I Can't Screw This One Up

In talking about heart issues, I am relieved to find that I only need to worry about my own. I do not need to be mindful of the hearts of others, unless they want to share with me. The extent of this is captured in two passages that I have run across from time-to-time.

Mark 9:38-41, “John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.’”

Philippians 1:15-18, “Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice.”

The disciples were concerned about other people’s motives. I see that they have every right. They had left everything to follow Jesus and they were definitely putting in their time. When other people got the fever, they were not really sure about the purity of their works. Wouldn’t that be the hard thing about being a disciple? Eventually, you would have to really trust that once the word was out, Jesus was in control. I am not sure that they anticipated that there would be deeds of power beyond them. Maybe they did not talk about this over their loaves and fish.

Jesus has such a simple response, because He knows who He is. Baby believers are just excited to be part of the discussion, Jesus is awesome and He changes lives, enough said. Then there comes a moment when Jesus shows up…in a big way. Nothing will ever be the same. Here Jesus says, even if they are not completely sold out or prepared for ministry, they will be once they really get to know who I am. Once those people doing deeds of power in His name really understand His power, they will never be on anyone else’s team.

So, they are a work in progress, which does not mean that they are unqualified. It simply means that they have exciting things in their future. Baby Christians are awesome because they have so much energy. We need to let them go out there, like a bunch of kids on a sugar rush, no matter what they know. We need to anticipate with them the miracles of God in their lives.

If they aren’t against us, then they are for us. I just laugh at that. That is so awesome. I worry so often about people degrading the gospel, or speaking ill of Jesus; as if I need to defend Him. He is SO not worried. He is fine about it. We don’t have to get it completely right; we can’t get it right. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. We can’t understand Him.

Not only do we not have to understand Him, Jesus says that we don’t have to speak at all. We can give someone a glass of water in the name of Jesus and He has had the opportunity to show up. Sometimes acts of kindness speak louder than our imperfect words. Imagine if we all acted like Christians and never had to explain ourselves. We would simply win people over because we were so magnetic. I know, some of you already think of yourselves that way.

God is the one who does the work for His own glory. We, with our little human brains, cannot screw up the kingdom by our carelessness, or lack of knowledge. I am so relieved to hear that. I know that I will look back at some of the things that I have written and be mortified. My theology could be lazy, my grammar is probably horrendous. I know though, that I will not screw up the larger picture because of my ability.

Paul takes it one step further and says, even if motives are bad that is not your problem. As long as the gospel is being taught, Jesus can use it. He can transform a poor message into life experience. It is the Spirit that determines all things spiritual for us. So, even if you don’t like your pastor he can still speak truth into your life because that is up to the Spirit. It does mean that it could be a painful process, but it also can be truth. So, try to listen.

Seriously, I once was in a church where the pastor stood up and made the announcement, “If you don’t get anything from my messages, it is your fault.” It was a truly awkward moment. I found it hard to listen to him again without that dialogue box hanging over his head, but now I understand that I do not need to judge his motives…see, everyone can learn.

So the point would be the gospel. It is important to get the gospel out, regardless of the vessel. God can flatten personalities. He can speak clearly and around really poor Sunday messages and power point. He can give you gifted and amazing speakers to sit under…relish in it. If it is the gospel, do not question the motives because Jesus and Paul didn’t. Enough said.

We can’t screw this one up, so let’s be for the gospel, today.

Lord, thank you for the power of your deeds in the lives of believers. We solicit them from You to glorify You. Let us understand You more and be advocates of your gospel for the sake of the kingdom. Use us powerfully.

Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Maid of Honor

Mark 10: 32a, NRSV, “They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.”

Imagine, you, a disciple and the scene of Jesus walking in front of you. He travels down the road and even though He is fully human, I still think that there might have been a lack of gravity in His steps. You look at his robe, and you knew that the mere touching of it held the power of healing. This was the One that was promised. What anticipation existed just walking by His side! You had even been given the power to heal in His name. Certainly, before Jesus, you could never have conceived of healing anyone. It makes your heart amazed just walking to Jerusalem behind Him.

