Forgive us our Debts

Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding - Romans 13 7-8

I think I've been in debt of some sort for over ten years. Now, some of that debt was your typical "credit card debt" which I would pay off fairly regularly. But two years of unemployment and two years of under-employment later, I wasn't paying off the credit cards so much as living off them, something I'm still feeling the effects of today.

And the sad thing is my response to money owed is most often a very child-like behavior: "If I just keep my eyes closed, maybe the debt will go away."

I will say there have been times when money has multiplied, when money has appeared when I most needed it... and then there were the times when I missed a deadline to pay and ended up in a worse situation.

When we pray the Lord's prayer, we (protestants) say "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." I wish that God would swoop in sometimes and forgive a debt, but I'm not entirely sure that is what He promised to do. As you read the scripture above, it doesn't say "pay taxes when you feel like it and when someone you like is in office." No, it says if you owe taxes, pay them. I suppose God would similarly say "If you bought it on a credit card, pay the bill."

Being a Christian doesn't mean we can close our eyes to our responsibilities. God wants us especially to honor our debts and commitments, to show the world that we are righteous people who don't ignore the rules.

The interesting thing about debt in the US is that once you've paid it off (and waited a few years) it will be removed from your credit history. Wow. How nice is that to know that seven or so years after my last debt payment, my report will be clean.

And that actually reminds me of the other scripture that pops up when you enter "debt," where they talk about the Year of Jubilee. Now in this year all debts are cancelled, which is absolutely awesome. I would love for someone to have come to me five years ago and say "Ok, don't worry, it's all cancelled. You're good." But at least to know that at some point in the future my credit history will be wiped clean... that's forgiveness of my debt right there. That's the credit bureau saying "You get to start over now. Congratulations."

What an amazing thing is that? To think that forgiveness exists within "the system." And I believe that's because God's love has come into this world, whether people are aware of it or not, because His people cry out "Lord forgive us our debt." God doesn't cancel our debt, he never cancels it--Jesus died on the cross to forgive us our debt, not make it go away. We are still guilty of our sins. It is only through Christ's death on the cross that our negative balance can be brought back to "zero."

I still have things to learn about handling money. I think many of us do. I believe that more people are in debt than really realize it. But I also believe that if we pray "Lord forgive us our debt," and then ask Him to help us make better budgets, look to where we can cut corners, and even find ways to generate additional income, He will forgive us our debts. We must still pay them back, but we will be forgiven for the error of spending more than we made. And we can use that as a glimpse into the debt that Jesus paid for us. If having someone offer you the money to get out of debt would make you the happiest person ever, imagine how we'll feel when we get to Heaven and realize how deep our earthly debt is, and how we could never ever pay it off--without Christ, who gave His life so that we would have our debt forgiven.


Lord, forgive me my debt, for I have sinned. I have spent more than I earned, and I have closed my eyes to my responsibilities. Help me to make the proper decisions about money, to face my debt head-on, and do whatever it takes to pay it down. I thank you that even through this worldly system there exists a concept of debt forgiveness, which is just a small, tiny glimpse into the price that Jesus paid for us, so that our spiritual debts may be forgiven. Amen.

Life in Solitary

When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. - Luke 8:28-30

When I did my Bible word search this morning I put in the word "solitary." I was fully expecting to get one or two verses about how Jesus went to a solitary place to pray, and I did get those results (Matt 14:13, Mark 1:35, Mark 6:32, Luke 4:42)

But an interesting addition in the NIV translation is this verse in Luke 8. I checked it out in about 5 other translations and none of them use the word "solitary." They all say he went into the wilderness, or he went into the desert. 

To be fair, I did also just look up the Mark 6:32 verse in those 5 translations and only one of them uses "solitary" as well. The versions range from "a secluded place where they could be alone" to actually also saying "the desert."

Now a good Bible scholar would go looking up the Greek but as I've never done that and I will have to actually go to work at some point, I'm not sure that I'm up for it today. But what I find so interesting is this:

Where did Jesus go when he needed to meet with God: Solitary

Where did the demon-possessed man go: Solitary

If A=B and C=B, then perhaps we can say that the demon-possessed man actually went to the one place where he could find God?

I don't know, this is a new idea to me too, so I'm not sure how well it holds up, but I think about how, when we're deeply in pain, or deeply in sin, we tend to retreat from the world, from our friends and family, and while we may ardently desire their comforting presence, we may not feel able or worthy to receive their love. So we retreat to the wilderness of our own minds, where the shoulda, coulda, wouldas swirl like sandstorms behind our eyelids. We are in pain, we are lost, we are lonely, we are worthless.

And yet it is there where God meets us. It is often when we are in the wilderness, when we are in that solitary place where we finally open ourselves up to the world, let down our shields and our self-preservation and say "Look! I can't do this. I have no ability to handle this life by myself. I give up."

And at that moment of vulnerability, when we have flung our arms wide before the ravenous lions of hatred and disease and death that God says "Finally!" and comes in to where we have previously kept Him out. And He lifts us gently out of the pit, past the lions, and lays us down in the grass by the cool river.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? When you were ready to give up, to succumb to the lies in your head, to accept that your life would never change, that you could not ever get out of debt, that you would never find anyone who understands you and your needs...

And did God meet you there?

If He hasn't yet, He will. 

Be Free

If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36

It's interesting how willing we are to disqualify ourselves. As the Bible says, all sin is equal, whether it be having angry thoughts about someone or killing them. From lying to adultery, there is no "better" sin to commit, no one sin that will get you a lesser sentence. God's kinda fastidious that way. You sin, you're out. Period.

That's where God's forgiveness comes in. Because God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for all the sins we will ever commit, and that allows God to wash away our sin with Jesus' righteousness. And that means we can rest assured that we are free of that sin.

And yet we are a people of dwellers. We dwell on our sin. We listen to that voice in our ear that says "Sure you want to be a pastor, but you used to watch porn. They'll never accept you." or  "You want to be in leadership? You stole money from your mother's purse when you were 11. You'll never be trustworthy again."

Ok those are random examples, but you get my drift, right? I can say that I personally have many many many (many) sins which get thrown up in my face by the enemy when I want to walk forward with my life and do good things. But it does not do to dwell!

Jesus is the Son in the above verse. Through Him, we are set free from our sin. We need to ask for it, and accept it, but we will receive forgiveness and freedom. Then we just have to walk in it.

Someone said something very interesting in church a few weeks ago, how people up in heaven will be entirely, completely honest. So I can imagine a heaven full of people saying "I killed a man, but God forgave my sins through Christ and here I am!" "I cheated on my 2nd grade test," "I told my mom I was doing homework but we were really having sex" "I lied to my wife when she asked if I was a virgin when we got married" on and on and on... but they will always end with "but I'm free from that because of the blood of the lamb!"

Sometimes I think everyone should go through a 12-step program, because one of the steps is owning up to how you hurt other people. Perhaps if we didn't try so hard to keep all of our sins hidden, we wouldn't dwell on them so much, and we would truly walk in the freedom that God has given us.

