What Do You Leave Behind?

…I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. – Phil. 1:25-26

Sometimes, Paul makes statements that can be taken as being pretty arrogant.  But let’s just step outside of that for a minute and look at the heart of what he is saying.  Regardless of where you are in your faith, if you’re a leader or a beginner or possibly both, what effect does your presence have on other people?  When you walk into a room, what is people’s first reaction?  If you go to visit somewhere you haven’t been in awhile, what is the response of the folks you see?  Here, Paul says that his presence among the people will cause the people’s “joy in Christ Jesus to overflow” because he is there with them.

What a challenge this is to me.  We are not called to be people pleasers but we are called to be people lovers.  Do people find joy in Christ when you talk to them?  Do they walk away thanking God for your presence in their lives?  I know what I want the answers to those questions to be and I know who those people are in my own life, but I’m not exactly sure where I fall in this striving.

I encourage you to take stock of the impression that you leave with people.  If you are honest with yourself and genuinely believe that you are an encouraging presence, praise God!  But if you find that you may be a little overbearing or a little rude or a little self-centered, then step back and ask God for the wisdom to recognize when you’re slipping into those habits.  When you leave a room, leave a taste of love behind.

Getting Sarcastic With God? Bad Plan.

Oct. 30 – Smarting Off To God

You would think people would be smart enough to know better.  God is powerful enough to make you so He’s powerful enough to “smite” you….But not Cain.  Not only did he kill his brother (REALLY BIG mistake #1), but afterward, he thought he would toss some attitude God’s way (mistake #2).

Here’s the brief exchange:
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied.  “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

That’s it.  But that’s enough.  Yesterday, we talked mainly about sarcasm with friends but when it comes to sarcasm with God or -to bring it into the human realm – sarcasm with people in authority, you’re crossing another line.  People in authority, even the ones you may not agree with or get along with, still deserve to be treated with respect.  That means treating them as a person of worth and recognizing the authority they have been given.  One of the most direct references to this concept is found in Romans 13.  Here’s the key verse:  “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”  And even Jesus submitted himself to and acknowledged the rule of the day, as long as the earthly laws did not conflict with furthering the kingdom of God.  Jesus says to give to Caesar the money that is his and to God the things that are His.  (Matthew 22:21) and He does pay the required temple tax (Matthew 17:27).  Even while His trial was in process, He never direspected the ruler He was standing in front of.

So often, when someone in authority asks us to do something we don’t want to do or asks us a question we don’t want to answer (what happened to Cain), we come back with a smart-aleck remark.  Instead of saying the first thing that comes to mind, getting defensive, and acting like Cain, take a cue from Jesus here.  It’s better to say nothing than to say something that’s going to be disrespectful.  Even telling the person that you don’t want to answer at that moment because you’re too upset or because you’re afraid of what you might say will earn you a lot more respect in the long run.  Consider Psalm 141:3 which says, “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.”  If this kind of mouthing off is something your struggle with, consider praying that verse for yourself.

A Truly Irresistible Revolution

Oct 20-21  Another Way is Possible

If you are ready to have your world, the way you think, the way you live, and the way you view Jesus and the Scriptures turned completely upside down, read The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.  It is not for the faint of heart.  It is not for the apathetic.  It is for those genuinely willing to abandon the systems and values of this world and follow Jesus into the kingdom of God on Earth that He envisioned in the first place.

It is so hard to attempt to explain a worldview in a couple of short paragraphs, but it is far harder to put this worldview into practice.  How would your life be different if, for every action you took and every dollar you spent, you considered the global impact you might have?  What if you were brutally honest in asking ”what would Jesus do” in every situation – and then you actually followed through with that?  Do the clothing companies you buy from pay their international laborers a fair wage?  What about the coffee growers of the coffee you drink?  What about statements of Jesus that we would like to ignore like when He says to His disciples in Luke 12:33 “Sell your possessions and give to the poor”?  What if Jesus really meant what He said?

I am absolutely nohere near living this way.  I am nowhere near abandoning the comfort and convenience I have grown accustomed to to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, but I am learning.  I am learning about community, about the beauty in relying on one another for everything, about the power in sharing life and resources.  I am learning to let go of things, to recognize that they will fade and rust and disappear and that other people need them a whole lot more than I do.

I encourage you, if you are willing and if you are brave enough, to take a look at your life through Shane Claiborne’s eyes.  I believe he has powerful words to share with all of us that perhaps will reawaken us to the spirit of Jesus which can be so much more real than we allow it to be.

*For more information on Shane Claiborne and the Philadelphia community he co-founded, please visit thesimpleway.org

New Creation – The Power of Community

Oct 19 – God’s Love

I couldn’t stand it.  Everywhere I looked, people were better than me.  They were better writers, better athletes, and better musicians with better personalities and better looks.  And it wasn’t just anyone who I saw as better than me – it was my best friends, the people closest to me.  Wasn’t there anything I could excel at?  I beat myself up.  I wrote poems about it, songs about it.  I cried about it and got angry about it.  But for the longest time, nothing seemed to change it.

