Grace for Living & Grace for Being

There are days that I'm intentionally working out who I am (my identity), and then there are days where I simply rest in the knowledge of it.
His grace is sufficient for both.

During the "shaping" years of my faith, I was surrounded with people who did a lot. They went to a lot of meetings, performed a lot of service, listened to a lot of sermons, and the list goes on and on. They were busy growing in their faith, busy trying to display their faith to the world, and busy trying to prove their love for God. Unfortunately, what I gathered from all of the busyness was insecurity. The thought was always being presented that we were not doing enough. I wasn't doing enough. And, in essence, I wasn't enough.

This is very different from the life of grace. It's quite the opposite of living loved. Rather than finding a place of comfort in my faith, it seemed as though the faith was pushing me to do more. To be more. All of the appeals to come to Christ told me that He loved me for who I was. After accepting Jesus, it seemed like I was presented with a whole other scenario. I'm not saying that this mentality is what people meant for me to live in, I'm just stating the facts about how I felt. It also left me with the question: "If I was enough to be able to come to faith in Him, why am I not enough to walk with Him?"

Think about the favorite hymn of the Billy Graham Crusades. Maybe it was the invitational hymn at your church.
"Just as I am without one plea
But that thy blood was shed for me
And that thou bidst me to come
To thee, O Lamb of God, I come
I come..."
Did this hymn not convey to us the unsearchable riches of His love? Was it not portrayed to us that Jesus would accept us no matter what? Why all of a sudden am I not good enough?
I never really had an answer for those questions. It just seemed to me that I was being led by a lot of insecure people. People who really didn't know their identity. People who were not assured of the Father's love for them.

Change is inevitable. How can one come to faith in Christ and be the same person? I get that. It makes perfect sense. But the fact that we try to take someone through a complete makeover misses the point of His grace in our lives. It seems to me that we do a lot of shaping people into our image rather than allowing them to live out being made in His.

It took me years to discover who I was in Christ. For the longest time I only knew myself as one who was forgiven. I believed I was loved but that didn't take hold in the identity area. Maybe it's because I believed I was loved, but there was still a lot of stuff that God didn't like about me. Ever felt that way? Maybe God will love me more if I did this? Maybe He would love me more if I could stop doing that? What if this type of thinking is actually born out of a religious mindset rather than the heart of God?

My identity in Christ (and yours) is spoken to us in the Scriptures. We can read in the Bible about being the beloved of God, the righteousness of God in Christ, and more than conquerors. We can read about His infinite love for us, His peace that passes all understanding, and His grace that is sufficient. But until we allow these things to shape our identity - WHO WE ARE - then we will never experience them fully.

When I began to live out of my identity (rather than trying to make it happen), life changed. Really changed. I found myself experiencing His unconditional love. I felt the peace that passes all understanding. So much so that it was weird (lol). I finally came to a place in my faith where I realized that I didn't need to strive for His attention or His blessings. I just lived. I remained aware of who I was in Him and let the rest take care of itself. Did you know that was possible?

As I said earlier: There are days that I'm intentionally working out who I am. What that means is that I'm learning how to live out of my identity. Working it out doesn't mean that I am creating the identity. I'm just letting it come to the front. I'm leaving my misguided notions about myself and trusting that He knows me better than I know myself. Then there are days when I just rest in the knowledge of it. In other words, I'm not putting anything into action. I'm just being.

Some of us need to know that His grace is sufficient for both.

Enjoy the journey!!!

More to Ponder

Yesterday I said that "the declarations of judgement against America (or any nation for that matter) due to a small minority of the population is not only unbiblical, it is Anti-Christ." Of course I'm referring to the diatribes of many preachers against homosexuality. Just recently a friend of mine visited a church in our area where the pastor seemed to bring up the issue on a continual basis. Every Sunday that he visited this particular fellowship, the pastor simply became fixated upon the subject. Unfortunately, so many others do the same.

Before I go any further into this discussion, I want to say that I do not embrace every lifestyle. While I know, and love, people who have chosen to live in homosexuality, I do not believe it is the life they were meant to live. For me, this belief simply comes from the way in which I understand our creation. Male and female. A partner who is equal but opposite. It's not so much a discussion about morality vs immorality, but a discussion about our design. I want to put that out there because some may think that I am affirming homosexuality. I am not. What I'm trying to say in this blog (much like yesterday) is that this group of people is a small minority of our population. If God were going to judge us according to lifestyles, doesn't He have much more to choose from than just our sexuality?

Some of the research that I have seen concerning American Adults who identify themselves as gay or lesbian puts the numbers below 2%. 2%! To hear some people talk about this "epidemic" in America, you would have thought that number to be much higher. That puts this number lower than the percentage of people who get divorced, lower than the number of deaths by homicide, lower than the percentage of abortions, etc. If God were so ready to judge America, it seems to me that He has much more to work with in these other areas.

