R3: radical, revolutionary, different

Sometimes the hardest thing we can do is be obedient to God.  I have spent my entire life making decisions out of selfishness and based on what I think would be “best” for me.  That all comes very naturally to me.  But the more I’ve learned about God, the more I realzie that’s not how I need to live my life.  I need to find a way to submit to God’s direction for my life.  But I find this unnatural.  I find it difficult to listen to him, and even harder to follow through. 

Of course it’s only difficult to listen if he’s telling me something I don’t want to hear!  And that’s the real challenge, you aren’t submitting to God until your will and his are at odds.  It’s only submission when you disagree. 

But it’s not as if God asks us to act without evidence or reason.  I can easily call to mind examples of where I listened to God despite disagreeing.  And in each and every one of those times I was amazed by what he’s done.  So why is it that each time I’m confronted with that decision, it feels so impossible to make?  Why is it, as they say, that my spirit is so willing, but my flesh so weak?

Is it stubborness?  Pride?  Greed? Laziness?  Are these the reasons why I find it so difficult to be obedient to God?  I’m sure they play a role.  What it comes down to, I think, is that I simply want that final decison.  I want to be the one making the choices.  And I’m not really interested in making choices that put me in dangerous or vulnerable situations. 

And that’s often exactly what God is calling us to do.  He intentionally puts us in dangerous situations.  He intentionally calls us to be vulnerable with people.  He calls us to be open, to show love, and to embrace people who might laugh at us.  And that’s hard to do!

In the end I need to trust God knows what he’s doing.  And while that’s hard to do, the alternative isn’t really an attractive option for me.  I’ve changed too much to find “my way” totally appealing. 

“What has happened to all your joy?” (Galatians 4:15)

There are days when we get into a rut, where we lose the excitement in our lives.  It happens with work, with friends, and even with fun.  In fact, it happens with everything.  It’s too easy to lose sight of why you started on something as you get hassled with new responsibilities and new requirements.  Have you ever started on a project, something you really wanted to do, only to lose interest?  For me it was writing a book.  For you maybe it’s building a classic car or learning a foreign language, or maybe even just finding more time to spend with people you care about.

When you began didn’t you feel a bit of excitement?  Wasn’t there a time where you couldn’t wait to get home so you could work on it?  But that doesn’t last, does it?  Things start out with so much potential, but before long you’ve become bogged down in details and lose sight of why you started it in the first place.

In a way that was happening to the Galatians.  They had started enthusiasm for knowing Jesus.  They were living completely sacrificial lives.  So much so Paul exclaims, “you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.”  Now that’s commitment!  And yet, somewhere along the way they got bogged down in legalism and their joy was crushed.

Of course it’s not only the Galatians that have this problem.  We do too.  Or at least I know I do.  Some days I’m overwhelmed by what it means to be a Christian.  I begin to worry about sinning.  I worry about being generous.  I worry about being a good example of what Christ has done in my life.  I worry about my temper or my greed.  I worry that I’ll never be able to really live up to the expectations Jesus has of me. It becomes a burden instead of freedom.

When I’m feeling this way the first thing to go is the joy and the excitement I feel about worshiping God. I look at it as an obligation.  A formality.  A duty.  Just one more thing to “do.”

Of course this is entirely the wrong perspective.  Losing my joy at worship shouldn’t be a result of stress, it should be the sign of stress!  As soon as I begin to feel this way I need to stop and ask myself, “what’s the problem here?”  If I’m feeling burdened by my sins, I don’t need to, because Jesus has that covered.  If I’m feeling time-crunched, I don’t need to, because God tells us to rest even when we’re busy.  

We won’t always be joyful when we worship.  That’s part of what it means to live in a “fallen” world.  But if we lose our joy like the Galatians, we need to address that.  Paul clearly believes that joy is a natural part of knowing Jesus.  And I have to think he’s on to something there…

So the next time you don’t feel very excited to be worshiping God, stop and ask yourself why.  Are there serious problems in your life that you need to address?  Or are you just burdening yourself with useless legalism?

It’s hard to wrap my mind around the idea that I don’t earn my forgiveness through deeds and actions.  Instead I receive forgiveness by turning to God and asking for his help. 

In everything we do we are measured.  We get raises based on our performance at work.  We graduate based on our test scores.  Heck, we’re even measured in how well we play video games through Xbox Live.  We are a measurement obsessed society.

And to be honest I don’t think that’s necessarily bad.  There isn’t anything wrong with knowing where you were and where you are going.  The problem occurs when we assume that God works that way.  He doesn’t.  And we don’t want him to.  If God was into measurement, how in the world would we ever live up to perfection?  I don’t know about you, but most days I fall a tad short.

