Stop trying…

Stop trying.  I will say it again, stop trying.  Stop trying to live a good life.  Stop trying to be perfect.  Stop trying not to sin.  Stop trying to love people.  Stop trying to live the example of Jesus.  Stop trying to care for the poor. Just stop trying to be and do whatever it is that we think will please God.

Seriously, stop trying because it is not working.  I say this with the utmost love in my heart for people and for the body of Jesus Christ, the church.  I also say this because I am tired of seeing people striving to put on a show for God.  God is not duped, God is not fooled.  We can not do something to earn God’s favor.  If the gospel has transformed us, we can not “add” anything to it. Point blank!  God completely accepts us, loves us, and will complete the work he began in us.  It is those who truly do not know God’s love deep in their hearts who strive to earn it.  The problem becomes when these people have access to influence other people.

The church was and always has been shaped and formed around the Spirit’s revelation of Jesus Christ and him crucified.  The Apostle Paul says to the Galatian Christians, (My paraphrase), “Stop trying to create for yourselves a perfect world where you feel justified and righteous.”  “Stop trying to work toward some type of inner fulfillment by doing certain tasks and trying to live moral lives because it is not working.”  Paul then says, “As a matter of fact it is harming and destroying the good news of Jesus.” Read Galatians

Paul then says that the Galatians came to know the truth of the good news because it was revealed to them by the Spirit of God. They believed by faith because the Spirit revealed to them Jesus the Christ.  Paul then says that they became the people of the living God by the Spirit but they are attempting to perfect themselves (or become righteous) by doing certain tasks. But Paul says, “If you (Galatians) literally did NOTHING to get it or deserve the good news but simply received it, then how on earth can you work toward becoming anything but a people shaped by the Spirit of bountiful grace?

Paul says that as soon as they Galatians started to implement ways toward being righteous, they actually lost their freedom and have once again begun the downward descent toward slavery and bondage.   Paul speaks as if he is actually afraid for the Galatians that they will once again become in bondage to sin.  Paul then says that this is not just a “changing of the gospel” but is actually “NO GOSPEL AT ALL!” and anyone (including an angel from heaven) who preaches or teaches this gospel, including Paul, “let that person be accursed.”  And by the way, he says, “Let them be accursed”, twice. Accursed means, ‘to be damned’.

The good news of Jesus Christ can only be “received” not “gained” and definitely not “earned”.  So what is this “good news”?  The good news is that Jesus took upon himself the bondage to sin and died carrying our unbelief in God to the cross, the most miserable form of death. Our mistrust or unbelief caused the death of Jesus, but the victory is that Jesus rose from the dead for death could not hold Jesus.  In Jesus’ death, he buried this unbelief because it was the fear of death which drives or compels sin.  Jesus conquered death and the grave and when we believe and receive this gift of forgiveness, we entered into a new relationship with God which NEVER ends because death and the grave could not hold Jesus and it will not hold us either.

This was revealed to the Galatian Christians but somewhere along the way, they threw away this gracious act of God and began to believe and teach that they must “add” something to grace.  But think about it!  How can anything be added to grace?  Grace is unmerited.  Grace is undeserved.  Grace is not grace if I can earn it.  If I can work for it.  Why is this so incredibly dangerous?

Because the people who teach this will of course put themselves on the side of grace but they will make their efforts or their works determinative for who can be inside grace and who can be outside.  So when Paul wrote Galatians, certain Jews had come into the Galatian church and of course they used their standing, “circumcision” as determinative for grace.  So all those who had no circumcision were on the outside looking in.  The Apostle Paul was furious about this.  No seriously, he was mad!

Paul said that this is not grace and actually works toward shutting out other people who otherwise could come into relationship with GOD!  This is not any laughing matter.  This is serious.  This is why Paul says, “Let that person be accursed” if they are teaching or preaching this.

