religion

For All the Phonies in the World

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Let me ask you something. Just between you and me (and the world wide web). Do you ever feel like a phony?

Do you ever hear yourself giving Sunday School answers to real life questions? Do you ever feel that you’re praying what you think God wants to hear instead of what’s really in your heart? Do you ever lie awake at night wondering what would happen if the people around you knew what you were really thinking? What you were really like?

There’s good news that sounds like bad news at first. God knows. God knows it all. He knows all the faux-prayers and the religious jargon you talk sometimes. He knows what you do and what you think when no one’s watching. That seems like bad news until you get to the clincher. He loves you anyway.

He loves you at your phoniest. He loves you at your meanest. He loves you at your darkest moments in the middle of the night. He looks at you and doesn’t see phony. He looks at you and sees Jesus and what Jesus did in your place. He sees the perfect life Jesus lived instead of your own very imperfect existence.

Best of all, God sees you for who you will be instead of who you are. He sees what He designed you to be. He promised to not stop working on you until you’re 100% real and complete.

In the meantime, it’s okay to be real and honest and admit you have made a mess of your life. It’s okay to confess you don’t have all the answers, or even all the questions. It’s really not about how much you know or how well you act but how much you are loved.

I raise my glass and toast to all the phonies who are stepping forward to take off the mask and be honest about themselves. I drink to all the pretenders who just got real. I salute all of you who are letting down the walls on what God is doing in your life so others can see grace at work and how love can transform a person. That’s where the freedom is. That’s where I want to be. I hope you do, too.

Things That Make Me Happy

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

I have this key chain piggie that I carry with me sometimes. It doesn’t look quite like the one pictured about, but the effect is the same. You press a small button on piggie’s head and light comes out his snout. Or her snout. It could go either way on this little piggie.

Things like that amuse me. I am easily pleased with little gadgets, especially if they light up. Bonus points if they fit in your pocket and look like little animals. I get joy from the weirdest places sometimes.

Like today at work. It was not going well. I was having a Monday kind of day on a Thursday. I was not having a happy moment. But I prayed and said, “Lord, I give you my frustration and anger and I pray You fill me with Your peace.” Just a simple prayer thrown out in the moment.

Next thing I know, I am at peace. I’m content. I even have joy for no other good reason than God is good. Plus I have my little key chain piggie sitting on my desk as a reminder that I have provision if all the lights in the building suddenly go out. I am prepared.

I’ve learned not to predict or anticipate those little moments of joy. I just know that I get them when I least expect them, when I need them most. When I would usually be stressed or depressed. They are a reminder that God is not just in control of the cosmic universal happenings, but also the tiny insignificant things, like me having a bad day.

Thank you, God for little key chain piggies and for random moments of joy. I’ll take them both, anytime.

 

My Political Blog

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 3 Comments

“All religious and political systems, Right and Left alike, are the work of human beings.  Abba’s children will not sell their birthright for any mess of pottage, conservative or liberal.  They hold fast to their freedom in Christ to live the gospel-uncontaminated by cultural junk, political wreckage, and the complex hypocrisies of a bullying religion” (Brennan Manning)

I get so sick and tired of political parties. I’m tired of the Republicans blaming everything on the Democrats and the Democrats blaming everything on the Republicans. Both have very strong notions about what’s wrong and who’s to blame, but neither side seems to have any answers. Neither side seems to be able to fix what’s wrong.

I’ve decided to form my own political party. I’m calling it the hot chocolate party, or the hot cocoa party. I haven’t decided for sure. All I know is that chocolate will be involved. Lots of it.

Whatever I call my party, I know my hope is not in politics. I as a ragamuffin refuse to sell my birthright as a child of God and citizen of a heavenly kingdom for man-made political systems. I refuse to buy the idea that I need to take back my country. This is not my country. My country is a “far country,” not of this world, just as Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world.

Maybe I’ll go with the Marshmellow party, ’cause marshmellows go with hot chocolate the way eggs go with bacon. Kind of a package deal. Plus, you can eat them solo or throw them at people.

