Small Things Matter

Small things matter. How we respond to the small things determines how we respond to the big things.

The Song of Songs says, "Catch the little foxes".

Jesus said, "He who is faithful with little will be faithful with much".

"If you mind your pennies, your dollars will take care of themselves."

But, what are the small things? Well, for me, it's a small thing to wash the dishes for my wife. It's a small thing to spend some time playing with my sons. And yet, these are the things that I often feel like are interruptions to the more important things, like watching a movie, reading the bible, or praying.

Henri Nouwen once said, "I used to get upset and frustrated at interruptions to my work; then, one day, I realized that the interruptions were my work."

Thank you, Lord. Forgive me for refusing the small things, for not seeing your divine provision and will therein. Make me like you...a Lover obsessed with the small things.

Wisdom from the Fathers

St. Augustine, speaking of a martyr: "And as many sufferings as he endured before he died for Christ, so many offerings did he make of himself unto Christ".

My sufferings are silly when compared to torture and martyrdom; and yet, for one so weak in faith and love, they are true sufferings. Sadly, however, I fail even in such small things. When my sons clamor incessantly for my undivided attention; when someone is on "my last nerve"; when my wife gets irritated at me and throws me that look; when things simply do not go the way I want them to - I fail to make an offering of myself unto Christ. Instead, I scream and kick, scratch and claw, bitch and moan, all for the sake of keeping my own "life"; and in so doing, I forfeit the glory that Jesus wants to give me within the trial, the suffering, the ordinary.
May the Lord forgive me, create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. And He will - for even when I am faithless, He remains faithful. Amen.

Christmas Day

This is the most amazing day. On this day, millions celebrate the Incarnation: Almighty, Uncreate God takes on human form, beginning on the most minute level, and journeys among us. Although He was God and never less than God, He chose to live as man, as if He were never more than man. He became as we are, so that we may be as He is. The Incarnation is Holy God taking fallen, scarred humanity into a passionate, love embrace, and saying to us, "I LOVE YOU! Marry Me. Be My bride."


Say yes.

Merry Christmas!

Could It Be...?

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith" (Romans 1:16-17, NASB).

Could it be that the reason we experience so little of the power of God is because we've embraced so little of His gospel? Or, could it be because we've not recognized what the power of God is given for? I'm not talking about "miracles, signs and wonders" power; I'm referring to the power to just live the gospel in the daily, mundane routine of life. However, perhaps the reason we see so little of the "signs and wonders" is for the same reason: we've embraced so little of the gospel.

The Good News of God, according to the verses above, is: 1) for salvation - not just getting man out of hell and into heaven (although that's wonderfully true), but in getting God out of Heaven and back into man; and 2) the righteousness of God being revealed. Where? In us. Through us. How? By faith; "from faith to faith".

The power of God is given primarily for the purpose of revealing His righteousness in us and through us, enabling us to live the gospel of the Kingdom here and now, to walk in the very likeness of Christ. May we all embrace all of the gospel and walk as He walks, revealing His righteousness. Amen.

Changes

Changes

Recently, I've asked the Lord Jesus to clean me up, to pierce my soul in order to expose the motives in my heart. He has graciously answered that prayer and I'm truly thankful. But, in a day when the cry of the nation is for change, I find that God is at work doing just that in those He loves. And it hurts.

The Lord is not sadistic and abusive toward us; He wants to bless our lives with much more than we ask for or even think we need. But I forget that good medicine sometimes hurts and/or tastes bad. More often than not, I don't believe that I'm really that sick. But I am. And I need to be healed from my malevolent and infirm condition; I need to change and to be changed.

For the Christian who seeks to follow Jesus, CHANGE is spelled, T-H-E C-R-O-S-S.

It's absolutely necessary.

A Cause For Joy

"Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all it contains; let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord, for He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness" (Psalm 96:11-13).

Notice here that the judgment of God is a cause for joy to the people of God, not a cause for fear. The judgment of God is cause for joy to those who love Him and who walk in an attitude of repentence; they want things in their lives and their world to be brought into God's order. They want the things that are upside down to be revealed, exposed, and turned right-side up. The judgment of God is exactly that: the Lover of our souls setting us upright (and everything in our lives and world) in His presence and love.

This afternoon, the Lord spoke this word to me: "My resurrection life can only be experienced through the Cross."

I have oftentimes seen these events as two separate experiences; i.e., having experienced the Cross, I now live experiencing His resurrection life. Hardships, afflictions, and difficulties were simply the way I "discovered" what I possessed.
Once again, I had forgotten a fundamental truth that directly affects ALL of life: the Cross is the only way that resurrection life can be experienced. You cannot have one without the other; they are an inseparable whole.

