Driving home today, I passed a small church. I enjoy reading the signs posted outside of churches, some comical some reverent. My favorite, I think, of all time read "Church: It'll scare the Hell out of you".
This church's sign struck me today. It read "When all else fails, try Jesus." At first glance, a great sentiment: when the world lets you down, Jesus is there. But should we really wait until everything else has failed before we turn to Christ for the answers? I think a better sign would read "All else will let you down, stay with Jesus." Christ should not be our safety net, our fall back plan, when our own devices and schemes have blown up in our faces. He is indeed that, because as sinners, we tend to come running back asking for help after we have blown it. We have made Him that. Rather than commanding a place as the trapeze that we leap out in faith and cling tightly to, Jesus has sadly become nothing more than the net that keeps us from the death we deserve when we try to find another way to the other side of the platform.
ζητειτε δε πρωτον την βασιλειαν του θεου και την δικαιοσυνην αυτου και ταυτα παντα προστεθησεται υμιν. Matthew 6.33
We ought first to cling to Jesus. There will be no failure from Christ. This world will perpetually let us down. Again and again. Christ will never fail us. Seek Him first.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart...
Be grateful. For life, and life to the fullest. Know that on your worst days, that your best will outshine them. The Lord has done great things for us! We are alive and abundantly joyful with new and beautiful opportunities every day. Opportunities to shine, to be light. To be a city on a hill which cannot be hidden from the world. We are to be the salt of the Earth. Be conspicuous today.
Joy ought to fill our hearts. Because of Jesus. Be thankful when everything is going exactly as you've always imagined. And when you would like nothing better than to put your face in your hands and weep, be thankful. Ecclesiastes 7:14 says that God is the origin of the good and the bad. We serve a Master who so desires good for us, that even that which seems unbearable, is for our ultimate betterment.
We ache so badly for someone to look upon us and have pity, and feel a pain in their heart for us. This has been accomplished friends. The beautiful Father over all existence looked upon His beloved, and had great sorrow for us. Because of what had taken hold of our hearts. And He had inexplicable mercy on us.
We have been pitied, and have received our charity from that pity, which was Christ Jesus. That which we had not worked to earn. That which, because of our filth and dishevelment, would never have been given us, except from pure and glorious kindness of heart. The gift of life, dropped into our outstretched palm, which begged for some benevolence, even if too proud to ask for it.
Our life is pure joy. Even in sorrow. All because of Jesus.
Joy ought to fill our hearts. Because of Jesus. Be thankful when everything is going exactly as you've always imagined. And when you would like nothing better than to put your face in your hands and weep, be thankful. Ecclesiastes 7:14 says that God is the origin of the good and the bad. We serve a Master who so desires good for us, that even that which seems unbearable, is for our ultimate betterment.
We ache so badly for someone to look upon us and have pity, and feel a pain in their heart for us. This has been accomplished friends. The beautiful Father over all existence looked upon His beloved, and had great sorrow for us. Because of what had taken hold of our hearts. And He had inexplicable mercy on us.
We have been pitied, and have received our charity from that pity, which was Christ Jesus. That which we had not worked to earn. That which, because of our filth and dishevelment, would never have been given us, except from pure and glorious kindness of heart. The gift of life, dropped into our outstretched palm, which begged for some benevolence, even if too proud to ask for it.
Our life is pure joy. Even in sorrow. All because of Jesus.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Love is to be Lived
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. -James 1:22-25 (NASB)
Why do we proclaim that we desire our lives to be about the things of God, yet when we hear what those things are we completely ignore them? Soren Kierkegaard says this :
The matter is very simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take an words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the church's prodigious effort to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of he living God.
The reality is this: Christ has not commanded us to bury our faces in Calvin's Institutes. Or the Works of Augustine. Or to debate election. Or dunking versus sprinkling. Or whether or not dancing is an abomination. Or to concern ourselves with hymns or songs from Passion '07.
We are commanded to love the Lord our God, with all of our hearts, with all of our souls and with all of our minds. We are commanded that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father.
Stop talking. Stop theorizing. Stop philosophizing. Stop debating and dividing.
And start living Love.
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? -Micah 6:8 (ESV)
Why do we proclaim that we desire our lives to be about the things of God, yet when we hear what those things are we completely ignore them? Soren Kierkegaard says this :
The matter is very simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take an words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the church's prodigious effort to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of he living God.
The reality is this: Christ has not commanded us to bury our faces in Calvin's Institutes. Or the Works of Augustine. Or to debate election. Or dunking versus sprinkling. Or whether or not dancing is an abomination. Or to concern ourselves with hymns or songs from Passion '07.
We are commanded to love the Lord our God, with all of our hearts, with all of our souls and with all of our minds. We are commanded that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father.
Stop talking. Stop theorizing. Stop philosophizing. Stop debating and dividing.
And start living Love.
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? -Micah 6:8 (ESV)
Friday, October 12, 2007
Come awake, from sleep, Arise...
The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. -Exodus 14:14
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. -Psalm 37:7
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. -Psalm 46:10
Be quiet. The God of Creation is trying to draw near to your heart. And mend its brokenness. And take the burdens away from it.
Be still. And know. Know Him. Know His heart. Knows His love, which knows no end.
