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Welcome all you weary wayward wisdom & common sense warriors!
All you unconventional thinkers, politically INcorrect, and post modern NONconformists, I call you family!

Monday, November 18, 2013

PERMISSION TO BUILD A NEW THING

Romans 12:1-21

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. (1)

When you and I become Christ’s by accepting Him as our Savior, we begin Christ's sanctification process: the transformation where He changes us to be more in the image of Himself, Jesus. This next illustration is a great way to understand what we undergo:

A London businessman, Lindsay Clegg, told the story of a warehouse property he was selling. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash all around the interior.

As he showed a prospective buyer the property, Clegg took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.

"Forget about the repairs," the buyer said. "When I buy this place, I'm going to build something completely different. I don't want the building; I want the site."

Compared with the renovation God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are as trivial as sweeping a warehouse slated for the wrecking ball. When we become God's, the old life is over (2 Cor. 5:17). He makes all things new. All He wants is the site and the permission to build.

Friday, November 15, 2013

THE MASQUERADE (REVISED)


The Masquerade


Love’s endless masquerade.  Not so much a party, more like a never-ending game.  I pretend I am this woman and you pretend you are that man and we pretend that everything is perfect.  But we never truly connect, because you cannot feel the touch of another with gloves on.

I am not perfect, I hate to be the one to tell you that.  In fact, I am as far from being perfect as a person can get.  I am not always the goody-two-shoes over-achiever with drive and ambition that I appear to be.  I am boring at times and don’t always have something interesting to say.  I can be lazy at times, stubbornly resistant to change and often choose the path of least resistance.  I tend to get frustrated when people do stupid things and I don’t always have something positive to offer as feedback when that happens.  Most of the time, I choose to ignore it and pretend it doesn't really bother me until I've let my frustrations build up to the point I lose my both my patience and my temper.

Sometimes I cry at the simplest things, like during certain tv commercials or when I can’t fit into my jeans.  Sometimes I feel as though I am stuck in a life I didn’t create for myself, like it is leading me rather than my leading it, as if my life is the product of circumstance and not of deliberate action.  Eventually I realize my malaise is just the by product of feeling a loss of control over my choices and that I am being too hard on myself.  This is the same sort of thing that most people lament, thinking that every moment of life is supposed to have meaning and most of the time it is the quite the opposite; life’s meanings have moments.  It is the journey that counts, not arriving at the destination.

The roles we play in this game of love can be quite maddening at times.  I am supposed to appear as I am always cheerful, playful, and brilliant.  Always full of energy, always light and uncomplicated.  That is just not me.  I am complicated, contradictory even.  I am constantly thinking and analyzing things, trying to rework any given situation in my mind until it finally works in the way I derive the greatest degree of satisfaction.  My art professor described this process precisely when she said, "Sometimes, you can beat a dead horse back to life." 

I am not quite sure what I want most of the time or what I mean by the things I say.  I don’t need to be interpreted or even to be understood.  I just need to be accepted for who I am, as unpredictable as that may be.  I’d like to think that I am a work in progress, that the best parts of me are still slowly being realized.

This role-playing makes me have to pretend that I don't feel incredible when your around me, smiling at me, saying my name.  I'm not supposed to let you see how you make me tremble when you move in to reach for something just past me.  I am also not supposed to let you know that I smell your scent all over my clothes after you hug me goodnight, that I breathe it in deeply and it intoxicates me.  I am supposed to hold all of this inside and act as if it is not like I swallowed the best secret in my life.  Because a woman, such as myself, must have plenty of  men that are crazy about me, why would someone like me be crazy about you?  Right?

Could it be that you light me up inside in a way that I’ve never known before?  Could it be that I love the way I look through your eyes?  Just the sound of your voice makes me feel calm and safe, warm and protected.  The strength of your arms wrapped around me makes me feel more like a woman than a thousand romantic songs sang to me night and day.  And when you look at me with that look, it is as if all space and time ceases to exist.  I stare at your face intensely, putting it to memory.  It’s as if I look at the sun too long, I can close my eyes tightly and I will still see it all day long.

But there’s always the masquerade.  The game that all the world says you have to play, where you are never supposed to know how much I enjoy you, think about you or long for you to touch me and to whisper the same to me.  Why must we play?  Why must we do all of this nonsensical pretending.  Tippy toes, tippy toes.  Don’t ever tread too heavily.  Sip, sip from the cup.  Never drink from the river together.

So we continue to play the parts in a life so small, so shallow and so pale.  Our fears and ignorance force us to deny the vastness of unexplored depth.  We sadly miss our chance to experience life as a magnificent onslaught of pulsating colors rushing through our veins at lightning speed, leaving our hearts racing and our bodies breathless and beautifully spent in the miracle of true connection, true intimacy, true love.

THE POISON WE PICK

What kind of poison is deadlier to the one who gives it, than it is to the one who receives it?

Bitterness.

Bitterness happens when you hold on to the slights and hurts of others and refuse to forgive.Oftentimes, people do not even notice that they have offended you, let alone apologize or attempt to make ammends. Holding a grudge does not punish the perpetrator, but in fact, it enslaves the victim.

