i sometimes catch myself wishing others weren’t the way they are. How often we have said to ourselves in a moment of anguish, “Gahh! i wish so-and-so was different! Why do they have to be that way?”

It’s easy to think of all the ways we believe someone else should change and what they should do to make a relationship better… but maybe, just maybe… we should think more along the lines of what we might do to make things better. We seem to always want the other person to change, but above what we think they should do, we should also be open to letting God show us ways in which we might change also.

Romans 12:16, “Live in harmony with one another. Don’t be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.”

It’s good to want peace, but we need to go the extra mile and be peacemakers. Don’t just think about everything that is wrong with the person you’re struggling with, also think about their good points too. And yes, i realize there are truly people in this world who may not seem to have any good points. If you go to a maximum security prison and speak to some of those who stay behind locked doors all the time, it’s easy to think some people have no good qualities. i believe, having lived my life as one, God has a special place in His heart for fools. Actually, i’m eternally pleased He has room for me.

Time is changing, the world is still turning, Jesus has not returned yet, so, whether we like it or not we must live … today, and again tomorrow, etc, etc., living every day in the name of Jesus with all our breathing, thinking, feeling, and strength. i’ve never heard of Christian retirement unless it is dying. The world is changing and we must change also…simply put, we can’t continue to be like we are and still expect the spiritual climate of our world to change when we, the climate changers, don’t want to address our internal conflicts and cognitive dissonances.

When you turn off the main highway and go all the way to the end of Old Field Road, there at the end of the road is Outposts, a beautiful cafe inhabited by kindness and joy, where, the moment you step in the door, weariness falls off like grave clothes, and the warm glow of the goodness of God breathes refreshment to tired bones. This is a semi-live broadcast from the deck area of the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the river’s edge, and every evening is pleasant. i’ll be your host this evening with contemplative conversation, and cool jazz. So glad you stopped in. Pull up a chair, breathe easy, and sit a while with me.

i’m Social Porter and this evening’s topic is change… the pain of it, and the necessity of it. When it hurts too much to stay the same, people will change, but in the meantime when it hurts too much to change, alas, they will stay the same. Friends, change is on the horizon and it simply must happen.

So let’s get to it…pull up a chair, sit back, put your ears on, and enjoy what’s in front of you….

Amos 3:3, “Do two people walk hand in hand if they aren’t going to the same place?” Or put another way as a statement, “two walking together must agree to go together.”

What is it that makes it so we are reluctant to change, even when it’s for the better? Is it that, even if we’re in a bad situation, it could be nothing more than the longitude and latitude we are familiar with?… at least we think we know where we are and what to expect. Or could the truth be something more subtle?

Our fear can keep us from growing up… it can make us do all sorts of illogical things… like being afraid to end a relationship that may seriously need to end, change careers, move to a better place, begin new friendships, or just generally attempt anything beyond our ordinary habits. So many of us seem to often stay in situations that are no longer working, far longer than we should have, simply because what is familiar feels safer than the unknown. i think any change involves overcoming fear in some capacity or another. We think to ourselves, “What if I’m alone forever?” or maybe, “What if I find out I’m incompetent?”. As the people of God, we often balk at changing our doctrine because it agrees with the views of our peers, and it’s more important for us to be “in the club” than to have a better understanding of God. Our minds manufacture a million little excuses for remaining right where we are, afraid to even question our own epistemology, which is what you believe, how you came to that conclusion, and why you think it’s a good idea.

The Pharisees were so uncomfortable with Jesus… they hated Him and eventually found a way to have Him killed.

In Acts 6 we see Stephen who is stepping out in power, doing great wonders and signs where everyone could see him. For those watching Stephen, even though they couldn’t resist the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, they resented the necessary change Stephen represented. They manipulated some guys to lie against Stephen, saying, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” It upset the local people so much so that they grabbed Stephen and dragged him before the dreaded council, bringing in more people to lie, putting words in their mouths to say, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”

Though no one can actually keep the law, and no man is justified or finds salvation by the law, the only reason i can figure that they objected to Jesus was because leadership was afflicted with the three P’s of mammon…. position, power, and prestige… they had figured out how to make money from the law, to gain a place of importance and a title… and this Jesus, whom Stephen preached about, was just messing up their system.

The idea of change was so uncomfortable they were willing to lie, cheat, and even murder a man in order to keep from changing. Also, i believe it was more important for them to be right in their own eyes than it was to have a relationship with the Lord and understand His heart.

So here’s a question for all of us who are reluctant to change… please be honest with yourself: Do you just want to be right, or do you really want to know what the Lord is saying?

In this day and age with all the crazy stuff going on, i say, for most of us, “the only thing worse than change is no change”. We can’t keep being like we are and expect the world to get any better. From the Message, Joel 2:13, “Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to GOD, your God. And here’s why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe.”

To change from God’s perspective is to be transformed or converted, and also means to substitute one thing or person for another, like an exchange. Didn’t Jesus empower us to be able to change by exchanging His life for ours? The idea of change has a continuous washing motion to it… it’s not a one-time thing and then everything is just fine. From God’s perspective, change is like a long slow turn, taken in increments, letting His counsel change us, making each life course adjustment a sure and better direction.

In Romans 12:2, Paul urges us all to not be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewal of our mind. You know, that’s easy to say, but it is a lifelong process that is largely uncomfortable many times. But, in light of that, why don’t we change, even though we may know it is the best thing for us? What is it that prevents you? Why do we have such a hard time letting God be good to us?

i believe there are four agonies: blame, guilt, grief, and anger. People do terrible things to themselves and others when they live under the crushing weights of any combination of the terrible four… they are an agony of the soul that keeps us bound in a continual downward spiral of an unchanging life. You know, hurting people hurt people.

