Stumbling to glory

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith."

I have to admit that I still struggle with sin.  There are a few that plague me.  It's as if they cling to my heels, like mud on a boot and I can't get free of them.  Every once in a while I stumble, trip and fall because of the things I struggle to overcome.

The author of Hebrews challenges me to "strip off every weight that slows me down, especially the sin that so easily trips me up" and yet I find I still battle those things...after all these years.  I know others struggle.  I've read their stories. They describe their own battles with this sin or that fear.  We all run much slower because of these things we have yet to vanquish.

I long to be done with mine!  I can't tell you how frustrating it is to once more be dealing with the same things...over and over again.  Wouldn't I have trusted God by now and gotten rid of that?  How I possible still battle this?  I know God and what's he's like so why does this still linger, still cling to me?

It makes me quite aware that if I had been part of the nation of Israel wandering in the desert I would have died during the 40 years in the wilderness and never made it to promise land.  I would have seen giants and become afraid.  I would have easily doubted God.

I'm embarrassed to say it, but it's true.  Will I always battle these things?  Perhaps.  But each time I do, I have to face them and then turn and see God clearly to dispel them.  The only solution for me is to see God clearly, to once more realize he is big and my problem is small.  

Keep your eyes on Jesus.  The author gives that as key to the race.  It is!  If I lose sight of him I always wander off course, lose my way or simply quit running.  It happens easily.

So, this morning, I'm once more dealing with the basics.  We all have to do that....deal with the weakness unique to us and once more focus our attention on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.  It gives me hope that I can finish my race as well.  But this morning, I'm once more dealing with the things that trip me up.

Turn the telescope around

When fear grows large and God seems small turn the telescope around, you are looking at things all wrong, you are looking at the wrong things.  Fears shrink when you see God right sized.  That's what the stars are for...to show you how big he is!  If he can make all that don't you think he can take care of your fears as well?

Quote of the day

Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. — C. S. Lewis

Only dust

 ^"The Lord is compassionate and merciful,

    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

 He will not constantly accuse us,

    nor remain angry forever.

 He does not punish us for all our sins;

    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him

    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

 He has removed our sins as far from us

    as the east is from the west.

 The Lord is like a father to his children,

    tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

 For he knows how weak we are;

    he remembers we are only dust...

 But the love of the Lord remains forever

    with those who fear him." Psalm 103

Only dust.  What a humbling reality.  We are here for a moment and then we are gone.  In all the bustle of our lives, all our bravado and chest pounding, we are simply dust and will return to the dust.

But, and I love that word 'but.'  It changes everything when I read "The Lord is compassionate and merciful."  For all my frailty and brevity, for all my sins and fears I have a loving Father who forgives and loves, who is tender and compassionate.  I'm only dust, but God loves me.  How humbling and how wonderful.  

Only a glimpse

"The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord,"

Psalm 89:5

As I read this passage this morning it made me pause, as if I suddenly saw it for the first time.  "That's it!" I thought.  The heavens are only a small glimpse of God's wonders, but they let us see how magnificent he is.  Imagine, this Universe, all we see, is only a glimpse, a small piece of the glory and wonder of God.  

We look at the Universe and declare, "Wow, what a big God we have."  But if we caught the implications of this verse in Psalms we would see this Universe as only a grain of sand in the wonders and glories of God.  

You think this makes you go "WOW!" Just wait!

If we saw any more of his wonders we couldn't absorb it all and so he made the Universe to give us a glimpse.  Next time you look up at the stars and worship in amazement at our great God's creation remember,  this is only a glimpse.

You won't believe how much more there will be to see, how many more times you will say "WOW!" in the days ahead.  Yes, he's a big God, but he's bigger than you know!

Imitate God

"Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God."

As a dad I look back on years when I was keenly aware that my son was watching me.  Watching to see how I did something, learning how by watching me.  When I realized he was imitating me as he learned how to be a man it made me profoundly panicked.  Suddenly I realized I was modeling for this boy how to live, how to be a man.  It made me look for someone to imitate in my own life so my son would have a good model to follow.

That's when I really understood the words of Paul, "Imitate God."  It's an invitation to follow him around, to learn how he does things and do the same things.  It's an invitation to mold your life to be like his.

But where do I see him to follow him, to imitate him, where do I find those examples?   I realized, quite to my own surprise, that the gospels gave me the pictures I needed.  All I had to do was follow Jesus around in the gospels and imitate him!

And that is what Paul is inviting us to do...follow Jesus, imitate him, be like him...do what he did...in other words, be his disciple.  

The key thing Paul noted for us to watch for was this- "Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ."  In every story of the gospels I see Jesus loving well.  He loved everyone in such a way that they were drawn to him.  Or, they were convicted by him.  His love draws all eyes to God.

His love and how he lived it out draws me to follow him.  I don't do it well, but I'm working on it.  I don't always say the right thing, do the right thing but I want to...I want to look like Jesus.

And, it's possible as Paul invites us to do it, to "Imitate God" and do it first of all by loving well.