"Well...the Bible says that it is an abomination unto God." So are all the things that we want to label as sin, and some of the things we don't want to label.
Dishonest scales
Lying
Cheating
A Proud Look
...
Do I need to go on?
Our fixation as believers upon this one thing reminds me of Jesus' teaching. We are so quick to point out the splinter is the eye of someone else while we disregard the beam in our own. We are so quick to judge the homosexual than the heterosexual who has multiple partners. Why this one thing? Why this one issue? Some will say it is because it tears at the fabric of family. So does lying, cheating, and divorce. But we rarely hear people rail upon these things as signs of God's judgement.

What you find when you look into the word "abomination" is that it's not necessarily something that is just detestable to God. It can also talks about practices that are against the culture, the tradition, and the societal norms. Could this be the reason for our fixation? Could it be that we have become so used to lying, cheating, a proud look, and idolatry that we pay less attention to them? What about those who are dishonest in their dealings? I mean...we make jokes about car dealers. As if that is okay. How did you feel the last time someone got more money out of you than they should have? You were angry I'm sure. But were you ready to call down the fire of God?

I also feel that it is important to understand that a lot of this waiting around for impending doom and a falling of judgement comes from a misunderstanding of the prophetic writings of the New Testament. Times where the Bible translators should have used the word "age" instead of "world." Other times when they should have used "land" instead of "earth." Of course, these minor details could have saved us all a lot of confusion. With that being said, the reality is that we have the tools to correct these mistakes in our eschatology and in our understanding of other matters.

Why don't we just stop judging less than 2% of the population and begin to love them?
I realize that this would put the Westboro Baptist Church crowd out of work, but for the rest of us it shouldn't be that difficult.
These are real people that we are talking about. Real people with real needs. Real people with real problems. What are we going to do about it? I realize that much of what I'm saying sounds like sympathy towards a particular part of our population, and maybe in some ways it is. But we have found a way to reach out to those who have had an abortion. We have discovered ways to minister to those who have divorced, remarried, etc. We have tools to reach out to those stuck in addiction. How are we going to be ministers of reconciliation to this small minority of our population?

The Good News is Good News for all people. The color of their skin, their economic status, their nationality, and event their sexual preference does not negate the Good News. I actually believe this is what Paul is trying to convey in his letter to the Romans. How could they judge certain people as "sinful" when they were all "sinful." In the same way they had all "fallen short of the glory of God", they were all "justified freely by His grace."

We lose nothing when we love people. A lesson we all need to learn. Including me.
We lose a lot by talking about the sky falling (over and over again). Like our credibility.

Think About It

What if God isn't as interested in judgement as some believe?
What if the Father made a decision in the Son to deal with us differently than what we deserve?
What if we were meant for mercy, for grace, and for love?
Would it change the way you think?

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to discover that the Bible continually reveals that GOD is different than we have imagined. In Jesus, we discover just how wrong we were. So often GOD is basically seen through the lens of so many other "deities." The anger, the thirst for blood and sacrifice, and the indifference towards humanity is found in pagan religions. The Father that Jesus reveals is amazingly different. He is the One who allows it to rain upon the just and unjust. The One who has chosen to deal with us according to His love, not according to our issues.

I say all of that because I detest all of the proclamations of doom that come out of churches. The declarations of judgement against America (or any nation for that matter) due to a small minority of the population is not only unbiblical, it is Anti-Christ. Even Abraham interceded for Sodom. He pleaded for the 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, even the 10 (more likely narrowing it down to family who lived in the land). The point being that even if there were only 10 righteous in the land, it is worth preserving. Many modern day "prophets" are operating in the spirit of Jonah rather than Abraham. They would rather see a display of God's "fiery wrath" than His benevolence. They seem to be so upset over the fact that the Father has set His love upon us.

The blog post for today will not be long, but I do hope that it stirs us to think differently. Why is America more deserving of judgement than any other nation (or vice versa)? On the other hand, why would we be more deserving of His blessing? When we talk about the Abba of Jesus we are not talking about a nationalistic deity. We discover in Him the Father of us all. We also discover in Jesus, not only the Creator of life, but the One who sustains it. The media in America often allows us to see all that is wrong in our world. But to think that things are so much worse now than in some golden era of righteousness is absurd. The reality is that many of the ills of the world have been around for centuries. The difference is that with 24 hour news coverage we know about it now. We cannot hide from these things. However, we can make a difference.

There isn't a need to pronounce judgement. What there is, is a need to declare our reconciliation through Jesus Christ. Paul did not say that the Apostles were ministers of condemnation but reconciliation. The Good News that in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself. A done deal. Something finished. All judgment against sin dealt with in Jesus. It's our joy to share this message with the world and say, "Since you have been reconciled, be reconciled."

