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Kingdom. 7th day of Lent. The Kingdom of God is like…

We often come from the perspective that life started with us-
our story is our frame of reference.
We know the family tree, maybe back three generations, and we’ve been schooled with world history to know antiquity but our existence is perceived through our own history.
Our story. Our story world. Once upon a time, I was born and lived like this. It’s what I know, it’s from where I see and hear and experience life. It’s my perspective.

And the word KINGDOM today reminds me that too often my perspective is incomplete, faulty and at times wrong.
The KINGDOM is God’s perspective on life.

The Kingdom of God is the experience of blessedness, like that of the Garden of Eden, where evil is fully overcome & where those who live in the kingdom know the eternal ALIVENESS and undefinable FULLNESS of God that is exemplified in his vast attributes like love, power, peace, joy, and righteousness.

The KINGDOM is the message Christ proclaimed.
There were two bookends of his good news message.
He would start his teaching this way, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…”
And he would end it like this “If you have eyes to see then see and ears to hear then hear.”
He warns us at the end, don’t miss what I just said to you.
You might hear and not hear. See and not see.
Huh? That’s right. All of our faces housed the big question mark.

For years that’s what ‘The Kingdom of God’ did to me too. I would listen. Hard. I would hear. But I couldn’t get it. What this kingdom was about. Had it come with Jesus? Was it coming back? Where was it? How did I reach out my hand and touch it?

In Matthew 3, John the Baptist proclaims, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Repent. Is that how we get the Kingdom ‘in hand’? John was calling out the religious and today some of the religious need to be called out to bring forward the fruit of repentance too. For the religious, self-effort people we hear in these words, “Straighten up, God is coming and when He gets here he is going to be really ticked.” It’s like when mother used to say, “Straighten up and wait till your father gets home.” We totally understood ‘the hand’ that was about to reach out and touch us of discipline because of our crooked living that went on while he was away.

But wait. I remember this truth… “God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.” John 3:17

It’s like we see things up-side-down.

So if Christ came to help, to put the world right again, I have to go back to my definition, the Kingdom of God is the experience of blessedness, like that of the Garden of Eden, where evil is fully overcome & where those who live in the kingdom know the eternal ALIVENESS and undefinable FULLNESS of God that is exemplified in his vast attributes like love, power, peace, joy, and righteousness.

Suddenly my definition of ‘repent’ isn’t working besides my definition of Kingdom. Again, I’ve made Repent about behavior that occurs when I change the CONTENT of my mind, and switch the direction of my behavior. Instead I need to redefine Repent to be about my spirit. Renewing my mind I think differently about how I’m seeing things. Think differently afterwards because “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”

Keep reading on in Matthew and chapter 4 we read, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

John the Baptist grew up in a corrupt religious system and the forerunner was warning us to prepare ourselves. To get ourselves ready. The Kingdom of heaven is at hand, has come near.
Jesus has come near. Jesus the ever existing one didn’t grow up in a corrupt religious system. The King of this Kingdom is I AM.

I AM has a Kingdom perspective.
I AM is the eternal ALIVENESS and undefinable FULLNESS of God exemplified in his vast attributes like love, power, peace, joy and righteousness.
I AM has come near. And in Him was LIFE.
“Aliveness” was near.
Aliveness, filling the atmosphere of the kingdom of God.

BEFORE creation- there was a Kingdom- filled with everything that makes things work. Imagine power and love and peace, joy and righteousness were the atmosphere soaking this place.

Jesus wants to tell us about this so he starts teaching this way-
The Kingdom of heaven is like…
Not telling us how to do earth- telling us about a reality that exist spiritually- of aliveness- the atmosphere the fullness of God.

This Kingdom is upside-down. It’s contrary to what we think we know most of the time and totally contradictory to what the world would have us believe. We have to have the Spirit to help us perceive it properly to know Christ is at hand. He is near to us. Not pointing a judging finger but offering his hand. And what does he want? Right behavior?

Oh, please get this.
He wants a relationship. With you.

Spirit speaking to spirit. Aliveness. Fullness. At hand. Near. Yes.
The Kingdom of God is the experience of blessedness, like that of the Garden of Eden, where evil is fully overcome & where those who live in the kingdom know the eternal ALIVENESS and undefinable FULLNESS of God that is exemplified in his vast attributes like love, power, peace, joy, and righteousness.

