faith

The Fasting and the Feast

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“When the fast, the death, the sacrifice of the gospel is omitted from the Christian life, then it isn’t Christian at all. Not only that its boring. If I just want to feel good or get self-help, I’ll buy a $12 book from Borders and join a gym. The church the Bible described is exciting and adventurous and wrought with sacrifice. It costs believers everything and they still came. It was good news to the poor and stumped its enemies. The church was patterned after a Savior who had no place to lay his head and voluntarily died a brutal death, even knowing we would reduce the gospel to a self-serving personal improvement program where people were encouraged to make a truce with their Maker and stop sinning and join the church, when in fact the gospel does not call for a truce but a complete surrender.
Jesus said the kingdom was like a treasure hidden in a field, and once someone truly finds it, he will happily sell everything he owns to possess that field. a perfect description of the fasting and the feast. It will cost everything, but it is a treasure and an unfathomable joy. This is the balance of the kingdom; to live we must die, to be lifted we bow, to gain we must lose. There is no alternative definition, no path of least resistance, no treasure in the field without the sacrifice of everything else” (Jen Hatmaker, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Access).

So I finished reading the book 7. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s tired of the same old same old and is looking for something fresh and different. It’s for those who are weary of the prevalence of consumeristic Christianity that has overtaken much of America’s churches, along with a definite trend toward style over substance.

Most of what passes for the gospel these days is either some form of sin management, self-help program, or a variation of the “I’m okay, you’re okay, everyone’s okay.” The Apostle Paul said very clearly more than once that even if he or an angel should proclaim any other kind of gospel other than the gospel of Jesus as presented and expounded upon in the writings of Paul, let him (or her) be condemned.

I was convicted in several areas about my own excesses and my bouts of self-centeredness in opposition to serving others. We in this country have the means to alleviate a lot of the world’s suffering, but we choose rather to spend on lavish buildings   with the latest technologies and comforts. In other words, we’d rather spend it on ourselves.

So I’m telling you to run to your local bookstore (or your local laptop and your local amazon website) to get this book. You will not regret it.

 

Even You

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If you’re not a hipster, this is for you.

If you’re not a high I, type A, socially outgoing person who is always the life of the party who everyone wants to be around all the time, this is for you.

If you’re socially awkward at times and what’s in your head isn’t always what comes out of your mouth (including a long list of word you desperately wish you could take back), this is for you.

If you are an outsider, an outcast, a freak, a pariah, a loner, a loser, or just feeling unwanted and unknown and undesirable, this is for you.

When Jesus comes to your town looking for followers, He sees you hiding up in that tree like wee little Zaccheus. He sees you inching toward the back of the crowd, certain that Jesus will choose the popular and attractive people to be on His team.

He’s headed your way. You wonder if He’s about to tell you that you don’t belong here. That only the more successful more put-together, more upwardly-mobile people need apply.

But that’s not what He’s approaching you for.

He points to you. He calls you by name. Not one of the names given to you by all those who trample over you on their way to the top. Not one of the names by those who have deeply wounded your soul over the years. Not even on of the names you call yourself late at night when your defenses are down and your mind is unfiltered.

Jesus calls you by a name that you’ve never known before but know you could be. He calls out something better in you than you thought you could be. Jesus call you and tells you to follow.

“Even me?” you ask.

“Especially you,” Jesus replies. “Always you.”

Generosity Without Limits

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“Do not withhold good from those who need it,
when you have the ability to help” (Proverbs 3:27, New English Translation).

This verse came to mind earlier when I saw a man holding up a sign on a busy street. Basically, the gist of the sign was that the man needed money.

You can always debate whether or not to give money to people like this guy. There will always be people on both sides of the issue of who is really deserving of generosity, who is legitimately in need of monetary help, and who is not.

As I sat in my car, the refrain “do not withhold good from those who need it, when you have the ability to help” kept playing in my head. For me, it wasn’t a matter of deserving.

I probably could have rationalized myself out of giving any money. But I couldn’t get that verse out of my head. I might have gone on my way and eventually forgotten about the whole incident. But I would know that I passed on an opportunity to do good that would never present itself to me in the same way ever again.

I’m not here to tell you that you should always give money to everyone holding up a sign and claiming to be homeless and in desperate need of financial assistance. That is a matter between you and God.