"We are always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor. 4:10-11).

"Being found in appearance as a man, He [Christ] humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God also highly exalted Him..." (Phil. 2:8-9).

"I am crucified [present tense] with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20, KJV).

If I do not embrace the Cross, I need not expect resurrection. I'm not speaking of a future event. I'm talking about the daily, here-and-now experience of His death-conquering, resurrection life. I cannot have one without the other.

May we all embrace His Cross and set our hearts on the joy set before us - and there is JOY set before us, in abundance!

Something I Forgot

Last week, a prominent Christian singer announced to all the world that he was homosexual. "If this is the way God made me," he said, "that's the way I'm going to live. I like myself now." There were a variety of responses posted by Christians and non-Christians, all of which were equally disturbing to me. Some were very strict, some were harsh, some were almost like spiritual pollyannas, some cheered his decision to come out of the closet. Some were pretty good and showed a real depth of compassion for the man and an honest plea for repentance. But, in general, I couldn't help feeling that our view of sin has been largely watered down - and to our detriment as Christians.

"God loves me as I am, not as I should be." This statement has been made by a prominent Christian speaker and author that I really like. When I first heard it, I said a hearty, "Amen!"  Later, I was praying about it and saw that it wasn't true. God does love me as I am, that's true - but He doesn't leave me as He found me. He loves me into what I should be. He loves me into holiness and out of my sin. It's a process for sure, but not an option. 

Another statement I hear a lot in talking with struggling believers, especially when the topic of choosing to repent comes up: "Well, I'm just not there yet." I've used this one myself. And it's a lie. It's a refusal to obey the Lord we claim to love and follow; it's rebellion and unbelief. This statement begs the question, "If Christ lives in you and is working in you both to will and to do His good pleasure, and all you have to do to "get there" is believe and obey, then why don't you?" Because, at the center of much of American Christianity is SELF.  In much of the Western world, and especially in America, Jesus is little more than a venerated slave, sent to serve my self interest.

I confess my own guilt in this perversion of Christianity (it really doesn't deserve the title); much of my years as a follower of Christ were spent not following at all or trying to pick and choose what parts I would follow over those I would not. Praise God for His mercy!  He knew my ignorance and forgave me; He led me out of my self-inflicted blindness into His light and holiness and grace. And that's where I remembered something very important: we can suffer loss.

I do not believe that we can lose our salvation (I won't go into that here and now). But, what I had forgotten is that we can suffer loss - and that's not a good thing. In 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, the Apostle Paul clearly states that we can suffer loss by building on the foundation of Jesus Christ with cheap materials, i.e., wood, hay, and stubble. We are encouraged to build with gold, silver, and precious stones - materials that are eternal. In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul compares the Christian experience to a race and exhorts the believers to "run in such a way that you may win".

This also implies that we can run in such a way that we may lose.  Again, I don't believe he's saying you can lose your salvation; but I do believe he's saying this: depending on how we run our race, we will show up at Heaven's gate as a born-again winner or a born-again loser. I don't want to be a loser. I don't want to suffer loss. I don't want to show up on that day with nothing to throw down at Jesus' feet in worship.

So, what do we do? "Repent and believe the Good News!" (Mark 1:15)  True Christianity is Jesus Christ Himself living in me His good pleasure, being given full sway by my obedient consent. Only Christ can be in me the source of His image and likeness. As I look to Him, He produces in me - in us- His holiness, His righteousness, His likeness, as I participate through my obedience. Out of love for Him, in dependence upon Him, in obedience to Him. And when sin is revealed, to repent swiftly and be cleansed - not wait until I get there. Repent and believe! It's that simple. "The blood of Jesus can never cleanses excuses; but it will always cleanse sin, confessed as sin."

Sin is not a play-thing or a mild condition. It is a poison of deadly deception and diobolical origins. It is not like a cold that we just ride it out until we finally get better. To treat it that way is to belittle the necessity of the Cross and to see the passion of Christ as an over-reaction. No, sin is as hideous as the Cross demonstrates. And we should remember that.

And, where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.

The Kindness and Severity of God

"Behold, the kindness and severity of God..." (Romans 11:22).