I don’t know. I think the idea of a Marshmellow party makes as much sense to me as any other political party I’ve seen so far. I think I’ll just go read a good book. Thanks and good night!

 


 

Little by Little

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

Sometimes, it seems that the grief will never go away. It seems that anger is always right underneath the surface. It seems like jealousy and bitterness and envy are still second nature, and forgiveness, grace, and mercy seem so unreachable. Love is next to impossible sometimes.

But little by little you keep taking the grief and the anger to Jesus. You keep confessing the jealousy and bitterness and repenting of the envy. You pray every day for Jesus to take away these things and fill the vacated space with His love. For a while, nothing seems to happen.

But just as you see the first hints of the sun coming up in the morning, so you finally see hints of change.

A little less sadness and a little more joy.

A little less anger and a little more love.

A little less jealousy and a little more compassion.

A little less bitterness and a little more surrender and acceptance.

A little less envy and a little more thankfulness.

That’s how it  works, I think. When Jesus said we could move mountains with a little bit of faith, sometimes I think those mountains come down a little bit of dirt and a little bit of rock at a time. Sometimes, the mountain is gone in an instant, but sometimes it takes years of praying, surrendering, and struggling.

I heard someone say that comparison is the thief of joy. You can always find someone to feel superior to and someone who seems way above you. If you have to make comparisons at all, I suggest comparing yourself now with who you used to be. And maybe with who you are becoming.

I don’t claim to have the final and definitive answers to all this, but I know that God said He would finish what He started and He hasn’t lied yet. His promise is as good as done. Believe it.

God, If You Loved Me . . .

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I think you’ve had prayers that started with “God, if you loved me . . .” I have. I’ve probably prayed variations of that prayer at least a thousand times. Maybe you’ve prayed something like this.

“God, if you loved me, you would have given me a spouse, or at least given me hope for one.”

“God, if you loved me, you would have saved my marriage and kept me from all this pain.”

“God, if you loved me, you could have saved my child and he would still be alive today.”

“God, if you loved me, you could have provided for me and my family to stay in our home and not have to go through the embarrassment of bankrupcy.”

There are probably hundreds of other prayers you and I could think of. Essentially, we pray, “God, if you loved me, you would have come through and not left me alone in this.”

I think maybe if we were silent and still long enough, we might hear this response.

“My child, I do love you. Haven’t you seen countless examples of my blessings and observed times too many to count of my intervention? I do love you.

I love you too much to let you settle for lesser dreams and be satisfied with you-sized goals. I want so much more for you.

I love you too much to let the things in your life possess you instead of you possessing them. I want to teach you how to hold things and people with open hands, because closed hands can’t receive what I have to give you.

You may not always understand my ways. If you did, that would put you above me. But as far as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than yours.

If you are troubled by what you seem to see of my actions, know that my character is good. Know that I am with you and beside you and in you and for you. Know that my love cannot do anything less than what’s best for you.

Above all, look to the cross where I gave Jesus for you. Jesus was me in your human form, living your life, sharing your sorrows, fulfillling all my requirements, and taking your place in death. You who deserved death get to live and my Son, who had done nothing wrong, died.

Remember that this is a broken world. Remember also that one day I will set all things right. I will restore to you what you have lost a thousand times over. My love for you will triumph against everything that stands against it.

My child, I do love you. Never forget that. I am your Abba and I am very fond of you.”

-God

What Kind of Christian Are You?

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 8 Comments

I heard a pastor say that a lot of us are waiting for God to bring His judgment. We have certain people or groups in mind. God owes them what’s coming to them and they should get no mercy, but get the hell they deserve. Yet somehow, a lot of us think that God is obligated to show us mercy.

It could be “those homosexuals” or “those liberals” or “those pacifists” or whatever other group you’re not in. It could be those who struggle with sins that don’t affect us. Our sins are forgiveable, but theirs are not. Or so we think.

But really, who are good Christians and who are bad Christians? And do such distinctions even exist?

