Free

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” - Corinthians 3:17

This week I was faced with freedom found and freedom lost, all in the span of forty eight hours. It matters not the how or why of the freedom. If confessed the tale would prove quiet droll, I’m sure, and do little more than subtract from the overall message of this blog. Namely that the very notion, the pre-defined concept of freedom, when couched in human terms, is a prison.

Some of us think that we’ll find freedom in our country or our friends or in the arms of the one we love. In many ways we do, but these freedoms are fleeting. So we seek freedom in self-confidence, or sport, or accomplishments. We find careers to chase and roles to fill. Our identity becomes defined by those things we feel we need to obtain to be happy. Because you have to be happy to be free, right?

Before long we wake up and realize that freedom is a want. No different than money or fame, sex or power.  We spend days and nights feeding the want, instead of nourishing our souls. As such, many of us find confusion, discontentment or disillusionment as triple cousins of a constant sorrow.  

Is it any wonder then that in going through life like this we fail to truly seek, and thus do not find? We knock, but do not even wait for the door to be opened. Then we blame anyone and everyone for our state of being and when we run out of “them” to blame? We start blaming God.

Real freedom is more about this thing called surrender. It's the oddest thing, but only through surrendering do we actually find ourselves less captive. To everything.

Here Comes Christmas / Part III

Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” - John 10-25-30

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. ... Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God." - C. S. Lewis

Response and perspective can only carry us so far. Beyond that we need to produce a defiant faith. A faith that does not rely on logic, proof or any submission to the insistence of man for empirical evidence. In so many ways each person, when they take this step, becomes a living miracle. Much as that baby in the manger. It cannot be said enough that faith is the single most powerful human emotion, for it encapsulates not only the intellect but the soul, marries the two and produces a freedom akin to heaven itself.

Those that "buy in" to the Christmas Story find, before long, an unsettling sense of self. You, that person you know best of all, is getting pushed aside, on the inside. Not in a rude way. There is no imposition here, no forced entry. It is a sweet surrender. As scripture puts it faith, "..is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1). Note the words "sure" and "certain". How you view your inner-self, the world around you and your circumstances are all now subject to a transformation that is necessary, sometimes painful but always rewarding.

How does one become sure of "hope" and certain of what is "unseen"? It starts with the Christmas Story and emerges from there, in the narrative of the life of a man who was far more. A man who stopped for all the hurt in the world, took the time to listen and love, to heal and encourage. From one birth, against all odds and in defiant faith, has come the rebirth of billions of people.

I may not always have the best command of scripture. I often do not have the answers. But I do know one thing: I have that baby. And I will not let go of him until the day I die, when He, at last, will be the one holding me.

Here Comes Christmas / Part II

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I don't know about you but this year has been amazing. I have been blessed in so many ways. Every time I was knocked down the Lord picked me up and whenever I was getting a good old fashioned beating? The Lord had my back. Confused? If you're not then you probably didn't read my blog from yesterday. If you have the time, stop reading this one now, go read that one and come back.

Whereas yesterday I was trying to make a point about our RESPONSE to Christmas...today I'm going to try and make a point about our PERSPECTIVE of Christmas.

What is your perspective on Christmas? I'll bet that, whatever it is, it's very similar to your perspective on your life. Keep in mind that perspective is not only the angle by which we perceive something but also the depth by which we perceive it. How deeply you feel something is as important at how you feel it. My point? I know a few folks who look at this day and Christ in general from one viewpoint or another and say, "Nah." But deep down inside? They aren't so sure. So they hedge their bets. They go through life much the same way: life is hard so God must not be such a good God, right? Bad things happen. There's evil in the world. So God's not so good, right?

The perspective of the Christmas story is that though life will not always be easy, the birth of a new hope is always there. We must remember that of our own lives as well. Blessings come in all shapes and sizes and in the midst of all of our circumstances, all day and each year...we will see them, but only if we maintain the right perspective. 

Here Comes Christmas

I don't know about you but this year has mostly sucked. It's been one challenge after another, one day a knockdown the next day just a good old fashioned beating. I won't lie. It's been a struggle and more days than not I've made it all about me.

I have a few friends who are strong NON-believers. I marvel at how they get through the bad years. Sometimes when I'm with them I see that faint smile come over their face as I witness one second and share a misery the next. It's that "poor, naive Christian" kinda smile. I know that smile very well. I used to wear it myself. They love me. They just don't understand me anymore. That's okay. They don't have to because I love them too. And neither love nor understanding have ever been a prerequisite for the other.

But just when I'm about to give up trying to figure it all out? Here comes Christmas. I read a blog yesterday where the point was made that this holiday isn't JUST about Jesus, it's even more about God's dominion in the world. I suggested that it's even more than that.

I think Christmas is not only about that little baby in the manger but the RESPONSES that his very creation, existence, birth and life brought about. From Mary approached by an angel with this amazing idea, to Joseph confronted with the reality of a virgin birth, to the Wise Men who traveled so far with eyes of hope, to the people and the apostles and the Pharisees and the Romans who awaited in the years ahead...to you and to me. It's always been about how we RESPOND to Him.