If I had to live up to perfection every day I would have no hope. 

According to 2 Kings, Manasseh was so sinful that he (almost) single handedly destroyed Israel.  His sins were so great (e.g., he sacrificed his own children for cryin’ out loud!) that God turned his back on Israel.  And yet, “in his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.” (2 Chronicles 33: 12-13).

Wow.  Think about that for a moment.  No one would consider this guy “innocent” or “deserving” or in any measurable way “good.”  And yet God was moved by Manasseh’s humility, and listened to his plea.  Manasseh didn’t earn anything by his behavior, God gave him something because that’s what God does.  He gives us freedom, and hope, at no cost.

What we see time and again is that as soon as someone turns to God and says, “God, I screwed up, I’m sorry.  Help me!”  God always steps in and gives them help.  If God is willing to help someone like Manasseh, why wouldn’t he be willing to help you or me? 

God - I know it’s easy to start thinking I haven’t earned your forgiveness.  That my behavior isn’t good enough.  But the truth is, it never will be.  No matter how hard I try, I will never be perfect.  Help me to remember that it’s turning to you in humility that matters, not earning my way to you.  Amen. 

Money, money, money.  Some times you just can’t escape it!  That’s certainly been the case for me this week.  Part of it involves wrestling with how best to use the money God has given me.  How do I know what to do with it? (rent or buy?)  Who do I give it to? (church or strangers?)  How do I treat it?  (blessing or a curse?)  Do I buy myself nice things? (HDTV or McDonald’s?)  Or is that wrong? (freedom or guilt?) 

The other part of it has been influenced by watching people I consider my “peers” take higher paying jobs.  I’d like to say that I always put God first in these matters, but I don’t.  I find myself jealous of their financial success.  And I know deep down that if I made some changes in my life I would have those nice things too.

But those changes would come at a cost.  And that cost would be sacrificing God.  At this point in my life there are some material things I can not have AND be following God’s plan for my life.  Hopefully that will change one day, but for now, I can not have both. 

One other recent event, however, has really focused my thoughts on money – fund raising drives on a few Christian radio stations (you know who you are).  I have no idea what kind of a challenge it is to run a non-profit radio station.  I imagine it’s difficult to get people to donate money.  It’s hard enough getting them to pay for music!  But as I listened I began to feel a bit uncomfortable.  Something just didn’t “feel” right.  “Maybe this was the only way they could hit their goals” I thought. 

I began to think about how God handles finances.  I kept asking myself, “is this really how God wants us to raise money?”  2 Corinthians 9:7 tells us that each person “should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 

But that’s not what I hear coming from the radio.  What I hear is this: a competition.  A competition between people to “fund” a certain amount of programming an hour.    A competition to get matching funds.  A competition to be the next caller.  The “if you act now, we’ll throw in a free toaster oven” routine.  Which, ironically, I could really use…

Now I admit I haven’t listened to all of the on-air comments, or all of the Christian stations that are fund raising, so maybe I am missing the bulk of what they are saying.  But so much of what I have heard has been secular in nature.  There is no difference between the fund raising for this radio station and Public Television fund raising.  So I have to ask – shouldn’t there be?  Aren’t Christians called to live a different kind of life than the secular world?

I don’t believe God wants us to give for the sake of giving.  Just like he doesn’t want us to love him because he said so.  He wants us to make those decisions because we want to make those choices.   God is all about us freely choosing to follow him.  And because of this he has stayed away from manipulation.  We choose to follow him, or not, based purely on our own decisions. 

So what about these Christian fund raisers?    
  
This is the problem as I see it:  when you make the fund raising about meeting quotas, matching donations, and free gifts you are removing the one thing it should be about - God.  Of course there is nothing wrong with quotas, donations, and gifts in and of themselves.  They just can’t be the focus.  People should be asked to give because it’s something God puts on their heart, not because we are being told to “act now.”

After all, isn’t God the whole point of Christian radio?  Isn’t he the whole point of Christian churches?  And Christian ministry?  And Christian faith?  What good is it to have any of those things if God is not being honored? 

In the Old Testament, Israel time and again told God “no, let us handle this, we know better.  We want to show the world what we’re made of.”  So they would take measures into their own hands and make decisions without consulting God.  As one would expect, disaster would always follow.  They acted instead of letting God act.  They didn’t trust that he would protect them, so they went about protecting themselves.  

It seems to me that every year these radio station fund raising goals fall short.  Sometimes significantly.  I have to wonder, how much greater would their impact be if they fully trusted God to raise the money instead of relying upon worldly “competition” and various psychological techniques of motivation?  Wouldn’t they be more successful if they built their entire campaign around helping people to understand why God wants us to be generous, rather than doing things that feel like manipulation? 