I hate to say it, but this is so prevalent today.  There are so many instances where people are shut out of the experience of forgiveness because they are taught or to “try” to live in such and such a way.  They are taught that God is on the side of this group of people and therefore, you must align yourselves with them in order to receive the blessing of God.  Galatians would say, “That is not true!”  A person does not need to align themselves with anyone or anything but Christ alone!  And when the gift comes to them, we should always be shocked to the core at whose eyes are opened to the freedom of forgiveness and reconciliation with the God of the universe.  We should always say, “I didn’t see that coming!”

Grace is always counter cultural to everything we think we know.

Grace

Grace

I knew what to do, yet I did not do it.
I knew God, yet my life did not show it
I knew the truth, yet I lied when confronted
I knew God, yet I pretended to be something

I knew what to do, yet I stood and looked angry
I knew God, yet my life seemed so empty
I knew the truth, yet I selfishly pretended
I knew God, yet I did not know the ending

God knew what to do, and loved me anyway
God knew me, and made straight my broken way
God is the truth, so my lies were buried deep
God knew me, I am his child to keep

God knew what to do, he sent his awesome son
God knew me and filled me up with his love
God is the truth, and I do not need to pretend
God knew me, amazing grace, the end.

The prophets of old

I love the book of Jeremiah.  Why?  Because God calls Jeremiah to be the vessel through which God desires to tell his people that he loves them so deeply.  God calls his people back to his covenant with them.  Judah had become faithless and followed after nations which exalted the work of their hands and did not exalt God.  The OT prophets spoke about injustice but EVERY SINGLE injustice in the world stems from a people who has forsaken God!  Or God is not telling us the truth.  When the prophets call the people to repentance, it is always because repentance is the way by which people’s hearts are opened wide again and God, the “fountain of living water” can pour his love in.  The Lord through Jeremiah tells the people that they have,

“Committed two evils, they have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2.13)

A fountain of living water.  Picture the land, a dry and barren desert where your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth, where your lips are dry and cracked, and your strength is failing.  Water is an extremely essential commodity for survival, especially in an agricultural society, where farming is the means of survival.  The Lord is astonished that his people are turning away from him because it is the Lord who provides the people with their needs.  The people have designed cisterns and believing themselves to be crafty, these cisterns are broken, cracked, and leak the essential water, leaving them with nothing.  The cistern is a representation of the people’s lives with Yahweh.

Earlier in this same chapter, the Lord through Jeremiah says to the people, “Tell my people that I remember when their life was so new.  I remember when they had such a passion for me!”  God says, they were like a bride the night before her wedding day.  Such anticipation for her groom.  Or the groom for his bride.  God says to Jeremiah, “I want my people to love me that way again.”  Meaning, there was a time when God’s people loved him with all of their heart.  With all of their passion.  God says, “Yes, my people, you loved me when you were in the wilderness.”  When you did not know where your food was coming from and I fed you.  When you were thirsty and I gave you cold water to sooth your thirst.  Oh, my people, you once loved me but not only did you love me, but you trusted me to be your guide.  I lead you through forests, and deserts, and cliffs, and rocks, and mountains, and I never let you go.  I took your hand and I carried you my people!  Return to me again–oh, return to me for I love the people that I crafted with such detail and such beauty.
I see you. I hear you. I love you. and you can be forgiven!

In our modern world, we cry about injustice and rightfully so, but I hear so many people speaking as if they are “like” the prophets of old.  The prophets of old spoke nothing on their own behalf, nor did they call the people to a government, an organization, or injustice, for the sake of injustice, they called people to repentance so that their lives could be filled with the overwhelming love of their God!  Jesus is the last prophet.  On the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17, Jesus led Peter, James, and John up a high mountain and was “transfigured” before them so that his glory was revealed to these three disciples.  Jesus then spoke with Elijah and Moses and when Peter decides he wants to build an altar to these three prophets, Elijah and Moses disappear and the voice of God speaks, “This is my beloved son, hear him!”

