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Archive for November, 2009

No Solo Journey

Posted in Community, Leadership, Motivational on November 13, 2009| Leave a Comment »

“We are not on a solo journey.  We are on a journey of souls in relationship with one another.” LaPinsky Phillips

I have talked about LaPinsky before.  He is one of the most profound thinkers I know personally.  I love being around him and every time I am, I come away a better person.  This quote from LaPinsky reminds me that we are not alone.  God is always with us and God created us for community – relationships with one another.  We are designed to experience life together – to love each other and to seek to serve one another.

Have you ever gone through the process of listing people who have impacted you throughout your life?  It is a humbling exercise.  If you have never done it, or haven’t done it recently, I encourage you to take a few minutes right now to do it.

Now that you have done that exercise, here is an even more sobering task for you.  Of the people who know you, whose list would you be on?

Would you appear on anyone else’s list?  What can you do today to ensure that you will?

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Does Your Faith Own You?

Posted in Formation, Motivational on November 12, 2009| 1 Comment »

Part 2

Yesterday, we talked about owning our own faith and the importance of wrestling with Jesus’ teachings for ourselves and not just taking what we are told at face value.  Today I want to take that thought to the next level.

Once we own our own faith – truly internalizing the truth of Jesus’ teachings – then that faith will begin to affect the way we live.  What then begins to happen is that our faith begins to own us, more accurately, the One in whom our faith is placed begins to own us.

I believe this is what Paul meant when he was addressing the believers in the church at Philippi when he said, “continue to work out your salvation.”  You can read it here.  It sounds strange to say that we should “work out” our own salvation.  But Paul brings clarity in the next verse when he says that God “works in you . . . according to His good purpose.”

At the risk of seeming like a simple play on words, I want you to vividly see the distinction between Owning Your Own Faith and Your Faith Owning You.  Owning our own faith is when we internalize the truth of the Bible – really dealing with the issues and settling in on the truth for ourselves.  What happens next is that very truth cannot lie dormant.  God will work through it to change you from the inside out.  That is the working out of your salvation – that is your faith owning you.

How is your salvation working out in you?

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Do You Own Your Faith?

Posted in Formation, Motivational on November 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Part 1 (2 will come tomorrow)

Last night I had the opportunity to teach a New Testament Survey class at our local Junior College.  I had a blast.  We discussed an overview of a couple of New Testament books and some other things as well.  But one of the questions I asked the students last night and I also ask you today is this:  Do you own your faith?

Studying the Bible is the key to our spiritual journey.  But if the information we find there is just that – information – then we haven’t accomplished much.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that if our understanding of scripture and Christianity does not make it from our head to our heart then it is meaningless.  Put another way, if what we learn does not affect how we live, then we are wasting our time but more devastating than that is that we are wasting God’s time and mocking God’s plan for our lives.

In order for the truth of the Bible to make it from our heads to our hearts, we have to truly wrestle with it ourselves.  If you haven’t noticed, the teachings of Jesus will mess you up.  There are things we just have to deal with for ourselves – which means we cannot take what our instructor or our preacher or our Sunday School teacher or even our parents say without really dealing with the issues for ourselves.

At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked the disciples two questions (you can read it here):  “Who do men say that I am?”  And the second, “Who do you say that I am?”  The difference is huge.  The answer to the first carries no commitment.  The answer to the second should change your life!

Do you own your faith?

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Prayer in a Taxi

Posted in Community, Grace, Missions on November 10, 2009| 1 Comment »

It was a short 10 minute taxi ride from the hotel to the San Diego airport on Sunday.  It was early and I was more than ready to be home.  But I felt compelled to get to know the driver.  So I asked him how long he had been in the beautiful city of San Diego, to which he replied, “Five years.”  So I asked the next sensical question, “Where were you before that?”  He told me that he grew up in Africa and had been in the US for only five years.  He asked if I had ever been to Africa and I told him I had not but it is one of the places I want to visit some day.  He asked what I do for a living and so I told him that I am a minister in a church.

