I took Gabriela on a daddy date last nite to the Pacer game. Long story on why we went to a Pacer game. That’s not important. But what was important and wonderful was the precious cuteness of Gabriela witnessing the amazing halftime show performance by the Sandou Trio Russian Bar. Two guys and a girl. The guys strategically hold this very bendy bar, and the girl does some of the most amazing feats jumping from the bar, doing flips at leads 10 feet in the air and all manner of craziness before landing back on the bar with sickening balance. I was going crazy myself, close to embarrassing us both with insane applause and yelling.

And Gabriela at some point notices how many seats were empty and saw more people leaving. “Why are so many people leaving, daddy?” “Well, people come to see the basketball game, so at halftime when the players aren’t playing, people go to the bathroom and get a drink.” “I can’t believe people go to the bathroom at halftime and miss this!!!” She was incredulous. It was fantastic. I couldn’t blame her. The Russian Trio show was approximately 350 million times more interesting than NBA basketball and required at least 7,000 times the talent of throwing a ball through a ring with a net attached to it.

The spiritual metaphor here is pretty obvious, I’m sure. We typically tune out when life is most interesting and meaningful. We think the football game, Netflix, or career is so important and worthy of our fullest attention. Meanwhile, we tune out our kids trying to tell us about some story they made up with their God-given and magnificent imagination. Or our parents telling us something for the 400th time because they feel so safe and comfortable with us to do so. Or some stranger who just wants to be listened to as they talk crazy with us for a minute in the check-out lane.

Maybe we’re missing the awesome halftime show. Maybe that is much better and more meaningful than the game we’re watching so intently.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

After much patience.

Those in the Bible who were part of something monumental that YHWH accomplished were generally required to be people of much patience.

God’s gonna do what God’s gonna do. He’s gonna accomplish His will and plan, ultimately, with or without our cooperation. So why not just cooperate? And this cooperation necessitates our waiting on the Lord for His perfect timing, rather than trying to make things happen from a place of our own impatience.

I’m learning this patience in the form of not pushing so hard for anything, but rather attuning to what God is already doing, as well as listening intently for what He would have me to do to participate in His working. I don’t have to do anything to make God’s plans go forward, but I sure can be a part of them. And that, is pretty awesome. I’m not so foolish to believe that if I don’t do everything just right that God’s plan for the cosmos is gonna fall apart in an epic fail. Or that He can’t raise up the rocks in the crevices of my street, Norwaldo Avenue, to do His will and complete His plans if He so chooses. And then I would be so jealous that these road pebbles did more with their lives than I did!

I’m taking Gaby to the Pacer game tonite. We’re so excited to participate in this event together. Yet there’s no pressure on us to make the event happen. Oh if we don’t show up on time they may not play! Or what if we don’t cheer the whole time? The game may be cancelled or ended early! Foolishness! The game is going to happen at 6:00 tonite whether we show up, buy drinks, cheer, or even watch the game while we’re there. But someone gave us the tickets, so why not just go and participate in order to be a part of the festivities and enjoy the game that will no doubt be going on anyway?

Wait on the Lord. Settle down. Listen to hear what He is doing and what He has lined up for you. Don’t rush things, but listen with a patient urgency, if you will. Perhaps He is preparing you for something down the road, even decades down the road like many in the Bible. In the meantime, stay faithful in those here and now little things right in front of you. Love God, love your family, love yourself, love everyone in your path. We don’t ever stop doing these things. And we never stop doing them with patience, trusting that our good God is up to way more than we can comprehend.

This passage grants me much peace today. God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19), and He will fulfill all of His promises, even if I fail. We have this hope like an anchor, secure, solid, and penetrating into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone in ahead of us and on our behalf, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (v.19).

Listen to God and participate accordingly?

or

Try to make everything happen.

The choice is yours.

The choice is easy.

If you ask me.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Thinking more of this difficult passage. There is ambiguity in it, and the scholarliest of scholars have many different views on its meaning. What does “fall away” mean? Impossible to restore them while they are fallen away or ever again? Once saved always saved? Or can you turn away and give it back after accepting? With questions as deep as these, sometimes it is good to simply look to God and utter our incomprehensibility with “Thou knowest.” And just be sure to stay close to Christ.

