The answer is always B - 7/8/08 - "He saved us"

Haven't done this for a while!

Which is the correct wording of Titus 3:4-7?

A. But when we'd done enough good works to satisfy God, he saved us, because of all the righteous things we had done, not so much because of his mercy. He saved us, through our careful washing of our souls everyday, and through proving ourselves to be good and faithful servants. He made sure that we had poured our lives out in generous giving (especially to our local churches), so that having been justified by our generosity and good works, he might grudgingly accept us into his kingdom.

B. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

C. His hard drive crashed and he had forgotten to save his work. Ooops!

What's the rush?

This post is kind of a follow-up to Quit Jammin' Me. My own personal experience in my church life has involved listening to sermons every week that have been based largely upon principles for Christian living. There's generally been a new 'topic' every week, or sometimes a sermon series spanning several weeks, usually based upon some aspect of "how to live the Christian life." Each week several principles have been laid out in regards to that subject, with various subpoints to go along with each principle. With the continuous, ongoing cycle of topics, principles and subpoints, week after week - all having to do with doin' the stuff (one of the mottos of a particular large association of churches) - I've often felt jammed, or overwhelmed, in trying to keep up with it all.

I'm not trying to make myself out to be a victim here! On the contrary, I've simply had many questions and many observances that in the long run have helped me to overcome the principles-based (and performance-based) Christian lifestyle, and I'd like to share some of it.

One of the questions I've asked is, "What's the rush?" Many times on this blog I've brought up the whole idea of slow growth in the Christian life [1], as we rest in Christ and dig our roots deep into Him [2], drawing up nourishment from Him, allowing Him to grow us at our own individual paces. What I've found to be a problem with the constant bombardment of Christian principles week after week is that instead of digging our roots into Jesus, and into a deep, intimate relationship with Him, we find ourselves digging our roots and trying to grow in "how to perform the Christian life." In other words, we end up with a constant focus on our performance of Christian principles and we really don't get to know Jesus.

The result has been that while these principles are perhaps meant to be a lovely part of the overall landscape arrangement in a healthy, vibrant garden, they have instead become weeds that stifle true growth in the garden. There are many weeds that look like flowers, and through the pleasant appearance of the performance-based principles being lived out by some, I think it often goes unnoticed that true life is being choked out. I see this on a first-hand basis all the time.

I've said often, and I'll continue to say it as long as I see this problem in the church: I think there are far too many people who know the do's and don'ts of the Christian life - "the principles of Christian living" - but who really don't have a clue who God is or who they are in Him. Some of these people may have a pretty good appearance. They may really appear to be successful in peforming the principles of the Christian life. Others may come across in the opposite way, struggling to make the principles work. The point is... either way, do they know Jesus or do they just know the principles?

And so more questions: Is it possible for us to slow down... perhaps waaaay down... and get to know Christ apart from our performance? What's the rush in getting people to "do?" Can we let go of trying to get everybody to live the Christian life, and instead help them to know Jesus? Will not the fruit of that be a natural desire to bear good fruit, along with the fruit being produced naturally and not forcibly?

Why do we not take the time - as much time as is needed- to get people established in grace? Why do we only touch on grace now and then? Do we not think we have the time (or do we simply not want to take the time) to help individuals heal and become whole, apart from telling them what they need to be doing? Again, this is just my experience and it may or may not be yours as well, but it seems to me that the church today is far more interested in getting people "do" than to teach people who God is, and who they are in Him. And I've also found that the more I know who God is and who I am in Him, the less I need someone teaching me what to do! Is it just me or can I get a witness up in here? ;)

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[1] For some examples, see:
Slow-cooking together
Microwave Christianity
The Fertile Soil of Grace
The Right Place (a personal favorite)

[2] Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done. (Col 2:7 NLT)

The gift of God

Eph 2:4-10
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ministry of reconciliation / Have we lost the plot?

Three things:

1) Dogs bark.
2) Ducks quack.
3) Sinners sin.

When dogs bark, we don't say, "that's just not right, dogs just shouldn't do that," because we know it's in the nature of dogs to bark. When ducks quack, we don't think that anything is out of the ordinary, because that's what ducks do. So why do we become so incredulous when sinners, whose nature it is to sin, sin?

In our own culture, we think things are getting worse and worse. And you know what, perhaps it's true that more people are pushing more buttons and are blatantly committing more and more sins. And sometimes I think some of it is a result of Christians laying down the law, trying to get sinners to stop their doggone sinning! See, it really has the opposite effect of what's intended! Law doesn't stop sin. The Apostle Paul called the law "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation" (see 2 Cor 3:4-11) for good reasons!

Rom 7:8-11
But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

When groups of Christians go around raising a fuss about the various sins of the world, it doesn't seem to have a such a redeeming effect upon sinners! Does it? I guess one of my questions that I keep asking is... is there not yet enough evidence out there that shows that our holier than thou stance against the virus of sin only serves to strengthen the virus, rather than kill it? Whether it comes in the form of politics, or from the pulpit, or in one-on-one relationships with unredeemed people, do our rules, laws and policies really help out when it comes to redeeming the culture?

And I don't mean conforming the people of our culture into moral behavior. I mean redeeming the people of our culture. I mean bringing people into a true, living relationship with God through Jesus. I mean, if we stick up our noses at the bad things people do, does that really help out in the matter of people coming to know God?

Have we (the church) lost the plot? When Jesus redeemed us individually, was it His plan for us to then get on out there and make a big fuss about all the sin that's in the world? Is it His purpose for us to be worried about the state of our culture, and to therefore go out and protest all the barking dogs and quacking ducks? (the sinning sinners). Is JESUS running around worried about all the sin that's going on in the world?