Sure it’s a lot scarier and definitely less certain when we allow God to act.  But just as the Israelites found out, it’s always better.  Sometimes we have to trust that the path God wants us to walk is leading somewhere good.  Even if following that path seems counter cultural.

It may seem strange to say this, but money is the reason I’m a Christian.

“Wha-?!”  I know, that’s your reaction.  You’re either thinking I’m crazy - because for most people there is very little profit and wealth to be had in being a Christian.  Or you are probably saying, “I knew Christians were all about money!”

And yet it’s entirely true, I am a Christian because of money. So let me explain…

Deciding to give money to a church was the single most important decision I have ever made.  It was through that decision that God showed me who he was.  It was through that decision that I became a Christian.  It was through that decision I sit here at my computer typing out this post.

Of course I had no idea it would all turn out this way when I decided to make a financial commitment.  At the time I didn’t really believe in God.  I sort of thought maybe there was a god-like person out there.  But he certainly wasn’t concerned about me.  But for some reason I felt compelled to trust, and to give.

I vividly remember listening to this guy talk from a stage.  It was dark, but there were thousands of people there, and you could hear them shuffling around.  The guy from stage was talking about needing to build a bigger church so they could make room for their friends.  He talked about God, and sacrifice, and blessings, and faith, and trust.  Finally he asked us to pray.  He asked us to listen for what God might want us to do with our money. 

There was no pressure.  No threat of damnation or condemnation.  Just a simple request that we ask God what we should do – and that we follow through when God gave us his answer. 

Prior to that moment I had only taken prayer seriously on a few occasions.  And I’m not sure I had ever considered God might answer me!  I had always assumed prayer was a one way event - I talk, he listens.  So this was a new experience for me.  As I sat there, aware of my surroundings, but also not, a number popped into my head.  A big number.  A number much bigger than I would have wanted to give.  In fact, 3 times what I had planned on giving.

I had wanted to play it “safe.”  Give just what I knew I could afford, but nothing that would prevent me from living a lifestyle that I wanted. 

But this….this was risky.  This was dangerous.  As Erwin McManus says, I was hearing the Barbarian Call.  If I went with this new number it was going to be a serious financial burden.  It was going to impact my life.  I wouldn’t be able to go out with friends as much.  I’d have to cut back on a lot of things.

I can’t really say why I went with it, but I wrote that number down and turned it in.  I found I was both terrified and relieved.  I didn’t have that kind of money saved anywhere.  I didn’t even make enough to cover the difference.  I just trusted that the “voice” I heard was God, and not the burrito I had eaten for lunch.  For the first time in my life I actually trusted God.

And that simple decision changed my life forever.

Slowly God used that simple act of trust to remind me of what he could do.  He began to encourage me to trust him in other areas.  And each time I trusted I was both terrified and relieved.  Now whenever I reach a moment where I’m afraid to act, God reaches back and says, “remember when you thought that number was too big?  Remember when you said, ‘I can’t do this’?  Well, remember how I did it for you?”

There is nothing more encouraging than stepping out in faith and allowing God to lead you.  Learning for certain that there is a God who cares about your life and your happiness is one of the most freeing experiences a person can ever have.    

So that’s why money is the reason I’m a Christian.

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing, some have entertained angels without knowing.” (Hebrews 13:2)

Now that’s a shocking thought!

I often think God gives me ”tough” missions or some difficult task to accomplish.  But when I look at the Bible I have to laugh at myself.

Is there anyone in the Bible who follows God’s will that isn’t in danger or doing something crazy?  Jeremiah was called to tell Israel it was doomed and that God was upset with them. 

How’s that for a job!  And here I get upset if I have to apologize to someone!

Erwin McManus is right.  The closer people are to God’s will, the more dangerous their lives become.  So what, exactly, does this mean for me…..?

God - Help me to understand what it means to live in your will…  Help me to understand how to do that.  And help me to trust you enough to overcome my fears and doubts.

If you’ve been a Christian for a while - or are even considering being one - you’ll often have people tell you what you “need” to do to be one.  Some of you may even feel that way about this site!

When I became a Christian a few years ago I began to realize that God is too diverse and people are too diverse to have “one” way to know God.  It seems inconceivable that there is only “one” way to worship, or “one” way to pray, or “one” way to show God that you love him.  I’m positive that the way God communicates with me (and ultimately convinced me he was real) would not work with other people.  So if God can reach me as an individual, why can’t he reach others in the exact way they need to be reached?