Of course that does rather presuppose that we're not committing murder and then telling everyone about it. Let's try step 1: do your best not to sin. Step 2: if you do, confess it to God for His forgiveness. Step 3: accept His forgiveness. Step 4: do not be afraid of sharing it, in the right circumstances, with others, so that it may shore up their own faith.

And then you will truly feel the freedom God has given you.

Now I just need to take my own advice. :)

Purity

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. -Psalm 119:9

I'm not entirely sure this verse would have helped me much when I was young. Not to say the Bible isn't helpful or applicable, but I think I would have read this and said "yeah, but what if he's really hot?" or "But what if we do ____, that doesn't count, right?"

I watched Easy A last night (and have now worked it into both my blogs and my Facebook page, hooray). And it brought to my mind the fact that high school really does seem to be all about who's losing their virginity. Maybe not in quite as dramatic a way, but still.

And yet, God calls us to be sexually pure. This is soooo not an area of life in which I excel.

On the other hand, looking back at that verse, it's not like it's entirely unhelpful. In fact, if you say "Ok, what does living by God's word mean?" It means actually reading the Bible, and studying it, and applying it to our own lives. It means understanding that God made us sexual creatures but that does not mean that we have to have sex. It means that as we grow a greater understanding of who God is and how much He loves us, we will have the desire to be more like Christ and less like our crazy, sex-filled selves. (And here's a hint--you can replace that last descriptor with sinful, arrogant, alcoholic, angry, etc. This doesn't just work for horny teenagers.)

And even to the kids who think "yeah but I've already done ______, now I want to do it again, and it's all I can think of, and you've got to be kidding me that I can't do this again? It's gonna kill me" well yeah, it might be difficult (that's kinda why we're supposed to abstain from it in the first place), but God has grace. If you truly say "God I know I shouldn't ________, and I want to live according to your will, but I just have no willpower right now," it's amazing how He will intervene. He'll make that hot guy you like completely unavailable, or make him fall asleep before anything can actually happen, or help you to fall asleep.

It's not like we can just throw it in God's lap and say "Ok unless you completely push me off course, I'm gonna barrel ahead on down the road," we should at least try. But he gets that it's hard. He created us, He knows what's going through our minds. He also allows us to do what we really try to do, so remember that at some level you actually have to want to stop doing  __________. Because we've got free will. If we tell God "nope, I'm gonna go screw the entire football team," He might just let us.

So here's to reading the Bible more, and getting a better understanding of God's love, so we don't have to try to seek it elsewhere.

Words and Thoughts

If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. - 1 Peter 4:11

Reading this verse can be a heady thing, right? We're to speak with the very words of God! That's awesome! Everyone will have to listen to me because I'm speaking the words of God.

But I don't quite think that's how it works. Of course if God himself speaks to us we should listen and take note. But there are very few instances when God anoints us with His spirit to such an extent as to render us akin to the prophets of old.

No, I don't think this is what Peter means. What this verse says to me is that we should consider what God would have us say. Would He have us speaking words of doubt, shame, derision or lust? Or would He have us speaking words of faith, hope, love, joy and forgiveness?

Our words come from our thoughts, and we are called to speak the words of God. Thus we must have a thought-life that strives to be pure. I will admit, that part is very hard for me. Most people, by the time they reach adulthood, have mastered the ability to think one thing and say another.And while sometimes it can save our skins to not say what we're thinking, I think the point is that we really must get to a place where we're not even thinking things we wouldn't say in front of our boss, or mother.

Sometimes I wonder what Jesus' thought life was like. Do you think he complained in his mind that the disciples never quite got it? Or about all the thousands of people who came to him day after day? I don't know either, but I do think that even when he was frustrated, he gave it to God, so that it would not come out of his mouth.

So let us attempt to have a pure thought-life, or at least to give to God all those thoughts that are not in accordance with His love. Yes, this will be a livelong endeavor, one which can only happen through the grace of God. Lord, grant us that grace!

It's Not About Food

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes." - Luke 12:22-23

I think for the first time ever I read this verse and instead of focusing on the "do not worry" part, I was really struck by the second half--life is more than food.

What percentage of your net pay goes to food? In my case, once I pay rent etc it feels like all I do is eat. And very likely that's somewhat true. But how sad is that? Do I need all of the food I buy? Do I need to get lunch from the food court? Could I possibly make some better choices on where I purchase my food? (The answers are no, no, and yes)

There is so much life out there to live. I think one of the reasons people worry so much--ok, one of the reasons I worry so much--is because I don't go out there and DO things. I wait for the world to come to me; apparently I'm eating while I do so.

Of course we have to eat, I mean God made us this way. But not everything out there needs to be eaten, just because you can buy it in a grocery store.

But there are things in life that can, and I believe should, be taken in: art, music, poetry, conversation, debate, challenges, exhilaration...

Some of these things cost money, but some of them are as easy as inviting a friend over to play cards and seeing where the conversation goes.

The body is indeed about more than food. It is the vehicle that allows us to interact with this world that God gave us, and with the other people on it. This body needs to be used, taken care of, and rested, not just fed. And the benefit to using the body to experience the world is that you will end up feeding your soul.

Prosperity

Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be. - Job 8:7

I am going to start by saying that I need to re-read Job. This verse comes from a speech Bildad, a friend of Job's gave him, as he was mourning the loss of his family and possessions. What I don't know for sure is whether this advice is part of the good advice he received, or if it ended up as the "well fine, why don't you just curse God and die" variety. But within the context of chapter 8, it seems fairly reasonable. Stay true to God, Bildad says, and God will restore you and then some.

I really love this verse. Your beginnings will seem humble. When I first read it I focused on the prosperous future, thinking yes! this is what I want! But you have to see how prosperous a future it will be.... your beginnings will seem humble. Not "your beginnings were humble so I will lift you above them," but rather "You were in a fine place at the beginning, but where I'm taking you is gonna leave that in the dust. It will be as though you were a pauper, and now you are the prince."

Um, yay. Please let it be so, Lord!!

I had a dream last night in which I applied for a job--I don't even know what job or what company--but I somehow had decided to just say what I felt and call it as I saw it, which really impressed the CEO (with whom I was inexplicably doing the interview). So then and there he created a job for me, a job where I would be able to do and say whatever I wanted, to keep him real, keep him grounded, make his meetings a little more fun, and in general shake up the company. The title he wanted to give me was "Chief Executive Shocker" (a little odd, but this was a dream). The salary was $135,000.

Can I just say I was a little disappointed when I woke up?

Even in the dream I had the thought of what I could do with that money in six months. It was a beautiful thought, giving me a feeling of security. Hooray, I wouldn't be living paycheck to paycheck, I could save money, do the things I want to do with my life... it was a beautiful feeling.

And I almost lost it completely when the alarm went off.

But then I found this verse, and I feel that God is speaking directly to me through this verse. I will make your beginnings seem humble, because of how much I will prosper you. Oh, let it be, Lord!!! And I know that "prosperous" doesn't mean crazy wealthy, because the wealth of God cannot be measured by the scales of man. But to be prosperous carries with it an inherent sense of peace, which means that I would feel wealthy even if my "riches" were not in currency.