The prophets were gone and only Jesus remained.  The prophets are gone and only Jesus remains.   Jesus is calling his people to love God again with all their hearts, souls, mind, and strength.  Allow for God to transform our lives.  We lay aside every hindrance and when we do, we stand against injustice.  When we open our hearts to listen to the voice of God each day, we cripple injustice.  When we love our friends, when we love our spouses, and when we love our enemies, we crack the stranglehold of injustice.  When we deny pursuing our interests we cripple the economic power that injustice has created.  And when we worship God, we move mountains that stand in the way of other people knowing God.

If people must increase in their knowledge before God can move, we are all doomed.  This will then only allow certain people to tell everyone else what is true and we hope and pray those people have a heart which is yielded to the Holy Spirit.

I write this because God sees, God hears, and God loves.  I write this because I asked our Youth Group recently what they wanted to know about God and what they wanted God to know about them.  They wanted God to see, to hear, and to love them!  Let us be very careful to never stand in the way of God’s love.

 

Arrested by God

Arrested.

A word which is usually associated with the taking away of rights, civil liberties, and the ability to freely move about without interference.  This word conjures in the minds of Americans, probably law enforcement “arresting” someone, maybe with the tune of the television show, “COPS” running through your mind.  (“Bad Boys, Bad Boys, watch’ gonna do?…”)  To arrest someone in the world of law enforcement also has various words which are unique to states or regions.  In Connecticut, the word “pinch” was associated with the act of “arresting” someone.  In New York, “collar” has the connotation of arresting someone.  These phrases reference the act of grabbing a hold of someone for the purpose of holding them, usually against their will.  And law enforcement is trained specifically  to never put your hands on someone unless you plan on arresting them.  Why? Because there is so much power in touch.  As soon as another person touches someone, intentions are no longer obscure, they are clearly known.

The language of arresting is definitely not embraced by some, but I am continually perplexed as to why we readily accept society to arrest people, but we do not proclaim an arrest which comes from God?  We have no problem with putting “bad” people in prison, but we do not proclaim the good news to people who have only heard “bad news” their whole lives.  When society arrests someone they take away their rights and freedom but when God arrests someone they gain their right as God’s children and gain the ultimate freedom that they no longer operate under the power of sin.  When I worked at a homeless shelter the day before Thanksgiving, I walked away extremely convicted because I shared the opening prayer but did not proclaim to the people that they do not have to live under the power of other people their whole lives.  It upsets me that we have incorporated into our knowledge of God, a theology of “doing good” without the one who is “The Good”, God alone.  Many who are doing these good deeds have never had their own hearts transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.  But here is the truth, I have.  Oh, how arrogant of me, right?  How arrogant of me to say that I have something other people do not.  But I wish all know Christ and the power of his cross, just as much as the apostle Paul spoke in Galatians 2.20.

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Because the fact of the matter is that the entire story of God and his creation is about “arresting them”.  The apostle Paul was arrested by God and he no longer claimed his “rights” but he proclaims Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why? Because the crucifixion of Jesus destroys the power of society having to arrest people.  And God has always grabbed a hold of his creation in this way.  But every time God grabbed a hold of his creation and drew close to them, they rebelled and rose in anger against God.  So, when God in Jesus visits his creation in Israel, the only reaction could be to “arrest” him.  I find it interesting that the creation did to God what God desired to do to them.

God desired to arrest his creation and make them his own special people.  God desired to arrest his creation to pour out his love for them into their hearts.  God desired to arrest his creation to shepherd them and give them the living water to quench their thirst.  And God desired to arrest his creation to make them bearers of the truth of Jesus so that they could offer the forgiveness and healing of God.  But God’s creation, arrested him, spit on him, slapped him, and killed him.  God’s creation has always violently reacted against God’s love.  Maybe this violent reaction does not come from without as much as we want to believe.  Maybe sinfulness has become hereditary.  Maybe sin touches each and every aspect of our lives.

When God draws close to his people and touches them, every nerve of their body reacts.  But I sincerely believe there are differences though in how some people receive this touch from God.  It is interesting because most of the people who are arrested by society when touched with a different form of “arrest” recognize something is different.  This is why Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor (in spirit)” and “Blessed are the meek”.  People who have been broken by the power of sin, the power of other people over their lives, are sometimes more ready to receive the “arrest” of God.  Why?  Because they can recognize the difference.  Not all the time though.

