It’s a Wednesday.

While I was ironing today I had a thought, “Why is it that somedays I feel like the prodigal son, and other days I feel like the older brother?”

If you have no idea what I am referring to, in the Bible, Jesus tells a story about a father and his two sons. In the story, the younger brother asks for his inheritance and then leaves for a foreign land to waste it all. As he realizes he is an idiot, while in a pigs sty I’ll add, he heads home to his father to ask forgiveness. 

In a ludicrous display of affection the father restores his son and throws a party... a beautiful representation of God’s love for us. While this is happening the older brother is working in the field or something, hears the party, and asks what is going on.. To his dismay he realizes his brother is home and their father has just fully restored him. 

Enraged he refused to go inside, so the father goes out to him. While entreating his son to join in the celebration, the son responds that he has always been faithful and daddy never threw him a party. He compared his obedience to his brothers lack of obedience and saw himself as more deserving of the fathers love. 

These two sons are a major display of two ways of life: Live it up and rebel, stay at home and obey. 

...and here are the responses.

The prodigal tries to earn back his place by offering to work for his father, the older son has worked for his father and thinks he has earned the place. 

(This is a super short version of a very important parable Jesus told.)

Somedays I think I am fleeing God in my sin and if I just do some stuff for God I will earn back my place of feeling good... I am acting just like the younger brother, but let me stay faithful to the church and study of the word for a week or two and immediately I switch to the older brother. Thinking that I have earned something, I never know what, I just feel like other Christian don’t care as much as I do...So dumb. 

These two mentalities show one thing - sin. 

It is simple, in one train of thought you sin by thinking you can earn something, and the other you think you have already earned something. 

Completely forgetting that what we have been given by God, is freely given. 

The younger son couldn’t earn back his place in the Father’s house, his place was freely given. 

The older brother had not earned his place in the house, his place was freely given. 

To fight both mentalities I found one quick fix.... I was bad enough that Christ had to die on a cross for me, yet I was loved enough that Christ chose to die on that cross for me. The same cross both humbles, and values the human soul. 

We can neither please God enough to earn Heaven, nor offend Him enough to disqualify us. 

For it is always been through grace that we should approach the throne of God. 

My rainy day cigarette.

I don't smoke, well, I don't smoke often.

I have a pipe that I love to smoke but that is mostly for the relaxation, brought on by the ritual that must take place to get a proper pipe smoke. Cigarettes are much less classy, but I still would give in from time to time.

One time I borrowed a cig off of a friend, not to smoke, but to keep in my car for a bad day.

I thought, "Hey if I have a bad day it would be nice to have an emergency smoke."

At the moment that thought went through my mind I felt a voice say, "Is that really where you should go if you have a bad day?"

I think Jesus was asking me a question, one he knew I should be able to answer, but would not want to.
I was essentially thinking, "If I have a bad day I should get a cig buzz so it all goes away." When I knew the actual truth, "If I have a bad I need to rest in Jesus."

I had put that cigarette in my center console KNOWING I was doing something wrong. Saying "Jesus this cigarette can do more for me than you can" when I didn't actually believe that at all.

I would never put my actual faith in a cigarette, but I would put my reliance on one.

Jesus would not have that.

THE VERY NEXT DAY I was sitting on the patio of a restaurant with some guys from my church, and then walks by a lady who asks, "Any of you have a cigarette?"

All I could think was, "Yeah the one I just put in my console."
All I could hear was, "Give her that stupid cigarette and grow up."
All I could feel was, "God you won't have just half of me will you?"

Even as I write this the song "You won't relent" by Jesus Culture is playing. Oddly enough.

I said to the lady, "I do." So I got it and gave it to her.

It reminded me of the book A Tale of Two Cities, a character from the book named Sydney Carton is a lazy alcoholic, who changes. In a beautiful scene, he is finally choosing more from life than drinking, and he ceremoniously pours out his drink in a fire. He is giving up drinking.