And that follows along with an experience I had yesterday, at church. One of our associate pastors gave the message, and she talked about how at a conference, she had a complete change of heart about someone in her life... one day she wanted to sever the relationship, and the next day she couldn't wait to get back home to see this person. God had quite literally changed her heart.

This is something that I am praying for--that God would change my heart in some things. To help me break away from my past, to let go of all the "things" I have hoarded over the years, to be ready, willing, and able to step forward into a future towards which I believe He is calling me and which will be a complete change in lifestyle.

But if I read this verse correctly, it says that God will take care of me, and not even just "take care of me" but prosper me, revel in my successes, lift me up not for my glory but for His, to show that when we truly follow His plans for us, we will prosper even here on earth.

To repeat myself--Let it be, Lord, let it be!

Glory and Honor

To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. - Romans 2:7

This verse totally shows how we have to work for our salvation, right?

Not even!!

I love studying the Bible insofar as you learn very important things, like "Context is key." I've said that before here, and I'll likely say it again.

It's not what you do that gets you into Heaven--at least, the one and only thing you have to do is accept Christ as your Lord and savior. You can't lose your salvation because you had a bad day. Take me for example--my church is fasting again and I've chosen to give up sleep and get up early so I can do a Bible study in the mornings. But if you notice... I didn't post yesterday. I actually completely overslept and woke up with barely enough time to take a shower and dive into some clothes before leaving for work. So... am I a bad person for not doing my Bible study first? No. It doesn't work that way.

What you need to do is actually delve into what is being said in this book before and after verse 7. You actually want to start at the beginning of the book for this one, so I'm not going to paste it all here. But the gist of it is this--don't be selfish, self-centered and critical. Seek to do good things. Even though salvation can be won in just one step, making God truly the lord over your life means trying to live like Christ.

I'll admit I'm not very good at that. But what I like about this verse, when you really dig into it, is the idea that we all of us are "seeking immortality." We were made that way. We were cast out of the Garden, and spend our entire lives trying to get back in. The trouble is when we start getting confused on what "immortality" really is. Do glory and honor mean being lifted up as examples of Christ-like behavior, or do they mean having fellow humans look to us in adoration, as an idol for them to worship? (just a hint... setting yourself up as a replacement for God is soooo not what we're supposed to be doing.)

If I truly wish to live out this verse, I will think on it this way--by whom is it decided that I am receiving glory and honor? By God. What are His requirements? To live a life of Christ-like behavior.

And here's another hint--the glory and honor we receive should be turned right around and given back to Him. It's really not about us here.

Just Cook The Meat Already

The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt. -Proverbs 12:27

Browning ground beef seems to be beyond me some days. You know how it is--you buy it from the store and have only 2 or 3 days to cook it or freeze it before you find yourself throwing it away. You would think that for someone who doesn't really have the funds to let food go bad, I would never have that problem. You would think that after coming home from the store I'd take the 6 minutes to just brown the stuff, throw it in some Tupperware, and make the rest of the meal later (at the least).

But no, I must say that the last few times I've bough ground beef I've had "really good reasons" why not to cook it right away, and then suddenly a week later I find myself throwing it out. Sigh.

So on Sunday I had this grand idea to buy 3 pounds of ground beef which I would then use to make two dishes--a huge pot of spaghetti, and a beef and green bean recipe of my mom's that I love but have never ever made in the 10 years since I've left college.

The thought was that since I had Monday off, I would spend it doing all of the dishes that are piled up in the sink, and then cooking.

Or I could watch movies.

Guess which one I did?

So Tuesday I was back to work and made the decision to actually leave somewhat on time (that's a whole 'nother post) so I could go home and do all the dishes that are piled up in the sink, and then cook.

Or I could watch The Biggest Loser.

Sigh.

So finally at about 10pm I got ready for bed and as I did I bemoaned my laziness to God and asked that He would just do something to help me, to give me that push I needed to actually get something done. And yet I recognized that God wouldn't magically make my arms and legs move--that I would actually have to take the steps into the kitchen and start if I wanted to get anything accomplished.

Revelation. God will give you the strength, the will, and even a sense of enjoyment for a task, but He needs you to get off your keister of your own volition. That He will not do. I think it's called Obedience.

So I walked into the kitchen, stared dolefully at the sink full of dishes, and realized that the frying pans were clean. Hooray. I got out two pans because I had two 1.5 pound packages of meat, and started cooking. Once I got the meat going, I realized that the big pot was out because only I'd used it to heat water, nothing else was in it, so I could probably make the spaghetti noodles, and the frying pan was *just* big enough for me to fit two jars of sauce. So I started the water, moved half a pound of beef from one pan to the other, and started in on the sauce.

While I was at it I remembered that the beef and green bean dish (which I was also making, since I had the spaghetti going, I might as well) was served with rice. I did have to wash one pot in order to make the rice. One. I filled it with water, put it on the last free burner, and turned it on.

Nothing. No flame.

Fine. I don't need to make rice. I'll just put the meat and stuff in a container and let it sit until I decide at some point in the future to finally get off my butt again and--oh shoot, I have a flame clicker thingy, I'm sure all I have to do is just start the stupid fire.

And two minutes later I had water and rice heating.

To make a long story short--or at least to end it--last night in about an hour I made enough food to get me through all my meals for the rest of the week. Sure it would have been lovely to be in bed by 10pm, but realistically I'm not sure that would have happened anyway, and here I ended up my night with an accomplishment. And why? What made me get this task done?

Not so much my diligence, really, but that I asked God to help me, and I took a step forward.

It's amazing what all you can accomplish if you just do those two little things.

Maybe next time I'll ask Him to help me do the dishes. :)

A Time of Prayer and Fasting

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” - Micah 6:8

Welcome to 2011. As usual my church is doing a 21-day fast to start out the year. For some inexplicable reason I feel that God has told me to give up drinking soda for these three weeks. The typical church fast is a progressive food fast, where you give up one meal for a week, then two meals, then all meals (and no snacking ever). But instead of those meals you can have juice, protein shakes, light soups, and coffee.

I realized that every year when I've done the fast as proscribed I've also cut down on my soda intake, so that the last week I'm going pop-free, which makes for a super-delightful week, let me tell you. And I thought about how some people can't function without coffee--I don't need caffeine to start my day, but if I don't have some Coke by 1 or 2pm I get a raging headache. So I've realized that if I were to do the food fast but connect myself to a Coke machine, I could probably get through the three weeks with a lot fewer problems.

So of course, before I came to this realization, God had already asked me to give up soda. I wondered at first if it would seem like "enough." Let me tell you this right now--if God asks you to fast something, that's what He wants you to fast.

Funny how that works out.

Along with the no pop I will be taking up blogging again. I find it funny that in a time of giving up things I'm committing to doing something, but blogging really is giving up as well--it's giving up sleep if I do this in the morning, and it's giving up TV/reading/relaxing time if I do it at night.

