Tuesday, December 29, 2009

WWJD?

Millions were made in advertising and marketing of 4 little letters. Millions of bracelets, shirts, bumper stickers and other junk was made little the letters WWJD and Christians across the nation went wild over this new fad. And while the letters WWJD are no longer a best seller it seems to that the mere concept of What Would Jesus Do is also no longer something that we, as Christians, seem to really think about anymore. I'm sure some (if anybody does) who read this will be shocked and think why of course I think about what Jesus would do and so then my question is really? As Christians we used WWJD to decide on whether or not to go to that party or whether or not we should go that far with a boyfriend/girlfriend or whether or not we should do this or that but that's where it ended. They were mere thoughts and rarely did the actions follow suit. Once again I believe the Church has followed with this mentality and maybe even lead the charge in this thinking. It's so incredibly easy to say what Jesus would or wouldn't do without us ourselves having to follow the same actions. It's like we told Jesus what he would do and left it at that. But as I look around the Church I'm wondering do we even know how Jesus would act? Do we care? Do we think that he would act one way and yet it's ok for us to act differently. I guess much of this is stemming from the lack of love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and overall giving people value and worth that I see from so may Churches and so-called Christians. It's like as Christians we've somehow taken it upon our selves to expose people and their sin and then bash and condemn them and make them feel worthless and devalued all in the name of Jesus. Since when did being an ambassador for Christ mean that we're entitled to go around and beat people down? Since when do ambassadors for Christ mean that we can pick and choose who is good or worthy enough to be loved and experience God? We've somehow taken this horrible approach to "sharing" Jesus to others in that we'll tell them how bad they are and how they need to be saved from their sin all the while expecting them to want to know this God that apparently hates them and thinks they are worthless. Maybe it's just that, our approach in "sharing" that has totally become the problem in and of itself. Maybe instead of being so caught up in telling people we should become showers of who God is and the love from which we are all here to begin with. What if people, especially those "Christians" who run from groups like the "gays", the addicts, and those "living in sin", allowed these people to experienced the love of God through us. What if we loved on these people with an unconditional love and gave them worth and value and what if through this they were able to experience a taste of the love the Father has for them? Why is it that we think that we can just tell people they need Jesus and that He loves them all the while what pores from us is hate and bitterness? Do we really think that we can go up and tell people how sinful they are and assume they will just want to change just like that when we haven't shown them what it looks like to be loved? We treat Church the same way. Isn't church supposed to be a hospital for sinners and not a hotel for the healthy? That's like telling people they can't come to the doctor or hospital until they are no longer sick. People need to "get right with Jesus" before they can come to church. How does that work? Why should they buy into this Christianity thing without seeing why they should even care? We have this attitude that you can come to church once you get rid of the sin but until then you're not welcome. What is that?! What would happen if somebody who was gay walked into your church and sat down? Would people run in fear? Treat the person like crap? Tell them how horrible they are and how they need to repent now because they are going straight to hell? Why should they want to know this Jesus? How will they know that He loves them if we don't? I'm in no way down playing sin or the consequences of it. But so often we treat some sin as the "bad" sin and others as the tolerable sin and all we do is bash those living with the "bad" sin. Sin is sin. And with that God loves and deeply wants a relationship with the person struggling with the addiction, or the person sleeping around, or the homosexual as he does the person who comes every week to church and yet is cold and is just going through the motions. If we were to really adopt this mentality of what would Jesus do we would be going out and loving on those unlovable. Who was it that Jesus spent time with and ate with? The lowest of the low. The tax collectors, the prostitute, the adulterous woman, the ones the Pharisees would never even have looked at let alone talk to. We as Christians have become the Pharisees. We think we have it all together and are so caught up with others sin that we totally excuse and over look our own. When Jesus spent time with these people he didn't excuse their sin. He told them all about it. He knew it and he let them know he knew all about their lives but he did it in such a way that it drew people to him. He corrected with such love and compassion that these people had never experienced. When you have a genuine encounter with Christ your sin is exposed because His light shows us our sin, and he doesn't need us to condemn and do that for him. The Holy Spirit is capable for showing us that on his own. Those people who really experienced Christ were changed forever because you can't have a real encounter with Him and stay the same. But going up to somebody at the store and telling them they need Jesus and are going to hell and expecting a real life changing experience is ridiculous! They may say they accept him just to get the crazy Christian away but it won't be a life changing experience. We need to show people how to experience a relationship with Christ and that happens when we ourselves invest and set up relationships with people, and yes I mean even those "sinners". What would happen to our society if Churches changed how they reached those "lost people"? What would happen if we welcomed them into our churches just as they are, sick and hurt and lost, and loved on them? What if our love and compassion pointed them to the Father instead of beating them into submission? What if we treated them like people who have worth and value and are just as sick as we are? What if we preached in such a way that didn't condemn but pointed them to a relationship with Christ. If we look at this in the way we should as a relationship then doing the "right" things comes naturally. When we look at it as a list of do's and don'ts people don't care and it becomes something they have to do instead of wanting to do. If we showed people that this relationship with God is like any relationship, such as marriage, and yes there are things you shouldn't do. You shouldn't cheat on your spouse, you shouldn't hit or harm your spouse, you should treat them with love and care and value. Then you go into with a different mindset. You wouldn't do those things because you can't but because you don't want to. You love and value the person and wouldn't want to cause them pain and to sever that relationship. Same way with the relationship with the Father. It's not that I can't do these things but I wouldn't want to because it would hurt Him and sever that relationship. Why isn't this the stuff we teach at Church and why isn't this the way we live our lives as Christians? Why would a sick and lost world want what we have when we act like this?

