“IN A SENSE WE are all hungry and in need, but most of us don’t recognize it. With plenty to eat in the deep freeze, with a roof over our heads and a car in the garage, we assume that the empty feeling inside must be just a case of the blues that can be cured by a weekend in the country or an extra martini at lunch or the purchase of a color TV.

The poor, on the other hand, are under no such delusion. When Jesus says, ‘Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28), the poor stand a better chance than most of knowing what he’s talking about and knowing that he’s talking to them. In desperation they may even be willing to consider the possibility of accepting his offer. This is perhaps why Jesus on several occasions called them peculiarly blessed” (Frederick Buechner).

There is more to poverty than physical. There is a kind of spiritual poverty where we have everything we could possibly want but lack the one thing we need. Just as we could eat junk food all day and be both overweight and malnourished, so it’s possible to fill our souls to the bursting point and still have that God-shaped hole.

Jesus talked in the Beatitudes about the poor in spirit being blessed. He doesn’t mean that being poor makes you more spiritual. What He means is those who know they have a need they can’t meet are the ones most likely to get in on what the Kingdom of God offers. They will be the first to be all-in on trusting in Jesus because they have nothing else.

So it’s okay to be needy as long as that need drives you to the throne of God and to the feet of Jesus. That’s the best place to be.

“I am still skeptical about the reasons some seek spirituality in the land, for the spirituality the land offers is anything but easy. It is the spirituality of a God who would, with lightening and earthquakes, sneeze away the bland moralism preached in many pulpits, a wildly free, undomesticated divinity, the same God who demands of Moses from a burning bush, “Remove your shoes, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” When God appears to Job, the comforting sentiments we might expect to feel are absent because such sentiments are at most God’s trappings, not the infinite himself. The God who speaks to Job from the whirlwind reminds him that, comforting or terrifying, he alone is God” (Anthony Lusvardi).

More and more, I become disheartened at the American brand of Christianity that seeks to accommodate sin and sinful lifestyles instead of preaching true repentance and belief. This spirituality is virtually indistinguishable from the culture it claims to be trying to reach.

As my pastor once said, people aren’t mad at Christians because they’re too different but because they’re not different enough. After all, they might say, “Why should I believe in your Jesus when He makes so little difference in your life?”

When the message from the pulpit is the same that comes from Hollywood and the media, it’s time for these churches to shut their doors and go find something else to do on a Sunday.

We forget the majesty of the gospel to transform because we have adhered to the form of religion but denied the power thereof. People can’t hope to see their lives changed if we neglect the message of both sin and salvation, faith and repentance, the cross and the empty tomb.

You need both the conviction and the compassion of Christ to be true followers. I heard recently that what the Church of God in American needs most right now is not so much revival but repentance. Then maybe once we got back to the true message of Christ, we might see the glory and the miracles of the early Church.

I’ve been having Kairos withdrawals lately.

For the uninformed, Kairos is a young(ish) adult worship event/ministry that grew out of Brentwood Baptist Church, starting way back in 2004. I’ve been involved as a volunteer since 2006. Currently, the ministry is on an indefinite hiatus as they search for a new leader and possible new direction.

But for me Tuesdays just haven’t been the same. I miss the hype. I miss seeing all the people. I miss hanging out in the Connection Cafe with my frozen hot chocolate and good conversations. I miss greeting at the front entrance and blasting my retro 90s Christian mix.

I suppose that if you do something weekly for 17 years, it’s bound to leave a void when it’s suddenly gone. I truly do hope and pray that it comes back, whatever the next incarnation looks like. But I also know that just about all good things end on this side of heaven.

I know that many people have come and gone through Kairos. So many lives have been transformed, so many testimonies formed, so many people who are now followers of Jesus through the faithfulness of those leading the worship and teaching. So many who might never step foot in a traditional church setting called this their church.

Not only is Kairos on a break, but the cafe is also on hiatus until further notice. I can’t even get my frozen hot chocolate. Add that to my list of first world problems, I guess.

I know God is God and can do whatever He wants, so I’m praying for Kairos to come back. But if not, I know it will be something better. That’s just how God works.

I ran across a version of the Lord’s prayer from Matthew 6, but written in kid’s language. I absolutely love it. It captures the heart of what Jesus taught the disciples to pray.

I’m not here to argue whether Jesus meant the prayer to be recited verbatim or used as a template because honestly, I have no idea which is right. I do think that this prayer is a good guideline for how every prayer should sound, but i’ve also been known to pray it when I have nothing else.

But i do know that this rendering is maybe my new favorite paraphrase of what Jesus taught the disciples to pray as part of the Sermon on the Mount:

That’s it. That’s what I want. To be inside the will of God. No more, no less.

