Gender Roles

I love it when I need something and it is given to me before I need it.  Such it was with the David Platt quote I used in yesterday's blog. 

I was in a conversation that led to gender roles within the church.  Now, the congregations I've attended have had pretty strict rules on what men or women could or couldn't do but also had cases where there was total bewilderment on who the role belonged to or what it should look like.  Good stuff, right?  Oh, how I imagine Satan gets all giddy when we can be pulled off the effort of seeking and saving the lost by debating with other believers.  So, I asked the question similar to what Platt asked.  What happens when you ask God to help you understand your role and he answers you?  Will you accept the answer?

I'm guilty of asking God for guidance and when I don't like the guidance I just ignore it.  God's OK with that because he can see a million moves ahead of me and he's prepared for the choices I make...but that doesn't mean I should ignore God when he speaks.  I wonder if much of our battles about gender roles and the like are more about what God says (or purposefully doesn't say) and our desire being in conflict instead of accepting what he has said (or purposefully left unsaid) and doing his will whatever the cost.  I wonder...

Grace and peace to you.

The Force of Will

I was at the Rangers game Monday night with my son and loving every minute of it.  That is, loving being with him, not the whole Rangers game.  The early innings had me running through various emotions with varying levels of intensity and I'm ususally a laid-back fan.  I walked around the concourse for two and a half innings watching it on the TV's periodically.  That may have had as much to do with the 60+ year old man and his twenty-something stripper-looking girlfriend in front of us as anything but I'll still attribute it to the bad pitching and errors.  All that to say, I think the Rangers won by force of will with some Cardinals managing and performance mistakes thrown in along the way. 

That brings me to this, a David Platt tweet on Tuesday.  The most popular question: How do I know God’s will? A more pressing question: Will I obey God’s will?  What a great comment.  I have known the big picture will of God most of my life and simply failed to obey it.  Not so much failed and chose, really.  I am one of those people who want to know the will of God...as long as it works within my parameters of what I want to do.  "God, let me help someone today."  "Uhh, God, is there anyone who looks and dresses more like me I can help?  I don't know how to talk to those people and they are dirty and stink."  "God, do something powerful in my life today."  "Uhhh, God, I didn't mean anything that could make my life/income/retirement/free time/beliefs more difficult." 

Will I obey God's will?  Regardless of the cost?

Grace and peace to you.

Heart of Flesh?

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned my earlier life's fascination with politics, even a brief consideration of playing along, and my current complete and utter disdain for our political system and state of our government.  Saturday night while trying to occupy my time to keep from watching the Rangers get slaughtered, I ran across this Rick Perry post referring to Herman Cain and Mitt Romney.  

“When it comes to faith, it is the core of who I am. It is an essential act as much as breathing is an essential act,” Perry said. “I found the true source of hope and change, and that is a loving God who changes hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.”

Now, in the letter to the Romans "flesh" is referred to as our sinful nature a couple of times (Romans 7 & 8).  So is Perry saying God changes hearts of stone to hearts of sin?  Well, I'm sure it isn't what he meant but it's one reason I get queasy so often when politicians start referring to faith.  The fact that Perry holds high his stance on capital punishment makes me question what kind of God wants us killing other people to remain faithful.  I'm of the opinion that most politicians have a high level of faith as long as it works for their political future.  If that makes me judgmental, I hope the Lord will forgive me.  

I'm not a fan of government legislating faith.  I really believe that if we emphasize reading the Bible, prayer and doing the will of God, we won't need government to "legalize" prayer in schools, tell us abortion is wrong or what marriage looks like.  I think the most dangerous thing a Christ-follower can do is turn over the will of God to government.

I'm no fan of Rick Perry and I think he would be the last Republican I would vote for if it came down to that decision.  In the meantime, I hope his heart will continue to be turned into a heart of love, mercy and grace.  I hope that for myself all the more.

Grace and peace to you.

Mo' Money

Last week I wrote about the amazing power of God to work in people's hearts as it related to our Missions Sunday contribution.  Yesterday I learned that more money had come in and the total contribution is over $165,000.  Phenomenal.

What would I do if I won the lotto?  (Maybe the question should be what would I do if I bought a ticket and then won the lotto...so I might go buy one when I finish this post).  What a great question and one that I agree with what many others have said that the answers would reveal much about my heart. 

By the way, I do have answers but I won't reveal them here.  I still have some heart work to do.

Grace and peace to you.

All My Blogging Friends Have Settled Down

I had to borrow a Hank Williams Jr. song for that title.  It's weird when the blogs I read are people I don't know well.  I ran across this blog from Dan Bouchelle and stole an excerpt that hit home with me.

