advocate

Another Easter Toast (But This One’s All Mine)

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

toast

I raise my glass and drink to all the losers, drop-outs, failures, rejects, and nobodies. I drink to all the castaways, the worthless, the reprobates, the down-and-outers, and anybody who just can’t seem to get their act together. To all the crooks and whores and drunks and junkies and thieves.

Why?

You are the ones Jesus died for. He himself said he came not for those who were well, those who were righteous, but for you, the sick, the sinner, the wretched, blind, and poor. Those without a hope left in the world.

Blessed are you for you have found hope.

Blessed are you for you have been made new. The past no longer counts against you and the future is yours.

Blessed are you for God so loved you that he gave his only Son that you should not perish but have full, abundant, and rich eternal life, starting now.

Blessed are you when you’ve reached the end of your rope, as one translation puts it, because there is less of you and more of God and his rule.

Blessed are you when you cry out to God and beg for pardon for all your mistakes and failures and sins and find that forgiveness and freedom is sweeter and grander and longer and wider than you ever imagined they could be.

I toast you because you really appreciate what this day is all about. You know that because of this day you are alive and free from any condemnation. Because of Easter Sunday, you no longer have to let your past define you or your future.

You have an Advocate, a Redeemer, a Savior, a Friend and a Father. You have a new name, a new start, a new tomorrow, and a new destiny.

I think that merits a toast, don’t you?

triple wine toast

Something Good to Remember on a Monday

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Matthew 5:1 says, “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.”

I’ve read past that a thousand or more times. I’ve rushed past those words to get to the Sermon on the Mount, the good stuff. But I think I’ve done myself a disservice by not paying attention to this verse, particularly the first three words: “Seeing the crowds.”

Did you catch that? He saw the people who came to see him. He didn’t see bodies. He saw faces lined with pain. He saw heartaches and anxieties and unrest. He saw people just trying to get through the day.

Just as he sees you and he sees me.

Do you ever feel unnoticed? Do you ever post on facebook and no one responds? Do you ever comment on someone else’s post and he or she responds to everyone else but you?

Do you often feel invisible in a crowd? Has the thought ever crossed your mind that no one would miss you if you were suddenly not there? Or like George Bailey, do you think the world would be better off if you’d never been born?

You may not feel like anyone knows you or the secret shame and pain you carry. Jesus does.

You may think that you don’t matter to anyone. You matter to Jesus.

You are not alone. You have an advocate, someone who is on your side, who fights for you, who roots for you, who won’t abandon you in the dark or in the storms. His name is Jesus.

I didn’t come up with this, but it’s still true: if you had been the only one lost and in need of a Savior, Jesus still would have gone through every bit of the cross just for you. He loves you that much.

If your Monday’s been awesome, that’s great. God rejoices with you. But if your Monday was horrible and couldn’t end soon enough, this promise still holds true.

This is from a ragamuffin who needs daily reminders of the goodness of God as much as anyone else. God is faithful, even when it seems he is absent. He is good, always.

 

Freedom and Other Thursday Randomness

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

dog with gate open

I don’t understand a lot of what happens. I don’t understand why people act the way they do. I don’t know why I act the way I do half the time.

But I do know this.

The best kind of freedom is freedom from the expectations of others. The freedom from being a slave to whether someone else likes or doesn’t like you. The freedom to know and be your truest self, regardless of who sees or responds.

I’m not there yet. Maybe you’re not either. I have a strong feeling many people wish they were there, but aren’t just yet. It’s a precious few folks who find this kind of freedom.

People come and people go. You never know who will show up and who will leave. You never know who will be your friend and who won’t. You just have to trust God daily and cherish the people he brings into your life while they’re there.

Sometimes, when my life feels most unstable, that’s when I appreciate the most God’s unchangingness– how he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His promises are true yesterday, today, and forever, too.

Cling to the eternal and let what is temporary go. Or, as Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

I’ve always loved that. And that’s what I intend to do, God willing and with God’s help. And today is one of those days when I need an extra helping of God’s help.

I’ve been told that God helps those who help themselves. But if we could help ourselves, we wouldn’t need God’s help in the first place. I think it’s more like this. God helps those who know they can’t help themselves, who have tried and tried and failed so many times before only to end up back where they started. Who know that they are poor and wretched and miserable and blind and needy without God. The poor in spirit.

Lord, may we fall into your grace and find that it is more than sufficient.

Amen.