February 24, 2015

Transgression. Day 6 of Lent. Stay in your lane.

TRANSGRESSION. Day 6 of Lent. Stay in your lane.

Stay in your lane. #lent #lent2015

To transgress is the action of going beyond or overstepping some boundary or limit

Michael Massa explained, “Transgression is to move against. We move against others because we are more powerful than others, or at least we think we are. Power is needed for protection, but it also gives us an ability to transgress that we would otherwise not have. Out transgressions can be / are forgiven, but to prevent transgressing – intentionally or carelessly – we need to continually be on guard not only against the power of sin, but also against our own power over others.”

God made the boundaries in creation. Jeremiah 5:22 “Should you not fear me?” declares the LORD. “Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.”

God stated the moral boundaries in the ten commandments let’s call those the lanes on the highway. He gave man a soul thermostat called conscious let’s call that the brakes and accelerator. Then Christ pronounced the summation of all the commands like this, “Love God. Love others.” Love is the steering wheel.

Love for God and for others keeps you from transgressing-moving out against others and overpowering them to get your way.

Stay in your lane.

February 23, 2015

FORGIVENESS. Day 5 of lent. The Gospel of Grace.

#FORGIVENESS. Day 5 of #lent.

A definition for forgiveness could be — giving up my right to hurt you, for hurting me. – Releasing your debt to me.

We forgive because we have been forgiven by God (Ephesians 4:32). We forgive in obedience to God (Matthew 6:14-15; Romans 12:18). We forgive so we won’t become bitter and defile those around us (Hebrews 12:14-15).

God is faithful to forgives us. 1 John 1:9

Robert Muller said, “To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love.” Today I connected God’s love to His forgiveness. I rested in how much God loves me instead of how often I disappoint Him.

To lived loved we must be faithful to forgive our self as God has forgiven us.

This statement from Brennan Manning is one of my favorites

Because salvation is by grace through faith, I believe that among the countless number of people standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands (see Revelation 7:9), I shall see the prostitute from the Kit-Kat Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, who tearfully told me that she could find no other employment to support her two-year-old son. I shall see the woman who had an abortion and is haunted by guilt and remorse but did the best she could faced with grueling alternatives; the businessman besieged with debt who sold his integrity in a series of desperate transactions; the insecure clergyman addicted to being liked, who never challenged his people from the pulpit and longed for unconditional love; the sexually abused teen molested by his father and now selling his body on the street, who, as he falls asleep each night after his last “trick”, whispers the name of the unknown God he learned about in Sunday school.

“But how?” we ask.

Then the voice says, “They have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

There they are.

There we are – the multitude who so wanted to be faithful, who at times got defeated, soiled by life, and bested by trials, wearing the bloodied garments of life’s tribulations, but through it all clung to faith.

My friends, if this is not good news to you, you have never understood the gospel of grace.” ~Brennan Manning from the Ragamuffin Gospel

February 22, 2015

SEED. Day 4 of Lent. Scatter Grow Gather.

#SEED. Day 4 of #Lent. Scatter Grow Gather.

There is a cycle in my life that follows this rhythm with each new season.
Scatter. Grow. Gather.

So when I think on a seed, just a tiny speck of matter.
A bit of hope. A potential beginning.
Symbolized by the Word of God, so a truth.
Spoken to us if we’re listening. Ready to be ‘planted’ or acted upon. With faith and obedience, perseverance and care.
God calls us to grow. But the process is strange.

“Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.” John 12:24

To grow we can’t hold on to life just as it is. Seasons change.
From the Father’s hands we are scattered.

Relocated. Rearranged. Re-positioned.
Taken from one season and dispersed into another.
Called forward.
Reminded we can’t go back.

In faith alone, we trust.
We are a seed. DUST. Fragile and frail. A tiny speck of matter.
We PROCLAIM Christ as our priority and trusting Him as THE WAY we are to go we believe in His faithful process.

We die to self. We let go.

Of homes. And children. And expectations.
Of old ways. The familiar. What was comfortable.
Of leadership. Positions. People. And places.
And it is dark and still and feels like death.

