I have to confess something. I’ve always been envious of popular people. You know, those people who can talk to anyone at anytime about anything with perfect ease. The ones people seek out to talk to in a crowd.

I myself have never been popular. I was always the one at a party standing off in a corner looking awkward. I was the one hardly anyone talked to, and if they talked to me, the conversation ususally lasted until someone higher up in the social pecking order came along.

I’m not bashing popular people. What I am saying is that as Christians, shoudn’t we stand out rather than fit in? I am beginnning to understand that what really matters in life is not how many friends you have or who you know, but how well you love, especially when it comes to loving the unloveable and giving to those who can’t give back.

Jesus hung out with outcasts, whores, lepers, tax collectors and sinners. What society would call losers. If I claim to be a follower, shoudn’t I be seeking out the same crowd? I really don’t have answers this time. Just questions.

I’m actually okay with not being popular. I don’t have to be the life of the party. I just want to be faithful to Jesus, follow Him wherever He leads, and to be Jesus to every person I meet. Ususally, in this culture, if you take what Jesus said seriously and actually try to live it out, you will most likely not be popular.

I have a lot of unlearning to do. I have sought to curry favor with the in-crowd for so long that I have to learn to rethink in a new way. I have to put on the mind of Christ to be like Christ. It’s not easy, but following Jesus never is (and anyone who says differently is either lying or selling something).

So what’s it going to be? Popularity or faithfulness? But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

As you might remember, there was a fad a few years back with bracelets imprinted with WWJD– What Would Jesus Do? It seemed like just about everyone who called themselves a Christian had at least one (I had two!) It became another fashion accesory. In some ways, it was only that. I don’t mean to say that nothing good came out of it. I’m sure some did.

I now think that’s the wrong question to ask. It’s not “What would Jesus do?” but “What did Jesus do?”. Even better than that, “What does Jesus want to do through me?” I think that Jesus is calling us to reach out to the hopeless and hurting and broken and lonely and show them the love He showed us. He wants us as we go, wherever we go, to make disciples of all the people groups in every nation.

The criteria that Jesus uses to separate the sheep from the goats is how they treated Him in the guise of the poor and needy, the orphan and the widow. The least of these.

“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:37-40).

What we did or did not do for the least of these is what we did or did not do to Jesus. That’s a sobering thought. I know I’m probably not prepared to face that assessment. I do really well for people who are just like me, who like me back. But loving the unloveable? Giving to those who can’t give back? Not so good.

The question of the night probably won’t fit on a braclet, but it’s this: : “In light of all that Jesus has done for you, what are you prepared to do for Him?” Anything less that all than I can do, all that I have, and all that I am is not enough.

I like this quote from former President Jimmy Carter. “My faith demands– this is not optional– my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”

As always, I believe. Help my unbelief.

Here’s a thought I had on Halloween. Yes, I am calling it Halloween and not Harvest Day. But that’s not really the point. Neither is the candy, but it really comes in a close second. Especially chocolate.

The point is this. There are Christians who are bashing Halloween and the people who celebrate it. How about instead of saying how horrible and wrong and evil Halloween is, we give people a good alternative instead. We show them a better way. A lot of churches are doing this and it really is a great opportunity to love people and point them to the truth.

Christianity in this culture has come to be synonymous with boycotting and condeming and bashing whatever we don’t agree with. We’re known for what we’re against. Here’s a no-brainer. How about showing the world what we’re for? Isn’t that way better than what we’re against?

I mean none of the things we’re against will last, but what we’re for (and that’s Jesus and the Kingdom of God and the love that showed itself on Calvary) is what is everlasting. I haven’t come close to figuring it all out, but I think I’m siding with Jesus on this one. How did he act? He loved people, especially if they were the outcast and downtrodden. He dined with sinners and whores and even those tax-collectors. He didn’t bash them, but loved them and showed them a better way. Actually, He showed them that He is The way.

If we’re going to be extremist and radical, why not show extreme grace and radical love. Not by condoning sin and sinners, but by hating the sin for what it does to people and loving the sinner. After all, love covers over a multitude of sins.

I’m not sure how this works in everyday life, but I do know that you don’t fight hate with hate. You fight hate with love. Hopefully, you can see God turn your enemies into friends and lost people into saved people and sinners into sons and daughters of God. Love does that, not hate.