Or is our mission and ministry towards sinners of a different nature?

As I already noted (and have noted lots of times in the past and will continue to note in the future), the ministry of death and condemnation (the law) has never done one thing to redeem a human being. Never! It can't! "For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law" (Gal 3:21). The law condemns. The 'Letter' kills.

But the Spirit gives life, and it's solely because we're "in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption..." that we can even begin to walk in the fullness of the life and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that we've been given!

And it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). Jesus, "being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Phil 2:6-8).

Do we understand all that God did in order to redeem us? I've only touched on the tip of the iceberg here! And yet somehow we think our laws and protests and avoidance of sinners is going to be what saves our culture?

I think Rom 5:8 must have been rewritten in some people's Bibles to say, "while we were still sinners, Christ avoided us and wrote protest letters to us about our behavior and made a big stink of our sins."

Instead, Jesus came to meet us where we were at. His big stink was with the holier-than-thou's, as far as I can see it. But to the sinners, to those dogs who barked and to those ducks who quacked, he didn't place a muzzle on them to try to get them to conform. Rather, He touched them and came to live in them and gave them a brand new nature! He did all of this as a gift of grace.

What I really want to get at here is that His ministry toward us carries on through us towards others. Not that we're going to go through a physical death, burial and resurrection as Jesus did in order to meet others where they're at, but spiritually speaking, with His life and grace in us, we can look at sinners in the same way He does. We can bring to them this message of God's peace and goodwill toward mankind.

Instead of rehashing the ministry of death and condemnation, we have a different ministry. The ministry of reconciliation.

2 Cor 5:18-21
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation , that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

What do you think? Has the church lost the plot? If God's good and holy law has this effect on people: "sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire" and "when the commandment came, sin revived and I died," then do we really expect man-made laws and 'moral standards' to have any more desirous of an effect on unredeemed people?

What would you say...

...to a divorced woman who was living with her boyfriend?

Let's just say you work with this woman, or she's the cash register worker at the grocery store, or you stopped to help her change a flat tire... or in some other way you came across this woman and talked with her.

Think of what would go through your mind, or even think of ways in which you've encountered situations such as this, or of ways in which you've seen other Christians handle situations such as this.

I'm going to generalize here, but in my history in Christianity, what I've generally seen is that people (including myself in the past) zero in on the woman's sin. The thought processes and the ways of interacting with the woman all focus around ways in which to tell the woman that she is living in sin and that she needs to get out of her situation. People might invite her to church, hoping that she'll hear the "salvation message" and that she'll then feel convicted and she'll move out or kick her boyfriend out. In some cases people might even tell her to get out of her situation and then come to church. I can think of other scenarios and I'm sure you can too.

I was listening to the story of the woman at the well (John 4:1-42) recently. The normal applications that I hear from this story revolve around "worship in Spirit and in truth," and what that means, or "Jesus is the living water." Those are great applications of this story, and there are other great applications too, but I'm not so sure I've ever heard anyone teach or preach about this: Although Jesus knew that this woman had had five husbands, and that the man she was now with was not her husband, He gave her absolutely no directives in regards to getting out of her sinful lifestyle.

Am I saying Jesus condoned her sin? Of course not! Am I saying He was happy to have her go on as normal? Not at all. But in dealing with this woman (and by the way, she didn't tell Him her situation; He told her), Jesus' focus seemed far off from what I generally see in the church today.

The focus in the church today seems to be "stop sinning!" We go around like the moral police of the world, trying to get everyone "cleaned up." But tell me if you see something different here, but as we look at what happened with this woman, it's not as if the message she got from Jesus when He told her her own life story was "clean yourself up and stop sinning." The message she seemed to get from Him was "He told me everything I ever did! How amazing!" And from this, many people came to believe. And the people asked Jesus to stay (He had only been passing through), and Jesus stayed with them for another two days, "and many more believed because of His own word." And get this - Jesus didn't stick around and start a church or some hierarchical system to make sure all these new believers were discipled and stayed out of sin.

Much more is coming to my mind about what Jesus didn't say or do. I'm sure you see other things as well. The main thing that has struck me from this story since having come to see it from a perspective of grace is that Jesus didn't seem to approach sinners from a viewpoint of "How can I get them to stop sinning and start doing what's right?" but rather from a viewpoint of "I am the way, the truth and the life."

"Come to Me."

"I will fill your hunger and thirst."

"You're weary and heavy burdened? I'll give you rest."

Any thoughts?

Grace nullified

"You nullify the word of God by your tradition..." (Mark 7:13)

Although Jesus didn't say the above words in the exact context in which I'm going to use them, I do think the words themselves are very fitting in several contexts. I've seen many Christians - and I admit that I've been there myself - neglecting New Covenant truth and continuing on instead with some of the principles of the Old Covenant, only using them in a 'New Covenant kind of way' - which in reality only nullifies the truth of the New Covenant.

The New Covenant is a brand new thing! It's not Old Covenant Part 2. It's not a continuation of the Old Covenant, nor is it used in combination with the Old. It's not based upon the Old Covenant in any way. The Old Covenant is obsolete and is growing old and is ready to vanish away (Heb 8:13). Now, Jesus Himself was an Old Covenant teacher, and I think the whole idea of Jesus teaching the Old Covenant and yet being the "Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises" is something that is hard for modern day Christians to grasp. We see Jesus' Old Covenant teachings throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So then if He came to bring the New Covenant, why did He teach the Old Covenant? It's because the Old Covenant did have a purpose, and His teachings put a magnifying glass on that purpose. I won't get into all of it here because I've written about it time and time again. One example would be this post. For now, though, I'll just say that the reason for Jesus teaching the Old Covenant was not as a means of teaching Christians how to live.

