Being Bound

At first I was bound.
Like a hound to the sound
of his breakfast hitting the bowl.
Invisible chains restrained,
a harness to foil my refrain.
I made the locks,
clamped the stocks,
threw the rocks,
for from me and through me and to me I made up God.
God who was not there,
who was nowhere anywhere.
I formed him from my own,
clay from experience and what I’d been shown.
I made him strong and full of might,
so I dare not transgress what he called right.
I made him know all there was inside,
so he could find the inklings of my shallowest pride.
I made him deep and very wide,
so I could stretch and grow my mind.
I made him crasy and made him wild,
so I’d not be too close and trust his smile.
I made him fire, too good for me,
so in my failure I could feel his heat.
I made him to figure my fixes,
to riddle my tricks and
make me better.
I made him for me;
to achieve;
to believe
in something.
I finally felt the chains,
the scars from whips which I had made,
the hopeless burrow I had caved.
This God, this other than I
was a dying hole which
I dug deeper to try.
The sting of my pain
realized my gain:
I was nothing.
I had failed.
I was bound and knew it now,
for what we call good is what I sought.
The goodness of lessons and sayings,
of contorting so others will clap.
It deepened the distance between truth and fact.

At last I was bound.
Bound to God.
The one of existence, not of mind or mud.
The God who lives,
and willingly loves.
Under no obligation,
promise or fee;
through tribulation
tears and . . .
Me.

I am bound to forgiveness and bound to his grace.
I am bound for eternity, face to face

Others: the difference between religion and love

Have you ever noticed the glaring difference in the life and message of the Bible? Sure there are MANY similarities and ideas in other writings. I, and no Christian, should have any reserves about this–truth is truth no matter whose lips in falls out of. But the most important things, the ‘game changers,’ the ‘deal breakers,’ (please insert your little catch-phrase to convey the ‘big ideas’), the things that are going to cause people to fight, these things are wildly different in the Bible than any other religious views. Paramount among these views is others.

Others, the idea that I am supposed to exist and live for God AND OTHER PEOPLE, people other than myself is silly crazy! Islam, you say, has as one of their ‘Five Pillars’ the giving of alms, and that helps people. It does. But the giving of alms or any of the acts of kindness or charity are not about the other person, it is about the person GIVING not the one RECEIVING. If you do not give alms eternity will be an unpleasant place for you (in a Muslim view).

This is religion–not love–at its finest: I do for others as a means for myself. (Lsiten to yourself say that!) But Islam is not by any means alone in this; almost all serious religions–those that really are concerned for the soul–are set-up this way and there are even false sects of people calling themselves ‘christians’ who believe such things. I do this or that and there is some sort of obligation by some greater power to let me into the greater existence. Be good; try real hard; write a lot of books; set yourself on fire; go on a pilgrimage; never say no (because you may be right); never say yes to desires (because you’re bad); don’t look at women; don’t eat certain items; be single your whole life; have a thousand kids if you can; memorize certain texts; empty your mind; be ascetic; go a hedonist; get all you can; sell all you have; pray all the time; pray 5 times a day; pray when you feel like it; be an optimist; be skeptical; retain your naivete; be chipper; be mournful; make light of life; or you better take it seriously; wisdom is found in nothingness; nothing is unwise; live for the now; think for the future. Whew! I feel like throwing up!

There is a song that says, ‘What’s the point of trading a law you could never keep [which will give you everything if you did keep it]/ for one you can that cannot get you anything?’

We try so hard to do something and our reward will be nothing, as the guy from Men’s Warehouse says, ‘I guarantee it.’

If you try your hardest or follow all the rules you’ll get nothing, because you cannot do right and good at all times. Everyone is in this state, we are all screwed for eternity unless God himself intervenes. God owes nothing. Humans–us–have created the idea that somehow God does owe us if we try to make him happy every now and then. Yet every religion in the world tries to blackmail God in their own clever ways. And sadly billions enter eternity having no clue as to what it is God requires of them to go to Heaven and be with him. Our ‘good enough’ is not only miserably (and laughably in comparison) short, but it is offensive to God that we would try and lower his standard.

What is a massive thing that humans cannot do on their own without something of God residing in them? Love others genuinely without the hope or expectation of anything in return. That IS love: doing for the sake of someone else, not you.

You see, the Apostle Paul, in the book of Galatians says that the whole law is fulfilled in one word, love your neighbor [others] as yourself. The point of the ‘others’ mentality is not to win a reward so God will be pleased with us, the point is . . . others. (WHAT?!?!) I know. Crazy. A cat meows; eyes see; water is wet; Christians love (if you haven’t taken the SAT, you’re welcome for that little practice test).

God gets a kick out of this for sure because he has designed it that he gets the props, the accolades when Christians love people BECAUSE the Christian’s love for someone else is a reverberation of God himself; we can’t genuinely love other unless we are loved in that way by God himself (we do only because he has done).

If you’re still skeptical just listen to Jesus as he spoke with his posse: ‘No greater love has anyone than this, that he would lay his life down for his friends.’ Well that’s easy for you to say, Jesus. No, it really wasn’t. He did it. He became a screaming, needy little baby, lived in our hurtful and deadly world as a human. Then he died for not only his friends but his enemies–and not his school-yard enemies; the enemies who physically killed him. He died for others: he loved. He did something benefitting others in the greatest magnitude: he loved.

God is love and TO love is to love God (and others).

Monday is for Morons: 12-12-2001

I woke up to the insistent dribbles of rain forcing their way to ground. Not only was it raining, but it is almost cold enough to make snow. What a lousy combo. I don't know about you but on a day like this I'd rather sit around a fire and drink something hot as I engulf myself into a great read... NOT go outside and do something.

Remember John in the New Testament? Not Jesus' brother who probably wrote 5 books of the Bible; the other one, the one who dressed like Tarzan mixed with an Eskimo and baptized people. Well he was put into prison and knew things would probably not end terribly well for him. I imagine him in some feces infested cell, darkened by some Mid-Eastern night, wondering about that guy everyone was calling Jesus: 'I wonder if he really is it; I wonder if he really is the one we have all been waiting for.'

Maybe you are wondering the same thing. Maybe you you're just feeling . . . bleh. On a cold, raining day it is easy to feel blasé. Well John, instead of wondering until his head fell off, sent some of his dudes to go ask Jesus if he was 'it,' the Messiah Israel was waiting for. Jesus answered them by telling the messengers, 'Report back to John what you yourself are seeing. I heal the corrupted and I preach good news to the poor.'

Jesus is the Messiah not only Israel, but the whole world, YOU, have been waiting for. It is okay to have blasé Mondays because Jesus is come. And for those who would come to HIM with their broken-down lives full of disgusting and many sins he will forgive. He has footed the bill already. And he will continue to do so for all time.

Don't let the day moderate your heart, go to Jesus who is full of mercy.

Is Orthodoxy Your Christ?

Is orthodoxy your Christ?

Sometimes we can forget why it is we do what we have done for so long.

There is a story of a man who, like many, fell in love with a gal he met his Sophomore year of college. They dated, got married, had children, even adopted one. But over time the man slowly stopped surprising his wife with a flower or note or wink, that 'something' in him for her began to fade. He was the same man who provided for his family, played with his children and tenderly cared for them, who made his wife, in some ways, still feel special... but something had faded which once was there. He would never consider divorce or separation, for he saw nothing in the relationship that was off. He would always be the husband at his wife's side, the father there with wisdom and grace for his children. But the thing which he lacked was this: he worried so much about being a good father and husband that he stopped loving his wife and children. He would not say it, his family would not say it, but it was the reality. His desire was not to set-out to emotionally schism from his family, it just sort of happened. He had the mechanics of one who outwardly displayed love, but he was more of a robot than a man; he DID more than he was compelled.

In the book of Revelation, second chapter, Jesus charges the church at Ephesus with 'abandoning the love you had at first.'

This was probably shocking to many in the churches at that time. You mean us? We have protected the truth, orthodoxy, right thinking about you? We have undergone persecution for our views which are correct. We fought against the heresy of the Nicolaitans! How can you say we are lacking love?

Just like the man, Ephesus, full of good and truth, was without love.

Facts do not give life. Love gives life. We always need true truth, but truth which forsakes its source, God, is a deadly poison for it has all the workings of love, yet without the life.

Monday is for Morons: 12-05-2011

The weekend has conceded. The week greets you. Hopefully this realization isn't surprising--cause you're probably late to wherever you need to be--and hopefully this remembrance isn't too depressing.

Sure, it may have been a lousy weekend. Maybe a lousy week. Maybe a lousy month or so . . . . /year. That's okay. You're allowed to feel glum, I promise. But let's remember today what the opening of Psalm 118 says, 'Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.'

