possessed by truth
here is an excerpt from an article jon foreman wrote on the huffington post about being possessed by truth. it’s amazing, as usual:
“My thoughts drift to religion. These are the truths that people live by and hold dear. In many ways, these are the truths that inspire our best and worst moments. The truths that motivate Mother Theresa and start religious wars. How can this be? How can fresh water and salt water come from the same hose? Perhaps it has to do with this concept of possession. If I view the truth as my possession to keep safe, I might feel the need to protect my faith. But if I am possessed by the truth, perhaps this protection is no longer needed. Maybe I am set free from the need to defend the truth, rather the truth defends me.
The idea of defending an all-powerful deity feels a bit silly when it’s put out in the wind like that. And yet, that sentiment seems to epitomize much of what religion has come to mean. After centuries of witch-hunts, inquisitions and holy wars, many are still fighting hard to defend their faith in an omnipotent God who has no need of our protection. Maybe we are still protecting our beliefs as though we were the owners of this truth.
If our faith is to be more than just a lit match in the powder-keg of differing beliefs, what role does religion play in our modern world? What would it mean to be possessed by truth rather than simply the proud owner of a particular denomination? Maybe we could start with the common ground that we all can call truth. In all of the major religions of the world I find the call to protect the less fortunate.
From the Torah:
“Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
Isaiah 1:17
From the Koran:
“Spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, for the ransom of slaves, to be steadfast in prayer and to practice regular charity.”
83. Section 10
From the New Testament:
“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”
James 1:27
From Buddha:
“A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.”
The “truth” of loving those around me, the “truth” of seeking justice for the oppressed, the “truth” of a life of service — these are truths to be possessed by: to be a slave in the service of the kingdom of the heavens, to be the servant of all. If the truths in this life have no owner then we are set free: free from the need to defend the truth, free to be possessed by this truth and simply live it out. Truth becomes much too large for me to possess; truth is the beauty and authenticity which possesses me.
Maybe the meaning of life is not something that I can control, but rather a reality which possesses me. Maybe there is no life guiding “fact” that I can put in my back pocket, as though I were the sole owner of the universe. Perhaps The-Meaning-of-Life-Himself is asking me the questions. When I look at a sunset, when I hear the songs of the ocean gulls, when I feel the warmth of family and friends, I am reminded of a story that is bigger than I am. Yes, this is my story but not mine alone. Truth was never mine alone. Truth is that which possesses me.”
Paycheck to Paycheck
Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. ~Mark 10:21
“I’m living paycheck to paycheck.” You’ve probably heard this phrase used before. But is it such a bad thing, when done for the right reason?
I’ve been wrestling lately with the idea of tithes and giving gifts to the Lord. Whether or not to actually do it, isn’t the question, but the faith behind it is what has been stirring up inside of me.
The world tells us to store up and prepare. That’s why we have saving accounts and 401k’s so that we can “retire happy”. Maybe my argument here is radical and over the top but I suggest that the less money you have the happier you will be. There are some conditions to this but here me out:
1. Know Christ.
2. Trust Christ.
When we know Christ as our Lord and Savior our lives are drastically changed. Matthew 4:19 Jesus says “Come, follow me”. Immediately they drop their nets and follow Him. They didn’t ask, but how will we eat? They simply obeyed. Read Mark 12:41-44. This poor widow comes and puts everything she has to live on in this basket for the Lord. She didn’t ask, but how will I eat? She simply obeyed.
My argument is this: if you are living paycheck to paycheck because you are buying “things” and “stuff” you are going to be miserable. Things will not fill the void in your soul. But if you are living paycheck to paycheck because you are giving out of an abundance of joy to the Lord He will bless you over and over and your life with be filled with happiness. Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow and not to worry about the clothes we will wear or how we will put food on our plate, but that the God of heaven is faithful to his servants.
It takes a lot of faith to go against the grain. To forgo safety and security in this life is contrary to everything this world teaches. I feel that if this “experiment” were to take place in ones life, even other Christians would mock the “insanity” of it.
What would happen if we lived paycheck to paycheck for the Lord? What would happen if every extra dime we had went to the Lord? What if I saw someone who needed a coat and gave them mine? What if I saw a need and fulfilled it? I believe life altering, world shattering events would happen.
The other day I talked about the authority Christ has given us. This is part of it. If we grabbed hold of these concepts as Christians and truly united on one front we really could turn this world upside down.
Do you want it? I know I do. I want to be known as “insane”.
Are you satisfied?
…that they might be with Him and the he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. ~Mark 3:14-15
Am I satisfied with 2 out of 3?
We can be complacent and okay with being with him and speaking about Him openly but what about the authority He has given us? The authority to bring change to someone else life. Am I willing to take that next step and grab hold of the authority?
The short answer, for me anyway, is no. I’ve been completely satisfied rolling along in my life living day by day. And each day I wake up and ask myself “what am I doing?”, yet I keep doing it over and over.
