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?

Encouragement for broken people

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families,
he leads forth the prisoners with singing . . .
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens. - Psalm 68:5-6, 19

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Isaiah 41:10

We all need to be encouraged, especially when we are in a place of brokeness. I know our culture doesn't value brokeness, but God does!

When we come to God in our brokeness, He ministers to us. Broken people are open people, people open to God's will and way, people dependent on His grace, love and mercy. Broken people are the kind of people God works in and with.

When have you come to God in brokeness, seeking Him and not something from Him?

When have you humbled yourself before God and surrendered to Him, setting your agenda aside for His? How did God respond?

When have you needed God's encouragement to strengthen you and lift you up? In your brokeness, how did God work to make you whole?