Author Archives: cameron

Pecado

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          Pecado, ¿qué es? Usamos esa palabra de muchas maneras, pero creo que tenemos una concepción extraña sobre lo que es, cómo llegó a estar allí, y por qué, oh por qué, ¿es un gran problema?

¿Es el pecado un evento de una sola vez? Decimos: “Oh, pequé” o “Cuando hice esto o aquello, estuve en pecado”. ¿Es un evento único que ocurre una y otra vez? Digo, tal vez, pero también digo que en realidad, según Dios, es más que eso. Es una palabra que se puede usar como sustantivo o verbo, y no es lo mismo que iniquidad o transgresión. Significa perder el camino y, por supuesto, el siempre popular “quedarse corto”, pero “quedarse corto” es ser miope porque no es solo quedarse corto, sino más bien quedarse corto de la totalidad espiritual, torcer el estándar y carga con un sentimiento de culpa. Como verbo, el pecado no es algo que hicimos, como comer esa galleta Oreo, sino más bien una condición que permitimos persistir. Por el hecho de que se permita que persista, significa que se está haciendo una elección, y una vez más, nos enfrentamos al hecho de que estamos eligiendo, en oposición a algo que nos sucede que está fuera de nuestra esfera de control.

Una vez, cuando era joven, John Wesley le pidió a su madre que definiera el pecado. Su respuesta fue: todo lo que debilita tu razón, deteriora la ternura de tu conciencia, oscurece tu sentido de Dios o te quita el gusto por las cosas espirituales; En resumen, cualquier cosa que aumente la fuerza y la autoridad de tu cuerpo sobre tu mente, esa cosa es pecado para ti, por inocente que pueda ser en sí misma.

La cuestión no es tanto qué hicimos…eso es un hecho por la evidencia de nuestras acciones, pero creo que es más importante descubrir de nosotros mismos cómo y por qué nos sentimos atraídos por comportamientos que perjudican la ternura de nuestra conciencia, quitando nuestro gusto por las cosas justas. ¿Cómo hemos llegado hasta aquí? Creo que es mucho más probable que el escenario estuviera listo para entregar lentamente el poder a nuestra carne para enseñorearse de nuestro espíritu, mucho antes de que nos diéramos cuenta de que estábamos envueltos en una condición destructiva que persiste. Necesitamos a Jesús en nuestras vidas para que nuestro proceso destructivo y persistente se convierta en un fracaso para persistir. En este caso, la falta de persistencia es algo bueno.

La iniquidad es una maldad de carácter, y su raíz significa doblar, torcerse lejos de la luz, distorsionar. La transgresión pinta el cuadro de la rebelión que apoya una ruptura de la relación, para deshacerse de la lealtad y la fidelidad. Alta fidelidad significa “ser leal a la fuente”. ¡Guau! Me gusta.

Como puedes ver entonces, la idea del pecado es diferente, aunque los tres, iniquidad, transgresión y pecado son compañeros de viaje inseparables. Una da a luz a la otra en un espiral vicioso descendente.

Solía haber un paseo en la feria llamado “Giro en Espiral”. Wikipedia lo describe como “una plataforma giratoria, donde partes de la plataforma suben y bajan, con las fuerzas centrífugas y gravitacionales resultantes en los vagones que hacen que giren en diferentes direcciones y a velocidades variables. El peso de los pasajeros en estos vagones (así como la distribución del peso) puede intensificar o amortiguar el movimiento giratorio de los vagones, lo que se suma a la naturaleza impredecible del movimiento”. Pienso en la iniquidad, la transgresión y el pecado de esa manera. Nos azotan de un lado a otro, usando nuestro peso contra nosotros, golpeándonos de un lado a otro hasta que nos arremolinamos en la cabeza y el corazón, incapaces de estar firmes en nuestros pies y nuestro equilibrio se arruina.

No seamos tan cortos de mente que no pensemos más allá del diccionario escolar. Dios tiene una visión mucho más amplia que explica con más detalle la importancia de la cruz y la resurrección de Jesús.

No tenemos que ser esclavos. No tiene por qué ser así. Romanos 6:16-18, “¿No sabéis que, si os presentáis a alguien como esclavos obedientes, sois esclavos de aquel a quien obedecéis, ya sea del pecado, que lleva a la muerte, o de la obediencia, que lleva a la justicia? Pero gracias a Dios, que vosotros, que en otro tiempo fuisteis esclavos del pecado, habéis llegado a ser obedientes de corazón a la norma de enseñanza a la que estabais comprometidos, y, habiendo sido liberados del pecado, habéis llegado a ser esclavos de la justicia.”

Por la sangre de Jesús, no tenemos que permitir que la condición del pecado persista. El Señor establece una lista en Filipenses 4:8 y 9 de cosas en las que debemos pensar aparte de lo que facilita el oscurecimiento del Señor en nuestras vidas.

En mi caso, estoy aprendiendo a preferir las preferencias de Dios sobre las mías. No siempre gano, pero por Su sangre y poder en el Espíritu Santo, estoy ganando cada hora, cada minuto de cada día, porque Jesús ha vencido al mundo. Él me ha quitado el deleite de la iniquidad, ha hecho que mi corazón prefiera no transgredir y me ha dado el poder de no permitir nunca que el pecado y la muerte persistan. Es verdad, somos más que conquistadores, somos vencedores, y si vamos a ser vencedores, debemos HACER las cosas que vencen.

Piensa, ¿qué hay en ti, dónde está el punto de partida, que te permite cambiar lentamente para no tener realmente un problema con perder un poco de gusto por la rectitud de carácter? ¿Qué hay en ti que gradualmente te permite usar tu cinturón de la verdad lo suficientemente suelto como para que no te moleste demasiado el razonamiento debilitado? Si pones tus ojos en Jesús, Él resolverá esas preguntas mientras te diriges a donde te está llevando. Creo que el Señor resolvió muchas cosas en el corazón del hijo pródigo cuando decidió dejar el lugar de su muerte. Él puso los ojos en su casa, adonde el iba más que donde había estado. Creo que el Señor resolvió muchos problemas en su camino a casa.

¿Qué te parece?

Gracias por leer, soy Social Porter para el Ministerio Viviendo En Su Nombre.

Traducción por Alfredo Magni Sozzi

A Good Conversation

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        What are you doing for no other reason than because you love Jesus? AND, what have you ceased doing for no other reason than His love for you?

Jack Miller asked that question of his congregation when he served as pastor at New Life Presbyterian Church, and of his students when he taught practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. Jack used to say, “Cheer up; you’re a lot worse off than you think you are, but in Jesus you’re far more loved than you could have ever imagined.”

i liked Jack’s question and then the statement … they inspire good conversation. Understanding grace a little better means understanding God a little better, and i think we all could definitely do with a closer comprehension of what our King is all about. Like i’ve said before, i think most of us have a head full of Bible, but somehow, we’ve missed the heart of the Father.