Monday, October 19, 2009

You knit me together in my mother's womb....

Psalm 139:13-16 For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother's womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;your works are wonderful,I know that full well.My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,your eyes saw my unformed body.All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be!! This is my favorite scripture! I love the imagery of God knitting together life in the mother's womb! How we were woven together and God's eyes saw our unformed bodies being made in the secret place! How incredible to picture! One more piece of evidence that we were created with intention and for a purpose! (And yes my ranting on purpose is coming but will have to wait until after this piece so keep reading!) And once again this passage has new meaning as I watched again a little heart beating on a sonogram today! Yes my friends we are pregnant with our 3rd baby (hopefully a boy but only God knows! We are 11 and 1/2 weeks pregnant as of today and due May 9th! While we have known since I was 3 weeks pregnant, this is our first public announcement to our joyous news! Even though things on this pregnancy have been perfect so far and little baby #3 looks great I still am hesitant in making this info public. But seeing how my ever growing belly is definitely looking prego I think the time has come to put the just fat speculation aside. They say that with each pregnancy you start showing sooner each time and since this is technically my 5th pregnancy, well I'm showing way too shown. All that being said we're insanely excited about the new adventure God is giving us! I will never take for granted or get used to seeing that precious little heartbeat on the screen. Every time I hold my breath and I guess part of me even expects not to see it having gone down that road before. The gift of life is so fragile and incredible! It amazes me how God ordains each day during those long 9 months for a purpose to knit a baby to completion! With a purpose and God ordained from the beginning! What a mighty God we serve!! So now that the news is out I can stop sucking it in and can shout my excitement from the rooftops which I've been dying to do! So with prayers and in faith we trust that God has a plan for this baby and that He will form it and keep it safe and healthy! Thanks for sharing in this exciting news with us!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

"If we focus entirely on Scripture's disclosure of our feeble humanness, we'll either lose heart or close the book. But what would God's kingdom gain from a people who were only humiliated? What would be the reward of our existence if we were only repentant and never repaired?" Beth Moore, from the Ester Bible Study (p.119) Incredible words!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Truth. Is it worth fighting for anymore?

