"I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." - Psalm 121:1-2

This verse was the reading for the day in a Bible calendar I have. What a wonderful reminder of where our strength and power really comes from.

It is easy to think it comes from power, prestige, wealth or fame. That is what we can see and what our world thinks really matters, but that is not where our help really comes from.

As people of faith we know our help comes from the Lord.

To add one more thing: our help from the Lord does not come as a result of OUR great faith. No, it comes as a result of the GREAT ONE we place our faith in.

May that be a wonderful reminder to you of God's blessing and faithfulness.

Merry Christmas!

Religion vs. Gospel

Tim Keller writes in The Reason for God (186):

Religion operates on the principle "I obey - therefore I am accepted by God." But the operating principle of the gospel is "I am accepted by God through what Christ has done - therefore I obey."

I love this simple explanation of the gospel.

It is so easy for me to get into the mindset that God ought to accept me and be pleased with me because of all the good things I have done. This mindset only expands if I compare myself with other people (always the worst kind of people of course), thinking how much better and more deserving I am than them. I would never say this out loud, of course. I may not even think it consciously, but the attitude can sure be there. Even my sense of self worth or value before God can be based on an image others have of me or that I have for myself. Again, this means everything is about my performance or how I look. It has everything to do with what I do and nothing to do with what God has done. Does this ever happen to you?

Yet when I am reminded of the truth of the gospel again, I get my mind and heart squared away. The truth is that I was so full of sin and darkness that JESUS HAD TO DIE FOR ME. There simply was no other way. This humbles me and makes me thankful. But then I am reminded that JESUS WAS GLAD TO DIE FOR ME. This gives me the assurance of God's loving acceptance.

That is the gospel and I have to be reminded of that regularly so I don't forget the measure of God's love and mercy for me or His acceptance of me as His son.

What do you think? Any reactions . . .

Why is reconciliation so hard?

I have been spending a fair amount of time thinking on the subject of reconciliation lately. If I had to total up the hours each year that I spend helping others work through issues related to reconciliation I think I would be stunned. It's simply one of THE most important and time-consuming things I do.

This subject is not something trivial or optional and its certainly not something that the Bible is quiet on. Here are just a few of the scriptures related to the subject:

Matthew 5:21-26, 18:15-17; Romans 12:9-21; 1 John 2:9-11, 3:11-16

Maybe the most telling to me is 1 John 1:7:

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

The implication is that if we don’t have true fellowship with each other we will be in darkness and sin and separated from God. That is a big deal. Since this subject clearly is such a big deal to God, shouldn’t it be an equally big deal to us? If so, why don’t we all take it more seriously? Why do we settle to for the status quo even though it hurts our relationship with God and with others.

Richard Rohr wrote, “If the pain of your story is not transformed, it will be transmitted.”

I know so many people who transmit their pain and anger and sour disposition onto others, both intentionally and unintentionally, rather than allow God to transform their conflict so they can be at peace again.

I know reconciliation is not always easy or quick, but I also know that when it occurs no one ever regrets the work done to achieve it. Maybe we need to tell those stories more so others are encouraged to take important reconciliation steps.

When you have found it, true reconciliation and peace, what does that look and feel like? How were you effected? Please share some stories.

Giving Thanks

I remember when I was a kid sitting around the Thanksgiving table and being forced to give thanks for something. We went around the table and everyone had to say something they were thankful for. It was a perfectly good exercise, but I hated it. I hated having to come up with something to say. Forced thankfulness didn't work for me.

Now I am older and hopefully a bit wiser and God is teaching me how to be thankful, really thankful. This is a spiritual quality that all who claim Christ have by gift. It is natural because of the Holy Spirit's work in us and it isn't forced.

I wonder - and since we are not sitting around a table I can get away with this - if we could also spend a moment really thanking God for His salvation, His presence and His blessing in our lives.

Then, if you want to, why don't you share one thing you are thankful for

I will start: I am genuinely thankful that God has given me friends who really look out for me, who really "get me" and who I can count on no matter what.

More on Getting What We Deserve

Since I sparked some interest with a quote from a book I was reading last week I thought I would add to the discussion with a quote from a different book I just began reading - Foundations of Spiritual Formation by Paul Pettit. Don't let the extremely boring title fool you. The book has so far been interesting. Anyway, here is the quote:

As Christians, we live in the now and not yet. “Christians are positionally holy by virtue of being in Christ (1 Cor. 1:2; 6:11; Heb. 10:10) although experientially they remain tainted by sin.” We are simultaneously “sinning saints” or ”saintly sinners.” While it is true that we possess everything for life and godliness (2Peter 1:3), it is also true that we still await our final state of righteousness in glorified bodies. This occurs at glorification when the presence of sin is finally done away with. We see in part now (1 Cor. 13:12), but one day all the blinders of sin will be removed. Sin has initially been dealt with at the cross, but its final (historical) demise is yet future. One day our character will finally be conformed to Christ- positional will become actual. This process is what spiritual formation is all about (pg. 44).