Knowing about God and actually knowing Him is the difference between studying the theology of grace and actually sitting down and having a face-to-face, transforming conversation with the Lord, who is the personification of grace … a conversation where you’re not in a hurry, taking the time to make eye contact and letting the conversational interaction weave it’s way into your heart. It’s the difference between understanding concepts and actually being known by a person; it’s the difference between knowing theological vocabulary versus being truly involved with the full-time job of knowing Jesus.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts. Our goal is to encourage us all to see a little more, to think a little deeper, to imagine a bit farther than we did before, all for the purpose of knowing Jesus more personally, to understand His great heart towards us, to experience, beyond the shadow of a doubt, His desire for our well being, our health and healing, every minute, every hour, every day, without fail, till we are standing in His presence forever as it was meant to be from the beginning.

If we’ll lift our head from being occupied with our phones, or maybe take the headphones off and listen to the world around us, it is amazing how much people talk about feelings, and what they felt when so-and-so did or said such-and-such. It seems we spend a lot of time talking to everyone else, BUT God.

Telling people about Jesus is called “witnessing”, but i believe we drop the ball by only telling answers rather than learning the skill of also asking questions and being involved with the lives of others. Encouraging others to learn how to have conversations is as much witnessing as telling people the facts, and there is a difference between “witnessing” and “visiting”. Eugene Peterson said we need to learn the art of small talk, because if we don’t we’ll never see the green shoots of grace growing in people’s back yards.

Conversations encourage exploration of the contexts, decisions, and behaviors of relationships. It is as much an employment of our faith to tell others about Jesus as it is to also be facilitators of conversation, allowing others to see in our lives concerning who God has made us to be … in hopes they will see the green shoots of grace in our own backyards … that’s called getting eye level with the world.

We need to learn to set the emotional parameters for a space that enables this sort of exploration: spaces that are safe, supportive and able to endure the pressure of challenge.

The value of conversation is the topic this evening, so put your feet up, catch your breath, tap your toe and dream a little.

           So, a couple years ago i had the idea to take a conflict resolution course because i felt like the world around me was in such turmoil and i had no concept on how to even think about it much less help resolve anything. i was so terribly surprised by the first chapter’s direction, which was to address the conflict within myself. At first i scoffed, arrogantly, thinking, i don’t have any big issues, but whatever, i’ll go through this part to get to the rest of the course. Yea, uhh huh … well, as it turns out, i DID have a bunch of conflicts within myself that needed a conclusion, and in fact, i realized i can’t help anyone with their conflicts if i didn’t begin to face my own. Luke 6:41, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” You probably knew that verse was coming, but i thought it appropriate.

If we don’t face our own conflicts first it’s back to the idea that we can’t solve problems with the same mindset which created the problems. Only telling people about Jesus and never hanging around to be involved with them helps us to feel successful about ourselves without having to actually reveal anything of ourselves. We get to look pious and glorious while no one sees the dead grass in our own back yard…our self-attained piousness only works as long as we keep everyone at a distance, never letting anyone into our lives. i think maybe many of us love to make disciples but we don’t like raising them.

In light of that, a conversation is an informal exchange of views, observations, opinions, feelings, or ideas according to Webster’s …  and there’s all kinds … quiet conversations, loud ones, personal or private conversations, and others which are the open forum type for anyone who would participate. They typically go in directions which aren’t predictable either, after all if it were scripted it wouldn’t be a conversation, it would be called a play. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t share anything of themselves? It doesn’t go far without some degree of vulnerability, and without vulnerability it usually feels more like someone is gleaning information from you than actually wanting to be involved with you. A good conversation is a risk because it requires transparency. To conversate we must go with the flow, and truly, there are people who don’t flow easily, so there again, conversation is not easily found with them.

A good conversation is more valuable than we imagine. It is us allowing others into our lives and others allowing us into theirs.

i’m going to say this several times in this program: If we don’t learn the art of conversation and even small talk, we’ll never see the green shoots of grace in people’s backyards. What that means is when we allow ourselves to access and be accessed, we, metaphorically, are allowed to walk around in the places of people’s lives which aren’t seen merely by walking by the front of their house. The front of their house is the presentation face, but their backyard is where they really live … conversation and small talk get them in our backyard and us in theirs. It requires some trust, which means we can’t just use our theological vocabulary, we’ve got to actually BE people of grace and kindness to facilitate a safe place for others. So what is a conversation? From what i can gather, a good conversation contains asking questions, giving information, proposing different perceptions, stating something that is true and reflecting understanding. How about listening and then testing ideas? All that is done gently with kindness of course.

In Luke11:9, when Jesus said ask, seek, knock, do you think that was just Him telling us how to get what we want, or was it more an invitation into a conversation with God?

In Genesis 2 & 3 there is the account of what God said, what the serpent said, what Eve said, and what Adam said. Of the eight recorded statements the Lord made, four were questions. Why do you think He asked Adam and Eve questions, but only gave statements to the serpent? i venture this: God wanted a conversation with Adam and Eve, but was not interested in a conversation with serpent. Friends, there is nothing hell has to say which we need to hear, i have no questions for hell, and they have no answers i need to hear. None. Nada. Never. And none.

Learning to ask good questions is as much an art as navigating good dialogue. i think, and this is just what i think, people who only tell answers aren’t too interested in friends, only subordinates. In my opinion women are far more relationship oriented than men so they ask questions. Questions, without being interrogators, are an invitation into a relationship, they are conversation encouragers.

Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”

Luke 13:21, “It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

If the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven which is hid in the dough and doesn’t stop until the entire lump is leavened, how is that any different than us being more transparent and involved in people’s lives so Jesus is more easily revealed. We’ve got to go there … we can’t keep standing at a distance from a dying world, yelling the gospel across a divide between us and them but never actually being involved with the lost. We should not just be a distant light in the darkness in people’s lives, we should be the soft light of grace up close and personal. And if we’re going to let our lights shine up close and personal like, let us allow the Holy Spirit to resolve our worldly hearts of sourness, bad language which reflects our heart, fault finding, ignorance, and a downcast countenance. If we will let Him, God will fill us with aspects of courtesy, insight, grace, and salt. We are not monotony on two legs you know, we posses the very life and light of the universe in our hearts.

Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Learning to have conversations with people is being involved in their lives…let us look to understand, and rather than working to constantly persuade them, which makes us look like hammers and everyone else is a nail, learn to listen … listen to the quieter ones, it seems they often see things but rarely express themselves. i’ve learned to use the word “and” which opens up further conversation and means “in addition to”. When we use “but” though, it shuts people down and means “with exception”, or maybe “I know something you don’t know”. i’m fairly certain, years ago, i was a chief in the “yea but” tribe … yea but, yea but, yea but … it made conversations difficult to have.

i’ve heard myself witnessing instead of visiting, and out of my own mouth was far more often the word “but” … it is argumentative and is a subtle way of drawing swords with people. i’ve been such a silly man …  rarely, if ever, did anyone ever come to the Lord as the result of a metaphorical sword fight. When i learned to ask questions and allow myself to conversate without the need to win, allowing myself to be involved in the lives of others, i began to see results, bearing of much fruit.

           On redeeming our internal narrative, which is where our conflict resolution begins, actually is a process. Within everyone there is a conversation going on, we may not be aware of it, we may not want to admit it or admit to the contents of that internal narrative, but it is there.

Psalm 37:14, “The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright;”.

Right there, where the translators used the words “way is upright”, a more exact translation would be “whose conversation is upright”, meaning not only outwardly, but their internal narrative is upright. The same Hebrew word, which in this case is our word for conversation, draws a picture of a well worn path, or a path which is worn from constantly being walked on, and when in groups, it draws a picture of marching together … or … a conversation.

Conversations, when in a group setting, are like people marching together, on their way somewhere.

In Prov31:3, “your ways” doesn’t necessarily mean the way you do things, but more speaks of your internal narrative, in other words, don’t give your internal conversation over to those things which destroy … or don’t allow yourself a downward spiraling internal conversation so often you begin to believe your own rhetoric … i must also add, that escaping our own dark thoughts isn’t always easy by any means, so we must get help.  In fact, the very last letter of the Hebrew word for “conversation” has, among other meanings, a meaning of “your”, implying the conversation you have with yourself, your internal narrative. Allowing ourselves honest conversations with the Lord tends to redeem our internal narrative, it brings rectification and clarity…which is why, if we need counseling, it is profitable.

Among the words used for heal and “make whole” in the N.T., is the word “therapeuo”, used 44 times, and it’s where we get our English word for therapy, meaning a system of treatments intended to heal and restore. Within this word not only is there a meaning of being made well, but also the idea of having to wait in the course of conversation, and waiting is a time element … meaning we talk it out … .. of course, there are all sorts of therapies, antibiotic therapy, shock therapy, oxygen therapy, heat therapy, and in our case considering the topic is a good conversation, talk therapy. Without Godly conversations, we are often left only to our internal narrative, and if we have a propensity to negativity, remember, people are going to catch what you’ve really got, not what you think you’ve got. It is a human tendency to gravitate towards what we want to fix and forget to celebrate what we have.

In 1Kings18:27, Elijah was mocking the prophets of Baal when, regardless of all their crying out and self-mutilation, their god (little “g”) didn’t show up … Elijah mockingly said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Could be he is lost in thought, or in the toilet, or maybe he is on a journey, or perhaps he’s asleep and must be awakened.” Where he said, “on a journey”, it’s the same word for “conversation”, so we could read it another way to say, “maybe he is stuck in a conversation someplace or has gone somewhere and can’t be gotten a hold of …” i do believe the false prophets of Baal were probably sufficiently antagonized, driving them into a frenzy.

In all this, let me draw a conclusion that there are many conversations which happen in scripture, from ones which last across several chapters to simple ones like in Luke 6:11 when the people were filled with rage and were having a heated conversation concerning what to do with Jesus. They were conflicted. How does your internal narrative sound? Is it an upward spiral or a downward spiral? So … if it’s a downward spiral more often than not, what are you gonna do about that? Let’s not hide it but resolve it so there is no reason for hiding and secrets any longer.

Having a good conversation, one that is profitable and builds us up though, ahhh … that may not be as easy to come by as we might hope. What a conversation is and how we do it is one thing, but where does our best conversation begin and why?

From the beginning, the Lord has been soliciting conversation with all of mankind. He wants to be involved with us and want us to desire His words and thoughts above all others. As was previously mentioned, in Genesis 2 & 3, of the first eight recorded statements the Lord made, four were questions, which was the Lord’s invitation for us to conversate with Him. i believe God even goes so far sometimes to, sort of, pick a fight with us to get us to be involved with Him. i could be completely incorrect, but in Genesis 32 it sure looks like the Lord didn’t mind grappling with Jacob. If that’s where God needs to go to get our attention, our Father is not above a little wrestling to get us to be involved with Him, why? … because the Lord knows our interaction and conversation with Him is life giving, healing, and makes opportunity for Him to share wisdom and hope with us.

In the Hebrew word for conversation, it breaks down as meaning a door for clarification and an opportunity to venture below the surface of our presentation face, conversation is a call to allow our thinking’s and musings to be elevated above the horizon, in other words to lift them above street level to be discovered and to not allow our thoughts to remain buried like secrets concerning hidden things.

In Luke 20, when the chief priests, scribes, and elders put a question to Jesus, He didn’t shrink back from the rough water ahead. In fact, my paraphrase here, He leaned into them and fired back, “Oh yea, I hear your question, so now i’m gonna ask you a question too!” He was not afraid of the conversation … in fact, He leaned into their space and took them up on their challenge. God is the master of conversation, and was willing to walk with them if they were willing to tread the path with Him.

In Luke 24:13 there is what i call the “Seven Mile Conversation”. Luke 24:13-27 tells the story about two disciples on the way to Emmaus, about a 7-mile walk taking approx. 3.5hrs or a little more. They were walking and talking …  discussing, or reasoning together about the things which had been going on. While on “the way” Jesus joined them in their conversation, but their eyes were restrained and they didn’t know it was Jesus. Jesus asked them a question (which was an invitation to join the conversation) in vs 17 …  He asked, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” or, “What are you guys talking about?” Scripture says, “And they stood still, looking sad.” Cleopas replied, “Man, haven’t you heard of all the things going on? Where have you been?” Then Jesus asked a second question in vs 19, “What things?”, meaning, “Tell me about it.” As they walked on, the two told him all the account of Jesus of Nazareth, and how Jesus did this, and the Pharisee’s did that, and how the Lord had been crucified, they said they were hoping Israel was going to be redeemed, but it just didn’t appear that’s how things turned out … they told Him how this was the third day, and the women couldn’t find the body, then met some angels at the tomb who said Jesus was alive, but in light of all these things, they weren’t quite sure what to think. Then Jesus poured the testimony on them. He laid it out beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

When they reached the village where they were going, the Lord made like He was going to leave their company, but they insisted He stay on with them (inviting Jesus into their inner circle). Finally, when they sat down to eat, Jesus broke bread and their eyes were opened. i bet they were blown away, and even more so when Jesus suddenly disappeared. Oh man, they really had things to talk about now. They were so excited, they got up and walked all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the others … which would have made another 7-mile conversation … It was a very good day, a very good walk, and a very, very good conversation. Think about it.