Now that I've come to understand the differences between the two Covenants and the reasons for each, I've found myself in the midst of some hairy situations with my brothers and sisters in Christ when it comes to talking about life in Christ, because many of them are still walking - at least to an extent - in the ways of the Old, trying to fit them in with the New. But of course you cannot put new wine into old wineskins (see Mark 2:21-22). I guess you could say I've seen the nasty effects - the wineskins bursting and the wine spilling all over the place - and it's a sad situation. I'm sure many of you can relate.

One example: Last year in a small group setting (a group that I had been meeting together with for 4 years), there was a man who had been hurt sorely by church people in his past. I'll just be vague and say that there were a lot of "rules" in place and he questioned a lot of them, and faced rejection from church people. Anyway, there came a time in our small group when he began speaking about how his hurt and bitterness towards these people was affecting his life in big ways, including his family and his work. There's much more to the story, but it seemed to me and to others that he was being open about this and really wanted to heal and get past this.

And so the "answer" came from one member of our group and was further propagated by a few more: "If you don't forgive people of their sins, God won't forgive you." These words, taken from Matthew 6, are of course the words Jesus spoke immediately following "The Lord's Prayer." And so I at least understand why my friends try to apply them to their Christian lives, since they are indeed the words of Jesus. But if you followed the link above to my previous post, you'll see why I don't believe all of Jesus words are Christianity-based words, but rather are pre-cross words, based upon the Old Covenant. In other words, I believe all the words of Jesus are important, but I don't believe all the words of Jesus represent life under the New Covenant. A few times I've referred to Bino's post, Dismantle the confession booths, for a scripture-only view of how in Christ (after the cross, after the resurrection) we have already been forgiven (and how we've already been justified, saved and made righteous and how we are complete in Him).

Well, the man in our group spoke up and said that he has a hard enough time forgiving himself for many of the things he has done, never mind forgiving others. I really felt for him. I had been praying for him for a long time, as had others. I knew he was dealing with a lot of junk.

"But," continued the others, "the Bible says that you have to forgive others. We're COMMANDED to forgive. If you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you."

Of course I couldn't help but speak up, not only in defense of this man but of the very gospel. In short, I tried to help to bring the truth to light by showing how in Christ we're already forgiven by God and how we're unconditionally loved by Him. I said that this man doesn't need to work on following any commands to love and forgive people; he needs to first know the unconditional love of God and he needs to understand how he himself is fully forgiven, before he can even begin to extend this to other people.

Our nice little discussion quickly became more of a heated argument. I saw emotions in my friends that I had never seen before. Afterwards, when I came up to the woman who had originally brought up the whole forgiveness thing to apologize for any discomfort caused by our discussion, she said she didn't want to talk to me. I waited a few days and then sent her an email to sort of extend an "olive branch" to her. She accepted the olive branch but then proceeded to warn me to not go against the Word of God. The word "WORD" was capitalized seven times in this email, emphasizing how my "OPINIONS" need to be backed by the WORD and how we need to "strive to do what the WORD says."

Again, I fully understand where people are coming from. I don't agree with them, but I understand. And that's why I said yesterday that "grace is hard." Pure grace is hard to accept and it's hard to understand when we're not rightly dividing the two covenants. I've been there. "Jesus said it. That settles it." I've been in the place of not understanding that all of Jesus' words are important but not all of Jesus' words have to do with the New Covenant.

Overall I think I've built up good relationships with various people who I see often, but often disagree with. I've been tactful but firm in my beliefs. I do see that there is a difference between the dark, legalistic, religious Pharisees who wanted to kill Jesus and do away with His grace, and the modern day legalistic, religious Christians who simply haven't yet understood the grace of God in its fullness - as revealed by scripture. I want to continue building relationships with these people, and have great loving-kindness and patience towards them. And yet at times I think I also have a personality that is sort of like Paul's that stands up and yells, "You foolish people! Who has bewitched you, that you don't see we are beneficiaries of a NEW and BETTER covenant!"

Grace is hard :)

A friend recently sent an email in which she was talking about her dad, and she compared me to him. She said, "You are sort of like him in his way of thinking. You know what I mean. You are simple in a lot of ways too." I have to agree that a lot of how I live my life is pretty darn simple! And I like that! But then in the next sentence my friend called me on something not-so-good that can be also very true of me. She said, "Unless we're talking technology!"

I remember a few years ago she was looking for a new computer and asked me what she should look for. I sent her an email that probably could have taken almost two full pages to print out, going into great detail about how much RAM she needed, hard drive size, processor, DVD-RW, sound card, etc, etc.

Her response to me said it all: "Arrrrggghhhh! I'm soooo confused! Never talk to a computer geek about what computer to buy! ha ha. I have too much info now. I just wanted to be told, 'Go get brand X.' Now I have to think and compare!"

In some ways I'm not so simple, I guess!

What's funny is that when I first read the email that I mentioned above, I thought my friend had written, "Unless we're talking theology!" I have to admit that I agreed even more with that than with the idea that I'm not too simple when it comes to technology. I know I've spent hours and hours writing emails, trying to explain my thoughts on various issues of theology, and the response has been largely the same!

But there's a reason for all my lack of simplicity. A well-founded reason? I don't know! Sometimes I think so, sometimes I don't.