In its original context, it was written to a church facing some severe persecution, so this was written as an exhortation and encouragement to them to persevere in the faith. This section has this stern warning that falling away, whatever the author means exactly by that, is very bad. Worse than whatever persecution they are facing.

One thing to be very careful of is to not misuse a passage such as this to judge or manipulate others. The author also shows that it is impossible for us to know someone’s heart. Only God really knows our hearts. May we always keep that reality before us. So we as frail humans go by what we do see outwardly, the fruit of someone’s life. And if it appears a brother or sister has turned away from faith in Christ, hopefully we care enough for them to lovingly pursue them and be the kindness of Christ to them. For God shows kindness to all, even the unthankful, and we are to show mercy just as He shows mercy.

Regeneration, an awesome spiritual word we don’t hear much these days, refers to the action only God can perform of transforming one’s heart. There is no way a third party can actually witness this. “We see the results, witnessing what seems to be a powerful, spiritual surrender or a quiet dawning of Gospel-understanding that leads to a refreshing newness. The change in perspective, the altering of character, and the gradual transformation of lifestyle point to a deeper reality, a regenerate condition of the heart.” Yet we still see through our imperfect lenses. So may we look to God and judge our own hearts, not others.

May this passage inspire us to be aware of encouraging one another in our faith and in our pursuit of drawing closer to God everyday.

Kind of interesting, a study done a while back showed that two of the main reasons for people dropping out of the church are (1) From a process that neglects long-term development in the faith after a person has converted, and, (2) If new members were introduced to Christianity through a manipulative process. Among those surveyed, “87 percent of those now inactive came to their point of decision through a church member who used manipulative monologue.”

P.S. If you’re a nerd like me and wanna read more about this passage from some of those scholarly scholars, I love George Guthrie and Scot McKnight. They have different views on this passage, but both so very good.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

This is quite frankly a little frightening and disturbing.Well, what do we know? It’s good practice to work from the known to the unknown.We know that repentance is required to follow Jesus. And that repentance is only possibly through God’s power. And God’s power was ultimately released on that first Easter weekend. So if you are relying on anything other than that mysterious power that is the resurrection of Jesus for your repentance, life, and salvation, you cannot turn to God or even back to God. Not while you’re in that state at least.

Dependence on anything but Christ is siding with the rejectors of Christ at the cross–those who pierced Him and mocked Him.

This is heavy and I am sobered by it this morning. The only action I can think of to take right now is to begin this moment and all of today (and beyond) to utter the breath prayer “I am totally dependent on You.” This is where I start. That’s what my response to this word looks like right now.

What does it look like for you to listen and respond to this word today?

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

So, I would like to share a way of prayer that has been very helpful for me and how I approach God. It’s called “The PAPA Prayer” and I discovered it from a book with that title written by Larry Crabb. I was so taken with it that I read it through practically non-stop the weekend I found it. It’s based on the foundation that the chief purpose of prayer is to get to know God, not to get what we want. Our prayer life is to be at its center relational, not to be first and foremost petitionary.

Here’s the acronym breakdown of this approach to prayer:

P: Present yourself to God without pretense. Be a real person in the relationship. Tell Him whatever is going on inside you that you can identify.

A: Attend to how you ‘re thinking of God. Again, no pretending. Ask yourself, “How am I experiencing God right now?” Is He a vending machine, a frowning father, a distant, cold force? Or is He your gloriously strong but intimate Papa?

P: Purge yourself of anything blocking your relationship with God. Put into words whatever makes you uncomfortable or embarrassed when you’re real in your relationship with Him. How are you thinking more about yourself and your satisfaction than about anyone else, including God and His pleasure?

A: Approach God as the “first thing” in your life, as your most valuable treasure, the Person you most want to know. Admit that other people and things really do matter more to you right now, but you long to want God so much that every other good thing in your life becomes a “second-thing” desire.

Personally, I have found those two “P’s” to be especially healing in my prayer these days–presenting everything before Jesus, my ugly, embarrassing, awkward, ridiculous, and letting Him have it. Wow, I did not realize my great need for this approach to communing with God or His healing power when we are brutally honest with Him with regard to our pain and weakness. He embraces us in it, and that alone is shalom-giving.