So go grab some of that candy. While your eating your Mr. Goobar, remember that God told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. He told us to expose darkness, but we do that not by cursing the darkness, but being lights in that darkness.

So go out there and shine!

This is too good not to share.

God, thank You for being You. Thank You that You are in charge and I am not. Thank you for having every single molecule in the universe under Your control and every single moment under your Lordship. You are better than any words that I could possibly come up with to praise You.

Forgive me for hating on judgmental people when I can be very legalistic and pharasee-like (pharasaical? pharaseeistic? You know what I mean). Forgive me for condemning the spirit of greed in this generation while being envious of their possessions at the same time. Forgive me for reading books and always thinking that this person or that person really should read this part, when all along You meant it for me.

I am weak, but You are strong. So many times, I will listen to every other voice before I listen to Yours. I will go through stretches of my life where I barely give You a thought at all. Anything and everything in my life takes priority over You. But you love me still.

I have an amazing capacity to justify my own behavior and to elevate myself over others. Yet you gently remind me that I am still a work in progress and that while You love me, I stand at the cross on level ground with all Your children.

Bless You that tomorrow is a new day full of new mercies that never fail. Bless You that You have declared me sinless and righteous and one day You will make me just that. I am nothing, have nothing, and can give nothing but what You’ve given me.

Take my life as an offering and use it wherever, whenever, and however You want. All I have is Yours. All I am is Yours.

Thank You. Thank You! THANK YOU!

Amen.

I like grace. I mean I really, really like grace. I like the idea of it. I especially like being the recipient of it from other people and from God. I love it when I am able to see past my own pettiness and show grace to others as well, though it’s not as often as I would like.

My favorite definition of grace is this: “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.” It has been definited as “God’s unmerited favor.” I have also heard that grace is getting what you don’t deserve, while mercy is not getting what you do deserve.

Brennan Manning writes, “My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.” He also states, “To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God’s grace means.”

I think he is better than just about anybody outside the Bible at really grasping and defining and explaining grace. I know that there are consequences to my sin, but to think that grace covers the penalty and the punishment from God is sometimes overwhelming. Why should I be given grace? I can’t think of one good reason.

I do think we are given grace to show it to others. We can say, “This is what God is really like. He’s not out to get you. If He really wanted, He could strike every single human on the planet dead with a single thought. He woudn’t even have to say a word. He would be totally justified, because we are all sinners with desparately wicked hearts who fall short on a daily basis. But He doesn’t, and that’s grace.”

Honestly, most Christians suck at showing grace. We can give you a law and point to a verse that backs it up (whether that verse is used in its historical and cultural context is beside the point). If you don’t measure up, we are good at labelling you and condemning you and turning our backs on you. Not many people are really good at demonstrating the grace of God.

Lord, make me an instrument of your grace. You have shown grace to me too many times to count, starting at the moment of my birth to the point where You made me alive in salvation to even just this moment. Help me to love the unlovely and to be patient with those everyone else has given up on and to reach out to the lonely and the outcast in their plight. Help me to see Jesus in the face of the orphan and the widow, the poor and the leper. Help them to see Jesus in me as I reach out in compassion with a cup of cold water and my testimony of Your faithfulness.

Left to myself, I am cold and callous and unloving. Only You can love them through me. So thank you for your grace by which I stand and take the next breath.

As always, I believe. Help my unbelief.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Daniel (as in that guy from the book named after him). The first half of that book is really exciting and suspenseful and the second half is just weird (but totally inspired and without error and useful for teaching, etc.).

What is the main takeaway from looking at the life of Daniel? I think in one word it would be faithfulness.

Daniel was faithful to God when it would have been a whole lot easier not to. I’m sure a lot of his fellow Jews who were brought to Babylon ended up compromising with the culture and blending in. Maybe at first they were trying to be relevant to their society, but they ended up bowing down to idols just like the Babylonians.

Daniel’s faithfulness did more to impress the Babylonians than trying to fit in ever could. Daniel faced Jerusalem and prayed three times a day, regardless of whether it brought him acclaim or a trip to the lion’s den. He endured the unjust treatment of a pagan culture and let God be his judge.

