blessing

Just Another Monday

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As I get ready to type this blog, Lucy the wonder-cat has decided to camp out in my lap. I love the way she just barges in without waiting for permission. It’s like my own very affordable brand of therapy.

I have what seems like an everlasting cough that has been bugging me for three weeks or more. It doesn’t hurt and it’s not deep, but it’s persistent. And annoying. It’s hampering my possible superstar career in singing. Not really. But it is annoying.

I still feel that the best parts of life are those little pleasant surprises that come your way. They always seem to show up when you expect them least but need them most. I like to think they’re reminders that the grace of God is still alive and kicking.

That said, I’m glad Monday is over. It’s always a rude awakening for the week. I’m never ready for it and it always seems to come a day early.  But in perspective, it’s another day I woke up blessed and healthy and still saved by grace.

For those who keep up with college basketball, all my Final Four teams won. My bracket is back from the dead, off life-support, and looking good again.

There’s a whole lot I don’t know. Whole entire books could be written about what I don’t know. I do know a few things, like God is good and real and alive. There’s an enemy who is just as alive and real and opposed to everything God stands for. But my Bible says that the victory is already won.

I’ve said it before, but I love the idea that we as believers are fighting not for victory, but FROM victory. We are already more than conquerors through Jesus who loved us.

If that doesn’t get you through Monday, nothing will.

 

 

Owning Who You Are in Christ

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I like what Woody Allen said in his movie Annie Hall. He said, “I would never want to belong to a club that would have someone like me for a member.” Ever felt that way?

I know you’ve heard about people looking for the perfect church and how if you ever find it, don’t go there, because it won’t be perfect anymore. I can relate to that.

One of Satan’s main job descriptions is accusing believers day and night before God. Some of what he says may be true; a lot of what he says it not.

It doesn’t matter. What the devil says about me is not who I am. What people I work with say about me is not who I am. Not even what my friends and family say about me is who I am.

I am solely and completely who God says I am in Christ. I am holy, righteous, perfect, lacking nothing, and having everything I need. I am, because God says I am.

If you believed what God says about you– really, really believed it deep down– you would live differently. So would I. We wouldn’t be captive to the opinions of others. We wouldn’t live and die by the praise and criticism of others.

Only God really and truly knows me. He knows the secrets I keep, the fears I never tell any one, the shameful thoughts I have, and the doubts I carry. He knows it all and yet He’s the one who says good things about me.

He sees Jesus in me and what Jesus is doing in me. He sees the finished product as well as the work-in-progress.

If anyone had the right to condemn me or write me off, it’s Jesus. Yet He’s the one who intercedes for me and fights for me. He’s your Advocate, too.

Read Ephesians 1:1-15 and notice all that God says about you. Write those things down and meditate on them. Let those things become how you see yourself, because that’s the way God sees you.

If you haven’t already seen it, I recommend Annie Hall as a good movie to watch. It’s a classic.

It’s Wednesday

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It’s Wednesday at 9:48 pm and I can’t think of a blessed thing to blog about. The more I rack my brains together, the less I get. It’s sorta like that feeling I used to get when I sat down to begin writing a term paper or essay. The page stayed blank no matter how hard I stared at it.

I could continue with last night’s thoughts about how knowing who you are in Christ will defend you against the schemes and tactics of the devil. His name means slanderer. He is also known as the accuser. But he has no power over you in you’re standing firm and trusting in the promises and the power of the Christ who defeated him long ago at Calvary.

The truth is that it’s easy to forget these things even after only one day. It’s easy to sink back into old thought defeatist thought patterns and negative name-calling. That’s why the Holy Spirit’s job is to remind us of all Jesus taught us. We’re so very forgetful.

The name I picked out for myself to remind me of who I am was FAVORED. I have been the recipient of God’s unending favor and blessing. When it becomes all too easy to focus on all that I lack and still don’t have yet, I call to mind that I am the Lord’s favored one.

If you pick just one name and hang on to that to remind yourself of who you are when times get tough and God seems distant, you will remember that He may feel far off but He is never more than one cry for help away.

By the way, Wednesday means hump day. We’re over the hump week-wise and it’s all downhill from here. Only Thursday and Friday left to go.

Also a good reminder.

Kairos Rehashed: The Truth of Who You are in Christ

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In Kairos, Aaron Bryant preached on the armor of God from Ephesians 6, primarily the Belt of Truth.

Sometimes, it feels like so many people try to tell us who we are.

Failure. No Good. Inadequate. Wannabe.

The list goes on and on. Sometimes, it’s our boss. Sometimes, its a family member, or even a parent. Sometimes, it’s a spouse.

We carry these names around with us like baggage and over time begin to believe these names define us and tell us who we are.

But the Voice of Truth tells us a different story.

For those who are in Christ who have placed faith in Him, God has given us a new set of names and told us finally and forever who we really are.