Let me explain by first saying that once upon a time, I went to church and I listened to what was taught and I didn't really question a whole lot of what I was taught. A foundation and a building was being built in my life based upon my own efforts to live the Christian life and to get out there and be a great man of God. Then came a time when I began discovering other things in the Bible - aspects of grace and New Covenant life that simply did not line up with what I had previously been taught. Long story short, the foundation and building that had previously been built went through a process of being "deconstructed," and of course the process of reconstruction has been going on for several years now, built upon a foundation of grace.

Some of the new things I was learning were quite difficult to grasp at first - even scary - since they went against the grain of how I had previously understood the Christian life. But after some time, and after this grace foundation had been laid and I had become more and more established on it, I began to really learn so much more and I began to really, truly grow in Christ, and I naturally wanted to share it with everyone.

However, I ran into a lot of frustration as I began to share the wonderful grace of God with my friends and fellow church members. They were still building upon the other performance based foundation that I had been on, and it was so very hard to get them to see where I was coming from, even when I shared straight from the scriptures!

And so the way in which I went about sharing the simple gospel of grace with other people evolved into a matter of first trying to "deconstruct" the old building and foundation - the notion of the performance-based Christian life - and then to try to lay the foundation of grace and try to help then "reconstruct" their lives based upon this new foundation.

That's not so simple. :)

An example of my frustration would be when I was in a small group setting, and the group would be discussing a passage of scripture or a certain aspect of the Christian life. When I would speak up and simply give my view on the matter, I would get a lot of blank faces or even some opposition, and I would find myself in the position of trying to explain myself by working backwards from where they were coming from (since I knew exactly where they were coming from, having been there myself), and essentially trying to "deconstruct" the thought processes and getting to a foundation of grace and then trying to "reconstruct" my arguments based upon that foundation. Does that make sense? (By the way, I don't mean to sound haughty by making it seem as if I have all the right answers and nobody else does! I'm just saying that having come into a different, life-altering, life-freeing view that I believe is biblically based, and then going out and trying to share it, has been frustrating at times).

And quite honestly, this is still where I find myself today. I try to share the gospel of peace with my brothers and sisters in Christ who have perhaps built their Christian lives upon a form of Galatianism (beginning with grace, but then moving over into the "works" department to try to maintain their salvation or please God), and it's like trying to communicate with a brick wall. I sometimes don't know if I should attempt to chip away at the brick wall or just to share the good news and accept the fact that I'm a heretic. :)

Perhaps each case is different. If I'm with people who I see often, I can take more time to deconstruct and reconstruct. I realize fully that my own process was (and still is) just that - a process. And I realize that the whole concept of grace and unconditional love is not an easy concept for the fleshly mind to accept! To borrow from a story I heard from Bill Gillham (Lifetime Guarantee) a while ago (using my own words, because I can't remember the exact words he used), one time somebody essentially 'accused' him of teaching "that easy grace stuff." Gillham's reply was that grace is by no means easy. It goes against the religious preeminence of the flesh.

Grace is hard! Or should I say, "grace is hard to teach." Or perhaps better said, "grace is hard for the religious mind to understand and accept, so it takes a lot of work, time and patience for both the teacher and the one who is learning."

Any thoughts?

"Moves of God"

The third post I wanted to mention from yesterday was a great post at A Former Leader's Journey called "What If?" Barb asks a bunch of "What if" questions about grace and "moves of God" that I take as rhetorical and reality, and not just possibilities.

She starts out with:

What If God were much bigger than I had ever imagined?

What If Grace was more encompasing that I could believe?

What if God wanted to find his people, go after his sheep, anywhere they had wandered?

What if there was no big "Move of God" but just God pursuing people – sometimes seemingly in the same location at the same time?

What if He was desiring a relationship equally with us who have left the institutional church AND those who are still in there?

What if today, His “Big Move” was to search out hungry hearts anywhere they will be found?

And that's just the beginning! Barb really nails a lot of things right on the head. Check out the entire post, as well as the wonderful comments left by others. One of Barb's very own comments speaks to me as well: "The big movement of God is all the little movements added up together."

Although I've been growing in grace for well over a decade now, I only began really connecting with other similar-minded believers through the internet about three or four years ago (people who were tired of religion and who were learning about grace and freedom in Christ, and walking in it), and my connection and interaction with others really seems to have grown exponentially during the past year or so. I've kind of thought that perhaps through the internet there would be kind of a huge tsunami wave or big explosion of God's grace - a "big move of God," so to speak. But I think (and I could very well be wrong, but this is simply my perception right now) that while there does seem to be some very wonderful things happening around the U.S. and around the world, it's not so much one huge "movement of God" but rather a lot of little ones.

Mega churches and mega ministries are easy to see and are perhaps easier to collect data on. But what's not so visible to the naked eye are all the small gatherings of the saints and the LIFE that is passed on from one saint to another in places such as homes, cafés, on the internet, on the streets, over the phone, in places of employment, in the parks, in private conversations, in the bars, in the gutters, in the alleys, in solitary, in gatherings of two, three or ten, etc, etc, etc, where God is doing big things in individuals and small groups of people.

Don't get me wrong - I think there are some really wonderful things that God is doing in the lives of people through "big" ministries and through "big" churches. I pray for that to always continue! The point is, "What if" God was doing what He wanted to do wherever and however He wanted to do it, whether it was visible to the masses or not.