Why give thanks to God? Because if you are a follower of Jesus, his son, you are loved by him. The love that God has for his people, his children is one that doesn't go out, one that never shrinks, his love is always as intense as when you first realized it, as hot as when it first came out of the oven. You have sinned a lot, me too. But we can still follow God, we can still turn back to him . . . only because his love is more durable than that.

As the song goes, his love 'will not let me go.' Do you believe that? You may fail, but God's love is there for the taking. Always. You cannot sin so big that God will forsake you, no! We hate sin so much BECAUSE he loves us so much. Our sin does not have the final say, God's mercy does.

The Legend of Legacy

Have you ever dreamed about how you would be remembered? How history would speak of you? I have. I’ve had tons of crazy and exciting ideas regarding the way generations down the road would perceive me in all my glory. When I first became a Christian, in my silly zeal I wanted to be a missionary somewhere dangerous with the hope of being martyred!

But we hear it all the time don’t we? ‘What’s going to be the legacy you leave behind?’ ‘How will you make an impact on the world?’ ‘Will your decedents be proud of who you were?’ But more awkward, if you are a Christian: ‘What will history say of your work for the cause of Christ?’ ‘How many people will greet you in Heaven who, if it were not for you, would not be there’ ‘How many people will you have discipled?’ ‘Will you have an -ism attached to your last name because of your scholastic or dynamic ministry?’

Oh the burden of building such a great legacy! You need to get workin on that yesterday! You need to do so many great things and impact so many important people who will then go on to influence a certain nation who has never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ before!

Unfortunately we have traded an act of love in for a a ragged, selfish and melting dream of meaning something in the world, of being someone, being known; we have tainted good charity for me-zeal.

As one pastor pointed out, ‘What was your great, great, great grandmothers name?’ You know what, if it wasn’t for ancestry.com you’d be unknown to your own great, great, great grandchildren, but even then they will, more than likely, not know you–who you are, what you were like, how you smiled, what made you tick.

It is hard to find people in the Bible who care about their legacy like we are so often told to do. And the guys and gals we do find in the Bible who are concerned about such things end up on the opposite side of God’s favor because they were worried about how they would be remembered, not how they loved their Maker and their fellow human beings.

Remember in the book of Esther, the idiot Haman was trying to promote himself and wanted all his friends and family and nation to worship him . . . but he ended up being hung on his own gallows. Remember Peter how he stuck his neck out when he said, ‘Lord, I’ll not forsake you’–he was saying, ‘look at me! I’ll be better than everyone else!’–but he too ran away when the possibility of persecution came. Or the king in Daniel who lost his marbles and lived like an animal so God would make him see that he was nothing. Or most pointedly the author of Ecclesiastes who taught that all things in this world, no matter how great you made them or influenced them, will be passed on to someone else who didn’t do a thing to deserve it.

You see, Christians are those who already know who they are. We are a people who do not have to prove ourselves. We are humbled beyond understanding simply because we are God’s children. We have no need of impressing others. We have no need of making sure we have left indelible impressions on hundreds by our speeches and acts. No, we Christians are more concerned about Jesus than ourselves; we are happy being described by the word mere. If someone wrote a book about most of the incredible followers of Jesus, we might be bored to tears because God looks at the heart not at all the sparkling achievements we're so use to applauding.

To understand that to be enveloped in Christ is what is most important is to understand everything with regard to this legacy making mess. You will be forgotten by the world and your family, it is the law of life. But you will never be forgotten by your Father. The mystery is that His legacy is yours.

Monday is for Morons (Thanksgiving Special): 11-21-2011

Thanksgiving is coming. Thanksgiving time can be incredible! You see family. You hang out with friends. You get relax and eat great food until you're queazy. Watch some football or parades. Go shopping with a bunch of angry people who refuse to go shopping until that notoriously dark Friday.

Yet for all the same reasons it can be the most troubling time. A few years back I experienced my worst Thanksgiving. I had to work a half-day on Wednesday and a full-day on the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was cold. I was alone in my entire apartment complex. I had nothing to do. I was away from my family. And to make it more sad I had borrowed my cousins violin and so I played it outside, alone, in the cold, in the dark whaling the safest sounding notes I could figure out. It was pathetic! I started, as is normal in these situations, to feel sorry for myself. But I really was just sad I was in the state I as.

IT is times like these (and maybe the same for you coming up) that such a reminder of WHO we are and to WHOM we belong is a necessary and 'okay, I can keep going on and make it through' thing. The Apostle Paul in his book to the Colossians writes, 'You have died, your life is hidden with Christ in God.' (3.3) If you are a follower of Jesus you know that you do not deserve any kind thing from God--if you are not a follower of Jesus I hope you soon realize this. And therefore the words 'Your life is hidden with Christ in God' are amazing! You are seen by God the Father as Jesus is seen by God the Father. When God sees you he sees that you forgave your enemies, you persevered through temptation, you loved others, you felt compassion for the weak and helpless, you healed others. You are God's child just like Jesus. This is a ridiculous good deal that no Black Friday offer will come close to. AND IT IS FREE!!

Paul also remarks that 'You have died.' You're dead! You, the way you use to believe, the things you use the think could get you all you wanted, the law you lived by gonzo! You're a Christ follower now and you are hidden in Christ! The Gospel reminds us that we are Children of God, not merely acquaintances, not simply simply friends, not even just relatives, but God's children. And he is a good, the best, the supreme Father to us.

So go eat your turkey or ham and pies. Go and remember that the toughest difficulties you go through, no matter how hard you fall and how many times you sin in the worst kind of way, if you entrust yourself to Jesus you will never cease to be his brother and the Father's child whom he loves infinitely.

monday is for morons: 11-14-2011

Have you ever been trapped? Stuck somewhere, in something and you did not know if you were ever going to be able to escape? Maybe if you have ever gotten an MRI and you slide in that small space you freak out for a moment. I had a reoccurring dream where I was swimming in a long pool and there was a sea creature always coming to get me and I could never get away! (thankfully I always woke up before I died)

Sinning can make you feel like this. 'I did this sin again: I will never win!' Or maybe you just came to the realization that you sin a lot and you cannot handle it: 'how could God love me?' Or maybe you look around at the world and see how distraught and dysfunctional it is and lose all hope and want it all to be over. Either way, we can feel trapped by sin. We can feel like its avalanche has fallen on us and we are counting down our breathes underneath a city of snow.

The ironic thing is that if you are a follower of Jesus, you are trapped by God's love! You cannot escape IT. You are coffined in by it. You are drowned by it. Psalm 23 concludes with: goodness and mercy me are CHASING me. You're the Pac-man and God's grace is the little ghosts that will never stop--and they get you all the time. God's love is that avalanche, not sin.

You see, because of what Jesus has done in dying for you you are not guilty of your sin anymore! 'But you don't know me! I have dark sins that are huge that God cannot ever forgive if he had eternity to do so!' Maybe I don't know you and maybe you have some serious issues but God can and will forgive you if you'd just go to him. God not only created you but the entire world and universe, every galaxy. HE WILL FORGIVE YOU IF YOU GO TO HIM. Jesus became like us so that we could be with God again. He became human so we could be holy. He died so we could have eternal life. He loved so we could love. He suffered so we could be comforted in our suffering. He rose from death so we too could rise from death. He was counted and called 'CURSED!' so that he could BE US in death and ruin the effects of sin for us!

There is no sin too big, too hideous, too appalling, too odd and repeated that God cannot or will not forgive. How can this be? It is only because of Jesus' work for us. You're not going to be perfect . . . ever in this life. I sin a lot! Much more than I care to. Everyone sins a lot everyday. So let's go to our God and get some forgiveness today, for now our running is from God's mercy, not his wrath.

I can't stand some people . . .

You know what I can't stand? People who seem like they have no
problems. They are always smiling and laughing and . . . well I want
to go kick them in the shins but I'm afraid they would start laughing,
I would shrivel up into nothing and die! But it is the truth: these
people are messed up in the brain. I mean maybe like some people have
brown eyes God made some people to have a few wires loose upstairs so
that the glass is always full even when there is no glass! You know
the type of people I am talking about don't you? And if you don't, go
look in the mirror and try and frown--bet you can't do it because you
ARE one of them!

I cannot be around these people because I thought this is what it
meant to be a Christian. For one reason or another I thought that you
had to smile and say things like 'it is okay' or 'it could be worse'
when you just got diagnosed with cancer. I thought that you had to be
SO delighted with Jesus that you (not only shouldn't) but COULDN'T
appear to be unhappy lest you ruin your witness! I thought that you
had to act like everything was okay when your entire life looked like
a pile of . . . well something not good.