Chosen. Adopted. Blessed. Beloved. Filled with Hope. Redeemed. An Inheritance. Sealed. Favored.

For as many names there are that weigh us down, God gives us more names that free us and make us come alive.

Everything God said about Jesus in the Bible is true for us in Christ.

You are not the sum of your past mistakes. You are not the bad choices that haunt you or the failures that hound you.

Who you are is not what your teacher or parent told you in anger. Who you are is not what your boss told you when he let you go.

Who you are is what God in Christ has said you are.

Put on the truth of that every morning. Let those names God has given you become part of you until you live each of them out.

The good news is that it’s never too late to say YES to Jesus at any time and start finding out these names for yourself.

The good news is also that it’s never  too late to stop believing the lies and start living in the truth of what God says about you.

That’s my prayer for each of you tonight.

When Your Brain is all Fuzzy

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I had the flu a few days ago and I am feeling better. I still feel a bit weak and my brain feels a little fuzzy still.

Like tonight, when I stopped to use the gas station restroom. I went to the men’s restroom and found it locked. I went up to the attendant to ask for a key. It never occured to me that the reason the door was locked was that there might be someone in there.

I’m blaming that one on the flu.

Sometimes, you and I have both done and said things that make us slap our foreheads and call ourselves things like idiot or dummy (or other names I won’t print here ). Sometimes, you and I have whole days like that.

The good news is that those moments and those days pass. The good news is that you don’t get zapped into ashes for those fuzzy moments or sent back 3 spaces. You don’t lose $200 or go directly to jail, courtesty of Mr. Moneybags (which for those who have lived in a cave is in a game called Monopoly).

It’s not that I love God so very, very much. It’s that He loves me. It’s not my great big hold on Jesus that will keep me saved, but His very great big everlasting hold on me that will.

Religion is how I can get to God and do enough good things to make me acceptable to Him. Christianity says I can’t, but that He did.

I have a hard time believing sometimes that all I have to do is believe in Jesus and what He did for me, taking my sin and paying for it and satisfying God’s wrath against that sin. How His life and His righteousness are now mine. How I am not an idiot or a dummy or a sinner or an enemy or a stranger anymore.

I’m a child of God, His Beloved.

Every person alive gets the chance to know that grace and forgiveness. It all starts with saying YES to Jesus.

Will you?

The YEC: Coming Full Circle

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I got a chance to volunteer over the weekend at the Youth Evangelism Conference at the Nashville Municipal Concert, hosted by the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

It was like coming full circle for me. I was one of the students at the YEC a long, long time ago. This time, I got to see it from the other side. It was an amazing experience.

I saw hundreds of youth walk forward to place their faith in Christ. Not inherited or intellectual faith (as the speaker put it), but real, intimate faith in a real, living Christ. It was one of those moments I hope I never forget any part of. May we see many more such movements of the Holy Spirit on the next generations (and on all generations, for that matter).

I ran into a guy I went to high school with who told me his brother, who graduated with me, had been transformed by the grace of God. Once he had a wild streak and was a partyer. Now he’s a missionary to India getting ready to be in charge of reaching an unreached people group. Only God could do something like that!

I walked aound the Municipal Center, looking at poster-sized replicas of old concert tickets. Apparently in 1978 and 1979, you  could see Bob Dylan and Jackson Browne and other great live acts for $7.50. What I would do for a working time machine.

I probably saw more Christian t-shirts in two days than I’ve seen in the previous year. My favorite one was one that said “This shirt doesn’t have a Christian message,” but on the back it said, “But I do.” That’s how it should be. Our witness should be in our walk and our talk more than in what we wear.

I hope to volunteer again next year and do more. I hope to see God’s Spirit move in power again. I hope that never gets old for me.

Speaking Life

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A bit of a conversation I had earlier today is still ringing in my ears. A well-turned phrase won’t let go of my mind.

We speak into each others’ lives. As believers, we call life out of each other and bring out the best in each other.

I can see in you what you can’t see in yourself. I can speak beauty and faithfulness into your life and you can speak the same into mine.

The best example I know of this is a man who married a woman many considered unattractive and plain.  Over the years, he spoke beauty into her life, telling her she was more lovely and telling everyone he met how beautiful she was. Eventually, she became the beauty he always said she was.

Only God can speak creation out of nothing. Only God in us can speak hope into hopelessness, love into apathy, courage into fear, and life into death.

What are you speaking into the lives of those around you? Who is speaking into your life?

I know many times people saw things in me I couldn’t see in myself and helped me to see myself through God’s eyes.

One of the reasons for this little blog is so I can hopefully speak life and hope and peace and love into your lives and more importantly, help you to hear what God is speaking into your life right now.

May He speak beauty into your ashes, a testimony into your trials, compassion into your pain, and a minstry into your scars. May you ever hear the voice of your Abba singing over you nightly, calling you Beloved.