So what does all of this have to do with today's verse? How is Micah 6:8 related to fasting? Well at first I didn't realize I was going to talk so much about my fast, but as I ponder the words, I see that it calls us to "walk humbly with our God." What is fasting if it's not humbly saying "OK God, you want me to give something up so I can focus my life more on you. I will do it." And for the most part I haven't complained about the lack of soda. I think I've complained a bit about tea. I don't much like tea, although I will do my best to change my mind this month.

And I promise you I will find a way to complain about not being able to drink my sugary, caffeine-infused goodness to give me that midday or mid afternoon boost at work (did I mention it's free too?)

But what happened this year is when God said "I want you to fast pop" I said "Alrighty then." And then of course about a week later I tried to get out of it, I tried to rationalize it away and think about other things I could give up. Which brought me to the realization that this is really exactly what I need to be setting aside for three weeks. And, as a book I'm reading says, if God tells you a direction in which to go, you should walk that direction until you hear Him telling you (just as strongly) to go in another direction. And believe me, the voices in my head telling me not to fast pop were not His voice.

So here I am, at the beginning of day 3 (I know--I've survived 2 days already, woo hoo) about to get ready for the first real test of this fast--a day at the office.

But there is iced tea, and hot tea, and I'm not above taking aspirin for the headaches. And I know that I will be calling on God to get me through. I just hope to find a way to turn those "help me God" prayers into the types of prayers that He wants us to do during a fast... the type where we lift up our friends and family before Him, and especially the type where we listen quietly for Him to tell us what direction He wants us to go.

That is possibly the most challenging part of my fast, the walking humbly before my God part.

If you are reading this and have never fasted anything before, I invite you to join in. You can do a progressive fast, or give up TV for three weeks, or whatever you believe God is calling you to. It could be something simple, like your morning Sudoku. But whatever it is, you should find yourself stretching to get by without it--and when you do, pray. I guarantee that the prayers of those who fast are strong prayers. But go at it humbly, like Micah says. Don't be proud in your ability to give something up, because then the focus is not on God but on you.

I know you can do it. If I can, you definitely can. :)

All This and More

Ok, my Bible searching skills are clearly a little rusty today. I very much wanted to write about the time when Jesus tells his disciples that they will do all the works that he did--and more.

But I clearly do not remember the phrase used in the NIV because I just tried a whole lotta searches and... nuthin.

I know it's in there... but I can't take any more time to search, so please take my word for it (or comment with the exact passage if you know it!)

But it is true... Jesus told his disciples that they would do the miracles he did... and then some. Why the "and then some?" He's not saying the disciples are better than him, is he? Nope, not at all. But I believe Jesus knows, to some extent at least by this time, that he will be leaving the earth and returning to the Father, and so the only people who will remain to do the miracles are... the disciples. So of course God will use them to do His good works of breaking through with the Kingdom (ie miracles).

Now, here's the important question... do you think that Jesus spoke those words only to the disciples? Or do you think that he spoke those words to all peoples who followed him?

Did you answer yes? I answered yes. Do you know what that means? That means that God expects us to do miracles (with His power, not ours) right now! Today! He has given us the authority given to Jesus to cast out evil spirits, to heal the sick, to restore sight to the blind... in Jesus' name, with God's power, through the Holy Spirit.

Chew on that one for a minute.

I wrote yesterday at my other blog about a miracle that happened in my life. This was an instance when God kinda swooped in and did the work without human help--although I know prayer was involved. But have there been times when miracles have happened through the hands of other people? Yes! I haven't seen many limbs regrown or people back from the dead (ok I haven't seen any) but God gave us the ability to do this!

If you google "Miracles" you will find stories of contemporary people who have experienced life-altering moves of God. And yet, in my life I don't hear too many first-hand stories of this. Why not??? What is holding us back??

I think this post is just the first of many, because I am very interested in the Power of God and how He wants us to tap into it, in order to do miracles, so that He may be praised. So perhaps it's ok that I feel disjointed today, because I think as a culture we're a little disjointed when it comes to an awareness of the ability we have to ask God for amazing things. I hope this changes. I hope to develop the faith that we need to move mountains. I hope you do, too. Then we can all blog about the miracles that God is doing in our lives, each and every day.

Return to Me

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you.

              - Isaiah 44:22

You know, when I typed in "return to me" to my Bible search, I expected a few certain verses. But this one was new to me. "Return to me, for I have redeemed you." Wow. 

This verse spoke to me because I immediately thought about what we do when we're in the wrong and we know it. You know, let's say you're 17 and your parents tell you not to go out driving past curfew, certainly not with 8 other kids in the car, and definitely not faster than the speed limit. And of course you do. And, because you can't see past the other 3 people in the front seat and you're going 65 mph on a back road, you blow a stop sign and get sideswiped by someone you didn't even see coming.

What do you do? 

Well, I'm gonna think that one of your first thoughts is that you are going to leave home. Immediately. Without even going home to pack. Why? Because you just know how much trouble you're going to be in when your parents find out. And wouldn't living on the streets be better than the shame and punishment you would find at home?

That might be a bit of a hyperbole, but I firmly believe there are people in the world right now living in terrible conditions because they were too afraid/stubborn/rebellious to deal with something in their lives, and they figured that leaving home would be the best thing to do. Or put it this way--perhaps someone hasn't left home, but they've abandoned their family by crawling inside a fifth of vodka every night. Or by going to girlie shows. Or having an affair with the gardner. 

In each of those ways they've "left" what God has described as a well-balanced life, haven't they? And what happens when they realize the inability of these behaviors to fulfill their desires? Guilt, shame... and often a jump even deeper into that life. Why? Because once you're into a bad habit, a destructive lifestyle, the voice in your head tends to be one that vacillates between justifying what you're doing, and calling you a reject, a loser, a whore.

There's nothing that says redemption in those words.

So we hide from ourselves, we hide from God, and we keep doing what we know we shouldn't.

And I'm not just talking about someone who lives a life of drug-dealing or prostitution. We each are doing something in our lives right now that God would like us to stop doing. I can almost guarantee that. I know the habits I have. I know that I eat through my emotions, and mask my real feelings with sugar. And even as I reach for the ice cream I'll think "this is wrong, you don't need the calories, you're not even hungry." Followed by "Hey, it's my ice cream. I can do whatever I want." And then, after I've made my way halfway through the bowl: "You're such a fat loser. Look at you eating all that crap. No wonder no one loves you. You may as well go eat the rest of it now."

Yeah, welcome to my world. But I didn't put this there to get your sympathy; rather to show you that there are times that all of us will leave what we know is right. And the devil, he likes that. You will be assigned a demon to sit on your shoulder and whisper those horrible, untrue words into your ear until you begin to believe it and say it yourself. 

What then are we to do?

"Return to me," God says, "For I have redeemed you."

It's so crazy. We're the ones who left. We're the ones who messed up. And here God is saying "I know, but I got this. Someone has to pay, so I sent my Son to die. It's ok though, because He's stronger than the devil, and he'll come back to life. Jesus will return to me, and through him, so can you."