Mark 10:32b-34, “He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.”

Hmmm. There Jesus goes again with this. He told us about this before. As I recall our response was, Mark 9:32, NRSV, “But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. He keeps talking about it, so He must mean it. I will just sit on that information.

There is lots of grumbling going on amongst the twelve today. James and John appear to be in a deep discussion. They are always up to something. Oh, there they go. They are going to talk to Jesus. My mental picture looks so much better without them in it; I wish that they would just keep walking somewhere behind me. What in the world are they talking about?

Mark 10:35-41, NRSV, “James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.

Ok, stop imagining. I just love this. James and John are human! Jesus chose them as some of His closest people on earth! We have a chance. Mark shows here what we all experience in the workplace, in churches, in the grocery store line. We want to be first. We want to be acknowledged. Sometimes when we ask to be more important, we don’t even know what we are signing up for. It is all about being bigger, badder and more. Don’t you want to be recognized? Well, you are not the first.

James and John walked up to Jesus and asked to sit with Him in heaven. That is so awesome. I have been talking about asking for big blessings, but that is so much more than I could think of on a good day. Jesus gently returns to the previous conversation and tells them that they have no idea what they are saying…they really don’t, right? Mark is always telling us how the disciples did not listen or understand what Jesus was saying. This is the pinnacle of that characterization.

At their insistence, Jesus allows them His fate. The disciples had horrible fates, martyrdom, persecution and exile. I wonder if that ever even occurred to the disciples. Mark portrays Jesus like a rock star, crowds everywhere. Did the disciples think that it would go on forever? Did they understand anything about what was coming? Only Jesus really knew that it was not like that at all. He knew where this road was leading. Can you just see His face when His friends ask this? I think that it was probably daunting for Jesus to think of His own fate, let alone the fate of His companions.

Back to the disciples being human…when the other guys caught on to what James and John were asking, they got mad. Why do you think that happened? I think that it is because they did not think of it first. I once heard a girl talk about the injustice of a bride asking all of her attendants to be bridesmaids. She said that within days all of the women were vying for position. They all wanted to prove themselves worthy of being the maid of honor, even if the title was not available. Pretty soon, every discussion led to a passive aggressive display of who knew the bride better. We all have this desire to be the favorite, the chosen one, the person of honor…the Beloved. So, some of the disciples missed out on their chance to carry the bigger bouquet.

Jesus took the bull by the horns and said in Mark 10:42-45, “So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

See, the same rules don’t apply in heaven. I have had many discussions on how my life would change if I continually kept an eternal perspective. This morning would have been different. I have been so fussy today. I had no idea what I would write about. I am not meeting any of my reading goals for the month. I was tired when I woke up. I just hate being tired when I wake up. I have no idea when I will slip exercise in again…ever. I don’t even want to do it in the first place. See, my life would be different if I had an eternal perspective.

Today, I found it comforting to know that Jesus is so aware of my faults, my humanity…my desire to be the maid of honor. He hung out with guys, who, on the way to His impending death, were worried about their promotion. I am that guy, worried about myself when He is calling me to sit with Him. I am constantly concerned with things that are not kingdom bound. I deserve a time out, but He gently tells me to switch my thoughts back to Him. That is what today has brought, and it is only beginning.

Thank you, Lord, for your unfailing love, for your steadfast and gentle nature. Let us take our minds off of the immediate today and place our thoughts in your kingdom.

Woohoo!

A new strategy is coming to mind, using an old lesson, The Parable of the Talents. My husband and I have received a huge blessing this week. In fact, it is an answer to a prayer that we have been dedicated to this year. I blogged about it in March, and discussed the difficulty of waiting for God’s answer. So after the wait, I have been like a crazed grateful person.

