good enough

Listening to Your Fears Again

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

“‘Hush!’ said the other four, for now Aslan had stopped and turned and stood facing them, looking so majestic that they felt as glad as anyone can who feels afraid, and as afraid as anyone can who feels glad. The boys strode forward: Lucy made way for them: Susan and the Dwarf shrank back.

‘Oh, Aslan,’ said King Peter, dropping on one knee and raising the Lion’s heavy paw to his face, ‘I’m so glad. And I’m so sorry. I’ve been leading them wrong ever since we started and especially yesterday morning.’

‘My dear son,’ said Aslan. Then he turned and welcomed Edmund. ‘Well done,” were his words. Then, after an awful pause, the deep voice said, ‘Susan.’ Susan made no answer but the others thought she was crying. ‘You have listened to fears, child,’ said Aslan. ‘Come, let me breathe on you. Forget them. Are you brave again?’

‘A little, Aslan,’ said Susan” (C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian).

Everyone has fears.  Everyone.

Your fears may tell you that you’re not good enough– and never will be.

Your fears may tell you that people would never want to get to know the real you– and if they did, they wouldn’t like it.

Your fears may tell you that you can never change– and that it’s too late to try anyhow.

Everyone has different kinds of fears, but they all have one thing in common. All that fear is based on a lie. As a pastor once said, FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real.

Fear leaves out Christ. Fear doesn’t add God into the equation. Fear says that it is totally and completely up to you and that you’re not adequate to the challenge.

That’s partially true. You by yourself are not adequate for the challenge. But the God in you is. And He hasn’t left you to face your fears alone. He has provided a way out and a way through.

Let your fears lead you to the faith that leads you to worship, remembering that God has been faithful in the past and will not fail to do so in the future.

 

A String of Random and Disconnected Mutterings

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

For those of you who blog or do some other kind of writing, you know that some days you have this incredible burst of inspiration and creativity, and some days you don’t. Or as the old commercial says, “Some days you feel like a nut, some days you don’t.”

I think as I sit in front of my laptop at 11:37 pm that today is going to go down as one of those nutty yet uninspired days. I just have some randomly disconnected thoughts to share.

I keep thinking about a blog that I read recently. It speaks to how the world tells you “only,” as in only the best qualified get the jobs, only the most talented will make the sports teams, only the most popular can be in the social clubs. But God says “every.” As in “every one who asks, receives,” and “every one who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I like that. I like it so much I’m putting a link to the blog here so you can check it out for yourselves.

http://brianlamew.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/only-versus-every/

I’m also convicted by how shallow most American believers are. We don’t really know what we believe or how to articulate it. We are by and large Biblically illiterate and easily taken in by all kinds of false doctrines and heretical teachings.

I am also still stoked about the super deals I got at thrift stores recently. I bought a suitcase for $8, a tennis racket for $3, and  a Johnny Cash autobiography for $2. But so far, no tacky Christmas sweaters.

I think that the difference between all the other religions and faiths and Christianity is grace. Religions are all about what you have to do to appease God; Christianity is about what God in Christ has already done, and all you have to do is receive it. Religions are all about working harder and being good enough (although how good good enough is is rarely ever defined); Christianity says you can never be good enough, but you can trust in the perfect life of Jesus and believe that he died in your place.

That’s all for now. More randomness to come in the days and weeks ahead. I can promise you that.

 

The Best Blog Ever

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I had an idea for the best blog ever that would totally revolutionize the blogging universe and bring me instant fame and fortune. But I was in the car when the epiphany hit and had no way of writing it down so alas, it was lost.

I do have ideas from time to time that I miss. I think at the time, “I should probably write that one down.” But then I think, “Naaah, I will remember THIS one, unlike the fifty or so others that slipped my mind. This time will be different.”

Somewhere in the back of me ol’ noggin is a storehouse full of forgotten ideas and concepts for great books and lyrics to songs. I think it’s the same place where the missing socks go to die.

Maybe one day I will get completely organized and learn to take some kind of notebook or recording device to capture all of these ingenious ideas. Then again, half of them won’t seem so very ingenious after 24 hours. Oh well.

In my opinion, the best blog ever is the one that’s good enough that gets written down, rather the one that is 100% perfect that stays in my head. If you wait until everything is perfect to do anything, you will get nothing done. Sometimes good enough is good enough.

God didn’t call you and me to be perfect, but faithful. He can take “good enough” and use it to bless people. He can take imperfect people to pour His perfect love through to those who need it most.

 

 

Good Enough?

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

I’m going to say something that may cause you to want to boycott my blog and throw darts at my picture. But bear with me and what I’m about to say will make more sense.

I believe good Muslims and good Hindus and good Buddists will get to heaven. I do.

The question, however, is what defines good. And just how good is good enough?

The answer, according to the Bible, is that as much as we try to be good enough, we all fall short of the standard. Every single one of us.

So, the answer is that no one is really and truly good. Only God is good.

Don’t get me wrong. People do good things and many times have good motives, but deep down everyone of us are sinners who need a Savior.

So who will get to heaven? If it’s based on being good enough, no one will.

But what if Someone was good enough? What if that Someone was God, who took on human flesh and lived that perfect life that we could never possibly achieve?

What if that God-Man died in our place and took the punishment we deserved? What if He took upon Himself our very imperfect life and gave us His perfect life?

The only ones who get to heaven are the ones who receive Jesus and what He did for us. It’s not about trying harder or working more or being better, but trusting what Jesus has already done.

I get that this is not politically-correct or popular. I get that I may lose viewers. I’m okay with that.

I can only speak what I know to be true. And that is that I was as lost and helpless in my sin as anybody and Jesus found me and called me by name and rescued me. He took away my sin and gave me new life and a new future.

And He can do the same for you.

 

 

 

Is Good Enough Really Good Enough?

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

Tonight, I watched the movie Courageous. On a side note, I found it not to be a Christian movie with some good parts, but a good movie with a Christian message. We need more of these kind of movies out there.

But I digress.

One of the main characters said something to the effect of “I don’t want to just be a good enough father.”

We shouldn’t be just good enough fathers and mothers. We shouldn’t be just good enough brothers and sisters, or sons and daughters, or husbands and wives, or friends. Or anything.

More than anything, we shouldn’t strive to be just good enough to get by with God.

We should strive for excellence in everything.

We should seek to go the extra mile in serving and loving others.

We should turn the other cheek and not return hate with more hate, but with love.

We should make time for those people in our lives, no matter how inconvenient, to show them they matter not just in lip service, but in actions that speak louder than words.

It’s easy to settle for second-rate and coast. I’ve done that too many times.

But did Jesus only do good enough to secure our salvation? Did he halfway seek to win our hearts?

I’m not saying if we do more and work harder, God will love us more.

I am saying that if we are truly living out of the freedom of being forgiven and we are truly grateful, our lives will show it. If we live in complete dependence on the power of the resurrected Jesus, we won’t be half-hearted anymore. We will be all in.

I don’t want to just be good enough anymore. Do you?