That’s not to say there aren’t “good” things to do as a Christian.  Things that maybe we should all practice.  After all, even Jesus was very deliberate about the time he spent in prayer and about the people he got to know.  So let’s be clear: I’m not talking about whether it’s okay to sin, or if such and such an activity is a sin or isn’t.  Those are different topics.  What I’m referring to are those activities that seem like good ideas, but maybe aren’t for everyone.

At the top of my list is “morning prayer.”  I’m not a morning person.  I don’t like people, I don’t like animals, I barely like my cereal.  I don’t want to pray just for the sake of prayer.  I detest anything that smacks of religion for religion’s sake.  So I’ve always resisted having a specific period of time in the morning devoted to prayer. 

But I can’t seem to escape this idea.  So many people do it.  And so many people talk about how important it is to their relationship with God.  Was I missing out on something? 

Earlier this year I was really wrestling with this question.  I was wondering if I needed to set aside a specific time to pray so I could “feel” God.  As I was praying about it I realized that God has always been there to talk to me regardless of my activity (eating, driving, showering, crying about my fantasy football team…).

I’ve always feared that if I tried to “confine” those conversations with God to a “morning devotional” or some such thing, I’d lose out on one of the greatest aspects of God - that he’s a living, relational God.  So I decided against any formal morning prayers.  If they happened, great.  If not, so be it.  

That’s been my view for the better part of 8 months.

But then I read CS Lewis.  He says, “that is why the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it.  It comes the very moment you wake up each morning.  All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals.  And the first job each morning consists simply of shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.” (Mere Christianity, p 198)

What if he’s right? What if in the morning we are really fighting our “natural” selves more than, say, at lunchtime? In that case prayer becomes hugely important, because I know I can’t change who I am on my own. I need Christ for that.

If God is leading us each on an important path, a path that is unique to us, then we need to be sensitive to that direction.  And how can we be sensitive to that if we allow our “natural” selves to control us from the start of the day?  We will always be playing catch up.  And if football teaches us anything it is playing from behind is difficult!

Now I’m still not convinced that prayer in the morning is something God always wants us to do.  But I think it is clear that praying in the morning is more than just a “religious” act.  It is also more important than I originally believed.  It is something that I think each of us needs to talk to God about. 

God doesn’t want us to do anything out of obligation.  But if setting some time aside in the morning helps bring me closer to God, than I am all for it!

Some days I think I’m firmly following God.  But if I look closely at how I’m living my life, it’s apparent I’m not.  Usually it’s nothing major.  But it almost always means trouble is soon to follow.  I’m sure if I stopped to think about my actions, they would scream “Danger! Danger! Will Robinson!”  But I don’t.  I often don’t even realize I’m on that path until it’s too late.  Usually I don’t realize it until I’ve sacrificed closeness with God for some tangible, worldly thing.   And then I always say, “why? what was I thinking?”

I wonder if it ever occurred to Solomon that this was happening to him as he built his own palace.  You see, it took him 13 years to build a home for himself, but only 7 years to build one for God.  (1 Kings 6:38 - 7:1)

Despite all of his wisdom, I imagine that difference never occurred to Solomon.  But if he had paused to consider what that implied about his love for God verse his love for wealth, would he have ended up rejecting God in the last years of his life?

David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.  (2 Samuel 6: 14-16)

When I try and figure out how God wants me to act, I often look at people whose lives are clearly touched by him.  What is it that sets them apart?  What is it that they do differently than the rest of us?  A lot of times I turn to the Bible to find examples of behavior I should try to emulate.  As you can tell by reading the last few posts, David is a great example of this.

So when I think about worshiping God, what does that look like?  I think David’s behavior in 2 Samuel gives us some clues.  Worship involves giving everything we have to God, and not holding back.  For David that meant wearing a linen ephod (think mostly naked!) and dancing “with all his might.”  David was so devoted to God that he didn’t care what he looked like.  He didn’t care what people thought of him.  All he cared about was showing God just how much he loved him.

Now sometimes when we worship this way, when we give everything we have, we find people resentful of this.  David’s own wife, Michal, despised David’s behavior.  She was upset he was acting in an undignified way, and stripping down in front of other people.

“How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”  (2 Samuel 6: 20-21)

I think David makes an important distinction here.  Michal is upset because all she sees are the people around David.  To her worship is about impressing the people around us.  But David rejects this and says his worship is “before the LORD.” 

It is easy to become caught up in how others perceive us.  It’s easy to want to conform to how other people worship (or don’t worship).  But we always need to remember worship isn’t for others, it is a way for us to move closer to God.  And any obstacle in the way we worship will only create distance between ourselves and God.