I was thanking God for the outcome, again, this morning and I began to think, what now? I used to hear all sorts of confusing things about blessings. They are given to us, but we should not keep them because they could be taken away, or disappear, or you might be considered really ungrateful. All of these sound shameful. I think the point was to offer them back to God in thanksgiving; I just got stuck when they said that I could lose the good stuff. Isn’t it funny how we can make the simplest of things completely complicated and conditional?

This morning my heart really understood what to do with this blessing. I realized that I am so grateful for this answer to prayer that the natural response of the Spirit is to celebrate it by expanding it. I just want to multiply the blessing; in fact, the nature of the blessing lends itself to allowing other good God-like things. Isn’t that the mark of a blessing? When God gives things to His children they perpetuate His goodness. And, God does give good things to His children, Matthew 7:9-11, “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? ¹⁰ Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? ¹¹ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” If blessings are not obvious in your life, what are you asking for?

So, think of the good things in your life. I have not always been aware enough to show the proper gratitude. Some days, I have really had to work to come up with a grateful heart. Just writing that makes me shake my head. What could I possibly be thinking? Receiving this gift has demonstrated to me how much my Father desires to lavish His favor on me. When I have prayed, I have asked for the Spirit to dredge through all of the resources of heaven to answer our request. I have prayed for blessings to rain down. So, I specifically prayed for what we needed, but not about the final picture. I did not know what the end would look like, and now I am so glad that I was not a pushy prayer warrior. I did not want for God to perform; I just wanted to be obedient. It turns out that God was building a gift straight from the promises of scripture. It was bigger and more amazing than anything we could have pieced together.

I offer it back to God, because I want for Him to continue to multiply it. He has begun an amazing thing and I have to see where this can go. This brought me to the Parable of the Talents, which I have always thought of in material terms, or spiritual gifts. I don’t know why. I actually have worried about it because I don’t know if I am multiplying my gifts or my money, or anything else for that matter. I try but how do I know what is ten fold or 5 fold when you are talking about hospitality or encouragement.

I see the Talents in a new light. When God gives us talents, it can be a home, a new job, or children. It is not necessarily cash investments. There is the potential to have ministry in a home, to engage in fellowship opportunities, or to have bible studies. A new job brings a whole new mission field, the blessing of provision, and a future and a hope. Children can multiply God in the world…and eventually multiply themselves, which is biblical, too. Even finding $20.00 in your pocket can be a little blessing. That is a movie for two, with no treats. A yummy recipe is definitely a blessing when it is passed on, and even yummier when you take it to someone’s house already fixed. See how simple it can be. The multiplication factor is our obedience in using it.

What is our responsibility?

Matthew 25: 27-29, “Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

Luke 19:23-26, “Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.’ He said to the bystanders, ‘Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’ (And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten pounds!’) ‘I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

God trusts us with His gifts, His resources. We cannot let these opportunities pass. Blessings are given from the heart of the Father and they are not intended to be squandered or hidden, we have to put them boldly into our circles of influence. By their very nature they will multiply themselves. The Spirit can direct us in new ways to refresh old blessings. This sounds like a great way to spend the day.

Oh, and, thank you God, again!

Father, thank you for all of the many blessings in our lives, whether we have acknowledged them before or not. Be generous with your children today. Encourage us to ask for good things from the heart of a good Father, all in your will.

Good Fish, Bad Fish

I have been taught a lesson. It relates to something that my husband commented on a few weeks ago. I was looking at Matthew 13:47 & 48, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.” Perhaps it is just the judgmental nature of my flesh, but I took one look at that and thought good and bad, good people and bad people. Easy. It even says the words good and bad, right? I can smell a rotting fish and I have certainly met some in my life. I felt fully qualified to take part in this conversation and perhaps even help fill some baskets, if they happen to be short hands at the end of the age.

So, I started talking to my husband about how this totally makes sense that not all people who claim Christ are really Christians. There have been some really crazy characters who claim all sorts of things that just make you think eternal fire and gnashing of teeth, right? They do it out of some self-enhanced Christian authority. Most people do not claim authority over the word but interpretation. It just makes you sick what can come out of the deceit and corruption of Satan toying with the church and the word of God. So, as you can see…I can get on this soap box.

