Over the past several weeks I have been following the Miss USA Pageant hoopla. If you don't get out much, here's the story in short form. Miss California, Carrie Prejean, had just finished her swimsuit walk. She changed into her evening gown and headed out to the front of the stage to answer her "worldview" questions. Perez Hilton, a pageant judge and open homosexual, asked Miss California to give her thoughts on same-sex marriage. Now Miss California, Carrie Prejean, is from a Christian family and goes to San Diego Christian College. Knowing her background, you could have guessed what her thoughts would be regarding this subject. She graciously explained that her view of marriage followed God's design of men and women to marry. Carrie Prejean tried her best to come across kindly as she contradicted many opinions in this country that same-sex marriage should be alright. Miss California did not win the Miss USA Pageant, and there are some out there who say her downfall was her honesty over that question. Liberal media outlets are beating her down across our nation as a conservative bigot. Other media centers closely attached to the conservative views are treating this woman like some heroine for Christian values.
So which is she? I'm not sure I would describe her as either of those perspectives. I definitely wouldn't describe her as a conservative bigot who is "intolerant of perfectly ok lifestyles" as one liberal talk show host said. I also do not think I would describe her as a great voice for the conservative Christian cirlces. This may not be a popular thing to say, but where did she find her platform to share this "Christian perspective?" No one would ever have known who Miss California was unless she was Miss California. Forgive me for being "Debbie Downer" here, but it is hard for me to listen to Christian truths from a woman who was wearing a revealing white bikini ten minutes before this comment. How many men and young boys were able to get her body out of their heads in order to hear her perspective on God's original design? How many young women walked away with mixed messages about who God is because one minute Carrie Prejean is revealing her body curves for show and the next she's revealing our Creator? Too many of our girls already think that their bodies are there to get them attention. That's the only reason we even heard this woman is...because some judges liked her body. Am I crazy, or does anyone else see the contradiction here?
Now...I cannot be too judgmental concerning this issue because I have not done a great job of integrating Christ into every aspect of my life. I'm sure more than one person sees "Josh the Hypocrite." I am sure there are too many instances in my life where I have spoken out of both sides of my mouth. However, God calls us to speak the truth. God calls us to speak his absolute truths in a world of tolerance to everything. If I am living a life of two different messages, then someone needs to restore me. If someone is skewing the integrity of God, then we must call like God sees it so that we are truly sharing his glory. God calls us to die to him so that he may fully transform us and integrate his Spirit into every single facet of our life. When will we (me as much as anyone else) allow God's glory to permeate our entire being? What a day that will be when collectively the Body of Christ surrenders completely to the overwhelming transformation of God.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Maintaining a Bonsai Tree
Do you know anything about Bonsai Trees? I don't know a whole lot because my first experience with a Bonsai Tree was watching the classic movie "The Karate Kid." There was also this really strange kid at my Junior High named Cody that like trimming up Bonsai Trees. I didn't really talk with him more than I had to because he kind of weirded me out. That's probably how you get into the landscaping business...just kidding Tim Oliver. Anyways, I have never really heard of anyone planting one. Typically people just buy them already grown, right? Maybe I am assuming too much about a subject far outside my expertise, but that's my foundation for this thought. The only bonsai trees I have seen are already fully grown, and the buyer or caretaker's job is to water it and trim it up as it is needed.
It a funny concept. Seems that it's easier to tweek things than grow them from start to finish. I have been rethinking my Christian faith quite heavily lately, and I have been monitoring the faiths of others in my community. To be completely honest, I have noticed something very disturbing. This is going to sound judgemental and I don't mean it rudely, but this same concept seems to have infested our churches. Tons of people coming to church with a faith grown by mom or dad or someone else. It's not just teens, but many adults. The faith they profess is not something they have been apart of from the beginning but rather the work of another follower way off in the past. These "followers" are coming to church sustaining their faith like a Bonsai Tree. They tweak and do behavior modification instead of true submission and transformation. When I say "they"...that's me too. At least, that was me. My parents and spiritual mentors were there to plant the seeds of Discipleship in my life. They were not there to give me a faith that I preserve until I give it to my children.
I think this may be the cause of so many leaving the church and, more importantly, leaving Jesus. We have been teaching a fundamental lie in our Christian gatherings. We, leaders like myself, have been teaching others how to retain faith instead of teaching them how to be soil. Remember the Parable of the Soils? The basis for the entire parable is that we are the soil and not the seed. My perception is that we have somehow gotten mixed up in our identity. We think we're the plant that needs pruning when we are really the soil. There is a significant misunderstanding of Scripture, Discipleship, and Body Life going on here.