I'm saying all of this because over the years other people have said and done things to me that have essentially left me feeling inadequate and "out of the loop" because I haven't jumped on the bandwagon of various so-called "moves of God." The reason I haven't jumped on the bandwagon isn't because I'm cold or stuck up, but rather because I'm sitting here listening to and watching what God is saying to me and doing in and through my life and in the community He's put me in and I'm sticking with that. IF He "moves" in me to do something "big" or to join something "big" (as was the case of remaining involved in the mega-church that I was a part of for seven years), then I want to ride the wind of the Spirit and be as involved as He wants me to be. But for now as I seek, pray, watch, etc, I'm very content to be a part of the "small" movement of God that's going on in my own little world and with the people I've come to know and love.

Right now what I see, with my limited view, is a lot of butterflies spread out all over the world that are emerging from their cocoons and are wanting to spread their wings and fly and be free (see my first post from earlier today). If God forms these butterflies into large groups or mega-groups that sweep across the nation or world, then what a great thing that will be! If He keeps them in smaller groups that help, serve, heal, save, impart life, etc, to one life at a time, wherever they're at, what a great thing that will be too!

Do you have any thoughts on "moves of God?" Are your thoughts similar to mine? Different? I'd love to hear from you.

Waiting - Part 2

In Part 1 I mentioned just a few biblical characters (real people) out of a whole host of people who have had to wait long amounts of time for prayers to be answered, promises/desires to be fulfilled, visions to come to pass, etc. Sometimes people have waited patiently. But so many other times, while they've been people who knew of God's faithfulness and integrity, they've also had fleshly (non faith-filled) times of uncertainty and/or impatience and have tried to take things into their own hands.

I can certainly relate in every way. Beginning here in Part 2 I have in mind some things from my own life in which I've waited faithfully at times and have been impatient and faithless at other times. I'll start with my relationship with my wife.

From the ages of about 16 to 22, I had many short-term relationships. I was always serious, albeit in a young and naive way, in the relationships. I was truly looking for someone to be with for the rest of my life. Two or three times along the way, in my late teens and early 20's, I thought I had found "the one." But obviously none of those relationships worked out. I was very impatient during those years as I wondered if I'd ever find someone. How much heartache I could've saved myself and others if I'd just been patient! Easier said than done, of course, especially when you're not trusting God.

Then in 1992 my "serious" walk with Jesus began. I met Tracey and her friends that summer. I got to know them over the course of several months and finally I was going to ask Tracey out. I thought finally I had met a nice Christian woman and maybe this could be "the one." It took me three weeks (an eternity) for me to work up the courage to ask her out. On the day that I was going over to her house to ask her out, I went over to one of our mutual friends' house - and he told me that he had just asked her out! They ended up dating for several months. I was downhearted - but yet this is something that aided in bringing me closer to my Jesus. In my heart I said that I'll step aside, and I'll wait and see what happens. I'll be happy for them no matter what happens and I'll continue on with my life. I was stunned at how well I took it all. But my walk with Christ was still new and I began to see that He was doing this work in me.

However, it wasn't all peachy. During the 'waiting,' I got myself into a bad relationship. Call it my Abram experience, taking things into my own hands. I knew it was bad right from the start, but I stayed and hoped it would work out. After a while, I didn't know what to do - and that's when I took the trip to Canada. My head was cleared while there, and I came back and ended the relationship. At the same time, Tracey's boyfriend also broke up with her. After a few more months had passed and we knew neither of us were on the rebound anymore, we began dating.

After all of that waiting, we were finally together. Or not. :) On this blog I've shared some of our past relationship problems, and I won't get into them here, but going back to the time we dated I had doubts about the two of us. All of that waiting... and then when it came to pass I wasn't sure if it was right! We broke up twice, but then finally got engaged in 1995 and were married in 1996. We've worked through so many things since then, and I can say today that there are no regrets, no doubts! And I will say that going through all of that - even back to the dating years - has only served to draw us closer to Jesus and stronger in our marriage.

Here's the thing. We are Christians. We have become partakers of the divine nature. We have become new creations. We have grown in faith and trust. We have the Spirit of God living in us!

But yet from time to time we've made fleshly choices. Sometimes it's caused a lot of heartache and grief. Sometimes we've been impatient when it comes to growing in our love for each other. Sometimes we've had doubts. Sometimes we've had anger. We've looked around at the various "perfect Christian couples," who are mostly putting on an act in public, as if they always see eye to eye and never argue or disagree, and we most certainly don't live up to that standard!

BUT... we've also had times of great faith, times of great joy, times of growing in trust, times of knowing that while we're seemingly completely different people, there are many great things about us being together for life. It has often been in the waiting that many of our issues have been worked out in our hearts. Not that I want to celebrate the fleshly things we've done in our relationship, but through it all we've found God to be faithful to us.

Some say it's love that keeps a marriage strong. Some say it's commitment. But I want to tell you that I know for sure that if it were up to my own resolve, or if it had been left up to my own worked-up love or commitment, it would have been a failed marriage. I hate admitting that but yet at the same time I glory in it because it has helped me to see that not only is it by GRACE that we are saved, but it is by grace that God keeps us! In our weakness He is strong and in our lack of commitment and trust, He remains committed and faithful to us. What I'm saying is that I love and am committed to Tracey more than ever, but it's been due to an obvious work of the Spirit - who we are One with - and nothing that we've done in our own fleshly strength!

Sometimes things seem so uncertain and painful in the waiting, but an overall picture is being painted and we can't see the whole picture but we know that while it may include lots of little (or big) shadows, it's nevertheless a beautiful and remarkable painting!

Spiritual adultery

I snagged the following quotes off of the first part of an audio series simply called "Grace" by Rob Rufus that I downloaded quite a while ago from the Grace in Flood blog. I enjoy listening to the series from time to time.

