How To Be Happy

Finish this sentence: "I'd be happy if ______________".

I had/made more money?

I had a job I liked better?

My marriage/family issues were resolved?

I stopped/started doing something in particular?

I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news, but your answer is an illusion.

Life will always have problems.

You'll never change that. If the thing you wished for at the start of this article came your way, you'd find something else you wanted/needed.

It's a carrot on a stick.

Peter Rollins, in the book Divine Magician, tells the story of a fisherman who encounters a businessman.

The businessman asks where the fisherman is going, to which the fisherman replies that he is heading to the market to sell his fish.

"And what will you do then?" inquires the businessman.

"Probably sit on the beach with my family and talk with passers by" replies the fisherman.

The businessman is upset. "Why waste all that time? If you spent the rest of the day fishing, you could catch more fish and make more money!"

"What for?" asks the fisherman.

"Because", stammers the businessman, "then you could afford to buy better equipment, to catch even more fish. You may be able to eventually afford a boat and then a whole fleet of boats so that you would have enough money to sit on the beach with your family and talk with passers by!"

The idea that happiness is being held back due to the fact you need something to make happiness possible is a fiction; an illusion.

God tells us that one of the products of his spirit in our lives is joy.

And access to God's spirit is not based on money, or a job you like better, or a healthier relationship or anything you do.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't want better relationships, or seek ways to live a healthier life, and I'm not even saying there's anything inherently wrong with making more money or having a job you like better.

I'm simply saying that if you attempt to derive your happiness from these things, you are doomed to failure.

In seek our fulfillment from anything other than God, the Bible has a term for that: idolatry.

It's pretty clear that God isn't a fan of this concept. We were created to be in relationship with God, and anything getting in the way of that simply hurts ourselves.

So in order to be happy in life, ask yourself: what are the things that I am placing my hope in?

Paul, an early follower of Jesus, wrote this to Timothy, a young man who he was training:

"Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment." (1 Timothy 6:17)

Two things here:

First, if you said 'well, I'm not rich so this doesn't apply to me', I want you to know that an American making a little over $30,000 per year is in the richest 1% of the world.

Second, set aside the whole rich thing and pay attention to what Paul says after that.

Don't trust in money, it's unreliable.

We are rich when we look to God for our enjoyment.

If God is your source of pleasure in life, it can never be lost, broken or taken.

Paul isn't simply blowing smoke at us here, either.

Besides shipwrecks, snakebites, being stoned and locked in prison repeatedly, he seems to be a pretty content guy. At one point, the book of Acts describes him being chained in a dungeon and singing praises to God.

If you want to be happy, stop waiting for something or someone else to make you happy.

Decide that you will be grateful and joyful about what God has given you. Take enjoyment and pleasure in all that you do have.

If we spend our lives looking and waiting for the bigger better thing, we will miss what's around us.

Life is always going to have its challenges.

A video game designer named Notch recently sold a game to Microsoft for 2.5 billion dollars and then talked on twitter about the frustration of no longer feeling like he had a purpose other than partying.

You may think this is ridiculous and that you would never get bored of being rich, but simply Google 'money doesn't buy happiness' to read scientific studies on the fact that the Notorious B.I.G. was right when he said 'Mo money, mo problems.'

Choose to be happy where you're at by looking to the God who richly gives.

Think of the times when you got a good job or bought a new car or got a new smartphone. The feeling those things provides you is fleeting. Trying to gain happiness from them will only lead to more pain.

Anchor your happiness in what will not change, and you will be happy.

How To Deal With Worry In Your Life

(Note: a version of this article originally appeared on relevantmagazine.com.) A couple weeks ago, I started having trouble sleeping. Normally, I don’t struggle with getting to sleep, but I’ve got a lot going on right now.

I have a big project deadline coming up at work, my daughter (who has special needs) is starting school again next week with a new aide, and I have a friend who was rushed to shock trauma the other day with a serious medical issue, These are just a few of the topics that weigh on me as I try unsuccessfully to drift into unconsciousness.

I just lay there with those pieces of uncertainty or unfinished business angrily glowing on the checklist of my mind.

Tape recorders of potential upcoming conversations keep playing and rewinding over and over and over again as I’m planning how to deal with existing problems; then trying to figure out what unforeseen problems are coming my way, waiting to burst all over me like a dam.

Somewhere in there, I remember Jesus saying not to worry about tomorrow.

But wasn’t Jesus worried in the Garden of Gethsemane as he literally sweat blood and asked the father to remove the cup of suffering from which Jesus was about to have to drink deeply?

So how is this whole ‘don’t worry’ thing supposed to look in my life?

Should I not be trying to foresee issues and how to resolve them?

What’s the line between ‘not worrying’ and ‘being naive and unprepared for life’?

Trusting in God’s Strength

In Philippians 4, Paul says that he has learned the secret of living whether he has plenty or is in need, and that secret was that he could do all things because of the strength that God gives.

So to Paul, not worrying means we live in confidence of God’s strength.

Worry therefore, is the opposite: it is when we live without confidence in God’s strength.

Because if I were to vocalize my worry, it would probably sound like this, “When I don’t know what’s going to happen, I don’t have much control over the outcome, and I’m not comfortable with that arrangement.”

That’s a lot different than Paul’s approach which didn’t depend on the situation, but in the unchanging nature and character of God.

Trust vs. Control

Trusting in God doesn’t mean we have to love the situations we find ourselves in. Jesus clearly didn’t love the day of agony and abandonment he was facing.

Paul wasn’t hoping to endure more shipwrecks and stonings.

I don’t want my car to break down, or for my daughter to have a hard time at school; but the question I ask is whether those things loom larger in my mind than God’s goodness and his sovereignty (that is, the fact that he is in control and that he cares about me).

Because if my issues and problems are bigger than God in my own eyes, they will have a bigger influence in my life than God does; and that is what noted and respected biblical scholars like to refer to as ‘a bad idea’.

There’s nothing wrong with making plans and preparations, but if we ignore the nature of God (all powerful, all knowing, all present), how much good can our plans really do?

This doesn’t mean we should run to the opposite approach, embodied by the ancient Stoics who believed that you could only find peace once you accepted that the universe was giving you the best possible outcomes and you obtained peace by accepting everything without question.

We serve a God that has invited us in to his plans of making all things new. He says we have a part to play in that process. Rather than accepting everything the way it is, we can push back against injustice and heartache in our world.

But in the midst of all this, how do we incorporate trust in God’s strength into our everyday lives?

I love to look for ways to make the scriptures practically applicable in my life. When I’m facing worry, I think Paul lobs us a softball in Philippians 4:6-7 (the same chapter where he talks about having the secret to contentment):

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

I like to boil this down to a pseudo mathematical formula:

Pray + Thank = Peace.

• Pray

This is definitely not about telling God what you want him to do. This is about remembering his nature and character.

Look at Jesus praying in Gethsemane. His prayer wasn’t even about uncertainty. Most of us would probably agree that Jesus knew everything that was coming his way when he was praying in Gethsemane. His prayer was about asking God for strength.