Boy was I happy when I discovered that Jesus suffered greatly and
wasn't smiling the whole time. I do not know where some people get
this idea that since there is fullness of joy in God we are oblivious
and immune to pain and suffering and the blues. But if I ever did find
out I'd go to that place and knock some heads around.

Listen, if you are a Christian it is okay to mourn--and not just over
your terrible sins! It is okay to feel annoyed when you have the flu;
it is okay to uncontrollably cry for a time when you have a
miscarriage; it is okay to feel really unhappy not eat a few days when your spouse dies;it is okay to feel glum when you just failed your test; it is okay to
feel bad and sad and even mad sometimes. You know why? Because Jesus
lets us. He was, the bible tells us, a man of SORROWS and ACQUAINTED
WITH MUCH GRIEF. You remember what Jesus was doing before he was
betrayed by one of his followers? He was grinding his teeth and
begging God for another way. He was so into it he was sweating drops
of blood instead of salty water. He was in agony. I guarantee you if
someone within a thousand miles of him tried to smile at that moment
they couldn't. He ground his teeth which means the agony within was so
real it made his outsides go yonkers.

If you're one of those whacks who thinks that when you're a Christian
you have to be happy all the time, you need to get your brain checked
or you're not a Christian because Christians are human. Life is hard
and sometimes unbearable Yea, there is
hope. Yes, there is joy. Of course, you can smile if you need to. But
don't go thinking that when you get hurt or harmed you have to 'put on
a happy face!' Go be sad for a little while and soon enough you will
remember that Jesus is there with you, being sad right along side with
you

he gives us so much

2 Peter 1.3 says, 'God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.'

I don't know if you have ever seen a fighter jet in flight. It is amazing. They move much faster and with more precision than anything else in the air. They make airline jets look like a flying snail. These fighter jets can do amazing things. They can only do amazing things though if they have a pilot guiding them who knows what these machines are capable of and ALSO how to properly use the great machine. If the pilot is useless the whole vessel is useless.

We have the fighter jet spiritually. God has given us everything we need. This comes through Jesus. As someone has said, we don't need to learn how to jump higher we need to fly and only the Gospel of Jesus dying on sinner's behalf, sinners like myself, can make us fly. We have the jet.

Why is it then that we seem to flounder around? We seem to keep doing the same sins over and over. We seem to not trust God. We become anxious. We think we are made for happiness only. We could go on. If 1 Peter 1.3 is true, why are these other things true?

It is NOT that the cockpit of the fighter jet is complex and confusing and we just need to learn more and more before we can fly. No. I think it is that we don't believe the jet. We don't believe the Gospel. It seems too good to be true. If the Bible means what it says . . . no, we have learned better: if something is too good to be true than it probably is [too good and not true].

I understand. But here is the deal: it is either real and seemingly too good or it is nothing. There is no between. You're either barrel rolling in an F-16 or trying to jump a few more inches.

No matter what your upbringing tells you, the Gospel is real. The Bible means what it says in ALL its fullness. No matter what your life has looked like in the past and no matter how you may fall in the future, if you go to Jesus, needing Jesus and trusting Jesus you are Jesus' brother, you are a child of the God who created the galaxies and the gardenias in the yard. It is all true.

So what do you say we step in the jet again and stop jumping?

Monday is for Morons: 10-31-2011

Jesus was just beaten to a bloody and disgusting mess. He was being called names and maligned. After the long nails went through his hands and he was stapled down to the cross. They, without concern of smoothness or being ginger, flopped the cross upright in the hole in the ground. The joking and final flop of the cross into the hole further ripped skin and stretched tendons. There Jesus hung. A picture of poverty portrayed, paradoxically to save.

Then the guy next to him and an 'ahah!' moment. Maybe he saw Jesus earlier in his life; as he was walking around the city heard of Jesus' claims, saw a miracle or two. Or maybe he had never met him before but,picking up on the jeers, discerned who Jesus was. Regardless, here he is suffocating along side the Son of God. 'Jesus,' he whispers out between breaths 'remember me in paradise.' Can you believe it?! I mean this guy was feeling sorry for himself, for at his 'death bed' he realized what an idiot he had been his whole life. I mean people steal because they don't work, right? Sure, live your whole life like you want then at the end whine like a baby and seek repentance, what a moron!

But wait. The disfigured face of Jesus clearly claws out a sentence, 'Today, you will be with me in paradise.' WHAT!?!

The truth of it all is that Jesus' mercy and grace and love and compassion and patience are far greater, far more shocking and scandalous than we could ever have imagined. It does not take a life-time of good deeds and bible reading to enter to bliss of Christ's presence forever. It takes the realization that all your friends already know, you're a rotten to the core sinner. But Heaven is stock full of rotten apples like you! What's one more? There is no sin too large that God, like Gallagher, won't obliterate to bits! Smashing it to that it covers the earth as they life at the sin's triviality.

You have a sack full for God to smash? That's okay, he has both the time and the power for it. 'But these are some really big ones!' you reply. He has it covered, he'll just bring out a bigger hammer. Hurry, find your forgiveness in Jesus' work, go now, before you feel so guilty again that you think he could never forgive you.

Tried Hands

Monday is for Morons: 10-24-2011

Sometimes Mondays can feel like an unhappy awakening from an otherwise fanciful life that you were living. I'm willing to say that the guy who invented sliced bread did so on the weekend, woke up on Monday and was still bummed. And sometimes it seems it would be more pleasant to listen to an entire album of nails on the chalkboard then to roll out of bed. This is life . . . but not all of it, thank God.

There is a verse in the Bible's Old Testament, the book of Psalms, which was often the only reason my work chair stayed occupied: 'Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy!' Think of that in an agrarian culture; if you did not sow the seed for your crops at the appropriate time, come harvest season you'd be looking at the ground going 'crap,' because nothing has come for you and your family to eat or sell. So a point here, the one which was helpful to me, is that your labor today is somehow helpful to you or will be. It is maybe part of a stepping stone in your career or maybe your life; maybe it is as simple as being productive and useful; for most it is a means to place food on the table, heat in the house and toilet paper on the roll.

Today may be the worst day in the world, but keep hope. For the Christian there is hope. Work is not JUST work. And sadness will not remain forever. Remember the Gospel of Jesus. He did not come to make you a perfect being with no flaws while on earth. He came to save you because you, because all of us, are a bunch of idiots who very frequently forget that God is god and we are not god. 'I have sinned!' you say. I have too. all of us have. Now let us together remember that Jesus, if we believe in him, what he did, if we entrust ourselves to him (lots of words here but it is not hard) we are forgiven forever. And that is a long time.

Monday is for Morons

What makes you a Christian--if you claim to be one? Is it all the good or admirable things you have done . . . or thought about doing? Mmmmm, no. Maybe it is your sincerity in whatever you do end up doing. That's kind of dumb--sorry. Ugh, maybe you are a Christian because you were baptized, or you say your prayers; OH! You are a Christian because your parents are, and they still go to church sometimes. You DO have that tattoo that could be interpreted as spiritual, and Christianity is spiritual.

Okay. That is weak. Let's see . . .


Maybe you are pretty good. You read your bible a lot. You pray not only for yourself but for other people. You even (watch out now) GIVE MONEY TO THE CHURCH!

When I became a Christian and started trusting Jesus I knew next to nothing. I knew what the bible was and could misquote you some funny sounding bible verses--'eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow will be like today or far better!'--I liked that one. I did not know big confusing sounding words like theology, soteriology, ecclesiology, blah blah blah. While these big words are helpful, they did not save me.

Somewhere along the line of life after my salvation I began understanding some more things in the bible. I read some thick books. I started learning those big words. As this happened a terrible and stupid OTHER thing happened as well: I started believing that other people were not REAL Christians until they knew the things I knew. Can you believe it!? I just tried to disqualify my own salvation. What a goof I was. Thankfully God softly back-handed me in the face and allowed me to see how silly I was thinking about things.

You need not be some scholar sporting a sweater vest and a mean beard. You do not even need to know one verse in the bible by memory! You do not need to have all your stuff together. You do not need to clean up your act. You do not need to do anything really.

Jesus says he came to save people who knew well that they needed saving. They knew they were SOL without someone helping them. Don't put your hope of salvation in your actions or thoughts or a scale--I did not do too much bad stuff. Put your hope in Jesus again. He is probably the only one who truly and completely and with empathy knows all you're going through and still loves you fully.

Imagination and Revelation

Here at Living in a Larger Universe, from time to time, we like to observe and think using the reasoning and logic and observation God has given us.

Clive Staples Lewis, (yes, someone named their son that, I too would just use the letters and not spell it out) was a fascinating mind. He wrote books of profound impact about God and man, about nature and miracles, love and pain; but to me what is exemplary was his ability to write about all those things and package it in a children's book; and not just a crummy and confusing children's book but perhaps the most popular of its kind in modern history.