I’m saved, and if it gets brought up I’m happy to say that I believe in Jesus and what He’s done for me, but I lack the faith to grasp that authority and in essence be all I can be.
As I was waiting for my train the other day I spotted a small turtle on the tracks. He was inbetween the two rails and was lazily moving towards the other side. There was no hope for him. He was far to small to get over the tall steel rail.
As the metal began tinging ever so slightly I knew his time was running out. He had reached the other side, but realizing he could not climb over, he had stopped. The train rolled around the corner and I caught a glimpse of the turtle ducking for cover inside his shell as the large locomotive went right overhead. Goodbye mister turtle.
I waited as the train left, and something miraculous happened. The wheel had missed. His head poked out of his shell, he slowly turned around but He headed right back the way he came!
Are you kidding me? Angels must be up there marveling at our ineptitude. I lack the faith to trust that Jesus is going to come pick me up and lift me over the hurdle so I turn around and head back to the place I knew.
Read Numbers 13 and 14. Verse 13:1, the Lord tells Moses he’s giving them the land but by verse 3 of chapter 14 they want to go back to Egypt! Jesus has given us the authority to change lives. We are indwelled with the Holy Spirit but when the time comes and something suddenly blocks our path we tend to go back to what we know rather than pushing through to the place the Lord has for us.
Don’t be like that turtle, satisfied with walking between two points over and over and ducking for cover every time a trouble comes your way. Recognize the pattern, focus on Christ and let Him be your eyes when you can’t see, your ears when you can’t hear, and your strength when you feel weak. He can pick you up and over that hurdle and set your feet on solid ground.
That turtle had the whole world on the other side of that rail but lacked the faith to reach it.
old and new
genesis 4:3-11: “in the course of time cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. and the LORD had regard for abel and his offering, but for cain and his offering he had no regard. so cain was very angry, and his face fell. the LORD said to cain, “why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? if you do well, will you not be accepted? and if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
cain spoke to abel his brother. and when they were in the field, cain rose up against his brother abel and killed him. then the LORD said to cain, “where is abel your brother?” de said,”i do not know; am i my brother’s keeper?” and the LORD said, “what have you done? the voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. and now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.”
i am finally taking old testament survey at school. i have been trying to avoid it for quite a while, but it finally got me. as you would expect we started out in genesis, and i the story of cain and abel struck me in a way that it never did before.
i came to the realization that the first manifestation of humanity’s fall was jealousy, resulting in murder. simple, i know. but, this realization made a lot of things click for me. it allowed to understand salvation on a much deeper level than i had before.
so, here’s a quick idea of what i’ve been coming to understand…
the world the way we made it:
God creates everything good. we decide we can do as well, if not better without God. we bring death to a creation designed for life by choosing our own way.
violence and death run rampant in the realm of humanity (and in the animal kingdom).
humanity is bent on self-preservation. all we care about is ourselves and all we desire is our own happiness, no matter the cost to anyone else.
a now for something completely different:
enter Jesus. a new kingdom. a new way. a new death. a renewed life.
“you have heard that it has been said…but i tell you!”
in Jesus, God most powerfully displays for us his intentions for humanity. God’s blessing is now opened up to the whole world, and we are called to extend that blessing to everyone.
this new and completely different way, this salvation that we have come to know, is not just a rescue from a nebulous afterlife. it is a here and now life changer. it doesn’t place a stamp of approval on the old way of doing things. it gives us new goals and new peace that we can’t help but bring to others.
we are new people, with new attitudes and a new heart bent on love instead of self-preservation. this new and opposite way changes us into people who place others before ourselves (including our enemies).
there is no hiding from those who love this new way. they are lovers to their death, even if their death is caused by those who know not this new way.
apart from Christ there is only the way of death. the way of self-preservation. with Christ there life. that’s a kingdom i want to be a part of.
the rest is for the birds.
-dave-
Carrying the Burdens of Others
they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus ~Luke 23:26
I think we can all agree that the health care bill now shoved through Congress despite the outrage of the American people is frustrating. Why are we burdened with the few? Why is American becoming more socialistic as the days progress? The economic system in America is being held up by popsicle sticks as we’re determined to spend nearly a trillion dollars on just 32 million of the 309 million Americans to provide them with health care.
I spent a bit of today in a heated argument with someone about the whole thing. I’ll be honest, Christianity did not ring out in my words. As her comments became more ludicrous and began landing below the belt I retaliated back with jabs of my own. I felt good. I know what I’m talking about, I feel somewhat educated on the subject and have formed my own opinion. I thought “Yeah I’ll show her.”
A little while later, still steamed by the whole thing, I was chatting with a friend and expressing my dismay at the cluelessness of Americas youth.
“The sad thing is, they are two of the people I will probably be paying for health care for.” I lamented.
“Of course they are.” my friend replied.
“As if I don’t have enough problems now I have to carry the burdens of other peoples?!” I argued back at no one.