There is denial. Then doubt. Dismay and grief.

It is new. All so very new.
And we are so weak here.

Fragile. Frail. Afraid.
A seed. Just a tiny speck of matter. A bit of hope. A potential beginning. Grows. Spirit urges us out. And up.
And as we surface something new begins.

We grow.
And the season cycles. In its highs and lows.
As we bear fruit here.

Gathered into a harvest for His glory.

February 22, 2015

SIGN. Day 3 of Lent. The Way.

SIGN. Day 3 of Lent. THE WAY.

Directional signs are everywhere.

We watch for them. They get us where we are going.
But sometimes we can think, “If I just change my circumstances – get out of this church, job, school- or change my relationships- get out of this marriage, friendship, work situation- I’ll finally be happy, free, satisfied.” We let our feelings ‘direct’ our movement out, around or away from a dissatisfying environment. We exit here. Go our way.

Yet, wherever we go, there we are.

We find the new direction just took us back to the same old place.
Here we are again.
Finding freedom is never about our outward circumstances.
It is about becoming transformed within our circumstances.
We have to know ourselves and know our God to find the way.
And that journey takes some direction to learn what it means to be free from ourselves and transformed.
Jesus says I am The WAY.

Jesus recognized the dead end problem of “here we are again”.
He came to make a way to replace our old self with a new self that is free. He says the way for you to be free from yourself is to think differently afterwards. Repent.
But we first have to see the contrast of what we repeatedly try to do and what Christ is really asking us to do.

Jesus calls us to think differently.

We continually try to think different – by changing the content of what we think. Our thoughts are this-stop gossiping, start praying, stop cursing, start encouraging. We’re still eating from the tree of good and evil where we exchange evil for good. When we just think different all we are doing is trying harder. We get stuck in a vicious cycle. Driven to find a way out, we pursue an escape and the direction “out” lead us into the very thing that has us trapped. Then the cycle begins again and the continuing dynamic leads many into deeper bondage and dissatisfaction. Been there?

Jesus says that self-effort is the dead end way.

To think differently refers to the way in which we think.

THE WAY in which we think is to renew our minds and be transformed in Christ. But how do we think differently.
We just abide in Christ and His Word.
We seek first Christ.
Focus on Christ as our priority not the circumstances or self effort.
Then, mysteriously Spirit helps us change the focusing lenses over our eyes and the filters of our ears. When we see and hear things differently it becomes almost impossible to do things the same way-the dead end way- of before.

Jesus spoke about THE WAY like this, “Repent.”
Think differently afterwards because “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Here. With you. In you. Around you. Here is the love and power of Christ. I AM THE WAY.

I AM with you. Always.

The SIGN of that is simple. Peace.
The Presence of Christ in me.
Chi Ro encircled.

Jesus Christ is THE WAY of Peace.

“I certainly still remember him; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him,” declares the LORD.
“Set up for yourself road marks, Place for yourself guideposts;
Direct your mind to the highway, The way by which you went.
Return, O virgin of Israel, Return to these your cities.
“How long will you go here and there, O faithless daughter?
For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth–
A woman will encompass a man.” Jeremiah 31:20-22

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7: 14

February 20, 2015

PROCLAIM. Day 2 of Lent. What is your priority?

Proclaim. Day 2 of Lent. What is your priority?

There’s that question linked to this religious season;
“What did you give up for Lent?”

It makes many evaluate how they’re doing 7 weeks into the New Year. Did those resolutions stick? Are they habits?
Ugh. But grace.
Lent gives us a chance to return.
Remember, we’re dust. Fragile, frail, flesh.
Grace is ready to give us a re-do, a re-start.
Just get the list out and re-prioritize.
Remember the goals. The action plan.
Those priorities-

The problem is there’s a list. The word priority is singular. One.

One thing that is regarded as more important than another.
One thing that is treated as most important.
Our prime concern.
Our most important consideration.
The primary issue that proceeds everything else before it, and takes precedence in our time, to our treasures and through our talents.

One priority. New answers.

What are you giving up for Lent? Self.