Breathe deep. And be nourished by His life, breathed into dead, dry, broken bones.
Come awake. And Live.
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. -Psalm 37:7
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. -Psalm 46:10
Be quiet. The God of Creation is trying to draw near to your heart. And mend its brokenness. And take the burdens away from it.
Be still. And know. Know Him. Know His heart. Knows His love, which knows no end.
Breathe deep. And be nourished by His life, breathed into dead, dry, broken bones.
Come awake. And Live.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
God Is Love.
Father, help me to fall in love. Tomorrow.
With you.
And the next day. And the next. Let my romance with you, be new every morning. Abba, hold your place on the throne. Let not my heart be troubled. Let not my enemies triumph over me. Right now, they have the upper hand, and are gaining ground quickly. Papa, grant me a small measure of your patience, and understanding. Because as it stands now, I have none.
You are the love of my life, that my soul is thirsty for. I am ruined for You, Father. Quench me. Remind me that you alone are sufficient. The rest will come later. With time.
Set me ablaze. Be made famous. I love you.
With you.
And the next day. And the next. Let my romance with you, be new every morning. Abba, hold your place on the throne. Let not my heart be troubled. Let not my enemies triumph over me. Right now, they have the upper hand, and are gaining ground quickly. Papa, grant me a small measure of your patience, and understanding. Because as it stands now, I have none.
You are the love of my life, that my soul is thirsty for. I am ruined for You, Father. Quench me. Remind me that you alone are sufficient. The rest will come later. With time.
Set me ablaze. Be made famous. I love you.
Love Never Fails
There are filthy feet beneath the Master's table. Feet that have gone places they should never have been. Feet that have kicked their brother while he lay helpless. Feet that run from Love, like it were a disease. Feet that have been washed a million times before, yet in a moment, are filthy again.
They have no right to be in such a place. Dirt, blood, sweat, and tears have no place at a King's feast.
But, as surely as the sun rises the King welcomes back, as often as they would come, those diseased and filthy guests. Very much in spite of their perversion and iniquity, and for all of their bloodied and battered bodies, the King hands out sparkling robes to those who would take them. He washes their feet. Bandages their Wounds. Dries their tears.
And leads them to the Feast.
Tomorrow they will slip the silver into their pockets, curse the King and run for all they are worth.
When they have run so far, that they cannot tell North from South, East from West, up from down, they cry out for rescue. And the King bursts through the wilderness, and takes them home. He has forgotten their treachery. And again, he cleans and clothes them.
And brings them back to the Feast.
I was carried to the Table, seated where I don't belong.
Eph. 2:4-5
As often as we will run, our God will seek. Though our love fails, his is incapable.
They have no right to be in such a place. Dirt, blood, sweat, and tears have no place at a King's feast.
But, as surely as the sun rises the King welcomes back, as often as they would come, those diseased and filthy guests. Very much in spite of their perversion and iniquity, and for all of their bloodied and battered bodies, the King hands out sparkling robes to those who would take them. He washes their feet. Bandages their Wounds. Dries their tears.
And leads them to the Feast.
Tomorrow they will slip the silver into their pockets, curse the King and run for all they are worth.
When they have run so far, that they cannot tell North from South, East from West, up from down, they cry out for rescue. And the King bursts through the wilderness, and takes them home. He has forgotten their treachery. And again, he cleans and clothes them.
And brings them back to the Feast.
I was carried to the Table, seated where I don't belong.
Eph. 2:4-5
As often as we will run, our God will seek. Though our love fails, his is incapable.
Love is Kind
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. -Romans 5:8
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. -Ephesians 2:4-5
But You, O GOD, the Lord, deal kindly with me for Your name's sake;Because Your lovingkindness is good, deliver me. -Psalm 109:21
The word 'lovingkindness' is used one hundred eighty two times, in the New American Standard Bible. It is used interchangeably with the words compassion, and mercy.
The Hebrew word "racham" refers to God's compassion and mercy on our behalf. Racham holds also a connotation of the womb, a pure protective cherishing love for a child, that is held close.
Our God's love is inexplicable and unmatched. Purely without merit were we granted grace. Compassion. Lovingkindness. Love. But he has given it, in spite of us. He cherishes us.
Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings. -Psalm 17:8
We are drawn close to His heart, and loved relentlessly. Without cause, because he desires us. By no worthiness of our own. His love is kind, and completely unwarranted.
And he is to be praised for it. Hallelujah, and Amen.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. -Ephesians 2:4-5
But You, O GOD, the Lord, deal kindly with me for Your name's sake;Because Your lovingkindness is good, deliver me. -Psalm 109:21
The word 'lovingkindness' is used one hundred eighty two times, in the New American Standard Bible. It is used interchangeably with the words compassion, and mercy.
The Hebrew word "racham" refers to God's compassion and mercy on our behalf. Racham holds also a connotation of the womb, a pure protective cherishing love for a child, that is held close.
Our God's love is inexplicable and unmatched. Purely without merit were we granted grace. Compassion. Lovingkindness. Love. But he has given it, in spite of us. He cherishes us.
Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings. -Psalm 17:8
We are drawn close to His heart, and loved relentlessly. Without cause, because he desires us. By no worthiness of our own. His love is kind, and completely unwarranted.
And he is to be praised for it. Hallelujah, and Amen.
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