But... why?

I know, I know, we shouldn't question it, right? But when you've been listening to the lies of the enemy, you need some truth to clear your head. So read the next verse of Isaiah:

Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this;
shout aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
he displays his glory in Israel.

              -Isaiah 44:23

What a beautiful verse. Sing for joy for the LORD has redeemed you. And why? Because "he displays his glory in Israel." 

God redeemed you to display His glory IN you. He loves you so much that when He created you, it was with the express purpose of showing His glory in you and through you. And even though we have walked away from Him, He calls to us to return, so that He can continue the good work He started in us. 

Do we deserve it? Of course we don't. But given the option of staying in a downward spiral towards death and destruction, or returning to the One who created us, and receiving His redemption, which sounds better?

And I'm not gonna lie--it won't be perfect right away. God can and will heal people miraculously of addictions, but if that doesn't happen to you, don't despair. Just put your hope in Him and carry on every day, knowing you are getting closer to it. I certainly haven't gotten over my food issues (granted I don't know that I've fully returned to God on this yet) but He has given me some mastery over my eating habits. I'm 6 pounds lighter to prove it. :)

Sermon #2

Hi there! In case you haven't noticed, it's been about 2 months since I've posted here. Amazing how time gets away from you when you A) get a computer virus and have to fix the laptop and get a new modem and B) get completely out of the habit of getting up early.

So in an attempt to kickstart my morning habit again, I'm going to give you the second sermon I gave in my leadership class, which I would have posted about the time that I got the virus. It is a bit lengthy I know--remember this wasn't written to be a blog post but rather a 12-minute sermon. But I like the idea of putting this out there. Remember too that I gave this sermon right in the middle of the Stanley Cup playoffs. :)

Are You Prepared for the Day of the Lord?

Imagine two hockey players. They’re both on the same team. The team has done very well, and is in the finals for the Stanley cup. The are clearly both very excited, and they are each preparing for the games in different ways.

The first player, we’ll call him Jim, showed up early every day for practice. He worked out in the weight room, ate healthy food, went to bed on time, and in general followed all of the directions that his coach and his trainers gave him.

The second player, let’s call him Bob, grew a beard. Now, I don’t want you to think that I have an issue with any real hockey team that happens to be growing beards. This is an illustration. But Bob was a little bit confused. You see, he had heard all of the superstitions about how important it was as a team to grow a beard, and to not wash his socks, and to wear the same jersey every game, and to put his left skate on before the right one. He still went to practice, but he spent just as much time focusing on all of these superstitions as he did on honing his skill.

Which player do you think will do the best in the game? I’ve got to say Jim is a little more prepared for the big game, isn’t he? He has kept his focus on what is good, and important about hockey, and Bob, well, you could almost say that Bob was worshiping at some rather interesting altars, couldn’t you? He didn’t have faith in the right way to act as a hockey player, and spent time instead trying to satiate these images he had in his head of rituals that would suddenly bestow winning skills on him.

So, what does this mean to us? None of us are professional hockey players. We are, however, in a similar situation. Where Jim and Bob were preparing for the final game, we must prepare, in a way for our final game—the day that we meet with God. So my question for you today is: Are you prepared for the Day of the Lord?

“The Day of the Lord” is a phrase that has been used throughout the Bible and in much biblical commentary. There is a very strong end-times connotation to it, from our perspective, because it speaks to the day when Christ will return. It speaks to the rule of God on earth. It speaks to a day when we will all stand before God and account for our actions. Pretty fun stuff, huh?

But The Day of the Lord was not just a new testament theory. The Day of the Lord was known to the Jews of the Old Testament, because remember they were looking forward to the coming of the messiah, who we know as Jesus Christ.

But the problem is that no one knew when he was coming.

And the problem is that the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel were experiencing some peaceful, prosperous times. And what happens when humans, fallen, broken humans, experience peaceful, prosperous times? They often get complacent. They begin to develop a feeling of entitlement. And they begin to assume that The Day of the Lord is when the party gets started, when all the heathens and enemies of Yaweh get smited by the wrath of God, and when the earth will finally belong to the Chosen ones at last.

And then comes Amos. Amos was a prophet during the reigns of Uzziah of Judah, and Jeroboam the 2^nd of Israel. Amos stepped up and said “you know, I don’t think you quite get what this Day of the Lord is about.”  Listen to what he says in Amos 5: 18-24, speaking on behalf of God:

“Woe to you who long
       for the day of the LORD!
       Why do you long for the day of the LORD ?
       That day will be darkness, not light.

 ¹⁹ It will be as though a man fled from a lion
       only to meet a bear,
       as though he entered his house
       and rested his hand on the wall
       only to have a snake bite him.
 ²⁰ Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light—
       pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
 ²¹ "I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
       I cannot stand your assemblies.
 ²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
       I will not accept them.
       Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
       I will have no regard for them.
 ²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
       I will not listen to the music of your harps.
 ²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river,
       righteousness like a never-failing stream!”

I be there were some Israelites who thought “Woe?? Woe to us?? What the heck are you talking about? Why would God be angry with us? Look, we’re doing the offerings, we’re singing the songs, we’re doing everything you told us to do!!”

But the problem, alas, is that the Jews were doing more than that. While they gave offerings to God, they also gave offerings to idols. Amos continues to say:

“ You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god—which you made for yourselves.”

Woah. That kinda explains things a little more—to me at least. What is it the children of God were doing? They were creating their own gods, and worshipping them as well. It’s almost as if they were hedging their bets. Almost as if, like Bob the hockey player, they said “Ok, I’ll do what I’m supposed to do, but I’m not entirely sure it’s going to work, so I’m going to do all this other stuff too, because I heard that will ensure that I have a good life.”

So what were the children of God doing to prepare for the Day of the Lord? They were ignoring God’s commandments. What good is singing and sacrifice when there is no justice? What good is giving a tenth of what you have to the temple and then walking past the sick, the poor, and the down on their luck on your way home to spend the other 90%?

Does this sound perhaps like Christians today? Do we as a group worship God, lift up his name, give him our offerings, and then play the lotto, cut corners, steal paper from the office because we “don’t get paid enough,” and ignore our neighbor who actually has less than us? Do we sometimes expect more from others than we require of ourselves? Do we get upset when someone isn’t on time and yet we’re always late? Do we speak ill of someone who hurt us instead of going directly to them to resolve the issue? Do we make idols for ourselves? Idols called Greed, Entitlement, and Pride?

I have to say this sounds sometimes like me. So what do we do? What do we do to prepare for the Day of the Lord, when Jesus returns and we are called to give that account of our lives? Yes we are saved through the blood of the lamb, but aren’t we supposed to do more with our lives than just “get ours” ?

Well we’re in luck, because the Bible answers this question for us. We are told many, many things. Love the Lord Your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. And, one of my favorite verses in the Old Testament, Micah 6:8:

       He has showed you, O man, what is good.
       And what does the LORD require of you?
       To act justly and to love mercy
       and to walk humbly with your God.