What is your one priority. Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ.
The first before anything else.
The center of life.
Take a lesson from Martha and Mary (Luke 10:42)
Lay it all down and abide.
“Only One thing is needed-Christ”

Take the Lent list – the things you are fasting not to do and the duties you are committing to do- and restructure it.
Remember, as Bob Hamp says, “Freedom isn’t the absence of something- caffeine, sugar, sleep, alcohol, social media.
Freedom is the presence of Someone, Jesus Christ.”

Change the way your are focusing your energy off the priorities and onto the Priority. Lay your crowns down.

And crown Him the priority of your life.

Proclaim your priority today.

follow:
my Pinterest board on LENT

LENT2015 in daily pictures

https://www.facebook.com/LENTPHOTOADAY/timeline?ref=page_internal

February 19, 2015

Ash Wednesday. DUST from day 1 of Lent. Are you doing something religious?

DUST from Day 1 of Lent. Are you doing something religious?

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent and I went to a local service. It’s what I call ‘High Church’, the serious service my Bible church raise sons moan is the up-down, up-down recite, recite, recite. But it’s where I grew up and it feels like home to me even though I’ve never been to Trinity Lutheran before. This church has been in the cultural district of downtown Fort Worth for 70 years. The building has that sixties feeling about it in the Googie architecture style, showcasing a high up swept triangular roof, curvaceous outings paired with geometric shapes and the bold use of glass, steel and neon colors. The stain glass is a tide-dyed ombre of colors that’s picked up in the altar cloths embroidery on purple and the baptismal has doves, shells and fire carved into its wood like the iconic symbols I’ve seen on old peace posters. And there are candles, waiting to be lit and I wait, still and silent, inviting Spirit to speak to my spirit.

The entrance of the Cross arrives where the congregation stands as if a bride were coming down the aisle and yet it is our Bridegroom. His golden cross bore up in tender hands of a teenage acolyte. Light shines from the candles now and we stand for the confession of sins, a convicting list of self-indulgences I agreed I had done and then those commands I had neglected to do. My response, “Have mercy on us, O God.” I was invited for the imposition of ashes; kneeling at the altar the mark of the cross was applied to my forehead with the just words from Genesis 3:19, “Remember, that you are dust, and to dust you will return.” I feel solemn and want to stay at the altar and pray but there’s a line behind me so I rise and sit and meditate, because today is just this-

Remember. You are Dust. Dust.

I stop trying to move ahead to the propitiation and resurrection, to the amazing grace and powerful love that transform me and stay here in Ash Wednesday. The readings are from Isaiah and Matthew reminding us of the fasting God requires and a caution to beware public piety. I smile, looking at the bold dark mark on the pastor’s forehead-our ‘religion’ couldn’t be more public today and the Homily asked the question I’m thinking, “Are you doing something religious today?” I ask myself that and know mysteriously that doctrine and experience are working out something very spiritual in my heart. These ashes placed on me have a meaning.

Remember.

I was remembering with a deep respect for my roots in the faith that came from “high church”. I was reorienting my soul in this season of life that was grieving things from the past, old ways of family life and ministry, still disoriented with new ways of empty nesting and life without teaching and limited fellowships. Scattered again God had steadily been gathering my spirit like a pot over fire about to boil and today, Ash Wednesday, I spent the day remembering.

Remember. You are Dust. Dust.

You are Dust. Dust. Finite. Frail. Fragile. Failing.
Dust. Gathered. Scattered.
Dust. Formed. Reformed.
Dust. Pruned. Protected.
Dust. Dying. As we were meant to do. Dead to self. Alive to Christ.
Dust. Returning to our place. In the Potter’s baptizing hands, dust becomes washed, wet, reborn.
Clay.
Purposefully crafted. An empty vessel. Filled. Water. Light. Love.
Meant to overflow. Not indulge itself. Inwardly or outwardly.
Remember now. Me you keep on following. Abide in me. Spirit filled. you are fruit. you overflow.

There was a prayer; Merciful God, we return to you. Accompany our journey through these 40 days. Renew us that we may provide for those who are poor, pray for those in need, fast from self-indulgence and above all find our treasure in the life of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a blessing given: Go forth into the world to serve God with gladness; be of good courage; hold fast to that which is good; render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the faint hearted and hurting; support the weak; help the afflicted; honor all people; love and serve God, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Remember. You are Dust. Dust.