Behavior modification is not the way of a Disciple. Death, Rebirth, and continual Transformation are the pillars of Jesus-followers. Christ came to kill me and raise me anew in his likeness and will. Jesus, our Messiah, knew he couldn't just chop off a branch here or there. He understood that the entire tree needed to come down because the tree wasn't his focus. The tree was only the product of the worthless soil that was me. Christ came to transform the soil into something that would produce beautiful fruits of the Spirit.
So here is the ultimate question...does your walk with God look more like someone pruning a Bonsai Tree or the soil yeilding God's beauty? I truly believe that the Disciple lives the journey of "good soil." We are remade by Jesus, we then bear fruits of the Spirit, we are often tilled up for another use in God's will, and we then bear more fruit looking like our Lord. It's a recurring process but a method that validates purpose and faith in this life.
It a funny concept. Seems that it's easier to tweek things than grow them from start to finish. I have been rethinking my Christian faith quite heavily lately, and I have been monitoring the faiths of others in my community. To be completely honest, I have noticed something very disturbing. This is going to sound judgemental and I don't mean it rudely, but this same concept seems to have infested our churches. Tons of people coming to church with a faith grown by mom or dad or someone else. It's not just teens, but many adults. The faith they profess is not something they have been apart of from the beginning but rather the work of another follower way off in the past. These "followers" are coming to church sustaining their faith like a Bonsai Tree. They tweak and do behavior modification instead of true submission and transformation. When I say "they"...that's me too. At least, that was me. My parents and spiritual mentors were there to plant the seeds of Discipleship in my life. They were not there to give me a faith that I preserve until I give it to my children.
I think this may be the cause of so many leaving the church and, more importantly, leaving Jesus. We have been teaching a fundamental lie in our Christian gatherings. We, leaders like myself, have been teaching others how to retain faith instead of teaching them how to be soil. Remember the Parable of the Soils? The basis for the entire parable is that we are the soil and not the seed. My perception is that we have somehow gotten mixed up in our identity. We think we're the plant that needs pruning when we are really the soil. There is a significant misunderstanding of Scripture, Discipleship, and Body Life going on here.
Behavior modification is not the way of a Disciple. Death, Rebirth, and continual Transformation are the pillars of Jesus-followers. Christ came to kill me and raise me anew in his likeness and will. Jesus, our Messiah, knew he couldn't just chop off a branch here or there. He understood that the entire tree needed to come down because the tree wasn't his focus. The tree was only the product of the worthless soil that was me. Christ came to transform the soil into something that would produce beautiful fruits of the Spirit.
So here is the ultimate question...does your walk with God look more like someone pruning a Bonsai Tree or the soil yeilding God's beauty? I truly believe that the Disciple lives the journey of "good soil." We are remade by Jesus, we then bear fruits of the Spirit, we are often tilled up for another use in God's will, and we then bear more fruit looking like our Lord. It's a recurring process but a method that validates purpose and faith in this life.
Monday, April 13, 2009
I'm Pretty Arrogant
If I had to list my "Top Ten" sins that seem to haunt me on a daily basis, it would take a split second to know what sits atop that list. It's pride...no doubt about it. I find myself continuously thinking I am bigger and better than I am. I take pride in my independence as a person. However, I know full well that I am the best I can ever be when I am spralled out before God claiming my nothingness. Arrogance finds it way into my heart, and I can even rationalize why I don't need God to help me beat different sins in my life. Pride comes in the form of compliments for me, because there are instances I can remember when I served God for my glory and not his. I typically have more advice for others than I'm willing to hear, and I generally want others see me as a guy who has it all together instead of the rehabilitated Disciple I'm called to be.
John Wesley writes, "The first advice I would give to those who have been saved from sin by grace is to watch and pray continually against pride. For it is pride not only to ascribe what we have to ourselves, but also to think we have what we do not. One man, for instance, ascribed to his knowledge of God and was therefore humble. But then he thought he had more than everyone else which is a dangerous pride. We often think that we have no need of anyone else's advice or reproof. Always remember, much grace does not imply much enlightenment. We may be wise but have little love, or we may have love with little wisdom. God has wisely joined us all together as the parts of a body so that we cannot say to one another, 'I have no need of you.' Even to imagine that those who are not saved cannot teach you is a very great and serious mistake. Dominion is not found in grace. Not observing this has led some into many mistakes and certainly into pride. Beware even the appearance of pride! Let there be in you that lowly mind which was in Christ Jesus. Be clothed with humility. Let modesty appear in all your words and actions. One way we do this is to own any fault we have. If you have at any time thought, spoken, or acted wrong, do not refrain from acknowledging it. Never dream that this will hurt the cause of God - in fact, it will further it. Be open and honest when you are rebuked and do not seek to evade or disguise it. Rather, let it appear just as it is and you will thereby not hinder but adorn the gospel."