I don’t know exactly when it happened.  Those thoughts and attitudes certainly didn’t disappear all of a sudden but there was one thing that I know made an incredible difference in the way I saw myself - living in community, especially the one God had provided for me.  These new best friends surrounded me with unconditional love, hard truth, endless encouragement, and wisdom beyond their years.  To have people know your weaknesses and to love you intentionally in spite of them is a powerful thing.  They showed me love the way that Jesus does – sacrificially and honestly – and they saw me, in many ways, the way He does, the way I could not see myself.  In time, God used them to soften my heart and allow God into a piece of me that had been closed off.  Immersed in Christ-centered fellowship, vulnerability, and genuine affirmation, my view of myself began to change.  It took time, it took willingness on my part to let go of some lies I had been believing, it took persistance on God’s part to finally break through – but one of His most powerfully effective vessels in my life has been that community of friends.

I can look back at my life amazed and see the truth that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).  It is only by God’s grace that I have come as far as I have (and I am NOT finished with this struggle!), but I know the ways God got through to me.  I encourage you to find that kind of community in your own life.  If you have one like it, then thank God for that today.  If you don’t, or if you haven’t been able to share your failings with people, pray for that.  Pray for people who will surround, encourage, and affirm you.  Pray for the courage to share with others the places you are weakest or most afraid.  God did not intend for us to live or walk through life alone.

My friends, if you happen to read this, you know who you are.  I hope one day you understand what an incredible impact God has allowed you to have on my life.

Jesus in You and A Loaded Question

Sept 26 – Through the Window

Ah.  What a neat story.  To see Jesus in someone’s eyes – that is a rare privilege and a powerful compliment.  Have you ever seen Jesus in someone?

A couple of weeks from now, we’ll get to read about a guy named Shane Claiborne.  He wrote a book recently and this story reminds me of one of the things he shared.  Shane was able to spend some time serving alongside Mother Teresa in the Home for the Destitute and Dying where their goal was not to keep people alive but to allow them to die with dignity and give them some much-deserved pampering in the last stages of life.  He says:

Over and over, the dying and the lepers would whisper the mystical word namaste in my ear…They explained to me that namaste means ‘I honor the Holy One who lives in you’…Was it possible…that in my eyes, they could catch a glimpse of the image of my Lover?

What do you think?  Does your life, the way you live and love, reflect the Holy One who lives in you?  Who have you met who reflects clearly the image of Jesus?  Maybe they have a peace about them that doesn’t make sense or maybe they love in selfless ways that you just don’t understand.  

May we learn to follow our Savior in such a way that people see Jesus when they look at us and may we learn to see Jesus in others in the places we least expect Him.

Sept 27 – What We Believe

Let’s take a look at the beginning part of today’s Scripture, shall we?

Mark 8:27-29a says this:

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

 ”But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

“Who do you say I am?“  Six words.  Incredible significance.  This has to be one of the most loaded questions in the entire Bible.  Our lives, both present and future, rest on our response.  Who do you say Jesus is?

If you have a quick and easy answer, great.  But if He has become a little too familiar (as He has for me) or if you’ve never really thought about who this Jesus guy is, take the time to (re)consider Him.  Talk it out with some friends, a pastor, or a youth leader.  Talk it out here on this blog.  Thank God for giving us the Bible to learn about who He is and who Jesus is so that the question He asks us is one that can be answered and explored. 

To the Heights and A Loving Response to Your Tormenters

Sept 13 – Shed the Dread

You know, I’m going to be honest with you.  (That’s something I will always do my best to be here.)  I tried really hard to write this blog yesterday.  I sat and wrote and thought and erased and wrote and erased some more.  I was frustrated.  Why can’t I come up with anything to say that feels like the direction God might be headed?  So I wrote the one entry, put the rest aside, and left.

This morning was rough again.  I was really down on myself, struggling to find the confidence that my efforts matter.  And then it came time to write this blog.  This time, the verse from the devotion today spoke to me so much more deeply: 

The Sovereign Lord is my strength…

I haven’t had much strength today.  We don’t always have a lot left of ourselves to give.  So He will sustain me.  He will provide for me.  And He has.

…he will make my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

Do you ever feel like you’re in a valley that you can’t get out of?  You feel stuck.  You’re surrounded by mountains without an escape.  You’re tired…

But what if you could leap up the sides of the mountains?  What if you could bound up and across the steep crags and easily reach the top, easily see the bigger picture of where you had been?  Wouldn’t that be perfect?  I would feel like I was flying!

