual immorality. Greed is an appetite for something more, always. Sexual immorality is us ‘acting out’ on this desire for more. Covetousness is greed applied to something another person already has. There was a time that advertising companies would give an honest overview of a product they were proud of and compete for market share. I worked in advertising before coming to Wausau, and we didn’t care if our product was a great one, only that our advertisement was present once we successfully made people dissatisfied with what they had. All we had to do was awaken greed in a person, and have our ad in front of them when it happened.

God’s standard for behavior and sin are absolute, and Paul states that even a hint of these things must not exist among the believers. With the statistics we’ve heard and the knowledge of the truth, it’s clear that strong medicine is needed. In order to raise children that are moral and behave in a saintly manner, we must each act in that manner. Children’s behavior is more ‘caught’ than ‘taught’. We must remove from our homes every form of immorality and every hint of sex and greed. I challenge you each to do the following this evening. Sit down – as a family – around the dining room table with your DVD, music, or media file collection in the middle. Then, read Philippians 4:8 aloud and separate the movies into two piles, one to keep and one to toss. Each time you find yourself rationalizing a movie with a phrase like, “there are a couple ‘things’ in it, but it has a good story or moral”, place that movie in the “toss” pile. The way we explain this to our kids is as follows. We all like brownies, right? I’ve made some brownies, chocolately and thick… still warm, and I have some ice cream to go with them; want some? Inevitably they yell, “yes”! And we say, “ah, just one more thing… in all of this chocolatey goodness, we’ve mixed in just a teeny bit of cat poop… but don’t worry, there not much bad stuff and overall, the brownies taste really good”! Their faces fall, and they walk away… every time. Cat poop isn’t the loss of our reward after arriving in heaven, and yet we have a stronger reaction to it… wow.

Why do I think that this verse speaks so strongly about a zero tolerance for these things? Well, beyond the simple and clear language used, the next verse brings it home in a big way… let’s cover verse four; “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving”. The word for ‘filth’ here is the same root as “disgraceful” and means anything about which we ought to feel shame. The word “moron” comes from the word that is translated “foolish talk” and in this context does not mean someone who is mentally deficient, but a person who is morally deficient. Crude joking means “to turn easily”, or, to have a quick comeback. Again, in context, this means a quick comeback of a sexual nature. The ability to turn anything into something sexual should not be a skill of ours. We don’t joke about sex for the same reason we don’t joke about God… it’s a sacred subject.  God’s standard is absolute and it includes moral purity in thought, speech, and behavior.

So, how do we do it? At the end of verse four we see that the opposite of greed and lust is to give thanks. What does giving thanks have to do with purity? Remember when I said that to trigger greed we had to become dissatisfied with what we have? A person that is giving thanks doesn’t have the time or inclination to be dissatisfied. A thankful person is inoculated against greed. Eve was tempted because she was made to be dissatisfied with “everything but the forbidden fruit”. If we complain about the job we have, the wife we have, and so on; we are not merely dissatisfied, but we are questioning God’s wisdom and sovereignty in our lives! Do you trust God, or don’t you? Let us focus on giving thanks for what we have, the fact that we are in the Light, and live as though we are.

Fast-forward through forty-two years of history, a couple of trials, countless encounters with consequence, many jobs, and several years here at Highland. That brings us to late March of this year. Late in the afternoon on a Sunday, I got a cryptic email from a man I didn’t know on Facebook. I brought up his profile, and with his picture on the screen, Justina walked by the computer and said, “That man is your brother; no question”. Soon after, I got a call from a pastor in California and he asked questions about my birthdate, where I was born, and so on. I asked him what he was getting at, and he said, “I think I am sitting next to your birth mother, and she’d like to talk to you. Can she call you right back”? Five minutes later – after 42 years – I was speaking with the woman who gave me life, and then – in what must have been a heart-wrenching, almost impossible decision – gave me up to someone better prepared to raise me. Long story short, my family and I will have the incredible privilege of meeting my half-brother, his wife, and birth mother face-to-face when they visit our home in late May for a few days!

So, what does my life story have to do with anything? Well, today I am writing about other people who have been adopted; and what that adoption looks like. I don’t mean Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, James Michner, Edgar Allan Poe, Malcolm X, Moses or even Jesus (all of whom were adopted), I mean each one of us that are ‘Christians’. Each of us have been adopted by God, as sons, into His family. Galatians 4:1-7 reads

“What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir”.

The word adoption (huiothesia) means “to make, a son”. It defines a legal transition of rights and responsibilities from one parent to another. Adoption was common to the Romans, though it was very expensive and formal. Romans of high standing often adopted sons to carry on the family line. In fact, in the first 200 years of Roman society, seven of the ten emperors inherited their positions through adoption. An important note in Roman law is that if a slave were adopted (only the free could adopt), the slave was made free through that adoption and inherited the rights of a son. In Roman law, sons that were adopted could not subsequently be “given back”. All of these intricacies were understood by Paul, as evidenced by his use of these specific words; and these words would have been well understood by his audience. We have been adopted by God, from our father Satan, given the rights and standing of a free person in His kingdom, as contrasted to our bondage and slavery to the law before that time; and it was expensive. It cost the life of God Himself on the cross, in the form of His Son, Our Saviour.

So, what does adoption require of the adopted? First, it requires that we build a relationship with our new Father. Clearly demonstrated in the cry “Abba, Father”, the joyous cry of a 1^st Century son, running into his father’s arms as Dad returns from a long trip. “Abba”, means “Daddy”! That open, joyous, warm and welcoming relationship that Christ came to demonstrate. “Father”, has the connotation of an elder that teaches, trains, and cares. Secondly, it requires that we develop faith in our new Father, trusting Him to guide, train, and to provide.. Romans 8:31-32 says,

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”.

Finally, adoption requires that we learn to trust in our standing, to truly believe that we are part of the family. John 1:12 says,

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God..”

As I close this note, what does this adoption mean? First, it means that we are no longer slaves to the law. The curtain that kept us from an Almighty God has been ripped in two, and we have a personal and direct relationship with Him (Gal 3: 24-25). Second, it means that we are His sons (Gal 4:6), with an attendant desire to act like one. Finally, now that we’re sons, and moved from the law into grace (and are living with our new Dad), we are heirs of God. We inherit what God has! First His Spirit dwells in us, and finally, we will inherit perfect bodies, with eternal life.