Psalm 31:10, “For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.” Jesus is interested in changing our hearts and offers us forgiveness and counseling to set us upright and in our right mind. He will take our burdens from us if we will allow Him to shoulder those weights. “If”… “if” we’ll allow it… yea… those slippery little “if’s”.

Now, as to the four agonies, the binding burdens to bear: When we feel the despair of unfading blame at the end of an aiming finger… the burden of blame is crushing. Within blame, there is an accusatory thrust whose nature is to surround and bind our minds and hearts. Blamed people tend to blame people, and if there is no one to blame, we often blame ourselves, though there are no grounds for it. OH…how well do i know this! When relationships fail, i am often the first person i blame, even though it is possible it had nothing to do with me. Here is the model i grew up with…my mother blamed us, constantly, and we all grew up smugly blaming others for whatever wasn’t right in our lives. With God’s constant help and support, it has taken years to stop being so combative about everything, to stop feeling accused all the time, and stop feeling the need to blame myself and others…it’s hard to stop… especially when you’re so sure you are right!

Let us ask the Lord for wisdom and confidence in our decision-making process. Confidence in God is a wall of safety against blame and guilt.

An amazing number of people walk through each day with the millstone of guilt around their necks. Maybe we have not done the things we should have, or…we’ve done things which should never have been done. We cannot undo the past, and the memory of our hurtful deeds can cause a lifetime of pain. For many, the seemingly harmless sins and offenses of our youth can weigh on our consciences forever… and in the minds of others, those same conflicts of our youth stick like super glue….and don’t you know the enemy uses offense to wound us all.

Grief demands an answer, but sometimes… there just isn’t one… yea, i know, we try to keep on keeping on, sort of keeping up appearances so people may stop asking us how we are….we say we’re, “doing just great” or “no problem, i’m moving on,” and “Oh yea, i’m having a great day,” ….it seems so many expect us to easily be over our grief, even before the grass grows green over a loved one’s grave….yet there is grief, still clinging to your back seeming to be an emptiness of unbearable weight which allows no rest for the one trying to shoulder it.

The last is anger… it is exhausting and corrosive, we wear it even in our micro-communications to others. Anger hangs on us for the world to see like a bad suit… a dark cloud that follows us around… it is one of the most disfiguring and tiring of all burdens to bear. i heard one fellow allude to an angry man being like a dung beetle ….it finds some animal dung, rolls up a little ball of the stuff, and just rolls it around everywhere it goes, spreading it everywhere, feeding off it, even raising their young in it. We do the same thing, and it prevents the change we so desperately need.

Jesus will take the burden of those four agonies from us if we let Him… we must change and allow God to take our burdens from us… yield to God. Open your hands and let it go, and yes, i know, it’s easier said than done, but in Christ it can be done. Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Change is necessary…and in order for us to be world changers, we must be willing for ourselves to change, and change we must.

How will we come to change? More rules? More laws to keep? No one who says they keep the law actually keeps the law, so going back to doing the law holds no relief from the weight of agony and conflict. Does striving to be even more obedient and being a “better rule-keeper” help us to change? Nooo. In our society today, our government is imposing more and more rules, but the general public is getting more and more unruly and less law-abiding. More rules and laws only increase the load, not lighten the load.

i’ve met so, so many people who go to counseling and take mind-bending pharmaceuticals trying to overcome mental and emotional burdens, only years later, when they try to get free of the drugs and counseling, not only has nothing changed, but in fact, they’ve gone backward from where they were. True, for some it helps, but by far and large, i believe for many, the problem is far more spiritual… additionally, there is a cognitive dissonance going on that is not being addressed. We must change and let God change us. The church, as it is today, cannot keep going the way it is and expect to change the world. Through passion, we ardently claim we are world changers, but change starts with us, in our head and heart, in our own house with our own families.

1 Thessalonians 2:2, “But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.”

The word, “conflict” is the Greek word “agon”, where we get our word for “agony”. The Lord calls us to release our earth-bound agonies to Him, and let Him carry those things, let Him resolve the conflicts.

i believe our greatest contentions are within ourselves… i am the biggest rock in the bottom of my own boat. When anger seems about to devour you, when you are caught in the downpour and deluge of grief, when guilt and blame accuse us day and night, we can say to the Lord who lives, “this is too heavy a burden; please carry it for me.” Remember friends, you have the right to call on the name of Jesus. By His blood He made it possible to approach the throne of grace and make your petition known, being persistent in faith that He hears you and will answer… our request for help is not made to an imaginary friend but to the living Jesus. Ask the Lord for help, the simple word “help” is probably the most powerful prayer to God in the universe.

William D. Strayhorn tells a story about a little boy who was helping his father with some yard work. The man asked the boy to clear some rocks from one part of the yard, and the boy eagerly began the task. Soon he came upon a large rock half buried in the ground that was too heavy to move. The boy heaved and tugged with all of his strength, but was unable to budge the rock. “I can’t do it,” he confessed to his father. The man asked the boy, “Did you use all of your strength?” The boy, visibly spent with perspiration running down his face, looked hurt and replied, “yes I did; I used every bit of strength I have.” The man smiled and said, “No you didn’t; you didn’t ask me to help.” Then the two of them walked over and together pulled the rock out of the dirt.

When change needs to happen and we are stuck in the four agonies somewhere, the first thing we do is call on the name of the Lord for help, and we call…and call…and call…..as often as necessary until things change. Trust Him at His word, He will answer. We can not stay the same and expect things to change.

