brennan manning

Loving Your Enemies

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

At this time of Advent, maybe it’s time to revisit one of Jesus’ sayings that everyone seems to love in theory but which is a bit more difficult to live out in everyday life.

Love your enemies.

It’s easy to love those who love you and treat you right all the time. Anyone can do that.

Loving those who hurt you is way more difficult. Forgiving and yet at the same time not enabling them is hard.

Coming on the heels of the latest election, this command of Jesus has never sounded more timely.

Love your enemies.

Even the ones who voted for Clinton? Even the ones who voted for Trump? Yes.

There are no exceptions in this command. There are no loop holes.

Love your enemies.

Jesus never gives you an out or an excuse to be disobedient to His commands.

He said, “Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.”

Notice that Jesus did not say, “Love those who agree with you, think like you, and vote the way you do, and shame the ones who don’t.”

He didn’t say, “Demonize all those who think differently than you and lump them all into one stereotype.”

He said, “Love you enemies.” Period.

He didn’t just say it. He lived it out. He kept His mouth shut while His own enemies falsely accused Him and had Him crucified. He even went so far as to forgive His enemies in the very act of their murdering Him.

God in Jesus loved us when we were His enemies, as far from the promise as we could possibly be. He loved those who would forever reject His love and spit on His gift to them.

To love your friends is easy. To love your enemies is hard. No, it’s impossible apart from the divine. When you love those who persecute you is when you are the most like Jesus.

Love your enemies. The end.

For All the Josephs

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

“While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: ‘Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.’ This would bring the prophet’s embryonic sermon to full term: Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son; They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for ‘God is with us’)” (Matthew 1:20-21 MSG).

Not everybody gets to be in the spotlight. Not everybody wants to be.

Some of us will be thrust into the spotlight where our faith will shine brightly, as Mary’s did through her faithful obedience to God’s command– though at times it must have seemed overwhelming and impossible.

Some of us will play the part of Joseph, who was just as faithful and obedient in the shadows and behind the scenes. His part was no less important though he has fewer verses dedicated to his story.

No matter how great or small your part seems in the story of God, your faithfulness and obedience matter. You may feel unimportant- and sometimes ignored– but you never know who is watching you to see if this God of yours is real or not.

You may never know the far-reaching impact caused by the ripples of casting your small stone into that great ocean. And it may not be you but the child you raise or the spouse you support who makes the greatest impact. Even then your own steps of faith still count.

At the end of the day, it’s God who sees your good deeds and rewards your long-suffering faith. That’s the audience that really matters.

 

 

Holiday Faith 

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move” (Labor of Love, Andrew Peterson).

Christmas is the season when we celebrate the Glorious Impossible, remembering that for God, truly nothing is impossible.

This holds true not just in December but 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (even on that weird day that comes around every four years).

That faith that can make the mountain move can move that mountain inside of you if needs be, whatever that mountain might be.

That’s all. The end.

 

 

Behold the Lamb of God

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I don’t normally do shameless plugs, but here goes: if you’re ever anywhere near a place that hosts Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God concert, just go. Don’t ask any questions. Just go.

The absolute best venue to see this concert is the Ryman Auditorium, but go wherever is convenient for you.

Aside Handel’s Messiah, I honestly can’t think of any other Christmas music that mines the depth and splendor of the Incarnation in the way this music does. It also happens to be a very good synopsis of the overarching meta-narrative of the entire Bible, the whole story in one short setting.

In the mean time, go buy the album. I’m making it really easy for you. Just go to this link, whip out the ol’ credit card, type in those numbers (including that pesky little 3-digit number on the back), and make that purchase. You will not for one second regret it.

https://www.amazon.com/Behold-Lamb-10th-Anniversary-2-disc/dp/B0040QTHMW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1481775641&sr=8-2&keywords=behold+the+lamb+of+god

The theology is solid and the songwriting is among the best. My new favorite Christmas song may just be Labor of Love. The whole album is profound and moving in a way very few Christmas albums I’ve heard are. So go buy it.

Here endeth the shameless plug.

 

What’s Next

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“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, The Message).

It was a very unassuming moment. There I was, standing in line for hot chocolate during the After Hours celebration of the last Kairos of 2016, uttering a small prayer.

“God, I’m ready for whatever’s next from You.”

It’s a loose paraphrase of the prayer Jesus prayed in the garden in the hours leading up to the awaiting agony of the cruxifixction. His words were, “Your will be done.”

One of the scariest moments is when you relinquish control. One of the most freeing moments is when you finally realize that you were never in control to begin with. It was and has always been God on the throne of the universe, working all things together for your good.

One of the biggest fears that many of us have isn’t that God’s not able to accomplish His plans in and for us. We’re just afraid of how painful those plans might be. And yes, I completely stole that from C. S. Lewis, though he probably said it better.

The truth as I am learning it is that my joy and God’s glory aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, my joy is greatest when God is most glorified in the world– and in my own life.

So God, whatever you have for me, whenever you have it for me, wherever you have it for me, I’m ready. I know more now than ever that the safest and best place to be is smack dab in the middle of Your will.

Amen.