Of all the religions ever to touch human life only this one tells of a god who is first of all a lover of men. This God has invited us to imitate him and as we do others will be drawn to him too.

Imitate God=loving well.

Lord, help me to imitate you well as I encounter others each day. Help me to love them well and show them how much you care for them too.

Let my life, my love for others, be a pleasing aroma to you and draw others to seek this God who loves them through me.

Strange tactics

Have you ever heard the saying, "God works in strange ways?"

In Acts 8 the new church, right after the martyrdom of Stephen, huddles together to protect itself from being martyred as Stephen had been.  But God did something very strange,

"And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria....those who had been scattered went about preaching the word."

When danger came they turned inward to protect themselves, but God had told them to make disciples of the world.  That couldn't happen if fear kept them huddled in Jerusalem.  So God used persecution to scatter them and spread the gospel.

God works in strange ways.  I often look back with amazement at how he worked a wonderful result in an impossible way.  He does it so that we can't say to anyone that we planned it that way.  He does it so we have to say, "Wow, you are an amazing God!"

But his strange plans continue as you read Acts 8,

Philip had gone to Samaria to share the gospel and was having wonderful success (many new believers), but in the midst of it God said, "Go to the desert road."  The desert road was in the middle of nowhere!  God wanted him to leave a work that was amazingly successful and go to the desert? Abandon a successful work for a desert road?

My friend Ken told me he can imagine God the Father poking Jesus with his elbow and saying, with a wink, "Watch this...."

God uses strange tactics to do amazing things so we will acknowledge that God is the only one who could have done it.

And on that desert road Philip waited.  No one around, alone in the desert.  I'm sure he wondered, "What am I doing here?" But off in the distance he sees a bit of dust as a caravan heads his way.  As it approaches he discovers it's a royal official from Ethiopia.  God whispers to him, "Go join him." 

And from that encounter the entire nation of Ethiopia is changed. Philip is whisked away to another mission and God continues to work in amazing ways.

And he does that in our lives as well.  When we can't imagine how he could make anything of our lives we suddenly discover he has done the impossible.  God's strange tactics are intended for one purpose...the he get all the glory and we would reply,

What a wonderful and amazing God you are!

Behold, I see....

The bible is an amazing book.  Hidden in it's pages are insights beyond counting.  I've read it hundreds of times, but daily find new gems I had not seen before.  There is no book like it.

In Acts 7 is chronicled the testimony of Stephen as he's tried for his "crimes."  It's a lengthy passage and at the end he is stoned to death for his words.  The words that brought his death sentence were these,

"Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."

Everyone knew, in that day, that the son of man was Jesus.  What he declared was that Jesus was the victorious Messiah.  It drove the religious leaders to murder.  It drives us all in one of two ways- to God or away from him.  In that short testimony from Stephen are these truths,

1. Jesus is alive, he's not dead. He's risen!
2. He's standing at God's right hand, the hand of power, the place of honor!
3. He's standing in victory when anyone else in God's presence would be bowed in worship.
4. The fact that God lets him stand there is a sign that God approved him, approves who he claimed to be and agrees.
5. He's standing in the place of Messiah.  
6. With this vision Stephen is telling the Jews this- Not only did you not believe in Messiah, but you killed him too! 
7. It means the Kingdom of Messiah was completely different than the Jewish people thought it was.
8. It says to the Jews, you completely missed God's Messiah and plan.

Well, that's enough....enough to get him killed, but in that vision we see this-  Our Messiah is not dead in a grave, but standing in God's presence, at his right hand, in power and glory.

And soon we will see him again, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  

Coming soon....

I'm finishing last edits on a book 10 years in the making.  I will let you know here when it's available to order.  I know it's far from perfect, but my goal was to help others going through what we have experienced here.  Please pray for this final work and God's work through this book as churches struggle through these issues in their churches.

Don't be those guys

These ads for Direct TV were very effective. You wanted to see how they would end. "Don't be that guy" was the theme. Psalm 78 is has that same theme...."Don't be those guys!" It tells the story of Israel and their bad choices, lack of trust and the outcome. Don't be those guys. It has the same humor and sad outcome. I thought about this ad as I read the chapter this morning.  How often we are that guy! 

Sitting with God in the early morning

This morning, once more, I'm up before 5.  I love these quiet hours, the moments when no one else is stirring, when God and I can sit and visit.  Often, honestly, we just sit together.  Words aren't really needed, it's his presence that is so vital for my life.  At times he pats me on the head and just smiles.  I know, even without a word, he loves me, he really likes me and enjoys sitting here with me.  I'm surprised that he enjoys my company, but I don't tell him that.  I'm just glad he spends time with me.  At times, when I think about it, it overwhelms me that the God of creation would just linger with me and enjoy these quiet hours in my presence as I sit in his presence.  It's not about great revelation, amazing insights or any grand words to share with the world.  The main thing is this, if you really are interested, the main thing that excites me is that the one who made me really likes me and enjoys my company.  I can't seem to get over that.  And so I come to these early hours, with sleepy eyes eager for these moments to just sit with him and see his smile.  Now, as the morning dawns, the world stirs and the chaos of our cultures begins, but what no one knows (except you and me) is that God and I sat together this morning and it was good.

