Category Archives: Christian Living

These Present Troubles

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Jesus is clearly a champion of the poor, hungry and needy.

Yet when a woman pours a year’s salary worth of perfume on him, and the disciples criticize this move as being too extravagant (“That should have been sold and the money given the poor”), Jesus says this: “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” (John 12:8)

Jesus isn’t being callous and uncaring about the poor. He’s being realistic. This world is always going to have problems. There will always be trouble. You’ll always have something that needs fixing. Don’t use that as an excuse not to worship God.

I have several issues that I’ve been presenting to God repeatedly for a couple years, basically crying and saying ‘fix it!’

But God hasn’t snapped his fingers and made all the issues go away. What I have come to realize is that if God solves my current problems, I’ll just end up having different ones.

He wants me to seek him, follow him, worship him where I am. Israel wasn’t told to worship God once they got to the promised land. They were called to do it in the desert, before they ever got their promised inheritance.

If, no – check that, WHEN we have problems; health, money, relationships, school, career – we can’t get to the attitude that once God makes it better, we’ll really do a better job of loving him and living for him.

Jesus said that it’s okay, not to ignore the poor or forget about them, but to prioritize them. God is more important that our present troubles. We can lavish our love and affections on him, even from a place of brokenness and imperfections. Heck, what could be better than genuine worship in the midst of situations that try to rob you of your passion?

Jesus even says in John 16:33 that we are going to have trouble in this world. But that we should take heart, be encouraged. Because he is greater, and it’s all going to be okay in the final analysis.

God cares for the poor, desperate and needy; and he wants us to care as well. But if we are going to help restore this world, we’ve got to keep our priorities straight.

We need not feel guilty about giving God the best of us.

The Difference Between Having Faith and Being Delusional

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Recently, I’ve been asking God and asking myself where the line is between faith and stupid.

When do I stop being a man of faith and become a lunatic?

When a man absolutely convinces himself (and others) that God has showed him that the world will end on a certain date, then the date passes, we see the obvious conclusion that he was a wacko.

But didn’t he think he was having faith? Dismissing any doubts that God had revealed something to him – is that not what the life of faith is about?

So I have been trying to determine how to believe things that God says in the scriptures, even when there may be apparent evidence to the contrary, without crossing the line to being delusional.

One, clearly wrong, answer is to abandon faith. That’s the other end of the spectrum from becoming delusional. Becoming a stark realist. I refuse to end up there. We serve a supernatural God who does provide and fulfill promises. A God who calls things that are not as though they were (Romans 4:17).

The scriptures extol us repeatedly to have faith:

We live by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)

And without faith it is impossible to please God… (Hebrews 11:6)

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. (John 14:13)

“…if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”(Matthew 17:20)

So a life that is devoid of faith is not an option, but rather a less than desirable condition. So what, then? How do we arrive at a place where we have faith, but aren’t crushed when somebody at church we prayed for dies from cancer? When we’ve been asking for God to do something in our lives, but nothing seems to change?

This is when I recalled Jesus’ admonition to have faith like that of a child (see Luke 18:17).

My believe me when I tell them things. That doesn’t make my children delusional. It just means that they trust me. They accept the things I tell them without being skeptical or critical. They know that, as an adult, I know more things than they know. So if I say something, they take it at face value.

I think maybe that’s how I’m supposed to have faith in God. He knows more that I do. He has my best interest in mind.

If I, being totally imperfect, do my best to instruct my children and show them the right way to live and the best way to accomplish things in life, how much more will God be able to accomplish the same in the lives of his children?

I don’t know why sometimes I can’t seem to get the results in prayer that Jesus told me to expect. But rather than getting mad or resentful at God, I’m just taking the approach of saying ‘I guess I’m not doing it quite right’, and I’m trying to continue learning from my Father in Heaven – the way a child does.

Faith and Works

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I was reading the book of James yesterday when I came across 2:22:

“Faith is made complete by what you do.”

