BIG & little

     I think we often make too much of the wrong things. I am a Christian. Many of you that read this are Christians as well. That means we trust and follow Jesus Christ. We trust his finished work of the crucifixion and resurrection to atone for our sin and reconcile us to God the Father. But often instead of fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12), we have our eyes fixed on our sin or the sin of others. We get obsessed with a particular sin or sinful lifestyle. For example we might become all engrossed with the sexual immorality of others but ignore our own idolatry. An idol is anything or anyone or any way of life that you love more than God. It's an idol if it gives you your identity, your self-righteousness or turns your heart from complete devotion to God alone. Its easy to feed our idols and ignore God. It's easy to become captured by the sin of others but ignore our own lack of love.
      It isn't that many Christians make too much of some of the BIG sins but that we make to little of the excused little sins. We excuse away a lack of love, a lack of forgiveness, a lack of compassion and mercy. We excuse away our inactivity in evangelism and caring for orphans, widows, the poor and oppressed. If we trust Jesus, we follow Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5  teaches us that old things have passed away and we have become new creations. As new creations, Jesus has given us grace to follow where he leads. And thankfully he keeps giving us more and more grace!
      God captures us with his love. Exodus 20 - And God spoke all these words saying, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out or the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me."  If you are a Christian, then God has brought you out of slavery to sin and made you a new creation. What he calls us to is a life of love and sacrifice, mercy and giving, living in the world but not of the world, a life of joy even in the midst of pain and unfailing hope in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
      Lord, I pray your love will so capture us that we love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and that we will love others as you have loved us. That's the big thing. Thank you for your big grace.

Let it go!

Rusty! Let it go! Drop it!               

                                                                

I have this big red Labrador. He tips the scales at 105 pounds and eats anything that doesn’t eat him first.  Rusty’s biggest problem is that he is a messy people pleaser. Sound familiar? Rusty is under the illusion that I want him to bring me shoes – anyone’s shoes will do. It doesn’t matter if they are clean or covered in mud, he just brings me shoes. He will get a shoe or a pair of shoes in his mouth and follow me around the house, soaking them in his slobber. (He also likes to soak Mickey Mouse in slobber... )

In that way Rusty is like a lot of us. We carry stinking stuff around too. We carry sin, baggage, bitterness, unforgiveness, stress, pain, worry – the junk of life.  And we don’t want to let it go. We might even act like Rusty and follow the master around but still with the smelly mess hanging from the jaws of our soul. We can’t just let it go! We get attached to all that mess and even let it become a part of our identity.

But here’s the gospel. It looks like this. Rusty follows me with his smelly mess until I tell him to sit, to rest. He does that and I put my hand under his jaw and tell him to drop it. Rusty drops the smelly slobber covered shoe into my formerly clean hand. But then he looks to me for the promised replacement. And he gets it. I’m not sure what he thinks is great about a rock hard dog bone that Purina has somehow convinced dogs is something akin to caviar. But to Rusty, it’s the stuff of life!

Jesus says come to me. Rest. Drop your smelly slobber covered mess into my formerly clean hands. Take instead my peace, my joy, my salvation. Give me your mess and let me give you… me. 

His hands are open – drop it.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30

Anchored in Grace,

Harrison 

Two Truths

I sit here in a coffee shop in Auburn waiting on my conference to begin. I read and pray. And two great truths keep coming to my mind and both are good news for you and for me.

The first – My identity is in Christ, determined by Christ, encouraged by Christ, sealed by Christ. No one can take it away or modify it. No one. But we need the community of the church, of other Christians, whether in a Sunday service or small group or a weekly get together to remind us of that truth. Alone and away from such community, we forget far too easily who we really are and how we are designed to love and live and walk in joyful faith. We must have that community to remind us of this basic truth of our identity in Christ.

The second – Surrounded by that great cloud of community, we are encouraged and find more faith to throw off the weight and sin that so closely cling. (Heb12:1)  A large part of that weight and sin is being too concerned about the opinions of others. No one gives identity to Christians but Jesus and he has said to those whose trust is in him that they are loved, and named, and forgiven, and kept, and rejoiced over… and that they are his.

That’s good news. 

Relax 

...and rejoice.

A Beagle Kind of Faith

Have you seen the TV commercial* with the beagle that lives inside a tube?  It’s a commercial advertising heartworm medicine and makes the advertising claim that the best way to protect your dog from fleas and heartworms is to either live in a sealed bubble-like tube, insulated from the world or give your dog their daily meds. Strange isn’t it that a dog would live in a plastic tube! In fact it’s downright preposterous! Dogs, especially beagles, aren’t designed to live in a plastic tube. They are designed to chase rabbits through brambles, dig under fences, wake the neighborhood while they howl at the moon and lick the chocolate off their human’s face.