The Hebrew word for conflict literally means to toss, grapple, to fight, and dispute… meaning there is a conscious argument going on and we’re just letting it ride without resolution… within our own heart we may be settled, but in our head, there is an agony which prevents us from really getting a leg up on change. The Hebrew letters in the word “conflict” reveal “in a man’s head, there is a wrestling effort going on, and it affects the whole house.” , including everyone in the sphere of our influence. The enemy of our soul inspires and propagates grief, blame, guilt, and anger… that means that our conflicts are not simply things we have invented… many of us just buy into our internal conflicts, round and round and round… days going by, and yet we are still not seeing much change in ourselves.

Ephesians 3:16-17, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

i have been asking myself, what then, can we do to shed the four agonies from ourselves so that we would more effectively enter into the presence and practice of the Kingdom of God? Honestly, i don’t have anything like “2 simple ways to avoid blame and guilt”, or “four steps to resolving grief”, or how about, “6 easy ways to not be angry anymore”….it’s truly… not that simple. Furthermore, we need to know that all four of the agonies build on shame, and friends…. if we don’t do something about shame, restoration is very, very difficult. All i know is that Jesus is the only one who can resolve our internal conflicts.

i asked a woman who had, for her entire life, been in a difficult relationship with her mother, how she dealt with blame and guilt, having come from a home where blame and guilt was a common mode of operation. She thought a moment, then said, “I don’t.” i asked if she meant she had good boundaries and her mother’s blame/guilt game just rolled off her back? She said “No… i don’t know what to do with it but keep asking the Lord to help me be released from the imposed responsibility my mom tried to put on me.” She said she has learned to slowly sort out what is her responsibility and what is not. It has taken years, but it is the path the Lord took her on to learn how to not take on burdens that were not hers to bear.

We all must deal with conflict and adversity in life, but when our conflicts and adversities impinge themselves upon us with such intensity as to slow our walk in Christ, we must do something with it. And, think about it.

The church must change, therefore, we as individuals in the church must change. Change without transformation is completely unsatisfactory. We must cease carrying our millstones of guilt while wearing the face of being good soldiers; let God give us good boundaries defining what is our responsibility and what is not, that blame would not get its fingers around our throat; i pray that the grace of God would lift the burden of grief, and kindness would be extended to those grieving hearts, helping them find their feet again; and that the fire of anger, born out of intense internal conflict, would stop being part of our every meal and that our children would not be raised in it anymore. Ultimately, the church needs to change that shame would cease to hang on so many like grave clothes, chaining them in darkness, often confining them to chaos. If we don’t do something with shame, it makes the restoration of broken hearts nearly impossible.

God is going in an upward direction and we must follow. Young people who are raised in church are leaving the congregation around the time they get to their early twenties. Don’t believe me, look at the statistics. Oh sure, they believe in god, but the truth is, they don’t have any particular god in mind. In 2014, at least 4 million people got saved across America, but yet church attendance is… down. Don’t believe me, look at the stats again. The stats beg the question then: Where are those plus 4 million people and why is attendance down? There are several reasons, but primarily i believe it’s because the Jesus they met when they got saved, isn’t the same Jesus they found when they went to church. They found people with all the same unresolved internal conflicts as before they were saved, and the church people, just like the world, seemed to be making no big move to do anything about their agony, just putting on a face, going through the moves, but by far and large, not much changed with themselves, so not much changed with the world around them. Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 1 John 5:3 says God’s commands are not burdensome. Let Jesus lighten your load.

i realize all this talk of change is possibly unpleasant, but sometimes we’ve just gotta talk about stuff that’s not glowing and pleasant, you know… everything can’t always be candy canes, moonbeams, and merry-go-rounds… from time to time, we’ve got to go to the barn and shovel some horse apples to make compost with.

The world is changing and we must change also…simply put, we can’t continue to be like we are and still expect the spiritual climate of our world to change when we, the world changers, don’t want to address our internal conflicts and cognitive dissonance. Jesus is the answer, he is always the answer, and there’s never a time He’s not the answer. Allow the Lord to resolve your conflict, and be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might. Let your light shine this week, be strong and courageous, going forward in Jesus’ name, amen!

Luke 10:25-35 is an interesting story of how we view other people and their needs. In the Biblical account there are 8 characters:  Jesus, who tells the story, an expert in the law, a man who made a trip to Jericho, robbers, a Levite, a Priest, a Samaritan, and an inn keeper.

Which one of these are you? Which one does God see you as?

The Biblical story begins when “an expert in the law” (or a lawyer) asks Jesus a question, v25, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus puts the question back to the “expert” by asking how the man, being an expert, reads the law. The “expert” gave a beautiful answer, but his heart was wrong (v29). We can do the right thing for the wrong reasons, and in this case the “expert” was looking to justify himself rather than actually being interested in a righteous answer. So Jesus tells a story with 6 characters in it, and each person had a different view of the needs of others.

The victim: a man who made a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, could be any one of us. The robbers: they saw the man whom they beat and robbed as someone to exploit and forcibly get gain from.  The Levite and the Priest: they saw the beaten and robbed man as someone who looked like trouble. The Samaritan: he saw the beaten and robbed man as someone to have mercy on and care for.  The Inn Keeper: he saw the Samaritan and the victim as someone to serve for a fee. Yes the Inn Keeper helped, but he only helped as long as he was getting paid. No money, no help.

Then there was the “expert in the law” and Jesus. The “expert”, when asked who in the story did the right thing, couldn’t bring himself to say “The Samaritan”. The very core of his initial answer to Jesus in v27, Love, was the very thing he himself so distinctly lacked. The “expert” could quote the law forward and backward, he had learned a great deal, but his learning did him no good without carrying out the most basic principles, love.