In the movie “The Last Samurai”, Katsumoto, who is a samurai Lord, has taken Capt. Nathan Algren captive and hauled him back to their village for the winter. As the movie progresses, i noticed that Algren, at first, only tells answers and Katsumoto keeps asking questions. Katsumoto’s questions were an invitation into a relationship which Algren does not want. At one-point Capt. Algren roars at Katsumoto, “What do you want from me?” At that point Katsumoto, calmly says, “I want a gooood conversation.” As far as Katsumoto was concerned, just because his enemy was in the camp didn’t mean they couldn’t walk the roads of the village and have conversations. A good conversation was as valuable to the samurai Lord as was good food, well honed weapons, and beautifully executed art … a good conversation was highly prized and was probably considered art in itself.

Conversation is how people get to know what we’re about, it’s how people get to look at aspects of us which aren’t so readily seen. In our vulnerability during the back and forth talk of conversation, we get to see the green shoots of grace growing in other people’s back yards, and if we don’t master small talk, we’ll never see those things.

Conversation is where we connect and are connected with, and learning to ask questions is as much an art as letting God make us beautiful for the world to behold. In our conversations with God, He will redeem our internal narrative making it easier for us to march together on a path worn by constant walking. Do you have conversations with God, or do you just hand Him your shopping list? We want Him to be vulnerable with us yet we are scared to pieces to be vulnerable with Him. Jesus is waiting with delightful anticipation for you to come and sit a while with Him, and have good conversation …  eventually one which will never end.

Good conversation is not scripted, although we may have some objectives, still it is not scripted. We must go with the flow and listen … some may feel they are putting themselves at risk because they must be vulnerable and transparent, but we really need to get over the fear of someone seeing us as we are … the Lord has been inviting us into a continuous conversation with Him since the garden as even today it is still God’s standing invitation to conversate with Him … don’t you know, when we get home to Jesus it will be an eternal conversation, a glorious conversation filled with music and companionship with God, and He will be our light and sun for ever.

Drive carefully, pray for your neighbors, take the time to get to know who lives near you, let them know you by letting them into your life and allowing them to see Jesus who lives in you. Be strong and courageous! Amen!

Imagina

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En gran parte de las Escrituras, la palabra “imaginar” se usa en referencia al mal con el que sueñan los hombres. Si fuéramos honestos, creo que la mayoría de nosotros imaginamos la dominación, la manipulación, imaginamos el control, la seducción, la rendición a expensas de otras personas, o lo que sea que comprenda las vanidades de los hombres. Pero Dios, oh, ahí está esa frase otra vez, pero Dios, es el creador y diseñador de la imaginación, y nunca tuvo la intención de ser una cosa tan oscura como la mayoría de nosotros podemos usarla. Cuando preferimos pensar en las preferencias del Señor en lugar de lo que podemos consumir sobre nosotros mismos, de repente nuestra imaginación puede convertirse en la providencia exclusiva de Dios y el enemigo no tiene control.

¿Qué querría el Señor que imagináramos, si tuviéramos una máquina de sueños santificada, dedicada, exclusivamente para los propósitos de Dios? ¿Qué nos imaginamos? En el orden de discutir la idea de “imaginar” desde la perspectiva de Dios, tenemos que estar dispuestos a considerar la idea de “qué pasaría si”, de una manera justa, por supuesto. Así que vamos a jugar. “¿Qué pasaría si…?” como en “¿Y si Dios es realmente quien dijo que es?” Si Él lo es, entonces tenemos que hacer algo con respecto a todos nuestros “sí, pero” que restringen y constriñen nuestro entendimiento de Dios. Entonces, es una buena pregunta: “¿Y si Dios es realmente quien dijo ser?”

Imagínate, en otro escenario de “qué pasaría si…”, USTED es realmente quien Dios dice que es. Si vamos a jugar el juego de “qué pasaría si…”, entonces, en este caso, tenemos que tomar la totalidad del Nuevo Testamento como relevante y verdadero. Necesitamos superar la vieja enseñanza de “solo soy un pobre viejo pecador”, llamándonos inútiles, resolviendo nuestros conflictos internos para vernos a nosotros mismos como valiosos. Lo suficientemente valioso como para que el Rey del Universo no solo muera y luego vuelva a vivir por nosotros, sino que Él también, TAMBIÉN, por el sacrificio de Jesucristo, nos ha liberado de nuestros pecados y nos ha hecho un reino, sacerdotes para su Dios y Padre. Yo entiendo que toda esa bondad puede ser más de lo que algunos pueden soportar. Sin embargo, en algún punto, debemos comenzar a ver las cosas como Dios las ve sin la superposición de una enseñanza pobre. Lo que el Señor tiene que decir es infinitamente más importante que los hombres.

¿Qué pasaría si tú y yo cambiáramos nuestros remordimientos por las posibilidades de Dios? ¿Cómo serían nuestras vidas si las decepciones y los arrepentimientos no nos ataran y dictaran cómo nos comportamos con la familia, los amigos y el resto del mundo?

¿Y si lo que Jesús dijo en Mateo 24:30 es verdad? Trata de imaginar cómo sería eso. Cuando aparezca el asombroso Hijo de Dios, y en ese instante toda la gente de la tierra lo vea venir en las nubes, los corazones y las mentes de las personas en todas partes de repente se darán cuenta de que estaban equivocados, y que Dios tenía razón.  Imagínense cómo afectará eso a toda la política y a todas las demás religiones. Cualquier tipo de ateísmo estará equivocado, y justo delante de sus ojos estarán todas las razones por las que todo lo que NO pensaban acerca de Dios estaba mal. Si pensamos que la humanidad está haciendo un encubrimiento gigante de las cosas ahora, yo digo, todavía no hemos visto nada. En ese día, la oscuridad no solo estará mal, sino que estará TAN mal, y Dios no solo tendrá razón, sino que tendrá TANTA razón.

¿Qué pasa si un día descubres que todas las cosas que te perdiste, que Dios tenía para ti, no se lograron? ¿Todo porque hiciste las cosas a tu manera? Tal vez deberíamos pedirle al Señor que nos muestre dónde nuestros planes nos han llevado en otra dirección que no sea la de Él, y qué podemos hacer para volver a encarrilarnos con Él.     ¿Qué pasaría si el Señor te abriera los ojos para ver que todas las cosas en las que piensas que eres un fracaso, no son fracasos reales en Su libro, sino puertas que se abren más claramente al plan de Dios para tu destino? Tocar fondo puede parecer un lugar terrible, pero ya sabes, también parece un gran lugar para comenzar una base. Donald Miller escribió que “todos los árboles están perdiendo sus hojas y ninguno de ellos está preocupado”. No ven la pérdida de sus hojas como un fracaso, sino como el cambio de las estaciones para ser más bellos en lo que está por venir.

