Being the Church - For Such a Time as This

I awoke middle of last night to a deluge and thunderstorm outside! Since I was awake, I started to pray about this world that we are living in. Jesus warned us of terrors to come before He returns. He warned of everything from nations rising up against nations and the stars falling into the sea to false Messiahs (Christs) being out in force to families hating and being against each other and people's hearts FAILING them for fear. A lot of that is being seen even now. Even WITHOUT all that, this is an often frightening world we live in. Hate and immorality abound, common decency is UNCOMMON. 

What is the meaning of this for Christians? For ONE thing, I believe that it is a reminder for us to get closer to Jesus - in Word and prayer. Also a reminder that this world is NOT our home. The more I look at this world, the more I LONG for my TRUE and ETERNAL home in Heaven. Yet, we cannot simply long and wait to go home! God has PLACED us in this world FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS (Esther 4:14). It would seem that as we trust that God knows who we are better than we do, we can rely on HIM more than on ourselves (Prov. 3:5-6) for strength and courage (Josh. 1:8) and direction to make it through these difficult and CRAZY times! And we will KNOW what our part is as we draw near and PRAY! Encourage ONE ANOTHER, brothers and sisters! This is why we HAVE each other - the CHURCH - which IS the Body of Christ. It is NOT a PLACE but it is WE who know and love Jesus, who is our HEAD. He gave us each other, NOT to coerce or manipulate as some do to their shame, (because they can't TRUST Jesus to lead His OWN). This is the job of His Holy Spirit - to lead, guide, teach all truth, convict of sin as necessary [none of us is perfect] - to train and comfort. (Jn. 14:16-17, 24-26; Jn. 16: 8-15).

It  beyond  MY ability to grasp the WHYs of it, but  He chooses to use US - to partner with His SUPERNATURAL power to build each other up and draw others to Himself.  That's the REAL purpose of the church - to use the spiritual gifts He has given us in order to BUILD each other up so that we can walk OUT of the building and into the world to be LIGHT and SALT there! Because when they see Christ in US, they will MARVEL and drop hate to serve & worship He who IS TRUE LOVE!

 But as they did to the Master, some will also (as Jesus warned) hate us and have us killed, joyfully, because OUR light will show up and convict them of their DARKNESS, and that most often without a word from us.  It is not necessary.  This is why it is not our place to speak judgment on anyone. Jesus does it through His Spirit IN US.  People KNOW  that they are doing wrong.  I believe that that is WHY they march in Pride Parades!  That is WHY they are trying to DESTROY Christians who refuse to not only accomodate but bow down and do homage to the LGBT activist agenda.  It's like they are getting into the face of Jesus and boldly rejecting His way for their own,  almost DARING Him, through us, to shout them down!  But that isn't His way.  And it shouldn't be OURS, either, as His children. The hate they accuse us of belongs to them, not us, and we must not act in kind.  But we must take our cues from our Master, who when He was slapped, offered the other cheek, answered directly but without hatred or sarcasm, and gave His hands and feet to the nails.  

Some call that weakness.  Islam, Communism, Fascism,  Paganism - (you don't have to go farther than our own government to see) - they ALL see Jesus and His followers as weak.  But Jesus was anything BUT.  They think He was a Pacifist.  But would a pacifist make a whip to disrupt and send the moneychangers packing?  Would a wimp call the religious leaders of his time "Whitewashed tombs, filled with dead men's bones" and "Hypocrites!  You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." (Mt. 23:15)  I think NOT! When He came the first time it was with the purpose of being the Lamb of God  come to save the world by humbling Himself to death on a cross, followed by a vindicating resurrection.  But He WILL come again, and THEN it will be as the ROARING LION of the tribe of Judah, to JUDGE and SENTENCE!  In the meantime, we each have our "assignment," according to the faith and gifts he has given us to work with Him.  I honestly don't believe, however, that we have even completely awakened to live out that calling on our lives, but I think the time is close at hand.  