I know that I said my next post would be on purpose and while I still am planning to write on that, I feel that this post was needed first. It seems these days I've been lit on fire with a passion and desire for truth that I can hardly contain myself and I feel compelled to get it out in some way and so here it goes. Lately I've been wondering what is Truth anymore and do we still believe that it exist? Who is there to uphold it and to make sure that what we present and put out there is indeed Truth and not just our version of it? And for it to be Truth does it have to a denominational attachment to it? For many believer I think we would say of course there's still Truth and an absolute Truth, but then my question is how do you know and are you living it out? All I know about my faith and what I claim to believe is because I had incredible teachers, family, friends and mentors who taught me and modeled it out for me. But what about those people who do not have that? What about those people who are sitting in churches or under teachers who are giving them false truth, but they don't know that the truth isn't really truth and so they believe it and spread it around as truth to others? I don't know if it's taught or just assumed that the preacher or teacher is speaking truth at all times and that he's got to be right. I was told by my youth pastor to not just take the words of the preacher or teachers as absolute and to look things up and the meanings for everything myself. I know that preachers are human and they they are not perfect and they can make mistakes. But are we taking their words as truth and not looking things up on our own? What if they are wrong? What if they are preaching false theology, by their own knowledge or because of error? Who is there to fact check the preacher? I mean as soon as any president or congressperson gives a speech to a group of people there's immediately people fact checking what they said. What about pastor's or teachers? Who holds them accountable for what they preach in the name of Truth? Deacons or elders? Trustee's or committee's? The congregation? And what pastor or teacher is going to be receptive to somebody saying hey I don't think I agree with that? How did you come up with that and what scripture do you have to back that up? But then what happens when the pastor is just preaching based on his own agenda and twist every bit of scripture to fit what he wants it to say? Then he's using scripture and he'd show you where he got it but he'd be wrong. So then how do you deal with that and prove it? Maybe the problem is that people don't know scripture for themselves and so they can't say, hey I don't think that's really Biblical or hey your twisting that. They come to church to be told what to think without ever questioning it and thinking it through themselves. Yes I said questioning it. I'm sure some will gasp at that and think how dare I, but I dare. I think it's healthy to doubt and question what you hear and what you claim to believe and through that the real Truth will be revealed. Jer 29:12-13 talks about when you seek God with your whole heart and earnestly search for Him, He will be found by you. But you have to search and look sometimes. Would you rather know what you believe because you've fought for it and it's become a part of you or just because it was spoon fed to you? What I tend to see is people just taking whatever is told them as fact because that's easier then looking it up for themselves. Maybe that goes back to the whole apathy deal. Are people too apathetic to care that what's being taught is false truth? Would they even know the difference? And if they know and do care how do they say or do something to fix it? Can it be fixed? While I don't know what or how to say something, I do know that to sit back and keep silent makes me as guilty as the person preaching the false truth. I know that we, as a church, have the obligation and responsibility to present the real and absolute Truth and word of God. We don't get to just pick and choose what we think would get the biggest conversions or just what fits our agenda, but we have to present the entire Truth! We have to show every aspect and facet of who God is and we have to do so in a real and tangible way for people. We have to show the loving, gracious, merciful, faithful, constant, forgiving, just, wrathful and many many more sides of God! We can't just pick the ones that will get people "Saved". Psalms 51 talks about how God desires Truth in our innermost parts! Oh God make Truth my core and center and make it ooze from within me! God blot out anything that is false and a lie and replace it with Truth, YOUR TRUTH! God heal and forgive our churches for speaking anything but TRUTH! Make the people desire Truth and make them seek it out!! Help people discern Truth from lies and give them the courage to stand up if truth isn't what's presented to them!!! Raise up people, God, who will seek truth at all cost and who will accept nothing less!!! God, make our ears burn at false teachings and tune our hearts to hear and decipher truth!! God I don't want to be the only person fighting for something! I want people who think that Truth is still real and worth the fight! Rise those people up, Father please! Acts 4:20, "For we cannot help but speak about what we have seen and heard!!!" God for those who have hears truth and have seen you in a real way, we cannot help but speak about it!! Give us courage and desire to speak truth and to make Your truth known to others, especially those people who are already in the church!!!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Apathy. I hate apathy.

