Graveclothes

As soon as Jesus calls Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus is still not free.  He is still bound by the grave clothes. Jesus does not unwrap him.  No, the very Jesus who just breathed life into a man did not unwrap the binding grave clothes. He has some other guys do it.  Why would he do that?  He is perfectly capable of unbinding him with a snap of a finger or a word of his mouth.

Jesus knew the very people who wrapped him will unwrap him.  Now, many of us are Christians. Many of us have been a Christian for a long time, but are we still free?  DO we still feel free?  There are still grave clothes.

I need the reminder, the gospel, every single day.  Without it, I forget the gospel and its efforts to change me each day.

I need the people around me.  I need the accountability of my gift of grace.  I need the accountability of my good friends.  I need that challenge to always get back to the gospel, the milk, the simple identity of Abba's Child.  I need those around me to help unwrap me.  Yes, God is capable of unwrapping me myself.  He is perfectly capable of doing it with just a word, but I need to have my brothers as well to unwrap the grave clothes that bind me.  It is God's design.

Meat out your nostrils

"but a whole month [you will eat meat] until it comes out your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because you have rejected the LORD who is among you." (Numbers 11:20)

These people were complaining that what God had provided for them was not enough. They complained so much they became a burden to their leader and drove him to complain to God about how much of a burden their complaining had become. They all asked for meat because the manna was not enough.

So God, tired and angry at all the complaining, gives them the meat they asked for. He gives them so much meat it is going to come out of their nose. Getting more than we actually need will hurt our bodies. God is giving them what they asked for, but so much that it is going to hurt.

This is a punishment for rejecting Him as all they really needed.

Be careful what your heart and mind greedily wants. When is enough not enough for you? When is God and his love and his provisions not enough for you?

Our greed reveals how little we trust God, and I fear I trust God far too little.

What Moses dreamed of

"would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them." (Numbers 11:29)

What Moses basically dreamed of IS our reality today. ALL followers of Jesus have his Spirit in them and upon them. This is absolutely incredible and we rarely tap into it, use it, or listen to what Moses only dreamed of.

Just a thought...

Jesus says to us that if two or more are gathered in his name, he is there.  Now, if I come in Jesus' name, would not Jesus come in his own name?  And if so, does that not mean that if I come in Jesus' name, and Jesus comes in his own name, we are already 2 or more?

Not like Jesus

The best part about artists and non-believers in general is their honesty.  Artists are specifically honest as you listen to their music...at least most of them are.  You listen and hear the honest struggle within each artist.  Those are the sorts of artists I love to listen to; the raw and exposed lyrics of honest writers.  This is a quality lost in most Christian music, which is a main reason I don't like it or listen to much of it.  These secular artists leave their reputations to the wind and write with ceaseless honesty about what goes on inside themselves.

Christians often lack this kind of honesty.  In most cases, our reputation is king.  So because of this, every piece of humanity or struggle that leaks out the holes in the mask are shocking and scandalous mostly because we never saw it coming.

As Derek Webb said in an interview, "We are all wrapped up in trying to look like Jesus instead of people who need Jesus."

We are so fearful that people will see us as we really are.  I want to live a life where I am not afraid of letting people see me as I really am.  Because truth of the matter is I'm NOT like Jesus...I don't look like Jesus...but I DO need him.

Without Jesus, I am absolutely lost and in the dark.  Alone, I am a man prone to being lost.  I have huge potential for being lost, but honestly I would rather people consistently see my potential lostness...my potential for being alone and broken...I would rather people see all of this instead of a pretty and shiny self-righteousness which I have a whole wardrobe full of to draw upon.  I would rather people see my brokenness and potential for straying because if all I ever show them is my righteous and confident garb they're going to be shocked when they find out I really am a ragamuffin, beat up, broken and bedraggled.

That's who I really am, Daddy's little boy who likes to get into everything (especially dirt), who is a little ragged but still looks to his Daddy with phenomenal awe.  That's who I really am, and I'd rather people just know that.

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Passover Prodigal

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The older brother in me is frustrated I never did the things the younger one did while I was doing the right thing

The Passover in me is thankful God has brought me out and rescued me from ever having to experience the pain of the far off land

Peace and strength

"The Lord will give strength to his people; The Lord will bless his people with peace." Psalm 29.11

God, I am strongest when I am in your peace. I am strongest when I rest in a peace only you and your presence can give to me. Please help me know your peace. Help my heart, mind, and soul experience peace only you can give to me. I am weak, timid, and weary, but I can know strength in peace if you give to me both. I cannot give myself real peace. Only your gospel working change in me can give me peace where I would not otherwise know peace; in the places I would normally stress, freak out, give up, and fail.

