Clay in the Hands

This past weekend our area was hit with a winter storm that dropped a couple of inches of snow.  While the snow was beautiful and the moisture was certainly welcomed, the ice that came the day before made things very interesting – slick ice disguised with a dusting of beauty.

Have you ever heard the saying, “He knows just enough to be dangerous.”?  That is a phrase that was started, very likely, to describe drivers in west Texas when the roads are icy.  I have no problem navigating icy and snow covered roads when I am the only person on them.  Unfortunately, it snows in our area just enough to force people to drive on such roads but not enough to give them the experience they need to actually be able to do it safely.  The results are crazy people driving out of control and not even knowing it.

How many of us are going through life with the same reckless abandon while thinking we have it all under control?  Many get up each day with the misconception that they are actually in control of their destiny – that they can make their own way in the world.

Jesus made sure to remind us that he is the way, the truth and the life.  The fact that we are so self-centered that we actually believe this life is somehow about us is why Jesus came in the first place.  He came to show us what life is really about and to guide us through the icy spots and the dangerous conditions to a fulfilled existence.  He sacrificed himself so that you and I could have a relationship with God.

As we approach Thanksgiving – and then Advent – don’t forget that Jesus came to save us – even though we didn’t even know we needed saving.

Praise the Lord, Oh my soul!

Give thanks!

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We live in a broken world – broken people, broken relationships, broken ideas – BROKEN.  But the harsh reality of it all is that I have a part in the brokenness – – as do you.

It is my sin that contributes to the brokenness – my selfishness, my poor choices, my desires, my sin – – and yours.

Because of this broken nature of our world God made him who knew no sin to become my sin – – and your sin.

God sent Jesus to be broken for me – – and you.

Thanks be to God for loving me – – and you.

Praise be to Jesus for becoming my sin – – and yours.

Give thanks today for what God has done.

I do not deserve God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness, God’s love – – and neither do you.

Give thanks today for what God has done.

I am a new creation in Jesus through his sacrifice – through his brokenness – – are you?

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Humility.  Some reading this word might immediately think – “weak.”  Others reading the word might think – “noble” or “honorable.”  Your understanding of this word will direct the rest of your days.  True humility is never weakness but rather the realization of whence real power comes.

But please don’t think we can treat this complex virtue of humility flippantly or casually.  True humility is a complex virtue – possibly even a cyclical undertaking in the life of a human.  Thomas Merton, in frustration of realizing this complexity cried out to God in prayer:

Lord, you have taught us to love humility, but we have not learned.  We have learned only to love the outward surface of it – the humility that makes a person charming and attractive.  We sometimes pause to think about these qualities, and we often pretend that we possess them, and that we have gained them by “practicing humility.”

If we were really humble, we would know to what extent we are liars!

Pretty straight forward words from a humble man.  You see, if we have to tell people we are humble then we aren’t.

A complex virtue indeed.

God calls us to die to ourselves – to humble ourselves – and to live completely surrendered to God and the calling on our lives.  There is an element of real freedom here that we must not miss.  God does not call us to put on a mask and try and live up to the world’s standards.  We don’t have to worry about what others think.  We don’t have to put on aires and strive to be someone we are not.  In fact, we are not even expected to be successful – regardless of how you define that word and concept.  The only expectation on us is to be faithful.

It starts with humility.

God, today, help me to realize those areas in my life where I have replaced you with desires to succeed.  Rekindle in me a passion to serve you with all that I am – sold out and and completely surrendered.    Amen

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I spent the day yesterday reconnecting to colleagues and partners in ministry. It was a wonderful time of hearing about what God has been doing in so many lives and so many areas of the country and world. It was also a time to share how God has been at work in my life as well.

Have you ever noticed that you don’t think much about how God is working around you until someone asks you that question. All of the sudden you have to take a look. You begin to think about the good things you have seen and the lives that have been changed.

For me, I try to do that on a regular basis but it is usually more of a practice of trying to see God’s movement in the here and now. But when I think about all the things God has done over the last 6 months, I begin to see God’s hand in many different ways.

Why is that?

I think it has a lot to do with our “want it now” mindset. We tend to overestimate the change we will see in the next month and underestimate the change we will see in the next year.

The truth is, change takes time. God is at work every minute of every day – bringing about the change we need.

Don’t think for a minute that God is not at work all around you. Just take a look at the last 6 months and you can see it.

Stay faithful.

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When is the last time you rejoiced in your creator?  When is the last time you watched a sunrise or sat and listened to a thunderstorm?  Or maybe watched a small child at play and really saw the wonder in it all?

I have heard people struggle with faith (and if we are honest, we have been there) and say, “If I could just see God, then I could believe.”

We look to scripture and find that Moses was the only human to live who had the opportunity to see God.  But I would suggest that we can all see God if we will just look.

