Joni and I watch a lot of HGTV shows together. I love how they take a house that is dysfunctional and ugly and make it useful and beautiful. The process is intriguing. Identity the problem. Come up with a new plan. Demo the old stuff. Rebuild with hard work. Results? Amazing. Too often we take that process and convert it into a do-it-yourself project to grow as followers of Jesus. The results? Not so amazing. I tried executing the DIY blueprint over and over. I am dysfunctional. Check. I have identified the problem. I believe God has a plan for my life. Check. Now I need to rebuild my spiritual dwelling place. This is where I veered off the Biblical script. I thought the self-demolition of my sinful behaviors and personal remodeling of my life would be based on my hard work. Bad plan. Jesus doesn’t remodel a messed up structure. He builds a completely new one on the day
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Identity theft is a huge problem. It is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States and recent stats suggest that as many as 15 million cases occurred in the past year. The rise of identity theft has produced a number of companies that protect you from criminals that might steal your good name and credit rating. A few years ago one of my card numbers was compromised and some low life was merrily buying electronic gear on my tab in Malaysia. Fortunately that was fairly easily resolved since I could prove I was safely hunkered down in North Texas when the purchases were made. It occurred to me that another identity theft occurs in the lives of Christians all the time and there seems to be very little uproar about it. I pondered if I could start a company to protect followers of Jesus from this serious and sometimes tragic crime. The crime is Christian identity theft. Any follower of Jesus has the
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I grew up in legalism. We were taught accurately that you were saved by grace. And then it went South. We then were taught that sanctification came through grit. You had to work hard to stay in good standing with God. I used to laugh at this bumper sticker. “Jesus is coming soon. Look busy.” The application of that theology was anything but amusing. To grow in faith I had to do more. Try harder. Pray more. Read the Bible more. Have more devotional time. Stay busy for God and you will grow in faith. All of those things are good when properly utilized. But there is a problem in self-effort as your plan for sanctification. Nowhere in Scripture will you find this command. Be busy and know that I am God. Our busyness does not please God. Our faith pleases Him. We can’t have faith and trust in someone we are too busy to know intimately. David wrote this
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I am fascinated and more than a little convicted when I look at the behaviors that caused Jesus to react with anger or harsh words. Let’s first look at a few examples that prompted grace and not condemnation. A woman caught in adultery is dragged before Jesus with the demand that he condone the law that she should be killed for her sin. His reaction? Jesus knelt down, wrote in the sand, and challenged the persons without any sin to hurl the first rock. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” (John 8, NLT) Jesus had compassion on a person who was
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Recent news headlines and Old Testament daily readings generated today’s musing. I read the story of the Israelite people turning again and again from the God who had faithfully provided for and protected them. They decided to take control and follow man-made gods and worthless idols. I immediately flexed my judgement muscle and wondered how they could be so foolish? Then a quite voice in my head said “not so fast my child”. Followers of Jesus in this country have been blessed with freedom of worship and expression for decades with very little push back. That is changing and I fear we are reacting a lot like the Israelite people did in the desert. We want to take control. We are prone to take our eyes off of God and put our hope in other places. Nothing that is happening is a surprise to our Sovereign God. His plan for mankind will be accomplished and He is our only reliable
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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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Recently I passed a highway billboard with this message. Real Christians Obey Jesus. I get the intent of the message. Too many folks leave their Sunday Lesson in the parking lot as they drive to lunch. But exactly what does it mean to be a “real Christian”? We subtly (or in my own experience, not so subtly) program Christians to believe that growth is about doing more right things. That righteousness somehow involves my extraordinary efforts for Jesus. We imply that change can only happen when you are trying hard and being disciplined for God. The truth is that a dramatic change has already happened when you make that faith commitment to follow Jesus. I think one of the biggest problems in the church is that we don’t teach clearly and repetitively what happens at the very moment we put our faith in the finished work of Christ. Let’s just hit the highlights. Scripture tells you that at that moment
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