He is giving up his reliance on alcohol.

He is giving up his functional savior. I made a functional savior of that cigarette. God would not have that.

Everyday people choose a "functional savior" that is not God. We put our reliance on a item, on creation, forgoing the Creator.

Saviors I have chosen - Myself (bad), basketball (fades away), World of Warcraft (Just nerdy), girls (hurt), cigarette (how many will it take?), alcohol (Ruins lives), and most stunningly church (In itself it can't save you).

Jesus is our savior, and most importantly he wants to be our functional savior.

Nobody would ever believe any of the things I just listed could actually give you life, or sustain your soul, but there are millions who do that in practice everyday.

God won't have just half of you, not because he is some tyrant, but because he knows that the best way to do life is by believing in the one he sent, his son, the Christ. Trusting in him in every functional area of your life - from minute to minute, good day to bad day.

Jesus drive-by

A drive-by is when guys in a car drive down a street with guns out the windows shooting at people...
  This is the kingdom of the Earth.

One of the hardest things to do in the Christian faith is to understand that the desires of the Earth are usually not given to you by the Spirit. Never once have I come away from prayer feeling like God wanted me to go make millions and drive a few exotic cars.

For the longest time I thought, "I'll know I'm successful when I can afford a Range Rover and I don't even have trouble paying for it." Yup, that was my gauge of life, which is not bad when thought of in the context of the "American Dream".

So with this random stuff in mind, I was reading John 5, I won't be preachy, but what I read, was a kingdom of Heaven drive by.

Jesus walks up on this guy, who was an "invalid" for 38 years, and his first question is "You want to get well?"

Which is phenomenal, of course Jesus knows the answer to this, he just wanted to hear the guy admit "I have no one to help me into the pool." Upon which time I am sure Jesus smirked and thought, "Luckily for this guy I am the SON OF GOD, but play it cool...." and he actually said "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." In terms bros everywhere will understand, LIKEABOSS. It even says he slipped away... Too cool...

After reading I immediately thought of this as a Heaven drive-by, in a few seconds Jesus completely changed everything in a moment, on Earth a drive-by takes life and leaves you questioning God, in Heaven a drive-by gives life and leaves you questioning man.

Questioning man?

When Jesus inserted "Pick up your mat and walk" he was purposefully commanding a guy to break a Jewish rule. Which every Jewish person there questioned.

As he told the story of a man healing him, the Jews looked for the man who commanded him to break a forbidden rule. Leading everyone who sees this as a good act of God, to question the laws of man that would attempt to limit the work of God....

Jesus tried his hardest to bring the kingdom of Heaven to earth, and was killed for it. Though this is true, he rose from the earth and for the last two thousand years or so the Kingdom of Heaven has slowly been growing and the earth will fail to resist it, for Christ overcame the earth, and that was His ultimate drive by...being dead. In and out in 3 days.

Theology as a baseball bat.

"You know why Jesus hasn't come back yet?....Because the church is disgusting"

Yes, that is an actual quote from a guy who was "preaching" to a group of young adults... 

I was visiting a friend's church, which is always fun for me to do. I listen to sermons for fun so it is easy for me to sit and listen to people talk, if nothing else, for the opportunity to think, "Wait, what did he just say?"

I had only been invited, repeatedly for 5 weeks, because of this ministry goal, making the group of "core" members bring a guest a week and must ask like 5 people a week. He said some crazy high number of visitors had come, but only about 30 (if that) were there. 

His "in your face" version of the gospel included such stellar quotes as, "Yeah we've had a ton of visitors, but they weren't real enough to stick with it" .....which really does it for me. If there is anything that makes me love Jesus more it is definitely hearing some guy say that only real people stick to his ministry, which hit me in the middle of my "WHY AM I STILL HERE" thought. 

Back to the message.... 