I imagine that Sunday morning worship services are kind of like being in a locker room with your basketball team before a game. You know what’s in the playbook/Bible because you’ve studied it. You’ve worked on your game/life. It isn’t perfect, but perfection isn’t the point right now. The point is to go out and perform as best you can. The Coach/Pastor gives you a spirited pep talk. Finally the doors open.

Do you get out there and play with every ounce of strength you’ve got? Are you part of a team effort to be victorious? Or do you slip off into the crowd, only returning for the next pep talk in the locker room?

Basketball players aren’t judged on their intentions. They aren’t judged on how excited they get in the locker room. Fans don’t care how well they know the playbook. They just care about seeing their team win.

We in evangelical Christianity are very weary of works-based salvation theology. It’s good to realize that every time you do something sacrificial or loving, you’re not getting an extra crown in heaven, or an extra room on your mansion. But if we just become hoarders of God’s love and grace while the rest of the world goes to hell in a hand basket, we’ve committed an even greater error.

Here’s the thing about the guys who win in the NBA: only the guys who put in the time and effort to be great get there. Guys like Kobe and LeBron and Kevin Durant, they put in more hours of work than their competitors. A guy like Allen Iverson, who famously mocked practice? I guarantee you he played more pick-up ball than you could believe. Talent is essential, but everybody in the NBA has talent. The question is whether you work to maximize that talent. Fans may not care about how much time and energy a player spends on practice and working out, but they sometimes forget that those are the very things that created the winner they love.

In Christianity, rather than talent, we can say that we all have the Holy Spirit living within us. But that if you don’t maximize your relationship with God, you’ll probably just end up being another bench warmer. The pews already have plenty of butts in them. What we need is more people who are seeking ways toact on their faith.

A basketball player with talent is incomplete. It will take hours of time, pounds of sweat and disciplined effort to become a champion.

A Christian with faith is incomplete. Because faith is made complete by what you do.

The Only Thing That Counts

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So check out what I found in the Bible yesterday:

Paul is talking to the church in Galatia about how you can’t earn God’s favor.

Sometimes, I feel like my life isn’t perfect because I’m either doing something wrong, or there’s something I’m not doing, or there’s some spiritual secret I haven’t grasped yet.

But I have to remind myself that even if I one day got it all together and became perfect from that moment forward, God wouldn’t owe me a dang thing.

If I act super spiritual for a week, God isn’t up in heaven saying, “well, I guess I have to give him that thing he’s been asking for now.”

If I’m going to let God utilize me, it’s going to be the imperfect version of my that exists now and always will exist.

This is what Paul is trying to hammer home to the Galatians: stop trying to make yourself perfect for God. When you make him part of your life, you become perfect in him.

And that’s when Paul says this:

“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6)

Bang.

That’s God’s grading rubric. Did your belief in God lead you to undertake actions based on love?

I think I subconsciously keep a running score on my own Christianity that’s based on how well I’ve avoided sin and done the ‘holy’ things: praying, reading the bible, etc.

I’m not saying that avoiding sin and praying and reading scripture is bad or worthless; I’m saying that’s not what God is primarily after. Those things will come out of a life of faith expressing itself through love.

The best results come when you’re doing things the right way, not when you’re trying to make the outcome look good.

Weakness and Strength

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In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about his health situation. You know, when he has a “thorn in his flesh”, and he asks God to take it away. But God refuses Paul’s request. Instead, God tells him, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” (verse 9)

We talk about this a lot in Christianity. That in our weakness, God is strong. I was on a retreat around this time last year, finishing my degree at Regent University and we were having a group discussion. One of the girls in my class asked, “Can God work through a weakness without it becoming a strength?”

I thought it was an interesting question. I have had many areas of weakness that God has transformed into a strength. God does that kind of thing all the time, I think – If we let him.

But what about working in a weakness, where the weakness never becomes a strength?

I told her about my autistic daughter, Elle. God has used her to speak to many people, not least of all myself and my wife, yet her disability still exists. In the difficult struggles we’ve had with her, God’s grace has been all the more abundant. Grace to handle the trials, and to press forward in her treatment and development.

