religion

Words of Advice to Myself

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On the WAY-fm morning show, they were talking about something that caught my attention. The question came up: What would you say to your 16-year old self and what advice would you give? I immediately had some answers.

First, I would tell my younger self this. The next time you decide to go strutting around the mall thinking you’re all that and a bag of Doritos, remember to check your fly first. Because walking around with your fly wide open tend to lose you cool points. And no, the earth won’t open up and swallow you just because you really want it to.

Second, have better taste in music. I mean Wham, really? What were you thinking?

Most of all, I would say to myself, “You are ok. You are going to be just fine even though sometimes that seems impossible. You are good enough just the way God made you and you don’t have to pretend to be anybody else or be ashamed of yourself.

“Learn to laugh at yourself and take yourself less seriously. Take what others think and say of you with a grain of salt, but don’t believe everything. Know that you don’t have to always be so worried about what others think of you, because they are wondering what you think of them. They are scared, too.

The best thing I could tell you would be to love yourself as God loves you. He sees you and doesn’t see awkward, shy, and sometimes klutzy guy, but He sees someone worth dying for. He sees someone He would rather die for than live without. He looks at you with undying love. He’s very fond of you and wants you just as you are, right where you are, right now.”

Oh, and those parachute pants? Not a good idea.

 

An Apology From An American Christian

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I am an American and I am a Christian. That being said I have a few apologies to offer on behalf of me and all my fellow believers.

I’m sorry that we’ve shown you more anger and hate than love. I’m sorry that all you ever see from us is what we’re against and what groups we hate more than what we are for and who we love.

I’m sorry that we’ve complicated something that is really very simple. God loves you and wants you to know Him through Jesus.

I’m sorry that we’ve put barriers between you and Jesus, telling you that you need to get your life strightened up or get rid of your sins or start living right before you can come to Jesus. The truth is that you can come just as you are, no matter how messed up or broken or lost you are.

I’m sorry that we’ve turned God into a political platform and a means of getting our people into office and getting our laws passed. God is beyond Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, and is more concerned with the “the weak, the vulnerable, the useless” and the least of these than those with deep pockets and political connections. God loves and blesses those who know they have nothing to offer in return.

I’m sorry that I didn’t go out of my way every day to show you Jesus and just how amazing He is and how He changed my life. I was afraid and ashamed and silent.

I’m not sorry that we profess that Jesus is the way, the only way, to heaven. I will proclaim that every other religion is about getting to God, but Christianity is how God came down to us in Jesus.

I believe that God loves and uses imperfect people. He pours out His love through broken vessels. Ultimately, it’s not about me showing you how strong I am or how great my faith is, but being a living example of how God’s strength is made perfect in my weakness and how He can move mountains with my mustard seed-sized faith.

God, we need you every day. We are hopelessly lost without you. Only You can make our lives shine and turn our brokenness into beauty. God be God in us.

A Prayer from a Grateful Heart

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“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.

A Prayer on a Good Day

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God, I had a good day today. Thank you. I found myself tuning in to Your voice more and in to my fears less.

Even on days like today, I realize that I need You just as much on the good days when everything goes right as on the bad days when it feels like I’m falling apart. I need You every waking moment, especially in those moments when I feel like I’ve got it under control and I can handle everything.

I read that self-discipline doesn’t lead to a continous prayer life nearly as much as realizing that I am poor in Spirit. I have nothing without you. I am helpless without You.

I know without You, my life will turn into a first-class fiasco.

Help me to remember that You are so much bigger than my little world. The truth is that You have invited me to be a part of something that is way bigger than me. Your plan involves people from every part of the world calling on the name of Jesus.

I am absolutely desparate for You. Fill every part of me with every part of You and use me however You will. Show me where You are working and help me to be the hands and feet of Jesus there.

Most of all, show me again how to come to You as a child, holding back nothing but bringing my messes to you. Remind me to come just as I am and not worry so much about cleaning myself up or polishing up my vocabulary or choosing what I think You want to hear.

On the days when I still listen to my fears, remind me that You have already conquered them. Help me to hear Your still small voice whispering my name. Remind me again that I am Your Beloved.

Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner.

A Letter from Jesus Christ

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This was written by a sixteenth-century Catholic monk named John of Landsburg. This spoke volumes to me today when I read it in A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller.

“I know those moods when you sit there utterly alone, eaten up with unhappiness, in a pure state of grief. You don’t move towards me but desperately imagine that everything you have ever done has been utterly lost or forgotten.  This near despair and self-pity are actually a form of pride. What you think was a state of absolute security from which you’ve fallen was really trusting too much in your own strength and ability. Profound depression and perplexity of mind often follow on a loss of hope, when what really ails you is that things simply haven’t happened as you expected or wanted.

“In fact, I don’t want you to rely on your own strength and abilities and plans, but to distrust them and to distrust yourself and to trust me and no one and nothing else. As long as you rely on yourself you are bound to come to grief.  You still have a most important lesson to learn; your own strength will no more help you to stand upright than propping yourself on a broken reed. You must not despair of me. You may hope and trust in me absolutely. My mercy is infinite….”

If I could add anything, it would be that the economy of faith, weakness and dependence are good things. Utter helplessness leads to desparate prayers which God hears. As long as we’re self-sufficient, we will never really and truly pray. Only when we come to the end of ourselves do we reach out.

I’m learning it’s okay to be weak and dependent and helpless because that’s where I find that God is my strength and my source and my ever-present help. And for the record, all of this is from A Praying Life, which you should go buy and read now.

 

Ten Years Ago Today

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It’s been ten years ago today. Really? Ten years? I can hardly believe it’s been that long.

Ten years ago my boss called me into his office where the television showed the first images of the first building being hit by the plane. No one knew what was happening and it all seemed so surreal.

Ten years ago I remember being shellshocked at something like this acutally happening on American soil and so many people losing their lives.

Ten years ago, everything changed and we knew even then things would never ever be the same.

Ten years ago, we found something to unite us all as Americans.

Ten years ago, those of us with eyes to see caught a glimpse of the vulnerability and temporal nature of earthly kingdoms. No kingdom of this world lasts forever.

Ten years ago, God was still on His throne and still in control. Ten years later, He still is.

Ten years ago, the final page in God’s own Book had been written and it hasn’t changed since then.

One day, whether it be tomorrow or ten days or ten years or ten thousand years, this world will end.

One day, Jesus will come back.

One day, everything wrong will be put back right and everything we’ve lost will be restored. One day, the good and pure and just will triumph for good.

Remember this. No terrorist or weapon or army or anything else in this world can separate us from the love of God. Not even death can keep God’s love from us.

That was true ten years ago and that’s still true today and that will be true ten years from now. And forever.

God’s Family Tree

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Every family has at least one person who has a checkered past. Every family has that one person whose name, when brought up in coversation, immediately reduces everyone to whsipers and furtive looks. The one everyone talks about and shakes their head and says things like, “Bless their heart.”

I bet you never thought about the fact that God has a family tree, too. He does. And His family tree has a few names that would cause some people to blush. He has a liar, a cheat, a whore, and a despised foreigner among the list.

The liar is Abraham, who twice lied about Sarah being his sister rather than his wife to save his own skin.

The cheat is Jacob who tricked his brother Esau into selling his birthright for a cup of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup.

The whore is Rahab whose redeeming act was to hide the Israelite spies and cast her lot with God’s people over her own people.

The despised foreigner is Ruth, one of the Moabites that were on Israel’s bad side ever since they didn’t let God’s people pass through their land when Israel was in the wilderness.

All these people had a part in bringing about the arrival of the Messiah. What to the world were a bunch of rejects and outcasts became a part of God’s story.

We too get to be  a part of the story God is telling. We are invited to be His children. We are the living love letters that God writes to the world to show just how strong He is to rescue and save anyone. We are the ones whose transformed lives are the best advertisement for how God’s love conquers all.

Remember that the next time your own story doesn’t seem to be going well. Your story is about more than just you. You get to be a part of something so much bigger and better than you.

