must

Must.  Jesus used that word a lot.  “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected.  He must be killed and after three days rise again.  If anyone would come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:31, 34)

Yet in spite of how many times Jesus used the word must, we still try to take it out of the conversation, or at the very least try to soften it and water it down.  We have never been real big on musts.  In fact, we like to turn must into may whenever possible; taking away its necessity and replacing it with more of an optional quality.  But there is no option in must.  There is no space left for preference or discretion.  With must we are given no latitude or leeway.  Must means must.  It doesn’t offer any wiggle room.

We want to be the ones to determine our musts and not have someone determine them for us, which is the essence of sin itself.  We prefer to call the shots.  We, like Simon Peter, prefer to determine what and how and when things should happen.  Yet when we do that we receive the same rebuke: “Get behind me Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man.” (Mark 8:33)

O Lord Jesus, have mercy on us.  It seems like we are always getting in the way of what you are trying to do.  Forgive us when we produce gray areas where no gray exists.  Forgive us when we try to soften or water down the things you tell us we must do in order to truly follow you.  Give us the grace and the strength and the courage to embrace them instead.  Help us, Lord Jesus, to let you determine the musts in our lives.  You are much better at it than we are.

living and dying

“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:19-20)

During this season of Lent it is always good to remind ourselves that because of Jesus we are not called to die just for the sake of dying, but to die for the sake of living.  It is the death of the false, in order to live more and more fully in the truth.  It is the death of self, in order that Jesus might live more fully in and through us.  It is the death of the old and the tired and the broken and the worn out, in order to live anew in the beauty and vibrancy and fullness of the power of the Spirit.  Therefore, it is a death we should welcome and embrace, rather than avoid at all costs, because it is a death that brings life.

Lord Jesus, how are you asking me to die today, in order that you might live more fully in and through me?  Give me the strength and the courage and the grace to do just that.  Amen.

arabia

But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. (Galatians 1:15-17)

So after Paul had his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, he went immediately into Arabia.  What’s up with that?  You would think that he would hit the streets, telling anyone and everyone about the incredible encounter he’d just had with the Living Christ.  But that’s not what he did at all.  Instead, he went immediately into Arabia.  An interesting move to say the least.  After all, what was in Arabia?  The answer—absolutely nothing.  That was the whole point.  He went into the desert, the wilderness, which is exactly what the name Arabia really means.  He went into a place where it was just him and God.  He went into a place where the encounter he’d just had with Jesus could continue to grow and to blossom into all that it was intended to be.  He went into the silence and solitude of the desert to reflect and to prepare and to pray and to listen and to prepare.

You see, the first movement of the spiritual life must always be toward Jesus.  And Arabia is where that takes place.  Arabia is not merely a physical space—although that is definitely part of it—it is a space where we come face to face with Jesus over time.  It is the place where he can get his hands on us and strip us bare of all that is not him in order to make us into all that he desires us to be.  The solitude of Arabia is where we are transformed, equipped, and empowered to be all that God intended us to be and in order to do all that God called us to do.  The doing can’t properly or powerfully take place without the being.  Yes, Paul would go on and preach to the Gentiles, but not before he met Jesus in the extended solitude of Arabia.

The problem is that most of us, unlike Paul, are simply not willing to go there.  But going into Arabia is not a luxury, it is a necessity.  If we ever desire to have ministries that are fruitful and authentic and empowered, we must first spend time in Arabia.  Otherwise, the fullness of what God desires to do in and then through us will never happen.  For if we refuse to go there, our lives and our ministries will always be far less that what God desires them to be.  So let us follow Paul’s example and let the first movement of our lives always be toward Jesus—into Arabia.  It will make all the difference in the world.

wilderness

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. (Matthew 4:1)

Why on earth would the Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness, and why does he lead each of us there still?  I don’t know the full answer to either of those questions, but I have a suspicion that part of it has to do with us learning to hear and to trust and to be led by the voice of God, rather than the voice of the enemy.

