Brennan Manning

White Stones

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“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it” (Revelation 2:17, NIV).

I learned something interesting recently. When the Romans were building their roads, sometimes they used small white stones known as either tiger eyes or cat’s eyes in between the larger stones. The purpose was for those smaller white stones to reflect the moonlight at night to help people see where they were walking at night.

I don’t ever want to be guilty of reading too much into any biblical text or seeing something that isn’t there, but I wonder if there’s a connection. If the white stones were guideposts along the road, then someone with a white stone would be able to help others find their way to God.

I remember that Jesus told us that we were the light of the world and a city on a hill that can’t be hidden. When we live out of the overflow of God’s provision and in accordance to His will, we reflect God to those around us and help those who are lost find their bearings and their way.

Just as the moon doesn’t generate its own light but only reflects the light of the sun, so we don’t in our own strength or wisdom lead people but only so far as the image and light of God is reflected in us and through us. That only comes through surrender and obedience.

When the people of God truly live out their calling, they don’t point people to themselves or to their impressive churches or activities but to the awesome power of God who meets us where we are but doesn’t leave us that way.

No More Fear

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“‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.’ The psalm does not pretend that evil and death do not exist. Terrible things happen, and they happen to good people as well as to bad people. Even the paths of righteousness lead through the valley of the shadow. Death lies ahead for all of us, saints and sinners alike, and for all the ones we love. The psalmist doesn’t try to explain evil. He doesn’t try to minimize evil. He simply says he will not fear evil. For all the power that evil has, it doesn’t have the power to make him afraid” (Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark).

I used to be terrified of the dark. I had to have a night light or some other kind of light so I wouldn’t be completely in the dark, because that’s where the monsters lived. At least that’s what I told myself. More truthfully, it’s the unknown that I was afraid of.

But the older I get and the more I know of God, the less reason I have to be afraid of the dark. I still get the heebie jeebies when I’m in the dark sometimes, but I know there’s no real reason to be afraid. I know that with one click on a flashlight or one tap on my flashlight app, all that darkness goes away without a fight.

The Bible say not to fear the one who can kill the body, but the one who can destroy the soul. I take that to mean that anything other than God is no longer a threat or a reason to be fearful. I know that God is for me and has promised to never leave me nor forsake me, much less destroy my very soul. So I have no reason to fear.

Of course, the default setting for most of us is fear. It’s not like we make the conscious decision to be afraid. It’s our bodies’ reaction to certain stimuli like a perceived threat. Sometimes, especially when we’re tired, it’s easy to let anxiety get a foothold.

But that’s when all those promises of God come in handy. That’s when it’s helpful to have a storehouse of memorized Scripture to draw from when those fearful moments come. That’s when you need people around you to speak life and peace over you.

A good attitude to take when scary things happen is that the worst that can happen to me is that I die and go to be with Jesus. Anything less than that is doable. And nothing can separate me from God’s love or cause Him to stop loving me, so I know God is with me no matter what. And God is with those I love.

That’s when evil and the dark lose their power to make me afraid.

Trials and Tragedy into Gold

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I heard that the Middle Tennessee area got hit with some tornadoes today, some of which did significant damage. Six people lost their lives. It seems like such a random and senseless tragedy smack in the middle of the Advent season.

But then I remember that we live in a beautiful but broken world where nothing is as it should be and chaos seems to be the order of the day. But I’ve read the last chapter of the Bible and I know that the story doesn’t end in ashes. Hope wins. God wins. The best happy ending of all is coming.

I remember that God stepped into our world at its darkest and became a baby so that we who live in that darkness might have hope. That light of the world still shines, though all kinds of powers and people have done their best to put it out. All the darkness in all the world still can’t overcome even the smallest light.

The greatest gift of the Advent season is one that no wars or storms or pandemics or political unrest or anything else in the world can ever take away. We celebrate this season the coming of Emmanuel who can take the worst and turn it to good. Hope is born again.

Fix Your Eyes

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“Fix your eyes on the rising Morning Star. Don’t be disappointed at anything or over elate, either. Live every day as if the Son of Man were at your door, and gear your thinking to the fleeting moment. Just how can it be redeemed? Walk as if the next step would carry you across the threshold of Heaven. Pray. That saint who advances on his knees never retreats.”

Those were words quoted by Jim Elliott to his 15-year old sister Jane. These words still ring true in this day and age, long after Jim was martyred for his faith by the people he was trying to reach for Christ.

These words seem like a real Christianity as opposed to the emasculated form of niceness that passes for faith these days. If you read the words of the saints of old, you realize just how far the bar has fallen for the American churches.

But ultimately it’s not about us now versus us then. It has always been about fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Morning Star and the Author and Finisher of our faith. That’s always been the true litmus test of faith — following Jesus and obeying His words, no matter what.

May that be true of those of us who claim the name of Christians.

The Struggle Bus Rewards Program

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I think the struggle bus should have a rewards program. Something like frequent flyer miles for airlines, but maybe call it frequent struggle bus rider miles (or something way better that I could think of if I weren’t actually on the struggle bus).

I went to a concert that kept me up late on a school night, i.e. the night before I had to be at work. I knew that I might be a bit sleepy the next day, but as it turns out, the older you get, the longer that struggle bus ride lasts.

Was it worth it? Absolutely. Do I enjoy the scenic struggle bus ride? Absolutely not. There’s not enough coffee in the world to get me off that stupid bus. Only a couple of good night’s sleeps (and possibly another vacation) can cure me.

I don’t even know what the rewards would be. Possibly a Starbucks gift card? Or maybe a massage? I’d like to think that a 24-hour nap wouldn’t be such a bad reward.