While praying early this morning, the passage in Ezekiel 37 came to my mind:  the story about the Valley of Dry Bones.  One day when Ezekiel was praying, God took him (in the Spirit) to a valley filled with dry bones.  Then God asked him, "Son of man, can these bones live?"  To which  Ezekiel replied, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know."  Then the Lord told Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones and piece by piece, tendons and flesh, skin and breath entered the bones and they came to life as a mighty army!   While I didn't "see" the image myself, the idea materialized as it were, and I sensed God telling me that this would be HIS church in THIS day - coming SOON!   

Many have counted the church OUT - like a boxer in a ring that appears to have been knocked out.  Our numbers have lowered in many churches, our ranks appearing weak.  But I think that we will soon watch the Sleeping Giant RISE in Jesus' Name as we once more SEEK and see MIRACLES of regenerated life, healings, and more, as Jesus promised ("I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even GREATER things than these, because I am going to the Father." (Jn. 14:12)  and BE the people of God that we were meant to be, bringing in many people to the kingdom.  I haven't seen that  - maybe people in other countries I've heard about - but just maybe it will soon be OUR turn.  When the darkness is the darkest, the Light of TRUTH will shine like the noonday SON!  Let's all start (if we haven't already) praying BIG TIME for the world around us and for the SPIRIT to bring us a new Pentecost, complete with power and boldness - and fruit like we've never seen before!  Let us prepare ourselves to be faithful in order to RECEIVE such a TREMENDOUS "catch" as we partner with our Lord to improve our "fishing" skills (Mt. 4:19)!

IT'S ABOUT THE HEART

 IT'S ABOUT THE HEART

       Another terrible tragedy occurred yesterday.  A sick and evil man, convinced that blacks were the cause of  the trouble in our society and had to be removed, according to one statement I heard on the news, walked into a black church, sat in for an hour on a Bible Study/Prayer meeting, then took out a weapon and started shooting, killing 9 individuals in all, including the pastor. Heartbreaking. Inexcusable. And once more the President is stepping in and exploiting the tragedy of Charleston with his propagandist rhetoric about gun control. And he won't be alone. (Yet if there had been one responsible gun owner, then maybe only one would have had to die - the one evil heart  that held and used a weapon of hate.)
        But this is not about guns and gun control.  This is about hate and what lies in the heart.  Do we really think that criminals care about gun (or other) laws? Do they care that there is a law against  murder? I think not.  People disregard Temporary Restraining Orders and kill in spite of them all the time, whether by gun, knife, car or bomb. The manner of murder isn't the important thing or we would outlaw knives and cars!  We need to work on the HEART and the only one who can change the heart is JESUS CHRIST. No law can do that - We have laws against murder galore on our books. We have the Ten Commandments, which includes "You shall not murder."  A dark heart doesn't care what the best law says.
       What we have are loads of laws. Unfortunately, what we seem to have lost is the intrinsic value of human life! If all we are, as some teach now, is a bag of chemicals, then how can any of us have a problem when people are killed, whether by gun or having their heads lopped off by ISIS? If there is no intrinsic value to life, then why do we have a problem with what Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot or other dictators have done, killing millions, or what ISIS & Al Qaeda are doing today?  We seriously need to reevaluate the meaning and value of human life! That's the scary issue for me, whatever the reason, whether it's hate based on race or sexual orientation,  self-hatred resulting in cutting, bullying and suicide among our teens,  gangbangers or veterans, the convenience of aborting an unwanted (or "badly timed") baby or just to replicate a video game or steal a pair of sneakers!  In every case listed, one theme is in common:  life is cheap and meaningless.
        If we only recognized the value of our lives that God has put into us!  The worth He has imputed to us by coming to earth - God made man - to die in order to make it possible for us to be reunited and reconciled back to Himself (and then truly to our own selves) both now and eternally.  WOW!  What value!  What  intrinsic worth!  What purpose He has planned for us:  to show others the value they are to Him, the hope of reconciliation with God and man, to build  one another up rather than tearing down, to heal rather than kill. To make our communities safer rather than destroying through vandalization and looting!  To unify and reconcile rather than divide.  