God hasn’t ‘fixed’ the situation, but he’s been present to meet the needs which have arisen out of it.

We know, from reading the Bible, that God is making all things new. He’s busy setting things right. That started with Jesus’ sacrifice and it will be set to completion when he returns. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, a perfect reality.

But here and now, there is still brokeness. The Fall still echos in us and in all of creation. We have been called to work among the imperfection. And while we are partners with setting things right, sometimes what we have to work with the brokeness before it has been fixed.

I will never be perfect on this earth, yet God chooses to work in me and through me. I am weakness personified, yet God has no plan B. Though I am still flawed and imperfect and fallen, God’s glory comes through when I let it.

Instead of throwing away this world and all that is in it, it seems like he’s taking all the loose threads and weaving a beautiful tapestry. He shows his greatnessbecause he uses the broken, the imperfect, the flawed. There is no such thing as a person who isn’t good enough for God. Because the weaker we are, the more we recognize we need him, and the more he shows up.

It’s only when we get a fat head, thinking God owes us a debt of gratitude that we end up full of ourselves and bereft of his presence.

Let us all, as Paul says boast only in what the Lord has done.

In Jesus’ Name

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I have made the decision to stop saying “In Jesus’ Name” at the end of all my prayers.

Not because I believe that I shouldn’t pray in Jesus’ name, but because I believe that praying in Jesus’ name doesn’t mean slapping 3 words onto the end of whatever I say.

I watched a video by Francis Chan where he talked about this. We pray ‘I want, I want, I want, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme….In Jesus’ Name, Amen.’ and we call that praying in Jesus’ name.

I think that’s closer to taking the lord’s name in vain than it is praying in Jesus’ name.

The Seven Sons of Sceva (Acts 19) thought that they could toss Jesus’ name around in order to accomplish their own agenda. It didn’t turn out so well.

I’ve realized that I have spent most of my Christian life trying to get God to go along with what I wanted to do. I seem to forget that he is a lot smarter than I am. That I am the insignificant speck of dust and he is the infinite creator.

So these days, I have stopped tacking on the phrase “In Jesus’ Name” to all my prayers, and instead tried to learn to pray for the things he wants to do - forgiveness of sins committed against me; provision on a daily basis rather than an overabundance I can place my trust in; protection from the evil one – who is greater than me, but not greater than God; and for the coming of his kingdom and his will on this earth.

Rather than ‘how can I get what I want?’, my driving question is ‘how can I participate in what he is doing?’

Instead of saying that I’m praying in Jesus’ name, I’m actually trying to do it.

Dual Citizenship

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I started reading a book called You Lost Me by David Kinnaman today. It’s one of those books which is depressing to read because it presents truths that you wish didn’t exist. It’s about young adults who leave the church – and often their faith – behind because of how frustrated they are. The worst part is that their arguements are pretty darn valid.

In the book, Kinnaman refers to an idea which the church promotes a lot: being in the world, not of it.

We’ve all heard the saying that we are “in this world, not of it” many times, I’m sure. It comes from Jesus’ prayer for his disciples in John 17.

But I think when we in Church say it, we tend to have the idea that we need to add the word ‘but’. We are in this world BUT not of it. The obvious emphasis being that we need to remember the fact that we are above and beyond this valley of tears we call earth. We are looking forward to eternity in glory with the creator of all, the source of light and truth and love and peace! We just have to endure this nightmare a little while before we wake up and all is well.

And I think that’s the wrong mindset. In the prayer we refer to, Jesus says this: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:15 – emphasis mine)

I think that instead of saying “In this world BUT not of it”, we should say that we are “In this world AND not of it”. We’re not trapped here in the previews, waiting for the movie to start. The movie has begun! God’s kingdom is here. God’s kingdom is now.

The two concepts of “in this world, not of it” are not either/or, they’re both/and!

