Author: Ragamuffingospelfan

Finding the Blessing

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Tonight as usual, I served at Room in the Inn at Brentwood Baptist Church. We hosted 24 homeless men, all of whom were thankful to be out of the cold and the rain on the first Monday night in December.

Later, as we were getting ready to start our Bible study, I overheard one of the men say that he had spent the better part of last week attempting to sleep in a port-a-potty. That broke my heart. It also made me realize how blessed I am to have a bed and a roof, two things that I have been known to take for granted.

The old adage goes that the man with worn out shoes might not feel blessed, but to the man with no shoes, he is. And the man with no shoes is blessed in comparison to the man with no feet.

Obviously, the point is not comparison. I’m no better than anyone else because I sleep in a bed. I suppose that the takeaway is that all of us are blessed. It’s only when we stop the competition and the entitlement mentality that we realize what we have that so many others don’t.

Above all, I recall how the King of heaven gave it all up to be born to two peasants in a backwater Bethlehem village. I remember how this Son of God lowered Himself to being a slave so that we who have been enslaved to sin might be set free. I see Him on the cross willingly giving up His own life that I might live and have that life abundant.

Then who am I to complain? Who am I to think that my life would only be better if I had more possessions or money or power or fame? Is not what I have enough? Didn’t God give to me and all believers eternal life and everything needed for godliness?

That man who slept in the port-a-potty could have been bitter. But he chose to see himself as blessed because of God’s love for him. I think we’d all do well to remember how blessed we are at every moment we draw in a breath because of God’s grace.

1st Sunday in Advent

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“Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

I sometimes forget that Advent is not a season only for looking back to the incarnation but also looking forward to the second coming. The first time, Jesus came meek and lowly as an infant. The second time, He will come as a conquering King. No one will miss His arrival this time.

The older I get and the more I see of this crazy world, the more ready I am for Jesus to come back. Lord, we have lost our minds down here. It’s getting nuttier by the minute. I find myself uttering the phrase “make it make sense” so often these days.

But one day it will all make sense. One day it will all be made right. One day, I will finally be able to ask all the questions I’ve been saving up. Only they won’t matter anymore. All the questions I ever had will die on my lips when I see the King of glory coming with the clouds. I won’t need to ask any more questions because I will be looking at the Answer to all of them.

But in the meantime, we wait. We wait with expectant hope. Not a wishful thinking, pie in the sky kind of hope, but a confident, sure thing kind of hope. It’s so certain that we can speak of it as if it’s already happened. Like the Kingdom of God being now and not yet.

I’m thankful that while I didn’t grow up celebrating Advent, I’ve discovered it and grown to love it later in life. All the waiting and counting down makes Christmas so much more meaningful. Plus, I get those extra 12 days to make it last even longer (although technically, the 12 days aren’t really a part of Advent).

Lord, give us grace to wait well this Advent season, knowing that our waiting is never in vain and our hope in You is never wasted. Amen.

Re-Reading the Psalms

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“God remembered us when we were down,
His love never quits.
Rescued us from the trampling boot,
His love never quits.
Takes care of everyone in time of need.
His love never quits.
Thank God, who did it all!
His love never quits!” (Psalm 136:23-26).

I started a new thing recently. I’m reading through a little book called David’s Crown: Sounding the Psalms by Malcolm Guite, followed immediately by The Book of Psalms by Eugene Peterson. The first one is Malcom Guite, an Anglican priest, songwriter, and poet setting the Psalms into sonnet form. The second is pretty much what it sounds like — the Psalms rendered by Eugene Peterson as part of his The Message translation (or paraphrase if you’re picky).

Both are giving me a greater appreciation for those Psalms and a little different perspective on some familiar texts. I love in Guite’s book the last line in a psalm is always the first line in the next. Peterson’s translations are sometimes a bit loose with the renderings but when he gets it right, he really gets it right.

I think we forget that the Psalms were the original prayer book and hymnal of God’s people. As much as I firmly hold them up as inspired and inerrant, I also believe they record real emotions and real pleadings from a real person at real moments in time. That’s why they speak to so many even today. They’re sometimes raw, sometimes vulnerable, but always real and always Godward.