Here comes Christmas. If you believe please open your heart wide and pray. If you don't believe? Please just open your heart a tiny bit. Christ will take it from there. As he has since that first cry in the manger.

Discovered

"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.  In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish." - Matthew 18:12-14

Today I want to talk about the lost and found. I've been in both. Found is more fun than lost, though being found does not guarantee never getting lost again. When I'm found I have a better sense of where I am, of where I'm going or, gasp, where I've been. Found is a place, that's all. Like any other place the most it can ever offer is perspective. What we see when we're there is rooted in the eyes by which we see, which is often influenced by the lenses of what we believe.

When I'm found I notice my kids and my wife more. I'm more patient and attentive. I help with the homework or the bath, I make my famous grilled cheese sandwiches (which Anthony claims are even better than Foster Freeze, though I'm not sure that ranks as a compliment) and I'm calmer, less prone to my "bull in a china shop" persona. Found is a happy place. I realize that I'm not alone there and, well, God is more visible.

When I'm lost? Well, that's a different story. Lost is a place like no other because it's a place between places. You're not really "anywhere". You're just "there". On road trips you end up lost when you're going from one place to the next and forget the way. But on the journey of life you mostly end up lost because you have forgotten the why. There are many why's. Why am I here? Why am I alone? Why am I afraid? Why can't I figure it all out? The why's multiply and are so thick that you can arrive at lost and...well...get stuck there.

When you're lost the single, most important thing to remember is that you're worthy of being found. Scripture tells us that to God you are worth searching across the ends of the earth for. He's searching for you right now. He's waiting for you to be ready to leave the "why's" behind and rest in a whole new place that's neither lost nor found but, even better, a place that's called "discovered".

Run the Miles and Earn It

There was a time in my life when I would've demanded to be heard. Straight up. I would've bullied my way into the presence of those that "needed" straightening out with a tyrannical intensity. Self-confidence (read: arrogance) was not a problem for me. You either ended up agreeing with me or you were an idiot. I was so passionate in my beliefs that there simply was no room for yours. I had it all figured out. Life was a zero-sum game; somebody wins and somebody loses. I had no desire to be a loser.

I don't know about you but when I read the bible I see a lot of my past self in a number of people. Certainly in the early Paul (I would've been there, full of self-righteousness, to judge Stephen because, well, he would've dared to disagree with me) and again in Peter (when Judas showed, with his cadre of Roman soldiers, I too would've done a quick survival assessment and cut my losses, even if that loss was Christ) and most certainly in Thomas (I've often asked for proof in the place of faith, because it's a hard world that wants hard answers).

God knows this about me. These men are my mile markers in the bible. For some of you it's Solomon and James. Others of you will identify more with Ruth and the woman at the well and still others will find a lot of yourself in Luke and the prodigal son.  In all the many individuals of the bible there is someone for everyone, and that's the point. How could the word of God speak to each of us if there, inside it, weren't a little bit of us too? But in recognizing your mile markers do not miss the point: you are running a marathon and when the race is done there's only one person you should identify with the most and that person is Jesus.

Jesus wasn't about winning or losing, he was about doing and struggling. And Jesus never demanded to be heard. He earned that right. I think he expects us to earn it as well, a little bit more, each and every day. How? By sharing in the lives of all those around you and being there whenever there is hurt. If Jesus proved nothing else it's that there's not a hurt in the world that cannot be loved away.

A Simple Question

"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” - John 8:12

What are you doing with your life? I mean, really doing with it? What do you represent to those around you? Do you represent desperation and defeat? Do you represent assurance and victory? Is what you became what you expected to become? Or is life just happening to you, like a movie?

On any given day I know what I can represent: all the above. Some days I stride around surrounded by a shield of humbling and empowering faith. Other days I can barely put one foot in front of the other.  I can't speak for other faiths but I know that in Christianity the struggle is what it's all about. Because only the struggle of this world can lead you to Christ. One cannot be "saved" unless they are in need of saving. Who needs saving? The desperate, those in pain, those who are lonely and confused, those who are lost.

Last time I checked, on any given day? That's you and me.

The difference between the "saved" and the "not yet saved" is not a position of dominance, superiority or righteousness. Quite the contrary; it's a position of submission. It's not saying "Oh, I'm past all those forks in the road and I know where I'm going now" as much as it's about saying, "Man, I get lost too, but I have a map now. I have a compass." I am now called to serve, not preach, to help, not judge. Sadly, many of the Christians who get all the press are either promising people prosperity or damning them to hell. In other words, instead of worshiping God they're playing God.

Jesus washed the disciples feet. He loved. He forgave. He listened. He helped. He came and he left but whether it was with the woman at the well, or with the Pharisees, with countless strangers or within his own inner circle of disciples, he seemed to be asking the same question over and over again: What are you doing with your life?

So today, will you take the time to answer him?