As a follower of Christ, I have been the blessed recipient of immeasurable mercy and extravagant grace. I am forever grateful that's "by grace through faith" because this places the free provision of God in reach of us all. But, of late, I've become disturbed by certain misunderstandings of grace and mercy that have crossed my path, clothed in the choices and actions of fellow believers. These misunderstandings, though they may not be intentional, serve only to excuse us from the Cross and, therefore, are harmful to us. The way of Life, the way of growth in Christ, is the way of the Cross. There is none other. So, understanding grace and mercy properly is crucial to our life with Jesus.

Grace is the free, extravagant provision of God by virtue of what He accomplished through the Christ-event: the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. No matter what needs we encounter in daily life, we have access "by grace through faith" to any and all of the immeasurable riches and resources of God through Jesus Christ. Grace, therefore, is God's scandalous generosity.

Mercy is different. Mercy is one of the super-abundant provisions of grace. Mercy is being released from a just and due punishment. When you get what you don't deserve, that's grace; when you don't get what you do deserve, that's mercy.

The thing that bothers me is that I hear Christians using the word "grace" in a way that best describes mercy. They say things like, "Show him some grace", when speaking of letting someone "off the hook" for some wrong. Neither grace nor mercy excuse or ignore the crime, but this misuse of the term "grace" comes close. This misuse gives the impression that grace means to overlook the offense and to remove all consequences. But the scriptures say something different and we need to be reminded of the workings of grace and mercy.

What we have forgotten is that we can suffer loss through our choices. In 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, the Apostle Paul says that we build with imperishable things or we can build with perishable things. The former is eternal and remains, the latter is "wood, hay, and stubble" and will be burned up by the fire. "If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss" (v. 15). In the same epistle, Paul exhorts us all to "run in such a way that you may win" (1 Cor. 9:24). This is not legalism. This is discipline and excellence being encouraged.

When the woman was caught in adultery and brought before Jesus (John 8:1-11), He demonstrated grace and mercy in response to her sin. In saying, "Neither do I condemn you", Jesus demonstrated mercy. He knew (and she knew) that she was guilty - of that sin and even more - but He released her from the punishment due. But when He said, "Go, and sin no more", He demonstrated grace. In that command, He was also imparting to her the resources to fulfill it. Jesus knew that she couldn't do it without the grace of God and that one sentence He revealed to her, in the light of her need, the scandalous generosity of God. Had Jesus merely released her from the punishment (which what the misuse I spoke of earlier does), He would have done her a massive - maybe even eternal - disservice. She would have been off the hook and free to do what she had always done, with hopes of never getting caught again. Instead, He released her from the punishment of her crimes against God (mercy) and gave what was needed to no longer be criminal (grace).

Thank God for mercy - and for grace!

Following and Becoming: The Path of Christlikeness

"Follow Me, and I will make you become..." (Mark 1:17). That's pretty simple. How do you and I become all that Jesus has called us to be, all that He wants us to be? Follow Him.

Following someone involves seeing them, hearing them, and doing what they do or say to do. When we do that, He makes us become what He calls us to be. This leads us straight into being conformed to Christ's likeness, which is the goal of God's heart (Rom. 8:29).

"For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing...for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner" (John 5:20, 19). The Father loves us and gladly shows us what He is doing, so that we also can join in what He's doing, in like manner. "He who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also" (John 14:12).

As followers of Christ, we become like Christ, as Christ Himself lives in us. We then participate in His "doing" as He perfects our "being". Following Him requires eyes, ears, and trust. This is not like "following" instructions on something you put together; this is higher, different, and more costly. This is the abandonment inspired and fired by Love. It's following Love out of who we were (the false self) into who we really are (the true self in Christ). We become fully formed in Christ as He becomes fully formed in us. We become like whomever we follow.

"It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher" (Matthew 10:25). "As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake" (Psalm 17:15). Being like Christ is enough and is the only satisfaction of personhood.

So, follow Him...and become.

Into The Wind

"Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah. John answered them all, saying, 'I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming...He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.' Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people" (Luke 3:15-18, NAB).

Threshing and winnowing are two different things. In threshing, the grain is beaten with sticks. This process loosens the chaff (the useless husk) from the grain. In winnowing, the grain is thrown into the wind. The chaff is blown off and away by the wind, but the grain (the useful seed) falls back to the ground, where it is gathered and stored.

Jesus arrived with his winnowing fan in his hand, and he's committed to winnowing us, removing the chaff from the grain, the useless from the useful, the precious from the worthless (Jer. 15:19). The process is for our good, that we might share his holiness and bear much fruit (Heb. 12:10, John 15:2). He is faithful to throw us into the wind, the Holy Spirit; and once the chaff is blown away, we fall back to the earth useful. "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24).

Holiness, Repentance, Obedience and Prayer

"O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 96:9).

