Christianity

Who You Are

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“Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete” (1 Cor. 1:20-22).

The Bible says that whoever is in Christ is a new creation. Not just an overhauled creation or a rebuild creation or a refurbished creation. A completely new, never before seen creation. I think this is what that means.

You are God’s YES to the world, when the world asks can anyone really change and can anything good come out of a bad situation.

You are God’s AMEN, an exclamation point to the story of God’s power to change lives and redeem lost causes.

You are God’s POSSIBLE, for what is impossible for us is not even remotely diffucult for God (thanks to Pete Wilson for that one!)

You are God’s I CAN, when people say it can’t be done, that there’s no way, that it’s too late and I’ve screwed up too much for God to use.

You are God’s AMAZING, a testimony to how God can make brokenness into beautiful and He can even make the brokenness itself beautiful by how His strength is made perfect in it.

You are God’s LOVE STORY, His epic whirlwind romance about how He went to every length and never gave up in His pursuit to win your heart and how now your name is BELOVED.

You are GOD’S OWN, precious to Him and safe in His everlasting arms always. He’ll never let you go or give up on you or decide you’re not worth it.

That’s WHO YOU ARE.

It’s Not Your Fault

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In my defense, I just finished watching Good Will Hunting, so if this blog bombs big time, blame it on that. That out of the way, here goes.

It’s not your fault. Yes, I know I completely stole that line from the movie, but it’s true. It’s not your fault.

I’m not saying that you never do wrong or sin. I’m not saying that you can blame everyone else and never take ownership for your life. I know that I screw up daily and don’t need to be reminded. You’re the same way.

But maybe you’re carrying around guilt for something that isn’t your fault. I’m here to tell you: it’s not your fault.

Maybe you had a father who hit you or a mother who called you names put you down. It’s not your fault.

Maybe you had relationship end because the other person just didn’t care enough to try anymore. It’s not your fault.

Maybe you wanted a relationship but the other person didn’t want to take the risk. It’s not your fault.

Maybe you lost a loved one– a parent, a friend, a mentor and, worst of all, a child. Maybe you blame yourself, thinking God was somehow punishing you. It’s not your fault.

I still don’t understand why some things happen. I don’t get why so many people can be so mean and cruel and do horrible things to other people. Maybe I never will.

I do know that the same God who loves me like crazy love you the same way. I do know that this same God roots for you and wants the best for you. I do know that He’s the most sure and safest bet you’ll ever make.

Let go of all the blame you’ve assigned to yourself. Believe that you are wonderfully and fearfully made and your life is uniquely yours and no one else will ever have your life. Remember, like I always tell you, your Abba is still very fond of you.

That’s the only opinion that matters anyway.

Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given

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lifeofthebeloved

“During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples: Take, eat. This is my body” (Matthew 26:26).

I’m in the middle of another Henri Nouwen book and I am loving it. He more than any other writer (except for maybe Brennan Manning) always seems to speak to where I am right here and now.

He says, “To identify the movements of the Spirit in our lives, I have found it helpful to use four words: ‘taken,’ ‘blessed,’ broken,’ and ‘given.'”

I had never thought about it that way before. I never looked at Jesus breaking the bread at Passover and made an analogy to my own life.

We are taken (or chosen) by God who loved us from the start. We are blessed by Him with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. We are broken by our own sin and the broken and marred world we live in with so much poverty, injustice, and inhumanity. We are given to be God’s hands and feet to bring healing and justice and compassion into the world.

I read somewhere that my life is loaves and fishes. Remember the ones that Jesus used to feed the 5,000? In and of myself, I can’t do much. But if I am blessed and broken and poured out, God can bless so many more through me.

News flash: God takes and uses broken lives, scarred hearts, screwed-up pasts, and promises left unfulfilled. He can use anybody. In fact, He more often than not prefers the outcasts and nobodies and failures to be the ones to turn the world upside down (see the 12 disciples for examples).

Lord, may I be taken by You, Who chose me before I was born and gave me the name Beloved, and blessed with as much of You as I can stand. Break my heart for the things that break Yours and then give me out to those in need.

PS The book I’m reading is Life of the Beloved. Expect more blogs to come out of this. I’m not even halfway through. And, to throw in yet another shameless plug, go buy or download or pilfer or ingest this book as soon as humanly possible. It’s that good.

The Little Things

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littles

A lot of us (me included) have this idea that life should be epic and full of dramatic, Gladiator-style moments where risks are involved and manly muscles are flexed. Life usually isn’t like that. Besides, I am decidedly lacking in the manly muscle department.