Men, the deposit of the Spirit shows us that we are sons of God, heirs of the eternal kingdom of our Father. I challenge us: do not be faithless and ignorant, learn to walk as brothers of Christ, in the family of God. Dare to walk as sons!

   gaps are widening..     

Coming out of the Fort Hood massacre, we’ve heard words like “heroism”, “terrorism”, “combat disorder”, “fear”, “Muslim”, “hate”, and “harassment”. The thing that is frightening to many however, isn’t that these words are used, but what each of them are describing and what they are being used to justify. I’d like to take a short look at what several aspects of this case seem to indicate about the state of our hearts and minds in America today.

Overview of Incident

At approximately 13:30 Sierra (local time) at Fort Hood, TX a lone gunman jumped onto a desk in the Soldier Readiness Processing Center and began firing shots into a mass of hundreds of soldiers who were involved in outprocessing for deployment. There are conflicting reports on what the suspect did before the shooting, whether or not he shouted anything, and what he may post on various radical web sites, but we do know that he is Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, age 39. The shooting ended when Kim Munley, a Ft. Hood police Sgt. (and others) responded and shot the suspect. Mrs. Munley was hit three times, twice through the left leg and once in her right wrist, Hasan was hit four times, both survived the shooting. 13 people died and 30 or more were wounded in this tragedy.

Honor and Courage

Kim Munley is being hailed as a “hero” and cited for bravery because she arrived quickly, faced the gunman, and shot him while taking fire. It is a practical assumption that she fired on the gunman after she had already been hit. I think that she would counter that claim with, “I was doing my job”, but deep down, most of us know that what she did was ‘right’, it was ‘good’, and that the heart that motivated that action should be held up as a goal for all. There is another place in this story where the word ‘hero’ was used however, and that was – allegedly – a posting by Major Hasan referring to contemporary suicide bombers as morally and ethically equal to a soldier who throws himself on a grenade to save his comrades. Many would assert that the only difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist is the victor; the person who records the history of the event. Why then do we – deep down where no-one sees the other – know that she [Munley] was heroic and that Hasan’s alleged deeds were certainly not? While I would assert that the Lord has placed in us each a sense of who He is, and thus a clear sense of right and wrong, I think that when we act or speak – over time – in a way that is contrary to what we know is right, that this discontinuity breeds discontent and guilt. When we know a thing is right, and we pass it off or over in deference to ‘political correctness’ or to avoid conflict, we lose a piece of our collective integrity. Moments such as Kim’s action serve as a split-second to celebrate the right, but they also make us confront the fact that we cover the wrong all too often.

I have heard it stated that Maj. Hasan was suffering from a ‘pre-traumatic stress disorder’, and that is what prompted his action. First of all I find that to be highly unlikely, but in the event it is partially true, let me share with you what that politically correct phrase really means; Maj. Hasan was scared. Here’s my question; when did the fighting men and women of this nation begin to let fear rule their actions!? Don’t you think that every solider goes through some fear when getting called up, deployed, and each time they begin a mission? Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it is the ability to control it and move forward in the face of it. Praise the Lord that our fighting men and women are not all made of the same weak and rubbery stuff that Maj. Hasan seems to have at his core!

Church and State

Regardless additional information on the topic, there will continue to be speculation that Hasan’s Muslim faith had something to do with the shooting. It has been alleged that he shouted “Allahu Akhbar” before shooting, and whether or not that is true, he certainly was a practicing Muslim. While there are many peaceful Muslims, I find it intellectually annoying that we are not ‘allowed’ to talk about the fact that most present-day terrorists are Muslims, certainly not without prefacing the word “Muslim” with “radical”. If course it is radical, it involves murder! I know I’ll get blasted by some for saying that his faith had something to do with his actions, but if your faith doesn’t change who you are, is it useful at all? Shouldn’t your religion, your “faith”, affect who you are and what you choose to do? For all those that defend the fact that we have radical Muslim mullahs in this country, practicing their hatred and training a new breed of terrorist, would you defend a Christian who stood outside an abortion center and detonated an explosive vest preceded by a shout of “Jesus is Lord”!?

Military and Operations

I am personally embarrassed by the process whereby our politicians choose to engage the enemy and – indeed – the method whereby we define “enemy”. It is certainly the case that some of the conflicts in which we’ve been involved recently, that there is no reasonable way to say that we were “protecting our national security”. If we are to be the world’s policemen, let us do that, policing everyone and everywhere, following Ann Coulter’s tongue-in-cheek maxim, “Let us invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity”. We must do this then with the Russians, the Chinese, and the North Koreans… everyone, no matter how powerful they are. On the other hand, we could pursue a policy of isolationism, policing no one and defending our shores with rock-solid defense. Regardless our choice, we must have an honorable course charted, and follow it with integrity, rather than going to fight in little places where we think we have a chance of success.

On that note, how can our world-class military lose in places like Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan!? It’s been said that this is a new kind of warfare, with people who don’t care if they live or die, guerilla fighting techniques, etc just cannot be matched by our large fighting force. Really!? Americans have been defined, for 234 years, by their ability to recognize, adapt, and overcome, and even though the military machine is a huge bureaucracy that can slow almost anything down, isn’t it far more likely that the reason we cannot win is the same as it has been since the Vietnam War? When American fighting men and women cannot emerge victorious, it is because politicians refuse to turn the war over to those with experience fighting it. If we followed Sun Tzu’s advice, and avoided war at almost all costs, but when war became necessary we gave it over to the military for prosecution, I am convinced that we would emerge victorious in every conflict we entered.

Almost all of what we feel and discuss where this tragedy is concerned brings to light the bare and glaring fact that Americans say and do things that are no longer backed by a moral underpinning. We do not endeavor to find what is right, do what is right, or tell others why we act the way we do. If there is any good news, it is that – on the rare occasion that we see someone do the right thing – we recognize it when we see it, and we celebrate it. I pray that we will recognize this trend away from what is right, that we will reverse it, and that actions of integrity will become the ‘norm’ once again.

I volunteered to work in security during the event and worked (4) 4.5 hour shifts in exchange for a full event pass. Monetarily this is the lowest hourly wage I’ve worked for in over 25 years, but these shifts were the most rewarding I had worked in that amount of time as well. I saw people already full in the joy of the Lord as they approached the gates of the event and people greeting me warmly, even with my gruff exterior and “Security” shirt. I don’t know if you’ve attended secular concerts, but we (security personnel) are rather universally hated at these events.. tolerated, but not embraced. At Lifest however, we were all there for the same reason, to fellowship with other Christians and to worship an Almighty God! As I said, it was awesome.

