Ties That Bind

Perchance as you read those things which I feel to put down upon the page you ask yourself "who does he think he is" saying <such and such>?  Perhaps you think "how wonderful it must be to be so perfect" or "to have it all together" or "to have such a wonderful life". Well, to answer the first question - who does he think is he - allow me...


"I have a wonderful, picture perfect family life?"


I can honestly say I hope yours is not as wonderful as mine is.


My wife and I have been apart for quite some time now - years to be exact - and I played a pretty significant role in that initial separation.  No details since, obviously, more than myself involved but trust me when I say a "significant role".  I have two incredible daughters and my relationship with them is far less than perfect even on the best of days. Honestly, most of the time, I feel like an utter failure as a father to them.


My relationship with my other immediate family is far less than stellar as well due in no small part to my own actions.  Granted, it is better now than perhaps it had been once but is not even close to the loving 1980's sitcom family.


So yeah, I honestly hope yours is not the same kind of wonderful that mine is.


"Had an easy life with few, if any, major issues?"


The list of major mistakes that I have made in this life thus far is a pretty long one.  I mentioned the marriage situation already. The list of medium - by comparison to the major - mistakes I have made...I am not sure there is an end to that list.  The smaller ones do not even make the cut for this.  And when I say major, I mean major mistakes. I know what selfishness and betrayal feel like - from both the receiver and giver's side.


"Yeah, but that was all before you were saved - now you're all perfect and stuff..."


How I so wish it were all before I was saved - I have been saved for quite some time now - but that is not the case.  I dare say I cannot go a full week without making some serious error in judgement in some area or another of life and, when talking in longer terms like a year, trust me, that list is terrifying to say the least.


I have had no perfect life and no small part of that is due to my own role within it. Sure there have been others who have contributed but in the end, it was mostly (if not entirely) my own fault and doing. And it still continues today even though I am saved.


So should you think, even for a moment, that whatever you have done or been through disqualifies you from the forgiveness of God, you are dead wrong. If He can forgive one such as I, He surely can and will forgive you.


And should you feel like you are failing at your walk with Christ - like you are not near perfect enough for Him - you too, are dead wrong.  I am very, very familiar with the grace of God - I know - and I mean I know - I deserve to be obliterated off the face of the earth before I do something else that results in someone getting hurt somehow....but that is not what I get. What I get is forgiveness, acceptance and more chances than I could ever hope to count.  So if you feel less than perfect, that is okay...you are not alone...you never were.

A Glance Inward

If you follow my writing at all, by now your are aware that, from time to time, God decides He is going to begin addressing <something> with me and I feel prompted to share that with you - the reader. Sometimes, it is afterwards, sometimes during and sometimes, like now, it is in the very early stages.


Have you ever noticed how, when God is trying to get your attention about something, whatever it is seems to pop up everywhere you look even when you are not trying to look for it?  Well, that is what has been going on with me as of late.  First it was just a thought, here and there, and then it started popping up from outside sources a bit. What, pray tell, is it this time you may ask?  Basically, self examination.


Revelations 3:1, is kind of interesting if you stop to take a look at it.  In it, Jesus is addressing a Church that is known by other people as being one that is vibrant and alive - thriving.  However, He is quick to point out that while they may have built up a reputation for being alive, He can see the truth that they are actually dead inside.  Apparently, even though those within it and those outside of it were seeing it as thriving, the truth of the matter was totally different.  And that is actually kind of scary in a way.  I mean really, no doubt the people included within it did not think they were dead - they likely believed that they were thriving as well...but they were not. And it makes one stop to ponder, even if briefly, if we are as alive as we think we are or are we merely believing our own lie.


Recently, I found myself reading AW Tozer's "That Incredible Christian" and he mentioned something along the very same lines.  In it, he mentions that most people live their entire lives without another person actually knowing who they really are and that they are so good at keeping up their camouflage, that they themselves rarely know either.


Tozer goes on to suggest a few starting points for checking into who we truly are at our very core (I do not mean who we are in Christ, but rather, with regards to the actual desires of our hearts).  The first he gives is "what do we want the most" and that we should reject any kind of conventional answer, but rather, get alone with out thoughts and take a real look within. If you are like me, then your gut reaction is going to be to say something about knowing God more or something of the like, but is that really the honest, core answer? Is that the answer that Christ would give you if you asked Him what it is that you really want?


He gives others as well, including "what do we think about the most" - the stuff that fills our thoughts when we do not feel we must be thinking of something else; "how do we spend out leisure time" and "what do we spend our money on" (outside of that which we must spend it upon) both give clues as to where our heart truly is much of the time and reveal a bit about who we actually are as opposed to who other people see us as, who we pretend to be or who we want to think we are.