As I sit down to type this out my mind is running at full speed and I'm having a hard time collecting my thoughts. There's so much I want to say and so much that is screaming to get out and so now I'm left trying to collect and organize it all so that it says what I mean to say. One of the issues that has been burning me from the inside out and has become the talking point of most conversations between my husband and myself as of late, is the theme of apathy and purpose (purpose will be my next ranting so stay tuned). One more area that I get heated up over and I so just want to scream from the roofs! When I look around at church (once again meaning church as a whole and not specifically singling out an individual church) I see so much apathy it makes me want to puke. I see people who come to fill their church/God quota and who leave in the same way they came in. They sit, they sing, they do what they have to do to get by and all the while they could really care less. I want to scream WAKE UP YOU SLEEPING AND BLIND CHURCH! WAKE UP YOU PEOPLE AND SEE AND TASTE AND REALNESS OF A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS!! It makes me frustrated to no end!! I realize that I was blessed beyond belief by having the privilege of growing up in the most incredible youth group and with the best youth pastor and mentors anybody could ever have. My youth pastor did not allow apathy and complacency. You couldn't sit under his teaching without growth. I know that seeing that and be challenged to more was a huge gift I will forever treasure. So I guess the possible reason for the apathy is that most or many people in churches today have not seen what real growth, depth and a passionate desire for more look like. From the pastor on down they don't see realness, passion, and genuineness and they have no one to model it to them. They are living out this watered down sorry excuse for Christianity because it was modeled for them. Which is a sad cycle to live out and to pass down. But at the same time this cannot be an excuse. At some point there has to be growth and maturity and even if it hasn't been lived out to you physically. Ignorance can not be an excuses for apathy. So then how can this be changed? There's a quote from the Batman Begins movie (to quote this makes my husband very proud and means I have been totally corrupted), which says,"People need dramatic examples to shake them from their apathy." How true is this?! The question here in lies how dramatic is it going to have to be to get peoples attention? What does it take to get people excited and passionate and to desire growth? I don't know.....but I'd like to figure it out! I'm praying that God will create sparks under people and that those sparks will be contagious and that full fires can break out and that people can't help but catch it and be inspired to want more!! Apathy in the church isn't something new. It was an issue that is dealt with throughout the Bible as well. Look at the Israelites and how time after time they gave into apathy and fore went a relationship with God for lack of desire for anything but themselves. Revelation 3:16 is talking with the church at Laodicea and telling them that because they are neither hot nor cold that God will spit them from his mouth. I don't get how we can claim to be Christians and yet be in this lukewarm state. You can't just be in the same state that you are right now. If you're not growing and moving forward then you're falling back and withering away. You are either hot or cold but lukewarm is not an option. Time and time again the message is clearly written out, that it is by your fruit you will know if someone is a Christian or follower of Christ. You can't produce fruit or passion if you're cold and apathetic. And by fruit I'm not meaning a list of how many people you've "saved" or led to the Lord. When I think fruit I think more of the traits and characteristics that is listed in the Bible of those who have a heart and desire for Christ. Take the fruits of the Spirit for an simple example. I think too often what is preached and demanded from the church is to go out there and witness to all you meet and convince them to get right with Jesus and get saved. That to me is not an example of being hot but being somebody who values lip service. It's like we're told that if we're not getting people saved then we're a failure and it becomes like a notch in our belt when we do. If we lived out a realness and passion and were hot and were producing fruit people would see that and the modeling what a real walk with Christ is would make them want what we have. Realness and passion trump Bible thumpers any day of the week. Until we, as the church, get passionate (and I'm not talking about becoming holy Bible thumpers that pounce on people with the "plan of salvation" but people who are hungry for more. Who desire a passion and deeper walk with Jesus that they're realness and hunger will be what people see because it's modeled and not just lip service and that's what will make people know that we are Christians. By what and how we live that will say what we claim to believe.) how can we expect to reach anybody, let alone "non Christians"? Why should they want to by into this Christianity bit if by with it we claim for a new life in Christ and what we model is a life that is dead. Are we any better than those we are trying to "save"? Spiritual death is the same for those saved and unsaved I guess the only difference is one has a "get out of hell free card" and the other one doesn't. So what makes people different and what makes one group passionate and one not? I believe part of the answer is purpose. Those who have and live a life of purpose can not be apathetic because they are part of the bigger picture. They are living for more then themselves and they are striving for more realness and depth. So while I'm gathering my thoughts and scripture for a rant on purpose I'll leave this where it is. I feel like I had more thoughts and things I wanted to express and yet those thoughts have alluded me for now. So the final question; are you a hungry passionate person or are you apathetic and just like the rest of the world. Are you hot or cold? And if you're hot where's your fruit?