I camped just outside the “Edge” stage where all the “edgy” bands played. I went to sleep every night to the hardest music I’ve listened to in many years, and loved it. “Red”, “Superchick”, and, “Disciple”… great slumber music, right!? I took the bike with a week’s worth of camping equipment, and loved every minute of it. I got more sun in one week than I may have ever gotten, and got rained on one night… a lot. Normally I’m not one that’s much for people, but – in general – the people here were a great group, of the same mind and all focused on God. We weren’t all the same, in fact we were all very different, but God isn’t glorified the most when we are the same and get along; God is the most glorified when people that are totally different one from the other are friendly and loving members of His family together. That happened here at Lifest 2009.

My family came down and had a hotel for two nights in town. I was able to stand in a crowd of thousands and worship with each one of my three children individually, and with my wife. Standing and singing with a crowd for ten or twenty thousand to David Crowder was great, holding Kassie and singing to Phillips, Craig, and Dean in worship to our Lord was special, bouncing to Toby Mac with Liesel was fun (I think?),sitting with my wife during a Campolo talk was relaxing, and making shapes with the Rubik snake with R.J. filled some off time. I recommend this event to families for “together time”… make it one of your camping trips for the year; that’s what we’ll be doing next year. One note: If you are going to volunteer, do it together and on the same shifts (if possible).

So, you know it’s coming… what are we to learn from an event like this? I suggest that there are three things that an event like this can demonstrate and that we can learn from.

Christians are Individuals

It is an obvious statement that we are all different. Here’s the piece that we often miss as Christians; that’s a good thing! God made us different, has gifted us in various ways, and has called us to a wide array of places in His body, the church. Let me be painfully clear, because I can hear an Elder Board somewhere saying, “Well yes, but our walk will be parallel and much alike because we’re on a narrow path together, and… mutter mutter”.. our Christian walk can also vary widely and still be valid, effective, and sanctifying. Yes, you read me correctly… our walk can look different from another Christian’s and still be “valid”. Who are we to judge another’s walk!? (which is what Matthew 7:1 really means).. we are to bear one another’s burdens, to support one another, and yet not to judge. Yes, the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) must be present in each Christian’s life, but too often we use that verse to overcome and subjugate the verse on judging so that we can feel justified in judging! People of God, STOP IT! We are each in enough difficulty with our own walk in faith to take the time and energy to judge another. Take what little spiritual strength you have remaining and look in the mirror, and then connect to God… stop looking out the window at others.

Worship Varies in Style

Ah yes, the Worship Wars.. the “Vietnam” of the church. The conflict we never should have been in that takes our focus off so many other critical things, that destroys Christian relationships, tears down local churches, and erodes our sense of history as a church. Folks far smarter than I have attempted to quantify – and then solve – this issue and have failed. It won’t be solved here, but I’ll still write about it!

Just as we each are different – radically so in some cases – in our walk, so are we different in our form of worship to the Lord. Now, many of us can believe that some distance away from our own personal style is “still valid” service to the Lord, but we all have that threshold, don’t we? That place where we say something like, “P.C.D. and Aaron Shust are where we all need to be, and I can believe that the Barlow Girls can be worshipped to, but Disciple and Kutless are just noise… no one can really worship to THAT”. Can’t they? Let me give you a piece of trivia from Lifest… I heard Disciple, and I heard their gospel message. I couldn’t help it because it permeated their performance. That “hard rock band” gave the most effective and heartfelt altar call of any of the 150 bands at Lifest. Worship happened, and it happened whether our frail human minds can wrap around it or not. God was glorified, and many youth came to Christ that night. Stop bleeding off energy that could be spent sanctifying yourself, serving the Lord, and serving His people by judging how other parts of the body of Christ worship. Ask the Lord if YOUR worship is effective and glorifying, and spend your energy worshipping the way He has called you to.

I have a poster in my office at work… it’s very simple, I printed it myself. It has the Greek character “Delta” with a picture of a heart next to it. “Delta” is the Greek character that in physics is used to denote “change”… and God desires us not to worship externally, in form only; He desires heart change. All true worship demands a response from the Christian. Sometimes this begins with closed eyes, with hands raised to God, with jumping, and even with tongues, but this emotional 20-30 minutes isn’t where it ends, or even begins. We are recharged by worshipping in community, but we must understand that this short time should be an outpouring and sharing of a life of worship, of a life born of a changed heart. True worship demands a response in the life of the believer, indeed, that change… living for Christ IS worship.

Concentrate on the Core

Several times immediately prior to the event, and even at the event, I heard statements made about the theology of the people “in charge” of the event (as if it wasn’t the Lord that was in charge). Christians, remember a few paragraphs ago when I exhorted you to “stop it”? I’m saying it again. Do me a favor and grab a Bible… turn to 1 Cor 12, yes, the one right before the Love Chapter. Paul is speaking about gifts, and he’s talking about how each part of the body does something different, isn’t he? Well sure Ron, but you see, this chapter is focused on individuals and not on “denominations”… these verses cannot be applied to denominations in today’s Christianity. No? Hang out on verse 13 for a minute… yes, the whole “same spirit” spot, “..whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free..”, wow… large divisions of population, not individuals. It doesn’t get much different than “Jew” and “Greek”… and in case they missed that division, Paul went on to state that two totally opposed populations (slave and free) also were of the same Spirit. If the organizers of an event have the Gospel, are they not part of the body? Is it not better that people connect to them than no one?

As far as “essentials” go, I won’t take the space to write on those here, but suffice it to say that they are not as numerous in God’s eyes as they are in ours. The body of Christ, His church, is made up of all people that are saved, those that have accepted His gift of salvation, claimed the name, and have been indwelled by the Holy Spirit; full stop. Stop dividing the body with internecine battles; we are called to unity and we shall find it on the Gospel alone.

As you can see, I can get carried up in this pretty quickly, and this event really renewed my Spirit and vigor. I recommend it (and like events) to all Christians, especially families.

Technorati Tags: festival, gospel, lifest, music, worship

The two younger kids are in California with their grandparents, and on Saturday, Justina had an all-day scrapbooking event in Minocqua. Kassie and I decided to go on a little ride together and went out Evergreen, past Chico’s to Eau Clarie Dells. We had some soft-serve, walked a bit, looked at some of God’s awesome nature, pushed Kassie on the park swings, came back through town, picked up cat food, and had a late lunch at Taco Bell. We followed this with some yardwork (mowing) and when Justina got home we grilled steaks. 60 miles of riding and some quality time with my eldest. It was a good day!