I cannot speak for you but I know that as I start to ponder these things a bit, to be honest, I start to see things I would so much rather not see there.


But what if we honestly simply cannot seem to see them ourselves? After all, the Church in Rev. 3:1 did not see their our issues - it took Jesus to point it out to them.  With that in mind, perhaps a quick glance at Psalm 139 may be in order - specifically, verses 23-24: "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."


That really is a bold prayer that David made. Oh sure, it is easy enough to say, but to mean it from start to finish.  Not only asking God to search out his heart but to be willingly be led away from <whatever>.  That last part may make you lift an eyebrow but let's be honest with each other for a moment. That sin, habit, mindset or whatever that we have that we know we should not have is not some powerhouse temptation that just railroads over top of Christ every chance it gets.  It is there because - for whatever reason and in whatever way - we like it. We may hate what it does to us, but for some reason we allow it to remain because we like it. So being willing to actually be led away from it, yeah, that takes a bit conviction.


Now I want to make it clear that I am not saying we are to judge or condemn ourselves and this is definitely something personal - not something you read and say <so and so> needs this.  But I want you to consider this:  if you do not think you are sick, why would you go to the doctor?  You wouldn't, would you.  The church in Rev 3:1 thought they were well, thought they were healthy...they were wrong. Let us learn from that while we still can.


**A quick Add-On**


So what is the point of this "self examination"? Think of it like checking your own body for lumps, bumps, moles, etc - something that doctors recommend doing in order that any cancerous growth may be detected early.  If you check and find something, it may be nothing but that checking may have just saved your life. If you do not check, and there is something there, you may not find out until it is far, far too late for you.


"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven ... Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me.." ~ Matthew 7:21, 23

("That Incredible Christian" was written by AW Tozer, published in 1964)

Recent Social Shares

No shortage of followers of Jesus, hold back from "going all in" in their pursuit of Him, choosing instead to follow Him in a more "off and on" or "here and there" kind of a way more often than not as they fear the cost of truly following Him wholeheartedly. After all, Jesus did say that we would see trouble if we followed Him. However, I would like to point out that while following Christ may, indeed, mean we would see trouble, not following does not mean we would not see it. This world, and our lives, are full of trouble even if we choose not to follow after Him with all we have to offer and give. The difference is, if we make the choice to not go "all in", when the end comes for us, how many regrets will we have over things done or undone. Just something to ponder, if you are a believer.


==
It is not the self control you think you may have, or how often you read your Bible, or what church you go to, or how charismatic, attentive or well educated your pastor is that keeps you strong and gives you strength to truly follow Christ. It is the Spirit of the living God who strengthens you and Him alone who does so. No man or woman, not even yourself, can do this ... only the Spirit can do so...everything, and everyone, else is merely a poor substitute for the real thing.


==
Finally, two quick quotes:


"It's not what you advertise that counts, it's what you are really made of." ~ Francis Chan (Crazy Love)


"..circumstances do not make men; it is their reaction to circumstances that determines what kind of men they will be" ~ AW Tozer

More Than Just a Stray

You find the stray dog sitting, half frozen - shaggy and starving - on your back step. You are filled with compassion and take them in. But you do more than just open the door, you feed them, clean them up and take them in as part of your own family. As such, house train them, wash them and train them - removing bad behaviors and habits. You are not content to just have them in your home, no, you seek to make them more than they were and to give them a life they may have never known possible before.


Jesus will accept you were you are - shaggy, half starved, frozen - it does not matter where you are in your life or what you may have done or why you did any of it. He does more than just 'open the door' for you; He welcomes you into His family. But like the stray, He is not content to leave you as you are - He desires you to be more than you ever fathomed possible.


So if you think God would never accept you, you are dead wrong my friend.


And if you already have found salvation through Christ remember this: He accepted you where you were but He is not content that you should stay there.


"Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" ~  Romans 6:1-2

If Only I Were...

Why me?  I mean really, why me?  Why should I have been the one to get saved? Why would God ever choose me to do anything?  After all, I know who I am.  I know what I have done.  I know all the times I did not listen to Him and there have been oodles upon oodles of those. So why would He bother with me?  Maybe, maybe He made mistake.  No, that can't be it, God does not make mistakes.  Oh, wait, I know.  It was no mistake at all.  I am "Judas" or "Pharaoh" - created for destruction.  An example to those who would come after me for what not to do and what not to be.  That must be it.  It is the only thing that makes any sense, after all.  Like I said, I know who I have been, I know what I have done and whom I have done it too. And hey, it is not like other people do not know too so none of this should be any surprise to them.