In my heritage, we have been so cautious to speak about God’s direction in our lives that some, hungry for a more active God, have over-reacted with a God who constantly tells us what to do. Oddly enough, God’s voice ends up sounding a lot like our own inner desires much of the time. I am not seeking to encourage a more human centered life. To the contrary, I am seeking to develop people who submit fully to God’s will and take full responsibility for their role in God’s economy. If God told us everything to do like a micro-managing parent, we would not grow up any more than an over-indulged child with a hovering parent.   - Dan Bouchelle's Blog

I believe I hear God speak to me in various ways (not necessarily the booming voice coming from the mountain top) but it's only in issues that I believe serve his desires and purposes.  I know some people who thank God because the Rangers won or they found the up-close parking spot and I really find it hard to believe God cares much about those things.  On the other hand, when people pray in earnest for God to move in people's hearts on an upcoming special contribution, I can't help but believe God spoke to some folks, some how, some way. 

I think God wants me to hear his voice and he wants me to hear him talk about things that make a difference in his kingdom, not my little world.  When the two intersect, I want to give the glory to God and know I am walking his path. 

Grace and peace to you.

How Can I Keep From Singing

This has become one of my new favorites...

Grace and peace to you.

My Thoughts Are My Thoughts

Profund stuff, huh?  I found myself in a conversation the other night about why there are so many churches believing so many different things and as I gave answers to some of the questions I wondered how many of my answers are driven by my own thoughts of what God intends for us to know today as opposed to simply what God wants us to know today. 

I have grown up listening to and believing the things my preacher and my teachers told me the Bible said and spent far too little time knowing what God's Word said.  I've read some of the famous authors and the not so famous, studied commentaries and searched out what other people had to say but haven't spent near enough time reading and be quiet to hear what God wants me to know. 

My thoughts are not God's thoughts, at least not all of them, but I hope the coming days will find me spending more time reading from God's words and listening for what he wants to lay on my heart instead of being content hearing what the preacher has to say and leaving it at that.  While I think the man delivering the messages at my church does a great job, I know he would agree that only God himself can speak to me in the way only God can.  I simply need to listen.

Grace and peace to you.

#powerofGod

The Well

How long can I go without water?

Rich Little, in his sermon last Sunday, referenced a ranch in Australia that was so big it wasn't realistic to put up fences.  While some would worry their cattle would wander off, the rancher realized that the cattle wouldn't go far from a well that provided them water and that's how he keeps them home.

Rich went on to make an analogy that our churches should be the same.  We don't need things that divide us (fences) in our churches, we need water - the Living Water - the water that anyone can drink and not go thirsty.  If our churches are fountains of this well, we won't need to fear people wandering off because it's something essential they need.

Our disputes over music, communion, men, women, meeting times, meeting places...you can keep filling in the blanks...are not essential to knowing the love of God and being drawn to him.  The living water, the fountain of life, the truth and the way, that is what is essential and that is what can bring us to the same place.

Grace and peace to you.

Grief and Idols

I appreciate my friend Rick Ross so much.  One of the things I appreciate is his sharing of what he has learned through a extremely painful event in his life.  He's been speaking in class about some of the things he learned and he made a comment yesterday that has stuck with me.  I wish I could remember it exactly but I will give my rendition.  We must be careful we don't let what we grieve become an idol in our life.

I'd never thought about something I lose becoming an idol but it's true.  I have likely come close at times to letting something I grieve become an idol, become something that I hold more dear than anything else, something I could almost worship by giving more attention and focus to what I lost than what God wants to give me.  

What if you lost all your money?  

What if you lost your health?

What if you lost your spouse?

What if you lost your child?

Would the loss of any of those things consume you?  For some people a loss can do just that - consume them.  What a dangerous situation that can sneak up on me if I'm not aware, not prepared for how a loss can transform my life.  

I appreciated the reminder of how to keep life in perspective and keep God in focus for my life.  

Grace and peace to you.

Following God...A Borrowed Post

I found this yesterday while catching up on a few blogs I read.  I was thinking about the power of God and as I read this, I was reminded that for me to experience the power of God, I have to let God work in me and let go of the things I want hang on to or control in my life.

Vicious Cycle

Grace and peace to you.

#powerofGod

It's a hashtag I used on some of my tweets on Sunday because the power of God and how he uses people began to overwhelm me.  

My friend Rick said some powerful things about grief in class today.  More on that another day.

My church family gave over $161,000 for our special mission offering.  More on that in a few lines.

Rich Little, a visiting preacher, spoke some powerful words about the power of God to use people.  More on that another day too.

Here's the power of God story for today.  I may have shared some of this before - too tired to go back and look right now.  Anyhoo...

Several months ago a teenage boy asked me how we came up with our budget for Missions Sunday.  Normally it's around $25-30,000 because that's what we have "felt" like we could muster and be "successful".  (Notice the words in parenthesis?  Those are human concepts.)  The teenager asked me why we didn't set it at $100,000 and see what happened.  I didn't say much at the time but the question wouldn't leave my mind.  He later told me he had heard the question from another adult in a youth class but the question didn't leave him either.  The question and the amount stayed with me until the Sunday when we were setting our missions contribution goal and I told our committee the story and the question.  Guess what?  We set our goal at $100,000.  We have prayed and we have answered questions and we have responded that we couldn't reach that amount with anything we could reason, it would be a God-thing.  