It’s about how we act that we prepare for the coming of the Lord. It’s how we treat God, how we treat ourselves, and how we treat others, that prepares us for The Day of the Lord.

And the great thing is that God gets our hearts. He knows that we aren’t going to be perfect. The trick, however, is to keep ourselves from making those idols. The trick is to not be like Bob, trying to find a shortcut through to a better life. The trick is to be more like Jim, to learn the “right” way to live, and to do our absolute best to live that way. To be humble when we mess up, and to try again.

And I’ll leave you with one more illustration, from one of my favorite movies, G.I. Jane. This is a fictional story about a woman who was in the Navy Seals program, the hardest program in the entire armed forces. She and her crew were on a training mission outside Lybia, when they were suddenly brought together and told that a satellite had fallen into the desert, and the combat unit that had been sent to retrieve it needed help out. So these people, who were still in training, were told “we need you to do the right thing, to step up and help these people who need us, because there’s no one else.” “If for one second, the Captian told the Command Master Chief” your people aren’t ready for any reason, you tell me now.” And the Master Chief said “we’re ready.” He then turned to his crew, told them what was going on, and said “ok, who’s not ready.”

No one raised their hands. They weren’t “ready” by the standards of training and examinations and titles. But they were needed. And they stepped up. And they got that other team out of there.

So I guess my only question for you today is “What are you doing to be prepared for the Day of the Lord?” When you are called upon to help the lost, the last and the least, do you? Do you study the Bible daily in order to learn more about how God wants us to live? Or do you try to find the shortcut? Do you try to find that one song, that one ritual which will “make” God give you an abundant life?

God is looking at us right now, people. There are others in need out there. And his Command Master Chief is asking us: “who’s not ready?”

The Forgiveness Equation

So my computer has a virus. Booooo. Public Service Announcement time: If you haven't updated/added a virus protection program to your computer recently, please do so now. I'll wait. Seriously, this just cost me $260. I'll wait.

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Ok, now that that's done, I've got to be honest and say that I will soooo not be able to post anything new until I get the computer back, which will probably be next weekend (I'm writing this on Sunday night at the office). So for those of you who read this (and I can't tell you how thrilling it is to know there are actually people who read this) I offer my humble apologies for the absence. But I do want to leave you with one last post for the week, especially since you've all been a part of my writing it... the sermon!

I went through about 3 iterations of this thing, but below is the sermon in its entirety. I tend to write verbatim, and then follow it mostly. :) You'll notice bits and pieces (and whole sections) from earlier blog posts, so there isn't much new here. But I do want you to see how it turned out...

The Forgiveness Equation

My verse today is 1st John chapter one, verse 9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Ok, so if you’ve ever had to hear me talk about myself, which I believe you all have had to do once or twice… you’ll know that I have a degree in art. But what you might not know about me is that when I was in school, I was actually quite good at math as well. So today the title of my sermon is The Forgiveness Equation. What I plan to do in the next few minutes is lead you through a look at this verse on forgiveness, and give you an equation to remember as you go about your day. Not that we can create an equation to define God or life in their entirety, but the basic equation for forgiveness is one that we can always use, one that will help us live a more balanced life in Christ.

Now, we have been studying the writings of John in this quarter of VLI, so one thing that we’ve all been told is that to truly understand what John is saying, we should look at the context. Who is John’s audience? If you study the writing style of 1st John, it doesn’t read like a typical letter and in fact scholars believe that this is what is called a “circular letter,” a sort of “Best of John” publication that was passed around among the Christian community. So these words are speaking to Christians.

This works well for me, since I am… a Christian. Now, since I accepted Jesus as my Savior, I could think that I’m done, right? That there’s nothing else I need to do in my life. But the thing is, God wants us to lead wholesome, holy lives. Unfortunately, we miss the mark on that all the time, don't we? We sin all the time. So what can we do? Well, here is where the equation factors in. But first let me give you one more verse, this time from 2nd Chronicles 7:14

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land.

This verse adds a second dimension. If we pray to ask forgiveness AND we repent, or turn from our sins, THEN God will forgive us. Do you see the equation here? In literary terms we’re talking about an if-then statement. IF we pray AND turn from our sins, THEN God will forgive us. To put it in mathematical terms, think about it this way. A + B = C. So, A:Praying plus B:Repentance, Equals C) Forgiveness.

Prayer plus Repentance equals Forgiveness. When you have an equals sign in an equation, the total of whatever is on each side has the same magnitude. Thus 1 plus 2 equals 3. If you remove one of the numbers from either side of the equation, it no longer works. If you only have 2, then you do not have 3.

If we only ask God to forgive us for something that we have done, but we do not have any intention to stop doing it, do you think that God will jump to forgive us?

So what is that balanced equation again? Prayer plus Repentance equals Forgiveness.

Now. What if we get crazy with our math skills here? If you remember your basic algebra, you will know that what you do to one side of an equation you must also do to the other, in order to keep the balance. So take the simple equation A + B = C. Let’s add the number 3 to it. I know, it’s crazy, right? Well, if I were to say (A + B) + 3 = C, would that be right? Nope, because we already established that A + B = C. So what would I need to do to make it even? I’d have to add something of the same value to the other side to make it balance out, something equal to the value of the number 3. What’s equal in value? How about one plus two? That’s three, right? So, and I know this is high-brow thinking here, but if I were to write (A+B) + 3 = C + (1+2), is that equal? Why yes, in fact it is. Because we’ve already established that A plus B equals C, and so now each side of the equation simply has the value of 3 added to it.

So, what value can we add to our Forgiveness Formula?

Well, let’s look at a real-life situation. I might be the only person in the room today who is really really bad at repentance. I will ask God left and right to forgive me, but I’m not the best at saying “and I will never do this again.” I will admit it’s a failing of mine. But let’s say that I do accomplish to ask God’s forgiveness for something that I have done, and I commit to Him to stop doing it. As an example, let’s say I’ve been gossiping about my boss behind her back, and I finally realize that it’s wrong. So I pray and say “God I have no right to speak ill of another person. I am so very sorry, please forgive me.” And I even add “Ok God, I’m going to stop doing this now, I promise.” So, super-cool, I have forgiveness, right? Right.

But what happens in two days when my boss does something absolutely insane again? And when I’m tempted to run to a friend and tell him all about that crazy thing she said or did and how much I can’t believe that I have to work for this crazy, crazy insane person. How do I avoid this?

Let’s look at Hosea 12 verse 6 for the answer: Return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.

I love this verse because it tells me what to do in this situation. Return to my God. When I feel the desire to stray into temptation, I must return to what God has called me to do in life, and He has NOT called me to be a gossip, I can tell you that. Then, I must maintain love and justice—I must act in a manner appropriately to who I am as a child of God. And last, I must wait for God. If I reach out to God to help me in my temptations, and wait on Him, he will give me the strength to maintain a Godly lifestyle.

So I’m thinking that maybe here is a value I can add to my Forgiveness Equation, to give it some lasting value. I’m going to focus on the word Maintain. So, if I pray for forgiveness, and I repent of my sins, and then I maintain the life God has designed for me, what will I get? What is equal to the value that is maintaining a Godly life?