Each one of the people in this story had a different view of the needs of others.  Some of us are victims, rightly or wrongly, we are.  There are those of us who claim to be believers but we have such a deep seated prejudice, we hate some people and we can’t see even the simple things. Some of us see others as someone to exploit and get something from, yet others of us see people who have dire needs as people who look like trouble, someone to stay away from, possibly being concerned some of their “bad ju-ju” might get on them, being careful to not touch them but telling them, “I’ll pray for you! Be warm and filled.” Many are willing to serve others in their need, but only if there’s something in it for them. Or maybe we see people in their desperation as someone to care for and have mercy on. And then, some of us, like Jesus, see the needy, compromised multitudes as someone worth dying for.

Who do you see yourself as? An expert, a victim, a robber, a religious person, a Samaritan, or an Inn Keeper? Maybe like Jesus?  How do we relate to the needs of others? A man asked recently, “Why will Christians not do for free, what they will do for money?” We often will help if someone gives us money or a gift. We will be obedient for money to a boss who is abusive, but we despise leaders in the church who treat us well. We’ll sweep the floor for money, but if someone asks us to sweep up at church, suddenly we’ve got an attitude about, “Who do they think they are to tell me anything?!” Wow. Can you see the dilemma?

Let us be honest with ourselves and the Lord, not telling ourselves a fairytale so we look good to ourselves, but to be honest before the Lord. Which one are you?

i really love the tune, Moon River. i’ve been completely taken with it since i was a child and my dad would play the Henry Mancini version on our family’s little turntable stereo. i played it over and over… there’s just something in my heart that bubbles to the surface anytime i hear it.

And so it goes, the sun comes and goes, the moon rises and falls, seasons come and seasons go… days go by…..joy rises and falls, wounds speak and then are healed….. and so it goes. The rain falls today… the flowers and grass of the field rejoice, and tomorrow comes at its own pace on its own terms… ahh well, let’s not bother about getting all pumped up about tomorrow, the truth is we really don’t know what may come ‘round by this time tomorrow. And so it goes…

The deeper your love, the higher it goes; every cloud is like a flag to your faithfulness, and with your depth of love there is an increased capacity to love even more still; consequently, the more people hate, over time, the more nothing else is left to them but to hate. And so it goes, sometimes conflict and struggle can’t be avoided, and in the interim when there is a time of no conflict and no struggle we have time to accept our successes and guilts, to mull over conversations that should have happened and didn’t, as well as the ones which actually did occur… in the “in-between” times we get time to deal with what we think and feel and how to face our own experiences.

Interims are like soft periods or bold semi-colons, it’s not quite a full breath, not quite a full stop, maybe a little longer than a pause, but just something God has framed into life for everyone… whether they take advantage of the “soft periods” in their lives or not, those contemplative interludes are entirely up to each person. The lull and intermission in our lives often play like a symphonic masterpiece that slows to a near crawl, and waits for the rest… and the breath…. giving an extended moment for musicians to refocus before pressing on to express the remainder of its melody.

And so it goes, meaning “that’s just the way it is”, or “that’s just the way things work”… life goes on.

Psalm 55:18, “My life is well and whole, secure in the middle of danger Even while thousands are lined up against me.” In the midst of turmoil and danger, life goes on…. the birds still fly, flutter, and twitter, people still go to work and come back. Ok, so things didn’t work out so well today, make a purposeful pause to consider more than just what didn’t happen but what did happen also, be specific. What does tomorrow look like, and if it’s not pleasant, can you re-imagine it in a good and positive way? How about imagining peace instead of imagining dismal forebodings? How about next week? And you totally know that regardless of all your planning there will be situations occur which couldn’t possibly be planned for and not all in a bad way either. Let us stop being morbidly fascinated with all that didn’t happen, or might not happen.

People change, love can be agonizing sometimes, friends come and go, things go right and things go wrong, but through it all remember, life goes on…..which is another way of saying… and so it goes. Romans 5:3-4, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

A friend of mine came to the United States from another country. The culture shock was overwhelming and, at times, paralyzing. After many months of trying to fit in here, i found him weeping one day. He said, i wish i could just go back to where i started when I understood life, when i understood people, in a place where I knew how to get along. In the moment i had a vision that was in motion, I saw, on a huge scale, people living, moving, working, resting… there were gears and wheels everywhere….. behind clouds, under buildings, some big gears, some small, but it was just a big picture of life happening and it was all in motion. The clouds moved slowly across the sky, and everything moved forward as if on a giant wheel, everything changed at the pace of everything else and there was no going back. Even if we were sitting on a park bench, got up, and walked away only to return a few minutes later, things may look the same, but rest assured nothing is the same… everything has moved. The change may be infinitesimal but i can assure you everything has changed. When life seems to have a down-turned mouth and sad eyes and we so long to go back, there is no going back, for what we have desired to go back to is only the memory of a place, a person, a situation that does not exist anymore as we remember it.

Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” And so it goes.

Idioms are words, phrases, or expressions that cannot be taken literally. It’s a combination of words that has a meaning that is different from the meanings of the individual words themselves. It can have a literal meaning in one situation and a different idiomatic meaning in another situation. It is a phrase that does not always follow the rules of meaning and grammar. In other words, when used in everyday language, they have a meaning other than the basic one you would find in the dictionary… like the phrase, “a chip on your shoulder”, meaning you are holding a grudge, or “sick as a dog” meaning you are very ill. We talk and speak in idioms all the time, like, “once in a blue moon”, “pay the piper”, or “jump the gun”… our Bible is absolutely full of idioms.