Songs like “When I die / Hallelujah by and by / I’ll fly away” speak to an escapist mentality that clearly wasn’t the intention Jesus had for his followers.

Let’s not view this life as a prison sentence where we are waiting for our parole. Paul balanced these dueling ideas when he said “To live is Christ, to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21)

There wasn’t a “bad option” that he wanted to avoid. Both were good. Heaven AND earth. We are in this world AND not of it. Let’s not seek to be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good.

We must build relationships in this world to have an impact. And relationships mean seeing eye to eye with people, not looking down on them. We are in this world just like everybody else is in this world. Let’s connect on that level, so that we can speak of the one who can make us to also be ‘not of it’.

Sin to Serve

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When I was younger, I struggled greatly with pornography. It was, by far, the greatest battle I’ve ever fought in my life.

When I finally got past this addiction (and I thank God for this), I found that I despised that particular sin more than any other. It had held me in bondage for so long and caused so much grief and pain, I just couldn’t stand it. And that feeling bled into people who were still trapped in it.

Here’s what I’m talking about: On my way home from work, I pass by a porn shop. Anytime I saw somebody going into the shop, I’d get mad at them. Didn’t they know how disgusting that place was? Didn’t they understand that they are hurting themselves as well as the girls being exploited? Why are they being so stupid?? Can’t they see how trapped they are?

But all this anger I felt at them was really anger I had felt toward myself. I had to learn to have compassion for those who are aren’t yet free from bonds which held me. To truly love the ‘sinner’ while hating the ‘sin’. Instead of passing the disappointment I felt in myself onto them, I had to learn to pass the hope that would eventually be fulfilled when I was free. To have the compassion upon them that God had on me. I completely deserved to be cut off forever from his Grace for what I did, but instead, he loved me when I least deserved it. This is what I had to learn to feel for those who were/are still in the midst of the quicksand I was pulled from.

See, I don’t believe getting delivered from a sin is enough. I believe God wants us to actually work to undo it’s effects in the world. To serve those who need a hand up.

I completed a race this past year call The Tough Mudder. Toward the end of this grueling 10 mile event was an obstacle called ‘Everest’ (link has some language, mute if you prefer). It was a quarter pipe, like you’d see at a skate park. We had to run up the increasingly vertical side of the pipe, grab onto the ledge, and pull ourselves up and over. The problem was that the preceding 9 miles of running up ski slopes, overcoming obstacles and being purposely kept wet in the freezing temperatures left most of us far too drained to beat this challenge. The surface of the quarter pipe was also pretty well slathered with slick mud.

So what happened is this: people built human chains for others to climb up and get on top of the ledge. Then, the people at the top of the ledge would lean over and help pull others up to the summit. At the point I went, I had to run and jump, barely grabbing onto the ledge that was 12 or so feet off the ground. At that point 2 or 3 guys grabbed my arms and helped haul me up. I probably would never have made it on my own. Once I was up, I turned around and helped the guy who came up behind me.

I think that’s how beating sin should work. If I had stood at the top of that obstacle and shook my head at how pathetic the people below were, I would have been the worst hypocrite on the planet. It also would have resulted in a ton of failure. Once you get up, give a hand to the others trying to get up.

I know God is the one who delivers us and frees us. But I also know that he made us to live in community and to help one another. If we don’t fulfill our roles, fewer people are going to make it over the challenge. And how horrible it is to be like me and instead of helping, standing at the top and angrily shaking my finger, discouraging anyone who would seek to ascend.

Jesus never sinned. But instead of loathing the wrong that people did, he had compassion on people. He alone had the right to look down on us, and he didn’t. He was the only person who could beat the obstacle of sin on his own. But instead of continuing to run off, leaving us to follow in his example, he stopped and reached over the ledge; ready to grab the muddy hand of anyone who would follow in his footsteps.

We must follow this example. We must accept his help to get over the challenges of sin we find in the path of our lives, then be ready to turn and offer a hand to others.