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Fear release your chains

Okay so I have a problem. I know that I have this problem so at least I'm aware of it so I can move past it. But really this problem is, what I believe anyways, genetically passed down (which is also part of the problem). My Great-Granny Grayce had this problem and she passed it to my Grandma Pat who loving gave it to my Mom who then handed it to me, and I'm trying desperately to not chain my girls to it. This problem is FEAR. It's a horrible word that has far too much power. The word it's self has arms and chains that just a mere thought of it, it grabs you and pins you down. This four letter word can easily put a choke hold on you and strangle the life (especially the life we were meant to live) right out of you. I guess I always saw it to some degree acted out in the lives of my family. But please don't get me wrong in thinking that my family doesn't have relationships with God. In fact all these women I've mentioned have also modeled incredible faith (which I guess in and of it's self a paradox). And now looking back their fears were directed at the well being and concern for their family and those they wholeheartedly cared for. It wasn't until I became a mom that I fully realized that I too had this fear problem and the grip it had on my life. I think that any parent could attest to the fact as soon as you see those lines or hear the words, "your pregnant" fear or the possibility of fear sets in. My chains of fear set in the most after what was our second miscarriage. I don't even really know if it was necessarily the miscarriage itself or what about it but I started having panic attacks. They felt like heart attacks and they controlled my life. I hated them. I hated that they controlled me. I hated that they sucked the life from me. I hated that I was couldn't get a grip on reality during them. I hated that they made me feel crazy. I prayed and wanted to badly for a drop of faith, just a mustard seeds worth, and then I hated that I couldn't even have that. It was during this time that God revealed so much to me and through that time I had to come face to face with fear before I could move past it. I know that my fears were irrational and while I'm not going to get into my deep and dreaded fears in anymore length, I was amazed at how God spoke directly to me through so many inaudible ways during that time. Through scripture and the perfectly timed lessons from church and sunday school, as well as from the prayers of my friends and family and from the amazing support and love from my husband I started the forward motion in all this. One quote that I clung to was from a book called The Shack (fantastic book that I recommend if you haven't read it). So in this quote the main character, Mack, is being told this by God, but I pretend that it's God talking directly to me. "You don't know that we love you. The person who lives by their fears will not find freedom in my love. I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially the projection of those fears into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life, you neither believe that I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it; you talk about it, but you don't know it." Ouch that cut deep to the core and was exactly what I have to remind myself over and over. This quote has hung on my mirror and daily I read it and remind myself that the places and the room in my heart that fear has means that God isn't there. I realized that this was the stronghold that satan was having on my life and refuse to allow him that control. Now that all being said, do I still struggle with fear- yes. Do I hate it still- yes. But I know what it is when it rears it's ugly head and I know where it's coming from and who's behind it. And the reason this whole thought and all came up again was that my precious 4 year old daughter has fears that I hate that she has. She's afraid of getting older and for anybody she loves to get older. She wants us and her little sister to stay exactly how we are forever. Despite us telling her of all the benefits of getting older none as seemed to excite her. (Her daddy has always been a peter pan fan so I blame him :) But really I don't know where this fear comes from. She's afraid of fires, even though we've never had one or had anybody we know affected by one. Where do these fears come from? Is satan already chaining her with a stronghold of fear at this early age? I pray not! I will bathe her in prayers and I will not model for her a life of fear. I want her to not just know or say that God is in control but to believe it with every fiber of her being! I want that for myself!! So for now all I can do is model what I'm claiming I believe to to pray the armor of God onto her until she can pray it onto herself. This is a legacy that I will not pass down and one chain that satan can not use against my family any longer.

Why has the Church missed this?