February 19, 2015

Curious? a black and white God in a 50 shades of grey world

CURIOUS? A black and white God in a fifty shades of grey world.

Curious? Aren’t you.

The ads are everywhere 3000 times a day someone is trying to get you to buy into the 50 shades of gray World system. And lately the lead line is- Curious?

Four years ago a friend whispered during lunch, “Have you read that new book, Fifty Shades of Grey?” I hadn’t heard about it yet, but within a month there were stacks of paperbacks in Sam’s and I was seeing it in high school girl’s hands and the buzz was building past the beauty salon and gym.

I read it because I was curious.

Christian women were asking me about it and I didn’t have a ready answer or a segue to bring the gospel into a conversation with unbelievers. So I used that for a righteous excuse to read a dirty book. It wasn’t the first book with sex in it that I had read, I’ve read the #1 best seller, the Bible, and it has a lot of sex in it too. God doesn’t give us the titillating details but from the steamy stanzas of the Song of Solomon to the threshing floor with Ruth and Boaz sexual sparks are kindling into fire throughout the Bible. Some forget God designed sex (Gen2), God commands sexual intimacy for the married (1cor7) and God warns us about the destruction of lust (romans 1). He also records all the varied ways Biblical characters, many of them the heroes of the faith, failed in this area and we read stories about rape, incest, homosexuality, infidelity, abandonment and abuse.

“These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 cor 10:11-3

Curiosity is a clever little word. It’s tricky. It lures the mind and shows you ‘the door’ concealing what’s really behind it. It asks with a bit of a hissing lisp, “Don’t you want to see what’s inside?” It even reminds you as you glance at the door, “Remember, the rules, “Thou shall not open that door. Good people don’t even touch that door.” But ‘rules are made to be broken’ because fear is imperfect and desire is powerful and we all have a little rebellious attitude in our fallen DNA that makes us sneak our hand into the cookie jar. The television, the radio, the internet and the ‘in’ crowd remind us that the door is still there. And we are outside it, left out. We are enticed. Curiosity now helps you scheme, a way to sneak really, justify, rationalize, find an excuse. And a way. The secret passage. In the dark our hand is on the door. And we open it ultimately to find it wasn’t curiosity at all. We got conned in a system as old as time called temptation.

“The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.” James 1:13-15

Curiosity doesn’t just kill the cat, it kills our innocence. We know now. More than a loving God wanted us to ever experience. We know. Now. Our eyes are open. And there is a kind of death that happens inside of us. We can’t go back. We have seen, we have heard, we have experienced, what God wanted to protect us from.

Reading Fifty Shades of Gray, my curiosity had opened a door into a story world of domination. Terms were like a foreign language and though I knew the writer was plotting out a redemptive love story with very compelling characters there was nothing romantic about the intimate partner violence (IPV) in nearly every interaction between the two main characters. The abuse included: stalking, intimidation, isolation as well as other forms of physical abuse none of which are the foundation of a healthy relationship or could be in any way twisted to define love. God is love and He defines the way of love in 1 Cor 13 as being patient, kind and unselfish, caring more about others than self.

I read Fifty Shades of Gray over memorial weekend at our family’s lake house and remember my college age niece seeing the book and saying, “I read that. All my friends have read it.” I closed the book and cried. Fully convicted. Fully convinced that our culture had opened a door and behind it was devastating deception and destruction to God’s truth about love. I loved my niece. She was young and impressionable and innocent and her Millennial generation’s Cinderella story had a new name, Fifty Shades of Gray.

That’s the problem we should have with 50 Shades of Grey – not just the sex, but the acceptance of the deception of the truth and the introduction of domination and sexual submission, of absolute power and acceptance of abuse in a relationship as the new norm in our culture which was founded on freedom.

Don’t be tempted by your curiosity. Knowing the truth will set you free and love, not fear, will commit you to overcome your curiosity and not open the door. There is a way out of this curious romanticized lie, stand for the truth, for love and for women. Know the facts and tell your friends.

Twenty-five percent of women are affected by intimate partner violence (IPV) romanticized in Fifty Shades of Grey.

Twenty-five percent.

1 in 4 women live Fifty Shades of Grey as their real life story with no happy ending.