In this part, Rob is talking about Christians who go back to their old marriage partner, The Law, to try to get themselves straightened out and whipped into shape so they can be presentable to their new Husband, Jesus. But the Law only condemns, the Law only kills, the Law only pronounces judgment. The Law is perfect and holy and good and just, but the Law is a terrible, terrible husband.

Rob says:

Now I believe that what Jesus does is He looks at the church that does that and I just think that tears come down His eyes. I think He just looks at us and goes, "Do you think I'm an insecure husband? Did you think I didn't know you'd have all these idiosyncrasies? I never had any illusions. I knew everything about you when I took you on and embraced you. I am the perfect husband to my bride. I'm the perfect bridegroom. I'm the perfect husband of all husbands.

And I can love you unconditionally because the integrity of heaven's high call of justice was fully satisfied by Me on the cross on your behalf...

And you think you're impressing Me by going back to him to make me happy? You break My heart. I'm not the one putting you under the laws, the rules and condemnation. I'm the one that redeems you from it so that 24 hours a day Father's love and acceptance may pour into your life."

A friend's blog - Layers

My very good friend in Fresno posted a Myspace blog the other day about her experience this past weekend at a Women of Faith conference, and I asked her if I could share it on my blogs. First, a little background - Carianne and I have been friends for a long, long time. To borrow a phrase from Mark Lowry, we go "way on back back, waaay on back!" In fact out of all the people I know in this entire world (aside from relatives), she and I go back the farthest. We had lost contact for a few years but then we reconnected a few years ago. At that time, Carianne was in a sad, sad, pathetic shape, spiritually speaking, and I single-handedly nursed her back to spiritual health through some hard hitting "get your act together" emails and some intense "how long must I put up with you" phone therapy sessions! Just kidding, Carianne! :)~

But seriously, back in the old days we never shared any type of connection as far as consciously sharing our life in Christ, but it's been very cool to see each other now, even 2000 miles across the country, grow in our relationships with Jesus and with our families. I know Carianne has been through a lot in her life, and I can see how she has grown over the years and how she continues to grow, as evidenced by her blog post about this past weekend - which sounds like it was a weekend that will be remembered for a long time to come. I'm sure we can all relate, in one way or another, to the often painful process of peeling back the layers of our souls in order to find renewal and healing from the Lord through His grace.

Here are her own words:

AMAZING, INSPIRATIONAL, UPLIFTING, TEARFUL, JOYFUL, INSIGHTFUL, AND WONDERFUL...are just a few words that can be used to describe the Women of Faith conference that I attended this weekend. The women there were full of texture, layers, honesty, purity, and the list goes on.

Their stories were often my own stories. Their struggles, their hardships, and their pain, reflected mine. I could relate to these women. And the good news is...well, it's God's good news...that none of these experiences are important anymore. He has showered us with his divine GRACE...his infinite GRACE. We have been cleansed by his grace. Whatever we have done, whatever has happened to us, it's all been erased in God's eyes. He sees us only as the beautiful, yes, I said beautiful, and flawless women He CREATED us to be.

Our own history, and the pressures we allow to be put on us by society, have tainted the vision we have of ourselves. If there was one thing I took from this experience it is that the ONLY thing that matters is what God sees in me. Yes, I have to live among many in this lifetime, and I will tend to care what they think and say, because I am human...but at the end of the day, when I am home, and in my quiet place with God, I will ask him to wash away those negative thoughts and restore in me the only thoughts that matter....HIS!

The woman that touched me most was Sandi Patti. She has a story to tell and she tells it well. She is probably the one I related to the most. She has a book called, LAYERS. As she spoke about some of the things she tells more deeply about in her book, I was struck between the eyes. I know about layers...I got a lot of them. We all have layers I think. Not to get too into it, you would need to read her book, as I have in 24 hours, but I realized that I have layers upon layers of shame, guilt, regret, abandonment, pain, and this list too goes on and on.

What Patti shared was how she peeled back those layers, a very painful process, and then allowed herself to be cleansed and renewed in God's GRACE. What a beautiful image! So because of this weekend, I am now working on peeling back my own layers and replacing those feelings of shame, guilt, etc., with God's infinite Grace. I'm replacing the negative views of others, and myself, that have been layered on me, with God's perfect view of me.

In closing, I'll just mention the amazing and beautiful Nicole C. Mullen. Look her up when you can. Her voice is so angelic and her music powerful and moving. Her music is for God, that we just get to enjoy. You must listen to "When I Call on Jesus". This song will move through you. Enjoy! There will be a new Women of Faith next year, in Sacramento. You may want to consider heading up there for it. You won't regret it. And the time away, focused on God will be worth the time and money! Blessings


By the way, Ogre's have layers, too! (I couldn't resist).

"Happy is he who does not condemn himself..."

"...in what he approves."

My friend Mike and I talked a little bit about Romans 14 on our latest Growing in Grace program (April 6) as we discussed the subject of what it means to be weak in faith, and we'll be discussing it a little more on our next program too.

To briefly sum up our thoughts from Romans 14, we pretty much both agree that those who are weak in the faith are those who are relying on external works to maintain their salvation, or who at least carry some sort of belief that in their life with God they are still subject to certain religious standards or observances. Paul's examples in Romans 14 include those who believed they can eat all things vs. those who were weak and believed they could only eat vegetables (for religious reasons). Another example is those who consider a certain day as more sacred than others vs. those who consider every day alike. These days we may or may not deal with some of the specific examples that Paul gave, but yet I think his overall point stands... which is: "Accept him whose faith is weak" (v.1). Also, "The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him" (v.3).

Those who are strong in faith, and who know they are not restricted to religious regulations should not judge those who are weak, and vice versa. "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand" (v.4). Paul talks a great deal about this, and then in the end he says, "Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves" (v. 22).