He began a conversation about Christianity and his Muslim faith of Islam.  I asked if he was able to practice his religion here and he explained that it is hard to be faithful when the strict practice requires all men to attend the mosque five times per day to pray.  I explained that Christians believe that we should pray regularly throughout the day as well but that we can do it anywhere.  We discussed the similarities in our heritage and in the difficulty of being faithful to our beliefs.

As we pulled onto the airport property, I knew our time together was drawing to an end so I asked his name.  As we parked, I asked him if it would offend him if I prayed for him.  He said it wouldn’t, so we sat in the car near the curb at the Southwest check-in and I prayed for my driver, Mohammed.  It was a very brief prayer, but when I raised my head to look at him, he was smiling.

That was it, I retrieved my bags from his trunk, shook his hand and paid the fare.  I am not so pious to think that my effort and concern made a huge impact in Mohammed’s life – maybe it did.  But I can tell you that my eyes and heart were opened to the fact that we are all human beings with similar desires and interests – with real convictions and beliefs.  Now please understand, I do not subscribe to the doctrine of Islam and I certainly don’t condone the actions of the extremists.  But I do believe that Jesus calls us to love everyone – no matter who they are or what they believe.

Is there room in your heart to love someone who doesn’t see things as you do today?

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Commitment That Costs

Posted in Church, Family, Formation on November 6, 2009| 2 Comments »

Wednesday I had the privilege of sharing a devotion with the Board of Directors for an association to which I belong and I thought it appropriate to share my thoughts here as well.  So, to fellow board members who might be reading today, please forgive me for the repeat.

As I read Luke 14, I find that Jesus offers a lesson on what he expects of us who call ourselves Christ followers – believers in the way.  I have often struggled with this passage (you can read it here).  Jesus’ command to forsake (even “hate” in some translations) our families has been hard for me to understand.  I have always felt that my relationship with God should be my first priority and that my relationship with my family should be a close second.  But Jesus uses some pretty strong language suggesting that we have to completely forsake our families in order to follow him.

But as I meditated on this passage this week, I began to realize that Jesus was attempting to make a strong point both to his listeners and to us, that following him will be costly and that we should stop and count the cost before committing to follow him.  Now you may be thinking – well yeah, what is so hard to understand about that?

But I think what hit me between the eyes in this meditation is that Jesus was not just making a point, he was giving a warning.  We tend to “sterilize” Jesus words sometimes, but I think we loose the impact when we do that.  What Jesus was saying was that we need to really be sure we are ready to commit everything we have and are to him.  I think what he was saying was this, “Now wait a minute before you just jump on board because everyone is doing it.  I don’t need half-hearted, fair-weather followers.  In order for God’s plan to work, I need followers who are all-in, sold out, no turning back kind of followers.  If that is not you – then go follow someone else.”

While this may seem harsh, imagine with me for a moment, what would the church look like if everyone in it had this level of commitment?  What would our world look like if our churches were filled with believers committed to this level?

I dream of living in that world!

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Stranded On An Island With a Bible

Posted in Church, Formation, Leadership on November 5, 2009| 4 Comments »

What if you were stranded as a child on a desolate island with only the Bible to read?  Now imagine that after 20 years you were rescued from the island and you found your way into your church.  Would what you had come to believe from the Bible be consistent with what you experience in your church?

This is the scenario Francis Chan presents in the first few pages of his new book, Forgotten God.

I have to admit, I am not sure what I would see.  I say that because I have been so conditioned by my culture and my upbringing in the Baptist church that I don’t think I can say, without doubt, that there would be no inconsistencies – in fact, I think I could name a few.

So where does that leave us?  I think it should give us reason for pause.  Moving forward, I think we should:

  • Weigh everything we do against scripture – if there is no justification that can be found in the Bible for what we are doing, maybe, just maybe we should jettison it.
  • Bend what we do to meet scripture – not the other way around
  • Approach each issue with humility not arrogance – make sure your heart is beating in unison with the heart of Jesus
  • Err on the side of grace – being judgmental and obstinate has not served us well to date
  • Love – just love!