To answer that let me tell you about how much I hate doing the dishes. I HATE doing the dishes. If it weren’t for the environment I’d have switched over to paper plates and plastic silverware years ago. And it’s just me in my house! I mean really, it shouldn’t be that hard to wash my own dishes, right? In a busy week I may only be home long enough to eat a bowl of cereal every day. That’s one bowl, and one spoon. If I were to wash that one bowl and one spoon every day, then I would never have dirty dishes, right?

But alas, I own more than one bowl and one spoon. Which means that if I really want to, I can take that one dirty bowl and spoon and put them in the sink, and the next day pull out another bowl and spoon, and another and another, until at the end of the week I have zero clean bowls or spoons, and several dishes in the sink in varying stages of crusty. Eew. I hate washing crusty dishes. It takes forever to get crusty dishes clean. First you have to soak them, then you have to scrub at them. I hate doing that.

But whose fault is that? Right. It’s mine. Because I didn’t take the time to wash my dishes as I used them. Had I maintained a habit of spending the 35 seconds it takes to wash one dish and one spoon, I would have reached the end of the week with a clean sink, and all clean dishes, and no headache. I would have been able to look into the kitchen and have… peace of mind.

Aha! There it is. Peace. If I can maintain a lifestyle in accordance with God’s rules for us, I can have peace.

So if we add peace to the equation we now have this:

If I Pray for forgiveness and repent of my sins, AND maintain a life in accordance with God’s rules, THEN I will receive forgiveness AND peace.

So. Let me reread all three of these verses together:

If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.

So what is the equation again?

(Prayer & Repentance) + Maintenance = Forgiveness & Peace.

Our lives are certainly not as simple as a mathematical equation, but sometimes it helps to have some simple guidelines to remember, things that we can repeat to ourselves when we’re in situations where we need God’s guidance.

So when you are in a place where you feel that your equation is unbalanced, when you are missing either forgiveness or peace in your life, perhaps you will need to look to the other side of the equals sign, and figure out what it is that you’re missing. No forgiveness? Perhaps you haven’t truly repented of some recent sin. No Peace? Perhaps you aren’t maintaining the lifestyle to which God has called you. But the great news in this is that all you have to do to balance your equation is do what you weren’t doing. If you aren’t praying, pray; if you’re not repenting, repent; if you’re not maintaining… then maintain. If you can do this, then you will receive both forgiveness and peace. And that is an equation to live by.

Let us pray: Lord God thank you for providing us with simple rules that we can take to heart, ways to remember all that you have called us to do. Thank you for providing us with your forgiveness and peace. Give us the ability to see when we are leaving out a critical part of our equation, so that we may return to a balanced life. In your name we pray, Amen.

Selfish?

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)

I'm dealing with an issue at work where some people are starting to say that the department I'm in is not exhibiting "teamwork" any more. It's a hard thing to hear, since I feel that I have generally been a "team player" for the 4 years I've been in this department.

But I have to wonder what "teamwork" means to other people. Because for 4 years, I pretty much bent over backwards to do whatever they wanted. Is that really teamwork, or them taking advantage of me? And is the fact that I'm beginning to feel the workload over-much and as such am pushing back on projects actually the reason why they perceive me as no longer being completely team-oriented? I don't know, but I can tell you that it's something I'm thinking about.

Especially when you read that verse in Philippians. I mean really... have I actually just become selfish? Have I decided that I do not in fact want to help anyone else out any more? That I'm better than them?

I don't really have much wisdom for you today. All I have is the same question I ask myself: Are you thinking of yourself more highly than you ought? If not, why might others think so? If so, what must you do to change this?

I'm not even sure what my answer is. But I pray that I will figure it out, so I can move forward accordingly.

Rest... It's Good For You

For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:10)

Hello there! I took a long weekend from work, so I took the time off of doing this blog as well. Not that I can't or shouldn't study the Bible on my days off, but the decision I made was to do this every weekday before work.

But this whole thing of work and not working has been on my mind a lot lately, and especially the idea of rest. Last night I was actually in bed for 8 whole hours. I did wake up once during the thunderstorm, but otherwise I slept well. And you know what, for the first time I feel a little more ready to tackle my work week. And let me tell you, lately I have not felt ready to tackle anything having to do with work!

And I think one of the biggest reasons is that I rested. Now, I still had a fairly busy weekend, and I didn't get as much sleep any other night as I could or should have, but still, just being away from work sometimes is amazing. And necessary.

God Himself worked for 6 days, then rested. If the creator of the universe can decide that He needs a day to not work, who are we to tell him otherwise? The sabbath is a holy day. Unfortunately Sunday often becomes just as busy as any other day, especially if you're involved in a Sunday morning church ministry.

But the point for me today is that we must all find our sabbath. We must all find our rest, our time away from work. Put down the BlackBerry and focus on renewing your mind, body, and soul. Those questions that everybody at work thinks are so urgent? Unless you are a doctor, they can probably wait.

So this week, let's all try to find some Sabbath time. Maybe it's reading the Bible during your nightly bath, or reciting scripture to yourself in the shower. Perhaps it's praying on your walk to work. And perhaps it is truly setting aside a day to just not do anything. Can you believe that resting is an act of worship too? I believe it is. I believe when we rest (not when we are lazy, but when we truly rest) we are saying to God "Ok, I know you've got this covered. So I'm just gonna hang out and enjoy your magesty."

Let's all rest sometime this week.

Return to Me

This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty. (Zechariah 1:3)

So, I'm still working through this idea of confess, repent and maintain to receive forgiveness and peace. I think this verse does a great job of explaining another side of the concept.

Do you sometimes feel that God has completely given up on you? Like He's at somebody else's party and you're stuck in your house all alone with nothing but 20 noisemakers and the cat?

Do you ever find yourself asking God why He isn't working in your life?

May I offer one point of interest: God never leaves us. Never ever. We leave Him.

Do you remember the illustration I used in Confession Restores Fellowship? I gave the idea of a brick wall being built between you and God. And really, you're the person putting up the bricks, so you're the one who needs to tear them down again.

Confession and repentatance are the key to this. Return to me, God says, and I will return to you. Well, I believe that God used this wording because all of the people were saying "God why have you left us?" But remember, God is omiscient, omnipotent, omnipresent... it's not like He'd come back and say "Dude, sorry guys, I was totally taking a nap. What's up?"

Rather think about this picture:

Have you seen this one before? This is God "away from us." This is God saying "Dude, I was right here with you, and suddenly you pushed me out and shut the door. What's up?"

Have you heard the sermons before on this door? Have you noticed that there is no doorknob on the outside?

Return to God--open the damn door--and God will return to you.

If I ever get a chance to preach a sermon called "Open the Damn Door" I will be so happy. I've been studying up for a sermon I have to give for a class, so maybe it'll end up going in this direction... we'll have to see. :)

Back to the point... God hasn't left us. We've shut Him out.

And who is it that we shut out? The verse said it three times: the LORD Almighty. Um, that would be the Author of Life, the Living Word of God.

