just a savior?

today i want to take a moment to challenge you. it's good to wrestle with things and be challenged in the way that we think and what we believe. for some of us, our beliefs have never really changed too drastically in the past 5, 10 or 20 years. i'm not here to change your beliefs but rather push you to contemplate the way we percieve the world.

today is not a political statement. the issue discussed will be something i have wrestled with in the past and i want you to simply think about, but don't think about it from a republican, democratic, conservative, liberal, libertarian, or any other view. think about the issue from a Biblical mindset. try to think about what scriptures would have to say. think of how Jesus would view the issue. try not to think about what you've been raised to believe and try to not let your baggage overshadow the Gospel.

i recently received an email that discussed americas's "border policy" in regards to the benifits illegal immigrants have in the u.s. it stated, "the government gives benefits to 'illegal' aliens who have never contributed, where does that leave those of us..."

without jumping over to your "politcal" side, how do you feel about this?

did the excerpt from the email resonate with you?

have you complained about illegal immigrants lately?

was the issue of how our next president handled immigration part of your decision on who to vote for?

what is it about people coming to america that you don't like?

i've heard all the arguements about crime, drugs, taking jobs, etc. but what about the other 90% who just want to have a chance at living in a safer place? or having employment?

what does scripture say about "immigrants"?

in the Old Testament God told the people to leave some of their crops for the foreigners, so that they would have something to eat.

when I think about this, I wonder if these foreigners were like our illegal aliens? They were coming onto the land of God's people and eating what was left there for them. this idea of "God's people" has been carried over into the american mindset - think manifest destiny. if you don't remember what manifest destiny was, in a nutshell it was a political slogan that developed into an american mindset when men and women were spreading across the "un-claimed" landscape we know now as america. it was the belief that God had ordained the early settlers to take the land.

back to the foreigners of the Old Testament. they didn't work for the food they received, they never labored in the field to help it get to harvest, but God saw that they needed to eat regardless of what they did or didn't do. He asked His people (believers) to take care of them, to sacrifice, not to build fences around their land, but to allow people to come on it and eat from it.

think about the story of Ruth. this is a story about "illegal aliens" coming onto someones land and gleaning. it's a beautiful story about faithfulness, provision, loyalty, grace and love. Ruth and Naomi didn't have all they needed but it was the obedience of a believer that allowed them to eat off the land.

did God know that some of the people coming in were going to be violent, bad people - of course, but He still wanted them to be given some of what He blessed the believers with. like OT times, today we have 'foreigners' coming onto american soil and we are giving them what is left over. now some might argue that we give too much, but is it ours to give or keep? as it was done in ancient times, does God ask us to leave some for them to glean on as they come in and stay.

to be perfeclty frank, if I lived in juarez, mexico, I would want to come to America too. have you ever stood in el paso and looked across the border? the differences in the houses inhabitants of juarez call home and the homes in el paso are staggering. i would find a way to get here as quickly as I could.

so where do we draw the line between being Christians who want to protect our country and keep people out who need to be out, and being more than like Jesus?

i just feel Jesus saying, "come on over, we love you and will do anything we can for you. take my house, my car, my job. take what I have, because you are that important to God, so I will treat you as such." i don't see Christ saying, "stay there. you're an outlaw, a drug user, and not a good person, so you are to stay in your own filth, in your own country."

are we letting culture regulate our view of scripture or are we letting scripture change the way we view culture?

from a Biblical perspective, do we really own this country? i personally don't think so. if all things belong to God, doesn't this land belong to Him as well. now I know not all government officials are Christian but we are, so how do we support closing something off when it's not ours to do so with.

i heard a pastor make a statement about how the vast majority of believers today love Jesus. we love Him with all of our hearts, we love Him because He is our savior, but the reality is, we never really want to live like He did.

do we really want to become like Jesus? it's a serious question that i think we need to all ask oursevles. i know i need to ask myself.

we all love the fact that Jesus served the people and He even got down on His knees to wash His disciples feet, but is that really what you want to be your focus in life - serving others?

we are incredibly grateful that Jesus was beaten, spit on, and hated for what He did, but we would never let that happen to us.

we love the idea that Jesus laid down His rights, but we spend our lives fighting for ours and defending ours at all costs necessary.

we praise Him for our "blessings" He has given us and we thank Him that He spent His time on this earth in suffering for our sake, but we are going to have fun while we're down here and have a good life.