Instead of spending $50 dollars to see this movie that romanticizes abuse, help those already affected by intimate partner violence (IPV) by joining the #50dollarsnot50shades campaign.

Spread the news. Encourage your friends to skip the movie and donate $50 to shelters and agencies that support abused women.

I donated to Shared Hope International but I know the time you spend to search for a charity in your area will be personally beneficial to you and a blessing to others. Live Loved.

February 17, 2015

Criticism Happens. Even at Christmas.

“So, I suppose I should give to miserable failures like you and that idiot brother of yours,” was said by a famous Christmas character. He describes a cab driver as a guy who, “sits around on his brains all day.” Later he’ll hurl a racial slur at Italians as a “bunch of garlic eaters.” And Potter repeats his favorite adjective again when he looks down his nose at the protagonist of It’s a Wonderful Life, calling George, “a miserable little clerk crawling in here on your hands and knees and begging for help,” right before he seeks a warrant for George Bailey’s arrest.

Criticism happens. Even at Christmas.

Have you been there? I must admit I’ve been the critic and the criticized. It’s universal in our gossip infected world of social media. We seek the thumbs up, the little heart, the “like me.” We all want affirmation, acceptance, and love but it seems we also need thick skin. Any leader- a person of influence- who steps forward with the power to affect other’s thinking or actions with their opinion or through the vehicle of a craft –whether playing a sport, starring in a movie, preaching from the pulpit, or simply leading a book club will meet the naysayers. If you disagree just listen as you walk out of a movie theater, watch a pre-game NFL show or swipe your finger down a Twitter timeline. Criticism happens.

Recently I received a scathing review and once again I had to go through the process of processing it. This is what God has taught me to do when criticism happens.

1. Remember even Jesus had his Judas – John 15:20
Resentment brings on criticism. When people criticize with the bile of resentment it says more about them than about us. Sometimes they simply want what we have. Criticism can be evoked by jealousy, insecurity and smallness. Sometimes naysayers simply deeply resent what we have said or the way we said it. They want it another way, like Judas, they want the king not the servant. Judas saw Messiah differently. Judas came to despise Jesus because deep down Jesus was everything Judas was called to be and nothing that he was and Judas resents the truth.

2. Criticism is a mirror and a motivator – Roman 12:21
Sometimes we are a mirror that reflects the truth in someone else and they resent it. But sometimes criticism is a mirror that reflects a certain truth in us. We realize our shortcomings and that realization always gives us two paths to take– We can either humble ourselves and with a willingness to see what is ‘true’ about the criticism have a willingness to change and aspire to be more or bow up with pride, be unwilling to change, let alone listen, and rationalize our stubbornness. Criticism happens, it’s the nature of some of our businesses, and often people make a good point that will make us better.

3. Criticism that counts is from a source we respect – 1 John 4:1
Criticism happens so when it does, consider the source. The opinions about us that count are the ones that come from the people we respect, not the ones we don’t. Even in the Church we have varying opinions on doctrine and living in Christ. Even friends and family members disagree. We all have ‘our way’ of seeing things but ‘our way’ doesn’t matter, it’s THE WAY that matters. We find our unity not in a thing but in the person of Jesus Christ. If we would all be more critical about how we personally are living in Christ instead of criticizing how others aren’t, the church might be set on fire with revival. Don’t ever let the naysayers stop you from what God has called you to do. Be obedient, “but test them all; hold on to what is good,” and be better for it. (1 thes 5:21)

4. Our response to the Critics – Luke 6:40
Criticism happens. Even at Christmas. In It’s a Wonderful Life, Potter cares only about himself. Peter Bailey tells us, Potter “hates everybody that has anything that he can’t have….He’s a sick man. Frustrated and sick. Sick in his mind, sick in his soul.” Just like all of us, Potter is a sinner. People aren’t perfect. And we do and say hateful things to each other often from deep wounded place in our souls. Our words sink to new lows even as we stand tall on a soap box. Rick Warren recently tweeted back to a caustic critic these impressive words, “Hatred never defeats hatred. It only inflames it. “Overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21″

When criticism happens to me I’ve learned the way to get my focus off the emotional sting is to immediately begin to pray
1. for the person who criticized me (they are a sick sinner just like me and need grace and mercy and wisdom and training, just like me, because we all think ‘our way’ is the right way-teach us both THE WAY)
2. my response to them (humility and forgiveness and grace and love and insight into what is true that will make me more like Jesus).