I imagine both are available from Amazon, but I’d recommend going through rabbitroom.com for the Malcolm Guite book. It’s one way of supporting a fantastic local non-profit organization that’s keeping artistry and integrity alive in the world of Christian music and media. But above all, pick a good translation and just read through the Psalms again.

Christmas Trees and Community

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Today, we put up the Family Christmas Tree. It’s an annual post-Thanksgiving tradition going back as far as I can remember. I have a feeling quite a few of those ornaments on the tree go back that far.

Some of those ornaments have seen better days. Some probably should have been retired a long time ago. Some are barely held together and look like they were assembled for a 4-year old’s craft project. Some probably were.

But when you put them all together on the tree with all the lights and tinsel, they look glorious.

That’s the same with God’s people. A lot of us look beat up and bedraggled. Some definitely have seen our better days. From a worldly perspective, many of us probably should have been retired or given up on a long time ago.

Yet something equally glorious happens when we gather together for one purpose as God’s people. Suddenly, we’re beautiful. For then we reflect the image and glory of our God and Lord and Head, Jesus Christ. In fact, we’re much stronger together than we ever could be separately. Truly, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts because the glue that holds us together is the Holy Spirit of God.

That’s how the Church of God is supposed to look. Everyone has a part. Everyone has a purpose. Everyone belongs. Everyone know that it’s not about them but about serving Jesus not just within the church walls but everywhere we go under the banner of the people and family of God.

I guess that’s why I like the old family Christmas tree so much. If all the broken and bedraggled ornaments can have a place, then so can I.

We Give Thanks

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“Let us give thanks to God our Father for all his gifts so
freely bestowed upon us.

For the beauty and wonder of your creation, in earth and
sky and sea.
We thank you, Lord.

For all that is gracious in the lives of men and women,
revealing the image of Christ,
We thank you, Lord.

For our daily food and drink, our homes and families, and
our friends,
We thank you, Lord.

For minds to think, and hearts to love, and hands to serve,
We thank you, Lord.

For health and strength to work, and leisure to rest and play,
We thank you, Lord.

For the brave and courageous, who are patient in suffering
and faithful in adversity,
We thank you, Lord.

For all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice,
We thank you, Lord.

For the communion of saints, in all times and places,
We thank you, Lord.

Above all, we give you thanks for the great mercies and
promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord;
To him be praise and glory, with you, O Father, and the
Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen”

For family present and sitting around the table,
and for the food in front of us
We give thanks.

For those no longer present physically,
but who have preceded us to glory
and live on here in our hearts
We give thanks.

For the promise of eternal life now and yet to come
And Your presence here with us from now until then
We give thanks.

For every one of Your promises being YES and AMEN
and for You being more than enough for us
We give thanks and praise, now and evermore. Amen.

Pour on the Love

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“May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers” (1 Thes. 3:11-13).

Maybe that’s a good Thanksgiving mantra — pour on the love. That’s it. Just love people like you have been loved. Love people like God has loved you.

If you really understand and embrace the love of Christ Jesus, then loving others won’t be nearly as difficult. You know that the love of God is like a flood flowing down to water a single flower, so it can’t help but flow onto those around you.

I do believe that a loving heart is a thankful heart. This Thanksgiving, focus on gratitude. Focus on what you have rather than lamenting what you don’t. I know, I know. Easier said than done sometimes.

But when you can get to the place of choosing joy and thanksgiving over bitterness and entitlement, it really is better. You are better for it. When you can come to the place of forgiving others, not because they deserve it or even ask for it, but because you yourself need to be freed from carrying the weight of resentment, then you can be thankful again.

Let us love well like God loved us, bringing out our best selves in the process. Above all, let’s give thanks that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, demonstrating the greatest love of all.

