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The One Who Remembers

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I looked up the word “witness” in a Greek dictionary just for kicks, ’cause that’s what really cool people like me do for fun, in case you ever wondered.

The definition I got startled me a bit. The literal meaning of the word is “one who remembers.” As I’ve mentioned before, believers are not called to be attorneys and prove the existence of Christianity and God, but to be witnesses and tell our stories.

Being a witness is remembering. It’s remembering where you were before Jesus found you, how lost and hopeless you were, how nothing made any sense and life had no meaning.

It’s about the moment you said YES to Jesus and how your life forever changed in that moment and how you became a new person, or a new creation as the verse in Galatians puts it.

You remember who you could be apart from the constant grace of God and how you’re capable of any sin under the sun apart from the indwelling Spirit of Christ. You remember enough times where you fell into temptation and messed up your witness to keep you from pride and thinking too highly of your own abilities.

Most of all, you remember God’s promises. How he promised to finish the good work he started in you. How he promised to never leave or forsake you. How he would see you through to become every bit of what he created you to be.

The Holy Spirit’s job is to bring those things to mind. His job is to remind us of all that Christ taught us, all of the lessons of faith we’ve learned along the way.

May you and I help each other remember our stories so that we can tell them to those who need to hear them most.

 

It Is Well

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“When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, ‘Behold, there is the Shunammite. 26 Please run now to meet her and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’’ And she [o]answered, ‘It is well.'” (2 Kings 4:25-26).

I was reminded of a great truth today. The context is a story about Elisha and a Shunammite woman in whose house he had stayed. She had given birth to a son late in life, probably the only child she would ever bear, only to watch him die in her arms. His body was still warm when she spoke those words.

How could she say, “It is well,” after losing her only son? I don’t think I could. I might be raging and cursing and lashing out at God and everybody else, but “It is well” would be the last words out of my mouth.

Those words she spoke are a perfect picture of the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is circumstantial, depending on what happens. Joy is not. You can be supremely unhappy and still have joy, because joy is grounded in the knowledge that God will make every thing right one day.

In her case, God worked through Elisha to bring her son back to life. Sometimes he makes things right in this life. But not always.

I was also reminded of the story of Horatio Spafford, a man who wrote a very famous hymn. He had send his wife and three daughters across the sea to England, but was unable to accompany them due to some business he had to attend to. On the way back, the ship collided with another vessel and sank and his three daughters drowned. His wife sent the infamous telegram that read “Saved alone.”

When he was on his way to meet his wife in England, he passed the spot where the horrific accident had occurred and penned these words:

“When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul”

I pray for that kind of faith that can bring me joy even in the worst of circumstances, knowing that even in those times God is still in control. May your joy never waver and your faith in God only grow stronger in the days to come.

 

The Word of God

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“God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.” (Hebrews 4:12)

I mentioned earlier that I’m really good at collecting Bibles and carrying them around. I like to talk about the Bible and read books about the Bible, but I don’t really read the Bible as much as I should.

Only the Bible is transformative. The commentaries, as insightful as they are to me, are not living and active. The books on doctrines and theology are not inspired and God-breathed the way his Word is.

Sometimes, that Word cuts deep. It’s described as a two-edged sword. I heard a pastor say that means that it cuts both going in and coming out. If you want a safe, nice book that leaves you the way you were when you picked it up, I certainly do not recommend the Bible. Not if you’re serious about really digging into what it says.

It’s no good to read the Bible if you’re not willing to do what it says. I am as guilty as anyone for reading the Bible for information and not for transformation. If I don’t do what it says, then reading it does me no good. As that same pastor has said many times, “If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it.”

So that’s what I want. To not only read the Bible, but to live it out. A friend of mine once said that you’re the only Bible some people will ever read, and they may only read you for 5 seconds. So it’s important to be living out the Word in such a way that others can see.

Just a thought.

 

A String of Random and Disconnected Mutterings

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For those of you who blog or do some other kind of writing, you know that some days you have this incredible burst of inspiration and creativity, and some days you don’t. Or as the old commercial says, “Some days you feel like a nut, some days you don’t.”

I think as I sit in front of my laptop at 11:37 pm that today is going to go down as one of those nutty yet uninspired days. I just have some randomly disconnected thoughts to share.

I keep thinking about a blog that I read recently. It speaks to how the world tells you “only,” as in only the best qualified get the jobs, only the most talented will make the sports teams, only the most popular can be in the social clubs. But God says “every.” As in “every one who asks, receives,” and “every one who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I like that. I like it so much I’m putting a link to the blog here so you can check it out for yourselves.

http://brianlamew.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/only-versus-every/

I’m also convicted by how shallow most American believers are. We don’t really know what we believe or how to articulate it. We are by and large Biblically illiterate and easily taken in by all kinds of false doctrines and heretical teachings.