¿Qué pasa si elegimos NO creer en Dios y hacer lo que Él dice? En 1 Reyes 18:21, Elías hizo una pregunta que creo que sigue siendo muy relevante: “¿Hasta cuándo andarás cojeando en la bifurcación del camino, sentado en una cerca? Si el Señor es Dios, seguidle; pero si es Baal, síganlo”. Y el pueblo no le respondió ni una palabra”. Independientemente de la visión del mundo, solo hay dos perspectivas, Dios o el diablo, y podemos ver fácilmente que al rechazar una elegimos automáticamente la otra, y no hay alternativas.

¿Qué pasaría si realmente creyéramos, confiáramos en que Dios hará lo que Él dice, y tomáramos Efesios 3:19 literalmente?  “Para que podáis llegar a conocer realmente, prácticamente, por medio de la experiencia por vosotros mismos, el amor de Cristo, que sobrepasa con creces el mero conocimiento sin experiencia; para que seáis llenos, a través de todo vuestro ser, de toda la plenitud de Dios, teniendo la medida más rica de la Presencia divina, un cuerpo totalmente lleno e inundado de Dios mismo”.

¿Qué pasaría si oráramos con verdadera audacia, sin tener miedo de hablar con Dios y pedirle algo? Imagínense las posibilidades que se abrirían.

En 1 Crónicas 4:10, Jabes clamó a Dios diciendo: ¡Oh, que me bendigas y ensanches mi frontera, y que tu mano esté conmigo, y me guardes del mal para que no me haga daño! Y Dios le concedió su petición”. Eso no es solo una visión para poseer una propiedad, o ser el gran líder de una gran congregación, con todos sabiendo tu nombre. Véalo como una oración para pedirle a Dios que expanda su visión y su sueño, más allá de lo que estaba actualmente en su campo de visión. ¡Imagina! Ensancha el lugar de tu tienda, y extiende las cortinas de tus moradas; no te detengas; Alarga tus cuerdas y fortalece tus estacas.

El Señor nos dio el poder de soñar, pídele que te ayude a hacer espacio para el “más” de Dios.

¿Qué te parece?

Gracias por leer, soy Social Porter para el Ministerio Viviendo En Su Nombre.

Traducción por Alfredo Magni Sozzi

Our Welfare

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          “Am i ok?” “Will i be alright?” We are often so, so worried about our own welfare. i believe we spend untold hours being concerned if our money will work out, if our health will hold up, if we’ll lose our minds, if the economy will continue to allow us to live such convenient lives, if the car will make it another week, if this, if that, round and round, till you can see the whites of our eyes in the dark.

Our state of well being is constantly attacked by satan and all his buddies, who love to inspire us to run around in terror about what “might” happen. Remember, this is the enemy of our soul, the very ones whose will is fully set against us, thrilling to our demise in anyway it can be devised. Listen to God, not the downward spiral of the world.

Ok, so … what if you die? Well, then i reckon you won’t have to worry about things anymore, trusting God won’t be an issue then, because all things will be said and done. What if you don’t die? That’s an odd one, but i’ve heard it from addicts in jail who have a secret death wish, thinking if they do more dope, maybe they’ll die and won’t have to keep being miserable. i’ve actually heard a frequently incarcerated felon say that. Gosh, what a morbid, ultimate victim thing to think. When i heard that, i thought two things simultaneously. First was a quote from Graham Greene: “We are all of us resigned to death: it’s life we aren’t resigned to.” And the second was how, despairing, this person has bought into the territory of lies without a return ticket, finding themselves, literally, at the freezing-point of knowing absolute failure. All they see is themselves, constantly being an inch from the end, in so much pain, seeing no other way out but to end it can be found. i find it interesting, the person was also a heavy drug users, which i call that level of addiction, “death on the installment plan”, suffering every inch of the way to the end. i take it then, they didn’t actually want to die, which is why they were taking their time getting there, they simply wanted the pain to end.

God says being at the freezing-point of knowing absolute failure isn’t the end. He says there exists, for everyone, the extreme polar opposite…there is life to be had in Christ. Again, let us take to heart that in God’s economy, there is nothing SO dead, He can’t grow life from it.

Everyone must die, one way or another, that’s a given, but God says we don’t also have to die sick and sad. We worry, !worry! over our welfare to the point we make ourselves ill. ?Will i be ok? If we read the myriad of medical advertisements, the implication is if you do what you are told by some medical professional, you’ll be ok, yet, truthfully, it doesn’t always work out like that. i suppose it also depends on our idea of “well-being” too. If your bills were paid, then would you be ok? If you simply weren’t sick, then would you be ok? What will it take to make you “Ok”?

In John 4:42, upon meeting Jesus, the people of Samaria told the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” Where the English word “believe” is, the Greek word translated as “believe” yields a much more comprehensive meaning, in this case meaning, by implication, they entrusted their spiritual well-being to Christ. They were convinced, gave assent to, and relied on God to take care of them. That is God’s idea of what it is to “believe”. Remember, Faith is a noun, and “believe” is the action verb derivative of Faith. Get it? Action.

In Mark 9:24, when the father of the child cried out, “i believe; help my unbelief!”, he was speaking to Jesus and was confessing openly that, although he gave assent to the Lord and relied on God to take care of them, for his child to be made whole, not just no longer sick, but made whole, was just beyond his capability. i believe the man looked into himself and saw not only trust, but also that he didn’t trust the Lord as much as he thought. He realized his state of cognitive dissonance. The idea his child could be made whole was simply beyond his imagination to grasp. Instead of making a dishonest face, smiling his most pious smile, saying with great benevolence, “Praise God, everything is fine, just fine.”, he told the truth and asked the Lord for help.

Do we only believe God when things are well? Or when things aren’t well with us, do we resign ourselves to suffer and die because somewhere along the line, someone we respected told us the cause of our suffering was because we didn’t have enough faith or there was sin in our lives? That is a performance mentality, and the truth is, God doesn’t work that way. You can’t run fast enough, or be good enough to deserve well being. Sure, if we don’t pray, don’t read the Bible, and don’t actually connect with other believers, the possibilities of our well being are narrowed considerably. But truly, our well being is God’s domain, and to sit around, harboring the secret worry of “Will i be ok?” to the point of validating the saying, “worry yourself sick”, well, it doesn’t have to be that way. Rather than worrying about our well being, it would be more profitable to simply be honest, pursuing the Lord to help our unbelief, regardless of our circumstances. Trust God, regardless of your discomfort and trouble. It CAN be done. Learn to live well where you are until the Lord changes the situation.