And may we encourage each other daily and spur each other to love radically, serve sacrificially, and be no less than Jesus to everyone we encounter wherever we go.

Amen.

Epic Phone Fail

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For those of you who are unaware, my Samsung Strive phone has officially given up the ghost. It is no more. It has ceased to be (to borrow from an old Monty Python skit).

I’m reduced to using an old phone with only the numeric keypad. Texting is such a pain and several times I have thought very unbaptist thoughts while trying to text.

That said, if anyone would like to sell (or donate) me phones they aren’t using, that would be great. I will probably end up going the refurbished phone route to tide me over until I can switch to Verizon in July.

If that’s the worst problem I have, I’m doing good. So many others have it way worse than I do. So many others lost their homes and possessions and in some cases, the lives of friends and family members.

I can’t imagine that kind of loss. I can’t begin to empathize with these people. All I can do is pray for them. It sounds like my religious cop-out answer, but it’s the best that I can do.

I’m blessed. Even if I don’t have everything I want, I have everything I need. I may not be where I want to be or think I should be, but I’m exactly where God wants me to be and I’m exactly where God can step in and do amazing things in and around and through me.

I can survive with a lame phone. It may take me 5 minutes to text one simple sentence, but it can be done.

I love the image one pastor used. He said that if God showed him his box of blessings and told him it was empty because he had used up all those blessings, he would say back to God, “I’m good.”

If God never did one more thing for me other than save me from hell and place His stamp of love on me, then I’m good. I’m blessed.

How about you?

Ansel Adams and Mixed-Up Values

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I went to an estate sale today, which would make the second estate sale I’ve been to in my life. I got some really good deals, one on an Ansel Adams coffee-table book.

A guy there told me the story about a lady who knew Ansel Adams personally and had several of his original prints. She had a yard sale one time and sold several of them for practically nothing. She basically gave them away.

It would be easy to look down on someone who does something like that. But if I’m honest, I do that everyday. I treasure those things that won’t last and I treat as worthless those things that are priceless.

Culture does the same. We are told to spend our lives pursuing things. We are told our happiness depends on more stuff, on things like titles after your name and having your name on the right list. After all, haven’t you heard the refrain “He who dies with the most toys wins”?

At the same time, we see the sacred profaned and the priceless treated as worthless. Young girls are told their bodies are meant for sex and if they really love someone, they won’t deny him. Young boys are told that sex is an act, nothing more, with no consequences.

We are selling our God-given birthrights for cheap. We sacrifice our integrity, our beliefs, and our convictions for a promotion or a better job, for a relationship, for a bigger house or better car. This society doesn’t put much value in a human soul.

God says that you are priceless. As one of my favorite illustrations goes, if the God who made you could pick you up and turn you upside down to show you where He signed you, then you would know your true worth.

You are worth more than a career. Or a relationship. Or a house. Or a car. You are infinitely valuable because God made you with His own hands and then redeemed you with His own blood. He thought you were worth dying for. Literally.

Sometimes, I honestly have a hard time believing I have value or meaning. The voices in the dark whisper to me that the world would be better off without me and that no one needs or wants me.

But if I listen, the Voice of Truth tells me a different story. It says that God knows my name and loves me and has plans for me beyond my wildest imaginations or dreams.

I hope you will listen to that same Voice that says good things about you and calls you Beloved. The One who says you were worth every bit of shame and pain and scars and blood spent for you on the Cross.

2012: The Leap Year

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 7 Comments

Today is February 29, 2012, leap year day. Or for me, My Birthday: Part II. It’s a strange day that only comes once every four years and no one is sure what to do with it.

I know on February 29, it is supposedly acceptable for a girl to propose to a guy and if the guy refuses, he has to give her a dollar or 12 socks or something like that.

Maybe this is the day you will set your mind to take that leap of faith. Kinda like Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade movie.

What will that leap of faith look like?

Will it be you quitting your comfortable and safe and cushy job to take go on the mission field to a place where the gospel has never gone before?

Will it be you stepping out of your comfort zone and volunteering at a local mission that serves the homeless?

Will it be you walking across the room and speaking to that person no one else wants to acknowledge, much less befriend?

Will it be extending forgiveness to the person who hurt you, even if that person doesn’t apologize?

Will it be choosing to live each day in radical dependence on and obedience to Jesus, even if it means stepping away from the in-crowd and walking alone?

Will it be saying no to the so-called American Dream and to the pressure that for you to be happy you need to buy this one thing more? That you will be radically counter-cultural and say, “No thanks, I have enough. I’m good”?

I believe God is calling you and I to take a real leap of faith this year. It may look different for you than it does for me, but it requires the same faith in the same God that your foot will find a firm foundation when it lands.

Let 2012 be the Leap of Faith year and watch how God honors and rewards your stepping out in obedience.