Rejecting the Cross

I have sat in many services before angry with the people attending. Some have been adults, some teenagers, but the common thread is a complete disregard for what the Lord did for them…

Some of you might know that Christianity has more common ground with Islam than it does with Judaism. Well one of the major issues the Islamic faith has with Christianity is the idea of God becoming man. In fact, most religions and people for that matter can not fathom a spiritual being becoming flesh and walking among them. And therein lies, in my opinion, a disconnect in a lot of Christ followers’ minds: we don’t realize the impossibility of this.

After all, gods are just beings who watch humans. They chuckle when they trip and they sit around talking about how smart humans think they are - a conversation filled with thunderous laughter no doubt.

The uniqueness of the cross is that my God…the true, one and only, God of gods, King of kings, became man by being born to a virgin. Mary should have been stoned for being pregnant outside of marriage. Jesus really was an illegitimate child in man’s eyes. He was a carpenter. Not a religious scholar, not a prince, not a business world leader, not even above average. God became man.

He pursued sinners. He didn’t care what it looked like to be hanging out with prostitutes, drunkards, lepers, and adulterers - he came to heal the sick, not the healthy.

Are you realizing the ADACITY of this? This is ridiculous. No god would do that for mankind. Not unless He created them, loved them, and wanted to make a way for them to spend eternity with him. Wow.

To top it all off, He humbled himself and was crucified on a cross - a thief’s punishment - even though he was without sin.

So, I sat there, angry at the teenager in front of me who kept turning around and talking with her friends and laughing during the message. I wasn’t angry because of disrespect for the speaker (although that is frustrating too), I was angry because when we forget what Christ did and live complacently, we reject everything he did for us.

We reject the cross.

Experience vs. People

What in the world does it mean to be Christlike? In an effort to figure this out, my thoughts drifted to this topic...

A lot of times our lives, as believers are driven by experiences. A lot of times devotions is done so that can be checked off the spiritual checklist, or the kids sitting along at the lunch table has someone to sit with so that others can see how great we are.

More rarely, yet more like Christ, our lives are driven by people...well, actually the love for people that the Lord has given us. We sit and listen to someone talk about their terrible life for hours, or we volunteer at a soup kitchen without people that we know, or we give our jacket to a homeless person in the winter, not because we want to be seen by people, but because we want to love people like Christ would.

Many of you know of some of my frustrations with girls/boys, men/women around my age, quite frankly searching for a spouse. Now, I am only talking to believers when I say this. If you are in a relationship for the feel good, to be able to say you are in a relationship, or (Lord, please let it not be so) for the ring, then you are in it for the experience and not the person.

Am I saying that experience is always bad and that you can't ever make smart decisions for yourself...not at all...but I am saying that no matter what, make sure that love for the Lord and for his people (that's everyone, saved and unsaved, sorry John Calvin), is your motivator and not your pursuit of great feelings and acknowledgement from men...because that will all fade...

The Buzz about Greg Boyd

Well, if you didn't hear all about it in the news, then you missed out. This week, there was an article about Greg Boyd who is the pastor at Woodland Hills in St. Paul. The NY Times article (link below) described the reaction of his church when he delivered a series of sermons called The Cross and the Sword.

To stay away from blabbering my own opinions, I would be interested in what you all think. The link is below, so check it out, and comment about your opinion concerning the things he said on my page. (if you comment, then I will respond in the comments section :-)).

The NY Times' story

Blessings!

In Case You Missed The E-mail...

Lord, help me not to ramble….Ok, last Saturday, a friend of mine, a guy that I went to youth group with, and hung out with, died of a drug overdose (sorry to the SC people for bringing it up again). He knew the Lord, but seemingly found it rather difficult to cut the ropes the enemy had around him. This event, along with a few other perfectly timed events in my life has literally changed me, like putting something into a microwave and getting nearly instant results.

Please let these words sink in, even though you have heard them many times…our family, and friends, a lot of them are headed for hell. This is not a game guys. We have no idea. “Comfort zone” is a nice way of saying that we have become so set in our ways and comfortable with our lives that we have forgotten what this life is all about. Jesus. Guys…and gals…that is what we are here for. When we accepted Christ, we accepted the challenge and PRIVILEDGE to lead other people to a saving knowledge of Him. I understand fear of what may happen and of our assumed inadequacy cripple us to the point of inaction, but this HAS TO STOP.

I am not sure where in your life this finds you, but I hope and pray that you hear the words that are speaking from my spirit…and not just the words I am typing.

Hell…with flames, and screams, is real. We pretend like it isn’t. We pretend like heaven has an easy entry ticket, but it doesn’t. Narrow is the road. Not wide. I would urge you to dive into the word and make sure that your life aligns with the commands of Jesus, because there is no other way into the gates except through Him.

We are used to having basically whatever we want. Dangerously, this idea spills over into our walk with the Lord. We don’t want to put much effort into it, but we want mega results (maybe none of you are like this, but I am, so I am at least speaking for myself….chances are, I am not alone). As little work as possible, with the highest pay-off.

Jesus gave his own life so that we could own day live with Him for eternity. He added another lamb to his flock even while dying on the cross. He loved people. Truly loved people. And that is what we are called to do….They will know us by our love. Not our bumper stickers, our cliques, our Christianese, our complaining about the church, our thirst for materialism, or even our occasional missions trip (not that all missions trips are bad), but they will know us by our lifestyle of LOVE….

Basically, what I am asking you all is huge. I am asking you to become a person who doesn’t care about what gadget you will be getting for Christmas, but care more that someone could be freezing to death downtown at the same time! Be a person who unashamedly proclaims the name of Jesus to all who’ll listen, but be sensitive to the spirit enough to know mid-sentence when what you are about to say should not be said. A person who doesn't care if someone makes you look bad when you are hanging out with them because their clothes may not be as nice, or their hair, not as styled…….revolutionaries….

I am asking all of you to pray about ways that you can DAILY live out the love of Christ…whether that be a cold cup of water in the summer to a random stranger who seems thirsty, or a warm cup of hot chocolate in the winter to a homeless man. Unashamedly, undeniably Jesus…with skin on…

Go be Jesus to a world that needs Him more than we could ever realize…

"American" & "Christian" Are Not Synonymous

This is a concern of mine that is very hard to explain and sometimes offensive to others. Hopefully, this blog will not be the first time that you have been made aware of this issue.

Many people across the world view the United States as the modern Israel in a sense. Some believe that Americans are convinced that what our government does is an act of God. That may be accurate for some believers, as long as a republican is in office.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, "God is not a Republican....OR a Democrat" and the accuracy of that statement made me think a lot.

So many times we try and combine God and country. These two are not meant to be combined. I am not saying that no country has ever been faithful to God, but the US is far from that status.

Just think about some of the differences:
U.S.: Prosperous because of greed
Xianity: Known for giving

U.S.: Centered around pleasing yourself
Xianity: Told to deny self and please the Lord


These are two examples of possibly thousands. I am trying to create a starting point for some dialogue on this issue, but I encourage you to think about these things.

Christianity in the U.S. is struggling', and I think most of that has to do with the cultural and spiritual clash that has taken place. In the words of a friend of mine, "If I serve the god of American Christianity then I'm out. I need a God who is bigger than that. I need the God of the Bible; of Jacob and David, of Moses and of Paul. If I don't find that God, I'm out." Now, I am not saying that this can't be changed, but I am encouraging you to make sure that you are supporting the right kingdom because the U.S. will most likely not last forever, for all kingdoms pass away, but the one Kingdom that won't is the Lord's and we need to identify with that kingdom more than any other.

Choose you this day whom you will serve...because when it comes down to it...in the words (paraphrase) of my dad, if you are forced to choose between being American and being Christian, I hope you choose being a Christian.

Feel free to comment...

It is not about you...

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the idea of how much we focus on ourselves. It's interesting to me how much this idea flows into our everyday lives so much. Obviously, you might say, our flesh includes selfishness, duh, and I would agree, but it seems to me that this attitude actually plays into a lot more areas than we think.

When someone succeeds, we find a way to make ourselves a victim: instead of "congratulations on your promotion, I bet the Lord has the best for you in LA", it is something more like "I can't believe you are moving to LA and leaving ME".

When someone confronts us on things that need to change in our lives, we get angry at them for bringing up our blemishes instead of realizing that their best interest is most likely to help us be as Christ-like as possible.

Now, I don't feel that I am writing on this matter with clarity and full expression of my thoughts, but it mostly concerns me because it comes out in our witness, or lack thereof:

I am guilty as charged just as much as anyone, but how many times does the Lord whisper to us to reach out to someone or to tell someone about Him, and we make it an issue about us..."What if I say the wrong words?", "what if I look stupid?", "what if I go to speak and then I have nothing to say?", or the kicker, "what if the person decides NOT to follow the Lord based on the ridiculousness I say to them?"...well, there is good news...

IT ISN'T ABOUT YOU! It is about obedience. It is about listening and then doing. I know it isn't easy, but may I suggest taking a look at your words and motives and asking the Lord to give you a focus on being more like him instead of pleasing yourself and always needing your own needs met over others....

Please comment below...!

Real Attempt

Ok, so, here goes. Maybe I will try this thing after all. Is anyone even reading this? From time to time even? See, the only problem about these things is that I don't really like to talk about myself and I don't really know a whole lot in any area, so pretty much there isn't much to write. Nonetheless, I will trudge through the muck and post something every once and a while. Ok, thanks for reading this rambling.

Introduction

I don't even know how any of these things work! HA! Man, I am so behind the times...now, if I can just even get back to this post after I submit it, that would be progress...