Sunday came and we went to church, me on the bike, Kassie and Justina in the Cherokee. I stopped by a friend’s house and fed his chickens, hit a small patch of rain, and made it to church on time. After church, Justina and I hopped on the bike and waved goodbye to Kassie who was headed for an empty house.. just Kassie and the dog for a day of alone time. Justina and I rode with a couple of friends to the local Harley dealership in time for the start of their first annual ‘dealer ride’. I’ve included our route below.

Justina and I ride well together, and we learn something new every time we ride. This time out we learned that she still gets antsy near the paint, and that popping her gum in my ear when we’re riding is distracting. I learned that stopping distances are greater with a passenger (I knew that but had it proven to me) and that this distance increases appreciably with water on the roadway. On that note; we traveled through a few impressive rain squalls. Hard rain at 60mph on a sunburned head feels like hail!

We had a successful ride, maybe 165 miles, had a great time, good fellowship (thanks Mike and Mitch!), and even got some coffee in! In fact, it was such a great time that I think I’ll ride home early this evening and take Justina on another ride.
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In today’s note, Ron has some time to ride and think, about bikes, luggage, men, and ministry.. and, obviously, produce some Vitamin D in his skin!

Click through to read more.

When my wife and I first married, I had just sold my last motorcycle. We agreed that once the kids were ‘out of the house’ that we would spend our time riding on a new motorcycle ‘across Canada’. Last year – though the kids are not yet gone – she suggested that it might be time, and I jumped at the chance. We bought a 2003 100th Anniversary Harley Fat Boy, and I started riding. Note: “We” did not start riding… that’s just happened this year.

There are people that will tell you that you pick Harley for the brand, for the idea that it’s “Made in the USA”, or for the raw, gritty rumble. I’m here to tell you that we picked it for all those reasons, and more. There is a storied history there, a rich background and nostalgia. It’s clear that other manufacturers build good bikes, and many enjoy them; they just weren’t options for us. Some say that “H.D.” stands for “hundred dollars”, and that you have a money pit once you get one. Well, I wish the limit on a trip to a dealer was $100, and the pit description falls well short as a pit just sits there and doesn’t pull your money toward it. A Harley is much more like a money “black hole”… but again, we’d have it no other way.

On to the story… we had discussed getting saddlebags for the bike, and we started looking around at Harley bags. What we saw were small bags – likely made to fit above the stock shotgun exhaust – in the 550 cu in range. We knew these would not hold what we needed on longer rides, even though we have a T-Bag for the upright. We then started looking at other options for bolt-on bags. Most bags required that you have metal standoffs installed on the bike, or they were ‘throw-overs’ like Pony Express mailbags… neither of these options appealed to us. Then – cue sound of angels singing here – we found Ironbags (www.ironbags.com). Max builds a bag, from the ground up, on a piece of fiberglass formed to the contours of a Harley, using Hermann oak tanned leather, vegetable dyed, with metal hardware and many options. These bags are a work of art, are larger than stock Harley bags, come in various shapes and sizes, and are generally cheaper “per cubic inch” than Harley bags. We are overjoyed with the result and recommend anyone in search of saddlebags to Max.

So, the ride. It made sense to me to have the bags put on in the shop, if possible, and Max agreed to let me help (even though he must have known this would take longer). I began my ride at 08:30, 48 degrees. I was ready: I had an Under Armor Cold Gear layer, a t-shirt, jeans, and a leather motorcycle jacket. I took County Road O down to Highway 29… so far so good. A few twistys, sun’s out, I’m pretty warm… yeah, at 45 mph. On 29 things changed… a friendly warm 48 degrees in the sun at 65 mph becomes a bone-chilling sub 25 degrees. After two hours of that cold, I stopped in Chippewa Falls to warm up (I mean, have a snack) and then made the final run down 53 and 93 to Eleva.

I arrived at Max’s shop and immediately noticed the clean, simple lines and surroundings. Max has been doing this a long time, and it shows. The brackets, the install, the design approach all belie many years of learning and refinement. It was my honor to see Max at work. This is where nostalgia is built! Max and I put on the bags in around an hour, greased them one more time, chatted for a bit, and then I prepared for the ride home.

I decided to take Hwy 10 back through Marshfield to 13 and finally 97 through Athens. The slower speed caused less wind chill, and the day had gotten warmer. It also gave me a chance to stop at the High Ground Veteran’s Memorial for a few minutes (www.thehighground.org). I got home and showed the bags to the family at around 15:30. Overall a GREAT ride, successful and enjoyable.

So what? Nice ride.. no learning. Well, not so. Riding that bike gives me time to do little but be left alone with my thoughts, as scary a proposition as that seems. Aside from obvious thoughts about life, how God created us and the world I was driving through, I thought about bags, that is, luggage. By putting these bags on the bike, I would be ensuring that my rides would be longer, and that I would ‘have’ to take more stuff. Isn’t this much like what Christ did for us by setting His example? By giving us His Spirit? What I mean is, Christ multiplied our burdens… when we become saved a spiritual part of us awakens that was lost before. We become sensitive to things we almost didn’t know existed prior to our conversion. While some things pale, in general, our mental burden is greater; but, Christ gives us the luggage to carry these burdens in. He gives us His word, through which we can view a confusing world. He gives us His example which we can follow, and He gives us His Spirit by whom we are led in our daily walk (if we listen). It’s true that our burdens multiply, but with the new luggage, the carrying is made easier, almost natural. Much as the saddlebags are now part of our bike, Christ’s example and word can be worked into our being, allowing us to carry more and take joy in the journey!

View the Ride Map

Technorati Tags: burdens, cycle, fat boy, harley, ironbags, max, saddlebags, sunburn

WDYSTIA?

In Matthew 16:15, after asking the rather oblique question, “Who do others say that I am?”, Christ asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am”?

A recent Barna Group research study revealed that less than 9% of all adult Americans have a “biblical worldview”*. In addition, only 19% of “Born again Christians”** have a biblical worldview. Interestingly, these percentages have remained unchanged for almost 15 years.

Among young adults (the “Mosaic” generation, ages 18 to 23), the percentage of people with a biblical worldview is less than one-half of one percent, as compared to near 1 out of every nine older adults***.