Prayer may not result in God ‘fixing your situation’ the way you would demand from a genie, but he gives us promises that will strengthen us as we seek his will both in and through our lives.

• Thank

If you’re following Jesus, I’m guessing you have a story or two about instances where things seemed pretty hopeless, but in the end they worked out.

Maybe that’s part of your salvation experience.

Hopefully you have another story or two of times you cried out to God and he responded. Remind yourself of those stories.

God is not a mean kid with a magnifying glass on an anthill. You are not foolish to trust him.

In addition to loving you, God has invested a great deal into you - he’s not going to kick you to the curb.

Thank him for what he’s done, and choose to exercise faith by thanking him in advance for what he will do.

• Peace

Usually, my worry is directly linked to my ability to comprehend the ‘master plan’. I say stuff like, “I’m willing to trust God, I just want to know what he’s up to.”

Jesus says that his peace goes beyond all understanding, so our ability to ‘stop worrying’ isn't linked to our ability to figure stuff out.

In fact, our uncertainty about the future is a chance to trust God.

God is faithful to us even (especially?) when we don’t deserve it.

So in the times when I don’t get why God is allowing something in my life - I didn’t get into the school of my choice, or I didn’t get hired into a place that I think would have been perfect - it’s an opportunity to reflect some of that faithfulness to God.

• Remember who is in control

Dr. Henry Cloud, in the Boundaries books series, teaches us that we do not control other people. We may also not have very much control over situations that we have to face, but we are ridiculously in control of ourselves.

Dr. Emmerson Eggerichs in Love and Respect, says it this way: “Your response is your responsibility.”

You can’t decide whether your identity is going to be stolen, or if you will contract a disease, or if your computer suddenly stops working.

You can take steps to lower your risk, sure, but guarantee that they won’t happen? No chance.

But what you are 100% in charge of is how you will respond to the risk.

I think this is what Jesus is talking about in Luke 12 when he challenges us by asking, “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?”

I take him to say, ‘Trust God in the stuff that you have no control over’.

Maybe this last thought will put you at ease - stop worrying whether bad things will happen, because they will. Jesus promised that in this world, we would have trouble. So instead of worrying about if or when or what, spend your time becoming the kind of person who responds in healthy ways to the challenges of this life.

Make plans, create strategies for life, but in the midst of it all, draw strength from your trust in God no matter what comes your way. Pray, give thanks, and be at peace.

Making Faith Practical eBook Now Available!

I have released a new eBook about making faith practical!

You can purchase and download it on Amazon.

In it, I take what Jesus says in Matthew 5:3-10, commonly called The Beatitudes, and explore ways we can incorporate these truths into our daily lives.

I mean, who really prays to be poor or persecuted? So how do we incorporate these ideas into our lives to receive the blessing which Jesus promises will accompany them?

I hope you enjoy it and find it useful in your everyday journey of following Jesus!

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,

   for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

God blesses those who mourn,

   for they will be comforted.

God blesses those who are humble,

   for they will inherit the whole earth.

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,

   for they will be satisfied.

God blesses those who are merciful,

   for they will be shown mercy.

God blesses those whose hearts are pure,

   for they will see God.

God blesses those who work for peace,

   for they will be called the children of God.

God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,

for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” (Matthew 5:3-10)

Why Isn't My Life Easier When I Follow Jesus?

Why isn't life easier? I follow Jesus. I try to be kind to others, I read my bible regularly, I give to my church and charity, yet I often feel like life is a boxing match where I'm in the 12th round against a heavy weight.

Doesn't God...I don't know...kind of...owe me? At least a little?

I mean listen, I know Jesus went to the cross for me and I can never pay him back for that. I get that and I'm so grateful. But shouldn't I get to avoid some of the issues other people deal with because I'm on board with what God asks me to do?

Have you ever thought something like this?  Even if I say that God doesn't owe me one, I often act like it when something less than perfect happens in my life.

I know that Jesus said in this world we will have troubles, but shouldn't that just be stuff like, occasionally somebody tells me I'm dumb for believing in Jesus? Something manageable, something that doesn't really hurt.

I've been a pastor at a mid-sized church for the last 3 years and we've had tons of people dealing with illness and financial problems and addictions and everything else you can name. We've lost several people to cancer in my time. I've had to do a funeral for a 2 day old baby.

That's just the difficulties I hear about. I also have challenges in my own life that just make life hard. My wife and I are still dealing with the financial fallout from the failure of a business we believe God told us to buy several years ago. Having a child with special needs is a never ending battle in numerous ways.

My wife and I occasionally talk about whether we'll ever get to a point where life isn't just so dang hard.

Shouldn't we get off better than the rest of society because we're working to be obedient to Jesus? Shouldn't the abundant life Jesus talks about in John 10:10 be a little more cushy?

I've prayed about this as I really explored the depth of my self centeredness (it was ugly) and I feel like there's 2 reasons why this completely selfish disposition of mine is off base:

First, God is looking for faith.

Listen, if everybody who decided to follow Jesus got a Cadillac, lost 30 pounds and found their dream job, who wouldn't follow Jesus? And how would it be possible for anyone to be a genuine disciple of the man who told us to pick up our cross and follow him?

I don't know about you, but when everything is going well, I actually have the hardest time getting closer to Jesus.

I feel like he occasionally allows my life you involve some chaos so help me remain engaged in discipleship - the process of getting closer to him.

The abundant life Jesus is referring to involves so much more than money and possessions. It's about a life of more meaning. It may not always show up on a bank statement.

Are we willing to trust God to bless us, even when it's not in the manner we would request?

Or, are we only in this thing for what we can get out of it? The scriptures repeatedly affirm that we are called to patiently have faith in the face of doubt or unfulfillment. (James 1:12, Revelation 2:10, Matthew 25:1-13)

Will we trust that God will fulfill his promises to us when all the evidence we see points to the contrary? The word for that is 'faith'.

Second, there is an enemy at work

In Matthew 13:24-30, there's a story called 'The Parable of the Tares'. You can read the whole thing for yourself, but the summary is that Jesus tells of a farmer (representing God) that plants his fields with good seed.

In the night, an enemy plants weeds among the crops.

By the time the farm workers figured it out, they couldn't do anything about it. Pulling up the weeds would damage the crops, so the farmer tells them to let the weeds grow. At harvest time, they will separate the weeds from the crops.

In Strength To Love, Martin Luther King Jr. breaks down this story.

King notes that Jesus never disputes the reality of evil. He does not say that the weeds were an illusion or a state of mind. He says that the weeds - evil - is real.

The other thing Jesus tells us is that God is going to deal with evil once and for all at the time of the harvest.

In the meantime, Jesus calls the satan 'the ruler of this world' (John 12:31).

The kingdom of God is here, and it is yet to fully arrive. We can not expect a world which is not paradise to treat us as though it were.