 

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A Triangle Has Three Sides

Posted in Church, Community, Formation, Missions on November 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I just finished Brian McLaren’s book, Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the  Ancient Practices.  I have read other works by McLaren and have never been disappointed in what he says or the impact of what his words have on my spiritual walk.  I encourage you to look into his books.

This particular book is one in a series published by Thomas Nelson covering spiritual practices.  I have mentioned spiritual practices or disciplines here before.  While the thought may be foreign to some of us, the use of different spiritual practices to draw us closer to God is as old as Christianity itself.  At any rate, in this book, McLaren focuses on three categories of practices that he suggests (and I agree) are inseparable – using a diagram of a triangle to illustrate the connection.  On one corner of the triangle we find the contemplative elements (meditation, prayer, etc.).  On another corner we find communal elements (worship, communion, fellowship, etc.).  And on the third corner we find the missional elements (service, outward focus, etc.).  The point that McLaren makes is that we cannot be complete without all three areas.

The tendency for most Christians is to strive in one or two areas to the detriment of the others.  We have to be balanced.  Contemplative elements without missional elements becomes pharisaical introversion but missional elements without the contemplative and communal elements become secular socialism.

God called each of us to a relationship with God.  The result of that growing relationship will have dramatic effects on everyone around us.  McLaren says that if we don’t have all three elements, we are incomplete and “sub-Christian.”

I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be sub-Christian.  I want my devotional, contemplative life to flow into my communal life in relating to and serving along side other believers.  These two elements should then naturally flow into service or missional efforts in the world around me.

Just remember – God did not call us out of boredom – God has a plan.  God expects us to seek to grow spiritually, grow closer to other followers of the way and to be light in a dark world.  It all goes together.

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Just Have Fun

Posted in Family, Humor, Motivational on November 3, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I was reading over some notes I took from a seminar this past summer with Ruth Haley Barton and I began to have ideas for a blog post dealing with what she said.  But for some reason, as I meditated on how to put my thoughts into words, it dawned on me – most of my posts lately have been pretty  serious.  I mean, I hope that you have found some glimmer of benefit from some of them, but by and large, the content has been fairly heavy.

Soooo – today, something different.  Today, we talk about fun.

Why in the world would someone who is not a follower of Christ want to choose a life that he or she perceives as dull, boring and demanding?  Answer – he or she won’t!  The life of a Christian should be fun, exciting and filled with adventure.  Is yours?

Here is what I want you to do – quit reading this and go have some fun.

Ok – you are still reading!  That can mean only one of two things.  Either you aren’t paying attention or you don’t even remember how to have fun.  If you fall into the first category – go back to the top of this post and start over.  If, however, you fall into the category of not knowing how to have fun, here are some suggestions:

  • Go to lunch with someone for no reason at all
  • Take off early, rent a movie and just kick back this evening
  • Go out to a nice dinner with your significant other
  • Pull out  a game you haven’t played in a while and get the kids gathered around the table and have a game night
  • Read a book that has nothing to do with your job or anything else you could actually learn from
  • Get on the intercom in your office and keep paging yourself (don’t even disguise your voice)

Be creative – God has a great sense of humor!

HAVE FUN!!!!!

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Your Own Personal Jesus

Posted in Formation, Grace on November 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I am going to show my age and my eclectic music tastes here but I was listening to an old song from Depeche Mode today titled “Personal Jesus.”  Depeche Mode is far from a Christian group, but the song has a distinct Christian message.  It starts by telling us to “Reach out and touch faith.”  I think all of us want a faith we can touch and feel.  But the message of the song is more along the lines of Jesus’ personal care for each of us.  Jesus cares about us individually – he knows us individually.  That is an awesome truth and one we should never forget.

However, what we tend to do is look at Jesus not as personal but as customizable.  We want to make Jesus fit our mold – not change ourselves to fit his.  We want a Jesus we can call on to protect us, to make us feel better, but when it comes to actually listening to and applying the teachings of Jesus, we tend to gloss over those things.

My challenge to you today is to make Jesus personal but don’t try to customize Jesus to fit your needs and wants.

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