Okay this is a bit of some ranting and ravings as I have been struggling with this a lot lately. While this has been on my mind I read something today in my Bible study which really got me fired up and I have to get it out so for all who are brave enough to read this let me know what you think. My frustration and sometimes anger is directed with this view of forgiveness or sometimes the lack there of, and repentance from the church. (I'm not specifically listing churches but more to church as a whole.) I've been struggling with this notion of how the church views sin and then how it treats the sinners. It's like the concept that we are all sinners SAVED BY GRACE has been lost and it's all about that we are sinners and terrible horrible people who have nothing to offer and are worthless! I hate this thought and theology! It makes me boiling mad and I just want to shake people and say wake up to more!! I have this picture in my mind (so bear with me as I try to draw it out for whoever is reading this), the picture is of a person who's dressed in filthy rags, bruised and broken and who is walking down the aisle at a church towards the alter. Standing at the alter is who we would presume is God standing there with a big stick and when we repent He's there to whack us up and down with that stick and so the person leaves still dirty and more broken and bruised then ever. This is how I think the church responds to those we deem as sinners (as if we're not in that category anymore or something stupid). They come covered in their sin and their horrible people for what they've done and all we do is guilt them into coming and then beat them again and again! How does this in anyway represent who God is and what He stands for?!?! So as I was going through my Beth Moore study of Esther today (which if you have not done you are totally missing out on because it's incredible!), I was hit with a quote from her that really helped say what I wanted to and expresses what I think has been lost. So from the pen of Beth, "Repentance is not your punishment. It's your glorious right of daughtership. Your invitation to RESTORATION."!!!!!!!! Hello!!! Are we listening to this?!?! Church Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. (eph 5:14) When we come and lay ourselves down at the feet of Jesus in repentance it's not out of punishment and we shouldn't come or make others come to feel that way! It's an invitation to restoration!! Now this is the imagery that I picture and that I wish the church represented!! This is the picture we should have; a person whose covered in dirty rags, bruised and broken walks down the aisle to the alter. At the alter stands Jesus and as this person comes with their head down in shame Jesus comes down and meets them. He takes them by the chin and lifts their face up and tells them that they are forgiven. They are not defined by their sin and that they are a new creature! As they leave and walk back down the aisle they are clothed in clean clothes, they are healed from the brokenness and the bruises are gone. They can walk with their heads held high because they are loved, despite it all, by THE GOD and they have something to offer and they have worth!!!! This is the picture the church should be showing!!! The repentance and coming into the relationship with the ALMIGHTY GOD is only the first step!! But we stop and leave it there as if we've done our job and saved we somehow saved them from the fires of hell and now to more onto the next sinner who needs saving. But where does this leave this new creature?! They were just given an newness and an invitation to a RELATIONSHIP and we leave them where? Being "saved" is only the very first step in an incredible journey and yet we act like it's the finish line. Why?! Why don't we SHOW people as well as tell them what comes next? Why don't we show them what it looks like to go on this journey and how to move past the first step? Is the only role of the church to "save" people? What happened to that little thing Jesus built his entire ministry on called DISCIPLESHIP?! I guess to have discipleship we'd have to see the "sinner" as really saved and to not make them continually feel "unsaved' or question if they really are. The church needs to realize that we all sin, yeah it's true and no I'm not minimizing the consequences of sin, but we are not defined by our past sins! We are made new and whole through Christ!! The old self is gone and when we still see people as their past we minimize the degrade the power of the cross. There's an incredible book by Mike Bickle called "The Pleasures of Loving God" and this book needs to be read by all churches. It tells us that we can stumble without falling and we are not hopeless hypocrites when we mess up. This is so contrary to what the church teaches too many times. We are not defined by our sin! We are still loved and saved even when we screw up! God knew what we'd do before He saved and yet He still saved us! If we maintain the theology that the "saved" don't mess up then who would ever qualify to the saved?! We miss the whole point! So if you've somehow managed to read all this and you don't think I'm nuts, well thank you. I've just had a fire lit under me and it's something I've wanted to shout from the roof tops to all those who have ever felt beaten down and worthless from church. So thanks for reading my ranting and I'm sure that there will be more to come.