What do numbers like these mean to Christians, to our nation, and to parents and youth? Click through to read more…

To get a picture of what this number means, let’s imagine you – the dedicated reader – as a community college instructor at a large college and that you teach five classes a day of a common elective. At 08:00, two hundred students file in to your room and ‘learn’ for 50 minutes. A front row of young eyes fifteen people across, and thirteen or 14 rows deep. At 09:00 this repeats, then 10:00, 11:00 and 13:00. One thousand young adults throughout each weekday, watching you and listening; taking what you say and processing it.

How many of those students entered that room and listened to what you taught through the filter of a biblical worldview? Five or less. One in every class. In that sea of faces, only ONE young person looked at their instructor and filtered every word and concept through a filter of ancient God-given wisdom that was intended for our betterment. And we wonder! We wonder why youth seems ‘lost’ and afraid, always compensating for something unseen. We wonder why suicide rates are up, why school shootings happen, and why there is so much personal pain in the world as a result of poor choices.

Every time I speak about numbers like these, well-meaning (and perhaps defensive) parents say, “Oh yes, but it’s common while youth are ‘finding themselves’ to question their faith. They will ‘come back’ and believe”. They then quote Proverbs 22:6, secure in the knowledge that the child “will return when he or she is older”. Two points there, first, we already know – from this same study – that only one of nine adults ‘come back’, and my second is related, and that is, “Come back to what”? Other Barna studies have also pointed out that a persons worldview is primarily shaped and is firmly in place by the time someone reaches the age of 13; it is refined through experience during the teen and early adult years; and then it is passed on to others during their adult life. Such studies underscore the necessity of parents and other influencers being intentional in how they help develop the worldview of children.

Worldview has a dramatic influence on a persons choices in any given situation. Research indicates that there are unusually large differences in behavior related to matters such as media use, profanity, gambling, alcohol use, honesty, civility, and sexual choices where one worldview vs. another is concerned.

Barna put it best when he said, “There are several troubling patterns to take notice of. First, although most Americans consider themselves to be Christian and say they know the content of the Bible, less than one out of ten Americans demonstrate such knowledge through their actions. Second, the generational pattern suggests that parents are not focused on guiding their children to have a biblical worldview. One of the challenges for parents, though, is that you cannot give what you do not have, and most parents do not possess such a perspective on life. That raises a third challenge, which relates to the job that Christian churches, schools and parachurch ministries are doing in Christian education. Finally, even though a central element of being a Christian is to embrace basic biblical principles and incorporate them into one’s worldview, there has been no change in the percentage of adults or even born again adults in the past 13 years regarding the possession of a biblical worldview”.

Are you learning every day? Do you pass on what you learn? Do you LIVE what you learn so those around you can be affected by it? Are you part of a church that helps you mature in correct biblical learning (orthodoxy) and then mentors you and holds you accountable while you live it (orthopraxy)? You cannot give what you do not have, and there are a majority of people in our country who THIRST for more, and can be given nothing, because most of us have nothing to give.

I challenge you today; hit your knees, ask the Lord to fill your cup, and then pour it out on others. Rinse and Repeat.

- – - -

DEFINITIONS

*For the purposes of this survey, a “biblical worldview” was defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today. In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview.

**For the purposes of this survey, these are people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is important in their life today and that they are certain that they will go to Heaven after they die only because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior.

***The other group that possessed a below average likelihood of holding a biblical worldview were those people that describe themselves as liberal on social and political matters (also less than one-half of one percent).

Technorati Tags: christ, christian worldview, disciple, Faith, young adult, youth

I have never linked to a video on this blog, and with good reason; there are precious few things that I will subject myself to, and fewer yet that I will push upon others. This video, however, captures – in some small human way – a universal truth that we all were reminded of today, Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Click twice on the video (embedding is disabled), watch it, and then click through – below – to read more, if you’re interested…

As fascinating as this clip was, what could it possibly have to do with Christ? Here we had a woman, initially targeted as a subject likely because she was plain, frumpy, unemployed, with few prospects, and “oldish”; that is, she was completely out of place. As they talked to this woman, I would assume that they thought she was a nice woman, but that she would be a spectacular failure in front of the judges. When she walked out on the stage, you could hear the people in the crowd twittering, wondering if this was a put-on, and many feeling like, “Why must we endure these jokes of talent”? When she showed some humor and did her little jig, that drew looks of horror and disdain from the judges, because this woman wasn’t a cute, sexy blonde. Finally, she was let free to do what she came to do; sing to an audience.

When she opened her mouth and let out that first note, every face in the audience changed. Every person that was so ready to watch a spectacular failure saw – instead – the beginning of a victory in the making. By the end of the first bar, the audience was cheering. In two bars, an audience that was mocking Susan and her attempt at fame was on it’s feet cheering her. She, rather than giving them entertainment via failure, had given each of them hope through her spectacular voice and success. The judes were taken aback; humility gripped them – all except Simon – as they gave their reviews. Each of them knew they had prejudged her, given her no chance, and they were humbled as they gave her kudos.

Envision the scene in heaven as God Himself prepared to come to earth. Do you think there were angels that second-guessed the idea? Perhaps silently, perhaps in reverence to their Maker yet, but some must have thought poorly of the idea. Try – for a moment – to imagine what heaven must be like, and then contrast this with the cave that Joseph and Mary were in, and the dangerous (and rather dirty and disgusting) process childbirth was at that time. Countless thousands watched as our Savior was born into this earth, and don’t tell me for one second that some didn’t wonder what success this endeavor could possibly see. An inauspicious beginning, a normal carpenters upbringing, and an adulthood marked by wandering and speaking. The prophet Isaiah tells us that the Lord had nothing about Him so that men would be drawn to Him by His appearance. He was also unremarkable, and “set up for failure”.

While Susan’s video was only 5 minutes long, 33 and one-half years isn’t long for a heavenly host to wait, and they all watched Christ’s life and ministry as He grew. I have to believe that the reaction of the watching thousands when Christ was scourged was much as the judges saw with Susan as she stood there… disgust, sorrow for the spectacle they were making of Him, and a certainty that nothing good could come of this. As He breathed His last, the entire earth shook in horror, and as He was laid to rest, there must have been deep sorrow in heaven. How quiet must it have been in a place that had, until that day, been filled with praises sung to the Lamb.

And then… after two night passed here on earth, on that glorious morning, how the heavenly hosts must have sung. The feeling you get watching the reaction to Susan’s first note is such a small and insignificant pale compared to what the heavens must have done that day; but it gives us an insight into the joy of that Morning. Glorious victory as heavenly light pierced the tomb and Jesus emerged! Praise the Lord, the plan was complete! Can you imagine how the heavenly host sang then!?. Do you think that the angels that wondered about The Plan are now His strongest witness? Imagine their hearts as they watched this play out, exactly as God planned it.