Like a friend of mine said, life is like taking 10,000 steps every single day. Every step you take leads you closer or further away from your desired destination. For believers, that means every step leads you closer or further away from Christ.

Obedience is the same way. Most of the time, we’re not called to make the ultimate sacrifice and jump in front of a fast-moving train to save a group of Girl Scouts. Mostly, obedience is doing the next small thing you know to do. It’s a thousand tiny deaths to comfort, pride, convenience, and self.

We become like Jesus when we take the tiny steps and do the little acts He calls us to each day. I love the statement that there is no microwave holiness, but that sanctification is a lifelong process that we never really finish here.

Life is in the details. It’s the small stuff we look past waiting for the grand moments. It’s what we miss in the present because we are too occupied with the past or obsessed with the future.

That’s where Jesus is strongest. Jesus is strong in that moment when you’re wondering how you can get through the next 5 minutes. Jesus is strongest when you don’t see how you can get it all together.

Rarely does God speak in the dramatic James Earl Jones-type voice (not the Darth Vader voice, the other one). It’s ususally a still, small voice that you’ll miss unless you can be still and quiet and present in the moment.

Thank you, God, for the little moments. That’s where life happens and that’s where You’re making me more like Jesus.

Electric Moments

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I attended a concert recently featuring Buddy Miller, Patty Griffin, and Jim Lauderdale. That alone would qualify it for uber-awesome status. Already it was in the running to be in my top 3 favorite musical events of 2011.

But then they started talking about being in Robert Plant’s band and touring with him. They talked about not only how he was super talented, but a really nice guy. Then, lo and behold, they called him from somewhere backstage. The moment he stepped on stage, the place went crazy. I could feel the hairs on my arm all standing and waving (and probably requesting “Stairway to Heaven).

It was truly an electric moment.

Maybe you had one of those moments with Jesus. Maybe it was the day He rescued you from sin and from yourself. Maybe it was much later when you had a eureka moment about how madly and deeply He is in love with you.

For me, it was the moment I stopped defining me by my shortcomings and what I perceived how others thought of me and started believing what Jesus said and thought about me.

I still get those moments when God’s truth gets through my thick skull and really hits home. When a precious word from God makes the 18-inch journey from my head to my heart.

I think the ultimate electric moment will be when Jesus comes back. I think that on that day, He will somehow find me and be looking in my eyes. His look won’t be of disappointment or anger or resignation. It will be the look of crazy, wild, perfect love.

I hope you can picture tonight how Abba Father is joyously singing and dancing over you with shouts of delight. You are His electric moment. I pray that image settles into the core of your being and never leaves.

You are God’s electric moment.

 

The Substitute People

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In my favorite movie of all time (insert shameless plug here), Elizabethtown, there’s a scene where one of the characters, Claire, tells another that they are substitute people. They fill in when the person you really wanted to be with isn’t around.

I know that feeling. I’ve felt like that in the past. Like the only reason someone would talk to me was because the person they really wanted to talk to was AWOL. I felt like I wasn’t anybody’s first choice.

I bet you’ve felt like that. It’s like being a part of that dreaded kickball selection process and it comes down to you and one other. It’s the humiliation of having the team captain pick the other person, which leaves you unpicked but automatically sent to the other team. Ahh, the agony and ecstacy of the glory days of kickball!

The good news of the gospel is that you are not a substitute person to God. He picked you, chose you before you were born, because He wanted you. Not because the person He really really wanted wasn’t available. He wanted you.

He had you on His mind when He went to that cross. He decided He’d rather go through hell for you than be in heaven without you. He thought you were worth dying for.

And the part that gets me every time. If if had only been you, He still would have gone through it all, just to win your heart. If it had been me, He would have suffered through Calvary.

Christianity shouldn’t be a somber occasion. It should be a joyous remembrance of how the Father is crazy for you. It should be day after day of unbroken gratitude that Jesus thought you were to die for.

Remember this always. You may not matter to some people and you may not think much of yourself some days, but you matter a whole lot to God every day. He’s got you tattooed on His hands and on His heart.

Thank you, Abba, that you really are very very fond of us!

The Name That Matters

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“You’re not who the world says you are. You’re not even the name you call yourself. Over and over again in the Bible, God gives people new names. You are who God says you are: beloved, chosen redeemed, ransomed, bride of Christ, people of God, family of God, little brothers and sisters. Children of God. Did you forget that? Remember who you are” (Mike Glenn, In Real Time).