In this instance, he was spewing a message about "words" and talking to people in a Christian way, as a side note, I think this guy had just watched about 5 hours of Mark Discoll  and decided that was the style he wanted to follow in. Which DOES NOT work. (PSA I am neither FOR nor AGAINST Mark, I'm indifferent, and know how to sit on a fence without it hurting). 

So during his message about "murdering people with words" he went on a short diatribe about church, and some of the people who attend it. 

"You know why Jesus hasn't come back yet? Because the church is disgusting."

At this, my ears definitely perked up, and I think this immediately started playing in my head. 

It has been awhile since I heard this gem, but it has always stuck with me. I had witnessed some guy using his "theology" like it was a baseball bat.... It was hardest to see a guy in leadership so far gone from the core of Christianity, Jesus already showed up, and finished His work. 

The bat hits hardest by making you think you have to do something to get Jesus to show up, we did nothing and he already played the game for us. 

I don't know why that truth is so often neglected in preaching, but I understand why many neglect it in their life, they think they can somehow earn Jesus' love. Thinking the church can clean itself up enough for Christ is a Biblically ignorant statement, Eph 5:25 says "....just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her". 

Loved, past tense, Christ is not waiting for anything to be good enough for Him, when everything was broken, lost, and disgusting, He appeared and said, "I'm here for the sick". 

Being motivated.

I feel weird, but that’s normal.

            
                 I sometimes wonder what my motivations are in a given moment, motivations are the hardest of things to battle against, but they are also one of the strongest things to have in life. Take, for example if I am talking to a girl about nothing important, but she happens to be really pretty, do I actually care about the nothing or is there something driving the whole experience?

                When I give money to some homeless guy am I just trying to look good for the people around me viewing the situation? When I walk into church am I there because I feel like it pushes me closer to Christ or am I there to cross it off my obligations list? Do I believe in God because I was born into it and am just scared of losing so much of my life if I walk away from it?... That last one was really hard to type, because I have bet a good part of my life and social life on Jesus being risen, and more than both of those, I put my soul into this…

              
                I wonder what I would be without Christ in my life, and in the deep places of my soul I can see it. I would honestly be sleeping around and getting hammered drunk on a normal basis, I know that without Christ all those moments I dug into the Spirit to save me from a situation where I trusted myself a bit too much would have gone a totally different way… I would be addicted to drugs, and with my personality I would have tried to drag all of my friends along. I realize in typing this that of all these things I haven’t listed what would be my worst quality, I would have been extremely manipulative, and many people would have been hurt. Oh what a great work has been done in my life…
               
                A life is the most tragic thing to waste, I can’t comprehend the weight of a soul and I can’t fathom eternity… I sometimes wonder what my motivations are in my faith, are they pushed forward by some unseen force, or some societal pressure mixed with a personality that upholds moral standards as a staple of the character type? Either way, I believe I feel something. It is a peculiar something inside of me that is aching for something more, something truer, a thing that can satisfy, more than any momentary appeasement to my flesh.
             
                I believe some people spend a life trying to find it and never truly settle their soul on the matter. What if, and grant me the premise, Christ did rise from the dead? Wouldn’t that open up a whole new way of experience? I don’t know half as much about half the religions in the world as I’d like, but I do think if Jesus was right, it changes any and most of everything.

                
                 It may not appeal to you or it may appeal to you in the most intimate way, but Christ risen, would be an exact motivational point for many good ventures. The greatest of all being a life spent pushing others, in love, to His life…..but how hard it is to settle one’s whole being on such a motivation.

Old in wisdom, young in action.

Young and stupid. Old and boring.I want to address a few things in this article, first of all being age, and how we as Christians should not live lives differently from one age to the next, unless we are talking sanctification but that is not the topic. I am looking at safety, security, and risk aversion. These words may not even be used again here, but they are easy to remember and sum up larger points.