My husband simply said that he thought of it in terms of the diversity, all of those fish gathered up in one net, in the kingdom of heaven. Oh, that. Yes, that would be a more tolerant and truly beautiful image. It involves no jail time. I have been so moved by what he said. Often in seminary, the people who I really admired put this type of thinking into the word of God; I guess that one could call it compassion. I love that kind of insight. I wish that I could have thought of it. It tells me that my heart is still learning.

He did not just think of that passage in terms of heaven and hell, but the active gathering that is taking place right now. I have been really convicted by it, also. I am somewhat of an introvert, so when I do spend time with people, it is usually a very small circle. I like the same people, but my heart would love to see all of those different kinds of people gathered in the net. I look forward to it.

It came into play yesterday, in a way that was a beautiful picture of diversity, in speech. I am such a stickler for saying the right thing. If I sin, I need to say, “Lord forgive me for…” I do that because I do not want to give myself an out. I am pretty strict with myself with those things. I want to have a heart that is worthy of my King, although it is extremely flawed. I don’t want to ever shortcut heart issues, give myself a break. I have found, the hard way, that heart issues never work that way. So, I was listening to someone pray about forgiveness. You know what? She did not use the right words.

I kept wanting to steer the conversation; to make her say the right phrase. Then it hit me, what she was saying was so beautiful. It was different from what I say, because God has shown me what makes me pull a sin out of my heart and handle it. I turn it over. I look at its parasitic nature. I want to see exactly why it is disgusting, so in contrast to holiness. I ask the Spirit to join with me, not to just leave me alone with this tragic addition to my repertoire. Then I set it down on the steps of Jesus’ throne. I ask Him to take it from me and not let me pick it up again. Sometimes He leaves it on the steps for me to see, just so I really commit to releasing it. Sometimes, I never see it again.

Her words on forgiveness were so heart felt. It was quick and she relied on what she had heard, scripture and conviction. She said God, “It is just not right, I know you don’t like it”. It was someone who recognized by experience that God did not like her situation. I just loved hearing her heart. I started to hope that mine sounded as genuine to the ears of God.

So, I revel in the gathering of these fish. I revel in what it will look like and sound like, the faithful all in one net. The Beloved will be rescued together, finally going home. Until then, I will listen to the words of the many fish. I will soak up the nuances of these women who teach me what spirituality looks like. I hope to be stretched; to search my heart for the most authentic experience possible with Jesus.

Thank you Lord for giving us so many believers to learn from. Thank you for letting your words ring true no matter how they are spoken. Give me a heart open to the diversity of your people today. Let me not be exclusive but inclusive.

Simple Worship

I was really affected by the simplicity of Matthew 14:33, “And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.'”

Of course, the disciples had just seen Jesus walking on the water, which is a pretty good reason to recognize the power of God. They had also seen Peter walking on the water at the invitation of Christ, clearly not of his own ability. His brother, Andrew, was there; and I can’t help but thinking that out of every person watching, Andrew was probably the most awed. I have a pretty non-supernatural view of my sisters. Imagine if you saw your sibling walking on water with the Savior of the world. I would be impacted if I saw that. We used to pretend to walk on the water by riding pool floats as kids, but it is probably not the same thing.

If there were any doubts left in the minds of the disciples as to the identity of Christ before they saw Jesus sauntering up across the waves, they were now challenged. This verse from Matthew draws me into this story. I wonder why this simple statement was the outcome of this event. Bear with me….Jesus has multiplied food, healed the sick and taught with authority unlike anyone the disciples had ever heard. But this event made them worship Jesus by simply saying, “Now I believe that you are who you say you are”.

It was rough out there on the sea. Really, it was an odd time for a walk. Imagine this…Jesus, a wind tossed sea, and there He was just making His way across. It says that he was walking ON the sea, which would just add to the mystery as he went in and out of sight, walking up and down the waves. I am not sure of the mechanics of this, so this is my mental movie.