Be Generous

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“Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!” (1 Peter 4:7-11)

That’s the key: generosity. Not everyone is in a position to be financially generous, but there are other ways. You can be generous with your time. You can be generous with your talents. Best of all, you can be generous in your commitment to pray for someone or something. And in my book, prayer is the most powerful weapon we have in the fight against the adversary known as satan and the systems of this world.

It boils down to loving others like Christ loved us. He loved us not in word only but in deed. His love took up a wooden cross and bore the nails and died for you and me. Our love should be just as tangible toward those in need, especially during this time of the year with Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching.

Lord, help us to be as generous to others as You have been to us. May our love show itself not merely in words but in actions that meet the needs of those around us. May we remember that whatever we do in serving the least of these brothers and sisters, we are really serving You. Amen.

Trusting Anyway

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“Trustfulness is based on confidence in God whose ways I do not understand; if I did, there would be no need for trust” (Oswald Chambers, He Shall Glorify Me).

I suppose it’s impossible for a finite mind to understand the infinite mind of God. If I could completely figure out all of God’s ways and thoughts, then I suppose He wouldn’t be God. A greater mind would be able to comprehend a lesser mind but not the other way around.

If I understood all of God and His plan, then there really would be not need for faith. It would be logic. I could give myself some credit for figuring out God. But that’s not at all what Scripture says. It says that salvation is by faith and not of my own doing.

Even my own faith is a gift from God. That makes me humble but also grateful. Above all, it shows me how completely dependent on God I am at every waking or sleeping moment of my life. I can look back through all the years of my life and find only faithfulness.

So even when it doesn’t make sense, I’m choosing to trust anyway. Even when it runs counter to my intuition, I’m choosing to trust anyway. Even when I think I know better, I’m choosing to trust anyway.

In the end, my faith will be made sight. I will be able to look back at all those times when faith won out over fear and trust over doubt and realize that God knew what I didn’t and could see what I could not. His plans were better all along.

Time to Live It!

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“My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7, The Message).

That’s it. Maybe we don’t need another Bible study. Maybe we don’t need another book on Christian living. Maybe what we need is to start living what we already know. There is such a thing as knowing too much if it doesn’t make it’s way from your head to your heart and then to your hands and feet.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about the next Bible study and the next book. But it’s all for naught if it doesn’t translate into a different way of living. The problem with the way we learn is that we were trained to study in order to pass tests and then immediately forget what we studied. But that leads to knowledge of useless information instead of wisdom.

What we need is to learn in such a way that we rewire our actions and habits. Better yet, we learn to grow and be more like Jesus. We learn not to obtain information but to be renewed and transformed and enabled to obey what we know. Then we are ready for more.

Devoted to Prayer

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“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2, TLV).

The Oxford definition of the word devote means “give all or a large part of one’s time or resources to (a person, activity, or cause).”

Does that describe your prayer life? I can say with all honesty (and some shame) that it does not describe mine. I pray when it’s convenient or when I just so happen to remember to pray. I’ve been known to tell people I will pray for them and then forget moments later and never actually pray for them.

But the life of a true disciple is marked by prayer. I’m no believer in a health and wealth prosperity gospel but I believe that spiritual breakthroughs can come from seasons of devoted prayer. Not five minutes here and five minutes there but intentional time set aside for daily prayer.

I read about those spiritual heroes who had so much to do that they couldn’t not spend two hours in the morning before their day got started. I probably couldn’t stay focused for 15 minutes, much less two whole hours.

But I think that comes with discipline. That comes with when your desire for prayer is greater than your desire for anything else you could be doing at that moment. Sometimes, it comes in times of great desperation. Sometimes, it comes with spiritual euphoria.

I think the lack of prayer shows in the lives of most believers. We’re not prepared for spiritual warfare. We’re not ready to have gospel conversations with the people around us. Many times, our lives don’t look very different from the lives of nonbelievers around us.

But the good news is that it’s never too late to start and best of all, God loves to hear from His children at any time, no matter for how long or for how well or poorly we think we’re praying. He wants to hear from us much more than we want to speak with Him.

Lord, give us hearts devoted to prayer. Make us true prayer warriors whose lives flow out of victories gained by going to the Father in the secret places. Amen.