I think the tag of being "young and stupid" or foolish if you will, is pretty accurate, at a younger age you seemingly act younger. I know the things I did/thought at 18 were more foolish than I do/think now at 22, how much more so at 30-40-50 will this then be true? I have also noticed that the risks I took for God and in life, were possibly more "wild" at 18 than now.Though i am still young, it is simple for me to obverse that i have grown in boldness for Christ, in certain areas, yet others i see my blade dulled by religious activity and an inclination to not input Christ in unbelievers around me. I wish it were not this way, yet I watch myself shrink back in confidence as I see people living in sin or being utterly lost in their lives.

I see Christ telling his Followers to act like children in their faith, but I do not see him telling anyone to act like a child in their lifestyle outside of faith, neither do I see him charging people with monotony or detachment from excitement. Sadly, I see both of these as true when I look at a church, maybe not my church specifically but there are Christians there guilty of this, and I think those living in Christ's/God's will should enjoy a reminder to keep on towards glory. The idea that just because one is young, they are allowed foolishness is unbiblical, it is sad, and it goes against Romans 6, but it is true that there is a "phase" young adults hit where we, "get our feet wet" so to speak, if you grew up outside of church you may have no idea what I am saying, but there are people here who wholly agree that there can be a detachment or falling away from Christ, though we are never outside Christ's love for us, our love for Him is challenged.

It can be a harsh time for a young adult, especially if they are incapable of teaching themselves the true gospel and that "yes" you have been bought by God, and "yes" you are His child, and that "yes" He did know you would hit this wall, and He came and found you anyways. So in youth, there are "youthful" acts we may shake our heads at, but there may be possibilities for for something glorious and fully within God's will....While all of the negatives of youth can be true, there is a positive, and an admirable quality in youth.. a holy thirst for adventure....a willingness to go, to rise up, and if harnessed and aimed at God's will, is a mighty force...but when aimed at the world, is destructively a person's soul and joy..

Gods purpose through Christ was our salvation and the praise of His glorious grace, but another item to take from Christ, this life is not supposed to be boring. Youthful people can find many things to fill their time, free from responsibility, sometimes free from accountability and therefore free to roam the earth in whatever way they choose. As a young adult I see a vast difference beteween me and my father in terms of responsibility and view of action for Christ, while I view a church plant trip to Europe as a high possibility he sees it as reckless for himself, and to supercede that, he is not even called to that personally. So my view of Christianity, can offer more, risks, so to speak, but in my youth I lack the wisdom to probably fulfill the task to any real degree apart from an extreme work of the Holy Spirit....

Looking at the person who the Bible is entirely about, Christ did not sit in church once a week to hear a lesson and then go back out to the television, or meaningless actions that would ultimately betray Him, no he fought for the expanse of His ministry, in a peaceful manner of course....no taking the whip to street corners...and he led men to lead lives devoted and more importantly, utterly exciting. How have we taken the greatest news, the holy endeavor and dulled it down to a intellectual ascent that leaves men in crisis, looking for something to excite them, pushes women to sadness as their family can become their god and leaves kids questioning salvation their second semester of college...

So, I move now to the aged, the mature, the bored. As Christ and His spirit push us deeper into sanctification, why does our flesh strive so hard to dull the actions taken? As I have aged, all be it I am only a quarter of the way into my life, I see how my walk with the Father grows to burn a fire in me, I see myself dulling in some areas, averse to some exciting things, weighing pros and cons, forgoing the truth that CHRIST is the only pro and he outweighs any and all cons.Yes, an endeavor for Christ SHOULD seem irrational, it should be ignorant and short sighted in the worlds standards, but not in the church's! I hate to see men in a church being constantly dulled by a routine, or a Christless walk of this Earth, men should find excitement in being a leader, not just a participant. God has granted you a family, a wife, children, to lead!

You are called by God to "go" not stay inside. I think an easy example is fantasy football, yes I play it, yes I love it, but by no means should that activity keep me off the field! The same is true for scripture, it is just words until you take them and apply them to something, the great commission is NOT age discriminate, it is a call for ALL to go, in Christ their is an adventure, a lifestyle set before us that "yes" it is crazy! But "yes" it is the ultimate joy on this side of glory.

