living for eternity today
I’m a fixer. By nature, I want to fix every problem that comes across my desk and when I can’t find a good solution it often causes me to feel like, well a failure. For some reason, I think that I have to be able to offer help, real – tangible help in each and every situation. But that’s just not true! Sometimes the best help is just be there. Continue reading
I believe the one largest question I receive as a pastor is why is God doing this to me? Another form of this question is what did I do wrong? Why is God punishing me? I get it. I’ll admit sometimes it’s easy to view some of life’s less happy moments as punishment. It’s easy to see the illness, marital struggle, rebellious children, job struggles, financial crises or whatever your personal storm as a punishment from God for something we did wrong. But quite frankly this just isn’t how God operates and to be totally honest it goes completely contrary to the message of who God is. Continue reading
Each week during Lent, the weeks leading up to Easter, I composed a special poem just for that worship event. Well, on Easter morning I busted out a poem I wrote a few months ago. This poem is by far one of my favorites, perhaps I’m a little biased.
I used this poem on Sunday as the lead-in to my message. You can hear it here. But I’ve had a few requests asking if I’d publish it on this site, so here it is. I hope you enjoy!
These days are getting rougher
The challenges seem tougher
The world is filled with danger
In this place I am the stranger.
Nation rises against nation to fight
Everything seems dark as night
This world is being torn apart
It seems from us God did depart.
Not just the nations are at war
but in my home and school and more
I see someone who’s not like me
I raise my fist and show no mercy.
When through the doors of life I walk
It’s names and evil things I talk
We seek to do each other harm
And no longer does it cause alarm.
Now fear and terror rule the world
Anger and hatred around are hurled
Of what’s important we’ve lost sight
And it all was started with just one bite.
What Satan did was give us doubt
And from the garden we were kicked out.
The bite, that doubt, we call that sin
And in that moment evil did win.
But not for long was my God’s cry
He’d give up his Son to bleed and die
His back was ripped and beat and torn
For us God did his own Son scorn
For my sin, my fear, my shame
That at his Son God did take aim
God’s judgement on His shoulders lay
Yet ever faithful did my Jesus stay.
With nails and spikes they put him there
His clothes they tore so they could share
They mocked, they spit right in his face
Yet all he did was show them grace.
Tetelestai was his final word
It is finished is what his Father heard
And then he sighed and breathed his last
The deed was done the judgement past
Upon himself my sin he took
Now at the cross when I do look
Myself in him is all I see
Because Jesus gave his all for me.
If you know anything about photography, then you’ll know that a filter is a cover or lens through which you see things. A filter can be used to make a picture have a desired warmth, color hue, or tone. Filters can alter the way we see things. Filters can be used to make differences appear, well more different.
Our daily lives have filters as well. Often we use filters and don’t even know it. Unlike camera filters, the ones we use in our day-to-day lives aren’t as easily removed. All too often we use them and we don’t even understand what purpose they serve. Filters can be good but, if we don’t know their purpose, they can be useless at best and harmful at worst.
And if this wasn’t bad enough, we tend to pull out these filters in the church as well. The church however is a place where these filters really should not be present. The Apostle Paul teaches in Galatians 3:27-28,
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,
there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
You see it’s easy for us to point out our differences. It’s easy to see someone who looks different and focus on that. Our world is riddled with division and difference. But not just the world, the same division is also finding its way into the church. We focus on things like color, gender, nation of origin just to name a few. We bite and pick each other apart just because we’re not all exactly the same.
But the message of the gospel is that no matter our starting point the end can be the same in Christ. When we surrender our lives to the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection, then all of those colors – genders – nationalities – and other things that divide us fade away. You see the gospel isn’t about where you start but who gets you to the end. Salvation isn’t dependent on what you bring to the table but it’s dependent on what Jesus did for you. A life that’s completely surrendered to Jesus knows little of these divisions because, as Paul says, For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
The point of our lives is the person and work of Christ. When we clothe ourselves in the life of Jesus that’s what people see in us and that’s what we see in others. To be a follower of Jesus in a way means that we live a life with #nofilters.
Today try to look around you with clear eyes. Lose the filter of racial divisions. Lose the filter of prejudice and injustice. Lose the filter of hatred and disgust. It’s when these filters are gone that we can see with the eyes of love that God placed in our heads. No this doesn’t mean that we are all physically the same. Nor does it mean that all of our decisions are ok. It just means that when it comes to salvation and the message of the gospel there’s no room for these ridiculous filters.
So let’s live the life of grace that Jesus lived for us. Let’s live a life of #nofilters.
Remember the last time you tried to get that perfect picture? Maybe it was a beautiful landscape shot. Perhaps it was a picture of your kids who just never seem to stand still. Maybe it was a picture of you and your significant other. Who or what the subject is really doesn’t matter. The point is the picture is about to be ruined! Someone #photobombs the picture.
I personally live by the philosophy that I never trust a person who says trust me. If you have to tell me to trust you, then chances are I probably shouldn’t trust you! But to be fair trust is pretty tricky. It’s one of those things that has to be earned. You can’t just assume someone will trust you. You have to go out of your way to live a life that is trustworthy. Continue reading
Ok so today is Valentine’s Day and for a romantically challenged individual like myself, this is a day that makes me feel a little lame. I’ve already admitted that I don’t really play the flowers and candy game all that well. I am pretty much a cynic when it comes to these holidays created by card companies to just make a buck or two. Perhaps it’s because I know a little history of St. Valentine and it really had nothing to do with cards, candy or carnations! But to be totally truthful, I did get cards this year for two of the people who I love dearly – my wife and my daughter. But does a card really show how much I love someone? Continue reading
Last week we looked at softening the clay and how that sometimes means being in times of intense pressure. While this is no fun, the rewarding part of the process is when you realize that you’re not alone in the rough times. I’ve admitted through this series that I know very little about pottery. I’m not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. And to be totally truthful, I thought last week was going to be the final installment of this series. Then a friend sent me a text reminding me of the final phase of making a lump into a useful treasure. Continue reading
Now perhaps this should have been last week’s post and maybe things are a bit out of order here. The past couple of weeks I’ve been reminded of a pretty important part of messing with clay. Before the work really gets started and before the lifeless lump of clay can begin to look like something it needs to be softened. But how does a potter soften the clay? Continue reading
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