“And so it goes” is a little idiom … meaning, life goes on, and on, that’s just how things go … regardless of how bad you feel, or how someone made you angry or hurt your feelings… get up from your sad bed and try again… life goes on and tomorrow is another day. And so it goes. If we want to eat we either raise a garden or go to the grocery store, it’s something we must do if we plan on living. We work in the garden pulling weeds, hoeing the soil, picking bugs off… day after day after day…and so it goes. It isn’t a job nor is the task a laboring grudge… it is a benefit we get to participate with the Lord in, our everyday work-a-day world built largely of things we do over and over, and so it goes. We brush our teeth (hopefully), wash up, comb our hair, get up in the morning, lay down to rest at night, sit in our comfortable chair, breathe in and breathe out, over and over, and so it goes. These may seem like mundane, mindless, thoughtless things, but they are things in the interim, in the interlude between events where the Lord has constructed times of respite for pondering. It doesn’t mean God is done with us, it just means we are in the place of tidying up loose ends, doing maintenance.

You know… when you’re between projects, and, oh, how i know the thinking that says that maybe the Lord is just done with me because nothing is happening… i’m learning to use those times for rest and regrouping. Is it possible, when nothing is going on that it’s not that the Lord is done with us, but more it’s a time of rest, a time to do the everyday things that make life go on, and so it goes, on and on?

Psalm 94:18-19 “The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,” your love, Lord GOD, took hold and held me fast. When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up.”

i used to live in a place that i loved more than any other place i’ve ever lived. It was old, i mean really old, and i loved the history of it all … down to the bone. It had roots back to the late 1700s, there were h-u-g-e trees, long open fields, old fruit trees which bore the sweetest fruit i’ve ever eaten, there were even several old barns and a house other than the main house which was left over from long ago tenant farming days in the 1920s. But then, life changed radically, i don’t live there anymore… And so it goes. My heart has so desired to go back there and be there again. i’ve had dream upon dream, wishes upon wishes that if i could just get back there… well, i can’t. The truth is, i don’t live there anymore, i live here where i am now. This is where i live and this is what the Lord has me doing. 2 Corinthians 6:2, “God reminds us, I heard your call; The day you needed me, I was there to help. Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped.” Or my paraphrase, the date is today, the time is now.

We have to be where we are, present in the here and now, not in the what was, or in the dream world of what will be. There is no going back for all things have changed, and nothing stays the same except the Lord who is ever the same.

Deuteronomy 31:8, “GOD is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.”

         In Job 8 Bildad, one of Job’s supposed buddies, gives his first response. In verses 1 through 13 Bildad speaks of the results of turning against God and forgetting Him altogether. Then in verse 14 he says, “And so it goes to all who forget God. The hopes of the godless evaporate.” When he says, “and so it goes” he means the situation and results of verses 1-13 just go on and on and on for those who forget God.

Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and hope.”

“Even so” is another little idiom, which means… with the exception that, or despite anything to the contrary, and nevertheless.  It is an idiom that also has an “on and on and on” motion similar to “And so it goes”. Like in John 3:14, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,” meaning despite anything to the contrary you may have heard, nevertheless, Jesus must be lifted up. John 5:21, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so, the Son gives life to whom He will,” meaning regardless of anything else or to the contrary, regardless of what you believe or have been taught, the Son, Jesus, gives life to whom He will.

The Lord doesn’t dribble words pointlessly across the pages of the Bible. Every single word in the Bible has a point and a job, so if we’re going to understand the Father’s heart and fully know who He is, we’re going to have to take even the most minuscule words seriously, making an effort to see Jesus in them, even so, if we’re interested enough to chase the wisdom of the Lord, He will make sure we catch it in due season, then comes life, moving in like an early morning fog, even so, it comes…..and so it goes….every day.

Romans 5:19 “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so, through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”

“Even so” is there is an idiom representing the idea that, although what was previously said may be true, what is to follow is above all… the end all of what is true. As it is re-read with the definition of “even so” replacing the words “even so”, we would read it as, “… through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, regardless of that fact, above and beyond the truth of that statement, due to the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous, which supersedes what previously was true.” The words “even so” place the focus on of what is the “nevertheless” truth.

Another place among many examples is in 2 Kings 3, where Jehoram (yea-hô-rhām’) in verse 2 put away the sacred pillar of Baal that his father made, but then in verse 3, it starts with an “even so” or “nevertheless”…..meaning regardless of his action of tearing down the pillar of Baal which was a good thing, his sins stuck to him, they were hard after him staying close at hand. It didn’t matter concerning any good he did while he was king of Israel, he wore his sins like jewels to be proud of.

Even so, we go on… and so it goes… on and on.

Proverbs 19:21 21 “There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the LORD’S counsel–that will stand.” Regardless of all the well-laid plans we may have in our minds or hearts, the Lord’s counsel will stand forever, and so it goes, on and on.

He is our purpose, He is our being. In Christ, there is a divine purpose for which we were born. When crisis strikes in our lives, regardless of the reality of the crisis, above the crises is the greater reality, Jesus, the Lord, even so, or nevertheless, He covers us and shelters us, providing us comfort to withstand it all by His grace. In our every moment of joy or hardship, He is there.

Be certain that the glory of God will be revealed in our lives when stressful events occur. Do you ever wonder how you will face difficulties that come your way? Problems with finances, family, relationships, health, work, and your livelihood, real or imagined may cover you like a blanket, and our character and foundation of faith are tested, it seems that life just wants to pull the rug out from under us (“pull the rug out from under us” is another idiom). When our entire world is shaken, our ability to recover is impossible unless we rely on the Lord for strength. And so it goes, when we know we don’t have to face it alone, it makes all the difference. Knowing that He is there helps us survive another day. Every day is a new day, a new opportunity, a new day of possibilities, and even in the midst of it there are still the little things we do that may seem mundane, but they are part of life. Even so, Jesus is there to help us survive another day, and every day thereafter.