I have heard it said that the real examination a pastor should have to go through in order to become a preacher and minister in a church is to explain the Gospel of Jesus and the larger story of the bible in a way that a five-year-old could grasp it. I often am applauding the scientist or the philosopher or the theologian who I am sure is brilliant . . . if I could only understand the words he is using. But those who can swim in the depths of complexity and difficulty but come back and clearly and concisely explain what they just experienced, that is someone special.

God gave all of us the ability to imagine. Each person has the gift to think outside the laws of nature, and inside the broader scope of reason--here I am thinking of the Professor's argument for what the word 'logical' means in the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

There are some Christians who fear the unsure and preposterous. It makes no sense for someone like this to understand, for example, the book of Revelation as a book mainly describing history past. The book was written for people who were about to die for what they believed, I'm not so sure where John--the author of Revelation--would have been going in encouraging these death-row saints by telling them things that mattered not to them.

Imagination helps us to see. For something to be IMpossible that thing or idea must have absolute zero chance of ever occurring at any time in any place anywhere . . . ever! Imagination says, what if. What if this happened; what if things were this way. god has given us the ability to step into a world that is different but plausible compared to ours.

The book of Hebrews states that 'faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not yet seen.' Faith is not imaginative as in fictional or untrue or implausible or even impossible; no, faith is imagining what WILL be. Imagination come true according to the Christian bible, this is how the Christian hopes.

A Poem: 08-14.2011

Why do I stand,
stay?
Why not with whims
blow away?
Dissolved resolve
scattered like dust.
The rust grows,
pushing,
tilting,
slipping,
making many messes for maids to mull;
sucked away before inspected,
invested gators,
twisting traitors.
Teeth of a warm
menacing my skin.
The ache of a brake
deeper presses in.
Statistics gauge the revolt
accounting casually the casualties
like lifeless hope:
‘One here, one there . . .
No, he is gone.
Move along.’
Pale as pastels,
chalk another for reason
without conclusion,
logical confusion.
Desperate streams
sharing the razor road
rending the accident
a hypothetical code.
‘Ride out to see,
yes with only me,
what we could be!’
Potential diseased,
frightened to displease.
Plead with the wall,
willing its fall
to draw the curtain
full.
Hide the stage,
feel the sage
sure as steel.
‘Score, score and four.’
The star has ceased,
felt like a crease.
In time, when time
gives up.
The steps were kept
as we stood,
one beside the next,
existing.

Was Jesus Serious?

I was able to attend a thrilling college football game a few years ago. The home team was down all game long. It was now the fourth quarter and the home team was still down by four points with only 3 minutes left. The home team had the ball. They were driving down the field. The suspense was building. The whole stadium was willing a win. The quarterback dropped back and in an instant released the ball. Into the receivers hands the ball fell and into the end zone went the receiver. Touchdown. For a brief moment there was so much unhindered emotion that sound itself disappeared. Everyone had their mouth open; veins were bulging; I had not an atom of oxygen remaining in my body, but no noise. The sound was so loud that for that moment our ears could not handle it. Everyone in the stadium immediately went hoarse. The whole game we were waiting for this!

Could you imagine in this moment that I turned and looked at my friend next to me, one who I know breathes this same team, who lives and dies by the success of this home team, could you imagine if I saw my friend with both arms extended with thumbs pointing down booing the success of his team? Confusing? Shocking? Angering?

In Jesus’ parable of two brothers found in the Gospel of Luke, the 15th chapter, verses 11-32, the young, foolish, sinful, bad, rebellious brother was considered dead; literally gone and done with were the thoughts regarding this young man. As it ends up he is alive and comes home and as any loving father would do, once he found out his boy was alive and well the father kissed him, accepted him back in to the family, made it clear that he loved his son by throwing an over lavish and expensive party. Jesus says that this is the kind of rejoicing that goes on in heaven when a sinner comes home—when one realizes he is never going to make it, that he needs God and the grace and comfort his love brings. The stadium is erupting with joy. The cheering so loud you cannot hear. Everyone is cheering. Everyone one, except . . .

The religious elite in Jesus’ day were not happy with how gracious Jesus was portraying God to be. ‘Of course we are only saved by God’s mercy alone’ they would say—and believe!—‘but you must also be good.’ They are the fan booing when the whole Kingdom of God is beside themselves in happiness. They are booing because they are not satisfied. They think that if God’s grace is for the prostitute, the drunk, the homeless guy who doesn’t take showers, the one who killed another, the single mom, the . . . ugh . . . ordinary; if God’s grace is for THEM than it is not special, they think.

God’s grace is shocking. God chooses to love those who are the social outcasts, the failures in life. He is not just for the rich, not just the blue collared but the bottom of the barrels. Not only does God love those but he loves those who already had their moment of realization, who already spent their first chance . . . and the 17 that came after. He keeps loving them. God’s love is for all. You cannot win it. You cannot outgrow it. You cannot earn it. You cannot lose it. You cannot expand it. You cannot detract it.

The Pharisees did not like what Jesus was saying about the Father’s mercy because they suddenly realized that they had absolutely nothing to do with it. They saw their hierarchy was a farce. They saw that in God’s eyes a king was just the same as a poor, homeless Jew who was called a bastard his whole life. They were booing God.

Monday is for Morons

I have forgotten the Gospel again. I have forgotten that I do not have to sin anymore. I have forgotten that Jesus was forgotten so that I could be remembered by the Father.

Maybe you found yourself this weekend in places where sin seemed to be all you knew. Friend, Jesus died for you.

Did your football team blow it so you blew up at everyone? Were you the one who had the opportunity to forgive someone else but instead you chose to make them feel as bad as they made you feel? Did you say something that you feel unraveled everything you tried to teach your own, little, impressionable kids? Did you lose hope this week? Were you the one who knew you were going to sin, had time to not sin, yet continued on ignoring the EXIT sign? Maybe you said to yourself, 'I just do not care enough.' Maybe you said, 'I don't think God exists anymore.' . . .

Maybe you cheated on your spouse. Maybe you cheated on your taxes. Maybe you killed someone in your heart; maybe you killed someone and are going to be in prison the rest of your life. You looked at porn again. You got that abortion this week. You told your best friend she could 'go to Hell' then sounded happy and laughed the very next minute on the phone.

Friend, Jesus knows. Jesus knows and that is precisely why he died. Jesus did not die for the 'polite' social sins; Jesus did not die for certain kinds of sin; Jesus died to experience God's wrath on your behalf for each and every individual sin you will ever commit from lying to lynching. You cannot outrun God's grace, it is a tsunami, a treaty of kindness, a promise that will not be annulled or void, it is your shadow.

Mondays typically suck. I typically forget how present and persistent the Gospel is. I typically emphasize sorrow and not Jesus' success. Well Jesus died for our doubts too.

He tells us all our sins our forgiven . . . yup, even that one he has fully placed on his tab and paid for already.

Monday is for Morons

God told Jonah, 'Hey, go here.' Jonah said, 'Okay God.' and then immediately went the complete opposite direction.

Later on Jonah was swallowed whole by a sea creature. He was fermenting in the belly of some beast. Though I like any proof, I'm convinced Jonah was swallowed on a Monday. It smelled, it was dark, it was like a roller coaster that would not end--he probably threw up--, maybe his skin was being destroyed by acid . . . it was unpleasant, like Monday's can be.

We can learn from Jonah. He cried out to God, the God who made the beast swallow him, the God of Mondays. I read a quote last week: 'There is nothing we can do to make God love us more' so stop pounding coffee and 5-hour energy drinks babbling to yourself, 'I'm a winner; I'm a winner.' You're sins are forgiven by Jesus.

The quote goes on to say, 'There is nothing we can do to make God love us less.' If you are a follower of Jesus this is true. Sin as you might, God's love still lingers like a groupie to her band.

We know that even after Jonah was spewed on the beach he still whined and complained and assuredly sinned. You may feel like Hell today, that is okay; God's love and grace and promise of the hope of Heaven, hope of perfection in his presence still exists for you.

7 is the Kicker

When we think of sin, things such as murder, pride, and even lying are conceivable. And so starts a saying in the Bible's Old Testament book of Proverbs, the sixth chapter, starting in 16:
'
There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies. . .'

Now the Proverb describes these things as something God hates and you can see why. God hates these things because they are not things that he exhibits: he does not lie, he is not unjust, he cannot be proud or boastful or haughty, and he is not wicked. God hates these things in man because man was to reflect his image and his character and these attributes and activities are the opposite of him.