is your desire to be like Jesus? is Jesus just your savior or is He your role model?

i think it's important to ask ourselves this because all too often we get caught up in justifying all of the things in our lives that we really can't line up with the Gospel. it's as though we tell ourselves for so long that Jesus wants us to have this and this and this, that eventually we know Christ only as our savior rather than knowing the Jesus that we should be living like everyday.

all of this is asked because we, as followers of Christ, must see that there is something missing from most of our lives. we know the Savior, but do we know the Servant?

once Jesus becomes your role model and you start living like Him, your perceptions of the world will change and you might not be as concerned with politics as you once were, but rather, your concern might shift to the hearts and well being of all of God's creation. Jesus was a man who changed the country He lived in by changing the hearts of people, not by changing laws.

a last thought to chew on for the week - if you are passionate about abortion, or gay rights, or illegal immigration, i want to ask you when the last time you personally spent time and loved on a pregnant teenager contemplating abortion? when was the last time you befriended a gay couple and invested in their life? when was the last time you sat down and talked with a man who worked here illegally and sent all of his extra cash back home so his kids could eat?

we spend so much time talking about issues that are important to us, but we scarcely love the people these issues effect most.

being political is much easier than being like Jesus.

today, may you love the ones you don't want to love.

may your heart be stretched and your mind be perplexed.

may all that is in you be unsettled so that you wrestle with where you are at with Christ.

may you become more like Jesus today by serving those around you.

i love you all and i pray for your time to wrestle with all of this.

peace be with you.

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peaceful discontent

there is a delicate balance within our journey with Christ that revolves around contentment. i have determined that i am hardly ever spiritually content for any extended period of time because contentment of my spirit brings a mediocre walk. some might not agree with that statement but the disagreement stems from what we consider to be contentment or discontent.

i believe there are two kinds of discontent. there is the discontent within our spirit that drives us to want more of God. on the other hand, there is the discontent with what we possess in life that drives us to want more of the world. we usually possess one or the other but not both.

let's explore these two perspectives of contentment.

a woman, who we'll call Leah, is your common, everyday christian. she is a faithful church goer, she reads her Bible, she prays, and she tells people about Jesus. like many of us, Leah goes home every night to a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in the suburbs where she pulls her $30,000 suv into the garage. she greets her kids with a smile and kiss and prepares dinner with gusto. her family eats in front of the TV tuned intently to see who's going to be the next american idol. after tv and clean up, it's bed time. she tells her kids a story, kisses them good night and sings the same lullaby she's been singing for the past 4 years. she is a good mom. once the kids are sleeping she walks down the hall to her room, plops down on her down comforter, reads a little and prays for her family, friends, co-workers, her country, and even those she doesn't know. then it's lights out because her day begins again at 6am.

if you were to talk to Leah you would soon discover that she really isn't happy with her life and where she is at. in fact, there is a great possibility that she would say, "i love our house, but the bathroom is out of date, and we could use another bedroom so we might as well be looking for a bigger house soon." or she might tell you, "the car is nice but I really want a new vw suv. they get better gas mileage, plus it has leather upholstery, seat heaters, and extra leg room which would all be good perks." the more you spend time with Leah, the more you would hear about how really at the root of it all, she is discontent with where she is at in life because of what she doesn't have.

people who are close to Leah know she loves Jesus and will talk about Him until the cows come home. and when you ask her how her walk is, she would say something like, "i am blessed. just absolutely great. God has been blessing us and we are so thankful for that." the more time you spend with Leah you notice that she hardly ever speaks of wrestling with a scripture or if she does, it ends with an agreement to disagree. her opposition to change was based off of her conflicts with her view of God and therefore the world; the world view that she has had her entire life.

what you might want to notice is where Leah's discontent sits. her discontent is not with her spiritual life or her family. rather, she is discontent with the things she possesses in life - the perks of her car, the size of her house, the money in her retirement account - the "blessings". in essence Leah is discontent with the "stuff" of life and content in her walk with Jesus.

let's take a look at another woman who attends church with Leah, we will call her Regina. Like Leah, Regina reads her Bible, prays, and shares her story with people she works with and encounters throughout her day. Regina drives her used car home, parks it outside the garage doors, flounders through the messy hallway so she can hug her kids and get dinner going. in the midst of the chaos she runs next door to see if her neighbors, who both lost their jobs last month, have plans for dinner. they don't, so she invites them over. she stretches dinner rations a little more than normal but everyone has something to eat - not an abundance, but enough.