I am also still stoked about the super deals I got at thrift stores recently. I bought a suitcase for $8, a tennis racket for $3, and  a Johnny Cash autobiography for $2. But so far, no tacky Christmas sweaters.

I think that the difference between all the other religions and faiths and Christianity is grace. Religions are all about what you have to do to appease God; Christianity is about what God in Christ has already done, and all you have to do is receive it. Religions are all about working harder and being good enough (although how good good enough is is rarely ever defined); Christianity says you can never be good enough, but you can trust in the perfect life of Jesus and believe that he died in your place.

That’s all for now. More randomness to come in the days and weeks ahead. I can promise you that.

 

A Plethora of Bible Translations

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I collect Bibles. I probably have too many already, but I can’t stop.

I’m trying to get as many different translations as possible. I have everything from the old King James Version to the very contemporary Message translation.

Recently, I picked up a New American Bible, which is a Catholic Bible which the extra apocrypha books added. It’s almost like a Director’s Cut of the Bible.

I’m looking for a full American Standard Version Bible with both Old and New Testaments. For some reason, it never caught on when it came out in 1900 and it’s next to impossible to find one. But not impossible. And yes, I am up to the challenge.

I personally think it’s good to read from more than one translation because none of them are perfect. Plus, you get a better idea of what the original authors were trying to get across.

I’d go with the New American Standard for word-for-word accuracy, the New Living Translation for readability, and the Message for its unique rendering of Scripture.

But as I heard somebody say, as long as it starts with Genesis and ends with Revelation, you can’t go wrong. The point is not to waste time looking for a perfect translation that doesn’t exist. The point is to find a Bible that fits you and then read it.

I’d be lying if I told you I read my Bible every day for hours and hours. I carry around my Bible and talk about it and read books about it way more than I actually read it. It’s fine to read commentaries and books about the Bible, but the Bible is the only book that is living and active and God-breathed.

So I will make a deal with you. I will read my Bible more and I challenge you to do the same. It doesn’t have to be for five hours straight the first time, but if it’s for five minutes here and five minutes there, that’s a start.

And as I heard a pastor say, all God needs is place to start.

 

 

Finishing Well

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I’ve considered running a marathon once or twice. Not seriously, but I did mull it over in my little noggin. Then I decided to lie down for a while.

I can imagine me in a marathon. I’d do well for 3-4 miles, then I’d slow down to a fast walk. By the end, I’d be crawling and begging for death. My time wouldn’t be measured in hours and minutes. It would be measured in days, ’cause that’s how long it would take me to finish.

In the race of faith, all that matters is that you finish. Even if you come crawling over the finish line, you’re still a victor. The only ones who lose are the ones who don’t finish.

It’s never too late to get started. It’s never too late to start over. Even if you dropped out a long time ago and haven’t run in years, it’s still not too late to get back in the race.

Hebrews 12 talks about how a great host is cheering us on. Imagine all the great biblical heroes of the faith. All the saints down through the ages. All the people you’ve known who inspired you with their faith before they finished their own race. Every one of them is looking down on you, cheering you on, rooting for you.

Most of all, God himself is cheering for you and rooting for you. He wants you to finish, but more than that, he’s given you everything you need to finish well. All you have to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep trusting with that mustard-sized faith that can move mountains.

The prize is not to the fastest or strongest or best-looking. The prize is for those who keep showing up and keep believing. It’s for those who fall down 1,000 times but get up 1,001 times. It’s for those whose race looks more like one of those maze games than a straight line.

It’s for you and for me if we just keep running.

 

Beauty and the Beholder

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Somehow, it seems to me that we’ve gotten it all wrong when it comes to romantic love. We look for the most attractive person we can find and hope that the attraction will lead to love.

But I think it’s just the opposite. Being loved makes you beautiful.

Think of the ultimate love that God has for us. His love calls out in us our best selves. His love calls out in us life and beauty and strength and wisdom.

If we are his children, then we can call those things out in each other, I think.

I heard a story of a guy who married a girl no one would ever have thought of as beautiful. But day after day, he called beauty out in her by telling her how lovely she was. In time, she came to be as lovely as he always said she was.

Ultimately, it’s not being lovable and lovely that brings us love. It’s in being loved that makes us lovable and lovely, as supremely evidenced in the transforming work of God’s love in us.

True beauty is beauty that lasts. It shows itself in kindness, gentleness, self-control, joy, peace, patience, and in so many other ways. It’s more than physical attractiveness which fades with the years. It’s about a beauty that’s within that shines out through a smile and a glowing countenance.

