heaven

Whose Side Is God On, Really?

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

It’s funny how during an election year how people are suddenly all about God. Both Republicans and Democrats are conviced that God is absolutely 100% behind their cause and 100% against the other side.

Anne Lamott once said that you know you’ve created God in your own image when He hates all the same people you do. The same goes for when God only likes people who are like you and think like you.

I try not to get caught up in all that. All I get from trying to figure all that out is a headache. I do know for sure whose side God is on and who God is for. God is for me. God is for you. That’s God’s side.

If God is for you, who can be against you? So the apostle Paul asks. But in order for that to work, it means God is for you. He roots for you. He wants the absolute best for you.

No matter what your life looks like or how far you are from where you and everybody else thinks you should be, God is for you. No matter how many blown second chances and bad choices and broken promises you’ve made, God is for you.

God is 100% absolutely, undeniably, unmistakably, irrevocably for you. He is 100% guaranteed not to give up on you, walk out on you, quit on you, or love you even one iota less than His fullest capacity to love.

I know whose side I want to be on. I want to be on the side of God. I want to be on the side of Jesus. But even on those days when I am so wishy-washy and undependable that God is still on my side. Those are the days where it may look like failure, but God sees it as me becoming a little more like Jesus. I call that success.

God is for you. God is for me. That’s the best news ever.

Another Unoriginal Blog

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

“But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

That’s the good news. That’s the story you and I have to tell to the world. That’s not original to me, but I guess you knew that.

What is original is your own story. No one in history has ever or will ever live your life. The good, the bad, the goofy, the ugly, no matter what it looks like, it is all yours and only yours.

God has given you your story to tell. God has given me my own story to tell. I heard today that someone who will never step foot inside a church building or spend a red cent on buying a Bible is watching your life. You are their Bible, their Jesus, and what they see will inform what they think about God.

That’s what the word Christian means, after all. Little Christ. Not that we’re divine or anything close to that. But if we have surrendered to Jesus and invited Him to take over our lives, then His Holy Spirit is inside us, making us more like Jesus each day.

The beautiful part is that transformation looks different for each person. We each display a different facet of Christ’s character and when we come together in unity, love and fellowship, Jesus is magnified. That’s worship. Whether together or individually, everything we do can show the great worth of God’s glory.

We’re not always the best witnesses. I know for sure that I’m not. Thankfully, as I heard a pastor say, Jesus isn’t quick to judge, but He is quick to be patient and merciful and, best of all, to unconditionally love. He treats us so much better than we deserve and He invites us to treat others that way.

Remember that. You were a nobody and a reject, but now you’re somebody and you’re accepted. You were lost but now you’re found. You are a child and heir of the King of Kings have a new name– BELOVED. That itself changes everything.

Tell your story. Someone will hear it and find that this Jesus is as good or better than you say He is. It’s worth it for just that one person. I should know, because that person was me once.

Life and How to Live It (No Relation to the R.E.M. Song)

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

This past Wednesday, I went to Williamson Medical Center to see my newborn niece for the first time. Displaying my usual directional prowess, I barged into the wrong entrance, meandered aimlessly around for a bit, came back out, puttered around the building, and finally found the right entrance.

As I left the elevator, I almost ran into a lady who was obviously upset and weeping. As she entered the elevator, I heard sobs beginning. I’m sure she had just enough strength to get to her car before she completely fell apart.

I can only imagine the loss of a loved one could bring out such grief. To think I passed someone who had just said their final goodbyes when I was on my way to say my first hello to the newest member of the family.

Life is like that. So much joy and sorrow, laugher and mourning, sunshine and rain (I bet those of you who grew up in the 90’s immediately thought of the same song I’m thinking of now. Good luck getting that out of your head!) Very rarely is life as good as it could be or as bad. It’s usually somewhere in the middle.

I was reminded tonight that the story I’m in isn’t a “me-story,” but a “God-story.” I love the way someone put it tonight: I didn’t invite Jesus to be in my story, but Jesus did invite me to be a part of God’s story of redemption and restoration for the world.

God’s plan is still the best plan because He sees what we oftentimes can’t. He can get you through anything, no matter how dark or hopeless it seems. He is always, always for you. His love is still the most powerful element in the universe, more than any weapon or group or force that ever has been or ever will be.

My advice to you (but mostly to myself) is to live in the wonder of God’s story and never cease to be amazed at what He is doing in you, through you, and around you. Always keep your eyes open with the expectations of seeing God do amazing things.

I love this passage. I think it says what I’m trying to say a thousand times better:

“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!” (Romans 8:15-17)

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Welcome to the world, little Catherine Elizabeth Qualls. We’ve been waiting for your arrival and you showed up. In fact, you were so eager to make an appearance, you showed up early. That’s okay. We don’t mind in the least. We’re very glad to see you.

I remember holding you and thinking how small you were. How fragile and helpless, but strong and resiliant at the same time. You had my heart the first time I saw you. I’m so proud to be your uncle.

I’ve heard it said that people don’t have children because they don’t want to bring them into this cold, hard, cruel world. But who’s to say that those very children aren’t the ones who God will use to radically turn the world upside down? Who’s to say that they won’t be the ones to accept the world as it is, but try to bring a little of the Kingdom of Heaven to earth?

