Breaking With The Past

I am always amazed at the ways our past seems to hold us hostage. Whether it was someting done to us, or someting we did to ourselves, the events of our past seem to take hold of our lives and be very unwilling to let go. Usually what it takes is an agressive and radical move on our parts. In Acts 19, Paul delivers a message that convicts the hearts of the people. These were people who had spent their entire life practicing magic, and other dark arts. They make a radical break with the past, they burn their speelbooks and anything linking them to the past.

Now I am not advocating for burning books, and I am not advocating for burning all the things that our past holds. I am not endorsing that we should simply walk away from a relationship that is difficult or negative. Now if you are in a relationship that is abusive physically, emotionally, spiritually or sexually, that is a different story. What we are called to do is live a new life centered in Christ.

This new life is one where the things of our past are just that... past. Those things have shaped the way we interact with people and the world. Our past colors the way we think and respond. However, the work of Christ in our lives seeks not just to change that, but to transform us for the glory of God.

I wonder, is it time to ask God to transform your past, instead of letting it hold you?

Dreams Deferred

All my life I have been a dreamer. Many times this has come in handy, other times it has made life difficult. The life of a dreamer is one where there is a insane pull toward what could be. this pull get so strong it becomes difficult to stay in the moment God has presented. Prehaps it is because I am a dreamer, that I like ot hink of God as a dreamer. God looks at each of our lives, and the community of believers and dreams about what could be. I guess it could be said that it is not as much a dream for God, but a picture of a preffered reality. Yet often we as human beings make decisions that prolong the achievement of the dream. We, humanity, does not have the ability to derail the dreams of God, only defer them. I guess the same is true for all of us. The dream is always there. The only time I think a dream truly dies is when we die. A dream may got so deferred that we think it is gone, but I think it gnaws at us for the rest of our lives.

There are a few dreams that I have, which will have to wait a little bit, but I still hold tight to those dreams. First, I dream of someday starting a church from scratch. Second, I dream of seeing God use the band Lord If I Know for great kingdom work. Third, I dream of seeing God use me to teach those who will teach others about the amazing God who we serve.

There are many other dreams, but those are the biggies. I have no doubt that God will work those dreams in my life. For now however, I am learning how to remain in the place that I am at, the place I am convinced God wants me to be. I get to serve a church with a great future, and great people following the Lord, and most important, even more important that the dreams, I ahve a wife and family that will let me try whatever it is God is calling me toward.

I guess to sum it up, I want to encourage all of us to dream big dreams, just rememeber whos idea this whole dreaming thing was anyway. And once the door opens to realize the dream, GO!

The Cloud of God

I have always been facinated with the idea of the Tabernacle. Some of that comes from the deeply rooted feeling that too much ofthe churches resources are spent on a building, not mission. The tabernacle was the tent of God, and not a place set in stone. Where the cloud of God, or the fire of God rested the people went there. I am amazed at how we humans have the audacity to think that God should exclusively come to where we are, rather than us following after where God is. Far too frequently, I like to call the shots in my faith journey, and that is a very backwards formula. My goal is to fashion a life where I respond to the call of God. A life where I only move when God moves, and remain where God remains.

Along with my facination of the idea of tabernacle is the dedication of the tent of God in the end of Exodus. The building of the tablernacle was a significant time of obedience for the people of Israel. In the misdst of their journey from Egypt to the promised land there are not many moments of shining obedience, the tabernacle construction is one of them. Moses and all the people follow God's commands exactly, and in the end they are allowed to see the glory of God. As Moses lead the people in worship dedicating the tabernacle, and Aaron with his family as preists, the glory of the Lord fell on the tabernacle in the form of a cloud. In fact the cloud was so think that Moses and the people could not be in the tabernacle. i wonder if it is time for the cloud of God to drive us out of our house of worship, and into radical obedience with him.

They Rejoiced

There are times when I read the scriptures and what I read seems to make sense to me. When reading Acts 5 I had the opposite reaction. The end of the chapter has Peter and other apostles being flogged for preaching in Christ's name. Their response to being flogged and imprisoned, the NLT says they were rejoicing. I have to confess, I am not sure I would be rejoicing. More directly, I know that I have not rejoiced, and it is not like I have been flogged or imprisoned for preaching. I am coming to the conclusion that I whine far too much about things that matter far too little. At the same time I fail to thank God for the things in my life that God is doing with and through me.

The key to the rejoicing of the apostles was their feelings of worthiness. They rejoiced because they say their persecution as something God determined them to be worthy of. They made a connection between being obedient and being persecuted. I expect when I am obedient that God will count me worthy of peace and keep me from persecution. However, if Acts is true, and I think it is, then we should see persecution not as something to be avoided, but as a sign of God counting us worthy of persecution.

A closing confession, I am not at this point yet. It is going to take some work to get to that point.

Resurrection

A hallmark component of being a Christ Follower can often be overshadowed by the cross. The redemptive work of Christ on the cross is beyond importance, however the event that happened three days later is equally, dare I say possibly more important than the cross. If the resurrection does not happen, Jesus is just another religious fanatic or possibly worse. When the resurrection happens, Jesus is truly seen as the Messiah. The resurrection conquers death.

The interesting thing about resurrection, for it to take place something or someone must die. In Jesus case he intentionally chose to die, that we might have life. If we are going to experience resurrection in our lives, in our families, in our churches, in our journey with God, we must choose to die. We must give up what we perceive we have a right to. This is no small or easy task, but without death there cannot be resurrection.

I am not talking about the physical death of a person, I don't mean the death of the church, what needs to die is our unholy ambition. What needs to die is our willfulness. I am flooded with scriptures that tells us what the Lord requires of us, and the condition of our hearts. At the core of all these scriptures is us as humans, submitting a broken, God fearing, and repenting heart.

Maybe you are looking for resurrection. Are you willing to die to all things human, and submit to all that God requires.

The Cry of My Heart

This is not a new song, but the song and the slideshow are great. My the words of the song be our prayer.

But I Don't Want To

Today as I read Genesis 39-41 and Luke 16 I was overwhelmed with one thought, I don't want to. At the outset I was not sure if that was God teaching me something, or how I was feeling about my day. As I probed deeper in the Scriptures and my own heart I found that God was teaching me something. All too often I find God putting opportunities in my path that I do not always see as opportunities, they are seen more as a distraction at best. It is very interesting to me how much I am driven to live life on my terms. How determined I am that things will work out the way I want them to. Enter Joseph. I am sure his life was not on the course he thought it would be. Sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused of raping Potiphar's wife, and sitting in prison for years. When he was a young boy dreaming God's dreams, literally, they painted a much different picture than what he was living. Not once do we have record of Joe complaining about the fairness of the situation. We don't find Joe grumbling that he doesn't want to do this or that. At every turn we find a man of God who seems resigned to live life on God's terms, not his. If that meant making the most of being betrayed by family, being falsely accused, if than meant being forgotten about in prison by someone you helped.

I find in my life there are things I need to do that I do not want to do. There are changes in my life I really don't want to make. What this means in my life is that it is time to dust off that Doctoral application and get to work. How about your life? What does it mean in your life to live on God's terms? What is it you know God is calling you to, but you have been putting off because you don't want to?