 I see it in the eyes of the young, looking at the world like it is just a collection of possibilities, and I see it in the eyes of the mature, wanting to positively affect something before it is too late, and Christ's answer is "YES, go!" and just as the disciples abandoned rationality, we can abandon Americanism and discover a life that truly exhibits "Heaven on Earth". So young people, seeks God's wisdom, while embracing action, and older people seek Christ's boldness, while exercising maturity.Simply, Christ calls you to grow old in your maturity, while growing young in action for God.

(This is a product of my mind, written on my iPhone, not meant to cause dissention or argument, a simple man's words about a complex God's intentions)

Inspired Text:
Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to.
Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Christ for a Christian

Another post I am moving over here; August 25, 2011...

......I just re-read my note from a couple years ago titled, "Lost meaning of christianity" and I was shocked I wrote that at 5am on no sleep. It has been a few years since that night, and many things have changed along with many experiences I have had.

The general problem I was ranting about is still so heavily evident in today's culture, but it is not the problem I should have been targetting, though things need to be brought into the light, a solution needs to be presented to cause change. Over the past year I have witnessed one of the biggest changes in one of my friends lives, in his own words he said he "was one of those only Sunday morning Christians".

I have known him for many years and in my mind he was just "that guy" and I went on with our friendship, someday he will share his testimony and it will change lives, so I will save that for him, but what I will say, he showed me how one guy can completely turn his life around for Christ when he takes the first couple steps... Over the past year I experienced a real relationship with someone, not to knock on the other girls but let's be serious, I didn't take you seriously...anyways what I learned was that a "Christian man" can go into a relationship with standards and goals, and come out of it wondering how he ended up in Timbuktu of spirituality...

This is nothing against her but rather a knock on how not spiritually sound I was going in. After the relationship I started to understand the higher calling and greater meaning to being a "Man of God" and how I was acting like a middle schooler.. I had lost the meaning of CHRISTianity and traded it for mask and some Calvinism wikipedia articles.. I had to use the example of my friends change to guide mine......

I needed to take a couple steps and create a winning situation for my spirit, so me and my roommates created rules for our house and we added a spiritual leader to help us along the path. What he has taught me is that Christianity can be seen as a spiral staircase with a pole running directly through the stairs (so like the stairs spiral around and everytime you go up and around in a circle you hit the pole....just ask me about it sometime) and you can always be stepping up to God or down to sin. Moving either way causes you to hit the pole and have to face your demons, whether it be drinking, sex, or stealing your roommates cereal.

When you hit that pole you can either fall to it or step past it. The reason for the illustration is to show you that there will never be a day you arent tempted or tested, but how you face it will shape your relationship to God. Corinthians 10:13 says, "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."

So as a Christian we have this morsel of goodness to remind us that God is always there to save us, and incase we fall, Jesus has already redeemed us.. So yeah there is still a problem with "Sunday Christians" but there is also a hunger from some of them to find Christ in there lives, so instead of wallowing around wondering why you can't "hear God" you need to step out of the darkness.

I know for me I hear grasshoppers when I go to God from the darkness I find myself in, so I always remember to try and seek forgiveness before I go looking for His presence.. and to assist that I discovered the smartest thing I ever did spiritually was add a couple spiritual leaders to my life, both whom (who can tell me if that whom is correct?) are always there to correct me and challenge me in my walk with Christ.

This is written as a "Well this worked for me" article not a "Do this" commandment in order to give an example of how Christ is so awesome when you believe in Him and strive to experience His presence in your life, He changes your heart and your actions follow...

I mean if you are going to call yourself a Christian why not get the positives that come with it? Why not experience fellowship which glorifies God?....but most importantly why stay luke warm? "Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me." - Jesus