I can only tell you that I rolled down my window and gave that particular man some money because I felt at that moment not to give would have been directly violating what I strongly believe God was telling me to do. I don’t say it to boast because I very nearly kept my window rolled up and drove past to where I was going with all my money still in my wallet.

One word of advice: I recommend buying people meals instead of giving cash when possible.

More than that, I recommend the next time God lays it on your heart to be generous to someone, do it. Trust that God can take paltry offerings, like those fishes and loaves from a small boy, and multiply them beyond your wildest dreams to accomplish more than you could possibly imagine.

Your job is simply to give.

 

My Prayer for You

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 “It is for this reason that I bow my knees before the Father, after whom all families in heaven above and on earth below receive their names, and pray:

Father, out of Your honorable and glorious riches, strengthen Your people. Fill their souls with the power of Your Spirit so that through faith the Anointed One will reside in their hearts. May love be the rich soil where their lives take root. May it be the bedrock where their lives are founded so that together with all of Your people they will have the power to understand that the love of the Anointed is infinitely long, wide, high, and deep, surpassing everything anyone previously experienced. God, may Your fullness flood through their entire beings” (Ephesians 3:14-19, The Voice).

This is my prayer for all of you tonight, as originally prayed by the Apostle Paul.

While You’re Here

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I heard something tonight at Kairos that got me thinking.

Basically, the main speaker, Chris Brooks, was speaking of relationships and said something to the effect that one of the things a woman should look for in a man is how he is investing in his friends and giving himself away for those he loves. Chris said that true love doesn’t wait in the sense that you don’t wait until you’ve found that special someone to become the right person.

Maybe that applies to more than just relationships.

Perhaps you’re in a job that’s not your dream job. Work as though it were your dream job and give your absolute best every single day, and maybe one day a door will open for you to find your dream job.

Maybe you’re in a season of life that isn’t where you thought you would have been in by now. Learn to embrace your circumstances and find the joys in each day of living– including the ultimate gift of being alive.

Don’t mark time while you wait the next phase of life. Be the best possible you, trust God as fully as you know how, and leave the results to Him. Do everything in your power to make the small world around you, and the people in it, better for your having been there.

There is no rewind on the remote control of life. You don’t ever get to go back and relive a moment once it’s gone. The key is to live each moment while it’s still in the present rather than looking ahead to what may be or looking back to what might have been.

In the Bible, Ruth didn’t waste time chasing down her Boaz. She was faithful where she was to the one she was with– her mother-in-law. She loved and served  the person right in front of her with everything she had.

I can think of no better example of how to live in a season of waiting.

 

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

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I had a frustrating experience today. I had my massive quantities of potato salad in tow and was on my way to a singles cookout at Edwin Warner Park for this Memorial Day. The only issue I had was that I never got there.

I spent at least an hour driving up and down Highway 100, walking up and down a few trails, to no avail. I still have no idea where pavilion #9 is. I gave up and went back home.

A thought popped in my head: if that’s the worst that ever happens to me, I’m doing okay. I’m not saying I want to repeat the experience. It was like something out of one of the nightmares I used to have where I never could find what I was looking for.

But look at the upside. I had a nice drive with some good tunes playing in my car. I got some exercise in. I emerged unscathed and only mildly annoyed. I think I will survive.

People I know have been through far worse. Some are in the midst of going through far worse. Some are getting very close to saying a final goodbye to loved ones.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that the same God who makes sunshine and sunny days also walks with us through the deepest darkest valleys imaginable. He takes the absolute worst case scenario and turns even that into something glorious and good. That’s what God does.

That doesn’t make the dark days any less bleak. It does provide a ray of hope in the midst of those days. It means that your worst moment will never be your last moment. God will make it right. He will see to it.

I still have lots of potato salad left over if anyone wants some. It’s really good.

 

The Paraclete

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“I will ask the Father to send you another Helper, the Spirit of truth, who will remain constantly with you. The world does not recognize the Spirit of truth, because it does not know the Spirit and is unable to receive Him. But you do know the Spirit because He lives with you, and He will dwell in you” (John 14:16-17, The Voice).

