Open, respectful, compassionate dialog ... where has it gone?

Why does it seem that open, respectful discussion has fallen by the way side? Or has it always been this way? For instance, if God and what we think he is and what he wants of us is of utmost importance (it is), why don't we discuss it with those who differ from us more often? Is it because we think we'll be talked out of our way of thinking when new information is injected? I mean, if it's false logic, the doubt or altered thinking it might create will be temporary at best. But if it's truth, isn't an injection of that data an extremely good thing? And how will that ever happen if we're afraid to talk to one another about the most important topics?

People, we must talk.

We must be less emotional about our response to ideas that differ from our desired way of thinking. We need to drop our need to 'win' or be 'right' and just exchange information, ideas, perspectives. We need to listen without judgment, without waiting to speak, without pride in our hearts... without a readiness to pounce with attacking words.

How many times has a Muslim approached me to share what he or she believes is critically true about God? Or how many times has a Hindu approached me? The answer is zero. But if it matters most, why not?

And Christian, when is the last time you lovingly shared what you know to be true? Emphasis here is on the word lovingly. 

If we believe that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life (as he clearly says in scripture), and that no one can get to the Father except through him, why aren't we frantically sharing the Gospel?  Christian, you and I both know that what we think about God is the most important thing about us, including what we do with what we think/know about him. We know that without accepting Jesus as the Lord, Master, Controller, King, Boss of our lives, we are left with the alternative ... a horrific and undesirable eternal destination. If others knew this was true like we know, they would accept him as quickly as possible, understanding the urgency. They would drop everything, get down on their knees and except him. No doubt about it.

But if we don't tell them ...

Lord, start with us... your children.

Wake us to the importance - to the criticality - of engaging this lost world with love and compassion. We know they are in horrible danger. We can't stand idly by if we are to be lovers of you and lovers of our neighbor. God, we need your help here. Knock us cleanly and fully out of our comfort zones. 

I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Jesus died on a cross, rose from the dead, then said make disciples? Hmm. Mildly interesting.

This past Sunday we celebrated Easter. A celebration of Jesus's resurrection from the dead.

"He is risen!" we say. Can we go on with our normal lives, as though there's nothing more we're called to do.

Let's take a look at Matthew 28:5-7:
" the angel said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he is risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: "He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him'. Now I have told you."

Here the key messages that I hear:

1. Don't be afraid of tomorrow, or of uncertainty. Jesus is The Rock and your protector.

2. Everyone is looking for Jesus, whether they know it, it minute, or not. They try to fulfill the need with all sorts of things: personal accomplishment, money, prestige, sex ... only to find that it does not last, and it does not sustain. Only Jesus ...

3. He WAS crucified. No doubt about it. He died for our sins. Most definitely. It is finished.

4. He is not here. He is risen! He has defeated death by raising himself from the grave. Come and see! It's true! Seek and you WILL find that it's the truth.

5. Now, tell everyone! Go! That's an order! God said to go proclaim this truth to all.

6. He's going ahead of you: to make a place for you in his mansion, to fight your battles ...
"In my house there are many rooms..."

7. There you will see him... If you seek with a true, humble, repentant heart, you will see him! That's a promise!

8. There is no mistake that you've heard and/or read this. So, now what will you do? Will you obey the direct command? Or will you just say, "Hmmm, interesting". And move on?

I pray that you and I jump to it. He said clearly to share the good news and make disciples of all the nations. What is holding us back? Cultural pressure? Laziness? Lack of belief?

We must snap out of it and get to work.

Lord, help us to obey. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Is the Belief in the Resurrection an Irrational, Blind Faith? Quite the opposite.

When we say, "He came back to life", we tend to conjure up images in our minds of Frankenstein's Monster or The Walking Dead. And rightfully so ... we've been flooded with these images from Hollywood for decades. We grew up on it. It's been engrained in our psyche and, as a result, we tend to discount the idea of reanimation as crazy, silly, impossible ... maybe even wishful thinking. I tend to agree. The idea of someone coming back to life by natural means - like Frankenstein or brain-eating zombies - is ludicrous. THAT is not possible. But here's the thing: it happened. So, if we know that it's silly to think that something that is fully dead could come back to life by natural means ... AND if we know that it did happen (more than once in the Bible, in fact), then we're left with the supernatural.

A step toward the supernatural, though, is a big leap for the skeptic. I know - I was one. I AM one. But what about all the other big leaps we take? The entire complex and ordered Universe came from nothing. No - thing. Lack of anything. Void. But naturalistic secular scientists take this leap as a presupposition every day. They also take the "life from no life" leap. As well as the"conscience and philosophical thought from none" leap. And DNA (the encyclopedia of life) from nothing. And the list goes on. That's a lot of leaping for a bunch of skeptics.

But when it comes to God raising Himself from death to life? Well, that's just nuts.

There is nothing irrational about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It would only be irrational if He were not, in fact, God. But He is.

