If you have read my last post, then you may be wondering what's going on. It seems that right now I am being reminded of just how selfish and self-centered I am. This process of dying to self is hard, especially if you are an especially self important person. What is important right now, getting my ministry running again, or making a difference in the lives of 10,000 unchurched teens in my county? What is important, recovering from the hurt and despair caused by actions of people around me or healing the damage done to God's Kingdom, and getting back on track to becoming a safe place for people to meet Jesus? A place where people believe they can meet Jesus. My life has been going from one selfish choice to another, but the whole time thinking it is sacrificial or God honoring choices first. Hopefully we can break this cycle, not for my sake, but for the hurting people God created my church to reach.
In the end, it all comes down to choice. What am I going to choose to do today? Am I going to choose to hang on to God with everything I have, or am I going to listen to friends/my selfish desires and push God out? It can be difficult to hang on, but it is more dangerous to give up and let go. Persevere, and you will be taught a great, deep, and abiding faith that can move mountains.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
A Slice Of Life
Hey, it seems like it is important to stay positive and believe in good things going on. It also seems like there are times when that seems just not possible. Most of life often takes place in the middle of those two poles. A different wrinkle is that when you are in a leadership position your ability to speak those becomes hampered, because it is important not to tank anything further. The law of gravity works towards a group's momentum as well, it is easier to drag it down than to lift it up. Basically it feels like my group is on a bad skid that no one really wants to break out of it. Of the readers of this infrequent blog, does anyone have any advice on how to break out of something like this on a personal level? It is hard not to personalize all this, and it seems like I am failing. Warning though, no "pat" answers, no easy answers, and no "church" answers.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Prayers For The Christian Year by William Barclay
Grant, O God, that no false teaching may ever have any power to decieve us or to seduce us from the truth.
Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any teaching which would dethrone Jesus Christ from the topmost place;
Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any teaching which for its own purposes perverts the truth.
O God, our Father, establish us immovably in the truth.
Give us minds which can see at once the difference between the true and the false;
Make us able to test everything, and to hold fast to that which is good;
Give us such a love of truth,that no false thing may ever be able to lure us from it.
So grant that all our lives we may know, and love, and live the truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any teaching which would dethrone Jesus Christ from the topmost place;
Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any teaching which for its own purposes perverts the truth.
O God, our Father, establish us immovably in the truth.
Give us minds which can see at once the difference between the true and the false;
Make us able to test everything, and to hold fast to that which is good;
Give us such a love of truth,that no false thing may ever be able to lure us from it.
So grant that all our lives we may know, and love, and live the truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Ban New Year's Resolutions
In so many ways, I dislike New Year's Resolutions. My sneaky title was just to get your attention, because people can do what they want and it is good to have some goals. But thinking through this stuff, there are a couple of things that come to my mind about this idea or some common goals.
One that Christians do often is "get closer to God." This one is particularly annoying to me on many different levels. No resolution is worthwhile if you have to ask a follow-up question like, "what does that mean?". Often people will say something like, read their Bible more, attend church more regularly, pray, etc. Those are depressing answers to me. Firstly, I believe the Christ died and was resurrected to make the payment for our sins, or actions that disobey God, and then gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to live within us and guide us. If the Holy Spirit (God) is living within us, then we can't get any closer to God than that! What if the goal would be changed to "becoming more like Jesus"? That would be much more practical, and could be broken down easier because there is a definite standard involved. For instance that means you will be less selfish (serve your spouse, forgive easier, put other people's needs ahead of your own, to serve not be served), do something to bring justice to your corner of the world (volunteer at a shelter, tutoring, speaking out against mean jokes, helping an elderly neighbor), and love the unlovable. Not only are these tangible goals, they are meaningful, so no one can complain about and make you into a better person.
One that Christians do often is "get closer to God." This one is particularly annoying to me on many different levels. No resolution is worthwhile if you have to ask a follow-up question like, "what does that mean?". Often people will say something like, read their Bible more, attend church more regularly, pray, etc. Those are depressing answers to me. Firstly, I believe the Christ died and was resurrected to make the payment for our sins, or actions that disobey God, and then gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to live within us and guide us. If the Holy Spirit (God) is living within us, then we can't get any closer to God than that! What if the goal would be changed to "becoming more like Jesus"? That would be much more practical, and could be broken down easier because there is a definite standard involved. For instance that means you will be less selfish (serve your spouse, forgive easier, put other people's needs ahead of your own, to serve not be served), do something to bring justice to your corner of the world (volunteer at a shelter, tutoring, speaking out against mean jokes, helping an elderly neighbor), and love the unlovable. Not only are these tangible goals, they are meaningful, so no one can complain about and make you into a better person.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
More Deep Thoughts Of Others That Make Me Think
"Merely to repeat his words is not to continue his work; we must reproduce his life, passion and death. He desires to live again in each one of his disciples in order that he may continue to suffer, to bestow himself, and to labor in and through them towards the redemption of humanity, until all prodigal and lost children be found and brought back to their Father's house. Thus it is that, instead of being removed far from human history, the life and death of Christ once more take their place in history, setting forth the power of redemptive sacrifice, transform and govern it, and direct it towards its divine end." ---From "The Atonement" by Auguste Sabatier as quoted in The Double Search by Rufus M. Jones
How much more difficult is it to not just repeat the words of Christ, but to live out His new life in our own. To live out the parable of Fall, for new life to begin the old must wither and blow away. The beautiful colors of dying leaves matches the beauty of selfish desires and destructive patterns we conform to and in all honesty love. It is really no wonder why Ghandi said "I like your Christ, I do not like you Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." What a tremendously true statement, that points to our need to become less so Christ can become greater. To many Christians (myself included) want to take hold of the crown without the cross first. May we learn to live out Jesus while we still have time.