Birthday Charity

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On the evening of December 23rd, I went out with the Salvation Army to inner city Baltimore in order to hand out hot meals to homeless and/or needy persons.

Being only a little more than a day before Christmas, I figured there would be a larger number of people in line for meals that usual. Since people buy presents for kids at this time of year, I assumed that some people who are normally able to make ends meet would need a little help feeding themselves and their family.

When we drove out to the locations, we discovered that there was a large number of people who were in need, but we also discovered that there were many other people and groups passing out food. At one homeless shelter, we passed off several boxes of prepared meals, to find several pizzas being delivered for free as we drove off.

In honor of the Christmas season, it seems giving and charity was abounding. The driver of the truck I was on had a slightly different view. He said, “Oh yeah. Tomorrow if you come out here, there will be food just lying around. But come back a week from Monday and you won’t see any of that.”

It struck me just how tragic this all is. When we actually care and decide to do something about the issues which surround us, we can really do something about it. The problem is, we don’t care enough.

I understand that just handing out food for free all the time isn’t some kind of perfect solution. My point is that when we commit to being generous and charitable, we can really make a difference. Should it happen only once a year? Of course, I say no.

So how can we make sure that we all give the effort to meet the needs in our communities, but not at just one time?  Here’s my idea: we start a new idea that to celebrate your birthday, you do charity work.

That means each day will be covered throughout the year. And it only asks each person to do it one day out of 365. You can’t be much more reasonable than that.

Additionally, it takes an event that we normally direct toward ourselves: getting presents, eating cake, having a party; and we do something to remind ourselves that we’re supposed to be living a life of sacrifice, not just indulgence.

I’m not saying birthday cake and birthday parties are bad or evil. Just that maybe it’s a good time to dedicate ourselves to doing the work of God’s kingdom for another year.

So the next time you have a birthday, call a local charity and ask how you can volunteer on that day. If the million or so people who have a birthday in the United States each day took that chance to show their thanks to God for another year by blessing others, what couldn’t we accomplish!?

Just a thought.

Two Kingdoms

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I believe that there are two kingdoms.

The Kingdom of God and the kingdom of his enemy.

I believe these kingdoms are at war on the earth today.

The Kingdom of God has already secured the ultimate victory, but his enemy is unwilling to lay down his arms and peacefully surrender. He wants to cause as much damage as he can before he is destroyed permanently.

The kingdom of his enemy does not require any oaths or commitments. Everyone is by default a citizen of this kingdom from birth.

The Kingdom of God requires one to commit their life to the service of the King and renounce their citizenship to the kingdom of the enemy. It requires one to lay down his or her plans, desires and purposes and instead work only at the command of the King.

It does not require effort to advance the kingdom of God’s enemy, because disunity and confusion advance his purposes. Everyone may set their own agenda: money, power, comfort, religiosity, sex; these are all common individual purposes in the kingdom of the enemy.

It is also the reason that the enemy’s kingdom will not stand. It has no unified purpose other than to consume all that it comes in contact with. It is at war with itself all the time.

As as the Kingdom of God unifies behind the King – not behind a particular denomination or doctrine – he leads us in a great campaign of sabotage against the enemy.  He sent his son to lead our campaign: “the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8)

Our purpose is two fold: to press back the advancing lines of the kingdom of the enemy from his attempts to rule over the people of this earth, and to rebuild what his army has destroyed. He uses a slash and burn campaign, destroying anything he cannot have.

We share the secret that anyone in the kingdom of the enemy is free to defect. The miserable existence they lead now under the oppression and infighting of the enemy can be left behind.  The Kingdom of God is exclusive in so far as it is only for those who will stand with the King.

I serve at and for the pleasure of the King. And by my life or my death, I will advance his kingdom on this battleground called earth.

I don’t do this in my own strength, but in his. For unlike the kingdom of the enemy, who only takes from his denizens, our great King actually puts his life into us. He doesn’t make us hired soldiers. He makes us sons and daughters. He adopts us.

I stand with the King.