I say not. There are no good or bad Christians. There are only lost people who have been found, dead people who are now alive, sinners who deserved condemnation but found grace and mercy. We are all, as one of my favorite writers put it, beggers trying to tell other beggars where to find bread.

In other words, there is no one good enough to earn God’s love. No one who has anything of their own they can bring to God. There is no one that’s too bad to be saved. No one who God has shut off from any possibility of redemption or grace.

I’ve had to change my thinking a lot about “those” people. I may not struggle with the “big” sins, but my sins would have earned me just as much of death and hell as anyone who has ever lived. I needed grace and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus as much as any of “those” people.

A famous newspaper once submitted a question to many leading figures of the day. The question was “What’s wrong with the world today?” A famous writer, G.K. Chesterton had the shortest (and best, I think) reply of them all. He simply replied, “I am.”

One day God will judge the world. Some people will get what they deserve. But the only reason I won’t is because of Zephaniah 1:7. “Quiet now! Reverent silence before me, God, the Master! Time’s up. My Judgment Day is near: The Holy Day is all set, the invited guests made holy.”

In other words, those guests invited to the Kingdom of God aren’t the ones who have the most to offer God or who have the most sterling resumes. They are the ones God has made holy. Because we had no gift to bring, God sent His own Son. Because we had no sacrifice, God Himself became the sacrifice so we could get in.

So instead of choosing who God should judge, maybe we should be thankful and grateful that we’re no longer the ones who will be condemned. Maybe we should love “those” people as much as God loved us and show them as much grace as He showed us. Maybe, just maybe, we could be the the ones to show them how good and great God really is.

The Courtroom of Your Life

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I heard a pastor talk about how he has a courtroom in his head, especially after royally screwing up one too many times. He said he used to feel like he was being accused and felt like he had no one to defend him. But someone pointed out to him that he does.

Who is the one who accuses? Is it Jesus? Is it you? According to the Bible, the name Satan means “accuser.” He is the one who accuses the brethren, who brings up charges against you, sometimes true, sometimes not. As he accused Job before God, he now accuses you.

But the best part of this courtroom drama is that you have an advocate. You have One who sits at the right hand of the Father and makes intercession for you. The God-man, Jesus, looks at the charges brought against you and looks at the Judge and looks at you and says, “This one’s mine. I died for him (or her). I paid for what this person has done wrong.”

Don’t ever confuse your accuser. It’s only Satan who accuses and it’s only Jesus who defends and speaks for you. He more than anyone else– even you– knows everything you’ve done, all the lies you’ve spoken, all the temptations you’ve succumbed to, all the promises you’ve broken, all the ways you’ve hurt yourself, others, and God. If anyone had a right to condemn you, it would be Jesus.

Yet Jesus has no condemnation in His eyes toward you. He speaks for you. He is for you. He loves you with a wild, untamed, crazy love that won’t ever stop transforming you until you are all that God made you to be. A love that won’t let you go.

When my own heart condemns me, God is greater than that. His mercy and grace trump any self-accusation or self-incrimination. His word to you tonight is this: “Child, I am your Abba, and I am very fond of you. Live in that and believe that and live out of that.

Hear these words: “With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2, The Message).

No more condemnation. Ever. Only love.

My Idea of Heaven

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

Imagine you’re walking down a lonely country road. The sun is dissolving into the east and gentle breezes are playing with your senses. You look to your left and there’s a gate framed by two stone posts. You enter.

You find yourself walking down a long gravel road and the only sounds you hear are the rocks crunching underneath your feet and the distant cry of crickets. On both sides are a forest of ancient trees with memories of many generations passed. Trees that stood long before the fathers of your fathers were born.

To your right, you see a clearing. In the clearing are old-fashioned folding chairs set up in a circle. As you walk toward the gathering, you hear the soft murmuring of voices. You realize you are not alone.

You step into the circle and the voices hush. They are all looking at you. You see familiar faces of people you have loved and lost, parents and grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts, and sons and daughters. Only now they are no longer broken and frail and sick, but whole and strong and well, the way you remember them in the best of times.