I don’t know what plans God has for you. I do know they are good. I know He loves you much more than your parents or relatives or any other human being possibly could. He already has your name, Catherine Elizabeth, tattoed on His heart and on His hands.

As you grow up, you will find life is full of the good, the bad, and the ugly. You will find sometimes you don’t always get what you want, but you get what you need. You will find you can’t be whatever you want to be, but you can be exactly who God made you to be. That’s my dream for you.

My dream is to see you become the fully alive woman of God who isn’t afraid to take her faith into the lions’ dens of the world and who is convinced of her beliefs, yet compassionate and tenderhearted toward the down and out.

I can’t wait to see you grown up and find the beauty God has for you. I know it will be so much more than worth the wait.

The Valley of Achor

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Just for the record, this entire blog was “borrowed” from Mike Glenn’s sermon tonight at Kairos. It was amazing, or as a friend of mine would put it, “stupid good.”

There’s a verse in Hosea that I’ve overlooked until now. It talks about God turning the Valley of Achor into a door of hope. I guess I never really thought much about it and never took the time to dig into the deeper meaning. Until tonight.

The Valley of Achor was after the battle of Jericho when Aikan and a couple of others took spoils from the battle in direct violation of God’s command to take nothing but destroy everything. Not Israel’s finest moment. The result was the earth opening up and swallowing them whole (I’ve wished for that to happen to me after a couple of embarrasing and awkward moments, but it never has).

The Valley of Achor can be your moment of shame. It’s that moment when you were like Esau and sold your birthright for a moment of pleasure. It’s that moment you’ve played in your head a million times, each time wishing you could take it back or choose a different path. It’s the worst moment of your life, the one that haunts you.

God’s promise is that He can take even that moment and bring hope out of it. As Mike Glenn said tonight, “God is so good He can take the worst moment of your life and make it the first sentence of your testimony.”

The Valley of Achor is where you stand up before the world and say (in the tradition of AA), “Hi, my name is _______ and I was a ____________. That was before Jesus found me. Now I am royalty, a son (or daughter) of the King. I am the Beloved with the signature of God imprinted on me.”

There’s no one too far gone for God to save. There’s nothing too bad that God can’t bring good out of and use for His glory. There’s no night too dark, no shame too deep, no hope too lost that the love of Jesus can’t transform into something beautiful and glorious. Even you. Even me.

Thank you, God, that your business is loving the unloveable until they are lovely again.

Who You Are

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

“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.

Electric Moments

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 3 Comments

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

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 3 Comments

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!

It’s Who You Know

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 3 Comments

I’ve always thought it would be awesome to hang out with a celebrity. Maybe have a deep conversation with Bono or have tea with C.S. Lewis (this is my fantasy, so I make the rules and I can talk to famous dead people if I want to).

Since I moved to Nashville, I have had a few celebrity sightings. Heck, I even held the door open for Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman when they were walking out of Borders one time. She even said, “Thank you.” I think I spent the next 30 minutes walking around in a daze.

That’s good and all, but how about this? Who could I possibly meet or know that could ever be more important than the King of the Universe? Who could I ever talk to that would be higher up than the Creator of everything?

The beautiful part of the story is not that I know Him, but that He knows me. He knows my name. He knows absolutely everything I’ve ever done, good and bad. He knows the secret thoughts I keep that no one else knows about. He knows how many hairs are on my head.

Better still, He wants me. He wants me to talk with Him and to tell Him everything. He looked down and saw scrawny little me, destined to be the last one picked for kickball, and chose me. Not because He had to, but because He wanted to. He wanted me.

He loves me. He’s in love with me. He’s crazy for me. This God who has everything gave up everything to win my heart. The Great Romance of the ages is how God Almighty has wooed and won my affections.

He wants you, too. He sees you in your brokenness and bad choices and bitter thoughts and wants you. He knows those things you’ve done that you would give anything to undo and He wants you. He sees into the deepest, darkest part of your heart where you keep your secrets and lies and He wants you.

Christianity is not about avoiding bad sins. It’s not about not drinking or cussing or sleeping around. It’s not even about being moral and having godly habits. Christianity is simply that when you and I could not get to God, God came to us. Not to condemn us, but to change us by the most powerful element in the universe– love. It’s that God wants us to know Him.

The next time you’re tempted to fantasize about meeting celebrities, remember this. You can know the Greatest Person who ever lived. His name is Jesus and He loves you. Yes, as I’ve said many times before, your Abba is indeed very, very fond of you.

A Prayer from a Grateful Heart

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“We’ll never again say ‘our god’ to something we’ve made or made up. You’re our last hope. Is it not true that in you the orphan finds mercy?” (Hosea 14:3)

God, in You the orphan finds mercy.

In You, the widow finds comfort and Your everlasting arms around them.

In You, the outcast find a Home where they belong.

In You, the broken find healing.

In You, the unloved and unloveable find themselves overwhelmed by a Love that won’t quit or let go.

In You, the failures find clean slates, second chances, and new mercies every morning.

In You, the lost find their way and the blind see and the deaf hear.

In You, salvation has come and His name is Jesus.

I thank You because I was once one of those outcasts whom you now call son.

I was a nobody who You now call Yours.

I was unloved and unloveable but You now call be Beloved.

I was broken beyond repair but You now say I am beautiful.

I once was lost, but now I’m found.

Thank You.