       This is what we were created to do!  When we follow Him, we will be new people - a new KIND of person. ("Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come" 2 Cor. 5:17). This doesn't  mean "turning over a new leaf" in the usual sense. A bad hair day and the old returns. But when we become new people in Christ, and put our eyes on Christ (rather than our world, politics, the media, anything we hear from those around us, or even on our own circumstances),  tuning our ears to listen to our Shepherd & Lover of our Souls, Jesus Christ, then we receive a new SPIRIT – GOD’S Spirit living inside of us. We think and discern differently  because we have the mind of Christ instead as we come to know HIS will and His heart. And that will be the only means by which this nation or world will truly change and senseless violence like this and so many other instances we've seen, will end. It won't end completely until Jesus comes back and destroys all evil, but in the meantime, it is happening in one person at a time who calls on His name and follows in His steps. 
       The "system" of this world will always "major in the minors":  focus on the externals like controlling the weapons that darkened and misguided individuals use to spread their pain, hopelessness and evil, but it will never fix the problems. Creating new laws won't fix the problems.  Shutting up or destroying those we disagree with won't fix the problems. ONLY going to the source - exchanging our broken, terrified, hopeless, hard, and rebellious hearts once and for all - for the open, loving, giving, pure and compassionate heart of God and accepting His outstretched and nail-pierced hands, sacrificed for us - will begin to bring healing to this sad and self-destructive world!  This also gives Christians more of a motivation to BE the people of God that He has called us to be:  His voice, His cry to reconciliation, His arms and feet, going where He calls.  Is there a higher calling than that?  I think NOT.  Let’s do it, then – with His Spirit guiding us,  let’s BE the Church of God, marching out like an ARMY of  GOD for GOOD!

Transformation to Proclamation

      I started reading a new book tonight.  It's about becoming free to be the people we were meant to be in terms of who God is making us.  Quite the process, as anyone who has known Him for more than a day or two can readily attest. After reading a chapter, I found myself talking to Jesus, admitting  to Him that I feel like a failure and a fraud often.  I told Him that, and He responded, surprisingly, "Do you believe that I Am and I have died for you?"  "Yes, Lord, I do." "Then," He replied, "It would seem that you would need to change your opinion to line up with fact, wouldn't it?"

     Jesus' words to me took me somewhat aback. We - in this country - have been raised in our culture of being told to "trust your gut"  and rely on one's feelings in every conceivable situation. And like it or not, growing up in this culture, Christians are not immune from this cultural mandate - growing up with it as we do.  And unfortunately not all churches teach Jesus' message that contradicts the "way of the world."  Particularly when we have had a history of being an "outsider," or abused, even though we may have known Jesus for some years on this earth, it's sometimes still difficult for us to get our feelings to line up with the facts.

      What Jesus was telling me, in his simple, yet somewhat jarring and straight-forward manner, was that how one feels about themselves, really has little relevance to the truth of the situation, particularly about how we are seen by Him and are accepted "into the beloved," having a place and a purpose among the called (which we are if we've taken Jesus at His word and accepted His death on the cross as payment which we couldn't make for our own sins).

      While feelings are good to acknowledge, they can, if we put our trust in them over Jesus' words, replace truth with a dangerous lie - a lie that can take away our potential as individual faithful Christ-followers or go so far as to send one - or an entire culture  (including entire "Christian" denominations!)  down to destruction as they listen to the culture's politically correct edicts while turning a deaf ear to the truth of our Lord's voice.

      The bottom line in all this is found in Scripture - the book of Romans, to be exact. It says this: 

      "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is  - His good, pleasing and perfect will."  (Rom. 12: 2). 