Nevertheless, or, regardless of all your trouble, God is always there, always faithful, and always right. Remember to “fasten your seatbelts” (another idiom), because life is going to get bumpy, full of turbulence, and possibly internally and externally. We have to, so to speak, strap ourselves into His word (another idiom) and trust in His faithfulness. No matter your situation, even so, God will perform miracles in your life. So, when tragedy knocks at your door, stay focused, and place your faith in God. When we trust in Him, all is well and will be well, day after day, and so it goes.

Psalm 28:7, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Even so, my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song, I will praise Him.”

And so it goes, life goes on my friend, the days come and go, situations arise and pass, but the Lord is still there, never leaving you or forsaking you, every day without fail… and so it goes until you’re home with Jesus. Selah.

Friends, we’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home…the Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little Heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.

Many believers live in the midst of some pretty terrible circumstances even so, they do so with a cheerful heart…don’t walk around drooping your heads or dragging your feet…don’t let the world get you down, instead let what’s in your heart rise. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are all it takes to stop you? Take note of the little pauses God gives you every day. Use them to re-orient and rest. Don’t get in a hurry, tomorrow will come, and so it goes. When the time comes, we’ll exchange this world for homecoming. Regardless, and nevertheless, neither this life nor homecoming is the main thing. Gladly loving the Lord because He first loved us is our main purpose, knowing His heart regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions.

Tomorrow is another day, gone is the sun, take the time to notice the little interims and pauses the Lord has built into your life… His kindness extends to us beyond your imagination, beyond the vanishing point, even so, let us walk in His goodness, never giving up, day after day, week after week, breath after breath, on and on… and so it goes. Amen!

          Contrary to popular belief, we all really do need a mediator. We have a conflict within us between life and death and there needs to be a judge and peacemaker to help resolve our conflicted thinking and crisis of conscience.        

         Hebrews 9:13-15, “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason, He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

         How will God reward us in Heaven when we have led a life of constant self-condemnation? i think that for many of us, we’ve bought into the lie that we are alone and nobody cares, making it easy to aim our own condemning finger at ourselves. Either way, it’s still all about ourselves… the consummate victim and martyr. Being a victim is as much about domination as being a controller.

         It is not true that we are alone, nor is it true that no one cares. Maybe that works for many of us because we’ve got this idea that if we were God, we wouldn’t have anything to do with us either… but in light of that, i’m very pleased that i am not God, and He is exactly who He says He is.

         Are we just old sinners, doing sinner things with sinner people, thinking sinner thoughts, going sinner places for sinner reasons?

         What is it we know about ourselves that if God found out, we are sure He wouldn’t like us anymore? Do we think God is somehow blind to the entirety of our lives, and we must continuously hide?

         If the sacrifice of bulls and goats was only good to cover sin for a year, how much more is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ sufficient to cover your sins? i believe there are two kinds of secrets, the ones we hide from others, and the ones we hide from ourselves. Without foundational honesty, our hearts shift from vision… a singleness of eye, to di-vision, a multiplicity of vision. To buy into the lie from hell that we are nothing and a zero… and always will be because we are just old sinners… is a lie that divides… our heart, making the condemning vision of ourselves our truth, never taking into account how God sees us. How the Lord sees us is, by far, the correct perspective.

         i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the deck area of a rural cafe overlooking the Ockluhwahhah River.

         Who are you anyway? We all know who we say we are, but in our heart of hearts, do we see Jesus staring back at us in the mirror, or do we see the eyes of Judas the traitor, imagining reproach in our own faces with tears of condemnation leaking from the corners of our eyes? Who does God say you are? Do you really believe it?

         Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Friends, take it from someone with some hard-won wisdom, it is right nigh impossible to rejoice and be glad in the day which the Lord has made when all your thinking is busy being just an old, no-count sinner.

         Matt19:19 says to love your neighbor as you love yourself, not loathe your neighbor as you loathe yourself.

         Objective honesty is the truth according to God; Subjective honesty is the truth according to me. When our subjective truth is so negative, looming and large, as it apparently is in many, it diminishes the objective truth, so much so that it can be difficult to grasp what God says about us. i figure we can either be mind changers or simply be the ones with changing minds. Who are you anyway? And even more important… to whom do you belong… or who’s your daddy?

         i was raised in the southeastern United States… the Bible Belt. After i met the Lord in 1973, for more years than i can count, i was constantly, constantly, constantly told who i was not, what i did not, all that i could not, and everything i would not…i can’t remember but a scant handful of times in the first 30 years of my walk with the Lord that i ever heard anyone tell me how the Lord sees me, other than to say, “He loves you”, then quickly adding not to get too proud about it, lest you prove Prov16:18 true… you know… that part about pride going before a fall… then adding “And brother you’re pretty close so you better watch out!” My world was filled with watch out, be careful, and don’t.