Ever have one of those moments? Maybe it was longer than a moment, maybe it was a whole day, week or month...maybe it was longer.  Maybe you had this view, not of yourself, but of someone else. Do not kick yourself too hard because I am here to let you know that you are very much not alone.  I have been as well, more times than I really want to think about.  And, to be honest, it was no great truth about who I am that brought me out of it but rather, a bit of insight into some other rather well known people that did so.

David, slayer of the giant Goliath, and the earthly king by which all other kings of Israel were measured has been called a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22) in the midst if his reign (not the beginning, nor the end) not only commits adultery but has the woman's husband killed (Samuel 11:14-15). Far more than a "slight indiscretion".

How about the Apostles? Now there was a well groomed, well educated, well respected group of individuals who never, ever made mistakes. Yeah, right.

Four of them were fishermen - a group who worked long hours, doing hard manual labour who, while skilled, were not exactly well educated.  While I have never been to ancient Israel to "hang out" with them as they slaved away day in and day out, I have been around groups of people who were doing work of that manner and, if I recall correctly, the "language" did not tend to be made up of psalms and well wishes. That said, there is a good chance that these guys were hardly standing firmly upon what would have been considered the moral high ground.

It does not end there though.  One of them, Simon, was a Zealot and the best modern day understanding of what those were would be either be a terrorist or "freedom fighter" depending on what side you are on. Or Matthew (the same one who wrote the Gospel of the same name) who had been a tax collector - viewed as being both a traitor to the Jewish people and a thief. Consider the initial "fun" of these two working together.

How about the Apostle Paul, formerly known as Saul who used to spend his time not merely saying "unpleasant" things about the Church but actively hunting down its' members with the intention of, at the very least, imprisoning them and more often than, killing them. Let us not forget the Apostle Peter, whom, well after the Day of Pentecost, gets publically (and rightfully) rebuked for being a hypocrite (Gal.4:11-14).

The long and the short of it is simply this:  who are you to argue with what God has said?  Seriously.  If God has called you up and out - which is exactly what He has done if you are, indeed, a believer - then there is a reason for it.  There is something that He sees that you cannot.  Make no mistake, none of people above ever thought they would do and become what they did.  They all knew how flawed and screwed up they were.  None were perfect, not one - but God choose them anyway, in spite of their fears, failings and yes, even their own humanity.  The only thing they ever did was answer when He called.  It is not about what you have or who you (or any other person) thinks you are - it is all about God and it always has been and He is easily bigger than any short coming you (or anyone else) have ever previously had, currently have or ever could have... and He is the One who has called you up, out and as His very own.

"The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you..." Deut 7:7-8

Oh, Have Mercy...

It is almost a bit of a sobering thought to think that the demonic actually know God - on a character level - better than we do. In the Book of Mark, a "group" who called themselves Legion asked Jesus for mercy and GOT it. Considering who we are talking about here, there is a good chance that they would not have asked for it if they did not think they would get it. So what does that say about us? You know, we who refuse to ask because we tell ourselves we do not deserve it for one (or more) of any myriad of reasons.


Did Legion deserve mercy? No. Do we deserve it? No. But mercy is not now, nor ever has been, about what you deserve at all. Point blank, you do not have because you do not ask. Now, I am not talking about asking for the winning lottery numbers but rather with regards to whatever problem or situation you find yourself in right now.


So go ahead...ask Him. Just ask.

How Sweet the Sound...

Grace, grace, grace - if you are a believer, then you should love that word for we are covered and dependent upon it. Not just any grace either but the very grace of God.  But grace to do what?  Is it grace just for the sake of sake grace? Not likely. Is it grace to live however we want to live - that is, to sin our little butts off? Probably not (for 'we' may be justified, but 'sin' never is).

Let us say you are interested in science. You do not have a PhD or anything of the like but it is a serious interest of yours.  Now then, all considered, do you think you would deserve becoming an apprentice to someone like Stephen Hawking? Or perhaps you like to sing along with your favorite song? Do you think you deserve to be taken under the artists' wing?  Of course you do not.

Are you aware that not one of us is worthy to be a disciple of Jesus?  Not one of us deserves or has earned the right to follow Him? He never said come to me, get forgiven, dunk your head then just carry on with life as you want to live it. He said "follow me", not "go your own way and I'll just tag along". He said come to me for my yoke is easy - a yoke hooks two together - you and Him. But as flawed, frail, screwed up and totally unworthy as we are, how could we ever follow Him? How could we ever be His disciple?

Grace.

By grace we are allowed to do that which we otherwise would never, ever be allowed to do. God's grace allows us to follow Him. Sure, it is by the grace of God that we have a total, undeserved forgiveness but more importantly again, it is by grace that we are permitted to follow Christ! Not follow like the thousands did, but follow like the 12.


By grace, we have been given this amazing wonderful gift: to learn everything anew from the Master.