(Side note: I used to think that those who were "weak in the faith" were those who drank, smoked, chewed, went to the bars, fornicated, etc. But it's clear that that's not what Paul is talking about here! Those who are weak in the faith are those who are stuck on religion and fleshly works).

The reason I bring all this up is because the sentence in bold above has been on my mind a lot lately. The main reason is because I personally have learned a lot of things in the past dozen or so years that have really freed me up in regards to the grace of God, and I've also been learning a lot of things in the past few years that have really been freeing me up in regards to what "church" is and what "the body of Christ" is. I've shared a lot of this stuff on my blog and I've discussed it with many of you on other blogs and forums.

As I learn and as I grow in freedom, I need to constantly remember that those who aren't on the same page as me are still standing before the very same Lord, and He has accepted them just as He has accepted me. Man, oh man, I will still come against the spirit of legalism in a very strong manner! I will stand up for the truth of grace and will proclaim it boldly! But I must be careful to not judge the people who God has accepted. If someone, just as an example, is fully convinced that they must "go to church" on Sunday, or even that there's really such a thing called "going to" church, which to me is not how I look at it any longer, because I see that "the church" is people, not a place, and I want to meet together "with" the church (the people) whether or not it's at a "church building"... then I must understand that the Lord still accepts those who I see as "weak" in that regard, and even much more than that, I am not their judge. If I go about acting as if everything that people do is worthy of MY approval or disapproval, then all I am really doing is heaping condemnation on myself, because I'm standing before the same Lord.

I don't want to confuse this "condemnation" with the condemnation or punishment of God, which no Christian is any longer subject to. Using this term in this way simply means that if I am distinguishing myself as "better" than anyone else because of what I do or don't do, or because of what I approve of or don't approve of, I'm really distinguishing myself as a hypocritical judge.

In re-reading what I've just written, I see that it might appear as if I'm coming across as a little "heavy" here. :) I seriously do not have that type of disposition as I write tonight! I just mean to say that I want to be serious about not judging anyone who I might see as weak in the faith simply because they don't have the same freedom I have. As I stand up for freedom and grace and as I stand against legalism and bondage, the temptation can be to look down on others, and I simply don't want to be that way!

Who we are in Christ

We know that apart from Christ we were nothing. Unfortunately it seems to me as if sometimes we Christians stay stuck right there. "We are nothing."

But ohhhhhhhh, my friends, in Christ we are a lot of wonderful things! Who God has made us to be is far more amazing than what we give Him credit for. God doesn't just mercifully "see" us a certain way just because we believe in Christ, but He has in reality made us to be a brand new creation, ALIVE with Him, joined to Him, complete in Him, fully accepted in Christ!

And just to get this straight, I'm not talking about that person sitting down there in the front row with his five-inch-thick King James Bible, who doesn't watch TV or go to movies and doesn't curse or smoke or drink or have an evil thought pop into his mind. I'm not talking about the person who is in church every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, and whenever else the doors are open. I'm not talking about the person who never messes up and who never hurts anyone and who never says the wrong things. I'm not talking about the person who is completely consistent in everything he says and does. I'm not talking about the person who is happy all the time and never gets sad or depressed or irritated. I'm not talking about that Christian couple who say they never argue or fight. I'm not talking about the person whose well worn Bible is a sign that they are not. I'm not talking about the person who takes part in all the activities at church. I'm not talking about the person who wears the Jesus pin and who has 3 Christian bumper stickers on his vehicle and listens only to Christian music. I'm not talking about the person who is able to connect with people easily and who knows all their neighbors. I'm not talking about the 10% who are doing 90% of the work. I'm not talking about the person who has no addictions or complexions or personality issues.

I think this might start to give a picture of who I'm not talking about!

Who I'm talking about is... YOU!

Who are you? I gleaned all of the following truths about you directly from Bible passages.

You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, God's own special people. You once were not a people but are now the people of God. Jesus has made you kings and priests to His God and Father. You are loved by the Father. The love of God has been poured out in your heart by the Holy Spirit who was given to you. You belong to God and He belongs to you. You are the beloved of God. You are your Beloved's and He is yours, and His desire is toward you. You are a saint.

You have been saved by Christ's life. You have been made alive together with Him. Christ is your life. You reign in life through Him. You have been sanctified in Him. You are the temple of God in which the Spirit of God indwells. Christ is in you. You are a holy temple of God. You are Christ's house. Inwardly, you are being renewed day by day.

Your sins have not only been forgiven; they have been taken away. You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. You are holy and blameless before Him. You have been perfected forever. You have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ. In Christ you approach God with freedom, boldness and confidence. You were bought with a price. You are a citizen of heaven, and you are seated with Christ in the heavenly realm.

You are a new creation. He has given you a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. You are shielded by God's power.

You are a child of God... an actual child of God... through faith in Christ Jesus. As a legitimate child, you are qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. You have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved Son.

The Holy Spirit has been poured out abundantly on you through Jesus Christ. Having been justified by God's grace, you have become an heir according to the hope of eternal life. You have become an heir of God and a co-heir with Christ. You have become a partaker of Christ. You have become a partaker of the divine nature. You have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ. You have been united with God, joined to Him in an inseparable union.

Having been justified by faith, you have peace with God. You are accepted in the Beloved. You are complete in Him. You are no longer condemned and nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. You are a branch of the living Vine, and His life flows through you. God rejoices over you with gladness. He quiets you with His love. He rejoices over you with singing.

All of these things are true of YOU because God says they are true of you! You may "feel" that it's true or you may not feel that it's true. You may understand all of it or some of it or very little of it, but it's still all true.