Folks, if our hearts can take this much joy in one woman’s triumph on this sinful earth, how much more did a sinless heavenly host rejoice at His victory over sin and death? How much must they rejoice when even a single sinner accepts the gift He gave to each of us? Feel the joy this audience had at Susan’s short success, multiply that by millions, and assume that this is the way the heavenly host feels when we are broken and fall at His feet.

HE IS RISEN… and praise God for that.

Technorati Tags: boyle, britain, christ, cross, easter, resurrection, susan, talent

This message isn’t about whether or not you hide and search for eggs, or enjoy sweet treats on this holiday. Frankly, hiding things, searching for things, finding things, and tasting something sweet are all enjoyable things to do. My question is, “What are we focused on as we perform our activities on a daily basis, not only at Easter, but year round”?

Are you hiding something? From others, from God? What in our lives should we be bringing into the Light of Day, to be given to God and forsaken and forgiven? What should we be freed from that has a hold on us?

Are you searching for something that you haven’t yet found? Perhaps you attend a church, but you don’t yet feel like a member of the body of Christ? Perhaps you have walked with the Lord for many years, but you are struggling right now under the weight of this world and its attacks? Perhaps you are looking for a friend or companion to help and encourage you.

Have you found what you are looking for? Do you know that you have it, and that it will never leave? Are you assured that you have it, secure in that knowledge, and growing every day into His image?

If you are secure, walking in the Lord, growing with Him every day… are you taking JOY in the journey? Is there a song in your heart and on your lips? Can others not help but see the joy of the Lord shining through your eyes and in your life?

Too many times we are overtaken by the “here and now”, the temporal; but the power that raised Christ from the grave is ours, and it guarantees those that are saved that they will be with the Lord forever. Think about that for a moment: the power that raised Christ from the dead.. is yours. I don’t just mean the power to resist eating that extra Cadbury egg (trademarked), the power to avoid saying that short word to your spouse, or the power to deal with a child that is emotional at the moment, or even the power to overcome every sin on this earth; I mean, the awesome, heavenly power that brought our Lord back from the dead. (Romans 8:11, 1 Peter 1:3-7, Ephesians 1:17-21)

Technorati Tags: bunny, easter, he is risen, open tomb

Praying Hands

I helped a pastor and his family move this weekend, and though I was personally very sad to see them go, I was happy to help them take the next step in the Lord’s plan for their lives. This post is a personal prayer for blessings on them as the serve the Lord and the people around them. I wasn’t able to say this prayer with them before leaving, but I leave it here in the hopes that it will strengthen the family and friends that read it.

Father, we praise You for the safe journey and for the fact that we have arrived safe and sound here in Michigan. We thank You for Your grace and Your guidance, and we thank You for pouring out Your Spirit on this family. We know that we are men and women of unclean lips and hearts that are not always focused on You, and we give ourselves over to You again today to abide in us and to cleanse us, enabling us to live in Your image. Lord, today we hold up the Troutman family to You for blessing. Here is a family that has dedicated themselves to You and your work, and we ask blessings on that work in Your church.

In Pastor Rob, Lord, we have a man who has dedicated his life on this planet to protecting and helping others. This Christian lion-hearted man has approached life here – in Your Spirit – with gusto and integrity. As Rob transitions from being a sheepdog for the sheep into being a shepherd of Your sheep, Lord, please pour out yet another special helping of Your Spirit, enabling him to walk among your church as an effective pastor. Give Rob the wisdom to bridle his strength as he boldly proclaims your word and approaches issues in Your church. Continue to pour Your Spirit into Rob’s heart, fueling his passion for helping others and for serving Your flock. Father, please bless Pastor Rob in a special way for Your service.

In Kenna, Lord, we have a princess and a lady. A Princess because she is the daughter of a King, and a lady of the land because she is married to a Knight in Your order. Help her to always carry herself as such, giving gentle strength and structure to Pastor Rob and to Your flock here in Saginaw. Continue to bless her with the ability to pass on a knowledge of You and Your Word to her children, help her to raise them up directly in the path of Your Light, and enable her to live as a Proverbs 31 woman, a shining and honorable example to Your church. Father, please bless Kenna as she walks with and helps Rob in Your service.

For Ryker, Lord, we ask that You accompany Him on his march into manhood. We know that he could have no better example than his earthly father here, save His heavenly father. Give him the wisdom to take direction from his lion-hearted father, and in those times when he cannot, help him to look to the lion of Judah for his help and sustenance. Father, please bless Ryker as he becomes a man in a difficult world.

For Kenton, Lord, we ask that you accompany her in a special and gentle way as she takes her first steps into womanhood. She has a shining example in her mother Lord, but we know that this is not always enough. Help Kenton to turn to you when this world seems too harsh and unforgiving, help her to level her mood and cheer herself with Your Spirit. Father, please bless Kenton as she grows into a strong Christian woman.

For the two little ones Lord (Kylee and Keris) (sp?), they are the luckiest little kids on this earth. They are cute (4 and 5 you know), they live in a Christian home with parents of integrity, and they have two loving and responsible older siblings. Even with this amazing start Lord, we know that we all need You, and we pray that these two precious children remember their lessons of You, Your mighty works, Your power, and Your personal interest in each of our hearts. Father, we ask blessings on these two little girls as they grow.

Lord, please bless the congregations that Pastor Rob and his family left, and the one they are coming into. Strengthen these local limbs of Your body, and bless them in proportion to their willingness to walk in Your way. We pray all these things in the name of Your Son, Amen.

D-Day

My father was born in 1933 just after the giddy height of the 1920′s had worn off and the Great Depression had gripped the United States. By the time of my Dad’s birth, the world economy was in turmoil and 1300 banks in the U.S. had closed. An additional four and one half million people lost their jobs, in a population of 125 million and now more than 30 million Americans had no income. Herbert Hoover had seemed unable to act, and Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, exacerbating an already established global recession. In 1932 F.D.R. arrived with massive bailout plans designed to shore up the economy, and the effect of some of these plans are felt yet today. Overseas, three men were planning to change the face of the political landscape, Hitler in Germany, Stalin in Russia, and Mao Zedong in China.