Anything I could ever desire outside of the will of God would never satisfy. It would seem good to me for a season, but in a little while would ultimately prove to still leave me wanting.

If I am inside the will of God, then I am truly safe from all alarms. What is there to fear if God is with me? Even if the will of God should call for my ultimate sacrifice, God will be with me and give me grace to endure. And afterward He receives me into His glory.

So that’s what I want above all else — to be smack dab in the will of God, now and forever.

I was thinking recently that the wisdom to make good decisions typically comes from lessons learned by making bad decisions. You would think that most of us could learn by observing the bad decisions of others, but apparently that doesn’t work so well. We tend to think that it didn’t work for that guy but it will work for me.

Patience is one of those things that you need but don’t really want to pray for, because the moment you do, your patience gets tested. Then you find how little patience you really have. But I suppose that the goal is that each time you have a little more patience than before. At least that’s how I imagine it works.

But if there’s a skunk eating my food, I think I can be wise and patient rather than hasty and stinky. At least I would hope so.

“The man of many friends [a friend of all the world] will prove himself a bad friend, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24, AMPC).

The best kind of friendship is the one where the other person is your friend just because. It’s not because you’re popular or attractive or talented or know the right people. Some people just like you for you and choose to be your friend, no matter what.

Those are rare. Those are the ones you need to cling to and hold on to and never let go for as long as God allows, because those are blessings from God. Those are the roots of a tree that stay firm as opposed to leaves on the same tree that blow with the wind and never settle down.

I’ve always heard that Proverbs 18:24 speaks of Jesus as the friend who sticks closer than a brother. I know that another passage speaks of Jesus dying for us while we were yet sinners when most of us would hardly lay down our lives for our friends. Jesus instead laid down His life for us while we were His enemies and far from God.

That’s the kind of love that you see in those unconditional friendships. Those are the friends who will believe in you when you can’t believe in yourself. They will believe for you when you can’t believe. They will keep pointing you to Jesus and modeling Jesus to you until you start to look more like Jesus.

Those are the best.

Do you know when a joke becomes a dad joke? When it becomes apparent.

Also, you know that a pun has fully matured when it is full groan.

Thank you, folks. I’m here all week. Be sure to tip your waiters and waitresses on the way out.

Good night.

It’s interesting to me how karma is suddenly very popular — even among those who profess belief in Jesus. This is not about how karma and faith don’t mix. That will be for another post at another time. This is about how everyone who believes in karma always seems to believe in it for other people.

It’s always someone else who will get karma because of their bad behavior. Never me. I get a pass. I get grace. I get forgiveness. But that other person? Karma.

Even if I believed in karma, I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works. You don’t get to pick and choose who experiences the negative consequences of their actions and exclude yourself. If I want grace for me, I should probably extend it to others. You know, that whole thing about my forgiveness from God hinging on my forgiving others? That.

I believe when I point a finger at someone, there are four fingers pointed back at me. Maybe that’s why my grandmother told me never to point at anyone. But especially when I go to point out someone else’s sin or failures, I’d better make sure that I’m perfect. Or as Jesus said, I’d better make sure that I am without sin before I cast that first stone.

Maybe a better way is for me to be honest about my own sinfulness. For people to see Jesus in me, they don’t need to see me as perfect but forgiven. If I’m going through a struggle, I want someone who’s been there to talk to and to tell me about life on the other side. If people are looking to find peace and fulfillment, the best thing I can show them is not that I’ve got it all together and my life is perfect but that I fail and fall down but I have a Savior who can pick me up and forgive me and make me new.

Maybe the best way to show people how much they need Jesus is to own up to how much I need Jesus. Maybe the best way I can show people how to meet their need for Jesus is to spend the rest of my life running after Jesus the same way He ran after me when I was furthest away but needed Him the most.

I agree. I need a day between all my days, especially those weekdays. If I had to choose just one, I think I’d add a day between Sunday and Monday.

It never fails that I will get plenty of rest and sleep during the weekend (which I realize probably makes me sound like I’m 90), but once Monday hits, I feel like I’m coming down off of some manic binge where I’ve been up for 48 hours straight or like I’m recovering from a triathalon. It’s only Monday and I’m already tired. Really?

Mondays make me thankful for coffee. Actually, every day that ends in the letter y makes me thankful for coffee. I just sense my need of caffeine more on Monday.

Or the workplace could incorporate nap time like we used to have back in kindergarten. I can just see the Fortune 500 boss telling all his employees to put their heads on their desks for 30 minutes while he turns down the lights so everyone can sleep. Sadly, I’d be down for that.

Maybe I’ll just stick to my coffee and caffeine addictions.