Opening the Gift of Grace

“Lord I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better I’d have come running with a bucket.” -Nancy Spiegelberg  That quote may be the most indicting summary of my misunderstanding of grace for decades. I am indeed Waking Up Slowly to the mystery and majesty of Grace.  Grace. It is a word that has lost some of its power through misuse and overuse. We banter about the ridiculous concept of cheap grace as if we must be wary of receiving a gift from our Father in Heaven. Are you kidding me? If we view grace like a sales pitch for a time share resort we are listening to the wrong voices. There are no strings attached with grace. No fine print. No hidden costs. No promises to lure you in that cannot be delivered in reality. Grace gives you full title to the
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The Rearview Mirror Is For Occasional Glances Only

The rearview mirror is critical for safe driving. But if you spend all of your time looking in the rearview mirror the trip will almost always end badly. That is a reflective (rimshot) metaphor for life. You need to glance in the past occasionally for perspective and clarity. But the rearview mirror is designed for reference only. No obsessing please. The quest to live in the present is best lived by looking around and just ahead. I love E.L.Doctorow’s quote about writing. I think this principle applies to writing, living and especially to living a life of faith. “It is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” That is profoundly simple and true. Life is a fog. We wish we could see farther ahead on our journey but the truth is we cannot. You can only see as far at the light
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A House Divided Cannot Stand. Will We Let It Fall?

I used to joke that it is hard to find a good Evangelical math teacher because the only thing they completely understand is division. I am not sure I think that is humorous anymore as I watch the heartbreaking division in the body of believers that I love and call family. My head explodes when I allow myself to wade into the discourse between followers of Jesus Christ on Twitter and other social media. There are important cultural issues that Christians need to prayerfully and gracefully seek God’s wisdom to 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 discourse easily drifts toward broad brushing of large segments of the body of Christ with unfair assignation of motives. These judgements of motives and personal
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Ready for the Spiritual Battle? You can be.

This week I taught a lesson from Ephesians about spiritual battles. You likely know the passage about putting on the armor of God. A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to
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Reviewing the Jesus Contract

When Joni and I recently 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
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One Thing Grace Doesn’t Cover

I talk about Grace so much that the auto-suggest on my phone pops up the word as soon as I hit “G”. I suspect that sometimes you faithful readers wish I would mix up my topics. The truth is I cannot. Understanding grace rocked my spiritual world and changed my walk with God in dramatic and wonderful ways. I regularly extol the virtues of grace for a follower of Jesus. Grace compels you to trust others with you. Grace compels you to trust Jesus with your sin because you can’t manage it yourself. Grace compels you to forgive because you have been forgiven. Grace compels you to accept others and not judge them. Grace compels you to move toward the unlovable and not away. Grace compels you to sacrifice when you desire security. Grace compels you to love when your heart is hateful. Grace compels you to trust God when you are afraid and weak. The amazing thing about God’s
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Twitter Rules from Jesus and Paul

Social media is depressing. After a taking a recent sanity exit from Twitter a song from my (much) younger days triggered the musing for this week. The song Easy to be Hard was written for the musical Hair but it became a big hit as a cover for Three Dog Night. The lyrics could have been written today about the disappointing interactions on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms. How can people be so heartlessHow can people be so cruelEasy to be hardEasy to be cold. I could sing those lyrics almost anytime I cruise through the comments section on Twitter. The dialogue is often mean, unforgiving, and disheartening. I get particularly distressed when people of faith descend to that level of discourse. People who have proudly labeled themselves in their bio as followers of Jesus use language on social media that once would have made a sailor blush. Regular readers of my musings know I am not a purveyor of
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