But we know this, right? We know it is ultimately not good to be arrogant and thinking you're better than everyone else. We know it is bad to bring about injustice because of your testimony; we know it is bad and wrong and evil to be quick to kill and destroy or ruin instead of having patience and compassion. But do we know that God hates discord among brothers?

The end of verse 19 goes like this, ' . . . and one who sows discord among brothers.'Discord? Discord. God is much more concerned with the way we interact with one another than we often think. Jesus prayed one time that his followers would be unified in loving one another and that very solidarity would be a symbol to the world that they followed Jesus.

Discord is an evil and wicked thing, something the Lord, the God of the universe and our souls makes clear that he hates. Have you been one who sows the seed of discord? Have you been one who would rather schism than reconciliation? Remember what Jesus said in his first sermon, 'happy are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.'

Jesus, for those who follow him, is our older brother. And for the Christian, the follower of Jesus, every other follower of Jesus is our brother or sister. Friend, if you are one who who thinks arrogance or shedding innocent blood is worse than sowing discord, take heed what God has said.

Monday is for Morons 09.12.2011

Well it is that day again, the day which all bad things seem to have been building up only to all explode on again: Monday.

As it is Monday and we are forgetful and often silly creatures, here is a reminder of God's grace and power in addition to the hope he gives us to keep on keepin on:
'Christ Jesus came to save sinners of whom I am the foremost.' (1 Timothy 1.16).

This is the Apostle Paul talking here and he is not producing some false humility either--saying he is bad but really thinking he is not--no, he realizes he is woefully sinful and in need of some serious and drastic help from God! The Apostle Paul has no boot strap sufficient to pull himself up by; his friends who probably have way more obvious sins than he are not enough to make him good enough, his past accomplishments are simply not enough to mend a ripped relationship with the God of the universe . . but Christ was enough for Paul and Christ is enough for you and me!

Friend, are you doubting? Are you in depression? Do you feel that you are sinful before God? Do you sense guilt and hopelessness within you? Are you afraid? Do you know you are inadequate? Then you are in a good place, now good to Jesus Christ who died for each and every one of your sins; go to him and find your forgiveness. Nothing you could do will forever separate you from God's love, save that you do not go him through Jesus'.

We can be forgiven our sin and also have our guilt taken away because Jesus Christ died on your behalf. Believe it. Believe him. Follow him.

A Happy Hope

We cannot exist if hope is absent. As someone once put it, 'suicide is not motivated by selfishness or irrationality, but a complete and total loss of all hope.' Presidents campaign on hope; we continue working because of some hope that we will continue to be employed; we dream because we hope there can be a different outcome; we live because we have been convinced, by one thing or another, that there is something still worth living for. We all need hope.

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to his friend Titus, gives a swift sketch of the hope Christians have. In the New Testament book of Titus, the Second chapter, verse 13, Paul says that Christians are 'waiting for our blessed hope.' Blessed is a translation from the common Greek Paul wrote in, it is a word that is worth understanding.

We can think of a ton of things when we here blessed, from license plates to a pro athlete in a post-game interview; but here, in this context, with this particular word the Apostle uses, blessed means 'happy.' It is not some secret or mystical happiness, nope, just the real, genuine, smile-on-the-face, I feel good happiness.

Why should the Christian hope be a happy one? Paul goes on to say that the hope is the appearing of Jesus Christ--remember Jesus lived on earth, was murdered, but then killed death itself and rose back to life and is in Heaven until he comes back. When Jesus comes all the promises in the Bible for the followers of Jesus will be fulfilled; when Jesus comes all the wrong and injustice will be corrected and be brought aright. The Christian has a hope that is eternal, a hope that is already fulfilled yet it is not fully realized yet, it is still in queue. A Christian does not have to wait for the full fulfillment of his or her hope to presently be satisfied and gratified. The Christian, in the hope we have in Jesus, is already on the boat and sees the end only a mile or two away and the joy in the realization, the happiness, compels us to keep going now, to love when revenge would be normal now; to give when saving would be acceptable now; to hope when all other hopes falter like a wet piece of tissue paper trying to hold a bowling ball.

We Christians have a happy hope that we want and beg all the world to know and to posses. We hope in Jesus Christ.

Was Satan Telling the Truth?

In the Old Testament book of Genesis the third chapter gives the events of the Devil (Satan, Lucifer, the Father of Lies so on and so forth) tempting our first mom, Eve. He is trying to get Eve to consume the one thing in a land of lush plenty which God told Eve and her husband, Adam, not to consume. Contrary to the bit in the movie Walk the Line by the character Jerry Lee Lewis, Adam and Eve could look and touch and think about touching this death-bringing fruit, but they were clearly and definitely not to eat it.

Satan tempted Eve with likeness: 'God knows that when you eat of [the fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' The interesting part is when we turn all the way to the New Testament book of 1st John, the third chapter in verse 2 it reads, 'but we know that when [Jesus] appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.'

Satan's temptation of Eve with being like God was evil but in 1st John we are PROMISED to be like God. What is the deal? Was the Father of Lies saying a good thing for once? Is God changing his mind here--eh, maybe they will be like me? Is the Apostle John unfamiliar with the Old Testament? Does he not care about the Old Testament? What's going on?

Perhaps the point that slithers away from us in all this is that God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. What is it that Adam and Eve lacked in their likeness of God? Were they unsatisfied or did they just want more? The couple, it seems, did not want to be merely human, but actually God. In 1st John the promise is for God to make us like Jesus. In Genesis humanity is abandoned for divinity; in 1st John humanity is completely fulfilled and echoes divinity; in Genesis disobedience brought shame and corruption; in 1st John perfect obedience in Jesus Christ brings redemption and perfection; in Genesis death is born; in 1st John death is forever dead because of Jesus' conquering of it.

In a way Satan was telling the truth in his temptation of Eve, but being the deceiver he is, it was a truth that was a lie: God gave Adam and Eve all he desired them to have and withheld all that they were unable to know. In god's image man was made and in his manor humanity is meant to live, but no where is the human race told to BE God. Man is to reflect God's image by mirroring God in ways, we are not to play or portray God by trying to be him.

Monday is for Morons: 08-28-2011

It’s Monday. Today is the day that reminds us how long a week is and how quickly the weekend goes. Monday is a status—How are you today? It’s Monday—as if we all know what is going on this day, we are all familiar with the feelings that the Monday sun shines on. Monday is the day of whining and pouting. Monday is the day of sighs and complaints. Monday, somehow, is the day I forget what Jesus has done… therefore Monday is for morons like me.

I hope to use this sometimes dreadful day as a quick reminder of God; a simple word to give hope and a fresh, crisp breath in our forgetful souls; something just enough to get us by until the sometimes-good-sometimes-bad Tuesday.

So before you kick your dog, be rude to your spouse, or pour coffee on your co-worker here is God:

Romans 8.31: ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ The quick answer is everyone; everyone can be against us, the whole world! But God IS for us. You are in God’s corner. God is fighting on your behalf. God has established victory for YOU! Yes, he already knows your wicked and stupid and miserable and gross sins, but he has forgiven them, all of them. He fights for you; he has won for you; he has succeeded for you! Let’s not let the Monday drag us down but let us instead be glad in Jesus’ work for us. It is finished and nothing will change that. Don’t think that you can outsin the grace God has freely given; kick such thoughts to the curb and keep on keeping on. Take your emptiness to God and be reminded anew of the smile under which you, Christian, always and forever will sit under. The only smile that matters: God’s.

Be Careful, You May Have Terrible Logic

After I decided to follow Jesus I began thinking in some new terms: what is MOST helpful for people?

I don't think that at its core this thinking was sour or bad. The conclusion I reached, however, was bad. It went something along the lines of . . .

What is the greatest need of an individual? To be saved from Hell and put in a right relationship with the God of the Universe.

Therefore the most LOVING thing I can do is tell people about Jesus.

'Woah, that sounds terrible' you say. I hear your sarcasm, don't worry. The Apostle Paul kinda came to this conclusion in the New Testament book of Romans, the tenth chapter: faith comes through hearing and hearing comes through the words of God and no one is going to hear if no one is telling people the word of God THEREFORE go and tell people about all that Jesus did.

The problem with my logical conclusion--and some of yours--is that we somehow forgo the rest of the bible, namely what Jesus did constantly and all the other New Testament letters guide us to do: love others. James says to take care of the orphans and widows as well as generally being one who interacts with the broken and needy world we live in: loving by doing. Paul and Peter say similar things: taking care of the needy, the hungry, the outcast and downtrodden. And Jesus, as I already said, told the inquiring disciple the Gospel According to Luke, You go tell the imprisoned John that the blind receive back their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

These words of Jesus are not just to announce that he is the Messiah, they are practical and true words--Jesus did all of these things; Jesus met physical needs. Among missionaries there is a saying that bread creates ears. What this means is that if someone is starving and you try and tell them the good words of Jesus they are deaf to it BECAUSE THEY PHYSICALLY ARE STARVING; they may soon die because of their lack of food. But provide a full stomach and suddenly their attention is yours. For many it is easier to tell some stranger how they are in need of the saving work of Christ, then leave. But God calls his children to love as he loves, namely providing and helping and aiding physically and emotionally as well as spiritually.