And because God has chosen to give us the ability to make our own choices, He allows us to choose to shut Him out. Our sin shuts Him out. Our shame about our sin causes us to shut the door to God. The very voice that He put in us telling us that we're doing wrong causes us to think "if I just shut the door, I won't have to hear this voice again."

But we've got to be ready for the consequences of doing that. For your life suddenly (or slowly) falling apart. For the lack of favor in relationships, at work. For the sense of unrest and unfulfillment. For feeling so very, very alone.

You ever wonder if, as you sit there with your noisemakers and your cat, you never once looked up and said "Wait a minute, I sent out an invitation, but I haven't been answering the door! Maybe that's why no one's here!"

Maybe.

Open the damn door.

Adding to the Jesus Math

But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always. (Hosea 12:6)
 
The word "maintain" shows up in the NIV 21 times. It's not a super-important word. But as I've been studying this idea of confession and repentance, maintaining a lifestyle that would have no need for confession sounds like a pretty good way to go.
 
It's like cleaning my house, which I'm horrible at doing. Because I can spend one day swiffering, magic erasering, doing laundry and putting the clothes away, washing the dishes, and even sorting the mail.
 
And 24 hours later it's all gone to seed.
 
Because.... I don't maintain it. I'll be honest. I'm really terrible at maintaining a tidy house. I've used this example before, where you can put one dish in the sink and it's ok, but a week later a sinkful of dirty dishes is going to be quite nasty, and a big huge pain in the butt to clean.
 
When ironically the 35 seconds it would take to wash my one morning bowl of cereal before it gets crusty just seems "too hard" for me sometimes.
 
But look at your spiritual life this way. Yes it's hard to avoid all temptation. Yes it's hard to stay sexually pure in whatever situation you're in. Yes it's hard not to spread that little bit of gossip. Yes it's hard to say no to the extra helping of ice cream.
 
But what happens after you give in "just this once?" Do you give in "just one more time" and "just one more" and "this is my last one I swear"?
 
And suddenly your pants are too tight and you've got 34 empty Ben & Jerry's pints in your garbage can.
 
And losing the weight is a looot harder than putting it on, isn't it? (Note how I went for the safe sin of over-indulging, and not the sexual/STD/pregnancy one)
 
So here's the deal. I think we have to consider expanding our mathmatical equation that I created in my Jesus Math post. That equation is Confession + Repentance = Forgiveness. And that's the basic one, the one we should all remember. But I wonder if we can do this:
 
(Confession + Repentance) + Maintenance = Forgiveness + Peace
 
Because isn't your life a little less hectic when you're keeping on the right path day after day? Yes you have to spend that 35 seconds every morning washing out your cereal bowl. But that saves you from having to spend 20 minutes at the end of the week scrubbing off the crusty cereal.
 
I haven't even managed Confession and Repentance well. But let's all try to do this thing, Ok? And if we're going to do it, we should do it right.
 
Lord God I ask you to forgive me for thinking that I could ever take the easy way out, the one-time forgiveness. Please help me to see when I need to confess and repent of a sin, and please also grant me the ability to maintain right living after I have received that forgiveness, that I would not find myself back in the same place, asking you for forgiveness again. Amen.

Verse of the Day 2.0

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Ok, so I did not get much sleep and I don't want to end up being late for work, but I wanted to keep true to writing every day. And lo and behold, the verse of the day over at Biblegateway.com was actually pretty appropriate to what I've been studying!

It's funny, the Bible sure is full of a lot of admonitions from God for us to confess our sins and turn away from them.

Do you think that's because as humans we seem to have the moral memory of a gnat? I bet you if I put a verse like this up every single day, everyone who read it could go "oh yeah right I should do that today." And then the next day, and the next.

Ok, there are some of you who've been working on the fine art of not being a sinful blob, but I haven't quite gotten there yet. :)

But when I see how many times God had to remind His people, well, then there's hope for me.

Hiding From, or Hiding In?

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "—and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. (Psalm 32: 1-7)

Ok, so I took this portion of the Psalm out of the poem format (and removed the "selah"s) for a very specific purpose: I wanted the words to be read as statements. Sometimes I think it's easy to see the song in a psalm, and miss the message. I mean, if you're familiar with one of the big songs written from the last line, you've already gotten it running through your head. But what the heck does that line mean, anyway? You are my hiding place???

I want to connect this verse to the passage I studied a week ago: 1 John 1: 5-9. I did a lot of talking about the Light of God and how it sees everything. So how, then, can God be a hiding place? Well let's do this... let's start at the beginning of today's verse...

First realize that he (or she) whose sins are forgiven is blessed. Really truly honestly blessed. That right there should be enough to make us want to confess our sins, right? Because remember, Forgiveness + Repentance = Forgiveness. We should never take forgiveness for granted.

Plus, what happens to us while we "keep silent," while we avoid confessing our sins? Because that's really what we're doing. It's not like God doesn't know about them until we tell Him. Light of God, remember?  So in not confessing, we're actually actively keeping silent. And while we're keeping silent on our sins, our bodies will waste away with our groaning.

Really?

Yes, really.

Think about it, if you sin, you've probably put yourself into a negative or unhealthy lifestyle of some sort. And that will wear on the body. Stress and worry wear on the body. In fact doctors have noticed stress as one of the leading causes for a number of physical problems because it weakens the body's defenses.

And I love that bit about the groaning. Because really, don't we complain allllllll the time? I know I do. So instead of whining and complaining and stressing out about all of my problems, what I should be doing is... confessing my sin. Even when I feel that I am the victim in any certain situation. Because chances are that I've been thinking uncharitable thoughts towards that other person, and not loving them the way I'm supposed to. And love is the greatest commandment, isn't it?

So we must confess and repent, so that we may receive forgiveness. This is a constant thing, like doing the dishes. It's really easy to put one bowl and one cup in the sink. But when, the next day, you put another bowl and cup, and perhaps a plate and a crusty pot in that sink, and then the next day you build on that again, well, it's gonna take a whole lot more effort to clean that first bowl, isn't it?

But the payoff of regular confession (we sin regularly, so we should confess regularly) is that we will not only have a balm for the hurt and pain that our sins brought on us, but--and I'm going back to the beginning here--we will have a hiding place in God.

When the world gets us down, and persecutes us or embarasses us for being believers in Jesus Christ, we can take refuge in God. We do not use Him as a permanent hiding place to completely escape the world, that's not His plan. But when we feel that we are being attacked, there is no better place to hide than under His wing. For our God will protect us, and shelter us, and keep us from harm. But if we ignore that we sin and try to hide it, we will not be in a place where we would even feel that we could ask God to shelter us.

So confess your sins. The guilt you've been harboring is too much to bear, and it will show. God knows what you've done anyway.

I think sometimes the hardest part isn't admitting you've sinned but telling God that you'll never do it again. Well, we can't be perfect, but with God's help we can overcome all obstacles. Really, we can. And instead of hiding from His grace, we can be protected by it.

That's the place I'd like to be right now.