The Biggest Loser

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

 

“Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

I remember back in elementary school at recess, I always dreaded the selection process. That’s when the team captains (usually the most popular and most athletic) chose teams. I generally was picked near the end.

But what’s really bad was to be the one not chosen. The one that the first team captain said to the other, “Oh, you can have him (or her). I’ve got all the people I want.”

To be chosen last is bad enough. But to not be chosen at all is worse. Nobody wants to feel left out or unwanted. Everybody at some level wants to be appreciated and validated and acknowledged for their own unique gifts and talents.

Jesus wanted you. Jesus wanted me. He picked you and me, not because He had to, but because He wanted us. He wants us to be a part of his team and to be a part of the work he’s doing.

God picked those who are considered foolish and weak. God picked the nobodies of the world. Look at the twelve disciples. Most leaders would have picked the cream of society and the smartest, prettiest, powerful people around. Not Jesus. He picked fishermen and radicals and tax collectors, none of whom had much of an education.

That’s comforting. At least to me.

It’s also a warning. If we get caught up in how wise we think we are, God might just send someone to confound our wisdom. If we get too hung up on our own strength, God just might send some to shame us. And if we strut around thinking how great we are, God might just send a few nobodies to adjust our perspective.

But for most of us most of the time, it’s good to know that Jesus wants us around. He wants to use people exactly like you and me to reach the world, to be the people to be his hands and feet, to take this great message of reconciliation and hope to those who need it most.

To the world, you may be a nobody. You may never win any awards or make millions of dollars or make any who’s who lists. But in God’s eyes, you are a treasure beyond price. You are worth every drop of Jesus’ blood. You are the apple of your Abba’s eye. You are the Beloved.

I don’t know about you, but that’s enough for me.

PS Thanks again to Mike Glenn for inspiring this blog.

 

A Borrowed Blog (and a Very Good Reminder)

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

This was printed in a church bulletin and later posted in a blog by Jon Acuff called Stuff Christians Like, which is probably my favorite blog out there:

“We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, yo no habla Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying new-borns, skinny as a rail or could afford to lose a few pounds.

We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like our pastor who can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re “just browsing,” just woke up or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re more Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s Baptism.

We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems or you’re down in the dumps or if you don’t like “organized religion,” we’ve been there too.

If you blew all your offering money at the dog track, you’re welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church.

We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers and doubters, bleeding hearts … and you!”

Here is the original blog.

http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2012/07/how-to-welcome-people-to-your-church/

May we remember that no one is beyond saving or out of the reach of the love of Christ.

Last Thoughts on Chick-fil-A

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

This will be my last blog/post on the subject of Chick-fil-A. I promise. I realize it’s been talked to death. Kinda like beating a dead horse (or in this case, a fried chicken patty).

I am NOT saying that the Chick-fil-A appreciation day was wrong. I am asking the question: what were your motives? Were they really out of love or were they all about proving a point or showing that your side was right and the other side wrong? I realize that I don’t have the best track record when it comes to having the best motives.

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in social media-land. It seems that lately, if you disagree with me (or I with you), then not only are you 1) wrong, but you must also be 2) evil and 3) immoral. When you’re not busy dissin’ my dreams, you must be out there hating puppies and kittens, sacrificing small animals to Beelzebub, making fun of Girl Scouts and driving around with a bumper sticker that shouts, “I DON’T BREAK FOR UNICORNS OR RAINBOWS!”

That’s just my observation. We are free to disagree and still respect each other. Disagreement is not the same as hate, and love is not the same as condoning everything you believe and say and do.

Above all, I think we need the reminder (and me most of all) that what really matters is what is done out of love. What counts are those things done out of faith.

The Bible doesn’t say that the greatest of these is a well-thought out argument that no one can refute. Nor a picket sign with a Bible verse on it. It says that the greatest of these is LOVE.

I mean the LOVE that God has for us that accepts us just as we are but refuses to leave us that way. A love that won’t rest until we are a perfect reflection of the image of God. A love that won’t stop until all that is not of God is purged out of us and all that is left in us is God.

What really matters isn’t what I think. I’ve been wrong before. I’ve jumped on and off of plenty of bandwagons in my time. What really matters is this: am I showing the supreme love of Christ in what I do? Will what I do draw people closer to or push them away from following the Jesus I love and serve?

That’s all.

Westboro Baptist: Who Are We Against, Really?

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I was thinking today about the announcement that the infamous Westboro Baptist Church was picketing a church I’ve attended in the past. Apparently, this church was much too tolerant about forgiving sinners and extending grace.