• It was also confirmed that He was most certainly dead as a result of beating and crucifixion. 
• It was also confirmed that He was placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea (part of the Jewish Sanhedrin).
• It was also confirmed that the tomb was guarded because the Jews believed Jesus' followers may try to steal his body.
• It was also confirmed that two women found the empty tomb in a time when women's testimony was not considered at all credible.
• It was also confirmed that 100s of people saw the risen Christ, many of whom interacted with Him.
• These facts were confirmed by both Christians and non-Christians.
• The chief persecutor of Christians became it's most aggressive promotor (Paul).
• 11 of the 12 Apostles were killed brutally, given a chance to renounce what they said they knew for a fact, personally: That Jesus had risen and that they interacted with Him. The 12th was exiled to Patmos and wrote Revelation, etc. (he wasn't killed as the others were). Bottom line - liars make horrible martyrs.

For even more reasons why it's true, feel free to read, "10 Reasons to Accept the Resurrection of Jesus as an Historical Fact".

The bottom line is, it happened. What's really important, though, is what you do with this fact. God sent His son to live a sinless life (a miracle in and of itself), then serve as the final, perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men, both past, present and future, until He comes again. Free will gives us a choice to embrace this, making Jesus our Lord and Savior ... or rejecting it, and rejecting God ... for eternity.

• He will not force us to love Him back. 
• He will not force us to accept His free gift ... the ONLY way to be near him for eternity. 
• He waits patiently for us to get it, then choose. 
• He hopes we choose Him.

Lord, I pray for the lost. I pray for the skeptic, who refuses to step past his or her skepticism for a moment to sincerely seek the Truth. Father, only You can wake them from their sleep, God. Only you can remove their blindness. Only you.

Thank you for even making a way at all. You didn't have to ... but I suppose you did, as you are Love itself. You are good, even when we rebel against you. Amazing.

I pray all of this in Jesus' Holy and precious name. Amen.

The Thin Places, and Our Intended Vocation

We talked at home group recently about the thin places. The places where we feel God is near, where we feel life is effortless, unburden some. This is where God wants us. My thin places are many:

• In community with other believers, or were talking about real things ... no posing, no small talk, no fakeness ... just raw reality, with the failures and flaws exposed and on the table.
• In service, or none of it is about me, but all about others what they need.
• And it's and worship - singing specifically. Worshipping God in thanks and appreciation for how he's done and all he's promised to do. I sing to him, for him, because of him... all day. But mix it with community, and my thin place becomes extra, extra thin. Mix it again with service, and I'm in heaven. No burden, no effort, no apprehension. It's where he wants me. Loving him and loving others, is 

Jesus clearly said and Matthew 22:37-40, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And... Love your neighbor as yourself.' All of the law and Prophets hang on these two Commandments."

These thin places - and they are different for everyone - lead to or intended vocation. God wants us to serve effortlessly. And this effortlessness comes from the simple fact that this is what he intended for us individually all along. No legalism. No treasury. No feelings of unfairness. Are intended vocation should and will bring us the joy God wants for us. But it must be HIS vocation for us, not what we think it should be.

Lord, I ask you to make my vocation abundantly clear - even more so than you already have. Then, give me the courage to pour myself into it, so much so that it's all I do: surf, worship, and be in community. So much of my time is spent with the other things that are not my intended vocation, usually because of a misdirected concern about worldly things like comfort, money, control, etcetera. 

Lord, help me to find and stay in my fin places with you. Help me to embrace my intended vocation and eventually shed all other activities. Help me to be a better husband, a better father, a better neighbor and friend and brother. Let it be about you and others alone. I asked this honestly and with full confidence that you'll deliver in full. You are good. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the cross. In Jesus name. Amen.

Yesterday, we celebrated the humiliation, beating, suffering, suffocating, and ultimate excruciatingly painful death of someone? Weird.

Yesterday, we celebrated the Passion of Jesus. To celebrate it - his humiliation, beating, suffering, piercing, suffocating, and ultimate excruciatingly painful death - seems crazy to the unbeliever, I'm sure. It sounds weird as I write it. But it's the most incredible thing to happen in all of history.

God made a way.

God provided the replacement sacrifice for us. We were to pay the price for eternity, but He loved us so much that He said, "No! I will pay the debt!" A debt owed to Him. He paid it. That is crazy-talk to the world.

But just as God provided a ram at the last minute to Abraham so that Isaac could be spared, God provided the perfect, spotless Lamb to be sacrificed... not just because we were sinners in the past, but while we were still sinners!

This is Amazing Grace.

So we celebrate the brutal death of our Savior, because it is that brutal death, by our hands - as though we whipped him, we beat him, we spit upon him, we drove the nails through his hands and feet, we laughed at him and yelled, "If you are God, save yourself!" - that saved us. If not for the Cross, we are doomed. We are destined for eternity in hell, away from God. Darkness, agony, regret, searing pain... forever.

But God...

God, thank you for the Cross. Thank you, thank you, thank you for Jesus. It is in His perfect name I pray. Amen.