How much more difficult is it to not just repeat the words of Christ, but to live out His new life in our own. To live out the parable of Fall, for new life to begin the old must wither and blow away. The beautiful colors of dying leaves matches the beauty of selfish desires and destructive patterns we conform to and in all honesty love. It is really no wonder why Ghandi said "I like your Christ, I do not like you Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." What a tremendously true statement, that points to our need to become less so Christ can become greater. To many Christians (myself included) want to take hold of the crown without the cross first. May we learn to live out Jesus while we still have time.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Finally, A New Post
I started up using a devotion again, "A Guide To Prayer" put out by the Upper Room. Today God really knocked my socks off (in a loving way). Here are some quotes from some Jesus lovers.
"The spiritual life is not a life before, after, or beyond our everyday existence. No, the spiritual life can only be real when it is lived in the midst of the pains and joys of the here and now. Therefore we need to begin with a careful look at the way we think, speak, feel, and act from hour to hour, day to day, week to week, and year to year, in order to become more fully aware of our hunger for the Spirit. As long as we have only a vague inner feeling of discontent for our present way of living, and only an indefinite desire for "things spiritual," our lives will continue to stagnate in a very generalized melancholy. We often say, "I am not very happy. I am not content with the way my life is going. I am not really joyful or peaceful, but I just don't know how things can be different, and I guess I have to be realistic and accept my life as it is." It is this mood of resignation that prevents us from actively searching for the life of the Spirit.
Our first task is to dispel the vague, murky feeling of discontent and to look critically at how we are living our lives. This requires honesty, courage, and trust. We must honestly unmask and courageously confront our many self-deceptive games. We must trust that our honesty and courage will lead us not to despair, but to a new heaven and a new earth." from Making All Things New by Henri Nouwen
"The words of the Lord are the seed sown by the sower. Into our hearts they must fall that they may grow. Meditation and prayer must water them, and obedience keep them in the sunlight. Thus will they bear fruit for the Lord's gathering." from Life Essential by George MacDonald
"The Lord never came to deliver men from the consequences of their sins while yet those sins remained: that would be to cast out of the window the medicine of cure while yet the man lay sick; to go dead against the very laws of being. Yet men, loving their sins, and feeling nothing of the dread hatefulness, have, consistent with their low condition, constantly taken this word concerning the Lord {http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%201:21&version=31#en-NIV-23166} to mean that he came to save them from the punishment of their sins. This idea---this miserable fancy, rather---has terribly corrupted the preaching of the gospel. The message of the good news has not been truly delivered.
The mission of Jesus was from the same source and with the same object as the punishment of our sins. He came to work along with our punishment. He came to side with it, and set us free from our sins. No man is safe from hell until he is free from his sins; free of them, hell itself would be endurable to him." From Life Essential by George MacDonald
May they cause you to think about God and life as they have mine.
"The spiritual life is not a life before, after, or beyond our everyday existence. No, the spiritual life can only be real when it is lived in the midst of the pains and joys of the here and now. Therefore we need to begin with a careful look at the way we think, speak, feel, and act from hour to hour, day to day, week to week, and year to year, in order to become more fully aware of our hunger for the Spirit. As long as we have only a vague inner feeling of discontent for our present way of living, and only an indefinite desire for "things spiritual," our lives will continue to stagnate in a very generalized melancholy. We often say, "I am not very happy. I am not content with the way my life is going. I am not really joyful or peaceful, but I just don't know how things can be different, and I guess I have to be realistic and accept my life as it is." It is this mood of resignation that prevents us from actively searching for the life of the Spirit.
Our first task is to dispel the vague, murky feeling of discontent and to look critically at how we are living our lives. This requires honesty, courage, and trust. We must honestly unmask and courageously confront our many self-deceptive games. We must trust that our honesty and courage will lead us not to despair, but to a new heaven and a new earth." from Making All Things New by Henri Nouwen
"The words of the Lord are the seed sown by the sower. Into our hearts they must fall that they may grow. Meditation and prayer must water them, and obedience keep them in the sunlight. Thus will they bear fruit for the Lord's gathering." from Life Essential by George MacDonald
"The Lord never came to deliver men from the consequences of their sins while yet those sins remained: that would be to cast out of the window the medicine of cure while yet the man lay sick; to go dead against the very laws of being. Yet men, loving their sins, and feeling nothing of the dread hatefulness, have, consistent with their low condition, constantly taken this word concerning the Lord {http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%201:21&version=31#en-NIV-23166} to mean that he came to save them from the punishment of their sins. This idea---this miserable fancy, rather---has terribly corrupted the preaching of the gospel. The message of the good news has not been truly delivered.
The mission of Jesus was from the same source and with the same object as the punishment of our sins. He came to work along with our punishment. He came to side with it, and set us free from our sins. No man is safe from hell until he is free from his sins; free of them, hell itself would be endurable to him." From Life Essential by George MacDonald
May they cause you to think about God and life as they have mine.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Traveling and Prayers
Hey, we are going to be traveling about 14 hours overall to Lake Traverse Reservation to Sisseton, SD. We are working with Youthworks, http://www.youthworks.com a great team to work with. Please be in prayer. We want God to work in our lives, and speak clearly as a team. This is a week that should be devoted to Him. Thanks for your prayers.
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