That’s what God frees us to do.  On our own, we cannot reach the heights of His joy, the deep-hearted places He wants us to live in.  Our feet are gnarled, our baggage is heavy, and our legs are weak.  But He says He will make our feet like the feet of a deer (Habakkuk 3:19).  He says to take His burden because it is light (Matthew 11:30).  He says that His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Trust God to take you to the heights.  Know that He has given you both the ability and the courage to do so.

Sept 14 – Stinky

Have you ever been like the girl in this story?  Have you been the person who people pushed, taunted, made fun of, harassed, whispered about, yelled at, or mocked?  How did you respond?  Or if you haven’t experienced it, how do you think you would respond?

Just before Jesus was killed on the cross, He was mocked too.  Matthew 26:67-68 says that people “spit in his face and struck him with their fists.  Others slapped him and said, ‘Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?’”  Later, a different group of people ”stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him [symbolizing royalty], and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head.  They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ they said.  They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.” (Matthew 27:28-30)

What would you have done in that situation?  If it had been me, I don’t know.  I might have been sobbing and begging them to stop.  I might have been angry and tried to lash out.  But Jesus, as He is dying on the cross prays, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)  Wow.  After being spit on, beaten, mocked, having thorns driven into His forehead, and hung on a cross with spikes driven through His wrists and feet, He asks for their forgiveness…?  If that’s what Jesus means by “love your enemies” (Luke 6:27), then I’m not sure I am up to the task.  It certainly gives us something to work toward.

If you have been the victim of bullying, teasing, or mocking at school or anywhere else, I am so sorry.  Know that you are not alone and that here, we know that your pain is real and justified.  Since we cannot control other people but only the way we respond, I pray that God will give you the strength to love as Jesus did here, to respond with kindness, even when it is not returned to you. 

Hallway Horrors – A Change in Conversation and Loving Like Jesus

Sept 10 – The Power of Jest

The verse for today is one of my favorites.  I think it came in most handy in high school when I had to work on keeping my conversations positive, and I wish I had had it in middle school when joking quickly turned inappropriate or vulgar.  The magazine gives you part of it but here’s the whole thing:

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  – Ephesians 5:3-4

Um, how hard is this to do???  “Not…even a hint”?  In today’s world, that’s practically impossible!  That being said though, we are chosen by God to be His holy people.  The word “holy” means “set apart.”  Sure, everyone else at school or on TV might be diving into sexual immorality or making fun of people or bad language but that doesn’t mean that you need to – set yourselves apart for God by living as an example in the way that you talk with your friends.  Take on that challenge to remove all of that kind of language and conversation from your daily life. 

One day this week when you’re hanging out with your friends, I encourage you to stop and listen.  Is the majority of conversation negative?  Vulgar?  Filled with sexual jokes or swearing?  If this is something you feel convicted about (feeling guilty with the desire to change), consider what it would take for you to stop participating in that with your friends.  I’m not asking you to stop talking to them or even to say anything to them about the things they talk about, but take responsibility for you and clean up your act.  Don’t be surprised if people notice and be prepared to share with them that you’re trying to make your language pleasing to God and uplifting to other people.

 

Sept 11 – All Alone

The girl who wrote this story has walked a difficult road.  Not only did she have a baby in high school, something which requires swallowing a lot of pride and great emotional strength, but she also faced the cruel abandonment of her friends.

There are so many issues and struggles people go through that seem to drive away friends who don’t know how to react or who are too fast to judge.  Some people might struggle with depression, other mental illness, pornography, self-injury, or same-sex attraction.  Others may have gone through a pregnancy at a very early age, had an abortion, or experienced abuse.  Some may have gone through the death or illness of a parent or close friend.  Any or all of these things have been known in the past (and present) to shame or isolate the very person who is already hurting.  When we surround the people in these situations with love, we recognize the hurt they have been through and demonstrate our willingness to walk through their struggles with them, giving them the hope and assurance that they are not alone and have someone to lean on when times get tough.  Even though it may be hard for us (and for them) and even though they may mess up along the way, our hope-giving love and understanding in the midst of these situations can literally save someone’s life. 

In John 8:1-11, Jesus’ wise words save a woman from being stoned (killed by having rocks thrown at her) after she had an affair with someone’s husband.  There are many lessons to take away from this story but what I wonder tonight is if anyone walked with her after Jesus rescued her.  Did some woman from her village take her hand and tell her she would help her as she fought to change her life?  Did anyone love her enough to say “Yeah, I know what you did, but you’re after a different life now.  How can I support?”  Would I have done that?  I wonder.

Ask God to expand your heart to include the people who struggle with things you don’t understand.  Pray for the wisdom to know when to reach out and the courage to follow through.  It’s one of the best ways I know to “be Jesus” to someone.

*Sidenote:  The verse from today is what the Hebrews verse from last week quotes.  Deuteronomy 31:8b says “[The Lord] will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed.”