In the later 1930′s, Chamberlain returned from a summit with Hitler and proclaimed, “..we have peace in our time, peace with honor”; it was neither. As country after country fell in front of the Nazi war machine, America watched and readied herself, sending aid to a Britain struggling against the German aggressor. When my father was eight years of age, the Japanese hit us at Pearl Harbor, dragging a now awakened bear from its den. America was at war.

By 1944, 12 million Americans were in uniform and 19 million more people were back at work, 35 percent of them were women. This nation was immersed in the war, from the front to the back, and they won. This generation knew the intense humility and privation that the Great Depression brought, they lived through the hard work of rebuilding this nation, they saw so many of their friends, so many aspiring scientists, musicians, mathematicians, farmers, that didn’t make it past their very early twenties, who gave their all to this country. Millions of men and women were involved in this fight through poverty and riches, adversity and achievement, and from defeat to triumph. This generation of men and women kept our way of life alive for their children through personal sacrifice. Thank you Mom and Dad, thank you Grandma and Grandpa, and I would like to apologize to you for not learning what I should have so that I could be this strong in my generation. (As an aside, I’d like to apologize to my kids as well, because we are doing the opposite of what our parents did; we are tearing this country down to feed our gluttony and leaving you scraps to rebuild with).

Here’s my question: Where are these men and women today? We are faced with what could be the beginnings of a depression, there are many questions where international violence is concerned, and many domestic programs are in jeopardy. I fear that our parents fought for this country and we inherited it, said, “thank you very much”, and went and sat on the couch.. and stayed there. We took their long-suffering and turned it into a need for immediate gratification, accepted their endurance and twisted it into expectation, and received the benefit of their toil and eroded it until we became apathetic.

I’d like to suggest that there is a Biblical parallel – several actually – to this tale of American success and failure. Let me first state that I will spend little time on the first – and most obvious – parallel which is the story of the Israelites in Judges. Their cycle of faith, backsliding, apostasy, supplication, deliverance, faith.. and so on was due to the fact that they took their eyes off the Lord. While I think this parallel is definitely appropriate here, I don’t want to make it the central issue because if I do, Christian men and women will blame others, and men and women of other faiths will set my suggestions aside as “Christian” and therefore irrelevant. I want all of us to go take a long look in the mirror.

⁵ Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁶ You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” - Haggai 1:5,6

Those who know the backstory for the book of Haggai understand that this warning is much like the first point I promised to spend little time on, but these verses alone are prophetic for us today. Don’t the people Haggai is referring to here sound a lot like modern-day Americans? I’d like to suggest that a major part of our failure to be ‘as great’ as our parents generation is because we are focused so much on ourselves that we have no time to believe that we are part of something greater than ourselves. We want things and time, and we want them for ‘us and ours’ and not for others. This selfishness is one reason there has been a huge backlash in this country against people who desire wealth, and in an unhealthy way. We aren’t holding up people who give to others and keep country traditions alive, instead we reward those who decide not to work with the money we’ve stolen from those who do labor. We reward selfishness and punish labor, and we wonder why we have a country chock full of people unmotivated to work!?

Third, in Judges we see that the beginning of the cycle of backsliding begins with an association with evil, with the people around the Israelites, with intermarriage and taking on their customs. It is difficult to live next to a thing and remain insulated from it; it is impossible to remain unaffected if you marry into it. We are called to be, “..in the world, but not of the world”, and we are called to witness to all nations, and we are to remain set apart. Christians often take these commands too far; on one end of the spectrum we have Christians that pray that ‘unbelievers’ won’t move into the vacant house next door and try to keep their family from associating with the ‘unsaved’; on the other end, we have people prone to certain weaknesses going right back into their old lives to ‘witness’ to others they once knew. It is clear that we must come into contact with ‘the world’ to witness, Christ did this and did it regularly, but if He needed rest and regeneration with like-minded people, who are we to think we don’t? This is where a local church becomes so critical. We are to bear one another’s burdens and to build each other up in the faith.. so that we can do the Lord’s work.

So, why is this generation ill-prepared to take on the challenges that faced our parents and grandparents? Because God is no longer the center of our lives, because we are almost wholly selfish, and because we are so caught up with what others are doing that we have failed to chart a course for ourselves (let alone follow it).

What can we do? I suggest that we turn back to the Word. If you are not a Christian today, first, I thank you for reading this far, and second, I urge you to crack open a Bible and read the book of John. It is about 3/4 of the way through the Bible, in the New Testament. Just read the book over the next few days or weeks and see what you think. Email me at windowormirror@gmail.com to chat. For those who believe, I suggest taking inventory. Find out where your focus is. Is it on the eternal? Do you have a heart for Kingdom building here on earth? Let us all become less selfish and carry out the work of the Lord here on earth. With a renewed focus, God can use us in great ways.. we have at our disposal – for His purposes – the power that raised Christ from the dead!

Technorati Tags: father, greatest generation, history, honor, man, men, respect, strength, war

State of WI

The state in which I live has put forth a new motto for tourism, which you see written in the title of this post. Rather than debate the indefensible basis for this motto – which has little to do with the outdoors, vacationing, lakes, or any other actual tourist activity in the state of Wisconsin – I thought we could look at this motto as it applies to the Christian life.

On the face of it, the motto is catchy, if a bit misplaced. In a state renowned for the drinking problems of its inhabitants, perhaps it is a dangerous thing to ask us to “mean it”, rather than continue just “doing it”.

What would our lives look like if we followed this motto? Is there a base in Scripture for the idea that Christians should live this way? Let’s investigate.

First, excellence in every one of our endeavors. We know – as Christians – that we should be dedicated to quality and improvement in every area of our lives. In Colossians 3:23 we read, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men”. This makes it clear that we do things “heartily” because we are doing it ‘for the Lord’, or, written another way, we do everything for His glory.

The word translated “heartily” here is ‘psyche’, meaning your inner self, with your whole being, mind, heart and soul. This obviates the possibility that we can do anything “half-hearted” as Christians; we do all things to His glory, with all of who we are. Note that this leaves a massive expanse of glorious difference in our approach, as each thing is done with our inner being, and we are all very different… and God intended this.

Stop for a moment and think about the import of the previous paragraph. Each thing that you do, is done to the glory of God. Just like every action you take in the presence of your children ‘trains them’, every action you take in front of God (hint: all actions) is to His glory. Either you are doing a good job of glorifying Him, or you are not. Do you think that we have this in the back of our mind all day, every day? What might our lives look like if we did? If we lived this intentionally, do you think that we might have to talk about God less because others might see Him in us a little more?