It it nothing less than cruel to tell your friend who just lost his wife to cancer, 'Hey man, God is working out this for your good.' Where is the love in that? Sure you conveyed and relayed true information but he wants a companion in this time of great hurt; he needs someone to cry and hurt with; he needs someone who will listen and be there for him. The best thing Job's friends did in the entire time they were with him was sit in silence ALONG SIDE OF HIM for seven days. This is what James was talking about in his book when he says you're an idiot and a devil to say, 'May God bless you, sir' to the guy who asks you for some clothes because it is winter time, it is snowing, and he is clearly freezing, yet you give him no clothes.

The Gospel, the life followers of Jesus Christ live is one that provides hope for the distant future and provides hope to live each second of the day.

The Book of Ecclesiastes says there is a time for everything in this world, which also means there is a time NOT to do some things. Have you been speaking when presence would be most helpful? Have you been ignoring clear needs because in your mind they are tertiary or insignificant needs? You want good logic? Go to God and see how he loves.

One of the most happy repercussions of admitting you are sinful and need the saving work of Jesus is that now you can recklessly love others, meaning you can go overboard in your love for them! This does not mean you should be unthoughtful or unwise or impractical and ultimately unhelpful in how you love others but you no longer need to concern yourself with if I do this wrong will I be held liable for their condemnation?

The new logic for followers of Jesus is now love often and in every way you can.

Now With the Ability to Finally Live: Mark 5.1-20

You now understand that through Jesus' death and resurrection all the sins you ever did are eternally forgiven; not only forgiven, but forgiven by God, whom we all have offended and sinned against. Amazingly our sins are forgiven but also our guilt. In American culture we are very good at second chances, forgiving people, however we always want the offender to readily know that what he did was wrong and that every knows this about the individual; God is not like us in that regard. How wonderful! How mind blowing and illogically delightful! God does NOT say, 'I forgive you but I still remember what you did.' The Bible says that God purposefully and intentionally FORGETS our sins once we have come to him for forgiveness. As one song states clearly, 'No guilt in life, no fear in death.' We have no need as the minister in the book The Scarlet Letter thinks to literally or emotionally or mentally beat ourselves for our sins that have been brought to Jesus. No more guilt! Rarely is it the actual crime that leads people to a suicidal state, rather the guilt of the crime and this God, in his great kindness towards us, says is gone too.

There was a man possessed by demons. It was not some illness or mental dysfunction but actual, real demons which were making the man something unhuman, undignified. First he was in the city he grew up in and the people, due to his state, chained him up for fear of what he might inflict on others; he broke out of these chains and fled to caves, fled to a place where he was alone. In this solitude he discarded his clothing and cut himself: he was tormented by the demons. People, no doubt, could hear his screams of torment at night, people who he was childhood friends with, his own parents.

Jesus came to this man and set him free from the demons, the evil spirits which tormented him. The man who was minutes ago in torment was instantly freed from those who brought him the pain and suffering, the solitude and scorn. The man immediately wanted to follow Jesus, be where this powerful man was, to walk with him, to learn from him; this was not uncommon, for Jesus had the Twelve whom he especially taught but there was almost always a large crowd of others learning from Jesus as well. Oddly though Jesus tells him no: 'Jesus did not permit him but said, "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you."'

What is Jesus doing?! Clearly this man wants more, he wants to be taught, he was to be trained, he wants to be discipled? Is this one of Jesus' rare ministry mistakes? How could Jesus be so cruel; didn't he know that this man might have a hard time coming back to society? The people of the city, it is said in the passage, were freaked out by what transpired. I thought Jesus was compassionate, let alone wise!

In our eager and earnest desire to do we often forget to live. When one comes to God for forgiveness, for healing that person is free from guilt and shame. Jesus conveys the idea that for many, we have already experienced the living and one true God, now go and live the life you were made to live. Go back to your job as a forgiven person; go back to your friends as a healed individual; go back to your old shoes with new feet. The heart of the Gospel is and has never been some gnostic journey or a search for experiences. The Gospel is forgiveness which Jesus says is freedom. You can live now because you are forgiven. You can love now because YOU are loved.

Sometimes it is easier to go evangelize or read your bible or go to Church or seminary or whatever thing it is you feel you should be doing than it is to live and live simply the way God wired your redeemed soul to do. Let's not make the Gospel less by trying to make it about doing more.

Simon Says What? Acts 8.18

Simon was a guy who was a magician. He made his living, as far as we can tell from the New Testament book of Acts, from performing magic or tricks: he did something and people wanted it. In fact Simon amazed people in Samaria, the town where he polished his gig. Simon was pretty happy about his accomplishments and thought of himself as 'someone great.'

Simon was not some ding-dong pulling rabbits out of his hat, he probably had some real power. Remember in the Old Testament when Moses was trying to convince Pharaoh to let Israel go, some of the Egyptian magicians were able to perform some of the same 'miracles' Moses was able to do; Simon was no illusionist.

Well after Philip came and preached to he people how they were sinners headed straight off the cliff and into God's rightful judgment, but Jesus died for them and His payment was for all who entrusted themselves to Jesus; after the gospel was revealed, people trusted in Jesus, even Simon. So he set aside his chicken bones and wand and followed Philip around as Philip met with people and elaborated on this new found Jesus. Simon wanted to learn from a guy who knew Jesus Christ.

It wasn't too long before Philip, by the working of God's power, did some pretty cool miracles himself. He probably healed some folks and other supernatural things, so much so that Simon, the self proclaimed pretty awesome guy, was flat amazed. More so, Peter and John--some more disciples of Jesus--came into town and by the laying on of hands gave the Holy Spirit of God to the new believers of Jesus Christ. Well Simon is doing head stands at this point and it flat broke on comprehension so he, like any respectable entrepreneur, offers the Apostles some cash so that he may have this same power.

This is when Peter flips out, 'May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money...your heart is not right with God.' Basically Peter said no.

Aw but his intent was good, he wanted to help others; Peter must have been scarred and on a power trip. We see in verse 22 that it is Simon's very intent that was wrong.

We do not have the same gift as Peter, giving the Holy Spirit to others. But we do have the ability to give the Gospel to others and the very same foul intent which resided in Simon is often in us: we want to be the doing person in order to be be the person who is known for doing.

The Gospel, the fantastic news of Jesus paying our sins is free to us, free to all humanity. But the Gospel is never a means of self-promotion or self-recognition; the Gospel is all about Jesus. Jesus did not do what he did in order to provide a tool for his followers to be thought of as holy rollers who got it goin on. Quite the opposite: Jesus died for nobodies to be known and know the Creator and Sustainer of all life, to have a right and good and joyful relationship with God, the Almighty.

Sometimes we use our wisdom and pleasant speech to only gain respect and credit from others; we, being the messenger of the life-giving message, want to get in on the warm-fuzzies and pat ourselves on the back for all we have done. Friends, we have done nothing and Christ has done everything.

The great part is that even when we act like Simon and have moments of stupidity God is graciously accepting us, delighting in our turning afresh to Him. Simon, after receiving his verbal shellacking, says to Peter, 'Pray for me' he desires to walk back to God, confessing his idiocy and sin. No matter what you have done--10 years ago or 2 seconds ago--the path to God is always open and there are never any toll booths.

A Poem (05-06-2011)

I need to think with led,
to get the malaise out of my head;
swiftly salute the river,
undaming silly solutions
explode like a waterfall
pounding lakes below;
forget not as I
travel to and fro,
foam little at my acquittal.
justice will soon be done,
how else could we bear its vacancy?
Caution on its side
roasting the wrong hide.
I haven’t seen so many mistakes
played out in fair ways.
Call them what you will,
they are what they are,
not as perceived.

You JUST Made That Cow: Exodus 32.4

You’re fresh out of Egypt; you saw all of the plagues, you heard the screams from miles away as Egyptian families saw their first-born males collapse into death; you look into your tent and see some of the gold you basically stole from your Egyptian neighbors and you recall how you crossed the Red sea, yet the Egyptian army was eaten by it. Moses who, by God’s direction, has led you to a wilderness and has been gone on the mountain quite awhile. There is a ton of lightening and commotion going on at the top of Sinai, but you reasonably figure it is a storm of sorts and Moses ain’t coming back.