_________

When I keep these truths in mind - that God is looking for faith and that there is an enemy at work, it helps me approach life more prepared.

There's a big difference to preparing for a beach trip versus preparing to run a Tough Mudder.

God has promised abundant life and he's going to deliver it. It's a promise that I believe in, so I'm willing to put everything I've got into putting myself in a position to receive it.

How To Figure Out God's Plan For Your Life

"God has a plan for you" You've probably heard that (or some variation of it) dozens of times, if not hundreds.

Maybe you've heard it when everything is going wrong, and somebody was trying to encourage you. To give you hope.

Perhaps in a time of frustration or devastation, somebody quoted Jeremiah 29:11to you where the prophet records God as saying "For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Or maybe it's not even out of crisis or loss that somebody talked to you about God's plan for your life, but simply because you're dealing with the mundane mediocrity of everyday life. Working at a job that doesn't feel like its advancing God's kingdom in this world.

It's encouraging to believe that God not only has a plan for us, but that it's a good plan. A plan that will be fulfilling and meaningful.

The problem we run into is in trying to figure out what that plan is. We're okay with "trusting" God when we know what's going to happen (or at least we think we know) - but when we don't have the full picture, when we have no idea what God is up to, that's when it's difficult.

The word for that is 'faith', and it's really tough. It's much harder than you would expect with how much people talk about faith.

In an effort to help us as we seek to incorporate this faith into our daily lives, I have included some practical steps for engaging your faith in the area of figuring out God's plan for your life.

Now, I need to clarify that prayer throughout this process is critical. To quote Martin Luther King Jr., "Prayer is a marvelous and necessary supplement of our feeble efforts, but it is a dangerous substitute."

With that in mind, here are three things you can do to find God's plan for your life.

• Try different things.

There's a verse in the book of Psalms that says, "Be still and know that I am God." (46:10)

There's value in knowing that sometimes we need to be careful not to replace devotion to God with doing stuff for God. But on the same hand, sitting around and waiting for your ship to come in isn't very biblical, either.

Being obedient to Jesus means you need to know what obedience looks like. By trying different things -trying different groupon events, volunteering on a team at church, going on an outreach, etc; you can figure out things which you are passionate about. Art? Music? Social Justice? Education? Kids?

Because God isn't going to automatically call you to do stuff that you hate. Sometimes we have this idea that God wants us to continually suffer and we can't enjoy ministry or serving God, but that's not God - that's a bully.

God is a loving Father who wants us the best for us. Sometimes that means facing challenges, but it also means learning to use our gifts.

If you find the intersection of what you're good at and what you care about, you will have found your calling.

Make a list of things you're good at. Now make a list of things you care about. Circle places where the two can collaborate.

Love kids and are good at music? Get involved in the kids ministry at church using music.

Love people and are great at leading discussion? Get involved in a small group at your church.

In order to do this, you need to know what you're good at and what you care about, so try anything and everything you can until you have these answers.

If your church doesn't have a class about finding these things out about yourself, I'd encourage you to read the book S.H.A.P.E. by Eric Rees to help you figure some of these things out. In order to know what God is calling you to do, you have to understand who he has made you to be.

• What makes you mad?

Martin Luther King Jr also said "If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."  In other words, figure out what you are willing to die for, and live for that purpose.

God doesn't need men and women to make a difference in this world. He's God. He could blink and change everything, but God has chosen to work through people like you and men to make a difference in the world.

I don't know why God has chosen to work through us, imperfect and broken as we are, but he is very clear about it. What areas of brokenness in this world are you simply not willing to ignore? Throw yourself into bringing the restoration and redemption of Jesus into those areas.

Does social injustice make you mad? Is it kids not having a support network? Domestic violence? Refugee camps? Sex Trafficking?

You have one life. If you can use it to make a difference on one issue, what would it be? Bill Hybels calls this 'Holy Discontent'. You find something that makes you so upset that you simply won't allow it to go on without doing something about it.

Our natural reaction is to look away from places of pain and hurt. Instead of looking away, start to research and explore places of pain to see which of them where you simply have to make a difference.

• Do what makes sense

King Solomon, in the book of Proverbs, tell us that we make our plans, but the Lord directs our steps. (16:9)

In other words, get moving, and God will get you where he wants you to be.

If you go through the first two steps and feel like you have several options, and don't feel that God is clearly telling you to choose one of them, then start with the one that seems to make the most sense to you.

We can become paralyzed by indecision, worrying that 'I might find myself doing something completely different than what God wanted me to do.

Again, let's remember that we're dealing with loving Father here, not jerk boss.

Thomas Merton once wrote a prayer that included the following line: "The fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you."

Let's assume that if we are seeking to please God, he loves it. and if he wants us to go a completely different direction, he'll make it happen.

In the book of Revelation, God defines himself with this phrase: "What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open." (3:7)

If God wants to get you somewhere specific, he can simply open and close certain opportunities and possibilities to get you there. He's not worried about whether he can guide you.

If you simply seek in obedience to fulfill the purposes God has put in your heart, he will make sure you end up in the right place.

________

I hope that these steps encourage you. You will not stand before God one day and be berated because he was calling you to move to Lichtenstein and become a goat herder and you totally missed what he was saying.

God made you for a purpose, and while you may not see how you fit into the overall picture for this world, God sees it; and if you seek to honor God in all you do, he will accept that as worship, and he is not cruel to anyone, let alone those who worship God.

Continue to seek to please our Father, and you will certainly accomplish your purpose.

10 Ways To Hear From God

Hearing what God is saying to us is important, I've never met a follower of Jesus who didn't feel this way. But what do we do when we don't seem to have our radio tuned to the right frequency? What are some ways we can seek to hear what God is saying to us if he's not writing his words with lightning in the sky? Below are some ideas of ways we can proactively seek to hear God in our lives:

1. Other people

God has a history of speaking through other people: prophets, writers of scripture, etc. Why would God call us to live in community if he didn't intend to speak to us through that community? I intentionally talk with a select group of people about my life in order to get their perspective - and they want mine in response. They have other gifts and talents than I have - which is exactly what God intended (see the Body of Christ chapter in 1 Corinthians 12). They can speak out of God's gifts into my life.

2. Music

Music can stir our souls. It can inspire us and move us. I dare you to go watch Rocky or Star Wars on mute during scenes with music to see the difference. God made music to have these properties. Go crank up a worship album or classical music spotify playlist and let yourself be swept up into the thundering beauty of strings or drums or rhythm instruments.

3. Church

I know many people who love Jesus but don't love church. I get it. I was there myself at a couple points in my life. But church is important. Some kind of gathering based on faith in Jesus is crucial in our lives. Jesus tells us that where two or more are gathered in his name, he's there as well. The technical term for that is a 'commanded blessing'. God is saying, when you do the following thing, I guarantee I'll respond in this particular way. God has also given gifts to men and women like teaching and encouraging (see Ephesians 4:11). If you're not around these people, you're missing out on God speaking to you through their gifts. Being in a crowd of people who are seeking Jesus is a great way to make a connection with what God is saying to you.