The Incarnation Is Everything

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“… without the incarnation, Christianity isn’t even a very good story, and most sadly, it means nothing. ‘Be nice to one another’ is not a message that can give my life meaning, assure me of love beyond brokenness, and break open the dark doors of death with the key of hope. The incarnation is an essential part of Jesus-shaped spirituality” (Michael Spencer).

These days, lots of people seem hell-bent on reinventing Christianity to be more socially acceptable. In the process, you end up losing everything that makes Christianity transformative and life-changing. Instead of being counter-cultural, this new version of faith ends up looking and sounding exactly like the culture it’s trying to influence. It ends up almost polar opposite to what Christianity and the Church looked like in the New Testament, particularly in the book of Acts.

Christianity is Christ. Christ is 100% man and 100% God. As a writer of old once said, Jesus is God spelling Himself out in a language humanity could understand. But when you take away the divinity and the incarnation, what you end up with is someone who meant well and tried very hard, not the Savior of the world.

This Advent season is all about how since we couldn’t get to God through religion or rules or right living, God came to us. God came near in the form of an infant born to a virgin teenager and a peasant carpenter. Jesus is the only one who lived the righteous live God requires that we couldn’t live and died the death that we deserved, taking the punishment our sins have earned upon Himself.

May the incarnation be the true reason for the season this Advent and Christmas season. The incarnation isn’t expendable. It’s essential. It’s everything.

Why Church?

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Church is not about worship. I mean that anybody can worship at anytime in any place. You can worship God by yourself.

What church is about is worshipping corporately. It’s about gathering together in community because we are better together than we are apart. We are stronger together than we are apart. The old saying is true that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

I believe that in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit came upon the early believers, He empowered and indwelled the collective church. That means that where two or more or gathered, Jesus is there and there is power — more power than if we each prayed or worshipped or read the Bible separately.

I also still believe that it’s more about being the church rather than going to church. Church isn’t a place or a time or an event that we participate in but it is us. We together are the church who meet together regularly because we need each other and we need God most of all.

The Bible never gives a reason for any of us to neglect the assembling together of believers. At least, I can’t find any good reason. When we isolate ourselves from the body, we open ourselves to falling into temptation and wrong beliefs. We are more easily prone to wander away from the Church and the truth.

I love the old joke that if you ever find the perfect church, don’t go there because you will mess it up. There are no perfect churches because there are no perfect people. There is only a perfect God who meets us where we are and leads us daily closer to being more like Jesus.

That One Thing

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I learned something a long time ago. I wish I could say that it’s a nugget of wisdom that I live by every day, but most of the time I don’t.

I’m very forgetful when it comes to grace, especially when it concerns other people. I always want grace for myself but I am not as good at giving it as I am in receiving it.

What I learned is that with every single person you meet, there is one single fact about that person that if you knew, it would completely change how you saw that person. It could be a secret health battle. It could be an addiction. It could be any number of anxieties or insecurities.

I’ve never been a big believer in first impressions. So often, we don’t always put our best foot forward. You may very well catch me on an off day or in an off moment. I might find you out of sorts for reasons that have nothing to do with me and if I were in your shoes, I’d act exactly the same way.

The simple solution is to be kind. Err toward grace instead of criticism or condemnation. Remember that it was God’s kindness that led you to repentance. The one who had the most right to cut you off and write you off instead loved you most and died for you so that you might have true life and peace and joy.

So be kind the way God was kind to you.

Andrew Peterson, Parking Garages and Lessons Learned

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I had the opportunity to see Behold the Lamb of God for the second year in a row (and third overall). It was just as fantastic as the other two times. It was both artistic and worshipful, the way any meaningful Christian media should be.

I learned that Buddy Greene is a harmonica whiz, that Jill Phillips sings like an angel, and that Labor of Love is one of the best Christmas songs ever written (and my favorite by far). The whole focus was on Emmanuel, God with us. In some ways, it felt like the best of worship services. We even closed with the doxology.

But then the fun started. And by fun, I mean me literally going in circles looking for my car. I went up and down and all around and could not find my little Jeep. I even thought for a split-second that it had been stolen, but then I remembered that my car is old.

It turns out that I had come out of my original parking garage from the back and there was another parking garage next to it that looked similar to the one where I parked, but was not the same. I had the feeling that people who enter parallel dimensions must have where everything looks a bit familiar but then again not quite.

As it turns out, I started off from the wrong premise that I was in the right parking garage, and all my earnest and sincere searching wouldn’t have led me to what I was looking for. So in life if you start off with the wrong premise, it doesn’t matter how devout you are in your beliefs. You will still end up in the wrong place.

The right place to start this Advent season is at the foot of the manger where the infant King sleeps. That’s where the greatest story ever told begins. That’s the one that will get you to where you need to go.

Another God-wink Moment

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I went for a walk this afternoon to check out some of the neighborhood Christmas decorations. It always helps me a little to get into the spirit of the season whenever I see a front yard all decked out with lights and inflatable Santas and snowmen and reindeer and other assorted characters.

Then I saw a little bird perched on a mailbox. Typically whenever I attempt to take a picture, the bird flies off just as I’m getting the camera app on my phone pulled up. But not this time.

This little bid waited until I snapped a couple of shots before it flew away, almost as if it was waiting on me to hurry up and take the stupid picture. That’s probably the first time something like that has ever happened to me (and quite possibly the last).

I think it was a bit of a God-wink moment, like a bit of serendipity or extra blessing in that small moment in time. It was a subtle reminder that all God’s promises are still good and true, and that if I feel like the world is headed in the wrong direction that I shouldn’t lose heart or give up on what God has already spoken. It will come to pass.

Maybe that’s me reading too much into a simple scenario. Maybe it was just me in the right place at the right time to capture an image. I think it was more. I think it was a God-wink.