         How long can we live in the subjective truth, the truth according to ourselves, while striving to rise above the constant pointing out that we are sinners? There is an incredible conflict in us which says i’m just an old sinner man and can never rise above my wrongness of character, and the other which is the perspective of God Himself who says we are beautiful and loveable. Maybe, when God says we are made righteous by the blood of Jesus, it’s just too good for most of us to bare… . because i feel badly about myself doesn’t change the fact that Jesus, by His blood on Calvary’s Hill, made those who believe on His name righteous. Just because it seems too good for me to bear, doesn’t make it not true. Romans 8:1, “Therefore, now, there is not even one bit of condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit, that of the life in Christ Jesus, freed you once for all from the law of the sinful nature and of death.” There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

         Yes, we all fall short of the glory of God, great day, haven’t we constantly, day and night, been reminded of just how “no good” we are? What do we do then with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Is it enough? If we’re going to be under the law, of which no man is justified, made free or whole, then all we’ve got left is condemnation. If Jesus satisfied all the law, i must ask the question, Who’s side are you on? If we have tasted the grace of God and gone back to doing the law, the endurance and surrender of Christ is made of no effect and there is no other sacrifice to be made. We are free, by the blood of Jesus and no going back to Egypt allowed, if you catch my drift. We are either in the law camp of condemnation or the grace camp of Jesus.

         Did God speak to you…by His spoken word, through the church, or by His written word? Either way, i believe He certainly has spoken to you, one way or another… therefore, three questions really need to be answered. 1. You need to know, did God, indeed, speak to you? 2. What EXACTLY did He say? And 3. What are you going to do about it?

         i’d like to unfold those three important questions a little bit. There are people who don’t believe God speaks to anyone anymore, which if you take scripture seriously, that is silly. i figure He has a mouth, we have ears, why wouldn’t He speak to His kids? Maybe it’s more that many people think it’s too scary, or maybe they believe they are too low, insignificant, or sinful for God to speak to them… i find it peculiar that it’s not them who can’t hear, but God who doesn’t speak.

         So let’s suppose the Lord DOES speak to us… c’mon, play along… suppose He did. In that case, we’d have to follow His path of possibilities. If all things are possible with our God, as it says in Mark 10:27, then isn’t it possible He has spoken to you? AND… if He was speaking, it seems to logically follow, you’d probably want to better understand exactly what He was saying… right?… because you don’t want to misunderstand, add anything to His words or leave anything out. If He said to clean up your room, you wouldn’t want to turn it into cleaning everyone’s room all the way down the street, when He only asked you to clean up your own room. From there, we must pursue the Lord to know how to take action. He doesn’t talk to us just to hear Himself speak…it is for our benefit. It may take time to understand what to do, so be patient. One time, it took 9 years to conclude what was initially spoken to me by the Lord in a dream… as another example, it was a long time before Abraham and Sara saw the word of the Lord come to pass concerning Isaac.

         i believe a large part of the body of Christ is in the middle of an identity crisis. Our Savior is speaking to us, and one of the primary subjects He is speaking to us about is “Who are you anyway?” We’ve established that the Lord is indeed speaking to us… If you don’t believe it, read your Bible…God’s voice is loud and clear. What else does the Lord say about each of us other than our selective reading which only points out our short fallings?

         Years ago i saw a woman with a Bible in which she had taken a Sharpie Pen and blacked out all the scriptures she didn’t like… she had literally created a redacted Bible. i asked her why she had done that and she replied that some were too good to be true, and others were too cruel to be true and she just wanted to read the moderate parts because she was a very moderate person. Similarly, we can’t read a redacted Bible, only picking out the scriptures that point to our badness, and all our sins… we must read the rest of what God says about us… and those scriptures that seem too good to be true, if we are going to walk in sound doctrine, we must DO something with those verses and no longer continue to ignore them. The Lord HAS spoken to us, we have a record, and at the very least it’s good enough to understand what He’s saying, so now… what will we do with the entire counsel of God? Ummm… tough question there, huh?

         When we are constantly bombarded by information concerning what sinners we are, we can only hear just so many calamitous stories before they set a bias in our minds.  

         Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

         The word “workmanship” is originally a Greek word, “poiema”… it is where we get our English word for “poem”. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God’s poetry, and if we are His poetry, it just doesn’t seem right for us to call bad what God has called good. If we, who belong to Christ are His poem, His righteous rhyme, and joy, who do we think we are to re-decide what God has declared?

         You, yes you are God’s poetry. He knows all your secrets, all the things you may not want anyone to ever know, yet He still loves you and would still like very much to have a never-ending conversation with you. Yes, i realize that if you were God, you maybe wouldn’t want to talk to someone like yourself, but you aren’t God, He is, and He has chosen to talk to you, that is if you have time. If you don’t have time now, believe me, eventually, you will have time and the Lord will be ready.

         For years, i was under the impression that the Lord was just barely able to contain Himself toward my smaller sins, though numerous and proliferate, but He wasn’t so quick to forgive concerning the larger ones. The implication was that if i didn’t get my act together, God would leave me for reprobate in the desert, so to speak, and there wouldn’t quite be enough of the Savior’s blood which could wash me clean from sin. That is NOT what the Lord says. We must do something with Psalm 103:11-12, “For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, He has removed our transgressions far from us.” It doesn’t say, as far as east is from west until it suits Him to go get them back to use as leverage against us, neither can we go fishing for them to bring them back to make ourselves pay over and over, being filled with regret. That is the way the devil thinks, NOT the way God thinks. Your sins have been thrown into the sea of forgetfulness…but just to be clear though… the phrase sea of forgetfulness is not actually in Scripture. When people mention the “sea of forgetfulness,” they are usually referring to several passages that talk about God’s forgiveness, and how when we are justified in Christ, God forgets our sins so completely that they might as well be buried at the bottom of an ocean. 

          The main passage that contains the idea of a sea of forgetfulness is Micah 7:19, “He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

         Isaiah 1:18, says, “God will make our scarlet sins as white as wool.” A sea of forgetfulness represents a place where our sins are sent so very far away from us, that they can no longer affect us.