Just because a person has not been arrested by society does not mean they can not receive God’s arresting. “God shows no partiality.” (Galatians 2.6)  God looks upon hearts which are ready to receive his touch.  In Scripture we see some of God’s covenant people react violently against his touch and others who God’s people considered outsiders openly embraced and received this arrest.

The example of Jesus

Three years later life seems to make less sense than when we first began.  I have imagined this would be a statement that the disciples made to each other after traveling on Jesus’ itinerant ministry for three long years.  Jesus is rambling on about the kingdom of God this and the kingdom of heaven that.  Jesus is challenging even the poorest people that they can not play the victim card any longer, but their sins also would be forgiven.  They probably said, “What sins?”  “I have been cast aside, demonized, and treated with contempt” and Jesus says, “Yes and as a result you will do the same to others, so be forgiven and live a brand new life.”

Jesus is also challenging the  religious that they have a responsibility to live up to the claims that they claim about God, which is of course a completely impossible endeavor.  So instead of acknowledging in humility that their religious world has failed, they become more bitter about the fact that their religious world has failed.  Jesus then challenges the Romans by being completely silent about the truth which is being brought forth in his own person.  Jesus does not answer the questions the Romans posit to him about his kingship, because Jesus knows that his kingship will only come through his death and Jesus will trust God for his resurrection.  Jesus confounds his disciples so much during his ministry that they finally say, “But Lord, who then can be saved?”  Jesus essentially says, “Ah, now you are ready to hear the truth.”  “NO ONE!”  “But with God, all things are possible.”  I can imagine their response.  “Oh, thank you, now it makes complete sense.”

Sometimes I don’t think that Jesus himself could have really understood the full implications of his ministry at the time.  As a matter of fact, I sometimes hope that he did not.  Why?  Because Jesus just like us has to trust his Father to reveal each step to him.  But Jesus is so completely in tune with his Father and the desires of God that Jesus stops, listens, retreats in prayer, and then he obeys with love at every turn for whatever the Father calls him to do.  Sometimes I think that Jesus could have only seen the full implications of what God was doing as he himself did the will of God.  As Jesus brought forth healing, restoration, and love, Jesus saw that people were still not thankful.  As Jesus taught about the kingdom, he saw that people were still greedy.  And as Jesus taught about his own death, he could see that fear gripped the hearts of his followers. And as Jesus began to see the will of God, he knew that this sin was so deeply entrenched into the hearts of humans that only his own death to this sin would free people to live to God.

Every single follower could never “try” to live like Jesus.  Jesus himself saw the impossibility of this endeavor.  God knows the better way.  God says, “I will take their sin upon myself and die the death that sin causes.”  “I will become for them their own unbelief and give them the ability to believe by becoming one with them through my death and resurrection.”  In Jesus’ death, he draws all of humanity to himself and when we believe, we become one with the only one who has the power to liberate us to trust in God, Jesus himself.”  Somehow, this transaction is completed by the power of God’s Spirit coming into our lives to dwell with us and become one with us.

We have to see the story as fulfilled only at Pentecost when the Comforter comes and dwells with humanity.  At the end of Jesus’ ministry, no one followed.  No one performed the ministry of Christ.  And today, no one can “Follow Christ” if that person is not made one with Christ in his death, resurrection, and made alive through the Holy Spirit to become his disciple.  The example of Jesus can never transform us to become followers of Christ.  Only God’s Spirit can do that.  Let us receive today with an open heart the gift of the Holy Spirit to live faithfully to God.

Book review: Jesus Manifesto

Yes, it has been a while since I last posted but during the past two weeks, I have gone through two different books.  The first book was written by a friend of mine named Michael DeFazio.  This book is an incredible, in-depth look at Jesus according to Paul in the book of Colossians.  The book is called, moreJESUS.  The second book was mentioned by Michael in his book and apparently it gave Michael some inspiration to write his book.  The second book is, Jesus Manifesto by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola.  And all my respect to Michael and moreJesus, but I have to write something on Jesus Manifesto.