Logically therefore, you get your neighbors and y’all all gather your gold together and make an image out of the gold. You make a super detailed cow out of old earrings , nose rings, bracelets, and headdresses. It looks awesome. Then Aaron declares this thing is not only a god but the very one which led Israel out of Egypt, that land of slavery.

. . . but you JUST made that cow, Aaron. How can you reason that it was the one who freed you? Maybe he had too much strong-drink or wine and got some lamp-shade-helmet idea and ran with it.

It is easy to look at Aaron and Israel as a bunch of fruit-loops at this point--it is not even chronologically possible guys!! But we are wrong to hammer them so. It is not as though he was making all this up as he went along; Aaron was simply giving God a face. He was not saying that this is some new god we invented, rather, LOOK, this thing, this god is now visible, tangible, it is like all the other gods the pagans worship.

Moses just had his socks blown off, literally having a mountain top experience, when he turns the corner to see God’s people groveling before some life-less shining peace of farm animal. It would not be unreasonable for Moses to have in mind some of the things God just told him . . . such as, ‘you shall not make any image of Me.’ So like any normal human being when he encounters foolishness he chunks these sacred stone-etched pieces of literature so that they are broken and new ones need to be made.

God, YHWH, Jehovah, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and Earth, etc. is not like other gods. He, therefore, does not want to be worshipped like other gods. He will not suffice to be downgraded, in a sense, as al the other gods who were made into images resembling fish, frogs, moons, half-fish half-man figurines, and other silly things. But it also awakens the understanding that God is both not confined to any location nor is He is to be shut away or left behind; the God of the Bible is not a figurine which can be totted around like a purse, rather He owns all creation—that’s you and I, my friend.

We can find sympathy for Aaron and Israel: they were just doing what the rest of the world was doing with gods. The problem is God is unequivocally unique and completely unlike any other being to ever exist.

A Great Assumption

You know what God is ‘doing’ in your life, don’t you? What lessons He is teaching; what models He is proposing you follow? My hardship must mean He is teaching me patience; my struggle must mean I am learning to be content; my success, that I am His child and He loves me. After all, you are an astute learner, you have observed that God is one whose lessons are ‘between the lines.’ Maybe other people come to you to help them see what the Almighty is up to in their lives; you’re one who gets it.

Life is hard. Live long enough and you’ll get burned by someone or something. Some hope will be ruthlessly dashed in an unforeseen nightmarish fashion; some damsel will douse your desires while laughing; some strapping cologne-wearing man will find it foolish that you ever thought you had a chance with him; you’ll get cancer; your child may be not what you had hoped; your lone does not go through; the job you excelled in and worked honestly for is taken from you and given to some brown-nosed punk; friends say goodbye; other friends refuse to forgive or are the reason you have knives in your back; your car is smoking from the engine; your baby is crying and you have zero energy already . . . and this is God’s method for teaching?

Friends, there is little doubt that we can wonder why and come to some reasonable conclusion. But does He love you with such enthusiasm that he breaks your bones? For what? To tell you what you already know, that you need help; that you’re not perfect; that you have moral and character flaws?

Something more is afoot. God’s word, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, already show us our needs. God’s words also show us who He is. But life shows us that God exists.

We assume God is revealing to us and prodding us by life’s events. The book of Job corrects our thoughts: God is not a hyper-spiritualist having us look at the grass and wonder why it is folded the way it lies; God is real and the thunder and fireworks of life boisterously announce, ‘Look at me!’ God is saying, ‘Look at me!’ Our troubles and tears are echoes of His voice, ‘Look at me; look at me; I am life itself. More real than your broken wrist; more real than your chaos and hurt.’

We must not think God full of remedies for life’s problems. Nor that He is ambiguously teaching us lessons if we only look for them. We must know that He exists and that He is good and what He has taught us we find in His word. We can complicate—and frustrate—our relationship with God by thinking He, as our Father, must order the confusion of life: peace does not always mean tranquility. I know that God loves His children and I know that He, more than any other, cares for His children deeply. God is unconstrained, like His methods.

07.05.2011 (A Poem)

Help seems always
only on the way.
The golden ray
with no star
scraping the horizon’s edge.
Hedged,
a buffer,
anticipations,
nerves dead.
Give no more
breath for my sighs to breathe;
ground for the wealth of weeds.

Leviticus Full of Grace: Why I Love the OT

‘I’m glad I don’t have to worry about doing those anymore.’ Let me guess, if you could even get THROUGH the book of Leviticus that last sentence sums up most of what you learned from reading it. I mean, exempting a few bits here and there of narrative where some died, the book is an eye-lid closing 27 chapters of seemingly worthless, old, Eastern regulations for worship. You may second guess if you still WANT to know the God who would ‘inspire’ such writing!
Well, as seems the normal case, after reading the book over and over, consulting smarter people who can give historical, cultural, and Biblical context, and praying—often in confused frustration—I have come to appreciate and even . . . yes . . . genuinely ENJOY this ridiculous book.

We must first understand that Leviticus is part of a story: it is squished between Exodus—which ends with the glory of God descending on the tent of meeting, showing God’s presence with the people—and is succeeded by Numbers—which has more regulations and laws, some narrative of astounding things and people wildly and frequently complaining… and a huge census. So Leviticus is not a Maverick book sitting alone at the bar of the Bible smoking a cigarette with a half-empty pint in front of it; it is no rogue, but a thread in the fabric of, not only the first 5 books of the Bible (called the Pentateuch), nor the whole Bible, but a glimpse into the character of God Himself.

So we should conclude, then, that God is full of rules and is killer at making us bored? No. Prior to Leviticus God approached people, and not many of them it seems. He CAME to Noah, Abram, Jacob, Joseph, Moses; no mega-churches by this time in the Bible. Culturally at this juncture in history such lack of interaction between the common man and the divine was not abnormal. If you can remember some Egyptian history or maybe the movie Stargate, the ruler of a people either considered himself entirely or in part divine but he was the mouth, the between-man of the normal people and the divine entity. So when God, who created everything, decides to not only dwell among His people, but give direction on how the poor bum who’s always asking for change can worship Him, as well as everyone else in Israel, this would have blown everyone away; this is like Steve jobs saying, ‘But wait, there’s one more thing’ near the end of his keynote speech of new Apple products, when that ridiculously crazy thing comes out; this was beyond tweet worthy info, beyond really our understanding: it was brand new on the Earth and it was historically and culturally and socially and personally new and different and counter. Now the people, the everyman, can GO to God and worship Him.

Along this same thread, Leviticus is rigorous about social equality in worship; as the New Testament (NT) book of James points out, it is easy to say, ‘oh, that guy with lots of money gives more, he must be a better person.’ Leviticus says no; we see that if people are not able to give a bull, they can give a goat, if not that then something less expensive all the way down to some grain. We see this played out as Jesus’ parents in the NT were only able to give 2 birds for an offering—they did not have much money. So not only was worship not exclusive to the rich, but standing with and before God was not for the wealthy, it was for all who joined God. Interestingly enough too God did not order the people to go into debt, asking always for the most lavish of gifts from everyone. He wanted worship not things.

Leviticus also teaches that sin is costly. We find it very hard, but we must understand that for many people—and those who grew up on farms have a leg up here—giving their lamb or bull or any of their animals for sacrifice was almost equivalent to giving up your pet dog or cat. When you went to offer gifts to God, it would be sad and hard; this would be a reminder to the people of Israel that sin not only meant something, it took away life, it caused pain and made you uncomfortable; there is a price to sin, namely death. Making it even more clear—and as my generation would say, ‘real’-- In Leviticus God lays it out that the person who gives will himself participate in the act of worship, which was again, not normal for the time—it was always the priest who would perform the sacrificing. The farmer literally had a hand in worship.

It is easy to read the section where God says, ‘Be holy for I am holy’ as a negative and impossible claim; but again, it was not an impossible hoop to jump through to get to God, rather it is a GRACE that GOD HAS MADE A WAY TO HIMSELF WHERE PREVIOUSLY THERE WAS NO WAY. When He says be holy, we should hear: join in doing what I do, come along WITH me.

Leviticus gives a context for understanding what is going on in the NT. Without Leviticus and other regulations and laws we miss how significant and outlandish many of Jesus’ acts were, from the lady who was hemorrhaging, to Jesus’ interaction with unclean lepers, to, as mentioned already, Jesus’ parents. Without understanding Leviticus, much of the NT is a dark room which we can only get a vague sense of what is present in it.

There is SO much in this book that is admittedly hard to understand and can be boring. But it is the Christian’s book to know: it further substantiates and reveals the character of the Almighty to us. We cannot sell the book short by saying it is outdated and all we can glean is that Christ fulfills this stuff. LEVITICUS IS ABOUT THE GOOD NEWS, THE GOSPEL WHICH HAS BEEN AROUND FOR CENTURIES: God chooses to love and allows Himself to be worshipped by those who will follow Him and love Him with their all. He makes a way where there is no way, He tumbles the wall of previous impossibilities, so that we may know Him.