after cleaning up dishes, they all sit down in the crowded living room and talk because tv is no longer an option since they couldn't muster up the extra money for the digital converter; it simply wasn't a priority.

the neighbors go home and kids get ready for bed. she tucks them in and walks to her room - the garage that her husband is still in the process of converting to an actual bedroom. she sits down on her mattress and opens up scripture to read, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves do not {merely} look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men."

she sits silently and her spirit begins to move and stir causing an uncomfortable feeling that she is familiar with, God is moving her to listen. Regina starts praying, asking God to show her how she could put others above herself, what could she do, how could she change?

if you were to sit down with Regina she would tell you, "life is good. we don't have much but what we do have i am thankful for. i really can't tell you anything that we could use, but our neighbors could use some groceries. you see, they both lost their jobs last month. they don't speak english very well so it's hard for them to find a job and they're going to be out of food soon."

she might also tell you that although her walk with Jesus is good there is always this sense of discontent but it's such a loving discontent it's healthy. it's this discontent that pushes her to listen to other people who view God differently than she does or that challenge her perspectives on politics, the world and even what living a christian life looks like.

in contrast, Leah would tell you that she hasn't really felt the presence of God in a while. her contentment with where she's at with God is due to a large part because she doesn't allow her thoughts, ideas, and perspective to be challenged. she doesn't realize that if she is never challenged, and is always certain of all of her beliefs, she doesn't grow and therefore doesn't change. if change never occurs, she will be the same spiritually at 65 that she was at 25.

Leah is discontent in the wrong area of life.

she is discontent with what she calls "blessings" and content with her spiritual life. this is a dangerous place to be for too long. our spirits are fluid like water. water when it remains unmoved and in the same place for an extended period of time becomes stagnant. stagnant bodies of water stink, literally. they are not a place for life to thrive because of the lack of oxygen in the water. nothing in the water changes. the water just sits there and everthing in it remains unmoved. there is a stillness that might appear good in the beginning that develops into a pool of lifeless goop in the end.

our spirits need to be like rivers. rivers are full of life because they are moving. rivers flow in a seemingly endless orchestra of beauty. the rocks on the bottom are no longer jagged and rough because the water has been flowing over them for so long carries small particles which over time have smoothed the rocks to objects soft and almost delicate. this water of motion is never truly at rest, even when it seems like it isn't moving, it is.

why is Leah like the pond?

it could be a multitude of reasons.

perhaps it's because she doesn't want to give up her nice car and big house?
perhaps she's afraid of the risk factor of letting God have ALL of it?
perhaps she has convinced herself that God wants her to be rich and have an easy retirement?
perhaps her perspective is more focused on the material than the Gospel message of giving herself away?
perhaps she has confused Jesus with the ideal version of herself based not on Grace but the american dream?

what Leah has failed to see is that these people who give all of themselves to God and are willing to be challenged to change and act on that challenge the way God is urging the to, are the people moving with the Kingdom.

Regina understands that there is going to be great times of spiritual peace and contentment, but they never last long, God always asks us to keep moving.

we need to be spiritual nomads - never satisfied with where we are at; always moving to the next fertile location for the benefit of the Kingdom.

Regina knows that peace comes through the uncomfortable.

Peace comes through change.

Peace comes through our willingness to say "YES" to God when he asks, "will you sale your house and move across town. I would love to show you myself through the people who are broken and have nothing, and I would really like to show them what I look like through you."

God is a God of change,

of rebirth,

of life,

of motion,

of peace through discontent.

may you find challenge in the Word.

may your heart be challenged by others around you.

may you look within yourself to see how you can become more like Jesus today.

peace be with you.
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the beautiful ritual

the mix of bitter and sweet consume me as i tear off a piece of a cinnamon pecan muffin and take a sip of warm espresso. it's 12am and i'm sitting in one of my favorite coffee houses i've found in the area - Jupiter House on the square in Denton. a steady flow of people move in and out the door, some to study, some to talk, some to flirt, and others.... well i'm not sure what they're doing but all seem to flow through with ease and i wonder if they know the hope that tomorrow points us toward.

today marks the beginning of lent. for many of us, we don't understand the concept of lent. we simply write it off as an empty, old world ritual.