All this came from a movie. You may or may not have heard of it, but it’s called Enchanted Cottage and it’s about a man disfigured by war and a woman who is considered homely by just about everybody else, but love brings them together. Through looking with the eyes of their hearts, they come to see each other as handsome and beautiful.

That’s the way God has always seen you and me. May we as we grow in the love of God come to see each other that way.

For a Good Friend

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This is for you, my friend who will remain anonymous but not forgotten:

I know that you’re getting ready to move to a new city in a few months and a brand new adventure in the story God has authored for you. I know I probably won’t see you anymore, unless God has a surprise twist in the story that I’m unaware of (and he’s better than anyone at that sort of thing).

I wanted you to know how very thankful I am for you. Your friendship truly has blessed me more than you will ever know.

You believed in me and my blog when it seemed that no one else did. I had almost decided to quit when you encouraged me by telling me how much my blogs had blessed you. You helped me believe in myself and the gifts God gave me again.

No matter what I was going through or what my day had been like, seeing your smiling face always made my day better. I couldn’t help but smile and be filled with joy.

We never hung out that much. You had a crazy hectic schedule that probably could have benefited from having a 26-hour day instead of the usual 24. While I wish we could have hung out more, I’m grateful for the times we were able to get together and talk and share stories of God’s faithfulness.

You’re the kind of person that has hundreds of friends, that anyone would be lucky to know. I’m still not sure why you wanted to be friends with me in the first place, but I’m glad you did. I’m better for it.

I heard once that a friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words. You reminded me of my song that I had forgotten and, thanks to you and a few others, I am singing again.

I hope we can keep in touch after you move, but if not, I still have your footprints in my heart to remind me that God still does bless me, because one of those blessings was you.

I will be praying God’s best for you, believing great things for you, and rooting for you every step of the way. I firmly believe that the future God has for you is better than even your wildest dreams can conceive.

May the Lord always bless and keep you and make his face shine on you and grant you peace. Every time I order a chai frappacino with caramel drizzle, I will think of you and smile.

Phil. 1:3,

Your forever friend in Christ.

Remarkable Comebacks and More Good Reminders

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I am a Cards fan. I admit it. I have been since around 1981 or so. I don’t really follow baseball as closely as I used to, but I was glued to the TV for the last few innings of the Nationals-Cardinals game.

It was 6-0 after 3 innings. It looked hopeless. I wasn’t too optimistic.

But something happened. Inning after inning, the Cards chipped away at the lead, scoring a run here, 2 runs there, and suddenly, we’re in the top of the 9th inning with a 7-5 ballgame.

Even then, I wasn’t overly optimistic. I may not win Fan of the Year, but I’m just being honest. I figured that the magic was about to run out.

But I was never more glad to be wrong. The Cards scored 4 more runs in very dramatic fashion and ended up winning 9-7. Yeah, it was awesome.

But the little gears in my brain started whirling and got me to thinking, “What else in my life have I given up on? What dream have I all but discarded and resigned myself to the fact that it won’t ever happen?”

I think the reminder for me and everyone else reading this is to not give up. If Jesus could find a way out of the grave, he can surely find a  way to give you the desires of your heart. If not, he’s bound to give you something way better.

So take it from this baseball equivalent of Eeyore. Don’t give up. Don’t throw in the towel just yet.

Trust that what seems impossible to us isn’t even remotely difficult for God (yep, I stole that one from Crosspoint Church). Trust that God is able to do what he promised.

Even when you’re down to your very last strike, it’s not over. Not as long as God is in charge.

 

Stardust and Thoughts About True Love

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I’m no expert on love. At least not the romantic kind.

I do think that while movies often get love wrong, sometimes they hit the nail on the head when it comes to what true love really looks like.

In Stardust, one of the main characters talks about love. She says that true love is unexpected, uncontrollable, and very often can be mistaken for loathing. I don’t know about that.

She also says that true love should be unconditional. You shouldn’t have to earn it or prove it. I think she’s right.

True love is when someone loves you for just you. Not who you might one day become or who you hope to be. True love doesn’t wait until you measure up or get all your flaws fixed.

I know enough to know that love isn’t all moonlit walks on the beach and candlelight dinners. Love is work, because love is an active verb that requires action. Love transcends emotions and does the best for the beloved, regardless of whether it feels like it or not.

Love is God becoming a man to take my place in a punishment my sins deserved to die a death that should have been mine. Love says that I was worth it. Love not only said it, but backed it up on a cross.

Sometimes, love isn’t pretty. Sometimes, love means laying down your life for someone else. Even if that means a gory death on an instrument of torture. We romanticize Jesus’ death on the cross to make it more palatable, but it was anything but. It was messy, it was shameful, it was horrific.

And it was for us. That’s the ultimate example of true unconditional love that has been or ever will be.

That’s the kind of love I want to receive. That’s the kind of love I want to show.