Maybe you’ve taken on a name or two in your lifetime. Maybe a parent gave it to you. Maybe a so-called friend or acquaintance. Maybe it was you. Whatever the case, it’s how you define yourself.

Loser. Reject. Underachiever. Waste. Nobody. Killjoy. Stupid. Coward. Failure.

The list could go on. There are names on there that would make Martin Scorsese blush. The names that you carry with you like the infamous scarlet letter, the badge of shame for all to see.

I love the way Jesus doesn’t call you or me by those names. He gives us new names. When He calls, the names He gives us aren’t a reflection of the past and all we’ve screwed up. It’s a future God has promised for us that’s as good as done.

Victor. Overcomer. Overconqueror. Child of the King. Blessed. Beloved.

My favorite is Beloved. That’s the one I claim the most. I who was once unloveable am now the Beloved. I’m known for being loved supremely.

Let the new name Jesus gave you define you. Speak it over yourself. Believe in faith that the new names are who you are now. Not the old names.

If you forget who you are, Jesus will remind you gently. So will I. If you live out of your old names instead of your new ones, Jesus will whisper the new name in your ear until you hear it again for the first time.

After all, He’s not about to quit on you. If He went to all that trouble to have your name tattooed on His hand and on His heart, He’s sticking with you to the end. And beyond that.

His name is the name that matters.

I Am Mephibosheth

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I am Mephibosheth and I know what it’s like to be rescued.

I was born as a grandson to the enemy of the King. I was orphaned at a very young age and crippled when my nurse dropped me in her haste to escape. In other words, I had next to nothing to offer anyone.

But the King called me by my name and offered me a seat at his table. He offered it to someone who could never fight for him or protect him or be of any use to him in anyway. Still he wanted me at his table.

I know what it’s like to be picked last in the games. In fact, I know from experience what it’s like to not be picked at all and left on the sidelines watching. But this King picked me first. Me with my two damaged feet that can’t run or jump.

Sometimes he asks me to pray before the meal and I am so overcome with gratitude that no words will come. My heart is so filled up with joy that it leaks out from my eyes in the form of tears of happiness.

I who once was an orphan have been adopted by this King, who now calls me son. I am not a stranger anymore. I am forever family.

 

My Prayer For You

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I pray for you, my friends, these things tonight:

That you can pray the prayer that asks for nothing but instead thanks God for what He’s given.

That you know deeply at the soul level how much your Abba really is fond of you.

That you can rest in the night and hear the voice of the Father God singing joyfully over you.

That you are baby-content as you feel the Everlasting Arms underneath that won’t ever let go.

That you will let go of all the shame and guilt that weigh you down and leave them at the Cross where they were paid for once and for all.

That you never stop being amazed and astounded at what God is doing in and through you.

That whatever God speaks to you and whatever He asks of you, that you’re only reply is “Here am I, Lord. Send me.”

That you forever declare your dependence on God and remember that His strength works best in your weakness.

That you know that you are in Good Hands.

When the Lights Go Out

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lucynarnia

I was en route from Memphis recently, listening to a book on CD, as all well-seasoned travellers do. It was The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, book 5 of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. It was read by Derek Jacobi, by the way, in case you were dying to know.

In the book, the Dawn Treader sails into an island of darkness. It’s a place where fear rules and all nightmares come to life. Lucy is at the top of the ship, watching as the crew tries vainly to escape. In her desperation, she says, “Aslan, if you ever loved us, help us now.” The answer to her prayer is an albatross who, as he flies by her, whispers, “Courage, dear heart,” in Aslan’s voice. He then leads them out into the sunlight.

I bet you’ve been in some dark places in your life. You’ve felt trapped in the valley of the shadow of death, where no light or hope can get through. You’ve been searching for a way out, but all you find is more darkness, more despair, more hopelessness.

You feel your circumstances will never get better. You fear that nothing will ever change. You come to believe that your worst-case scenario is due to come true any day now. Your faith is at a low ebb and your fears are cresting and crashing waves that swamp you.

There’s a voice, if you are still enough to hear it, that whispers the same words what it whispered to Lucy. “Courage, dear heart.” It says, “Hold on. Trust in Me in the darkness even when you can’t find Me there. I am with you, with My everlasting arms underneath you. I will never ever let go.”

Don’t believe that you feel or what you think, but what you know. Believe the same God who has proved Himself over and over and Whose word is true. Know that He is with you and for you in your darkness. Darkness may prevail right now, but joy is coming with the morning.