I saw something remarkable today. I’m a greeter at The Church at Avenue South, so I stood at my usual position at the front door and welcomed the good folks on their way into the building.

I saw an older man walking beside a younger man. Upon further inspection, he had his arm around the younger man’s arm, guiding him toward the door. As they drew nearer, it became apparent that the young man was blind. Ok, so I can be a little slow on the uptake sometimes.

That to me was a beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit, who is often called the Paraclete. That translates as Comforter, but it literally means “One who walks alongside.”

I couldn’t help thinking after this morning how often the Holy Spirit will come alongside us and guide us into truth in much the same way. I know that I can so often be like the Pharisees who bragged about how they could see but were really so blind to the truths coming out of Jesus’ mouth.

Often, I need help getting where Jesus wants me to go. On my own, I’ve been known to stray from the narrow path and miss what Jesus is trying to tell me.

That picture will always be in my mind. It wasn’t a picture of someone being frog-marched against their will but of gentle nudges in the right direction. It was complete trust and surrender that the one leading knew best.

Do you and I trust that the Holy Spirit of God knows best? Will we allow ourselves to be lead by Someone who knows where He is leading us and that it is for our ultimate good? Will we surrender to our ideas of where we need to go and what we need to do and simply follow unquestioningly without hesitation?

That’s my prayer for tonight. I hope it’s yours as well.

What I’m Up To These Days

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So I’m sure that many of you are dying to know what I’ve been up to lately. You know, like what amazing music I’m listening to and what great restaurants I’ve been frequenting. Because I am such the trend-setter.

I’ve continued my old-school trend. In the car today, I listened to a Steely Dan retrospective and Miles Davis’ Miles Ahead (another fantastic collaboration between Miles and Gil Evans).

I tried out a new (to me) Thai restaurant on 8th Avenue South called the Smiling Elephant. It was as good as the hype had led me to believe it would be. If you go there, be sure to order the Pad Thai. You will be wanting to slap yo momma.

I picked up a classic devotional at Goodwill called Come Away, My Beloved. Think of it as a kind of early version of Jesus Calling. And it was only $2.99. Win.

I’m still trying to figure out how to slow down and savor more when I’m reading God’s Word. I’m ahead of schedule on my plan to read through the Bible in a year (I’m working through Isaiah as of this writing) and I don’t want to speed-read through and miss out on what God might want to say to me.

Oh, and I could use a couple extra hours in the day, solely for the purpose of getting more sleep. I find that 5:15 comes ridiculously early these days, though it is nice to see the sun already rising when I wake up.

Every day of life is still a miracle not to be wasted on bitterness, regret, anger, fear, or envy. Every set of 24 hours is unique and precious and will not come again, so make the most of each day like it might be your last. Don’t die wishing you could have a second chance to do what you never got to do the first time.

 

 

Making Every Day a Sabbath

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“There are days when we seek things
for ourselves and measure failure
by what we do not gain.

On Shabbat, we seek not to acquire
but to share.

There are days when we exploit nature
as if it were a horn of plenty
that can never be exhausted.

On Shabbat, we stand in wonder
before the mystery of creation.

There are days when we act as if we
cared nothing for the rights of others.

On Shabbat, we remember that justice is
our duty and a better world our goal.

So we embrace Shabbat:
day of rest, day of wonder, day of peace” (Mishkan T’Filah, Shabbat service– borrowed from 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker)

You can argue all day long about whether Sabbath belongs on a Saturday or a Sunday. I personally believe the day isn’t as important as what you do with it.

Sabbath is a day of rest and restoration. Not necessarily a day of doing nothing. Perhaps it’s a day when you step back from the rat race and let yourself breathe in and out and just be.

Sabbath is a day to remember that it’s not up to you to get it all done. In fact, the most vitally important work has already been done. God in Jesus did it through Calvary.

The universe does not revolve around you and all your drama. You aren’t the point of the story God is writing but you still get to play a part in it. You do matter very much to the same God who never lets a sparrow fall to the ground.

The world will go on just fine if you step out for a moment. Contrary to popular opinion, the universe will not cease to exist if you take a break from your hectic 24/7 schedule. Go and take that nap.

Sabbath is about trusting the Maker of the Universe to keep it going. To keep you going. To keep you safe. To keep you sane. To get you through and get you home.