Each one of them calls you by name. Even the ones who had forgotten now remember your name. It’s not the name you’ve taken for yourself or the one you had given to you at birth. It is a new name, yet it’s a familiar name that you’ve known all the time.

In the middle of the gathering stands a man with scars in His hands and feet. Though He looks far different than any painting or image of Him ever made, you know His face at once. The lovingkindness there is unmistakable.

You hear singing and realize that those around you are singing a hymn. You find yourself singing, too. It’s not a song you’ve ever sung before, but you know the words and the melody stirs within you at once a joy too full and a sorrow too deep for words. You feel alive as if for the first time and happy and content like you always longed to be.

You know this is home. This place that you’ve never been or ever even seen before, but the one you’ve been looking for your whole life without knowing it. This is home. This is my idea of heaven. Maybe not for you, but it works for me.

Going to Church vs. Being the Church

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 14 Comments

As a kid, I went to church. Not much of an option there, really. My mother didn’t ask me if I felt like going, but told me we were going. After all, we’re Baptists. That’s what we do.

For most of my life, I talked about “going to church” as if church were a building or a place or an event.  In fact, until very recently. Then I noticed something in the New Testament. Nowhere in there does anyone talk about going to church or referring to church as a building or an organization. Churches in the New Testament always refer to a community of believers. A family.

If I go to church, then church is something I do once or twice a week (three or more if you’re a really good Baptist!) I will act and think differently when I’m in church than when I’m not.

But if I’m reading my Bible right and I am a part of the community called the Church, then I take the Church with me wherever I go. I am never not “in church.” That means that I act and think the same way all the time.

It amazed me that ever since I’ve picked up on this, I hear people all the time talk about Church as if it were a place or a building or a service. I hear myself talking about “going to church.” I guess it’s a part of the culture I grew up in. That many of us grew up in.

It’s not a sin to say “going to church.” But if we really believe what’s in God’s word, then maybe it’s time to shift our thinking and stop going to church and start being the church. Maybe we need to break out of the four walls of church buildings and start taking the Church, the koinonia or “the community”, everywhere we go.

A pastor I heard today said something like this: “What frustrates the world is not that we’re different, but that we’re not different enough.”  Maybe when the Church starts acting like the body of Christ, the hands and feet of Jesus, and not like brick and stone and mortar, they will start seeing the difference.

Another thing that irks me is the term “business meeting.” The church is not a business; it’s a family. But that is another topic for another blog someday.

Discovery

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I think I’ve established the fact over the course of the last year that I am one big music/movie/book nerd. I love me some good media. I think I could live at a bookstore like Borders, as long as I had a comfy hammock or sleeping back and a Chik-fil-a nearby.

I also love discovering new things. All the time at restaurants I am trying out new foods and new food combinations. One of my favorite things is to find a new author or artist that few people know about, one that hasn’t yet caught on or one that didn’t quite get there.

My latest musical find is a folk-duo group called The Story. They are (or were) Jonatha Brooke and Jennifer Kimball. Both have since gone on to more successful solo careers. I also really like The Sundays, a British group that probably very few have ever heard of.

There’s something grand about discovering new things. I think the life of faith is like that. Every morning are undiscovered new mercies and graces and fresh starts. Every moment is a potential do-over and a clean slate. There is no failure or even fiasco that God can’t turn into something glorious and victorious. Even you and me.

I am thankful for a God who doesn’t keep score or maintain a record of wrongs and broken promises and failed attemps at obedience. I’d be seriously screwed.

I’ve said it before many times, but I really love the fact that God looks at me and sees Jesus and is pleased. He not only loves me, but likes me, too! He’s not angry or disappointed or frustrated. He’s not about to give up on me (or you).

What would it be like if you and I could discover one new facet about the mercy, grace, and love of God every day? I don’t know how long it would take, but I’m sure it would be longer than the Oliver Stone’s director’s cut of JFK. I imagine it would take an eternity.

I guess it’s a really good thing we will have an eternity to find out, eh?