Dogs aren’t designed to live in a bubble and neither are Christians. Yet so often I see Christians hide in plastic bubbles to keep from interacting with the world.  I’ve done it myself and cringe at my foolishness and lack of love and faith.  Sometimes Christians even build these insulating tubes to keep from being tarnished by each other. If it wasn’t so sad, it would be just ridiculously funny. Christian, we follow a God that left the “bubble” of heaven to live among his creation, to sleep without a pillow or a house to call his own, to live with those that would hate him, to love on those that would kill him, to die that we would live. Doesn’t that seem a long way from the bubbles that we create? Do we really believe that someone that does not trust Jesus would want to step into our sterile bubbles? Jesus didn’t come to live in a bubble. He came to live with man. And he calls us to follow him. Follow. Jesus.

Christian, go chase rabbits, dig dirt, wake the neighbors and lick the chocolate! (maybe scratch that last one ;) )  Get out of your bubble and live life as God has designed you to live it – in the world.

By grace,

Harrison

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeTGb3a7n1U

Suffering & Joy

I love the way God mixes joy and suffering. That seems strange doesn't it? But the reality is that suffering happens. Sometimes the suffering is unbearable, painful and even paralyzing. Jesus suffered. And that suffering was so horrendous just because of the sin that was heaped upon him. But then added to that was the suffering of being abandoned by the Father at the cross… and there are no words to capture that type of pain. Knowing that Jesus took it because of his love for me and you leaves me stunned and speechless yet hopeful. I am left hopeful because a love that strong and deep is a love that conquers sin, death and that finiteness of life on this earth. It is a love that draws me to the fellowship of Jesus.

It’s in that fellowship with Jesus that suffering is mixed with joy – the joy of knowing God is here, he lives, he loves, he listens and knows our hearts and minds. Even in the midst of suffering when we can’t make sense of anything, still The Father knows and feels the pain with us.

I have experienced suffering both small and large. I wouldn’t wish any of it on anyone yet through it all I know that God has been awake, in control, still loving and very much present. While I wouldn’t wish any of that suffering on anyone, I still am thankful for growth that comes as the Father has drawn me closer. I so deeply love walking closely with Him – even if it’s in the pain. Strangely one of the hardest sufferings, perhaps the very hardest, is seeing my children suffer and not being able to take their pain upon myself.

But there also the Father meets me with his love and therein I find the strength of his joy

Torn Sandals

Luke 15:21-24 – “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’^{[c] 22} But the father said to his servants,^[d] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. ²³ And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. ²⁴ For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.”

Look closely at Rembrandt’s Return of The Prodigal. Look at his feet. His sandals are worn, ripped, torn… The sandals are torn because of his journey away from the Father. The son had taken his share of his father’s dignity and inheritance and run away to a foreign land, far from his father. He squandered all he was given living wild. His new foreign friends took advantage of him and used up his inheritance and dignity. He purchased the approval of others with the last of the wealth given him by his father. Broken, poor, hungry he returned to his father’s home hoping just to gain a place as a servant. Never did he hope or even consider that his father would allow him back in the home.

The torn sandals are seen prominently in the painting. They represent the shame of the son. They shout to all that see of his sin, his brokenness and of his status as one who is homeless.  But the Father removes the torn sandals and gives new shoes to his son. He gives him the best robe – his own, he gives him a ring – signifying the authority of a son, and he gives him new sandals, new life!

I remember my torn sandals. We all have them. But the Father would give us all new sandals, new life! I know there will always be people that only remember the torn sandals and forget what the Father did with those shameful shoes. But don’t you forget!

I love Holy Week, the week that begins with Palm Sunday and ends with Easter Sunday. I remember my torn sandals and my Lord that took them away. I remember at the crucifixion that Jesus picks up my torn sandals and carries them to the grave. I remember an empty cross… and my risen Jesus… and I begin to celebrate.

No more torn sandals… not in the Father’s house.

“…and they began to celebrate”

Anchored in the Risen Lamb of God!

Harrison 

Intentional Missional Discipleship

Some just call it discipleship, some Missional Discipleship, some intentional or purposeful discipleship. Here’s the point in all of those – Jesus commanded his followers to make disciples. The missional part of that is that we make disciples of others through evangelism, teaching and training. The intentional part is that we have to be purposeful or intentional about the process and plan of discipleship or the stuff of life will surely crowd in and discipleship will be crowded out.

Discipleship includes making disciples of our selves. We must be certain and take responsibility to see that we are becoming more and more like Christ.  We are called to be maturing Christians rather than remain as spiritual babies who live on milk instead of steak. Just as life begins with birth and usually includes giving birth to others, even so discipleship begins with evangelism/spiritual birth and includes the act of evangelism and giving spiritual birth to others. Then missional discipleship must also include intentionally discipling others along the way of life.

In GCC we are in the midst of a series from Luke on Discipleship According to Jesus.  Along the way we will discover that missional discipleship is

·        Christ centered,

·        Gospel driven,

·        Outward facing,

·        Spirit fueled,

·        Scripture based,

·        Intentional,

·        Life-long and

·        Anchored in the Church.

I encourage you to make it a point to be there on Sunday mornings as we discover God’s plan for growing his people into mature followers of Jesus Christ.

Anchored in Christ,

Harrison