On a weekend where we had seen the first good rain in a long, long time, water wasn't the only thing that poured down from the heavens.  The Spirit of God was at work and our congregation gave $161,000 - over 3 times what we've ever given on Missions Sunday and well over 10 times our normal weekly contribution.  

I told the teenager and I told members of our youth group that they will never know the power they have to affect generations with the Gospel of Christ.  The boy hearing the question and asking the question turned a thought into real dollars and lots of them that will be used to take the Good News around the world and to possibly affect members of families for time eternal.  A simple question.

God takes a simple question asked with good intentions and turns it into something no one was prepared for.  I stood in a room of men, many with tears in their eyes, as they looked at the numbers on the adding machine because God uses us when we might not expect, might not even know it.  It sure makes me want to be open and ready for whatever God has in store because it's something greater than I'll come up with on my own.

#powerofGod

Grace and peace to you.

More On Jobs

Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford is everywhere.  He said some really good things, some really motivating things and something that made me stop in my reading tracks and go back to what it said.  I suggest reading the whole speech but read the following excerpt with me.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.


Did you catch the first two sentences?  No one wants to die.  Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.  WOW!  The sad part to me is that I think he is right on based on many conversations I've had.  I have heard several sermons and many class discussions and plenty of conversations about how wonderful heaven will be but so many people don't want to go.  What will happen to this?  Who will take care of that?  What about the kids?  These conversations go on like we have all the control over all these factors and we have the best plan and it sure makes it seem that when some talk about the almighty power of God they must not believe it.

Jobs missed the mark on me.  I want to go to heaven and I'm ready to go NOW.  I trust that God will take care of my kids in ways I never will.  I trust that God will make a path for things to work how he, the creator and author of life, knows is best.  That path might be that I don't get to go to heaven anytime soon, that he has plans for me here in this dark place.  So be it.  I simply ask that he open my eyes, my mind and my heart to what he has in store for me.  If that's to claim my reward, let's get rolling.  If it's to stay here and be the hands and feet of Jesus for another day, I will trust him.

Grace and peace to you.

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs passed away earlier today.  He's one of those people I wish I knew.  He saw things differently than most people.  He was willing to follow his heart and take risks.  He changed lives in many ways, lives of people he never knew and his innovations will likely touch generations.  I was a Mac-hater for many years because I didn't understand them.  Once I got a taste, I became a Mac devotee and it's all I want to use these days.  

I hope when I'm gone someone can say similar things about me except that it will be in the context of people's souls instead of things of this world.  I respect Jobs' for what he did for the computing world and it seemed something he poured passion into at all times.  I hope I can do the same in this world but even more so in things that are not of this world.  I hope God will use me to change lives, to affect generations and to make people's lives, both here and in eternity, better.

I have no idea of what Jobs' relationship with God was but I hope he is strolling heaven and enjoying what life "on the cloud" is really like.

Grace and peace to you.

The Most Risky Profession | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

The Most Risky Profession | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Interesting article.

It's never far from my mind how I spent years filling a church pew, doing the "right" things and never really knowing God. I can't help but wonder how many people in church services are there because it's the "right" thing to do or participate in activities because it's the "right" thing to do. I'm not judging them, only reflecting on the question of whether anyone else is in the same position I was, playing the part instead of being the disciple. I don't want to step foot in a church or take part in an activity related to a congregation because it's the "right" thing to do. I have and will continue to pass on being busy in favor of knowing I am seeking God's will. Some may think my distinction is a matter of semantics but I know, for me, it's a matter of following my heart for God. I hope my pride or my "right"eousness ever gets in the way of my pure and unadulterated service to my Lord. I have so far to go to be the child I want to be but it simply starts with another step forward each day. If I'm willing, he will make the lead me on the path.

Grace and peace to you.

Gifts

It's been a weekend of reminders and something I needed to be reminded of.  I have been given many gifts and sometimes the gift is taken away.  It's in those moments I make a choice - will I resent losing the gift or will I be thankful for the time I had? 

Anger, resentment, despair, hopelessness, loneliness...all emotions that are normal and reasonable to a point but there is another point when these emotions become weapons of destruction.

Last night I had to make a choice.  Do I hang on to resentment for a gift that I was having to give up for a time or do I want to given thanks and rejoice for the hours I was able to spend with these gifts?  It is so easy for me to wallow in the pain and hurt but I don't want to live that way. 

Some gifts are mine forever and some are mine for just a season.  Will I let the loss of a gift cause me to simply focus on what I've lost and forget about the eternal gifts I have? 

Nothing in this world is forever.  It's a temporary place and I need to be reminded to treat it that way. 

In doing so, I can rejoice for the time I've had and know that a better day is still ahead.

Grace and peace to you.