That made me think. Who am I against? Who is my enemy? And the question that I can’t get over: Are we really supposed to be against anybody?

This is my own belief and is no way affiliated with anybody else, but here goes. I don’t think we’re supposed to be against anybody.

Think about it. The Bible tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood people, but against spiritual forces and demonic powers. I can’t find it anywhere in my Bible where I am supposed to hate a particular group simply because they behave and believe differently than I do.

The Bible says to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. It says to go out of your way to serve and minister to them the same way Christ did. The Bible says nothing about picketing and name-calling and verbally attacking.

A pastor I greatly admire said that you don’t fight fire with fire. You fight it with water. You don’t fight hate with more hate, but with a love that is stronger than any hate. A love that is stronger than all the political powers and all the weapons of the world and all the special-interest groups. A love stronger than fear. A love stronger than even death, the grave, and hell.

God never called me to go out and correct someone’s lifestyle. He never called me to go out and point out all the reasons they’re going to hell. He told me to go out and proclaim the good news– that there is hope for the hopeless, healing for the broken, and salvation for those who can’t ever get it right and are stuck in sin.

I believe we’re even called to show grace to the legalists and Pharisees who themselves don’t believe in or practice grace.

What am I against? I’m against the lies that keep people in bondage. I’m against any kind of hate that condemns a person that Jesus came to save. I’m against reducing the beautiful Story God has written over thousands of years to a pithy phrase that fits on a bumper sticker or a picket sign.

What am I for? Grace. Because I above all people need it. Because I have received it and know how good it feels to be forgiven and free. Because I want every single person out there to know that feeling, too.

I’m just a nobody [in the world’s eyes] trying to tell everybody about Somebody who can save anybody. That’s all.

He Has Overcome

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I was listening to my favorite worship song in the car on the way home tonight. The song is “Take Heart” by Hillsong United. The part I love is at the end where they sing about how God has over come all our troubles and all our tears, all our failures and all our fears, and so forth.

My word for you tonight is that whatever you’re facing, whatever is holding you back, whatever is keeping you from fully realizing the peace and joy in Christ, God has already overcome.

If you’re afraid of running off your friends or screwing up your relationships beyond repair, God has already overcome.

If you’re afraid that you will always be bound by the same self-defeating thoughts, God has already overcome.

If you can’t find hope anywhere in sight and are on the verge of giving up and giving in, God has already overcome.

If you can’t find the faith to pray for another or even for yourself for healing of any kind, God has already overcome.

If you feel like every dream and desire of your heart gets thwarted and nothing will ever go the way you want it to, God has already overcome.

If you feel lost in the dark and wonder if the night will ever end for you and if you will ever see daylight again, God has already overcome.

If you feel like all you’ve done is in vain and that nobody notices or cares, God has already overcome.

So take heart, friend. His love will get you through until you see with your own eyes the triumph of our God over every obstacle, every foe, every enemy, and everything you will ever face.

Voices

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I heard a provoking question tonight at Kairos. What does your voice tell you?

I’ve never thought about it this way, but usually those kinds of voices never tell me anything good or positive.

Things like “You’ll never amount to anything,” or “You really are a nobody.”

If you try to take steps to make your life better, the voice will say both “Who are you to do that?” and “If you’re gonna try, it has to be perfect or it’s no good.”

My voice that stuck with me for the longest was “If people really knew the real you, they wouldn’t want anything to do with you,” with the close second being “No girl will ever find you attractive so don’t even think about dating.”

Those voices don’t ever go away by you ignoring them. They only get louder that way.

The best way to get rid of those voices is to drown them out with another Voice. The Voice of Truth.

This Voice says, “You are my beloved. I love you just as you are right now where you are.”

The Voice says, “You are good enough and smart enough and beautiful enough because you are My masterpiece.”

The Voice says, “I am your Abba Father and I am very fond of you.”

Sometimes when you can’t hear that Voice, you need someone who will remind you. Sometimes, you will be the one to remind someone else.

I have family and friends who remind me daily of what God sees in me and what He says about me. I try to help people see themselves the way God sees them and hear what God says about them.

This is a repeat, but it it is also my mantra (or one of them): What you think and what you feel will lie to you, so you go with what you know. You go with the promises that God has spoken over you and what He has said about you being wonderfully and fearfully made.

You recognize that voice in your head for what it is and renounce it as the mouthpiece of the father of lies.

May you have ears to hear the good things your Abba Father is saying about you tonight and every day after.