Don’t do the “yea, but, yea but” thing. Embrace the Lord’s promise of well being, and let Him do it. i didn’t say now, be slack and do nothing, that is twisting the intent here. Matthew 13:12 says, “For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away”, OR, the more you go right, the more you go right, and the more you go left, the more you go left, OR, cutting to the chase here, the longer you do nothing, the longer you do nothing until nothing is all you do. Take action! Trust Him, tell Him about it, i guarantee He’ll solve the conflicts which prevent you from moving forward. You will indeed be ok.

What do you think?

Shadows

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Shadows

Shadows….soft and rarely detailed and defined. They catch an outline enough to identify a silhouette, but never a lot of detail, at least not like the light. Shadows speak softly, in demure tones, whispering to each other, and to you too if you’ll listen. They try not to, but even the best shadows somewhat envy the light, afterall the light has weight and shadows do not. There is no such thing as “the weight of shadows”, just like there is no such thing as a dark meter, only a light meter, because light has weight and shadow does not.     Shadows are painfully aware they are measured in the sense of an absence of light, which is why they simultaneously love and envy the light. They are defined by the light and they so wish they had their own definition and independence. But, in the long run, they just weren’t made that way when God gave every living creature a faint companion to go with them everywhere. They’re really no trouble, and if anything, they are the constant of companion of everything which stands in the light…they are the most subtle of confirmations we are here and are real. What would you think of something which casts no shadow in day light?

At the fading away of day, they rise up and set up living arrangements, prepare shadow meals, solving shadow problems, discuss shadow news in shades of grey scale, and enjoy singing in shadow voices. it is soft like their edges, always prone to a little down turn in tune and tone, almost like a slight moan and sigh. It is the sound of shadows as they creep down a sleepy street when the sun goes down, peeping at us from behind the trees, cast from children playing in the evening, or from the neighbor’s cat which sits on the step looking bored, waiting for something to happen. Healthy shadows take nurturing and care because some shadows are not healthy in that they are “thin shadows”, and others are more robust being “deep shadows”. Shadows never seem to understand that they are defined by the bright or fading light, it is a wisdom which always seems to escape their shaded mind. They occasionally celebrate themselves because there are creatures which God created who prefer to live in the “company of shadows”, because in His mercy, not even shadows are left friendless and alone.

Some shadows are not kind when people slander one another. As you know the entire idea of slander is to “cast shadows” on others, or, cause them to be seen in a less than kind light, to darken their faces with suspicion, or purposely obstruct clear light in order to cast a shadow on their character, so to speak. Shadows moan at their employment in such a situation, it is a scenario that is the invention of people possessing a twist on the light, and the poor shadow, who wants to live in peace, must comply where ever there are obstacles blocking the light. And everyone knows any time something or someone obsures the path of light, a shadow is required to subtly point out that something is in the way of clarity.

Nuestro Bienestar

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          “¿Estoy bien?” “¿Estaré bien?” A menudo estamos muy, muy preocupados por nuestro propio bienestar. Creo que pasamos incontables horas preocupándonos por si nuestro dinero funcionará, si nuestra salud aguantará, si nos volveremos locos, si la economía seguirá permitiéndonos vivir vidas tan cómodas, si el coche sobrevivirá una semana más, si esto, si lo otro, dando vueltas y vueltas, hasta que puedas ver el blanco de nuestros ojos en la oscuridad.

Nuestro estado de bienestar es constantemente atacado por satanás y todos sus amigos, a quienes les encanta inspirarnos a correr aterrorizados sobre lo que “podría” suceder. Recuerden, este es el enemigo de nuestra alma, los mismos cuya voluntad está completamente en contra de nosotros, emocionándose hasta nuestra muerte de cualquier manera que pueda ser ideada. Escuchen a Dios, no al espiral descendente del mundo.

Ok, entonces… ¿Y si te mueres? Bueno, entonces creo que ya no tendrás que preocuparte por las cosas, confiar en Dios no será un problema entonces, porque todas las cosas serán dichas y hechas. ¿Y si no mueres? Es una pregunta extraña, pero la he escuchado de adictos en la cárcel que tienen un deseo secreto de muerte, pensando que, si consumen más droga, tal vez morirán y no tendrán que seguir siendo miserables. De hecho, he escuchado a un delincuente encarcelado con frecuencia decir eso. Dios mío, qué cosa tan morbosa y lo último en que pensar como víctima. Cuando escuché eso, pensé dos cosas simultáneamente. Primero fue una cita de Graham Greene: “Todos estamos resignados a la muerte: es a la vida a la que no nos resignamos”. Y la segunda fue cómo, desesperada, esta persona se ha metido en el territorio de la mentira sin pasaje de vuelta, encontrándose, literalmente, en el punto de congelación de conocer el fracaso absoluto. Todo lo que ven son a sí mismos, estando constantemente a un centímetro del final, con tanto dolor, sin ver otra salida que no sea encontrar el final. Me parece interesante, la persona también era un gran consumidor de drogas, lo que yo llamo ese nivel de adicción, “muerte con un plan de cuotas”, sufriendo cada centímetro del camino hasta el final. Entonces, en realidad no querían morir, por lo que se estaban tomando su tiempo para llegar allí, simplemente querían que el dolor terminara.

Dios dice que estar en el punto de congelación de conocer el fracaso absoluto no es el final. Dice que existe, para todos, el polo opuesto extremo… hay vida que se puede tener en Cristo. Una vez más, tomemos en serio que, en la economía de Dios, no hay nada TAN muerto que Él no pueda hacer crecer vida a partir de eso.

Todos deben morir, de una forma u otra, eso es un hecho, pero Dios dice que no tenemos que morir enfermos y tristes. ¡Nos preocupamos, nos preocupamos! por encima de nuestro bienestar hasta el punto de enfermarnos. ¿Estaré bien? Si leemos la gran cantidad de anuncios médicos, la implicación es que, si haces lo que te dice algún profesional médico, estarás bien, sin embargo, a decir verdad, no siempre funciona así. Supongo que también depende de nuestra idea de “bienestar”. Si tus gastos estuvieran pagados, ¿estarías bien? Si simplemente no estuvieras enfermo, ¿estarías bien? ¿Qué se necesita para que estés “bien”?

En Juan 4:42, al encontrarse con Jesús, el pueblo de Samaria le dijo a la mujer: “Ya no es por lo que dijiste que creemos, porque lo hemos oído por nosotros mismos, y sabemos que éste es verdaderamente el Salvador del mundo”. Donde está la palabra “creer”, la palabra griega traducida como “creer” tiene un significado mucho más amplio, en este caso significando, por implicación, que le confiaron su bienestar espiritual a Cristo. Estaban convencidos, dieron su consentimiento y confiaron en Dios para que cuidara de ellos. Esa es la idea de Dios de lo que es “creer”.