in the winter of 2007 i felt led to participate in what i had once deemed as just another mindless ritual for people to observe. about eight months prior to this decision i was listening to an archived sermon given by rob bell at mars hill bible church in grand rapids, michigan. during the course of this sermon bell mentioned that several people of the congregation were going to fast from food for the 40 day period. at the time this seemed both miraculous and absurd all at once.


as I neared closer to winter and then new years i started feeling as though God might be asking me to do something, but yet i wasn't sure what it could be. the feeling and persistent pressure was so unspecific i had just filed it under "ambiguous" and pushed it to the side. february was just around the corner and God begin to reveal to me quite slowly why He placed a heaviness on my spirit for the past 6 weeks. He led me back to the topic of Lent, so i started reading up on the subject.

what i discovered was beautiful and disheartening.

what i learned is that Lent is deeply rooted in Christian history. Lent is a time for us to prepare ourselves for Easter because Easter is the celebration of the risen Christ, the empty tomb. Easter is the celebration of OUR HOPE.

these 40 days of lent are a time for us to not just "give" something up, but rather offer something to God.

it's a time of reflection and repentance.

it causes us to ask questions within our soul --

what do i need to give up to Christ?

what do i struggle with?

what within my soul do i need to surrender to God?

what would you give up out of repentance and conviction?

being that today is Ash Wednesday, you might see people walking around town with an ash cross smudged on their foreheads.

the ashes that are placed on the foreheads of christians represent the ashes that were so common in the old testament during times of mourning, as in Job 2 and Jonah 3. but we must search further back to the law and Moses (Leviticus). the Israelites would offer burnt offerings for penitence of sins. they would burn a bull as a sacrifice for the sins of the Israelite people to God. they would then take the ashes from that burnt offering and pour them out, outside of the camp.

why is this significant? it is significant because of where Christ was crucified.

He was hung on a cross outside the city walls of Jerusalem, outside the camp.

how was His sacrifice seen? it was seen as a sin offering to God for the sins of the people. it is the final sin offering.

if we hold Galatians 2:20 to heart and we die to Christ, will we put ourselves on the altar and sacrifice ourselves to God?

will we say to God, "i am serious about life with you. all i want is to see your face. You are what i long for. You are the reason the wolf howls and creation groans. i am homesick for you. when will i dine at your banquet table?"

i pray that you might begin to observe Lent today with me. embark on this journey with other men and women of God for one purpose - to grow closer to Him.

give something up that is a daily "need" to you.

if you spend 10 hours a week with your kid in sports, give it up to God and spend that time with Him in prayer, reading, writing, or even spend that time teaching your kid about God. your first reaction to that might be that your kid wouldn't understand, but he/she will see that the most important thing in your life is Christ, not sports - a lesson far too many children miss today.

if you spend 3 hours a night watching TV, give it up and commit that time to commune with God.

if you can't go a day without reading up on the latest celebrity gossip - give it up. you might just find yourself wanting to read more of the word than 'people'.

whatever you give up for lent this year, do it as a sacrifice to express to Christ how much He means to you. don't give up something that is going to be easy. give up something that will test you and push you to a point that you must rely on Christ to bring you through.

we often hesitate to sacrifice for God because we know how hard it's going to be, but if we truly step back i think we'll see that if he can willingly walk with a group of Roman soldiers to a torturous death... i can sacrifice something for 40 days.

how serious are we about our walk?

how long will we remain mediocre?

dr. stephen gave us a challenge this past sunday, are you going to step up?

it could start today. what a great way to focus ourselves on reaching the lost, than by preparing ourselves with a fast.

if you are going to observe lent with me, i would like to pray with you. drop me an email just to let me know you are taking this step and i will be in prayer daily for you.

i hope you see that there is a tremendous beauty in the ritual of Lent. all rituals aren't amiss. i would rather say that rituals have the potential to be effective in leading us toward the face of God and therefore good, but they are only good if we observe them with the purpose of benefiting the Kingdom. the moment a ritual becomes methodical and is no longer Spirit-led, the heart of the ritual is dead and it has now morphed into something men accomplish to make themselves feel better.

may you allow God to show you what you need to give to Him.

may your heart be given to God and ask Him to change you.

may the Love of Christ consume your soul.

may no need go unseen.

may God break us so that we have to rely on Him.

peace be with you.

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