God has created a beautiful self-portrait all around us.  We can see God’s smile in the face of a child.  We can see God’s strength through creation.  And we can see God’s compassion when we see someone going out of their way to positively impact another.

We can see God every day – if we will just take the time and look.  And we see God up close, we can do nothing but rejoice.

How will you see God today?

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Whose faith do you hold?  I  am not asking “Who do you have faith in?”  I am asking whose faith is it that you hold?

For those of us raised in a Christian home, the natural progression of our faith development is to reach an age when we realize that what my parents have been teaching me all my life might just be true.  All those days spent in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and camp may have just been important.

While this realization is important, the tragedy is, that so often, it stops there.

We come to the realization that this stuff is true because it has made such a difference in the lives of the people we respect and so we adopt it as our own.  We surrender to the religion of our fathers and mothers – and life is good.  It is as it should be – – or so we tell ourselves.

You see, God does not ask us to adopt a religion.  The desire of God’s heart is not that we “buy into” a belief system.  The longing of God is that we commit ourselves to a relationship with our creator.

So when I ask the question, “Whose faith do you hold?” – I am asking you to search your heart and mind and make sure that the faith you hold is your very own.  So often, we never work through and wrestle with the difficult questions of faith.  We accept it and tuck it away like something we can check off a spiritual check list and move on to life.

Faith of substance affects everything we do and every decision we make.  We cannot make it through this life on the coat tails of our parent’s faith.  We have to own our own.  We have know it first hand.  It has to be real and concrete.  it has to be the foundation upon which we build our lives.

So whose faith do you hold?

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There is a note that I carry with me in my computer bag.  It’s a series of questions that I look at each time I run across it.  I don’t even know where I picked up the idea or when I started carrying the note.  But it helps to keep me grounded.

The note says this:

Lord, show me what you see in my heart.  What evidence is there that you are increasingly the center of my life?  Where do I consciously need to seek to exalt you and not myself?  Am I answering your call to spend time with you in scripture and prayer?  Are my core relationships characterized by honesty, forgiveness and intimacy?  Don’t let me take these questions lightly.

The very first sentence is an amazing request.  A petition for God to show me what he sees in my heart – in me.  Think about that request for a second.  What does God see in you?  What prize do you possess that God would value?

The answer?  You are everything to God.  God loves each of us so much that he died for us.  What specific value do you possess?  I don’t know.  You will need to search yourself to answer that but I can tell you without doubt that God sees you as worth dying for so know that you are special.

Once you have pondered this idea, ask yourself the questions that are listed above and don’t take them lightly.

God deserves our very best.  The best of our energy, the best of your time, the best of our passion.

May God find us faithful today!

Be a blessing!

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This morning I am thinking about the kingdom of God.  There are 75 places in the New Testament that use the words “Kingdom of God.”  And as one looks over those verses, it becomes apparent that a clear definition of what is meant by these words is not all that easy to understand.

On the one hand, we see references to a “coming Kingdom.” giving us the idea that God’s Kingdom has not yet arrived but is a distant goal to set our sights on so that some day, when we die, we can enter into that Kingdom.  I believe that is an accurate understanding of what is meant by the Kingdom of God.

But I also read passages that say, the “Kingdom of God has come near,” or “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”  When we see the concept of the kingdom used in this way, we realize that the New Testament understanding is bigger than just another name for heaven.

I have heard people much more versed in scripture than myself explain the concept of the Kingdom of God being synonymous with the “will of God.’  I think this idea sheds some light on the subject as well.

But maybe one way we can understand the Kingdom of God is simply “getting it” – grasping, at least in a small way, the love and grace and plan of God through Jesus.

When I think of the times I glimpse the grandeur and mystery of God; or I see someone truly show the love of Christ to someone else; I think God might be saying, “The Kingdom of God has come near.”

Something to think about today.

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Do you ever get worn out?  Just reach the end and think “I could not do another thing”?

We stay busy.  In fact, the most common thing I hear when I ask the question, “how are you doing?” is this, “I’m doing good – just busy.”  In the game of calendar bingo, we have bought into the fallacy that the objective is blackout.  We need to fill every block on the calendar to win.

Wrapped up in this sickness is our self-worth.  We have decided somewhere along the way that we have to keep up the pace or become irrelevant or worse – worthless.  We look to others who seem to have it all together and think, “Well, he can do it, I just have to suck it up and get it done.”

This week I have been preparing to speak this Sunday on rest.  My reading has taken me on a self-reflection journey that has enlightened me to some things.  Things like tying my value as a person and believer to my accomplishments instead of to God.  Things like disregarding God’s commandment to practice a Sabbath.

So today, I ask you the question.  Where do you find your value?

God loves you because of who you are and who you are becoming – not for your busyness.

Take a moment to rest in the arms of God this week.  All those things pressing on you will not go anywhere.  In fact, maybe, just maybe, the time of rest might just help you realize that those things aren’t that important anyway.

REST.

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