I hate to say it but Jesus Manifesto said absolutely everything that so many people know who have “been known” by Christ.  John Wesley and countless others have testified that it is through the inner witness of the Spirit that Christians know they are Christs.  It is not through our cognitive faculties, our resolute doctrines, nor any specific prayer that we know, but the “Inner witness” which testifies to the ministry of Christ.  This ministry of Christ is far different from our “ministries” because most ministries focus on either meeting people’s needs or running the church.  Neither of the author’s stated that these are not worthy endeavors, but for all who have sat in the very presence of Christ, for those who have visited for a moment the overwhelming and abundant grace of God, we know that there is a difference.  It is this exact difference that Jesus Manifesto is written.

It is the difference between knowing Christ and receiving from God the grace that sustains our very lives and talking about Christ and working toward acceptance by God.  Jesus Manifesto is the book that does not come from the perspective that Christians are getting it “wrong” which we hear a lot today, but comes from the exact perspective Jesus came from and the perspective of those who followed Christ, there is something more.

It is the “something more” part of Jesus Manifesto that I absolutely resonated with.  It is the fact that Jesus is not a moral example of how to live a better life, but Jesus is life itself.  Jesus is not the way to fulfillment, but the Way itself.  That Jesus does not introduce us to God, but lives with us as God.   Jesus Manifesto untangled the idolatrous world in which we have packaged Jesus to fit a program, politic, movement, or cause.  And yet when we actually read the gospels, Jesus walks away from people who want to crown him king, without his cross.  Jesus can not perform miracles and bring forth the kingdom of God in areas where people do not believe.  And one of the best illustrations that the book used was the fact that in the temple, the place where God is said to dwell was cold and dark, yet a small house in Bethany was alive with the presence of Jesus; talking, healing, forgiving, teaching, and loving people.  But the love was shown because Jesus was received.  The temple could have known the true love of God but it rejected Jesus and his ministry in favor of a ministry which controlled outcomes.  God in Christ was searching his people to find faith and when faith was discovered, for a brief period, faith was not even needed.  Jesus showed the Father.  The people did not need their faith with the presence of Jesus.  That type of encounter can allow people to live faithfully for the rest of their life.

The warmth of the love of Christ far surpasses the knowledge of his commandments.  But it is our love for Christ that compels us to live in his commandments.  Yes, the life in Christ must also surpass the warm and fuzzy feelings associated with his presence.  And yes, the very presence of Christ is not my own senses.  The Holy Spirit is the very presence of God, but is not to be associated with the way I feel or think.  And it is because of Christ that I no longer have to follow my own senses, but I can follow the Spirit which testifies to the ministry of Jesus Christ.

So in conclusion. For anyone who wants once again to ignite the flame of love which burns in our hearts in Christ, this book will point us to Jesus.  There is also some great ironing out of some theological differences between those who espouse “Justice” and those who espouse, “Doctrine”.  This book hits on everything.

Progressive Fundamentalism

I tend to enjoy reading a blog or two because I enjoy reading about people’s thoughts, opinions, and ideas.  And the fact that I like to blog.  Most of the blogs I read are Christian blogs and it seems that there is new movement (maybe not that new) within Christian circles called, “Progressive Christianity“.  Now, Progressive Christianity in and of itself is not new, it is based in Protestant Liberalism, of course Protestant Liberals encompass both the liberal and conservative strands of Christianity, but most do not know it.  This is why the Progressive movement seems to have gained such strength lately because  many people simply think it’s new and they think it’s not “Conservative”.  The ideology of the movement simply defers to formal logic, meaning people should make rational choices in reference to how the world should be “run” and these rational choices according to both “Liberals” and “Conservatives” follow Jesus as an “Example”.  Of course the interpretation is different, but the methodology is the same.