Recently, the Lord begin to emphasize to me the need for holiness. At first, the thought of it didn't appeal to me. I didn't really want to face my sin and my lack of holiness. But, as the Lord began to expose and unearth my sin, I began to experience something wonderful that I had not anticipated: joy. I began to laugh more. I really began to feel lighter on the inside. I began to really want to love people; I felt genuine compassion. I began to understand why God says holiness is beautiful.

Repentance is the potting soil of Holiness. Holiness flourishes within the context of ongoing repentance. Really, they are two that become one; and like any other union, they bring forth new life.

Obedience has become of late the recurring theme of the Lord's dealings with me. One of my mentors, Major W. Ian Thomas, used to say, "For a Christian, there are no decisions to be made, only instructions to obey." Obedience gives expression to repentance and holiness: what you desperately desire, you set yourself apart to; what you set yourself apart to, you will obey.

The pursuit of holiness has also awakened in me a new desire to pray.  Being with Jesus, encountering His unquenchable love for me, experiencing His mercy freely given to me, a sinner, melts my heart.  As it melts, the contents - the needs, the love, the fears, the motives - pour out freely and I'm filled with the joy of forgiveness and cleansing.  I'm loved, and love wants to share itself with the one loved and with others.

Holiness, repentance, obedience and prayer: all of these fuel a blue flame in my heart, a flame that many waters cannot quench, the vehement flame of the Lord - Love. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

God's Sweetener

In Exodus 15:22-25, the children of Israel have just seen God deliver them by parting the Red Sea, leading through on dry ground, and then, closing back the waters on their enemies, swallowing them forever. They have seen the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. They have seen the dreadful and awesome plagues, through which God made a distinction between them and all other peoples. In short, God has displayed His love for them and His power to them through miracles, signs, and wonders that were indisputable and "over the top". Now, three days after the miraculous Red Sea deliverance, they arrive at Marah, tired and thirsty. But the water there is bitter and undrinkable. And the people began to grumble against Moses and against the Lord. Moses goes to the Lord, asking, "What shall we drink?" "And the Lord showed him a tree; and he (Moses) threw it in the waters, and the waters became sweet" (v. 25).

Lately, I've been doing a lot of complaining and griping about my circumstances and situations. I've been bitter and ungrateful toward the Lord. Today, I was sharing this story with a friend and the Lord spoke to me the following:

The waters are circumstances and situations in my life. The tree is the cross. Only as I allow the Lord to apply the cross to my circumstances (i.e., throw it in the waters) will they ever become sweet and drinkable. If I do not, every situation will be bitter and intolerable. The circumstances never change physically (they were at the same pool of water), but the fruit of the circumstances does. The difference is in letting Him apply the cross. The cross always bring forth new life and brings the sweetest fruit.

Only Jesus

"I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me" (Ps. 57:3, NIV).

"The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me" (Ps. 138:8, NIV).

"For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13, NIV)

"May the God of peace...equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ" (Heb. 13:20-21, NIV).

"And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us" (Rom. 8:3-4, NIV, using alternate rendering).


All of the scriptures quoted above say that God Himself will fulfill all of His good pleasure and holy purposes in me and through me and for me. Then why do I spend so much time trying to figure it all out? Why do I think that reading the "right book" will give me the information I need in order to cooperate with Him, so that the fulfillment will come sooner? While I do believe that I have a cooperative place in His purposes, I often find myself discontent with my present state. My part is to trust; His part is to fulfill and to do. But here's the "catch": even my ability to trust is the activity of the Trusting One who lives in me. I can not, through my efforts or my self-education, produce anything worthy of Him, much less pleasing to Him. It's Jesus - He is all in all. Only He can behave like Himself; only He can believe like He believes; only He can do what He does - and He does it in you and me on our behalf. Jesus gladly died for us; now He will gladly live for us. Jesus said, "I always do those things that please my Father" (John 8:29). He's still saying it, and He's still doing it - in us, for us. Thanks be to God!

Welcome To My Blog!

The purpose of - really, the heart of this blog - is to share and explore and discover the depths of the love of God in Christ, but from the basis of union with Jesus Christ. For anyone to be a Christian, Jesus Christ Himself must be living inside of them. That's the real decisive factor: Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). But discovering the depths of Jesus living in me in my day to day world is an ongoing journey of intimacy with Him at all levels of my life, inside and out. I welcome any one who wishes to seek, to share, to fully enter into this glorious mystery of oneness with Christ. It doesn't matter where you're at on the journey; what matters is that you're on the journey. Welcome!