Much more can be helpfully said but hopefully this will draw you into curiosity for this great book, and will lead you further into understanding the character and heart of the God of the Bible.

I was greatly helped by John Milgrom’s commentary and Gordon Wenham’s commentary and Mark Dever’s manuscript found in this book, as well as by audio from Jay Sklar; but AS ALWAYS, nothing can trump constantly reading the book of focus and praying for understanding.

With every post I hope that if you have questions, concerns, complaints, caveats, or anything else that starts with a ‘c’ you can feel welcome to pose them.

It May Cost You Your Neck: Romans 16.3,4

The Apostle Paul authored the New Testament (NT) book of Romans. He wrote this book to those who were gathered as a community to help one another follow Jesus Christ. Many reasons exist as to why Paul wrote this letter, but chiefly he wanted to encourage the people to whom he was writing and to refresh them to the extent that they would, as it were, get wind in their sails and find new vigor to continue following Christ—or remember why they do.

In the final chapter as Paul, in the fashion of his time, was making his shout outs, we come across his words ‘[Prisca and Aquila] risked their necks for my life.’ In the NT book of Acts we are given some accounts of these two helpers of Paul’s but we are not entirely sure as to what Paul is specifically referring to here. We cannot, however, assume that this is some exaggeration by Paul as he embellishes some of his buddy’s work. Paul talks often of his own physical hardships—getting beat up, getting lost at sea, having physical ailments. So I think it is safe to conclude that these two were put or put themselves in legitimate, physical danger.

Why does Paul mention this? I believe he slyly inserts this mainly so we can be reminded of Jesus’ words that all who desire to follow him will have a rough time of it. When one follows Christ it is a joyful, hopeful road, but one with many robbers and murderers lurking. To follow Christ is to invite physical harm. This is not to discourage a Christian but to make him aware of the risks he is taking in making such a stance. It is easy to forget, especially for those living in the US of A, that it is normal for a believer in Christ Jesus to meet hard times—emotionally and physically. And therefore it is easy to forget that the same belief is worth the trouble it incurs.

Treasuring Christ above all else will make you feel that all else is always against you.

A missionary in Iraq during the time of the recent US invasion was killed, not because she was an American but specifically because she was a Christian. She had written a letter to her pastor back in the States only to be opened upon her death; the conclusion contained these words:

‘To obey was my objective
To suffer was expected
His glory, my reward.’

Hawaiin Volcano

So What Is Sin?

Someone once explained sin to me as ‘doing the don’ts and not doing the dos (not to be confused for the Spanish word meaning ‘two’).’ This is a wildly simplistic and unhelpful definition for a few reasons.

First, sin is an offense against God. As a Christian I understand God to be the Creator of everything—from a piece of dirt to every galaxy—and One who is still actively involved IN all of life, watching over and orchestrating the events of all life. In sum, He is both alive and powerful therefore to give some cheapish definition of the things which offend Him is not only a poor practice but a deadly one, and, to a degree, an enslaving one.

Second, not everything we are instructed to do in the Bible, if ignored or rejected, is considered an offense against God--sin. Take for example the one which the book of Proverbs calls the sluggard. The sluggard, in the English Standard Translation, is mentioned 12 times in Proverbs: he is called a fool, a disappointment and pain to his master, he is warned that poverty will be his companion. I do not want to be a sluggard and I think it unwise for anyone else to be such. God, in his kindness, inspired these true words for us to give us guidance and to help us prosper on earth, but I do not think that enjoying sleep too much nor working too little is SIN--something which incurs the eternal wrath of God. To clarify AGAIN, it is extremely unwise for an individual to practice such things for many reasons and the absolute extreme of these things can become sinful, but the sluggard is not to be deemed unfit for the kingdom of heaven only based on the fact that he does not want to get out of bed.

I hear some of you saying, ‘Yea, but Jesus instructed his followers to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.’ That he did, as I would tell anyone the same for their own good; as I hope everyone would tell anyone! Just because it came out of the inspiration or mouth of the Almighty does not mean neglecting it equals sin. Some things, for example the sacrifices in the Old Testament Law are obsolete now. God said them at one point, we are not doing them today, are we sinning by not offering them today? No. And we see that other things God gives as general wisdom for all of mankind—it is always helpful and profitable and good to do this or that; certainly though there are certain instructions that if rebelled against ARE sin.

So what IS considered by GOD—that’s essentially what we only care about here—to be sin? Glad you asked. The blanket answer is anything that is contrary to his nature. Where in the world could we figure out God’s nature? The Bible. The Bible, in its entirety brings us sharp images of God’s character. One big and obvious one is that He is life. In general then, killing of other soul-filled human beings is sin, take the even of Cain killing his brother Abel.

Not only is rebelling against God’s character sin, also rebelling or disobeying His commandments. This part sometimes does not seem to immediately flow from God’s character but most of the time does: In the book of Hosea God tells the prophet to go marry a prostitute, which is something in Leviticus God clearly instructs the people not to do. But at the end we see that Hosea, being a prophet, followed God’s instruction and in so doing became a picture for the entire nation of Israel of God’s love for them in that though Israel, like the prostitute, was continually unfaithful to God; God, though, would not leave them or break His promise and covenant with them. God was showing His love and grace in His faithfulness even when Israel was overtly UNfaithful.

There is more and many objections abound and caveats overflow but I think generally WE CAN DEFINE SIN AS: REBELLION AGAINST THE NATURE AND CHARACTER OF GOD, AND DISOBEYING HIS DIRECT COMMANDS TO US.

Making the definition of sin too broad is wrong and bad, for how can we call evil which God Himself does not? No need to add burdens to our conscience, for Jesus said his instructions are easy, his burden is light.

'The OT Law Makes Me Sing'

The Law in the Bible’s Old Testament (OT) usually sprouts negative sentiment. This is not only true because we sometimes misunderstand the New Testament writers—we too readily assume they bash the OT Law or pigeon-hole the Law by thinking its only use was to show us our sin—but, for Americans, we who were derived by a spirit of gun-slingin’ freedom and large plots of open land, there is an even greater frown, for laws mean burdens, burdens which get in the way of progress.

So what do we make of Psalm 119? This, the largest chapter in the book of Psalms, celebrates the Law of God, the Law of the Old Testament. The Psalmist asks to be taught the law, he asks to be fed the law, to walk according to the law; he says he will never forget the law because they are a good guide to him; he will willingly and gladly declare the law; he's happy about the testimonies of God AS IN GREAT RICHES; he clings to the law; with his whole heart he will obey the law; he wrote this very long song about the law.

Few, I think, can be found today who have such great joy with regard to the OT testament law as the writer of Psalm 119. The Psalms are songs, poems composed by individuals who were well known and some who were never known. These were not forced writings but truthful, genuine, and full of feeling.

So what the heck is THIS writer so happy about? Doesn’t Paul put the kaputs on the Law when he wrote to the churches in Rome? There either must be something wrong with this guy writing Psalm 119 or something wrong with us and our understanding of the Law. I think the problem is a current one.

Sure, you can conceive of the Psalmist as some over-zealous religious koo-koo who maybe like some superstitious monk felt if he did not write songs about the Law was going to get the heavenly bolts of lightning sent down on his being… or we could understand the OT Law for what it is and what it brought to the people at the time.

We must remember that prior to God giving the Law to the people of Israel the individual could never approach God in worship—this was left for Moses and maybe Aaron--that’s if he wasn’t melting gold into the image of a calf. But now, with the giving of the Law, the poor farmer with 20 kids can bring a turtle dove or some grain to the Lord who brought his family out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt and gave them the good land he freely lives in and on and personally partake in WORSHIP TO HIS GOD! This is amazing! Joe shmoe, this nobody schmuck who schleps around Israel--much like you and I--, can worship the God who Created all things and bring offerings willingly and joyfully to Him!

Secondly, God is expanding His holiness with the Law. A person becomes unclean before God when he sins or is defiled in various ways but with the sacrifices the unclean can be made clean again and the formerly unclean can partake in the holiness of God. This is gracious and kind of God; the Law was not making God impossible to approach but rather making a way for reconciliation even for those who sinned! Sin no longer made an individual forever unable to worship God but through the Law made the individual able to be made clean and enter not only communion with God but with his community again.

The Law of God then is a great thing to the Psalmist. The Law of God was a display of God’s patience, kindness, forgiveness, and also a reminder of His eternal covenant which He never broke with His people! We now see how the Law of God made the Psalmist sing.