This Progressive movement seems to pander to a younger, more hip style in Christianity than typical denominations offer.  Recently I read an article on a Progressive blog which seemed to feel justified in using very coarse language because the author thought that Jesus is not some staunch conservative or fundamentalist who shuns the practical language of the world.  So, the language in this article carried on with very little concern for the readers of the article because the most important point in the article was the fact that we Christians should be angry and pissed off at the injustices in the world, and we should (add expletive) scream about it!!  The interesting part of the article was the fact that the person writing the article did not directly use expletives, but would say something like, “That is f&*ked up”!  But the responses to the article apparently believing that the author somehow gave the green light for the use of coarse language, did not hold their tongue and let the expletives fly.  Interesting that our ideas are not stagnant but escalate the original thought.  This is why we should be careful what that “original thought” is.

Yes, of course I posted on the site.  But my post was actually a response to a person who said that in her reading the article she was offended by the use of this type of language in describing our actions as followers of Christ.  She said that there are other ways of describing the ideas that the author was portraying and some of those ways do not need to minimize the thoughts of others.  Need less to say, the responses to this woman were nothing short of vitriolic.  People stood in self-righteous indignation against the fact that someone was offended.  How on earth could she be offended?  Here are some of the responses to the responders post.

“If you are more offended by the language than the Christians who defile the name of Jesus then you might need to check your priorities and just maybe read another blog. Grow up.”

“Jesus was a working class guy and if these words had existed in his time, he probably would have used them. I use them from time to time in my own writing because nothing grabs your attention better than a well–placed “fuck” in Christian writing.”

“I understand your reaction to the language (the author) uses in this article. I, too, was taught that it is more offensive to Christians to hear words like “fuck” than it is to hear truth like “30,000 children will starve to death in the next 24 hours”. This is exactly what I was talking about in my post. We have this whitewashed idea of who Jesus was/is, and this sterile idea of what pleases and displeases him, and it is all focussed on our pathetic personal “ethics”. Given the state of the world, I cannot imagine that Christ wastes his time being offended by (the author’s) colorful use of language, or whether or not I had my “quiet time” this morning. Rather, Christian Ethics – Christ-like living, is more about our tendency to live consumer lives, overly comfortable, wasteful, and insatiable, while many, many, many of God’s children don’t have clean water to drink, or food to eat.”

So apparently, the responder should just, “Grow up”.  Or the responder should understand who Jesus really was, “A working class guy” who would have adopted the language of the working class, no matter what the working class said. (whatever that means).  Or the responder is more “offended at the language used” (taking this theme from Tony Campolo) than the fact that, “30,000 children will starve to death in the next 24 hours”, therefore the responder should make a decision right now whether or not she wants to embrace coarse and foul language or feed all 30,000 children, of which of course the person who posted the response is also doing.

So apparently self righteousness does not apply as long as a person has the “right” ideas, as opposed to those rabid fundamentalists who are so angry, judgmental, and hurtful.  But the main premise of why I am writing is not to degrade “Progressives” anymore than I would degrade “Fundamentalists”, but to point out the glaring fact that, human beings were made to judge.  Every single day we make thousands, literally thousands of judgements.  We do it all day long.  We assess, we judge, we perceive, we think, and we act upon all these thoughts.  So when Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness in Matthew 6, it is because Jesus knows that without seeking God, we are simply left making our own assessments, our own judgments, our own perceptions, and our actions will always follow.

The irony of seeking God is that we will find out that God was actually seeking us the whole time.  But it seems as though people would rather seek after systems which in the end are completely devoid at bringing fulfillment.  But these systems have power to shape and form human beings into their very image.  It’s funny because the apostle Paul says that an idol is really nothing, it does not exist, yet somehow people place value upon it, and that idol shapes the person into “nothing”.  A person who follows all the systems of the world will be shaped by the world and God although loving the world, does not consider himself equal to its systems.  If we follow this worldly system we will live in our own judgements, perceptions, and subsequent anger.  And after we judge, what then?  What do we do with it?  Where does that judgement go?