“In all things, preach Christ; and if necessary, use words” – St. Francis of Assisi

Second, the abundant life. Christ said, in John 10:10, “..I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”. Many pastors – TV evangelists especially – are espousing the idea that Christ is referring to temporal wealth or physical happiness here on this earth. Since the tale of the rich young ruler, most of the book of James (or John 15), and the life of King David make it clear that A) riches can be a hindrance to people in a walk of faith, B) that we will certainly see trials in this life, and C) that ‘men of God’ get discouraged and can become profoundly unhappy. So, what then did Christ mean by the word, “abundant”?

The word translated as “abundant” here is the Greek word ‘perissos’ which translates elsewhere as “excellent”, “in abundance”, “excess”. It is the word used to mean, “We took until we could take no more, and we have yet more”. In surrounding verses we see that Christ is speaking about sheep, and their shepherd. Some historical context is also helpful here. At night, shepherds would herd several flocks into a rock-walled enclosure, and they – the shepherds – would lay and sleep in the opening through which the sheep came. They were – quite literally – the “gate” where the sheep came in and out. In the morning, a shepherd would stand at the gate and call for his sheep, and because they knew his voice, they would come out and go with the shepherd to the pasture of choice that day. This knowledge of history gives a tangible and real face to the story Christ is relating to his disciples.

So, what then does Christ mean by His words? He is not speaking of the life that the sheep have, a temporal existence, heartbeat, and so on because each of the people to whom He was speaking was already alive. Christ was speaking about a life “in Him”, a life beyond what we know here, eternally but also spiritually here and now. Essentially Christ was saying, “I will take the life you have now and increase its meaning and depth boundlessly, giving you purpose here (glorify God) and the knowledge that you are living for me. The abundant life is a spiritual life lived to the glory of God.

So, we live the abundant life with all our heart, mind, and soul as Christians. That sure sounds like, “Live Like You Mean It”, right? The one thing that we’re missing is the concept that we can all do this and look very different doing it, and we can still be squarely within the intent of God. We dislike this concept as a church, we want a homogenous environment where everyone looks similar and is serving in a similar way. Christ’s disciples didn’t look like that and God hasn’t created us like that. We all look radically different, living different lives, and yet we live for Him. Get over it.

Recently my wife and I attended a meeting of Christian bikers, and someone in the group was cautioning against “appearing” a certain way to ‘bikers’. My dear wife – unable to keep silent any longer – made the perfect point, and that was, “Look; don’t appear to be anything! Be who you are. If you don’t know who that is, figure it out and then be that. Anyone living life “like they mean it” – hardcore biker or otherwise – will sniff out a phony faster than anything else, and your witness to that person will be immediately ineffective. Figure out who you are, what the unique personality is that God gave you; figure out where that intersects with His general will for us to live a life ‘set apart’ and to bring the gospel to all nations, and then live that, “like you mean it”. If even a small percentage of Christians were to live this way, we would see a world changed for the Lord in a single generation. Change the world for Christ, but do this through a life lived with intent, to the fullest, in His joy.

Live it folks, and be joyful when others live it, even if they don’t do it your way. Let me know if your “joy” in the Lord increases?

P.S. Read verse 16 in John 10 and let me know how many churches there are in God’s view? How should we act as a body in light of this?

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Concentric Circles of Importance

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35

“..if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9

I am convinced that we – as Christians – make the central nucleus of theology far too complicated. The fact that we have many churches, and that they – most often purposefully – do not “get along”, is proof enough of this.

The verse in Romans above sums up the critical things needed for salvation, and the body of Christ is all those who are “in Him”. Would we not be better served to unite around these simple, joyful, things rather than concentrating on the beliefs where we are different? Keep the necessary core (salvation), and embrace each other in Christian love (as Christ commanded) and see what happens in the body of Christ.

At our Thursday evening Men’s Bible Study this week, I drew the circles you see in the graphic above, and printed out 50 or 60 Christian beliefs and doctrines on pieces of paper. We each took 5 or 6 of these and took turns around the table placing them in the circle where we felt they belonged, having discussions on several (most). This was an invigorating exercise and promoted a lot of discussion and thought around central tenets of the faith.. very heady and healthy stuff. We should know why we believe what we believe.

Here is the way I described the circles:

Essential for Salvation: These are the things that are – without question – required to become saved, according to Scripture. Hint: The verse from Romans  above sums it up fairly well.

Essential for Orthodoxy: These are the well-accepted beliefs of the Christian church. Think of these as the beliefs that one might hold in order to hold office in their local church. I am aware that churches have differing views of “orthodoxy”, but 80% – 90% of beliefs that end up in this circle are commonly accepted by Christian churches.

Important but not Essential: These are beliefs that a Christian really should hold (because they have a good base in Scripture) but they are not required for orthodoxy.

Not Important: These are beliefs that may or may not be common and have little bearing on Christian life and walk.

Pure Speculation: These are things that we think up and are not generally refuted by Scripture but certainly have no Scriptural base.

I would urge each reader of this post to think about each of the beliefs I’ve listed below, and think about where you would place them on the continuum of importance, and why. Don’t complicate the center circle with your current understanding of theology, with personal bias, or with the way you were raised; look at Scripture, study, and then – perhaps – move your beliefs in accordance with what you find.

• God is perfect
• God is omnipotent
• God is omnipresent
• There is only one God
• Trinity (three in one)
• God is sovereign
• God has always existed
• Christ was 100% man
• Christ is 100% God
• Christ came to earth
• Christ was born of a virgin
• Christ died
• Christ descended into Hades
• Christ was raised from the dead
• Christ ascended
• Christ will judge the living and the dead
• We cannot earn salvation
• We will be resurrected in the body
• Existence of free will
• Sin separates us from God
• Sin came into the world through Adam (and Eve)
• Christ will return to take us home
• We are all sinners, in birth and action
• We should attend church regularly
• We should express love one to the other
• Baptism
• Communion
• Existence of Paradise (where saints go when they die)
• Hades (where non-saints go when they die)
• Hell (the ultimate end of unsaved sinners)
• Heaven (where God and Christ are and where we will someday be)
• Living a good life
• Bible is inerrant in the original language
• Bible is inspired by God
• Avoid divorce
• Be a virgin when you marry
• Temperance in the body
• Demons exist and are numerous
• Spiritual warfare happens
• Role of women in the church
• Necessity of prayer
• Necessity of Bible study

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