The point here is that you are not low. You are not a worm. You are not "nothing." You are all the things that are mentioned in the previous paragraphs, and you are much more that I haven't mentioned. I'm only skimming the surface!

Again, we know we were nothing apart from Christ. But now we are in Him and He is in us and we are His! We belong to Him. We're no longer nothing. Our lives in Him are not a matter of us trying to become something! We are complete in Him. We don't come groveling towards Him. We come boldly and confidently to Him, not afraid but with great awe and reverence. We don't sit around as a bunch of mere sinners, hoping He'll grant us favor with Him. We roll around and jump up and down in His favor and grace that has been lavishly poured out on us and given to us in abundance. We celebrate who we are in Him. We can fully enjoy the true identity that is truly who we are. WE DON'T DOWNPLAY IT!!!

I'm excited, I know! For a few years now I've been working my way of the box that I had previously been locked up in, in which the church had tried to tame me and to make me into someone who strives to be a "good Christian boy." :) I don't believe that that's what God had in mind for me when He saved me. He made me to be so much more than that! He has made me whole, and I want to live in that wholeness. He is a God who is "wild, dangerous, unfettered and free" (Walter Brueggeman) and I want to enjoy Him as He is and I want to live as who I am in Him!

Tony Vincent - Out of My Hands

There are many reasons why the self-titled CD from Tony Vincent (1995) is my favorite album of all time. The following song is one of the reasons. The other nine songs on the album are the other reasons. :) Over the next few days I'll be posting some other things from T.V. I've followed his career from his days as a CCM artist up to the present.

Out of My Hands Video (embedding disabled)

Lyrics - check it out!

Why I blog - Part 1

A while back in a conversation with Aida (I think via our blogs and via email), I mentioned to her that perhaps I'd post a blog about why I blog, or my purposes for blogging. Weblogs (the actual word for which the abbreviated word "blogs" has become far more common) have been around for quite a while but have gained popularity only within the past few years. I've enjoyed sharing the message of God's grace for several years now in various formats including web forums and chat rooms, radio, church settings, etc, but during the almost two years that I've been blogging, I've found this to be what I've enjoyed the most.

What I love discussing with others
I love discussing all kinds of things in life with others, although there are two things in particular that I absolutely love discussing. I think I've put it this way before: If life were college, I'd have a major and a minor. My major would be Grace/Exchanged Life and my minor would be The body of Christ.

I slowly discovered my 'minor' about two or three years ago when I was writing articles for a church publication. My main purpose was to write about grace, and in doing so I found myself being naturally drawn to thinking and writing about how we are all individual and unique members of the body of Christ, and how the body is a unit that is fit together by God's grace to form One body.

I've been discussing my 'major' with others since somewhere around 1995. Through my friend Mike, with whom I co-host Growing in Grace, and through the church he was attending (which my wife and I eventually began attending near the end of 1996), I began to be set free in my relationship with God, through His grace. Being free, I naturally wanted to share this with others! I took every opportunity to talk about this with others. Sometimes this was for the good, and sometimes, looking back, I can see that I've been quite a "Grace Pharisee" at times! (Religiously trying to shove grace down people's throats).

How I began discussing grace with others
My wife and I were first hooked up to the internet (well our computer was, anyway) somewhere around the beginning of 1997. AOL was our internet provider, and with the AOL platform came many chat rooms, including various Christian chat rooms. Before long I found myself addicted to those chat rooms, because I found them to be a wonderful outlet for me to share the message of grace. We were soon able to ditch AOL for a broadband connection (back when broadband was still new), and I was saddened to lose the AOL chat rooms but I quickly discovered Yahoo! Chat. I also found various Christian Usenet forums. While not the same as instant chat, I very much enjoyed having ongoing conversations with others in these forums.

In these chat rooms and forums, I debated, discussed, had fun, made friends... and even made "enemies." I did not debate just for the sake of debate. Like most people, I'm not a huge fan of tension - especially for the sake of tension. But I would debate and discuss, and get myself involved in deep and complex conversations, for the purpose of sharing what I believed to be truth - and for the purpose of learning from others. I considered myself to be quite the diplomat, and other people - even those who disagreed with me - would tell me the same thing. When I say "diplomat," I don't mean it in the sense that I would work to find common ground or "balance" between legalism and grace (because there is none!), but rather in the sense that I would work to build dialog between disagreeing parties rather than simply shutting out people who didn't agree with me. I made friends with homosexuals, atheists, legalists, you name it, and I had many great conversations with them.

No, it wasn't always a peachy bed of roses! Some people can be very vicious in their interactions with others, especially online! But all in all I enjoyed my decade or so of forum and chat room discussions. I still pop in to some of them from time to time to 'promote' the message of God's grace and unconditional love, but it's rare.

As I said, I've also been involved in various face to face discussions in church and small group settings over the years. Most of these discussions have been pleasant, but there have been a few times when it's gotten a little hairy.

I don't know how many millions of words I've exchanged with others over the years in discussions about grace and the exchanged life, but I do know that I've been edified and built up in the Lord through them. Opposition has caused me to dig deep into what I believe and why I believe it, and to seek God for answers, and truth. I've learned a great deal from others and I've learned a great deal through my own research that has resulted from my interactions with others.

I knew that this would be long, and I'm ultimately leading up to my own personal purposes for blogging, so I guess I'll make this into a two part post!

Fake it till you make it?

Have you ever heard (or used) the phrase, "fake it till you make it," in regards to the living out of the Christian life? Although I've heard the actual phrase used only a handful of times,