Once you let bitterness get hold of you, it goes to work deep in your heart, poisoning it a little at a time. Day by day the strength to forgive is stripped away. The softness of its flesh becomes hardened, making it impossible to be tender-hearted anymore. The love you felt towards others is quickly compromised. Harshness is its replacement.

Then, the ability to think with clarity and wisdom is clouded by all of the resentment that you feel. Your ability to recognize truth or sincerity is severely handicapped, because of the growing anger in your mind. This forces your peace to leave and lets anxiety take its place. Now you start to worry over things that were once insignificant to you. Relaxation and rest are no longer blessings that are within your reach.

Finally, your perspective is so tainted, negativity permeates every aspect of life. Gone are the days that were filled with laughter and lasting happiness in the simplest of things. The tangled web of bitterness growing inside of you leads to paranoia, irritability, and self-centeredness, invisible to only you, but obvious to everyone else, keeping you distanced from others and lonely. Your relationships suffer greatly, because no one wants to spend time with anyone so joyless and miserable, unable to enjoy anything.

The more time you give taking the poison of bitterness, the more it will destroy you and everything you care about. Learn to forgive quickly, laying your burdens down at the foot of the Cross. Remember how much Jesus has forgiven you. Ask Him to help you let it go. Refuse to be a puppet to the destruction of bitterness by learning to forgive and trusting God to set you free!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A CHRISTIAN

“I want to be a Christian example to my family and friends, but sometimes it’s so hard to be a good one.”  Ever find yourself thinking this?  What's the answer?

The truth is we are not supposed to be an example.  Our family and friends do not need a good example, they need a friend.  A real one.  An honest one.  A touchable one.  They need a friend who does not think they are better than everyone, but one who knows they are not.  They need a friend who knows they need Jesus.

So what about being a leader and setting the example?  Isn’t that a good thing?  Isn’t that what our church leaders, teachers and brothers and sisters in the faith tell us all the time?
The more I think about it, the more I believe this well-meaning statement is not only an incorrect way to teach us to try to control our behavior, but it is also dangerous to our spiritual health. When we are told to try to be an example for others, we may as well just put on a mask right there – Here. Hide behind this. Don’t let anyone ever see you struggle.  Don't let anyone ever think you don't have it all together.

I know that’s not what they mean. I know.  But it doesn’t matter so much what they mean, it matters more what we hear and take from it.

When we hear our spiritual leaders, teachers, mentors and well-meaning brothers and sisters in the faith tell us that we should always try to be an example, most of us think that means we can never mess up, can never have problems, can never just be a person that struggles like everyone else.  Eventually, we mature in our faith as men and women who believe being a Christian means having it all together, saying all the “right” things, staying a few steps ahead of everyone else.

We may even become a person that people look up to, but we will never be someone that others feel they can really relate to.  We may be successful at managing our own behavior, but we will always struggle to manage people’s opinions of us.  We may have a great reputation, but our character will be clouded with unforgiveness, doubt, anxiety, bitterness and even resentment.  We may be a good church-goer, but we will not know how to be a good leader or even a good friend.  This striving towards perfection, towards personal excellence may keep us out of trouble, but it will suffocate our soul.

But what about holiness?!  I can hear the protests now.  Don’t we want to be a light in a dark place?  Yes, of course!  But always striving to be an example won’t let us shine, it will just cause us to shrink from the possibilty of negative attention, of being found out, of failing to meet up to the expectations of others and ourselves.

We are already a light in a dark place!  But here is the most important part most of us forget when we’re telling each other to be an example: Our light comes from Jesus, not from our own awesome behavior!

Do you believe Christ himself has taken up residence within you?  Do you trust him with your life – your decisions, your emotions, your relationships?  Do you truly believe that he goes with you wherever you go?  If so, then instead of telling each other to be an example, how about encouraging each other to be yourselves?

When we are hurt, we can deeply feel it.  When we mess up, we can and will own it.  When we hurt or wrong someone else, we can admit it and apologize.  When we have doubts, we can voice them.  And when we are joyful, it will be from a real place inside of us, not a manufactured mask that we put on to impress others.

We will be authentic allowing Christ to do his work in us and through us.  It is Christ that sanctifies us and makes us holy or "whole" as the word holy means.  All we are expected to do is to follow and abide in or live with him each and every day.  We are to clothe ourselves, in his righteousness, not our own which is as filthy rags to God.  That means to be like him, learn about him, and make him the most important part of your life.  If we do that, then Jesus Christ will be the One that gets all the glory and all the praise for our light shining to the world, not our own selfish, prideful weak attempts at good works to make ourselves look good.

So, we really need to encourage each other to leave our masks behind.  We need to create a loving, friendly environment around us that lets people feel safe to be who they genuinely are without judgment.

We need to trust in God and remember that Christ lives in each one of us.  Each of us has been given everything we need that pertains to life and godliness.  Each of us already has the full measure of faith and grace we've been generously granted.
So please, let's stop telling each other and expecting each other to be this perfect Christian example to the world.  Let's give each other the freedom that Jesus paid for on the cross with his life, to be the best that he is growing us to be – a peculiar yet love-filled people who have the living Christ living inside each and every one.  We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, and it is HE that is the Example and Savior of the world!