     Imagine the otherwise unimaginable that could happen when each individual follower of Jesus Christ sees him or herself, not as the world sees, but with the seed of Christ IN US -TRANSFORMED - by daily walking and talking with Jesus. Following our Shepherd's voice and ignoring the noisy voices from elsewhere in this world -  will speak to our self-doubts and false feelings that tell us we're not good enough, we're failures, frauds and more.  When we are listening to HIS directions and are ourselves set free (Jn. 8:32, 36) of the lies we have believed,   then we move from transformation to proclamation - when we proclaim the truth of this freedom through forgiveness of sin to those around us!

      What will that take? We all need to pray and decide that for ourselves - some may need to "unplug" from listening to other messages, or to the culture of the world around us;  even "good" music, talk, TV - anything listened to all the time may become the "noise" that keeps us from listening to the voice of our Savior!  I know I'm talking to myself as well as anyone, and it is not easy in this "plugged in" generation!  But the ultimate question is do we want what Jesus has for us more than what this world has to offer? And the next question: Are we willing to do what it will take to show the hopeless world around us the better way of life in and with Christ?  We will be when we let Christ transform us,  but remember - transformation is a process that will take our whole lives.  As with most good things in life, the "right time" will never happen if we wait for everything - or ourselves - to be perfect. God doesn't expect perfection because that will never happen this side of Heaven - but as we walk attentively and doing our best to be obedient to His directions - subtle and nudging or more overt - our lives and our lips will proclaim the truth of Jesus to an unsuspecting world.

     With transformed lives and words that proclaim life in Jesus, lead us, Lord!

   

Unbroken

       Recently,  I went to see the movie "Unbroken,"  a true story about young Louie Zamperini, a former Olympic runner and Army Air Forces bombardier, who, after crash-landing in the Pacific Ocean and drifting on disintegrating rafts for 27 days along with 2 other members of his crew:  sun-burned  swollen-lipped and unable to stand under their own dwindled to nothing bodies,  heard the sound of a life-giving (so they thought) U.S. (turned out to be Japanese) airplane,  and were picked up and deposited in a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp where they - and particularly Zamperini - were treated horribly and ultimately survived the nightmare.  It's a tough movie to watch, and I didn't want to spoil anything, so you'll have to see - or read - the story for yourself - for the blow by blow (and I do mean that literally too much of the time). 

        At one point,  when still at sea, surrounded by sharks, and enduring a major storm,  young Zamperini turns to God and prays, as is often the case in such drastic life-or-death situations, that if God would save him,  he would give his entire life to God's service.  The movie, The End (with Burt Reynolds) had a similar scene in water, where Reynolds' character made such a promise, but the closer he got to shore,  the more he took back his promise.  It's easy to make such promises in desperate times and not mean them.  But this wasn't the case with Zamperini.  Unfortunately,  the movie doesn't really get into his spiritual experience as I've heard that the book did,  but the degree of resolve and strength in this young man's life clearly spoke to a source way beyond a natural one.  

       I will let others write an actual review of the movie - this is more of a meditation based on one of its themes:  Letting God work in your life to do His will through you.  At one point early in his incarceration,  Zamperini was tempted to try to get revenge on his captor - a particularly sadistic Japanese camp leader.  But one of his fellow POWs told him,  NO - the way you win here is to survive!  It was extremely difficult but in learning to keep his mouth shut,  and call on God for strength,  he ended up winning over the sadistic Sergeant.  And this was the lesson for me that I want to pass on.  

       In our lives, particularly when we see injustice,  we immediately go to our "Plan A," - that is, we come up with OUR PLAN.  We follow the age-old (non-Biblical) adage, "God helps those who help themselves."  We act, manipulate, get tough or otherwise aggressive (or maybe that's just me as a former NYer.  You can take the girl out of NY....) On second thought,  I think this is more than a NY trait.  One does not have to look very far into the Old Testament to find a plethora of tales of people from Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and David on, who took their situations into their own hands.  And at the same time, each of these same men later also learned to trust and do thing's God's way, which, in every instance, ended up more successfully.  