When our lives are filled with the very presence of God through seeking God, the very presence of God’s Spirit testifies to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.   The presence of God’s Spirit testifies that Jesus lived in the world, but not of the world. My life will then become an offering of love back to God.  When my life is an offering of love, I no longer pursue my selfish interests.  And when I no longer pursue my selfish interests, I can now see the world in the way God sees the world.  Why? Because the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it! (Psalm 50)

God in Christ reclaimed the world, but instead of reclaiming it through demanding submission, Christ died to the powers that demanded the submission of human beings.  So in reality Christ was reclaiming human beings from the power of the authority of the world.  Christ therefore took their power into his own body on the cross and crucified their selfish interests.  Christ then buried it and rose in victory over their power, over the fact that those powers had no real power to begin with but only tricked people into believing that fulfillment could be found in “running” the world.  And it is now in Christ that my reality becomes the reality of God.  I can now see the world the way God sees it.  My selfishness is crucified with Christ.

And because of Christ’s actions on the cross I am compelled by my love for Christ to never pursue my own ends, my own occupation, my own education, my own life, my own money, my own world.  Let’s be honest. The reason there are so many starving people is that people hoard food!  So it be greater for Christians to not pursue their own selfish ambitions and to seek God to fill the world with his own glory rather than doing whatever they want, but throwing some food toward those that are hungry?  If I am filled with God’s very presence I will demonstrate mercy in every imaginable way. Not only will I not use language which hurts other people, but I can also deny my greed which causes starvation.  I find it interesting that some people who say they hate injustice are also some of the people who never settle down long enough to get to know the people who are suffering as a result of this injustice.  God calls us to know.  Not knowing in the intellect only, but knowing in the intimacy of God’s very life.

If I have the right ideas, but I hate other people, demonize other people, and do not seek to make Christ known, I make myself a liar and the truth is not in me. (I John 2.4)  And also in Hosea 2.17 the Lord says, “For I will remove the names of the Baals from her (Israel’s) mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more.” If Christ is now our Lord, our king, then we must have the politics and the ideologies of this world removed from our mouths if we are to speak peace into the world.

I am horrible at Politics.

Why I hate blogs.

Well, hate is a strong word, but why I really, really dislike blogs.  Even my own.  I think that blogging took the form that it has taken over the course of the last eight years because of a lack of direct interaction with other people and some sense of the idea that getting our, “Thoughts” out there into the blogosphere has the potential to change someones world.  And also maybe a little narcissism added to the fray, because I have held this same thought about my own ideas in the past.  Wait, did I just call myself a narcissist?

This is really quite funny because I never used to like to be engaged in philosophical pontificating or debates about matters of politics or philosophy in the past, unless it was directly related to something I was doing.  It always had to be related directly to my actual world, not the “World out there.”  As a matter of fact, I used to wear as a badge of honor the statement that someone I worked with made about me. I was a political science major in undergraduate and a coworker said to me approximately ten years ago, “I really can not believe you studied political science in college and even worked in the field of politics, because you suck at being political!”  This statement stemmed from the fact that I always had a tendency to beat to my own drum.  Not in a way which bucked the system, just in the way that I really wasn’t aware there was a system.  People used to play politics with each other and I would think, “Well, why would you do that?”  I will concede that I was slightly naive, but it really never crossed my mind that other people thought differently than I did.  After I just typed those words, I realized that people would definitely think I was naive.

My point for this post is the fact that I was reading a blog today and the blogger was posting about the issue of how to handle “Online” criticism.  I thought two things:

First, human beings were not created for online debates.  Human beings need face to face interaction to grow as people.  We never represent our “True” selves in online debates, chat rooms, Facebook, etc. because communication is upwards of 70% non-verbal.  Meaning we are constantly reading people’s body language as we are engaged with speaking.  We alter our own communication based upon the non verbal reactions of other people.  These are things which used to be taught, but seem to be a thing of the past.  As a person makes eye contact, engages in positive facial expressions, this invites us to talk more about whatever we are talking about.  If a person looks away, appears disinterested, squints their eyes, tilts their head to one side, all these signs will alter our communication, either in positive or negative ways.  If we were engaged in face to face communication, we will probably not engage in direct confrontation in a hostile manner with someone that we are speaking with, unless we had serious anger problems, but even then it would demonstrate to us that we have anger problems.  The online world can not do this.  It creates a form of justification for our anger, hostile actions, all in the name of, opinions, or debate, or ideas.  And the online world thrives in inviting these types of behaviors.  It makes it interesting.