This brings up an important question for me: How do we live a holy life and still struggle with temptation and sin? Or is that the wrong question to ask altogether? Maybe living a holy life, what all Christians should be about, has more to do with who we are and who we are becoming in Christ by His power at work in us and less to do with our personal achievement on a moral do's and don'ts list.

How do you make sense of Pettit's idea?

Getting What We Deserve

I have been reading a very interesting book lately called 12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee by John Fischer. Today in a chapter about how a recovering Pharisee learns that they DON'T want to get what they deserve and they DON'T want anyone else to either, he makes this observation about heaven and hell:

If we are uncomfortable associating with sinners, then we might want to think twice about spending eternity in heaven. Heaven is for sinners who face their sin; hell is for those who refuse to see. One of the ironic similarities between heave and hell is that no one in either place thinks they got what they deserve. (pg. 58)

So, people in heaven realize they received God's mercy and grace - not what they deserved - and were awarded heaven, while people in hell did not receive God's mercy and grace because they didn't think they needed it or refused to accept it. Either way, they didn't think they deserved hell, but that is exactly what they got.

What do you think about his thought? Do you believe it is accurate? How would you respond further?

Jesus' Life in Me

In the Message paraphrase, 2 Corinthians 4:9 records these words, "What they did to Jesus, they do to us - trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us - he lives!"

I was struck by that phrase and the truth of it. Everything that Jesus went through his followers have gone through and will go through. Now maybe we won't get physically assaulted or put on trial, but if we are faithful in our walk with Christ we WILL be persecuted.

At the same time, however, Jesus lives in us just like he did in them. The full reality of that cannot be described. It can only be experienced and shared with others. We can live our lives in any situation because he LIVES in us.

My hope for you is that you ask for and receive the power of the living Jesus in your life each and every day. I hope your relationship with God is not a set of well thought out doctrinal beliefs and a finely articulated set of spiritual theories. I hope you come to know the real thing.

I believe we all can know, experience and live the real thing if we open our lives up to receiving Jesus each day and committing to do what Jesus did and say what Jesus said in every circumstance of our lives.

The reason many of us have yet to experience it isn't because Jesus isn't real and alive, but because we haven't received him, asked him to lead every area of our lives and followed him in obedience.

Where have you sensed the living presence of Jesus in a real, clear way recently? What was it like?

Would your case be dismissed?

William Wilberforce, a member of Parliament in England in the 18th century and fierce advocate for the abolition of slavery, wrote a book called Real Christianity. In it he makes the case that many of us are nominal Christians because we go to church, live reasonably moral lives and acknowledge a belief in God. We have been conditioned to think that is the real thing when it is nothing like the real thing. He makes this powerful statement:

"Our behavior is so conformed to cultural standards that if we were put on trial as a Christian, the case might be dropped for lack of evidence." (pg. 89)

What are the evidences of change in your life? What are the evidences of change in mine?

Here are some examples of change the Bible gives us:
John 3:1-21
Romans 12:1-2
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Galatians 2:20
Ephesians 2:1-10

Those are just a few of the biblical examples of transforming change that happens - and should happen - in all of us. Christians should be the most joyful, winsome, peaceful and loving people because of the work of God in their life. People should be attracted to us in every respect, not because of us per se, but because of the evidences of the life of Jesus in us, coming out of us.

What are the evidences of change in your life? What concrete examples can you point to where God has transformed your life?

I will tell you one from me: Since God has transformed my life, my speech is no longer controlled by foul language and course talking. That was a gift from God and one I am greatly thankful for.

How about you?

Getting Right With God

I have two quotes running around in my head and I have been thinking about the implications of them all week. Here they are:

“God doesn’t revive people who have it all together. He revives people who are hungry, thirsty, weak, naked, blind, and less than spotless.” – John Wimber (The Way In is the Way On, pg. 245)

“Since I rose this morning my constant prayer has been to God to lead me in all things. I pray God to take me like an old sack and shake me until entirely empty, and then fill me with the fullness of God." – D.S. Warner (Journal Entry, April 16, 1877)

Those two men are essentially talking about the same thing: getting right with God. Another way to refer to it is revival. Revival is a season when we get right with God, when we come to Him humbly, in our brokeness, and seek to return to a place of peace and right relationship with Him. It is also a time when we ask to be filled up by His Spirit and set on fire to be useful in His service.

Have you ever felt the Lord speaking to you and urging you to get right with Him? Have you ever needed a revival in your life? What was that like? Do you need one today? How is God leading you?