faith

Owning Who You Are in Christ

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

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

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

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

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

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.

Fire Bad. Tree Pretty.

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

Sometimes, you feel close to figuring out the complex mysteries of  the universe and coming up with a cure for cancer.

Somedays, it’s more like, “Fire bad. Tree pretty.”

I’ll let you guess which kind of day I had. Hint: I won’t be publishing any new theories about quantum physics in the near future.

I’m back at work and over the worst of the flu. I still feel weak and tired. Not up to my usual genius standards.

If I had to come up with my own short summary, it would probably be something like “Life’s hard. God’s strong.”

Life is hard and hard to figure out sometimes, but God is strong enough and big enough to handle all of it.

When you don’t know how you will survive, somehow you find God gets you through the next day.

Life’s hard. God’s strong.

Oh yeah. And fire bad. Tree pretty.

 

When Your Brain is all Fuzzy

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

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?

Waiting in the In-Between

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

In The Magician’s Nephew, a great fantasy book by C.S. Lewis, the main characters find themselves in a “Wood Between the Worlds” kind of place. A place where nothing ever happens, with a warm and calming kind of quietness. A place where you can almost hear the grass growing and branches sprouting leaves.

I’ve felt like that. Like I’m waiting in a place between the now and the not-yet. I feel like time slows down in this place and the waiting seems to take forever and nothing ever really seems to change.

I check my facebook and see everyone else moving past while I’m stuck in the waiting. I see all the parties and social events I didn’t get invited to and I see people’s lives moving at breakneck speed while mine seems to trudge on at a turtle’s pace.

But I believe God’s word for those in the In-Between is simply to wait.

Don’t force the next chapter or the next step. Don’t try to pry open the door into the next part of your life. Being at the right place at the wrong time is still wrong.

We feel like what God wants from us is activity and busy-ness. What God wants from us is dependence and trust. And sometimes rest.

Waiting in the In-Between is not doing nothing. It is getting ready for the next part. It’s becoming the person you need to be to do what God is calling you toward. He’s the one who knows when you’re ready because He’s the one getting you ready.

Instead of a frenetic and feverish impatience to get on to the next big event, try a little deep breathing and deep trusting. Trust that although you may not know the way, you know the One who is leading you and you know that He knows the way and will get you there exactly when you need to be there.

Maybe this time I’ll take my own advice and just learn to enjoy the ride instead of waiting for the destination.

PS You don’t have to wait alone. Part of the blessing of being a part of the Body of Christ is that we not only worship and pray and laugh and weep together. We also wait together.

Hugo: Finding the Key to Life

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

“Maybe that’s why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn’t able to do what it was meant to do… Maybe it’s the same with people. If you lose your purpose… it’s like you’re broken” (A quote from the movie Hugo).

I really liked the movie Hugo. It’s about a boy who lives in a train station and who is extremely adept at fixing things, trying to figure out how to fix one particular machine and retrieve his father’s last message to him. It spoke to me on a deep spiritual level, which is rare for anything that comes out of Hollywood.

If you believe the Bible (and I do), then you’ve read the part where we’re called sinners. All of us. It means we’ve missed the mark. We’ve set aside God’s agenda for our own. We’ve lost our purpose and we’re broken.

We each have a hole we’re trying to fill. Almost like the machine man in the movie Hugo that required a heart-shaped key. We need something (or someone) who can fill the hole and turn our hearts right-side up again.

Only the Creator knows His own creation and how best to fix it. Better yet, the Creator became one of His own creation to be the Key that fills the empty space inside all of us. Only the One who made us can truly name our future and call our purpose out of us.

I know I’m still broken and on some days, it shows. I also know my Creator is fixing me and restoring my identity and my purpose. I love that I get to be a part of Him fixing and restoring the broken lives of other people and helping them find purpose and meaning.

I still believe that no one is too broken for God to fix and there is no one that God can’t redeem and use to do amazing things. Look at me. Look at you. Look at any of the works in progress the Bible calls saints.

It’s not too good to be true. It’s too good not to be true. Believe it.

Strange Songs to Get Stuck in Your Head

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I have songs running through my head all the time. It’s better than listening to the radio. I never know what song will be next or where it will come from or what will inspire it. Like the one that’s in there now. It goes like

“My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. There’s nothing my God cannot do for you.”

That’s the whole song. It’s deceptively simple and easy enough for toddlers to sing, but profound enough to blow the minds of the most seasoned believers.

There’s so much truth here if you let it sink in. If you dismiss it as a simple children’s song, you miss out on some very deep truths.

God is so big. He’s bigger than you, bigger than your dreams, bigger than what you’re afraid of, bigger than what you’re facing. He’s bigger than what the world says you can’t do or be or overcome. He is so big.

God is so strong. He’s strong enough to reach down to wherever you are, no matter how low, and pull you out. He’s strong enough to break through any barrier or stronghold or even the hell you’re in to find you and rescue you. He is so strong.

God is so mighty. He’s mighty enough to keep you safe and secure from all alarms. He’s mighty enough to finish what He started in you and make you into the person He created you to be. He is so mighty.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that God cannot do for you. What’s impossible for you is not even remotely difficult for God (yes, I stole that from a good sermon I heard, but I don’t think he’ll mind).

If you had these words running through your mind all day, imagine how much more confidence and courage you would have. If you believed it enough to step out off the ledge in a leap of faith. If you went to the dangerous and messy places that Jesus went to in order to bring a cup of cold water and a message of hope to the lonely, the broken, the hurting, the outcast, and the thrown-aside.

My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. He’s stronger than cancer. Stronger than divorce. Stronger than unemployment. Stronger than moral failure. Stronger than addiction. Stronger than the death of a child. Stronger than depression. Stronger than chronic pain. Strong enough to get you through anything and make you stronger on the other side.

There’s nothing my God cannot do. For you.

Some Inconvenient Truths

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 5 Comments

This is probably not going to be one of those feel-good blogs that leaves you all warm and fuzzy. This is probably not going to win me any popularity points or make me the next trendy blogger. Then again, the truth has never been popular.

The truth is that there aren’t many ways to heaven. There’s just one. Jesus Himself didn’t say, “I am one of the ways, one of the truths, and one possible life. You can get to Heaven through me if I fit your lifestyle.”

No. He said, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. No one comes to the Father (or gets to Heaven) but through Me.”

The truth is that hell is real. As much as I would love to say it’s not, as much as the reality of it makes me uncomfortable, I can’t deny that Jesus belived it was real and spoke more about hell than heaven.

The truth is that the Bible is God’s Word and it is without error. It may not always say what I want it to say and I in my own human reasoning would have left some parts out. But thankfully, I didn’t have a say in what got into the Bible.

The truth is that God can save anyone at anytime anywhere who truly believes in Jesus. Not just their parents’s belief. Not just intellectual assent. But real faith that translates into a lifestyle of obedience and surrender. After all, as one pastor has said, “If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it.”

I didn’t make it up. I didn’t come to the truth because I was so very smart and wise. God revealed it to me.

To say that I know the truth isn’t arrogant; to say that no one can know the truth is. Has anyone spoken to every single person alive on the planet to know that none of them know the truth?

To know the truth means I am responsible to live it out. It means it will change everything about me. I can’t be glib about speaking the truth. I must speak it with great humility because apart from the grace of God, I woud never have found it.

I may get called a fundamentalist or a Bible-thumper or arrogant or narrow-minded. I may get defriended or unliked. But for me more important than being popular or liked is to be faithful to what I know to be true. I can’t do anything else.

By the way, the truth will still set you free.

The YEC: Coming Full Circle

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

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.