       Being January and the month of making resolutions, which I try NOT to make every year (in an effort not to break them),  I have made a decision (not a resolution) to spend more time with God in His Word in order to grow in trust of Him in order to better follow HIS ways of getting things done, rather than my own.  Anyone want to join me?

      

Ragamuffin

                                                                          

Ragamuffin

          Recently I watched a movie called "Ragamuffin,"  about a man and musician, Rich Mullins, and his faith journey.  This is not a "feel good"  story,  or for the faint of heart.  It's even painful to watch at times.  For those of you readers who are followers of Christ and Christian music in the 90s,  you may be familiar with Mullins and his anthem,  "Awesome God."  Or you may think you knew him.  After seeing the movie, I realized that I didn't know him at all.  None of us escapes this life without baggage and Mullins was no exception.  I didn't know about his (at times, heavy) drinking, smoking,  anger  and deep hurt resulting from an almost suffocating sense of rejection from his father.  A complex man who loved God deeply, yet struggled even moreso with the concept of God loving him with his very human flaws and brokenness. A story that many of us have in common, and that eats away at us because we believe deep down that God is disappointed in us, that He couldn't love us when we are so doubtful and distrusting of His love.

        Non-believers often label Christ-followers as "hypocrites" because we proclaim a truth that we don't live up to as we "should."  A hypocrite, by definition, is one who knowingly says they believes one thing, lives another way and then judges or condemns others for sins that s/he her/himself commits.  Jesus was never harder on those (most often the religious elite) but not on ordinary believers who tried but failed, even time and again, like Peter.  Mullins, however, doesn't qualify as a hypocrite by that definition. In fact,  as is told in his story, he was always up front about being who he was, covering up nothing. 

      While never married, (his song, "Doubly Good to You,"  recorded by artist Amy Grant, was written by Mullins for the wedding he anticipated but never materialized), Mullins had several close friends.  One of them was an older man,  former Catholic priest, recovered alcoholic and prolific author, Brennan Manning.  Manning made himself available, having understood some of Mullins' struggles,  and assigned him, at one point, to write a letter to himself from his father (who had passed away by that time).  It took a lot out of Mullins to write it,  but seemed to signal a turning point in his understanding of both his father and himself,  bringing a measure of peace.

     Why the "Ragamuffin" title, you ask?  What is a ragamuffin?  It is a rather old-fashioned (several centuries old) word that usually connotes the idea of a dirty and lowly street urchin,  but Manning's definition includes one who thinks little about self, knows his/her own brokenness and humbly comes to Christ, expecting nothing but grace for the day's troubles.  It was a definition that took root in Mullins' heart,  so much so that he named his band,  The Ragamuffin Band.

        One of the film's "extras" on the dvd is a conversation with Mullins' brother, David Mullins.  He points out that in the planning of the script,  the decision was made to leave in all of Rich's foibles and failings, rather than "cleaning" them up to make him look more pious.  They decided that since God did not cover up to spare the reputations of those He called to serve Him that are recorded in the Bible,  neither would they cover up those of brother Rich. 

       God isn't interested in perfect people, but rather those who fail but keep getting up and whose hearts are genuinely following after Christ.  By this definition, Mullins succeeded wildly and this should give the rest of us hope. And what is more needed today than hope, in an otherwise often hope-less world?  It is the beauty of the Good News (which is the meaning of "Gospel") that it was Jesus who took care of our sins on the cross - taking our place - and when we believe and accept that sacrifice on our behalf, we enter into a relationship with Him not based on a set of rules that allows us - as prodigal children - to do what the book of Hebrews declares:  to "come boldly before the throne of grace with confidence,  so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."  (Heb. 4:16, NIV). 

      Let me end this post with the lyrics of a couple of verses of one of Mullins' most compelling songs,  The Love of God. 