Also, here’s what may be some more helpful thoughts:

“Relational prayer is the center of all true prayer. The power of petitionary prayer depends on the centrality of relational prayer.” Here’s how these seem to play out:

False Prayer–A Me-Centered Prayer Life (goes in this order)

1. Petition–> “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” – “Bless me, dear God.” – “Give me the good life of fulfillment and joy.”
2. Intercession–> “Change Things For My Sake” – “Work in others and in my circumstances with my well-being in view.”
3. Thanksgiving–> “Thank You For My Blessings” – “You’re useful. I like it. Keep it up!”
4. Worship–> “Here’s My Tip For Good Service” – “I’ll sing and praise You for what You’ve given me.” – “Hey, worship is easy. All I have to do is work up fervent emotions. Sacrifice isn’t required.”
5. Relating–> “Tell Me What To Do To Keep The Good Times Rolling” – “I’ll do my part for as long as You do Yours.”

True Prayer–A Relationally(God)-Centered Prayer Life (in this order)

1. Relational Prayer–> Draw Near and Listen – Remain in Christ – Let God’s word remain in you
2. Worship–> Bend Low As a Living Sacrifice – Surrender every second thing to gain union with God
3. Thanksgiving–> In Every Circumstance Give Thanks – Thank God for the unique opportunity every blessing or trial presents to delight God’s heart and reveal Him to others
4. Intercession–> May Your Kingdom Come Through Others – Change people’s hearts so that they long to advance Your will
5. Petition–> With the Mind of Christ, Ask and Receive – Petitions grow out of a desire for God…expressed by the Spirit’s groaning, discerned by the Father’s searching, furthering the Son’s joy

This of course is no magical incantation, but may be very helpful or even paradigm-shifting for your approach to God in prayer. It has been very good for me. Along these lines, I’ll close with this quote from Crabb:

“Let me speak clearly: I do not recommend the PAPA prayer as a way to make anyone more spiritual. To do so would be to deny both the Spirit’s free sovereignty and our freedom to flow with or resist His movement when it comes. We can make nothing that deeply matters turn out the way we want. So we must keep doing what we can, what we believe we’re directed to do, but not to make anything happen. We are to do what’s right with a growing awareness of our poverty and dependence. The rest is up to Papa. That’s obedience. That’s trust. That’s humility.”

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

One of my awesomest memories (and I have many) is going to see Metallica downtown at what is now called Bankers Life Fieldhouse circa 2004.

Now the reason for the extra awesomeness of this particular show is that my good friend Joe Robinson hooked me and three buddies up with something a little special. You see Joe owns the company responsible for all the security at BLF–concerts, Pacer games, you name it. So he had one of his guys meet me and my dudes out front to walk us in. First off, let me just express the incredible feeling of walking past 5,000+ people waiting in line to go thru security check and absorb their “Why do they get to go right in without waiting?!?” looks on their faces. At this point we are already feeling like some privileged politician or rock star ourselves.

Once inside, our personal security guard walks us down the aisles to find our seats. Pretty soon we notice, “We’re in like the first twenty rows!”

And we keep walking.

“Oh guys, we’re in the first ten rows!!”

And we keep walking.

Are you kidding me? We must have front or second row seats, this is amazing!

And

we

keep

walking.

He takes us through a waist-high locked gate all the way down to the stage. We’re given fluorescent wrist bands, which to this day I believe contained magical properties, and were told we could walk anywhere we wanted around the stage for the whole show. What. Just. Happened? We were given “floor passes”, that’s what just happened. What the heck are floor passes? I’ve never heard of such a thing. Until tonite! We are in front of the front row! People in the very front row wish they were us!!!

It was absolutely incredible. I was in danger of being sweated upon by James Hetfield, the legendary vocalist/rhythm guitarist  of Metallica. This was a very spiritual experience indeed. And most amazing, the tickets cost us zero dollars. Why? Because Joe just gave them to us. He wanted to bless me and my friends. And we accepted. Oh how we accepted.

Zero dollars, but was there a cost? Sure, we had to drive downtown and find a place to park. We had to meet up with his guy at a certain time and place to walk us in. How do think we felt about that cost? Big freakin’ deal! That’s how we felt. That’s all we gotta do? To score tickets to this show of the metal gods? DONE. A thousand times done. What a negligible cost.

Now let’s imagine, just before the show begins, a friend of mine calls me exclaiming, “Great news! There’s still some seats available up in row triple ‘Y’ for only $150!” What? Are you serious? First off, why would I sit back there, even if I had binoculars? Secondly, why would I pay money, let alone that much, for poor seats when these floor passes were gifted to me???