En Marcos 9:24, cuando el padre del niño exclamó: “Creo; ¡Ayuda a mi incredulidad!”, le estaba hablando a Jesús y estaba confesando abiertamente que, aunque dio su consentimiento al Señor y confió en Dios para que cuidara de ellos, que su hijo fuera sanado, no solo que ya no estuviera enfermo, sino que fuera sanado, estaba más allá de su capacidad. Creo que el hombre se miró a sí mismo y vio no solo confianza, sino también que no confiaba en el Señor tanto como pensaba. Se dio cuenta de su estado de disonancia cognitiva. La idea de que su hijo pudiera ser sanado estaba simplemente más allá de su imaginación. En lugar de poner cara de deshonesto, sonriendo con su sonrisa más piadosa, diciendo con gran benevolencia: “Alabado sea Dios, todo está bien, muy bien”, dijo la verdad y pidió ayuda al Señor.

¿Solo creemos en Dios cuando las cosas están bien? O cuando las cosas no están bien con nosotros, ¿nos resignamos a sufrir y morir porque en algún momento, alguien a quien respetamos nos dijo que la causa de nuestro sufrimiento era porque no teníamos suficiente fe o había pecado en nuestras vidas? Esa es una mentalidad de rendimiento, y la verdad es que Dios no obra de esa manera. No puedes correr lo suficientemente rápido, o ser lo suficientemente bueno como para merecer bienestar. Claro, si no oramos, no leemos la Biblia y no nos conectamos con otros creyentes, las posibilidades de nuestro bienestar se reducen considerablemente. Pero verdaderamente, nuestro bienestar es el dominio de Dios, y sentarnos, albergando la preocupación secreta de “¿Estaré bien?” hasta el punto de validar el dicho, “preocúpate enfermo”. Bueno, no tiene por qué ser así. En lugar de preocuparnos por nuestro bienestar, sería más provechoso simplemente ser honestos, buscando al Señor para que nos ayude en nuestra incredulidad, independientemente de nuestras circunstancias. Confía en Dios, independientemente de tu incomodidad y problemas. Eso PUEDE hacerse. Aprende a vivir bien donde estás hasta que el Señor cambie la situación.

No hagas lo de “sí, pero, sí, pero”. Abraza la promesa de bienestar del Señor y deja que Él lo haga. No dije ahora: “sé flojo y no hagas nada”, eso es torcer la intención aquí. Confía en Él, cuéntaselo a Él, te garantizo que Él resolverá los conflictos que te impiden avanzar. De hecho, estarás bien.

¿Qué te parece?

Gracias por leer, soy Social Porter para el Ministerio Viviendo En Su Nombre.

Traducción por Alfredo Magni Sozzi

 

All For Jesus

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It is such a nice evening out i feel like i’m living in a postcard picture. There’s not a cloud in the sky except over towards the horizon… all those sky colors, singing, as if they were calling to something or someone. The humidity is dissipating while this day comes to a close. The deck overlooking the Ockluhwahhah River faces slightly west, just enough to catch the last of the day when the sun is on its way to brighten some other place on the planet. The world of night sounds is alive and well …. it would seem what lives across the river in the woods won’t be ignored this late afternoon … if you listen carefully, you can faintly hear the conversation going on between the creek and the river at the intersection where the smaller one meets the larger other, singing softly, like someone speaking at a distance and you can’t quite make out what they’re saying, you only know there is a dialogue going on. The greater includes the lesser. When the breeze picks up the old oaks and pines occasionally groan against the inclination to change, but the more they stay the same the more they change, i doubt they care much really. Our owl pair have returned briefly … i heard them earlier calling after each other … they disappeared for a while, maybe they went on vacation or something … our own cricket tribe is calling to us through the cracks under the floor boards of the deck, maybe they’re prophesying of coming rain or maybe just singing because it’s dark and it’s time to sing. i reckon it seemed a safe place to live … everybody’s gotta live somewhere, right, even crickets. Such a beautiful sunset. And for the grand finale of the day, there’s supposed to be a full moon tonight. God is absolutely brilliant, isn’t He?

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts. Our topic tonight is based on Philippians 3:7-14, all for Jesus, all i am and have, and ever hope to be. We have forgiveness for the sake of Christ’s blood; the Lord hears our prayers for the sake of Jesus, and God no longer remembers my sins for the sake of the reconciling work of Jesus, the Christ of God. All for Jesus, all i am and have and ever hope to be.

 Luke 15:13, “And not many days after the younger son gathered all his stuff together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.” Psalm 53:1, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.””

Many years ago there was a young man who grew up in a rural community. At an early age, as a joke to prove there was no God, he prayed the sinner’s prayer with a street preacher, then he jeered in the man’s face and called the man a fool for believing God, threatening the man with violence if he ever spoke the name of Jesus in his presence again. In his foolish youth, he thought he was being tough. How little he knew.

He was not one for deep thinking much, but more known for his living in the moment, often not thinking of the consequences of his actions. He was bright and creative and enjoyed the work of his hands, even as a child. He was a good kid but he sure wreaked havoc on his parents. More than likely he suffered from ADD, and had it been our current day, i’m pretty sure his parents would have given him over to drug therapy … but that’s not what happened, instead they put him to work to keep him busy. Once, his dad was so upset with his son’s inability to focus and a very very active imagination, that he threatened to send him to reform school himself. Eventually, the young man found identity with rebellious people who introduced him to drugs, alcohol, carousing, stealing, and all other late-night mischief. Sometimes the young man took LSD and amphetamines just to slow down enough to do life. You know, in most all places, not much good happens after about 11pm, so the young man took to living his life after 11pm, it seemed exciting.

When he graduated from high school, which was a miracle in itself, straight away he joined the Navy. Of course, there he met other young men comparable to himself, and he sank deeper into a drug and alcohol dependent life of growing loneliness and despair.

While in the Navy, he became heavily involved with LSD and heroin users, gladly becoming one of them, for in his mind he simply wanted to be part of something. Eventually, during a night of partying, he took too much of his drugs of choice, and he died. His friends, if you could call them that, left him out behind the house, gathered all their stuff which would identify themselves and left him. God had a different plan though for the next morning he breathed again after many hours of being a grey-blue corpse. His so-called buddies were frightened upon seeing him but soon they were getting loaded again and all was forgotten.

Eccl4:10, “But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.”

Months later he had a party at his apartment, and once again, he overdosed on heroin. That was Thursday evening. Sunday morning he drew a breath for the first time since Thursday; he woke up pale, cold, hungry, and naked laying on a mattress in the bedroom … his house was cleaned out, everything was gone. His furniture was gone, the pictures were gone … his quote-unquote friends had stolen everything – the stereo, the TV, all the music, the pots & pans & silverware, all his clothes except his military uniform, and all the food from the kitchen; they even took the toilet paper and light bulbs … the house had been swept clean and wiped down. Seeing the large bruises on his chest he thought maybe he’d been beat up. He got dressed in the only clothes he had and walked down the street to see a buddy, who jolted in fright when the door was opened. The buddy told the young man that he had died on Thursday night….no pulse, no breath, just grey-blue, and dead. The man said they had beat on his chest to make his heart pump, but nothing helped, so they cleaned up the house, laid the body on the bed and left. Slowly, it dawned on the young man who was far from home and family, he had been dead for three days. It didn’t even cross his mind that the Lord, in His mercy, prevented his death … again.