In our noisy, chaotic, everyday lives it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the voice of the one who would lead us astray and the voice of Love.  But in the wilderness all of the trappings and distractions are stripped away and we are finally able to see things—and hear things—for what they really are.  What seemed so subtle in the frenzy and commotion, becomes stark in the stillness and silence of the wilderness.  Thus, we are much more able to see and hear the difference between the one who came to steal and kill and destroy, and the One who calls us his beloved.

So maybe the wilderness is not such a bad place after all.  Maybe it is not a place to be avoided at all costs.  Maybe it is not a place of scarcity, but a place of abundance.  Maybe it is actually a place where God leads us in order to speak tenderly to us.  Maybe it is a place of transformation.  And maybe, just maybe, by recognizing the difference between the voice of the enemy and the voice of our God in the wilderness, we will, one day, be able to recognize it in our everyday lives.  A man can dream, right?

Lord Jesus, help me to continually know the difference between the voice of the one who seeks to steal and kill and destroy, and the One who calls me his beloved.  May your voice be the one I pay attention to.  May your voice be the one that guides and controls my life.  Let me hear your voice, Lord Jesus, that I may live according to your word.  Amen.

belonging

“For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.” (Psalm 133)  

We all have a deep need to belong.  It is how we were made.  It is woven into our DNA.  It is part of what it means to be made in the image of the Triune God.  When we truly belong, we experience life the way it was intended to be.  And when, for some reason, we feel like we do not belong, it makes us the worst version of ourselves—needy, clingy, demanding, insecure, fearful, etc. 

But before we can ever truly belong to one another, we must first belong to God.  If our need to belong is not first met in him, then we will angrily move toward one another, demanding from each other what we were never intended to fully give.  But if we are able, by God’s grace, to find our sense of belonging first in him, then we can experience the beauty and the blessing of community spoken of in Psalm 133; the kind of community in which God bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.

Then we can finally move beyond ourselves and consider how to help make others feel like they belong as well.  Then we can start to consider how we can invite them to belong more deeply to Jesus.  And how we can invite them to more deeply belong to one another.  Then we can dream about how we can create spaces of belonging, both within us and among us, so that people are draw to our community like moths to a flame.  For only then will our life together be like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard—fragrant, rich, healing soothing.  For only then will our community be like the dew of Hermon falling on Mount Zion.  For only then will our community be something worth belonging to.

Lord God, thank you that, ultimately, I belong to you.  And because I belong to you, I can freely belong to others.  Help me, O Lord, to be a part of your desire to bring others into the full knowledge of that belonging—first to you and then to each other.  In the name of Jesus I pray.  Amen.

at just the right time

At just the right time. (Romans 5:6)  What a loaded phrase.  And one I struggle with pretty regularly.  You see, my definition of the right time and God’s definition of the right time are often very different from each other.  And when they are, how do I respond?  Do I demand and control and manipulate?  Do I sulk and whine and complain?  Or do I worry and fret and agonize?  Am I be filled with fear and doubt or am I filled with faith and trust? 

As hard as it is for me to admit at times, God is the only one who always does things at just the right time.  When will I ever learn?  When will I finally get on board with his plans, rather than trying to push my own?

We cannot dictate the timing of how or when God will act, we can only be sure that he will.  And if we can let go of trying to manipulate and control that, life will be much more enjoyable in the meantime.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that your timing is always "just the right time."  Help me to trust that today and every day.  Amen.

Lent 2019

Lent starts tomorrow, don't let it sneak up on you.  Start considering now how God is inviting you to live over these next days and weeks.  He wants to do something powerful and profound in your heart and life, if you will make time and space for it to happen.

Consider now what God might be asking you to let go of.  And consider also what God might be inviting you to take hold of.  How will these next days and weeks make you more aware of your sin and brokenness in a way that makes you more aware of the heights and depths and breadth of his incredible love?