glorify your name

I don’t know about you, but I am amazed at how often I pray, “Father, save me from this hour,” rather than, “Father, glorify your name!” (John 12:27-28) It shows me where my true allegiances lie.  I am much more committed to my own comfort and ease than I am to God being glorified in my life and world.  It’s really pretty sad.

Life with God is about absolute surrender and total abandonment.  My problem is that I want a little bit of surrender and partial abandonment, which is impossible.  Surrender doesn’t really happen if I am holding anything back.  And abandonment that is partial, is not really abandonment at all. 

Jesus is trying to move me form a “less of me, more of him” mentality, to a “none of me, all of him” mindset.  That’s why he said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground AND DIES,” (John 12:24) rather than, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and becomes less.”  The death of self is a necessity in glorifying God.  Jesus did it, and calls us to do the same.  We must die to self, in order to live in God.  There is no half way.

O Lord, forgive me when I care more about my own comfort than I do about your glory.  Give me the strength and the grace and the courage to pray, with Jesus, “Father, glorify your name!”  Amen.

abundance or scarcity

When we have been captured by the abundance of Divine Love, we have no choice but to offer abundance in return.  What else can we do?  We have been so overcome and overwhelmed that the only possible response is overflow.  It is the way we were made.  If we live out of abundance, we will offer abundance.  If we live out of scarcity, all we can offer is scarcity. 

Mary is a prime example. (John 12:1-8) She is so overwhelmed and overcome by the love of Jesus that her heart overflows with a grand and extravagant gesture of uninhibited love in return.  That’s the way love works.  “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) Thus, she takes the treasured contents of her alabaster jar and pours it all out on the feet of Jesus.

Judas, on the other hand, is operating out of the scarcity of self.  Therefore, all he has to offer is criticism.  He does not understand the heart that has been seized by the power of the Great Affection.  Thus, his heart is a mass of fear, anxiety, and insecurity.  That’s what pours out.  His life has become nothing more than a desperate grasping for what he cannot ultimately reach.  It’s is quite a contrast: abundance or scarcity.

What about you?  Where do you see yourself in this story?  Which person best describes your life these days?  Are you living out of the abundance of God’s unfailing love, or out of the scarcity of your own limited resources?  And if you are not sure, just take a look at what’s overflowing from your life; that will give you a pretty good indication. 

go be you

In this life, from time to time,

you will be tempted to think:

What in the hell is wrong with me?

Why can’t I be everything that others

expect and demand me to be?

The answer is easy:

It’s because you’re not supposed to be.

You see, you are my masterpiece;

I made you beautifully and uniquely.

There has never been,

and there will never be,

another you.

I imagined you into being;

I dreamt you into existence.

Before anything else was made

you were an idea in my mind.

An idea that brought

a smile to my lips

and joy to my heart.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made,

so do not allow the circumstances of this life,

or the voices of this world,

to cause you to question yourself.

Never doubt your value and worth,

for you are priceless to me.

And someday others will see that.

You just go be you.

palm sunday 2021

 Lord Jesus, it's Palm Sunday.  And once again you invite us to follow you to the cross and beyond.  It will require much of us, but not as much as it required of you.  Give us the strength and the grace and the courage to lay down what needs to die in us, so that it might make room for the new life to come.  And, in the words of a wise saint, "Forgive us for the shallowness of our faith and the timidity of our following: forgive us for the ready excuses we make for going our own way and claiming it as yours.  Amen.

as it is in heaven

“On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)  What an absolutely beautiful, albeit often overlooked, phrase.  And what a beautiful prayer; one that I am going to start praying for the people in my life and world today. 

What a beautiful vision for what life and ministry could, and should, look like.  Everything becoming all it was intended to be: true shalom, wholeness, flourishing. 

And we are invited to be participants, as well as agents, in that process.  Living whole lives and bringing that wholeness, health, and peace into our world.  Rolling back the effects of the fall and ushering in a way of being that is closer to what God had in mind. 

Thus, “On earth as it is in heaven,” becomes for us a model for life, a model for prayer, and a model for ministry.  Thanks be to God!

redeem

There is a big difference between letting go of the things we hold onto and being released from the things that hold onto us.  Both are a necessary part of the spiritual journey, but the dynamics of each is quite different.  Both involve the idea of release—on the one hand releasing, and on the other, being released from.  But one places the ball firmly in our court—by the grace of God—and the other involves something that is completely out of our hands.  For example, you can let go of something that has a hold on you, but that still doesn’t let you go.  It still doesn’t offer you true freedom; that takes a power outside of yourself.  To some degree you control letting go, but you have little to no control over being let go of.  That takes an act of God.

That’s where redemption comes in.  In its purest form, redemption means to be bought back out of the bonds of slavery.  It means to be released, to be set free.  Thus, redemption is a work of God, not something we can do for ourselves, which puts us in a place of powerlessness, helplessness, dependence, and vulnerability.  A place where God does some of his very best work.  Redemption has nothing to do with how strong and capable we are.  It has nothing to do with how hard we try.  It depends totally on the strength of our God.  What if most of our problems in the spiritual journey come from trying to do for ourselves what only God can do for us?  

For instance, Psalm 103 doesn’t say, “I pulled myself up out of the pit," or "I figured out how to climb out of the pit,” but, “He redeems my life from the pit and crowns me with love and compassion.” (Psalm 103:4) Thanks be to God, who does something for us that we cannot do ourselves—he redeems us!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you alone can redeem us.  Forgive us when we keep trying to redeem ourselves.

coming soon

 Here's a little sample from a new book I've been working on called Fall in Love with Me: Love Letters from Jesus.  Hoping it will be out in the next month or so.

Listen

“I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”  Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.  Then he said to him, “Follow me.” ~John 21:18-19

 

Reflect

My Beloved,

At times I am going to ask hard things of you, just as my Father asked hard things of me.  Don’t be surprised.  The test of your love will be in whether or not you are willing to be led to places you would rather not go.  Ultimately, Beloved, life with me is about stretching out your hands in trust and surrender.  It is a life of submission and abandonment to my will and my direction, rather than clinging to your own.  It is a life of following me wherever I lead, even if those places look hard, scary, and undesirable.  You must always remember, Beloved, that this life is not about you, but about me.  As you grow and mature, you will understand that more and more.

My deepest desire is that you reach the point where you love me so much that you are able to say, “Lord Jesus, I am willing to go wherever you want me to go and willing to do whatever you want me to do.  I’ll do anything for you.”  That’s what it looks like when you truly fall in love with me.

                                                                               Love,

                                                                                Jesus

 

Respond

Write a letter to Jesus, telling him all that is in your heart.