I'm trying to learn the deeper meaning of my place in this life and before God. My head desires to claim helplessness, but my heart struggles to fight humility. The greatest feats I have accomplished in my life have nothing to do with public applause or modifying my own behavior. The greatest feats I have accomplished are when I have surrendered my whole self to Jesus and become the vessel of hope, love, and humility that manifest the Messiah who saved me. And so today I pray for tears of humility and brokenness to remind me of my helplessness because I want my heart to match my head. I must have the movement of God's Holy Spirit, or I am dead.
John Wesley writes, "The first advice I would give to those who have been saved from sin by grace is to watch and pray continually against pride. For it is pride not only to ascribe what we have to ourselves, but also to think we have what we do not. One man, for instance, ascribed to his knowledge of God and was therefore humble. But then he thought he had more than everyone else which is a dangerous pride. We often think that we have no need of anyone else's advice or reproof. Always remember, much grace does not imply much enlightenment. We may be wise but have little love, or we may have love with little wisdom. God has wisely joined us all together as the parts of a body so that we cannot say to one another, 'I have no need of you.' Even to imagine that those who are not saved cannot teach you is a very great and serious mistake. Dominion is not found in grace. Not observing this has led some into many mistakes and certainly into pride. Beware even the appearance of pride! Let there be in you that lowly mind which was in Christ Jesus. Be clothed with humility. Let modesty appear in all your words and actions. One way we do this is to own any fault we have. If you have at any time thought, spoken, or acted wrong, do not refrain from acknowledging it. Never dream that this will hurt the cause of God - in fact, it will further it. Be open and honest when you are rebuked and do not seek to evade or disguise it. Rather, let it appear just as it is and you will thereby not hinder but adorn the gospel."
I'm trying to learn the deeper meaning of my place in this life and before God. My head desires to claim helplessness, but my heart struggles to fight humility. The greatest feats I have accomplished in my life have nothing to do with public applause or modifying my own behavior. The greatest feats I have accomplished are when I have surrendered my whole self to Jesus and become the vessel of hope, love, and humility that manifest the Messiah who saved me. And so today I pray for tears of humility and brokenness to remind me of my helplessness because I want my heart to match my head. I must have the movement of God's Holy Spirit, or I am dead.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Easter Groaning...
It is no secret, even to most non-believers, what this week represents. While there will be numerous Easter egg hunts this coming weekend, countless chocolate bunnies eaten, and family dinners galore, there is still an understanding to most that this weekend represents something far greater to those who call themselves Christians. Maybe this is wishful thinking on my part, but I believe most Americans know what we Christians mourn and celebrate about this week. The issue for me is not what the "outsiders" see from us over the next few days though. My main concern is what this week means to you and me. I believe that my love and intimacy in God cannot be hidden, and I would argue that God's work in the life of a follower is so great people would have no desire to cover it up.
For me, this week is about Revival. To be completely transparent, it is my week of total self-reflection. Yes...I realize completely that I should do that on a continuous basis, but I don't. There is something about this week that brings me to my knees in search of what I am missing in my journey with God.
Charles Spurgeon writes, "I have in some degree substantiated my claim that we are in need of revival, but now I must turn to the solution of this great problem that we face. Habakkuk prayed, 'O Lord, revive thy work.' Do you hear his groaning for revival? Our problem is this: there are so many who say they want revival but they do not groan for it, they do not long for it. The true believer, when he is confronted with his need for revival, will long for it. He will not be happy, but will at once begin to strain for it. The true believer will pray day and night, 'O Lord, revive thy work!' And what is it that will make that true Christian groan for revival? When he reflects on what Christ has done for him, he will groan for his own revival. When he hears someone tell a story about a fellow believer who is experiencing great joy in the Lord, he will groan for his own revival. When he attends a lively fellowship and feels no emotion in his heart, he will groan for his own revival. Those of you who feel you are in need of revival, I would ask you only this: Can you groan for your revival? If you can, then do it! May God be pleased to give you grace to continue to do it. And may you turn your groanings into prayers."
Wow! I have been looking at this through the eyes of our Easter week, and I am convicted to groan for God's revival in my own life like David groaning for a "clean heart", a "renewed spirit", and "restoration in God's salvation". Easter is my brick in the face that reminds me of the daily need for revival in God. I desire to be this "true believer" who groans for God's revival...the revival that can only happen through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I pray God will take this broken spirit, dirty heart, and helpless soul, and renew my desire for him. May we all, like Paul, honestly and openly say, "I want to know Christ - yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."
For me, this week is about Revival. To be completely transparent, it is my week of total self-reflection. Yes...I realize completely that I should do that on a continuous basis, but I don't. There is something about this week that brings me to my knees in search of what I am missing in my journey with God.
Charles Spurgeon writes, "I have in some degree substantiated my claim that we are in need of revival, but now I must turn to the solution of this great problem that we face. Habakkuk prayed, 'O Lord, revive thy work.' Do you hear his groaning for revival? Our problem is this: there are so many who say they want revival but they do not groan for it, they do not long for it. The true believer, when he is confronted with his need for revival, will long for it. He will not be happy, but will at once begin to strain for it. The true believer will pray day and night, 'O Lord, revive thy work!' And what is it that will make that true Christian groan for revival? When he reflects on what Christ has done for him, he will groan for his own revival. When he hears someone tell a story about a fellow believer who is experiencing great joy in the Lord, he will groan for his own revival. When he attends a lively fellowship and feels no emotion in his heart, he will groan for his own revival. Those of you who feel you are in need of revival, I would ask you only this: Can you groan for your revival? If you can, then do it! May God be pleased to give you grace to continue to do it. And may you turn your groanings into prayers."
Wow! I have been looking at this through the eyes of our Easter week, and I am convicted to groan for God's revival in my own life like David groaning for a "clean heart", a "renewed spirit", and "restoration in God's salvation". Easter is my brick in the face that reminds me of the daily need for revival in God. I desire to be this "true believer" who groans for God's revival...the revival that can only happen through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I pray God will take this broken spirit, dirty heart, and helpless soul, and renew my desire for him. May we all, like Paul, honestly and openly say, "I want to know Christ - yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Gentle Whispers...
If you have ever spent any length of time with me, you know how much I love Henri Nouwen. He's flat out amazing. I love his depth and message tone. I think his equivalent would be David Pounds in my community. Anyways...if you have ever attended Pine Springs with me, you know how much solitude time means to me. My quiet time at Pine Springs is where I believe much of my own spiritual formation has taken place...the gentle whispers of God on the side of those mountains.
Nouwen says, "Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. Solitude begins with a time and a place for God, and him alone. If we really believe not only that God exists but also that he is actively present in our lives - healing, teaching, and guiding - we need to set aside a time and a space to give him our undivided attention. Jesus says, 'Go to your private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to the Father who is in that secret place' (Matt.6:6)."
It's funny how we can know something (like solitude time) is great for us and not truly buy into it. I find that amazingly stupid about myself. I know I should work out, but I have rationalized this...when Harper is sleeping through the night and the NCAA Tournament is over, I'll have time and energy for that. We will see. Even in my brokenness, deep down in my soul, I know I need regular and lengthy time with God in quiet so that he can whisper to me the truths this world can never teach me.
So I find myself here...God desires to speak his love, discipline, and wisdom into my life, and I choose to watch SportsCenter for the third time today. May you and I find the guts through God's transforming power to block out all things in search of God's daily, gentle whispers.
Anyone can comment.
Nouwen says, "Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. Solitude begins with a time and a place for God, and him alone. If we really believe not only that God exists but also that he is actively present in our lives - healing, teaching, and guiding - we need to set aside a time and a space to give him our undivided attention. Jesus says, 'Go to your private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to the Father who is in that secret place' (Matt.6:6)."
It's funny how we can know something (like solitude time) is great for us and not truly buy into it. I find that amazingly stupid about myself. I know I should work out, but I have rationalized this...when Harper is sleeping through the night and the NCAA Tournament is over, I'll have time and energy for that. We will see. Even in my brokenness, deep down in my soul, I know I need regular and lengthy time with God in quiet so that he can whisper to me the truths this world can never teach me.
So I find myself here...God desires to speak his love, discipline, and wisdom into my life, and I choose to watch SportsCenter for the third time today. May you and I find the guts through God's transforming power to block out all things in search of God's daily, gentle whispers.
Anyone can comment.
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