4. Books

Books are amazing things. They can put thoughts of other people into your own head. Another term for this is 'gaining new perspectives'. Other people may see God in different ways than you have ever seen him. Maybe you are seeking answers to questions and others can offer you thoughts on some answers you have never considered. When I was dealing with a great deal of frustration as I worked at a job that I hated, I started to read a lot of books. They changed my life. Seeing God from other angles than my own showed how much bigger he is than I realize from where I stand.

5. Art

I have a canvas picture on my wall from the artist Banksy. It's an image of a freedom fighter with a bandana covering his nose and mouth, getting ready to hurl something. You'd expect there to be a rock or a molotov cocktail in his hand, but instead there is a bouquet of flowers. I love the picture. It makes me think, it creates questions within me. And it is in those spaces which are created that God can speak to me.

6. Nature

This is a personal favorite of mine. I love to go out in nature. My favorite time is when the world is asleep and the sky is full of stars. I look at them and realize that each one is huge ball of burning gas, millions of miles away. I can't even fathom the size or the distance or one, yet there are hundreds and thousands in my sight...and the God who made each one is bigger than the universe. It takes me to a place of utter and absolute awe. David writes in Psalm 19:1 "The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship." Nature is big and beautiful and it points me to its creator.

7. Thinking

As an analytical person, I like to go out on a walk (nature - #6) and invite the Holy Spirit into my thinking. If I have a problem I'm trying to solve, or I'm simply considering what I'm supposed to be doing in life, I'll just start to think about it; and I trust that God is able to guide my thoughts like a river in a river bed. God gave you your brain. He talks about renewing your mind when you follow him. The thoughts you think exist because God breathes life into you. This is why I specifically ask people, has God been telling you something or showing you something? Sometimes, he will speak to us through our own process of understanding.

8. Bible

I know, cheating, right? I intentionally didn't list this one near the beginning of this list, but there's no doubt it's important. God did not give us a textbook to study for a test. I love how N.T. Wright says that the Gospel is Good News, not Good Advice. God gave us written scriptures for a reason. He wants us to read them because he wants us to know some important things. I would encourage you to read the scriptures regularly and not just by opening your bible randomly. Read through the books. See the story God is sharing with us and inviting us into, not just a couple lines out of context.

9. Revelation

Maybe you've heard God audibly speak to you. Or maybe you've had a vision. Perhaps you've had a situation where a thought suddenly filled your head and you couldn't avoid it. If God wants to tell you or me something important, nothing will stop him from doing it. Usually, the part we play in this event is to choose whether or not we will be obedient. Jonah, of Bible fame, initially made a bad choice in his situation. I've had a couple times where I did the same thing. Jonah and I may have the stubbornness trait in common. I encourage you to just say yes if God shows you something clear as day.

10. Prayer

Okay, I know. We could call all of the previous points 'prayer', or we could say that prayer needs to be part of every other point. You may be right. But here's what I mean with this one: Prayer is about the heart more than the head. Thinking and writing and considering and reading all have a large component of intellect, and that's good. But Paul talks about Christ living in our hearts (Ephesians 3:17). And if Jesus lives in our hearts, then when we speaks to us, it will probably sounds like our own heart is talking to us. Prayer involves getting quiet enough to learn the difference. It would be easy to do all the other stuff on this list while trying to actually avoid the moment of getting quiet and vulnerable to let God say something maybe we've been trying to avoid hearing.

Prayer is being open to God, and listening to him. He can speak in many different ways to us (hence this list), but if we're not listening, the value is lost.

God wants the best for us, so we must learn not to fear what he asks us or tells us. So let us have the courage to be open to what he is saying at any given time.

Why Criticism Is So Unhealthy

There's an ad campaign going around right now where a person talks about having satellite television. Then, they introduce an 'alternate universe' version of themselves who has a deficiency and this version of themselves has cable. The tag line is "Don't be like this me. Get satellite TV."

I feel like there are some different versions of myself.

'Normal me' is a nice guy. You'd like him. He's friendly and engaging - plenty of witty and humorous remarks. Most people like normal me. I like normal me.

But there's another guy that I hope you don't meet. It's 'On The Highway During Rush Hour' me.

He can be an unbelievable jerk. He tells everyone else all the stuff they're doing wrong. If you're driving too fast or too slow, he's going to talk about that. If you change lanes too often, or if you stay in the left lane without changing, be prepared to have your intelligence questioned.

'Rush Hour' me thinks he is better than everyone else, but all he accomplishes is causing frustration to anyone who is in his own car with him.

Don't be like 'Rush Hour' me.

In fact, let's look at what makes 'Rush Hour' me such a problem: he's always criticizing people.

Criticism is a form of arrogance. It comes from a perspective that I am smarter than other people and know what they should be doing rather than what they are actually, currently doing.

Here's the worst part about 'Rush Hour' me: sometimes he shows up in places other than the car during crazy traffic.

He can show up in my marriage, in my parenting, in my workplace, and pretty much any other places.

When I'm in this mode, I'm all about telling other people what they should think, say, and do.

Here's the bottom line when it comes to this behaviour: in Philippians 2:3, Paul writes, "Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves."

Criticism happens when I value 'being right' more than I value other people.

When I look at Jesus, I see a human who literally had all the answers. He had every right to tell people how we get it wrong, but most of the time, he talks about the better ways to live life rather than pushing our noses in the ways we were getting it wrong.

His whole Sermon on the Mount was reframing the way to have a fuller life, and he was pointing to areas where we were getting it wrong (hate your enemy, divorce any woman with little effort or cause, lusting and hating are okay if you don't act on it), but he didn't insult the intelligence or personhood of his listeners.

In fact, the only people that got to hear Jesus being critical were the religious leaders, who spent their time criticising others. It's almost like Jesus gave them exactly what they were giving to others...treating them the way they were treating others - which is a lesson Jesus repeatedly taught - you get what you give (see Luke 6:30).

Jesus was God. He was qualified to be 'where the buck stops' in this process. But you and I are not qualified to do this. We're not very good at knowing what is justice, versus what is revenge or retribution.

When Paul tells us to view others as better than ourselves, he's asking us to trust that God is going to set all the wrongs to right.

He's asking us to leave space for people to hear what God is saying to them. Or to say that another way:  When you criticize people, you get in the way of the Holy Spirit working in their life.

If you see people heading for disaster, this doesn't mean you should say nothing, but criticism won't help them or you. Think about your natural reaction to criticism. Now ask why others should react to criticism differently? Because you're smarter? Takes us back to that arrogance problem, right?

Accountability is a healthier way to help others. We should be a champion for people in our life, not an accuser.

The term 'The Satan' literally means 'The Accuser'. God knows we don't need more satans in our lives.

When you criticize, you are literally being 'The Satan' to another person.

I hope that 'Rush Hour' me is reading this article right now. If he is, I want to say this: Love is a better way. You can't improve the world through criticism, but you can improve it through love.

How To Respond to #ShoutYourAbortion

Wow. To quote the movie Anchorman, 'that escalated quickly'.

The hastag 'shoutyourabortion' started trending today, and already I'm seeing one side angrily shaming the 'feminazis' who are also angrily lashing out at the 'trolls' who are condemning them.

As a Christian who doesn't let any political party tell me what I should think and what position I should take, how do I handle something like this?

I like to think in terms of stories, and I've been trying to think of a good story in the scriptures that helps me frame this argument. Is it John 8 where an adulterous woman is dragged before Jesus to be stoned?

I don't think that's a perfect representation, because in this case, there's not a silent party who knows they have been caught doing wrong. Both sides are pointing at the other and shouting for the rest of us to stone them.

Is it like 1 Kings 3 where King Solomon is asked to determine the real mother of a certain baby and he cleverly suggests cutting the baby in half to determine the true mother when she, in compassion for her baby, offers to surrender her rights?

This doesn't seem to fit either, as neither side seems to have a great deal of compassion for the other side.

I settled on a story in Luke 12. It's also quite imperfect in some ways, but the principle may help us here.

Jesus has literally just finished speaking about how each person has great value to God when a man shouts out, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” (v.13)

Jesus responds to the man in the next verse. “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” He then starts to talk about how dangerous greed is.

Here are the principles in that story that I think are very meaningful to us as we process our modern day arguement:

1.Jesus isn't going to let us play the game of putting him in the middle of our arguments.

It's hilarious to me that Jesus asks, 'who made me a judge over you to decide such things'. I mean, come on, he's God in the flesh. There's no one more qualified, yet he refuses to play this game of 'take my side against him'.

When we argue for or against abortion on moral grounds (is it better to have an abortion than to let a child live in a home with unfit parents or poverty, etc), we're essentially trying to get Jesus on our side and against the other side. He is Lord and Savior, not a pawn in our own personal chess game.

2.Get rid of your desire to condemn people and choose to love them instead.

Jesus' warning to the man who asked about greed doesn't exactly apply here, but I believe our willingness to arrogantly condemn others would receive a similar reaction. Jesus was telling the man in question that he valued money more than a relationship with his brother.

Do we value 'being right' more than showing love and compassion and acceptance to a son or daughter of God?

In Ephesians 6:12, Paul makes it crystal clear that our enemy is never other people. Even if somebody else is completely wrong or immoral or evil, you are not excused from treating them with love.

If you do not believe abortion is healthy for anyone involved, then look for ways to resolve the underlying problems rather than using shame as a tool which can never actually improve anything:

• Volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center
• Teach literacy and job skills at a local school or youth center
• Look into adoption

Give people hope and assistance instead of scorn. Follow the example of Jesus who did not condemn us, but rather called us to something better.

The old saying says that honey catches more flies than vinegar. Father Greg Boyle says that 'nothing stops a bullet better than a job.'

What are you doing to reduce abortions in a way that gives dignity to women rather than attempting to disgrace them?

Please do not go on social media and express pity for the women who have had an abortion. Pity is a form of arrogance. Instead offer compassion. Compassion cares about people whereas pity is thinly veiled scorn.

Ask people to share their story. Learn about why they made their choice, and see if there are ways you can bring healing in places of hurt.

Even if you don't agree with choices people make, you can care about them and what challenges they have had to face.

I doubt anybody goes to get an abortion because 'it seems like fun'. I bet most people take the decision very seriously. I think Jesus would listen to stories of hurt, like he did in Luke 8 with the woman who had a serious health issue before responding with compassion.

This is the Jesus who offered compassion to the people who murdered him. There is no one beyond his compassion, and if we are his ambassadors, we are tasked with sharing that message.

Here's one last story that we should remember: Luke 15 where God compares himself to a Father who RUNS to his child that is returning from a life far from himself.

At one time, we've all been the prodigal. Those of us who have used shame and scorn and condemnation need to be first to return to the home of our Father. Only then can we celebrate the return of others who are seeking an environment of love and rejoicing.

So here's the side I hope you choose in this arguement: Love. Loving the people who are made in the image of God. Let us seek together how to continue inviting the Kingdom of God into our midst

And may the church be the loudest voice of love in our society.

9 Ways to Get Out of A Spiritual Rut

There's this quirky story in the gospel of John: There's a pool called Bethesda, and around this pool, invalids and people with various illnesses would wait for the waters to suddenly be stirred. The belief was that the first person into the pool after the water stirred would be healed. It's not clear in the story whether it actually worked - if anybody got healed by this method, but what is clear is this: that when the water was still, nothing happened.

When everything is stagnant in our lives, we will most likely not see any motion. Occasionally, we need to change our routine, change our 'normal' so that we get different results.

To paraphrase Einstein, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten.

With that in mind, here are 10 ideas for shaking things up in your faith to get something better than 'the usual':

1. Join a group at church.

This isn't just about making yourself busy. The point here is to learn about other people's story of faith. When you're not sure what God is doing in your life, listen to what he's doing in other people's lives. Joining a small group or a volunteer team is a way to connect with others and be able to learn what God is doing in their lives.

2. Take a road trip

Get out of your normal surrounds. Take a day trip or an overnight trip. If you want, make it a silent retreat. Turn down the volume of your life in order to hear the quiet whispers that may already be there.

3. Read a book that challenges your faith.

If you don't know of any books, let me make a few recommendations: Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber // Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle // Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller // The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel

Or, ask your friends about books that have inspired them.

4. Take a leader at your church out to lunch.

Ask his or her perspective on a biblical/theological/faith-centric topic that you've given consideration to. Ask them how they get out of a spiritual funk. Ask them ways you could contribute to your community of faith. Ask them anything, just so long as you get to hear a different perspective.

5. Download an app to memorize some scriptures

In multiple places, God talks about wanting his words to be in our hearts. Getting them in our head is a great first step.

6. Find a non-profit where you can volunteer and serve a group of people you usually ignore.

Doing something you don't feel fully able to do is a great way to increase your reliance of God, which can certainly lead to a refreshed relationship. Kind of like the whole 'step out of the boat' thing Peter went through. I bet that changed his view of Jesus a bit.

7. Fast

This is going to sound sappy, but I mean it genuinely: if you want to experience hunger in part of your life (spiritually), it helps to experience it in another part of your life (physically). When I'm fasting and the hunger pangs start, I say 'God, my body is hungry for food, but I want to be hungry for you'. It sounds stupid, but it really does help you start to transfer that desire.

8. Read the Same Bible book over and over again.

If you're reading the Bible day after day and getting nothing out of it, try picking a shorter book, like 1 John, and read it everyday for a month. You'll start seeing what you're reading everywhere you look.

9. Start a journal

I used to be terrible at journaling. It started on day one with a list of my prayer requests and by day three it was the same prayer requests and I stopped. I could see no point or benefit. So instead of writing a prayer journal or a spiritual journey journal, I started a tumblr where I just wrote about books I read, and observations I made, and things I thought God may be showing me. I wrote every weekday for a year and it changed my life.

These are just a few ideas to get you jump started. They're all about the same basic two ideas: get a different perspective or do something that makes you a little uncomfortable.

Do you have other ways you've gotten yourself out of a rut? Please comment and share!

What To Do When You're Angry At God

One of the things that I love about Jesus is that he's a realist. Case in point: one of Jesus' disciples records him saying "Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows." (John 16:33)

He doesn't mince words by saying 'you may have trouble' or 'bad things could happen'. He gives us a guarantee. It's certainly not one of the promises we talk about claiming when we're in church.

But Jesus knew that sometimes life will suck.

Illness can strike, a loved one can die, we can lose a job or a house or our transportation.

So the question is not 'will something bad happen', or even 'what/when/how bad things will happen', for we cannot control those things, but rather 'how will we respond when bad things happen'?

The most important thing we can do in these situations is to respond by being honest with God.

When I am dealing with difficult emotions or frustration with God, I look to the Psalms.

The author of Psalm 44 writes "Wake up, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Get up! Do not reject us forever."

David opens Psalm 55 with "Listen to my prayer, O God. Do not ignore my cry for help! Please listen and answer me, for I am overwhelmed by my troubles."

In Psalm 3, David prays "Arise, O LORD! Rescue me, my God! Slap all my enemies in the face! Shatter the teeth of the wicked!"

Imagine if I got up on stage at my church, asked everyone to bow their heads for prayer and then started saying any of those things. People would be shocked. Offended.

Yet nothing we say comes as a surprise to God. When we are honest with God about how we feel, it is something he already knows.

David was called a man after God's own heart despite his failings because he invited God into his emotions.

We read the prayer to destroy his enemies and it makes us uncomfortable, because the violent texts do not fit well with our concepts of the loving Father.

Yet in this case, we don't have to assume that God endorses David's prayer. He's simply allowing David to express his rage in the situation he faces. David trusts God with his real feelings, knowing that God loves him in the midst of his despair and fear and anger.

Anne Lamott in Help, Thanks, Wow says that “you might shout at the top of your lungs or whisper into your sleeve, "I hate you, God." That is a prayer...because it is real, it is truth, and maybe it is the first sincere thought you've had in months.”

When I realized that God isn't afraid of or upset by my anger or hurt or fear, but that instead he wanted to be invited into those places within me to bring healing, I began to open up more with my emotions to God.

I began to start my prays with 'God, I feel ________ today'.

Sometimes it was optimistic. Sometimes it was frustrated. Sometimes it was scared.

The next line was to welcome God into those emotions. Until I could be honest with God about those emotions, I couldn't be honest with myself about how I was feeling.

Telling God how you feel doesn't guarantee that he will 'fix' the situation immediately. But it does create space for him to provide healing and comfort that hits our soul like air in our lungs after being underwater for too long.

As William Nicholson wrote in Shadowlands, "[prayer] does not change God - it changes me"

When you are angry at God, follow the example he provides to us in the Psalms:

1. Share those feelings with God.
2. Invite God to meet you in those feelings.
3. Allow God to work in you even while you are in the midst of your situation. It's not about what's happening to you, it's about what's happening in you.

God's not looking for men and women who can put on the nicest face on a Sunday at church. He's looking for the ones courageous enough to take off the mask and be themselves, trusting that God's love is bigger than our hurts and our concerns for appearance.

3 Things Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Teaches Me

Last week, a county clerk in Kentucky blew up your social media feed. The Supreme Court legalized gay marriage earlier this year. In light of this ruling, James Yates and Will Smith went to their local courthouse to obtain a marriage license. County Clerk Kim Davis refused to issue a marriage license to them.

Mrs. Davis has cited her Christian beliefs as the reason for refusing the marriage license.

She has since been held in contempt of court for refusing to comply with the orders of the federal court system.

If you search for #kimdavis on social media, you're going to spend most of your time reading about somebody on the fast track to sainthood and a new American hero...or a simpleminded, bigoted law breaker.

We continue to demonstrate that we aren't very good at having a discussion in our society, but we're great at having arguments.

We've been trained by 24 hour cable news and politicians and various other outlets that the best way to communicate my viewpoint is by trashing the opposing viewpoint. If you don't agree with me, you're not just wrong, you're also evil and dangerously stupid.

As somebody who wants my faith to impact my daily life, I don't want to be part of insulting, hateful arguing. So what can I learn from this situation - that is, how can I be part of conversation and discussion rather than fighting?

1. Start with respect.

Kim Davis is not a monster. Neither are James Yates and William Smith, the couple who tried (unsuccessfully) to get a marriage license on multiple occasions from Mrs. Davis.

None of them wake up in the morning and ask "How can I undermine the fabric of humanity today?"

Clearly they have different viewpoints on what is right and what is wrong in the case of gay marriage.

We'll get into that in a minute.

As a Christian, I must believe that each person in this argument - including internet trolls on both sides - are made in the image of God. Every single person bears God's imprint.

Next time you're about to call someone a moron or an idiot, remember Matthew 5:22 where Jesus says:

"But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell."

Now that probably hits our ears as a threat - if you get angry and insult or curse someone, you're going to get some kind of spiritual payback. God's gonna get you, so to speak.

But what if Jesus isn't threatening us, but he's warning us in a loving way? What if he's essentially telling us that when we start making ourselves superior to other people, it can lead to our own destruction?

Jesus loves us. If he's giving us a warning, it's for our own good. We need to start with valuing other people - not devaluing them -  because God loves them as much as he loves us.

2. Seek to understand the other viewpoint.

Let's take a minute and get introspective. You have an opinion on gay marriage. The way you got to that opinion was by running the topic through your personal worldview. That worldview is influenced by your experiences, your culture, your faith, your family and peers, your education, etc.

Realize that it is completely reasonable for a person with wildly different experiences, culture, family, friends, etc to come to a different conclusion than you.

The preachers outside the courthouse are doing their best to help people. The people ripping those preachers to shreds online are doing their best to help people.

If you can start from that assumption, that the 'other side' isn't satan's personal envoy to you, you can actually start to talk instead of argue.

3. Don't choose a side. 

When you pick a side, it becomes necessary for you to prove the other side wrong.

So don't choose a side. Choose to love people.

You can hold an opinion, but when your opinion is more important to you than other people, you're out of line with God's values.

Jesus shared plenty of unpopular opinions, but he did it in such a loving way that everyone wanted to be around him, including what Matthew 9:11 refers to in one translation as the 'scum' of society.

Pretty much everyone (except the exceptionally self righteous) wanted to be around Jesus because he was the most upright, noble person who ever lived and he made them feel better about themselves. He made them want to have a better relationship with God.

Christians are not God's police officers. We are God's ambassadors. If Azerbaijan sent ambassadors to DC who walked the streets telling Americans how bad and dumb they were, nobody would want to go visit Azerbaijan.

People won't hear what we have to share if all we're doing is trying to prove them wrong.

___

We have an amazing opportunity to have huge conversations across the globe thanks to social media. Wasting that opportunity on insults and vitriol is a huge mistake.

I love Kim Davis, I love James Yates and I love William Smith and I want to be part of the conversation they have prompted.

I want my involvement to point to the fact that we are all made by God and loved by God so that people want to keep hearing what I have to say. Because the best way to have influence of any kind is to be invited to participate. Maybe that's why Jesus made such a difference.

How to Respond to Tragedy

We live in an amazing age where people anywhere in the world can get up close and personal perspectives on tragedy happening in other parts of the world. The effects of the war in Syria, the actions of groups like Boko Haram, labor and sex slavery, and many, many others show up in our twitter and facebook feeds.

So how should a person who wants their faith to inform and affect their daily life respond to the ability to learn about the heart breaking realities in our world?

Let's start with what not to do. A to-don't list, if you will.

First, don't respond by ignoring them. These stories are upsetting. They hurt to learn about. We must follow the example of our creator, who, even when we hurt him, refused to ignore us. We are part of this world and when we refuse to allow anything to interrupt our starbucks-work-gym routine, we're going to miss out on a large chunk of our makeup - with is an individual called to be in community with other humans who are also made in God's image.

Second, don't respond with guilt. You have a computer or smartphone that you can use to surf the internet. Endless entertainment and distraction is available for your leisure time. That doesn't make you a terrible person for relaxing or enjoying life while others are in hellish circumstances.

Lastly, don't respond with pity. I know this may seem strange, but pity is shaking your head, saying 'that's terrible' and wishing you could do something about it - but knowing you can't and giving up. Pity helps no one.

So what is the right way to respond?

Respond with compassion.

Compassion seeks to care about the pain others are experiencing and asks 'what can I do to help?' Here's three things you can do in order to have a compassionate response.

1.Learn the stories.

2.Weep with those who weep.

3.Act.

Discovering the humanity in tragedy helps us to have compassion. Hearing that refugees are fleeing is a news story. Seeing the body of a toddler washed ashore and hearing his father talk about watching him perish is a human story. I have a three year old son. I wept when I saw that picture and read the story. I hate crying. I'd rather ignore or gloss over these painful stories, but I'm not called to avoid caring about others in this life. The story of the good Samaritan says I'm supposed to keep my eyes open for people who are beat up and laying on the side of the road so I can offer help. Helping starts with knowing and caring. Jesus wept when he arrived at the tomb of Lazarus - and Jesus knew he was going to resurrection the guy. Luke 7:12 and Matthew 14:14 both talk about Jesus being moved with compassion into action. You probably can't walk away from your current life and invest yourself into personally resolving one of these issues. Even if you could, you can't do it alone and there are many different problems. So what are the practical things you and I can start doing today which can contribute to a better future?

1.Pray unceasingly

Prayer is a limitless resource available to you. God is very clear in the scriptures that he wants us to ask him for his help and involvement. After learning about a tragic situation, you can spend as much or as little time as you like asking our loving Father to bring life and healing into situations of despair and death.

2.Donate generously

Find worthy organizations that can and are helping. World Vision is a great one, Salvation Army does wonderful things. Do your research and sacrifice some of what God has given you to help others.

3.Invite others to join you.

Most people would be happy to help others, but they need some encouragement and direction. Guilt or information overload may have them frozen in place. Ask some friends to join you in praying for Syria this week. Tell facebook how you’re donating $20 a month to help the refugee crisis and ask everyone to join you.

You can’t solve any crisis on your own, but the thing is: you aren’t supposed to. This whole ‘Body of Christ’ thing that God has given us is about each of us contributing and all of us together as a whole making huge differences. It’s why Jesus said in John 14:12 that his followers would do even greater things than him. If the 1-2 billion people who follow the teachings of Jesus each do something, together we’ll be an unstoppable force.

So don’t try to boil the ocean. And don’t get discouraged that you can only do a little. Do it, and invite others to join you, because that’s the mission of the church.

I Am A Hypocrite

I know there are people who refuse to attend a church because of all the hypocrisy they find in it.

Let me warn you up front that you probably won't like my church because I'm one of the pastors, and I'm a hypocrite.

I I wish I could say I wasn't a hypocrite, but that would just make me a hypocrite and a liar.

Sometimes I judge people who are judgmental.

Sometimes I look at people who commit sins that I am not tempted by, and consider their sins as being more severe than my own.

Sometimes I ignore advice I give to other people.

Arrogance and pride and lust and selfishness have at different times in my life grown wild in the soil of my humanity.

In Red Letter Revolution, Tony Campolo says that we are all hypocrites and that our only choice is where we set the boundaries of our hypocrisy.

Socrates, as I have written elsewhere, was considered the wisest man alive by the Oracle of Delphi in large part because he was aware of how much he didn't know. The other 'wise people' his era were self deluded into believing their knowledge was all encompassing.

I think we are all hypocrites. What defines us is whether we are aware of it. And once we are aware of it, whether we try to reduce it.

CS Lewis in Reflections on the Psalms worries that rather than being 'too good' for bullies, or cruel and dishonest people, we are perhaps not good enough to minister to them.

My favorite part of Blue Like Jazz is when the 'pope' starts to repent to the 'sinners' for failing them.

You know why Jesus was able to attract the outcasts of society despite the fact that he wasn't compromising God's standards - in fact he was raising them?

I think it's because it was a genuine message from a completely genuine person.

We still have that genuine message, but often, my failings and flaws make it hard to actually see the good news.

My name is TC and I'm a hypocrite. I'm sorry for that. I'm working on it, and I think I'm getting better about it. If you can forgive me for it, I think I can help the Body of Christ as we seek to grow closer to God together.

Follow Me

One day, as Jesus was walking along the shore of the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers - Simon, also called Peter and Andrew - throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, 'Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!'

They left their nets at once and followed him.

I always thought this was crazy. Why would these men leave their careers in a moment to accept a vague invitation?

I mean, he's Jesus, so maybe there was such a magnetism about him that they couldn't help but to follow him...but based on Isaiah 53:2 ("There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him"), it seems that was probably not the case.

So what could lead to their actions?

I was in Nashville for a music conference once, and after a session one evening, I walked to a convenience store to grab a snack.

While I was there, a fairly famous musician came into the store - Steven Curtis Chapman.

Because I understand that celebrities are just human, I have no interest in requesting autographs. I don't have any dislike for the man, I just know that we're not going to spark a long term friendship in a convenience store, so I didn't bother him as he was just trying to buy some food and keep moving even though I was the only other person in the store in addition to his agent/manager guy.

But even though I didn't interact with him, I knew who he was. If he had suddenly turned to me and offered to hire me at $100K per year, I would have immediately accepted, knowing he had the resources to do it.

Back to Galilee - word of this Jesus must have swept through the vicinity. People must have talked about how this great Rabbi was in the area of the seashore today. But with work to do, and a likely less than perfect religious record, the fisherman surely never expected Jesus to pay them any attention. There was no point in going up to him because there was no chance of some long term relationship starting.

But when he suddenly started walked among the boats of workers, they must've known who he was.

To their shock, Jesus doesn't just walk by, but turns to talk to them. Not to condemn them, but to invite them.

In light of this, we could understand their reaction.

They knew before he ever asked that he was worth following, they simply never expected they would be allowed to do so, much less to be invited to do so by Jesus himself.

You Are What You Do

Who are you? Are you a compilation of ideas and beliefs?

Are you defined by your potential or your intentions?

I would argue that you are defined by your actions. That you are what you do.

I've heard many celebrity apologies who, after doing something terrible, like uttering hateful speech, or drinking while driving, or abusing a girlfriend - they say something to the effect of 'this isn't who I am'.

But that's ridiculous. If you drink and drive, you're a drunk driver. If you speak with bigoted language, you are a bigot.

For my part I can say and do arrogant and prideful things. No matter how much I don't want it to be true, that makes me an arrogant and prideful person.

Now, I'm not saying we can't change and leave behind the parts of us that we no longer want to identify us, but that's not the point of this post.

My point is that we are what we do.

In the book of Revelation, chapter 5, we encounter a scroll in heaven.

All heaven and earth is searched, and nobody is found who is worth to open the scroll.

But then, one is found. It is Jesus. And here is how he is identified:

"...Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered..." (5:12)

Jesus was worthy to open the scrolls because of what he did.

I want to make it clear that Jesus is not being given this honor because he was a victim.

In Matthew 26:53, we are clearly told that Jesus was never out of control of his own execution. He had the ability to pull the plug at any time.

So Jesus being the Lamb who was slaughtered isn't about what happened to him, but rather his choice to accept it.

He was not a victim, he was a sacrifice.

It was through that sacrifice that he brought redemption.

Jesus' actions made him worthy.

His actions become how he is identified.

Instead of spending time telling others who we are, let us show them.

If we say we love people (as Jesus told us to), talk is cheap. If we want to be known as somebody who loves other people, what are the actions in our lives that points to that?

I would suggest that we look for places to sacrifice, as there is really no better way to demonstrate our values than when we give of the resources we cherish most deeply - our time, our efforts and energy, in the most extreme case, our lives.

I heard it said in the past week that if you want your life to matter, find the things you would be willing to die for, and start to live for those things.

Jesus both lived and died for our redemption. He is identified by his ultimate act, but also by all that is before that. Before being slaughtered, his actions demonstrate that he is the Lamb. That his worth is incredibly great by his innocent love for God and other people.

Again, it is what Jesus did that defines him.

Let us ask what our actions say about us.

White Washed Saints

"Don't call me a saint," Dorothy Day once told an admirer, "I don't want to be dismissed so easily." We love saints and heroes. We have Presidents Day and Martin Luther King's birthday. We used to have Columbus Day. We celebrate Memorial Day and Veteran's Day. We build statues to star athletes and war heros.

Generally speaking, we love the dead ones most. The reason being that once they are dead, we can choose to remember them as we wish without the pesky reminders of who they actually are -- which living people tend to provide.

George Washington cannot tell a lie in our nation consciousness, though the story is apocryphal and an admitted fabrication.

Lincoln never has to deal with bouts of severe depression in the car sale commercials we run in his honor.

Mother Teresa said in the midst of her ministry she had not heard God speak to her for decades.

Martin Luther King's womanizing is quickly pushed behind the curtain as we put him on a pedestal.

I think that King may be the best example of the misguided but not malicious makeover that we give our dead heroes. MLK was a genius. If you've never read his letter from a Birmingham jail or his books, or even watched the movie Selma, you're missing out.

Having just read his book, Strength to Love, I believe that if MLK was alive today, he would be speaking out about the evil of war. Any and all wars.

If, after 9/11, he were to speak to our nation and caution us against replying to violence with violence, we would have turned on him quite viciously. But because he is dead, his blind patriotism is unquestioned. In fact, he was becoming a thorn in the side of the government when he turned against the Vietnam war prior to his assassination.

Indeed in Strength to Love, King says this: "There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force, but the destructive power of modern weapons eliminates even the possibility that war may serve as a negative good."

Would our love for King be so great if he continued to force us to face questions about our behaviour as a country? His agitation for civil rights is viewed highly through the lens of modern history. If he was alive to speak against other injustices that still exist, we may not be so quick to praise him.

Would King be closer in national opinion to Al Sharpton rather than how we celebrate him today?

Heros and saints are great. They are important. By their examples, they call us to think bigger and to give ourselves fully to a cause greater than ourselves. But when we ignore their problems and failings, it actually hurts us.

We think, "I'm not perfect like s/he is, so I shouldn't try to do what s/he did." Our heroes and saints lived in a broken and corrupt world, just like we do. They had to deal with the same crap that comes toward all of us. Sometimes, they didn't handle it well.

That gives me great reassurance. God can do great things through people who are sometimes as flawed as me. We live in an era where we crave the humanity of our heroes.

Watch the latest Superman and Batman movies to see that we no longer want paragons of virtue who are untested by emotion and character flaws. I hope we can continue to apply that lens to the real heroes of our current and past world and not just our fictional ideas.

History and the Next Great Decision

Do you ever wonder how you would have reacted if you lived during different eras in history? What I mean is this:

Had I lived in the civil rights era in this country, would I have had the courage and understanding to stand with those who were fighting for equal treatment?

If I had lived in Germany during the 40s, would I have hidden Jews from those seeking to kill them?

Would I have criticized Abraham Lincoln when he led the process of introducing the Emancipation Proclamation?

Had I been alive at the time, would I have joined the crowd shouting ‘crucify him’ before Pontius Pilot?

Silly as it may seem, these questions scare me.

Mostly, because I know how imperfect I am. I worry that in the midst of these situations, I could have come to the wrong conclusions through arrogance and selfishness.

And when I talk about the wrong conclusion, I don't just mean the one that lost. We all know that history is written by the victors.

What happened to the Armenians in Turkey was wrong. Dropping nuclear weapons on civilian populations was wrong.

Obviously, I'll never know the answer to these questions. But it makes me look for the people groups and issues in our day that need people to stand up and courageously speak out.

Where are the issues that I need to apply the values gained from studying the scriptures and work for what is right?

There's many issues we argue over today: gun rights, universal health care, gay marriage, minimum wage, etc.

How can I be sure that I am pushing on the side 'of the angels' as the phrase goes?

I believe it comes down to a simply concept - that I must always chose the side of love.

I love this quote by Napoleon:

“Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him.”

Love is willing to give and sacrifice whereas force is willing to kill and take.

Where can I pour out my time, and energy and resources and efforts and possible my life for a cause greater than myself?

I believe this question will lead us to the places where we can work for redemptive and creative causes.