Help me know peace in those moments and in those places. Change my weary and bedraggled heart to know peace. Give me peace and change me that I may know a strength I cannot attain myself.

The Gift of Hardship

What is the thorn in my flesh?  I have recently discovered it to be a lot more than I have always pictured it to be.

I have always imagined it the incessant and irritating daily reminder of souls.  We often picture a glorified splinter, which reminds Paul, daily, that he is to be weak that God may bestow true power.  But there has to be much more to this thorn.

If it were only a glorified splinter, Paul would be a big baby to write in 2 Corinthians 12, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me."  Come on, would a big splinter be worthy of such pleading?

In those times, "thorns" were used as a military device, and it was certainly much more than a splinter.  It was much more like a big stake.  They would pound these stakes (not much bigger than a thick tent stake...but sharper and more jagged) into the ground all over the place in an open area they were retreating through.  This way, when the enemy came running through that field after them, they would be slowed down.  Big stakes protruding from the ground would slow any army down.

Now re-imagine the thorn in the flesh.  It takes on a little more intensity now.  So why would Jesus want to give Paul a thorn?  Well Paul was an amazing man who's testimony has been a root for the Christian faith.  He wrote most of the New Testament.  Now with accomplishments like that, can you imagine the arrogance he is capable of?  But he wasn't arrogant.  In fact, he was incredibly humble and vulnerable in his ministry.  I think it is for this reason he was given a thorn that so tormented him.

His torment brought Paul to this kind of humility that reached millions.  This thorn made him FEEL so weak that he could only depend on God.  We know this thorn cut deep into Paul, but was never removed.  It remained to continually bring Paul to brokenness and vulnerability, but it is this brokenness which forced Paul to rely so heavily on God.  Not by our strength; but God's.

The Message calls "the thorn in the flesh" the "gift of hardship".  I think it really can be anything for us.  We do not know exactly what Paul's "thorn" actually was, but we know what it did.  I think our "thorn" could be anything, as long as it does one thing...brings us to brokenness and vulnerability before a powerful God.

I wonder what my thorn...my gift of hardship may be.  Peter Scazzero makes a list: "What might the 'gift of hardship' God has given you be?  A child with special needs?  A struggle with an addictive behavior that forces you to be vigilant every day and attend meetings regularly?  Emotional fragileness with a tendency to depression, anxiety, severe isolation, or loneliness as a single person or widow?  Scars on your soul from an abusive past?  Childhood patterns...a physical disability? Cancer?  Real temptations to anger, hate, resentments, bitterness, lust, pornography, or judgmental?"

Freedom in Failure

I met with one of my RAs, and he said, "I have felt a lot lately like I have been letting everyone down."

I asked him how it was he thought or felt like he was letting me down.  He said he just felt like he was failing at stuff.

"Maybe I shouldn't be doing this, I think!"

"Now THAT would let me down, " I said.

I continued to let my RA know he has not let me down, and the reason is because I expect him to fail.  He will make plenty of mistakes and poor choices as an RA, and I expect him to do so.  I told him that by knowing this, he will now be a better RA.

My walk with Christ soared once I realized God expected me to fail.  Why?  Because him expecting me to fail means he does NOT expect me to be perfect.  Now THAT is good news.

There is freedom in knowing God expects me to fail and loves me despite my mistakes and trips. There is freedom because now I can take more risks.  I can go after my faith without abandon or fear.  I no longer have to maintain the perfect Christian facade.  I can now dive into my faith head first.

"But you still make mistakes!"

Yes, I certainly will, and those mistakes will go challenged.  Each poor choice, mistake and failure will come with its fair share of conviction and consequence. There will be these mistakes that come along, but God expects those and loves me despite them.

Brennan Manning writes, "God expects more failure out of you than you do."

Today, I have realized how freeing that really is.  So my RA could face confrontation when it happens knowing I expect him to fail from time to time and learn from them instead of obsessively side-stepping them. He can go all out and be willing to take risks that some choices may go wrong, but that's okay.  He does not have to be perfect or the best RA ever.  I don't expect him to be.

I told him, "You won't let me down by failing.  The only way you will let me down is if you give up."

I believe God expects more failure out of us than we do.  So we don't let God down when we fail, make mistakes or ask questions.  I think we let God down when we just give up, because when we give up we aren't even willing to fail.

Where's the faith and trust and risk in that?