Seems like a no-brainer. But isn’t this what we do spiritually speaking? We leave the gifted floor passes to pay for the nosebleeds.

God has given us everything. He’s given us His Son, which means He’s given us full access to Himself and His presence. And we pay nothing for it. We only can accept what He has offered, and then take full advantage of it, resting in Him and who we are in Him. Yes, there is cost–time, old ways and values, maybe even some friends. But when compared to what you gain, the cost is laughable. The greatest thing we can possibly have is God Himself. And He says, “Be with Me. Be one with Me, what you are made and destined for.” Yet so much of the time we choose to pay $150 for the seats where we are likely to get altitude sickness. “That’s OK, a nice offer, but I’ll stick with trying to please you and run myself ragged serving as many people and ministries as I can. It’s too hard to accept something so nice without paying for it. So I’m gonna keep striving. I know I don’t deserve it, so I’ve gotta keep perfecting myself until I’m worthy of this generous gift. Excuse me while I go up and find my seats.”

No thank you. I’m gonna accept those floor passes with ease, thank you very much, Mr. Robinson. I enjoyed my pants off at that show thanks to that blessing, generosity, and…my acceptance of it.

I enjoy my days most when I accept God’s gift of Himself and then actually live into the joy of it by accepting myself as He does.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Jesus said, “Come to ME!”

“And I will give you a rest!” 

He did NOT say, “Come to Bible study for a rest.”

He did NOT say, “Come to church for a rest.”

NOT “Come to group.”

Not “Come to these Daily Meditations.”

Not “Serve more.”

Not “Seek social justice.”

Not “Try harder.”

He said, “Come to Me.”

All of these things may very well be a path to communing with Christ, but none of them actually give the soul rest in and of themselves. If you want rest and peace for your soul, don’t go ultimately to any of those things.

The only, ONLY thing that gives your soul the truest rest it longingly needs and desires is Jesus Christ Himself. All those things mentioned are nothing in themselves. Nothing. But they may be a way for you to Jesus and to rest in Him.

May we always remember and keep coming back to what our hearts really desire and require–Jesus, the person who is alive and active and the only authentic giver of soul rest. Nothing and no one else can give this. Make sure it is always Jesus Himself we are going to, pursuing, and pointing to in all of our spiritual activity, for what else is there, really?

What is it that puts you into the arms of Jesus and allows you to totally relax and rest in Him?

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

I remember going with some buddies occasionally to visit a friend of ours who had moved to another state. On some of those visits we would attend his church that was just…kinda weird. The preacher, over the years, would basically preach the exact same salvation sermon every single time.

Now I agree that we do need to be continually reminded of the basics of what we believe, but something just didn’t sit right whenever we would visit this “Numbing Factory” as it felt to me. Looking around at the catatonic droolers, I was like, “Who is he preaching to?” These are the exact same people that we’ve been seeing here for the last three years, and he’s preaching the exact same sermon! Talk about not getting your money’s worth.

This passage has helped me see what was so unsettling and even quite disturbing about that experience. You build no capacity to serve others, or yourself for that matter, while drinking milk only. We can only help others as far as we’ve journeyed. I’ve been given the vision of a guy feeding adults with a little” ba-ba” of milk. (Flashbacks haunt me from a Jerry Springer episode I saw years ago about a fetish some adults have to be dressed, fed, and changed like a baby.)

Following Christ is well described as “simple, yet challenging.” It’s simple from the standpoint that all we really need to do is love God and others via staying closely connected to Jesus so that the Holy Spirit’s life can flow freely into ours. It’s challenging because everything in the world seems to want to distract us away from this simplicity and beautifity.

But with the simplicity comes inevitable growth. We’re created to be creators and humans of maturing. We need to be challenged, and at least at times become, what a friend coined last week “Uncomfortably Unnumb.”

It’s comfortable to sit around sucking on a bottle, left unchallenged.

But is that really satisfying?

Is that what you really want?

Are you still messing with the basics?

Are you being challenged?

Is it time for you to be teaching/passing on to others?

Eat some solid food for crying out loud!!!

Let’s challenge ourselves and each other to some growth and capacity, baby!

(Funny, I didn’t really mean “baby” like an actual baby there at first, but more as a generic term of endearment, but hey, if the diaper fits!)

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria