I learned tonight that the word integrity derives from the same word for integer, a whole number. If we have integrity, we’re not fragmented, one way around a certain group or on a certain day and another way with a different group or on a different day. We’re always the same. Who we are in the spotlight is the same as who we are in the dark when we think no one sees. Who we are matches what we profess to believe and how we live matches what we say we believe.

I think that only love that is radical and unconditional will change the world. Not the generic love of Hallmark or those sappy movies on Lifetime. Only love that lays down its life and serves the beloved will grab the world’s attention. Only love that blesses the ones who curse and goes the extra mile and turns the other cheek will cause people to notice.

That kind of love can’t be self-generated. I can’t possibly love like that. All I, or anyone else, can do is receive that love from God and let it flow through me. The best kind of love is when God loves His people through His people. When I am filled past what I can receive and the overflow reaches those around me.

If we are already victorious and the battle is already won in Christ, why are so many living defeated lives? Where is the joy? If we’ve been shown grace, why do we turn around and give people a bunch of rules to follow? I wish I knew.

I do know that fellowship and community are beautiful things to behold. Believers gathered together in the name of Jesus and loving each other are a powerful witness to the transforming love of Jesus. No other force or power or personality could bring people together like that.

So what? The more we give Jesus room to work, the more amazing things He will do in and through us. All He needs is a place to start, as Mike Glenn once said. Let our hearts be your starting point in the days to come.

Amen and amen.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about grace. But when it comes to defining grace, I’m unable to come up with an answer that truly encompasses all of what grace means. I’ve heard grace stated as “God’s riches as Christ’s expense” or “God’s unmerited favor” or “Getting what you don’t deserve.” All well and good, but none seem to really capture all of what grace is.

I do know that I need grace. Not just me, but anyone who professes the faith and is truly seeking to go beyond surface, shallow Christianity to the faith that Jesus lived. We all desperately need grace on a daily basis.

For me, grace is the means by which I am saved through faith. Grace is what allows me to wake up every morning. Grace is the reason that I can claim the peace that passes all understanding. Grace is what keeps me believing and grace is what will finally get me Home.

I may not have a tidy definition of grace, but I know grace. I know the Giver of Grace who calls me friend and who has declared me pure and righeous and holy and victorious for all time. It’s His grace I’m talking about, after all.

So maybe that’s all I need to know. I certainly don’t have to understand all the different aspects of gravity for it to work. I don’t have to understand all the properties of wind to feel it in my face. And I most definitely do not need to completely understand all that encompasses the character of God to know Him. As if I could even begin to do that.

All I have to do is be like a little child and receive Him and His grace. To take Jesus at His word and follow Him. To make myself a surrendered and willing vessel for Him to use however He wants. To believe that it is only by grace that I can do any of these things.

Amen and amen.

I think it was Bono who talked about how too many American believers are part of a “bless me” club, where it’s all about how God can bless us financially and materially. Almost like God is a kind of vending machine who dispenses whatever we want when we want it. A good job, good health or a good marriage are just a prayer away, according to some.

Biblically, the idea of blessing has more to do with relationships than stuff. Blessing in the Bible carries with it the idea of having God’s favor on you. That God is with you and for you. Not so much that He gives you things, but that He gives you Himself. It’s not about seeking His hand as it is seeking His heart.

Still, maybe that’s not enough. I was convicted today that maybe instead of seeking blessing, we should seek to be a blessing. Maybe we make ourselves available and willing vessels through which God can bless others. And the biggest blessing of all is to know God, Ultimate Blessing. We are blessed in this way as we see God bless others and see them come to be all God made them to be.

My prayer for you is that God blesses you. But more than that I want to see you be a blessing to those God puts in your life. What I want for you is that people see Christ in you and are drawn to Him. That they see your changed life and hear your testimony of transformation and want not just what you have, but the God who could do such amazing things in you.

I may never be rich or famous. My blog may never hit the big-time. That’s OK. I just want to be obedient and faithful. I want to boast in my weakness so that God’s strength is made perfect in me. I want Him to use me in any way He chooses and to bless others through me.

I hope that’s what you long for. In the end, true riches are all about who will be in heaven because of your obedience and faithfulness. It’s not about what you have or who you know, but how much you love and how available you are to be the blessing someone needs to see.

Amen and amen.

I have to admit that I have become a numbers junkie when it comes to my blog. Every time I write one lately, I come back several times to see how many people have viewed it. I think it’s become a pride thing for me and I’ve caught myself thinking that all these people are reading these blogs because I am such an incredible writer. Wrong. It’s all God’s doing.

I write blogs because it helps me articulate my own feelings about myself and God and others. It’s very therapeutic and healing. Even if I were the only one to read my blog, I believe it would be worth it for the catharsis that comes from putting words to what I’m feeling and thinking.

I write blogs because I want people to know how deeply God loves them. Not that He loves them in an dry academic or stuffy theological way, but in a passionate, crazy, “I’m head over heels in love with you” kind of way. I desire for people to see themselves the way God sees them. If you are in Christ, you are already pure and righteous and holy and victorious and forgiven. God sees you and sees Christ in you and is pleased with you.

Even if one person reads my blog, it’s worth it. As I typed that last sentence, I could feel my pride taking a hit. Part of me will always want legions of fans, but that’s the part of me that has to die. The part of me that lives knows that honoring and pleasing God is what matters, not numbers.

So if you’re my number one fan out there reading this blog, thank you. If you’re my lone reader, I hope God blesses and encourages you through this blog. Ultimately, anything that speaks to you from this is God and not me. That’s not false modesty. That’s true of anyone who communicates God’s truths.

So thank you for reading this, whether you’re the one lone reader or whether you’re part of 100 people reading it. It really doesn’t matter. What matters is that I continue to be faithful to put on here what God puts on my heart. By the grace of God, I will continue to do just that.

Thank you, God, for speaking to me so much lately. Without you, I have no blog. Without you, I have no breath in my body. Thanks for that, too!

Amen and amen!

For the record, I don’t claim to be the expert on anything but on this: that I know for sure that my God is crazy about me and loves me as though He were lavishing all the love in the world on me, but with still more love to go around to all His children. I know that.

But I was thinking about the passage of Scripture where Jesus states that wherever two or more are gathered in His name, there He is in the midst of them (Matt. 18:20). I think it has to mean more than Jesus merely being present when two believers show up at the same spot. Jesus is present in one believer all by Himself.

I think maybe it means that when two or more believers get together for the purpose of glorifying God, Jesus is more than just present. He shows up in the sense of coming in power and authority. There is something about a group of believers gathered together that can’t be explained by any human or natural means.

Acts 2 records that the effect of the early church gathering together frequently and sharing everything and loving each other was to turn their world upside down. Thousands of people were being drawn to Christ through these believers’ testimony and love put into action. Signs and wonders and miracles followed the believers everywhere. But I think the key part is that they truly loved each other. They were vessels through which God poured His love into others.

That’s what I want. I want more than just to be doctrinally right. I want more than to have all the knowledge. I want more than to have my spiritual to-do list checked off. I want to see the power of the Holy Spirit manifested through believers gathered together in His name. I want a love so strong that the world won’t be able to ignore it or explain it away.  A love that is so different than any other that it captivates those who witness it.

Again, I am far from perfect and I get a lot of things wrong. But like the old saying goes, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. It’s not my great faith in God that moves mountains, but my faith in a great God. Even if that faith is mustard seed-sized.

Amen and amen.

I see a body of believers that can gather together and bring down strongholds and dominions through praying in faith. I see a place where people can feel safe to confess their fears and failures and not fear condemnation, but instead find acceptance and love. A place where shared joys are multiplies and shared sorrows are divided.

I see a body of believers who are stepping out in faith and doing what the rest of the world, including most Christians, say can’t be done. I see a body of believers whose faith is in a God to whom the impossible is not even remotely difficult, who believe that all His promises are true and for them.

I see a body of believers for whom church is not four walls and a roof, but two or more gathered together in Jesus’ name and in Jesus’ power, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is breaking through and that all the wrongs will soon be made right and that the rightful King is coming and will be here soon.

I see a body of believers who believe the best about each other and believe the best for those who can’t believe it for themselves. A bunch of believers who will not stop praying for each other until healing is loosed in their lives. Or in the lives of their family or friends.

I see a body of believers who will stop at nothing short of full-blown, Holy Ghost, fire-falling, Spirit- drenched, earth-quaking revival in the land. Nothing short of Acts 2 coming to life and God moving mightily in His people. We want to see a mighty outpouring with our own eyes and we are foolish enough to believe it can and will happen!

I see a body of believers where unity is priority and love supercedes having every single theological I dotted and T crossed. Where correcting every perceived doctrinal error cedes to seeing the person as God sees them– a masterpiece in the making and someone who is already righteous and just because the Cross makes them so.

That’s my prayer. I hope it’s yours. I don’t want to play church or go to church anymore. I want to BE THE CHURCH!

Amen and amen!

There’s a popular saying often attributed to the Bible that goes something like, “God won’t ever give you more than you can handle.” Two words for that in my opinion; ba- and loney. I’ve found that to be so far from the truth it’s not even funny. God does very often give us more than we can handle. Just ask Paul about his thorn in the flesh or look at Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

If all God have us were things we could handle, we really wouldn’t need Him, would we? How would God get any glory out of putting me in situations that I could solve on my own? The point I think is that God very often puts us in situations that He knows and we know we can’t handle expressly for the purpose of showing us our dependence on Him so that we rely solely on Him and He gets the utmost glory. I’ve seen that many times in my life.

There’s that person in your life that God is calling you to love. That annoying person that grates your nerves every time you have a conversation. Someone you can’t possibly love or even like on your own. But God calls you to do both.

God takes away your career or your health or a loved one and you are left in shambles and you feel like you will never possibly ever recover. You can’t handle it. God can. He knows what it’s like to lose Someone close to Him; just ask Jesus. He can and will walk with you through your pain and see you through to the other side, more confident in His love and His faithfulness than ever before.

Maybe God is calling you to step out in faith and do something outside of your comfort zone and your talents and abilities. You know you can’t do what He’s calling you to do on your own, so you learn to lean on Him and rely on Him for everything.

If you’re in a job you think you can’t stand and wonder how you can make it through the day, you find that God is sufficient to carry you through. If you’re in a marriage that seems past salvaging, you will find that God will be your strength just when you need it. If you feel like a hapless romantic with no hope of ever getting married, you find that God meets you at your deepest need and shows Himself to be the very truest desire of your heart.

Don’t look at your circumstances and what you perceive God is doing; look at His heart and trust in His character. Trust in His faithfulness and believe His love never fails. I surely don’t have a lot of answers, especially when it comes to pain or suffering, but I know I’ve never seen my God abandon or desert one of His children in a time of need. His specialty is rescue and restoration. He will do it.

Amen and amen.

First of all, this is not another dating/marital blog. Just for the record. I think this applies to any relationship between two people at any stage of their lives. And this blog was inspired by Pete Wilson’s sermon on Expectationw at Cross Point tonight.

Expectations are about what you will do for me. Expectations are something I expect from you and you probably won’t hear from me about them unless you don’t meet them. Kinda like how no one is ever rewarded or given a raise for showing up to work on time.

Expectations in any area kill the ability for the other person to love you in that way. You can only get back to a zero balance and not be in debt in that area. That’s not love. That’s a contract.

As believers, we’re called to look at our relationships differently. We’re commanded to put the other’s needs above our own and seek their good first and to consider the other person as better than ourselves. Essentially, love means laying down your life, not in the dramatic way of taking a bullet for someone, but in a thousand small ways such as taking an interest in what the other person is interested in, giving up your schedule, not demanding your rights, saying that word of encouragement even when you would rather criticize. The list goes on.

Jesus modeled the ultimate friend. He laid down His life for us and never quit on us, even when we gave Him a million reasons to. He’s done everything in His power to see our brokenness made whole and healed and He’s not about to quit until He’s finished with what He started in us.

We as Christians, or little Christs, are to do the same. We lay down our lives for our friends and never give up on them. We do everything in our power to see them come fully alive in Christ and find healing and wholeness. We want to see their joy made full and their hearts captivated by the love of Christ.

Am I saying to not have any expectations? Maybe. Maybe not. What I am saying is that maybe our expectations should not so much be in what the other person will do for us, or even what we will do for them, but what God has promised to do in those of us who are surrendered and availble for His service. We should expect that His love will conquer any opposition or obstacle. We should expect that God will be faithful always and work all things for the good of those who love Him. I think those are great expectation!

Amen and amen.