Luke 15:17-18, “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.”

 Oddly enough, after that, the young man lost interest in hard drugs, after all he had been dead twice because of drug overdoses and something just clicked in him. Of course though, that didn’t change his drinking habits for he was just carrying on a four generation family tradition of substance abuse and alcoholism. One night, a year later, he had been on another drinking binge, and walked into the military barracks dorm. He staggered into the room, and upon closing the door behind him he noticed he was alone in the room. For the first time in his young life, he became aware of such a sad place in his heart it was unbearable. From over his right shoulder, in the late night, alone in the room in the dark, he heard someone whisper, “Why don’t you give your heart to Jesus and ask Him into your life?” For some reason he didn’t think it was an odd thing to think, it actually seemed reasonable, so he got on his knees, asked Jesus for forgiveness and to please take over. Suddenly, it was as if 1000 pounds was lifted off his back. He got into bed, and for the first time in years, he rested, i mean he really rested.

Now here’s where this testimony gets odd. He woke up in the morning, refreshed and new to the world that was bright and clear, and didn’t remember he prayed that prayer for two years. !BUT!, over the course of the two years following that night, he stopped drinking, he stopped doing any and all drugs, he stopped chasing girls and changed all his friends. He stopped being doggedly rebellious and began speaking without profanity, not because of some legalistic morality, but because he was consciously choosing. Something was different. Before he got out of the Navy, he realized he was a new man, he had come to realize who it was who spared his life and delivered him from death and hell’s gate. It was Jesus.

 

When the time comes, for many people, many times we just need a firm foot provided so we can set our foot against it in order to find the necessary purchase to change direction … life and destiny can easily change with the turn of our foot to a different direction.

Ultimately, it is the foot of the Savior, who in His mercy, provides us a pivot point…even when all our closest, most relied on friends have gone, Jesus gives us His firm hand to grip to. From the days of the young man’s rebellion to his time of knowing Jesus, he counted all his past as a huge waste. All dreams of possessions and wealth ebbed out of his mind and heart, all dreams of being famous, noteworthy, validated and important he abandoned and chased after Jesus with all his heart. The young man had gone from a prodigal, rebellious, hard-hearted son … from a slave of sin and satan to becoming a brother and servant of Christ! This was another first in his life in that the right person was in control of his life, Jesus first and last, he felt like he had a point and a purpose. Going back to his old life was no longer an option. You know, as long as going back is an option, we are still snared in our addictions.

Philip3:7-10, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. i want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

i was that young man many years ago, the sorriest lost sheep you ever saw. When Jesus became obvious to me, i was like a homing pigeon and my only instinct was to go home. Those were terrible days of self-loathing, confusion, and chaos, i was chained to the deliciousness of sin. Before Jesus i had no clue what to do, how to act, what to say, or where to go. i just breathed with every day and mindlessly went forward with no plan about tomorrow. But standing here now, many years later, i see the hand of the Lord all through my life. By way of my rear-view mirror, i easily recognize the Lord speaking to me as a child, defending me when i was just so ignorant, and believe me, i was ignorant of most everything, in fact, i was ignorant to the point i died twice. Let me make a note here that the root of the word “ignorance” is the word “ignore” and i completely ignored everything that was wise, honest, and good.

i see the vision of God playing in me even before i ever thought about Jesus, i had God dreams and God ideas even as a child and didn’t know it was the Lord who was working. i remember my cousin telling me the gospel story once, and his voice was like someone murmuring at a distance … i just couldn’t hear it. It is easy to see now that when i prayed with the man to receive Jesus and then made fun of him, i believe God took me seriously and pursued me with all of Heaven in His wake to bring me home. Galatians 6:7, “God is not mocked.” This is to all the desperados and traitors out there …. you can come home, it’s time to come home, Jesus is waiting just for you with open arms. There is always room for the humble repentant to come home, and there is no pit deep enough that the saving hands of Jesus can’t reach you.

Robin Mark wrote a song, the lyrics are “Jesus, all for Jesus, all i am and have and ever hope to be. All of my ambitions, hopes and plans, i surrender these into Your hands. For it’s only in Your will that i am free, Jesus, all for Jesus, All i am and have and ever hope to be.”

Philip3:13-14, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

That is the truth – i do not think of myself as having arrived, but like Arthur Burt once said, “i have not arrived, but i can assure you i have left.”

It is not possible that i can sit across the table from everyone and ask, so i’ll ask your conscience to reflect my words, leaving your own heart to answer the question: Do you really serve Christ, or is it more that you merely enjoy hearing, you enjoy singing, and enjoy telling others you go to church and tithe? When you are in the great congregation at your church and you stand to sing, do you know why you stand or is it because that’s what everyone else does, or maybe because it’s what you’re told to do?

What is your story of how you met Jesus? What have you done with the gifts and the fruit of your relationship with the Lord? Inventory is a good idea sometimes, and we must be honest about our inventory, take the truth of ourselves to the Lord, and let Him heal our wounded conscience and make our hearts well again. Think about it.

Some, i fear, do not serve Christ in what they do, they just go about it all as a part of the general routine of their existence, you know, it’s the legitimate thing to go to a place of worship … therefore they go.

Some, i fear, give service in a party spirit. They serve and they think it is Christ they are serving—but in fact it is their own denomination or group. They’re in love with their brand, and the Lord is over on the side somewhere. Many of them would be almost vexed to hear of the Lord being honored among any other sort of Christians! They hope there will be a revival, but they would like it to be pretty nearly confined to the walls of their own church group. That’s called serving a clique, not Christ. Where do you stand? Are you all for Jesus, all you are and have, and ever hope to be?

What is your testimony? Do you have one developed? Can you tell about the time you met Jesus and He changed your life, or is it just a general tale with no definition, no defined beginning? Some say, “oh, i’ve always just been this way.” If you belong to Jesus, then somewhere along the line you had to choose. No one becomes a child of God because their parents were, or that somehow, they’ve defined themselves as a “good person”.  i must admit i find it disturbing when someone says they can’t think of a time they’ve ever repented and asked Jesus into their lives, that they have just always been like they are, however that is. Take the time to write down your testimony; it’s important to know about your life with Christ from it’s beginning.

Drive carefully this week; watch out for your neighbor. Ask the Lord in your prayer time to open your eyes to know Him more, after all, where would you be without Jesus? Have a great and prosperous week. Go with God.