 

At the Right Time

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“When the right time arrived, God sent His Son into this world (born of a woman, subject to the law) to free those who, just like Him, were subject to the law. Ultimately He wanted us all to be adopted as sons and daughters” (Galatians 4:4-5 VOICE).

For some reason, the image that immediately popped into my mind upon reading this verse was that line from The Lord of the Rings when Gandalf announces, “A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.”

I don’t by any means intend to suggest that God is Gandalf, but I do think that Gandalf is many ways is a picture of the Christ. More importantly, this speak a very important truth about God.

God is never early. God is never late. God’s timing is always perfect. Always.

Often in my own life, I’ve found that what seemed like delays weren’t because God wasn’t ready to give but because I wasn’t ready to receive. I had some growing up and maturing to do before I could fully appreciate what God had in store for me.

I do think that often when God doesn’t work according to my timetable, it isn’t because God is thwarting my plans but because God is seeing a much bigger picture and His vision for my life is so much grander than mine.

I heard a very good definition of anxiety as a state of feeling like everything has to happen immediately. The fear sets in when delays begin to seem like denials.

Fear, as I heard it put once, is False Evidence Appearing Real. In this case, faith calls me to trust the heart of God for me in the face of overwhelming yet ultimately false evidence that He will not work out all things together for my good.

Tonight I trust God’s heart as true and God’s timing as perfect. This season of Advent proves to me yet again that God always fulfills His promises to His people.

That’s good enough for me.

 

More About Music

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

So far, I’ve had my share of good Christmas music to help me cope with all my commutes to and from work, church, and other places.

I’ve made it through The Nutcracker and Handel’s Messiah, as well as Christmas compilations by Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley.

I took a small break from all the holiday tunes with some Waylon & Willie. In case you are uninformed about all things classic country music, that’s Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, both whose body of work is astounding and legendary. They collaborated on a 1978 album that is the epitome of everything country music should be. At least in my humble opinion.

If you think that country music doesn’t go any further back than the 2000’s or if you think that bro-country is real country, try this album. It might change your mind.

I could just about listen to it on repeat for days. I actually did play it through twice today on my various trips. It’s that good.

Listen to the music that makes your heart happy. Listen to what makes you come alive — even if it’s Florida Georgia Line. Branch out from what you’re familiar with and try different types of music, even stuff that’s off the top 40 radar. I promise you won’t regret it.

And now I will go back to my regularly scheduled Christmas music.

 

Serving Christmas

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Today was Serving Saturday for The Church at Avenue South. It also happened to be the day that members of Kairos served the community at the Lexington Garden apartments in Madison, Tennessee.

Serving is good for me because it’s a good way for me to get out of my little world and go where people are way more thankful for a whole lot less than I have. I get reminded that I have much, and as the verse says, “To whom much is given, much is required.”

Perhaps the best gift you can give yourself during this season of Advent and Christmas is to volunteer and serve. I can think of no better way to break out of the narcissistic consumeristic version of Christmas as portrayed on just about every commercial.

It’s a lot easier to be content when you realize just how blessed you are, materially and otherwise. It’s also much harder to complain when you understand that so many people where you live are fighting a daily battle to feed and shelter their families.

When God became Incarnate in Jesus, He chose the poor as the first messengers of His arrival. He chose to be born through a peasant couple. His first missionaries were those raggedy shepherds tending their flocks nearby.

I still believe that God is with the poor and God is with us if we are with them. God’s heart has a special place for the poor in spirit who have no other advocates than those of us who claim to be His followers.

I wonder if instead of buying gifts for those who already have too much stuff, it might be better to give to those in need who can never hope to repay you or even properly thank you for what you’ve done. After all, isn’t that what God in Jesus did for each and every one of us?

 

Plan B (With Apologies to Pete Wilson)

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

No, this has nothing to do with the book by Pete Wilson. Hence, the title.

My plan for the better part of the day was to leave work and go to Uncle Julio’s, a new Mexican restaurant in the Brentwood area. I had it all worked out in my mind how the evening was going to go.

I forgot to factor in Nashville traffic. Oops.

What should have taken 45 minutes or less took an hour and a half. While I don’t necessarily mind sitting in interstate traffic when I have Bing Crosby Christmas music playing, it put a bit of a crimp in my plans.

By the time I arrived at said restaurant, the wait was an hour and 15 minutes. Hence the need for a plan B.

Plan B ended up being a tasty burrito at Chipotle with chips and guacamole.

I came away from this Friday night with a few takeaways.

  1. Nashville traffic sucks. It always slows down at the worst possible time and there’s usually never a justifiable reason for the slowness.
  2. Maybe it’s not the best idea to decide to try out a trendy new restaurant on a Friday night.
  3. Plan B doesn’t have to mean a bad night. Sometimes, Plan Bs can be just as good as the original plan.

One thing I know is that with God, there are no plan Bs, especially when it comes to you and me. He is working out His perfect design in each of our lives and knows exactly what He’s doing. Everything– and I do mean everything– that happens happens for a reason. God still works all things together for our good.

You are not a Plan B. You are God’s original design, fearfully and wonderfully made. There will never be another you and there will be another who can play the part God wrote for you in the grand play of life better than you.

In case you were wondering, the chips and guacamole were perfection.