                                         The Love of God

                          (based on Eph. 3:14-21 & Rom. 8:18-39)

                              There's a wideness in God's mercy

                               I cannot find in my own

                              And He keeps His fire burning

                              To melt this heart of stone

                              Keeps me aching with a yearning

                              Keeps me glad to have been

                                    caught

                              In the reckless raging fury

                              That they call the love of God

                             (verse 3)

                              Joy and sorrow are this ocean

                              And in their every ebb and flow

                              Now the Lord a door has opened

                              That all Hell could never close

                              Here I'm tested and made worthy

                              Tossed about but lifted up

                              In the reckless raging fury

                              That they call the love of God

     



Confessions of a Media Addict...OR Working Toward Balance

The Illuminated Tightroper is a description of a Christian in this world, illuminated by the Holy Spirit and walking a tightrope:  living in this world while a purveyor of light from the Unseen Kingdom of God.  It IS a tightrope act but fortunately, we have the best "spotter" as well as net, in our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we fail frequently, but who NEVER fails to keep us walking until He brings us safely home.


Post # 1: Confessions of a Media Addict...OR Working toward Balance

Hello, my name is Jeannie and I am a media addict.   Ok, so there are no “Media Anonymous” groups out there, but maybe there should be.  Or a “Media Watcher,” organization,  more aptly, akin to Weight Watchers.  While not necessary for life, like food is, we are wired as human beings to be social creatures.  As such, we seek to be connected to others.  Unless there is some kind of social or psychological impairment that causes us to cut ourselves off from the rest of humanity, we are pretty much tuned in to the world around us and we seek others out, both person to person and through our senses.  For many of us, however, our senses can get overloaded.  Knowing when,  how or to what degree to unplug from time to time, for our overall health, is something I know I need to look into.  Can anybody reading this relate?

            

         I’ve known people over the years who don’t watch television, and I admire that.  I know that I would get a whole lot more done each day if I uplugged mine more often.  But then there is still radio, music via ipod, cd, Pandora,  satellite ….  And there’s the cellphone, email, Facebook, chat rooms, YouTube, Instagram, video games…  It really does seem like the options are nearly endless!  I think there really IS such a thing as "too much of a good thing!"

           

         When do we stop and think?  When do we take time to center ourselves, pray (as  Christians)  and get quiet enough to listen to that “still, small voice” for the guidance,  encouragement,  conviction and peace that Jesus promised those who follow Him by His Spirit living inside us.  As with ANY communication modality we have to “tune in” and be on the correct “frequency” in order to connect.  We are called to a relationship with our God and Savior, which involves a 2-way dialogue throughout our days.  It’s hard to have a dialogue when your focus is everywhere else but that relationship.  If we don’t take the time to set goals and live intentionally – make specific decisions for our lives – decide to live by certain principles and values, to work towards something, and live for something bigger than we are -  we will spend our lives on what I call “Auto pilot” – and then wonder (at some point) why we seem to be just “spinning our wheels.”  Somehow I don’t think this was what Jesus had in mind when he said that he came “that they (we) might have life and have it to the full.”  (John 10:10b).  Is that how I would describe MY life? Most of the time, I confess, it is NOT.  I wonder how much of that is related to not taking to time to “unplug” from the NOISE of this world and take the time to PLUG into the “still waters”  that David talked about in Ps.23. But we need to LET ourselves be led to them if we are to experience them!

             

         Is anyone else reading this up for a challenge?  Are you – like me – ready to be led to those “still waters” in order to listen to the “still, small voice” of our Shepherd  and begin to live the life we’ve been given to the full as Jesus said He came to make possible?  We don’t have to start with a full day – or even half a day.  How about 15 minutes or a half hour once a day, to start?  Preferably the same time each day, but don’t be too legalistic about it – days change.  Yet if we don’t have some consistency,  we probably won’t stick with it.  I’m challenging myself with this.  I know I have been consistently inconsistent so far, but believe that this NEEDS to become a high priority if I am to avoid wasting much of the rest of my life and instead living with joy, gratitude and fulfillment in the time that remains.  If you feel the same, then come, let’s walk together on this narrow road that can make all the difference!