No other

Pluralism has made the words you are about to read forbidden and evil.  

What I'm about to say is considered hate speech in our day, 

but these words are the confession of anyone who follows Christ.  

They aren't words of hate, but of ultimate love for the world God has made.

These are the words of God himself when he said in Isaiah 45,

"I am the  Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God." v. 5

"I am the Lord, and there is no other." v. 6

"I am the Lord, and there is none else." v. 18

"And there is no other God besides me," v. 21

"There is none except me." v. 21

Why is God so clear, so insistent that we know this?

Because he then says this,

"That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance." v. 23

And this is not the only place this is spoken. Follow me to the New Testament as Paul writes,

"For this reason also, God hight exalted Him (Jesus), and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. 2

But the Bible doesn't stop there, it continues as John writes,

"And every created think which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, 'To HIM who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb (Jesus), be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." 

Rev. 5

There is no other God but the God of the Bible. He is the maker of all things.  He is the only God, there is no other. 

He will not give his glory to another.  He will not share his throne. There are not multiple ways to God, there is only one, only one way to the one God- Jesus.

Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." John 14

Exclusive?  YES!

Inclusive? YES!  

His invitation is open to all. Anyone may come, anyone can say yes to his invitation of love, but he is clear, there is no other God.  

He claims the throne exclusively.

There is no other....

....no other God

...no other savior

...no other Lord

and when we each pass from this earth we will meet only Him, deal with only Him, answer to only Him, and worship

ONLY HIM.

There is no other.

Life is like...

“Life is but a Weaving” (the Tapestry Poem)

“My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.

Not ’til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned

He knows, He loves, He cares;
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice to Him.”

― Corrie ten Boom

If you only knew

More than 45 years ago I sat on a bench on the college campus I attended.  I had some time in the day between classes and needed some time to talk to God, to work through some things I was struggling with.

What I was struggling with was the love of God.  Knowing my own heart and what I was like I couldn't imagine that God could love me. I didn't understand the love of God and needed to know, really know God's love in a clear way. I needed to know if he loved me.

I prayed (a silly prayer really) and asked, "God, let me see people through your eyes, let me see them the way you do." And, to my surprise he answered that prayer.  In the minutes that followed I watched people walk by and saw them as God did, at least in a small way, I don't think I could have handled the full awareness of his love, but what he let me see was overwhelming.  I wept as each one passed.  

And then, she came by.  She was a friend of mine, her name is Evelyn.  I saw her in that moment as God saw her and I cried out to God, "stop, please stop, it's too much!"  I wept over how much God loved Evelyn, it was more than I even imagined...this love he has for Evelyn, for each of us, for me.  

Honestly, I come back to this park bench often in my thoughts to reflect on the love of God.  We see the love of God in the cross in a way no one can understand, beyond our ability to absorb, but on that bench I knew....I really knew the love of God for each one.  Something changed for me.  It was a turning point in my walk with God and it continues to impact me.

About a year ago, as I thought about the bench, I sensed the Lord telling me, "you need to tell her."  And I thought, who?  That girl? But I don't even remember her name, it's been 45 years!  Instantly I knew her name, found her on Facebook, wrote the story and sent it to her.

It turns out she needed to know of God's love at that moment in her life.  She was feeling a bit abandoned by God, forgotten, lost, but with that note as an answer to her prayer she caught her breath and revived. (I wish she could share her story here as well.)

I wonder how many of us don't really know how much God loves us.  If we did, if we really knew the love of God it would change us forever.  If we only knew.  But we do!  It's visible for all of us to see in God's love poured out 2,000 years ago. It's clear in what Jesus did for us, for you, for me, as he died in our place.  Take a long look at the cross, sit down in front of it and see the love of God poured out for you.

Do you know God loves you more than you could ever imagine?  Do you know his love for us would bring grown men to tears? Do you realize you are precious to him?  God loves you!  Don't run away, don't be mad, don't give up.....run to HIM.  His love for you is what you most need and it's free.

Goodbye James

Just a couple days ago a dear friend died unexpectedly. 

His name was James, actually it still is.

He was a Texas boy and proud of it.

He was one of those quiet but brilliant men

who, with a sly smile, and a simple quote

would disarm you and make you rethink

your position.

He was a collector of quotes.  

James' quote file is legendary!

Most of them he knew by heart.

James was a godly man in the best definition

of that phrase.  He lived it, but didn't really 

talk about it.  You simply got to watch his life.

It was a life of a man who loved God,

loved his wife, Joyce, his kids and grandkids.

When we met there was always a new photo

of one of the little ones.

He was so proud of them.

(One of them is in the photo above.)

Have you ever known a man who words

cannot describe?

That was James.

My friend.

A follower of Christ.

A lover of men.

The world is less because he is gone.