A Gift You Should Open Before Christmas

Every follower of Jesus is offered the gifts of grace without any strings (or ribbons) attached. All of us have full access to these gifts. Paul writes that we are brought into right relationship with God entirely as a gift of His radical and amazing love.  When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. Titus 3:5-7, NLT Grace is the best deal ever offered and yet we often resist opening this gift from our Lord. We can’t believe it is true. We fear it can’t be possible that we can be
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Dare NOT to Compare!

Theodore Roosevelt shared great wisdom when he said that “comparison is the thief of joy”. Losing joy is what inevitably happens when you play the no win game of comparisons. We all do it and comparisons are poison to the soul. We either compare to someone doing better than us and feel downcast or compare ourselves to someone failing and feel better. Sometimes we even secretly wish they would fail so we can feel better about our own efforts. In Psalm 139 we read how God uniquely wove our DNA together to create the one and only me and the one and only you. He knew us before we were formed and He has ordained our days. Paul’s message to the Ephesians gets a fresh take in The Message. It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his
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The Devastating Cost of Division

I am deeply saddened by the division in our nation. But I am even more heartbroken by the division in the church. How have we forgotten to focus on the thing that should unite us? My head explodes when I allow myself to wade into some of the social media discourse happening between followers of Jesus Christ and non-believers. There are important cultural issues that Christians need to prayerfully and gracefully address. What I see is rarely graceful and that makes me wonder how prayerful the messengers have been before hitting the send button.  Because of the nature of social media a topic that should be thoughtfully debated instead becomes an us versus them war. The conversation easily drifts toward broad brushing of others with often unfair assignation of motives.  These judgements of motives and personal attacks are so damaging to the message of grace that I hold so dear. Sometimes I try to imagine myself as a skeptical seeker
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How To Shine Your Light For Everyone To See

Even in my rock and roll days I loved the music of Glen Campbell. His final gift before his death was a moving and deeply personal look at how Alzheimer’s affects a family in the documentary “I’ll Be Me”.   One of my favorite Glen Campbell songs, “Try a Little Kindness”, is a message that we desperately need to hear and heed in our current societal climate. You got to try a little kindnessYes show a little kindnessJust shine your light for everyone to seeAnd if you try a little kindnessThen you’ll overlook the blindnessOf narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets I think it is fair to say that we have an abundance of narrow minded people loudly making their presence felt. People so narrow minded they could look through a peephole with both eyes. The lyrics of Try a Little Kindness seem like a simple and even naive sentiment. I would argue this little chorus is one of the most important and
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Do We Make Faith Too Complicated?

Sports fans might have heard TV analysts noting that a young athlete is struggling on the football field because the game is too fast and furious for them to react correctly. They say that when the game “slows down” that player will be much more effective. That means the athlete will learn what matters, what to react to, how not to get faked out, and how to respond properly in each situation. I think that is what is happening for me after all of these years. My once frenetic efforts to be a “good Christian” are slowing down. I think I am learning more about what matters, what to react to, how not to get faked out by Satan, and how to respond in grace. A great way to get some less than grace filled responses is to quote an R-rated movie. So here goes. “Nook” LaLoosh (from Bull Durham): “A good friend of mine used to say, “This is
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Feeling Like A Nobody Just Might Be A Sign of Growth

My life odometer keeps adding mileage. No matter how hard I try I cannot roll it back. Part of acquiring higher mileage is getting some hard earned perspective on your life decisions. Some of my decisions were good. Some benign. Some not so good. Some truly regretful. That is life. The encouragement I have discovered is that even the really bad decisions can be redeemed by the grace of God. D.L.Moody was one of the greatest communicators of the Gospel in church history and a great Christian university bears his name. One of my favorite Moody quotes is about the learning curve of Moses. Moses ended up having a fairly decent impact for God. “Moses spent 40 years thinking he was somebody; 40 years learning he was nobody; and 40 years discovering what God can do with a nobody.” I have to adjust the numbers for my life. I spent 40 years thinking I was somebody. Twenty years learning I
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Reviewing Your Jesus Contract

When Joni and I purchased a new house we visited the title company to sign the official documents. The person from the title company relentlessly pushed papers in front of us along with a brief description of what we were signing. My memory may not be exact but it was something like this. This one says that the builder is transferring the deed to you. And this one says that you have paid the taxes that you owe to Caesar. This one says that you agree to let the HOA control everything you think and do. This one says that you are paying us random fees that you have no idea what they are or why they are needed but you have no choice. This one says a lawyer gets a lot of money for cut and pasting into a standard document. It was a mind-numbing process and by the end I probably would have signed anything put in front
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