         In light of that, the Lord sees you as a son, daughter, beloved, and friend. We’ve got to get the vision… out of our heads that the Lord is some tooth-gritting, raging galactic hurricane that can’t wait to burn desperate sinners, those monsters of iniquity to the ground. THAT is NOT God’s heart. Sure, He is holy and righteous, unwavering in excellence above all the earth, but the problem isn’t the way He sees us, it’s in how we see ourselves. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” A man recently said that Jesus used death to defeat death and became sin for us. He got what He did not deserve, death on a cross, that we would get what we do not deserve, righteousness. If God says, by His son we are righteous, just because we are uncomfortable with that, doesn’t make it any less true.

         C’mon church, let’s get a hold of this and see ourselves as the Lord sees us. 2 Cor 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” What part of all doesn’t mean all? All means all, not mostly, pretty much, or for the most part, and God is not kidding around. If we’re going to be balanced believers, walking in sound doctrine, then we must take ALL scripture into account, and if we’re going to do that, then we can’t continue to see ourselves as just an old sinner, barely scraping by into Heaven with the faint aroma of sulfur and brimstone on us because we so narrowly missed hell. Hebrews 7:25, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” To barely get into Heaven means all powerful God very nearly couldn’t save us. Is there any part of you that His blood does not cover? If not, that is to say, the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, was insufficient. He could save others, but couldn’t quite save you. Really? C’mon, really?

         That’s absurd. What is it your eyes see that you think God’s eyes do not? Maybe you feel you’ve somehow walked far from the Lord and the world has inserted itself into your thinking… nevertheless, the Lord has not stopped calling after you,

“Come home!” Maybe you’re afraid God will be mad at you. In Is54:9, the Lord says He will no longer be angry with us. i can assure you, having wandered away myself, the true heart of God says, “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance”, Luke 15:7.

         Maybe you feel surely you are lost for good, but i can guarantee you, God knows exactly where you are, and you have not escaped His attention… you’re not just some old no-count sinner… don’t call foul what God has declared sanctified… the Father knows His children and calls them by name…and He calls you by name. The Lord is confident in His ability to love you back from the edge of destruction and has made a way for you to find your way home and be welcomed with open arms.

         i read somewhere that your worth and value are not determined by the popular clique group that rejects you! Ultimately, not what YOU think, but what does God think of you… THAT’S where the buck stops… with God. If we’re going to be in a club, all we have to do is believe we are all right and everyone else is wrong. But to be a Christian, we have to believe we are all wrong, and there is only One who is right. If He says you are more than a conqueror, then take Him at His word and believe it. What…have you got… to lose? To say anything is “just” this or “just” that… is a subtle way of belittling, as a result, in the mind of many believers, not only are they sinners, but out of their mouths comes a further belittling of themselves by being “just old sinners”. Start speaking life to yourself in the mirror every day.

         Acts 10:15 has a powerful statement we should apply to ourselves… “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” The word “common”, in this case, means profane. From God’s perspective, if we are His poetry, His beloved, who are we to re-decide His decision, calling ourselves profane? He says we are lovely, we say we are just ugly sinners. God says we are beloved, we say we are just sinners, barely liked, much less loved. God says we are righteous in Christ, we say we are sinners and don’t deserve anything good.

         You can snuff out all the flaming missiles from hell with your shield of faith, and you, yes you are a child of God, born of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God which lives and abides forever. Amen. And that’s just a start.

         Because for so many years i went through an identity crisis, over the years i’ve compiled a list of who God says i am. i hope you’ll adopt these for yourself as i have.

         You, yes you can do all things through Jesus Christ, you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. Did you know you are alive in Christ, free from the law of sin and death? You totally are! You are far from oppression and fear is not part of your makeup. 1 John 5:18 says you are born of God and evil does not touch you… You are made of Holy Ghost teflon and the curses of darkness do not stick to you. Prov 26:2 is the truth, a curse does not stick without a cause, and Jesus has made it so there is no cause for curses to cling to you. Eph1:4 says you are holy and without blame before the Lord in love. We can not curse what God has blessed, just ask Balaam… read his story in Numbers 22. If Balaam couldn’t curse what God had blessed, then we need a different story in our mouths about ourselves than being “just a sinner”.

         You have the mind of Christ, and the peace of God in you passes all understanding… God said so, therefore it is true. 1 John 4:4 says you have the Greater One living in you… confess every day to yourself, if necessary, that greater is He Who is in me than he who is in the world. Tell yourself that as often as necessary until you get it down…in… your… head!

         You really really do have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and, yes, actually actually, the eyes of your understanding have been opened.

         You are a new creation in Christ, new, all new, never been another you like you are now. You are alive in Christ, fully alive, not just barely getting by, and the light of the gospel shines in your mind and heart. You are blessed in your actions and are a doer of the Word of God. Not only are you more than a conqueror, but according to 2 Cor 5:21, you ARE the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. You are either righteous or you’re not… if you’re only mostly righteous then you’re not righteous… according to the Lord, if you believe in Jesus Christ, God calls you righteous… that may seem too good to be true, but it is true because the Lord said so.

         Who are you anyway? Just an old sinner, sludging along like some desperate bunker dweller, or are you who God says you are, an overcomer by the Blood of the Lamb, and an ambassador for Christ? 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellency’s of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

         You are beautiful in the eyes of your Heavenly Father, beautiful and beloved as Jesus is beautiful and beloved. You are blood brother to the Son of God, not some no-count sinner. Lift up your chin church, stand up straight and put one foot in front of another, any day can be your new day to begin walking in your calling.

         Drive carefully this week, think about what you spend your time thinking about. Be consistent and repeatable, we are almost home. Amen, and amen!