Secondly, the blogging world, especially the world of blogs which engage in critique, also invite the same type of critique in the readers. I was a little confused as to why the author of the blog in question was wondering why people reading the blog were being critical.  I thought, most of the posts from this blogger criticize all various sorts of ideas, institutions, ideologies, and religious practices.  Interesting how people really can not see their “position” in society.  This author engages in non stop critique and almost assumes that critique is somehow their, “Right”.  Their position in society has granted this to them and therefore they can turn around and critique anything that they please.  But please, for the love of God do not critique their critique’s, for you and I will feel the wrath of being shunned by the blogging world.  Yes, the blogging world has its own form of shunning.

In conclusion, I am desperate to reclaim my pragmatism and it will be my prayer for the month of May. My statement for the month will be,

“I would rather be surrounded by ten (10) people who believed God, were filled with God’s Spirit of love, and lived it out, come hell or high water, than ten (10) million who blogged about it.”

To be or not to be

To be or not to be…overcome with joy.

Joy, not necessarily the feeling of an ecstatic state whereby one loses all sense of a common, grounded existence, but instead, the true joy in God, whereby one gains a heart connected to the mind, a mind connected to the story, and the story connected to God.  A joy which has at its center the cross of Jesus Christ. 

This is truly the greatest paradox the world has ever known.

From one person being crucified around 33-35 C.E., this new birth of creation would plant in the hearts of human beings a joy which would and will transform the world. We sometimes think that it is empathy which produces more loving people, but it is actually joy which produces loving people.   Through joy, thoughts will become clear, hearts will be lifted, and eyes will desire generosity.  Empathy will produces a sympathetic response to the plight of others, but only joy will compel others to give up all for the sake of God’s kingdom. If God’s kingdom as manifest in the fruit’s of the Spirit of; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control, then it is the Spirit which gives joy as a gift, and it is the Spirit which connects people to God and themselves.

God’s character is manifest in all of these above mentioned traits, so why would God not desire these traits to be manifest in people?  Joy though is what compels these traits to be desired for people. Simply put, joy overcomes! It sheds light into the darkness. It sheds light on issues, feelings, and secrets, which are hidden beneath a facade of either apathy or busyness, or busyness which creates apathy.  But once these issues are revealed in joy, there is no guilt, there is no shame, and blame has disappeared.

It almost seems too simple and from a secular perspective, it is.  True joy though as found in the cross of Jesus Christ, diminishes the complexities, because complexity in the first place was created by people who want to destroy joy for the sake of their own importance.  In our divided world, we as Christians need to once again see a people who were filled with joy and through this joy, it transformed these people to suffer with and for others for the sake of the Cross which brought them joy.  Joy is contagious.  Now, of course joy like any other trait given as a gift to people needs to be cultivated through discipleship in the local church, due to the fact that people tend to use gifts for their own benefit.  They tend to utilize gifts to actualize their own need to be important or their own identity separated from the story of God’s redemption of the world.

As a Christian, this story of creation is connected with the story of separation.  Separation from God and from people, in which I was driven from the place of rest. Driven to dominate, driven to become simply a shell of person who can only find identity in tasks, even though most people despise these “tasks”.  This “Drive” has compelled me to uproot myself from a community of people who share in this joy, who love each other despite the flaws, and

confess the flaws to each other.  Joy will bring me back home to the community where I will find others who desire to be conformed into the image of Christ.  But only joy will develop my whole body into the place where God’s peace may dwell.  And if God’s peace dwells with me, how could I ever do harm to any person created in God’s image.