By the point Daniel got to the lion’s den, he was probably in his 80’s (which is not to be confused with being from the 80’s, but that is a whole other blog waiting to be written). He had won the respect of three different kings and lived a life that commanded respect. That’s what real faithfulness and obedience will do. Yet, sometimes you have to go against the higher authorities when they conflict with your beliefs and values. He did. Not only that, he was willing to suffer the resulting punishment for his civil disobedience.

He emerged from the lion’s den unscathed because, in his own words, he was blameless before God and innocent before the king. That’s not to say he was sinless or perfect, but in this one case, he was truly without blame. It’s also interesting to point out that he didn’t see God come through until after he had been thrown to the lions.

What’s important to remember is that Daniel didn’t get to that point overnight. He cultivated a habit of obedience over a lifetime of praying three times a day and being immersed in Scriptures. He was faithful in a multitude of small ways over a long period of time before God saw that he was fit to handle something bigger.

So what? If you and I commit to knowing and loving the heart of God through prayer, Scripture and obedience, God will honor that. God seeks after hearts that are fully turned to Him. It starts with being surrendered and available for God to use in any way He sees fit.

God, I desparately want that. I want to be faithful to you in a thousand different small ways and follow You wherever You lead. Take me and use me to further Your own kingdom and glory, no matter what it costs me.

As always, I believe. Help my unbelief.

I’m still thinking about what Bill Wellons said Sunday at Fellowship Bible Church. He said that discipleship is not about having to spend time with God, but getting to spend time with God. Growing and maturing in the faith shouldn’t be things we have to do, but things we get to do.

If you’re in a religion with checklists and rules, then it’s all about what you have to do. When you’re in a relationship with the risen Christ, it becomes all about all about passion and “getting to” instead of “having to”. If I find myself feeling like I have to pray or read my Bible, that means it’s time for a gut check. Ususally, such introspection leads to the revelation that I’ve lost my first love and made it into following laws instead.

The world needs to see us not following another religion with rules and regulations and somber faces, but they need to see us as people who have fallen in love with Jesus and would give anything to follow Him wherever He leads. They don’t need to see good morals or fine ethics or a list of what not to do, but they need to see us in love with God and us being loved by God.

We as humans have an amazing capacity for self-justification. We can find reasons (more like excuses) for why what’s wrong for others is right for us to do (or say or think). If we have to spend so much time and energy justifying what we do, maybe we should simply not do it. Or maybe we could get so caught up in the privilege of following Jesus that these things we feel we need to justify won’t even matter.

As trite as it sound, love is the answer. That is, Christ’s love expressed on the Cross and poured out into our hearts, is the only solution to every problem in the world. And we get to be a part of spreading that love. We get to be His hands and feet. We get to be vessels through which God’s transforming power can radically change the world around us. It’s not a duty, but a delight. Or as John Piper might say, delight is our duty.

As always, I believe. Help my unbelief.

As a fellow ragamuffin on the road whose trying to figure out this whole life thing, I give you permission to be imperfect. To be broken and scarred.

You can be yourself and not be ashamed. You don’t always have to be at your absolute best all the time. You don’t have to put up a wall everytime you go through seasons of discouragement and disillusionment. You can take the mask off. You can be you.

I give you permission to make mistakes, to admit that you’ve veered off the straight and narrow path and lost your way. You don’t have to have every single thing figured and planned and mapped out. You can own up to being weak and feeling like a nobody and feeling alone and insignificant. You don’t always have to be strong and have everything in your life together.

I give you permission to not be religious and super-spiritual. You can be free to say that sometimes during prayer, the words won’t come and all you can do is lie in a fetal position in the arms of Jesus and let Him sing over you.

I can give you permission, not because I’ve finally had my great and monumental breakthrough and am now super-duper saint with a halo. I am one who has been there many times. Sometimes I’ve been able to be transparent and confide in others. Sometimes I’ve put on my best Sunday smile and worn the one-size-fits-all mask.

It’s okay to be a doofus and a nerd and to not fit in. It’s okay to be an outsider, because Jesus and his disciples were really and truly outsiders in terms of the culture and religion of their day.

It’s okay because God delights in you just as you are. He loves you too much to leave you in your filth and shame, but He still loves you even when you’re wallowing in it. God loves you right now where you are.

Let God’s love fill you and change you. Be who God made you to be. Never be ashamed of what God is doing in your life. Let every moment of your waking life be filled with the thought, “My Abba is very fond of me!”

As always, I believe. Help my unbelief.