Jesus reminds us in Luke 6:40 “The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.” Criticism happened to the Best (Jesus) of us so it will happen to the least of us too because we are being trained to respond like Jesus.
Maybe that’s why criticism happens in the first place.
Even at Christmas.

December 23, 2014

The Joy of Giving- 7 reasons why giving brings you Joy

The Joy of Giving- 7 reasons why giving brings you Joy

Adding. One thing. To. Another. Proverb 7:27

God has a way of connecting the dots. “Look,” says the Teacher, “this is what I have discovered: “Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme (a plan of action to follow) of things— (Prov 7:27)

Adding. One thing. To. Another. God gives us a plan of action for joy.

In this advent season study the parting words of Paul to the Ephesians elders (Acts 20) and you might be reminded of the bold charge the apostle makes on Christian leaders in his ending summation, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

More divine favor rests upon us when we give than when we get and here are 7 reasons to reminds us why that is true.

Giving draws me closer to God. Matthew 6:21

If you want to care more deeply about something, give to that cause.

Money is a magnet of the heart. Put your money first where you want your heart concerned and your devotion will be drawn toward it. It sounds backwards but if you give first, your heart will follow. It’s a pattern of giving Christ outlines this way, “For where your treasure is, your heart will follow.”

Want to increase your concern and affection to a cause, give to it.

Giving breaks the grip of materialism. Matt 6:24

The definition of materialism is to overvalue material things. We like stuff. And most of us are caught up in a cycle of the world’s kind of joy called ENJOYMENT. We are too easily satisfied by stuff, until it loses its flavor and then we’re back out there buying the next thing we want to enjoy. We need to practice believing a simple truth. Our net worth of stuff does not equal our self-worth in Christ. To break the cycle of get, get, get and more, more, more we have to give, give, give. Giving is an eternal joy and it can become a new and improved enjoyment as you see the value of others instead of the value of stuff.

Giving strengthens my faith. 2 Cor 9:8

Too many of us are full of ourselves. We’re self sufficient and secure in our ability to provide what we need. We live by sight and its short sighted.

Giving creates space for God to show up.

When we tithe first and give sacrificially, we give God room to show up and show off in our financial lives. Is God more powerful than money? Do you act on it by giving God room to bless you as you bless others?

Giving promotes God’s sanctification. Luke 18:22

Giving not only promotes God’s work through us but also God’s work in us—our sanctification. Giving sets us apart. Especially when it’s sacrificial. It pains us because it comes at a cost to us and requires self denial.

Every act of giving breaks our sinful and selfish nature and allows more of God’s grace to spread in our heart.

Money leaves our pocket but sin also leaves our hearts. That’s a priceless exchange. Giving helps us keep growing up in Christ.

Giving secures an investment for eternity. 1 Tim 6:18-19

You can’t take it with you. There are no pockets in funeral clothes and no UHauls behind the Hurst. We can’t take material things with us to heaven but we can send treasure on ahead.

How we use our time, treasure and talents for God’s honor and glory is storing up for us eternal treasures in heaven.

Giving blesses you in return 2 Cor 9:11

We all like rewards. And there is a certain payoff when we give. Don’t you just feel better when you do something nice. You open a door for someone and it just feels good. You give to a worthy cause and get a letter back from the child you helped, it feels good.

Giving cheerfully brings a smile to God’s face too.

And there’s that added bonus, when we give there is that responsive ‘thank you’. God is glorified.

Giving reflects Christ sacrifice for me Rom 12:1

“I appeal to you brothers, in view of God’s mercy…” Need motivation to give, look to the cross. It is the view we should always remember. Calvary that place where wrath and mercy meet and Christ took on one to give us the other through his perfect sacrifice.

In view of this great gift we should live to imitate it and be givers like Christ.

“for the joy that was set before him He endured the cross,” (Heb 12:2)

There is a Joy set before us.

An invitation to enjoy this holiday like never before.

A call to work in this way and be blessed.

Give.

December 16, 2014

Author: 4jlkelly

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