His friends are all on this boat that has been carried out to sea. They had been out there from late afternoonish maybe, until the next morning. Jesus told them to go ahead of him, but something tells me that they did not expect this. By the time that Jesus reaches the boat, the only way to explain the scene is that the disciples are freaking out. They are jumping on the, “I think that I am seeing a ghost” train. They were literally terrified; the text says crying out, so tears maybe, loud voices, absolutely.

The disciples did not even recognize Jesus. We don’t know how close He was, but Jesus has to reassure them, saying, “Hey guys, easy, it is only me”. I love that Jesus never allows us to be afraid of Him. We are to fear our God, but Christ comes in such grace and mercy that in His presence we know we are safe. This is probably why Peter was bold enough to ask the next question. Interestingly enough, Peter is asking Christ to verify who He is, and I concede that Peter desired proof because this is scary stuff. BUT, if you were not sure of “the ghost” that you saw on the water, would you ask to walk out of a boat to meet him? I am thinking that Peter was pretty sure that it was Christ. I think that Peter was asking if he could join Him, not only because of his desire for proof but because it might be a cool guy thing, also. I can totally see my husband wanting to do that.

Indeed, impetuous Peter jumps right out at Jesus’ invitation. He gets on the water and is on his way to Jesus. I have heard this preached so many times. Poor Peter, he did not have the faith to keep walking…well, maybe, but it says that he noticed the strong wind. It is like he just had a reality check on being human. We don’t usually have the buoyancy to walk on the water. I, personally, sink like a rock. So, during heavy winds, which mean heavy waves, in the middle of the sea, Peter finds himself walking around and he starts to get scared. I find this more logical than the desire to get out of the boat.

The sinking was obviously not fun because Peter cried out again. The last time that he cried out was when he thought he saw a ghost. So, we know that this is usually terrifying. He says, “Lord, save me”. What happens then? Jesus IMMEDIATELY reaches out his hand and catches Peter. Jesus’ words are like a pat on the head. “Oh, Peter, you were doing so great, why did you start to freak out?” Our lack of faith is something that Jesus refers to frequently in the gospels. He is aware that it is a condition of His flock.

We just suffer from this malady of too little faith. I don’t really know how to overcome that. I am not sure that it is wise to live in denial of the basic rules of physics, but God has differentiated Himself from the mundane in my life. When I ask Him to let me participate in His kingdom, it is usually in ways that I cannot anticipate. I don’t think that I have once moved in a linear pattern since I have been a committed Christian. It is kind of exciting. I guess that I could say that I have walked on my share of proverbial water as His follower.

So, the impact of this was that those on the boat worshipped Jesus. Something big happened here. Everyone was on the same page. This was personal. It was about them, the life of their friend and brother. This was not some little event. This brought the disciples to their knees with reverence. All they could say is, “I get it, you are He, you are the Son of God”, and there is something in that.

For one thing, it redefines worship for me. Worship is simple. It is me saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God”. You have proved it in my life. You are active and you demonstrate your power in ways that I could not know without you. You invite me to the impossible, knowing that I could fail. You reach out and rescue me when I realize that I am only me, with no special buoyancy or wind deflection system. I get scared and I can’t walk out there on my own. My faith fails and my feet sink. Still He catches me. He is the Son of God. Worship simply states who He shows Himself to be in my life.

There is one more time that I find this statement. After the death of Christ, Matthew 27:54 says, “Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, 'Truly this man was God’s Son!'” How interesting that when we see God in His power, we recognize it. It looks right and feels right. We know that we have been in the presence of the living God. Jesus was worshipped by those who killed Him. The power of this moment overwhelms me.

I believe that He gives us the opportunity to worship Him every day. It can be simple, as simple as these verses in Matthew. Let’s take the time today to simply acknowledge that Jesus is exactly who He says He is.

Father, thank you for allowing us to walk on the waters of your kingdom with you. Thank you for withstanding our weaknesses and failures. We pray that you would show us your grace and mercy again today as we worship you for everything you are.