And literally as the words were forming in my mind I heard “I did it for you.”
I felt ashamed of myself. Jesus carried a cross ladened with my burdens, my sins, my troubles.(John 19:17) He didn’t pick and chose who; For the sins of all he bled. It wasn’t whether he liked it or not or which sins He felt like forgiving, He took them all.
Here I am whining and complaining about some bill my government is passing. Why?
- Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has enough worries of it’s own.(Matthew 6:34).
- Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?(Matthew 6:25)
- Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.(Matthew 22:21)
See, I should be more focused on the Lord’s call for my life every day and less concerned about this health care bill. If we want to spur change, go out and spread the gospel and make some real change. All these things will burn but the Word of God will stand forever.(Isaiah 40:8)
Am I pissed off at the fact that this bill is a pile of junk? Absolutely. Will I continue to fight for what I believe in and push for the possibility that my tax dollars will be used in a better way? Without a doubt. But should I really be this concerned? No.
Ask yourself, would Jesus be picketing somewhere over this health care bill or would He be teaching the gospel?
Simon from Cyrene didn’t know Jesus personally. He was just a passer by and they plucked him from the crowd and put the heavy cross on his back. As sweat dripped from his brow he continued on. Splinters dug in to his shoulders and back as he pushed forward.
We should be more like Simon, helping pick up the burden of someone else, even if it’s unfair. After all, Jesus did it for way more.
We make it far to easy
Now they sin more and more; ~Hosea 13:2
Over the past couple of weeks I have been working in Boston for a company near the Garden. While I do feel blessed to have a job in this economy, I also hate getting up that early to do something I don’t feel benefits the kingdom of God in any respect.
Early Thursday morning, after rolling out of bed at 5am I began my trek to the train station in the center of town. There was a fresh coat of snow on the ground and it continued to fall from the sky. I threw on my jacket and pulled my hat down over my head.
As is generally the case when I’m alone with my thoughts, I had an epiphany.
About halfway to the train station I realized I had been following earlier footsteps in the snow. Some were freshly stomped, as clear as day. Their impressions were pushed down to the black pavement below. Others had a dusting of white snow beginning to shade their direction.
As a continued to walk I noticed that my paces were longer than those already pressed in to the snow. I’m a tall guy and wrote it off as my legs being longer than those who walked before me. The shoe size seemed to be the same though… Scuffs had marked some of the steps ahead of me and it clicked in my head. They were tired. The steps were beginning to shuffle along rather than being fully picked up; They were losing momentum.
We make it far to easy for Satan to track us. We plod along and our sin makes the next temptation that much easier to succumb to. Following those deep impressions in the snow was very easy. I didn’t need to be right behind the person to know where they were headed. The Bible says Satan prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. A lion does not make himself known to his prey but sneaks behind it’s prey, pouncing when they least expect it
Hebrews 12:1 says “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” We have a tendency to get tired. We’re only human. And in our weakness we begin shuffling our feet and stumbling around. Our run becomes a jog and then a walk, until finally we’re stopped. A lion searching for prey doesn’t attack the strong gazelle at the head of the pack but finds that wounded straggler on the outskirts who has seemingly given up.
How much easier than for Satan to attack when he sees us shuffling our feet? It’s one thing to stumble, but when we do and refuse to turn to Jesus for help our stride becomes shorter, our shoulders sag, and our feet begin shuffling underneath us.
Repent and seek the Lord in your time of need. When your run becomes a walk seek His face. “wash me, and I will be whiter than snow”(Psalm 51:7). Just like those steps in the snow, Jesus covers us with his grace, hiding our footsteps and washing us whiter than snow. The longer that snow came falling gently on the footsteps the harder it was to see them and follow them.
It seems like such a simple concept. Ask and you will find him(Matthew 7:8). But I struggle with it daily. I want to rely on my own ability to get out of a situation and in turn push my steps farther into the snow. I’m in a funk and I justify it by saying “I don’t know how to get out of it.” The truth of the matter is, I do, I just choose not to.
our f word
luke 23:34 – and Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
here, while Jesus is dying on the cross, he asks his father to forgive his killers for the ignorance of their actions.
haven’t we always been taught that we have to ask for forgiveness from God before we can receive it? why then does Jesus ask his father to forgive his killers, despite the fact that they crucified him with no remorse?
through Christ, i’ve come to find that the most shocking and earth-shattering thing you can do to another person is what Jesus did. forgive them. whether they deserve it or not.
forgiveness is central to the life of a follower of Christ. it leads us to love neighbor and enemy alike, since we know that we are nowhere near being worthy of the forgiveness we continually receive.
imagine, if you will, that someone close to you has ripped you off, lied to you, told lies about you or turned their back on you. would it not be far more Christ-like to offer forgiveness to them (prior to them asking) than to seek revenge in-kind?
we are called to a revenge far more powerful than eye for an eye. forgiveness is our greatest act of revenge.
-dave-