And besides, I happen to have read the last page on the story and [SPOILER ALERT] WE WIN!!!

 

Help Wanted

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Help wanted: people to be My Church and My witnesses to the uttermost ends of the earth.

Good looks and popularity are not necessary. People skills are optional. Talent and charisma and charm are also optional.

Looking for authentic, broken people who want Me more than anything and want My kingdom more than any political or personal agenda. Seeking those who hurt with the lost, weep with those who mourn, and reach out to the castaways.

Must be willing to sell everything and give it to the poor. Must be willing to love me so much that your love for father and mother seems like hate in comparison. Must be willing to drink My blood and eat My flesh.

Most of all, seeking those whose heart breaks for what breaks Mine. Looking for those who are surrendered and available for Me to use whenever and however I choose.

Must take up the cross and follow Me.

Must seek to worship Me in spirit and in truth.

Will take anyone who will simply say YES to me and what I did for them on the cross. Will take anyone who puts faith in me as Lord and Savior.

Wanted: people who will be vessels of my extravagant love, to be filled to overflowing so that it spills out onto everyone they meet. Need people who will realize that my love can change and transform anyone and overcome anything.

Wanted: you.

— Jesus

The Help: What’s So Evil About the Status Quo

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I saw the movie The Help today and was reminded about how not so long ago it was socially acceptable to treat certain people differently because of their skin color. I’m sure there were many back then who were opposed to such discrimination, but went along with it any way rather than buck the system.

I was also reminded that saying that all evil needs is for good men (or women) to do nothing. I also was reminded that it really only takes one person to make a difference. Just one.

Sure, times have changed. Yet in some ways, they really haven’t. Maybe it’s not discrimination. Maybe it’s more like sacrificing family for career. Or maybe it’s playing religion instead of really following Jesus. Every generation has a choice, I think, to be a part of the status quo or to speak out.

I think from what I understand of the Bible that God is for those who are outside the status quo. His heart is for the outsider and the outcast. He is for the rejects and the nobodies. He chose the nothings of the world to shame the A-listers of the world.

I love the way Bono of U2 put it. He said, “”God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them”

So the question remains: will you choose to remain silent and stick with the status quo or will you speak up and stand up for the defensless and the hopeless and the outcast?

I can look in my mirror and see one of the guily party looking back. I haven’t spoken up. I have been silent for far too long.

Lord, give us courage to speak for those who have no voice and to defend those who can’t defend themselves. Give us Your heart for the outcast and the broken. Especially me.

 

 

Name

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The sermon today at Fellowship Bible Church made me think of an old Goo Goo Dolls song, Name. Normally, sermons and the Goo Goo Dolls don’t go together, but for me they did.

The verses from Luke 8:40-56 centered around a man named Jairus whose daughter was very sick and a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. The pastor pointed out that the woman didn’t have a name. She was simply known for her ailment.

She was ceremonially unclean. That meant she could never worship in the temple. That meant anyone she touched would also be unclean. She was alone, unwanted, and untouchable. She was an outcast.

But she was also desparate. She wouldn’t let anything stop her from getting to this Jesus that she had heard could make blind men see and lame men walk and dead men live. Nothing mattered more to her than getting to Jesus. That’s real faith.

As for the fact that she had no name, Scriptures tell us that she did after she met Jesus. We may not know the name she was given at birth, but we know the name Jesus gave her. “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”

Daughter. No longer outcast. No longer unwanted. No longer unclean.

Jesus purposely chose the outcasts and nobodies of the day to be His followers and ambassadors and He still does today. He chooses the ones with the sordid past. He picks the ones with a history. He woos the ones that no one else wants to touch. He chooses you and me.

Not only that, but He gives us a new name. No longer are you Screw-up or Failure or Trash or Hopeless. You are Son. You are Daughter. You are known now for Who you belong to and Who loves you more than anyone else could ever love you.

Maybe the next time you hear that Goo Goo Dolls song, you will hear it differently. The next time you hear the names people call you, you will remember the one and only name that matters. The one God calls you that trumps every other name.

BELOVED.