As a nation, we are imperfect. Including those of us within the church. We should be a testimony to the fact that MERCY triumphs over judgement. The embodiment of the One who HAS NOT dealt with us according to our sins or our offenses. This does not mean I have to embrace every lifestyle choice. However, it does mean that I embrace the Father's heart for all people.

I'm not looking for a great judgement to come against the Earth.
I'm looking for the Kingdom of God to manifest on Earth.
That should be our focus, the joy of our faith, and the endeavor of every believer.
God is not fatalistic. He has chosen to partner with us to see this come to pass.
Enjoy the journey!

Life Beyond the Pews

Growing up in the South, in the Bible Belt, going to church on Sunday was as normal as going to work on Monday. It's what we did. What amazes me about this type of upbringing is that it didn't create security in me. In fact, I find more and more people raised in the same environment who lack genuine trust in the love of God. Why? What is it about life beyond the pews that keeps us from resting in Him?

Is it the idea that you are just not good enough? Is it the belief that despite your best efforts that you just don't live up to the standard? What is it that we are teaching about God that creates such unrest in people? Why aren't there more "believers" who are confident in God's love for them? I cannot answer for everyone. I can only ask the question: Is there something that we are saying (or not saying) that is breeding fear filled children of God? Is there something that we are saying (or not saying) that keeps people locked in a striving mentality? I don't know that I have the answer, but I do believe I have discovered a major problem.

There are plenty of different camps of thinking. However, it seems as though the majority of people I know fall into two as it relates to their salvation in Christ.
Camp #1 - Believe in eternal security - the belief that you cannot lose your salvation.
Camp #2 - Believe you can lose your salvation - the belief that you can somehow fall out of God's favor.
Now...before you think that camp 1 has it all figured out, let me share with you some personal experience. I grew up with this camp the majority of my life. They never questioned that salvation could be lost. What they questioned was the genuine nature of your faith. The question was/is: Are you TRULY saved. The people in this camp are always trying to "nail it down." Always going back to Jesus to ensure that it is all taken care of. They may have moments of security, but once something creeps in to their life they begin to question if they are a true believer. Camp 2 can never get settled. They may have a season of great zeal, but the question remains: Did I lose it? This approach to salvation is a bit harsher, and maybe a little more demanding than the other, but the outcome is still the same. They can never rest. They can never breathe.

Both of these camps have issues. They seem to place a lot of emphasis on what they do. Rather than trusting in what Jesus did, the issue always comes back to performance. Therefore, the faith they are exercising is not on the Lord. It is in themselves.
Did I do enough?
Did I trust enough?
Did I repent enough?
Either my performance proves that I am truly saved or it can actually disqualify me from being saved. Sound familiar? If you grew up in the environment that I did, you may have heard some of these statements. To be honest, there's a lot of people in my family who don't believe you can actually know that you are saved. You basically have to wait it out. Do what you are supposed to do and hope it is enough. I know...it's a different camp, but life beyond the pews is no different.

Do you really think that this is all Jesus has to offer us? Do you really believe that the Father would send His Son so that we would live in limbo? When will what Jesus accomplished be enough?

Several years ago, I was wrestling with these questions. I was tired of the ups and downs. I had grown weary of the insecurity. I would experience great moments of zeal and passion, only to see them replaced with the feelings of my inadequacy. Trust me. The feelings were winning. It wasn't until I grabbed onto the reality of His grace that I began to emerge from the darkness of my own thinking. It wasn't until I came to really believe in His finished work that I began to live with hope. Suddenly everything about my focus began to shift. Life beyond the pews would change forever.

Many of you are saying right now, "BUT I DO BELIEVE!" Do you?
Do you believe that everything that needed to be done has been done?
Do you believe that ONE sacrifice for ALL people is enough?
Do you believe that God was in Christ reconciling US to HIMSELF?
Do you believe that Jesus redeemed, rescued, and restored humanity?
If you cannot answer "YES!" to all of these questions, then there will still be room for doubt about your relationship with the Father. You will continue to place an incredible amount of emphasis upon what you do. As if getting and maintaining salvation is all about you. I've been down this path. There is no peace, no security, and no sense of love. Everything is performance based.

I live in the Bible Belt. So do many of you. We have churches on every corner. And in spite of the presence of these communities of faith, we are still consumed with fear. Rather than being perfected in love, we are only perfected in our own sense of lack. Only a true faith and trust in the love that the Father has for us in Christ will change any of that. Only a genuine belief in the finished work of Christ will get you off the not so merry-go-round. What do I mean by true faith and genuine belief? I mean a resounding "YES!" within your spirit to all that the Father has accomplished in Christ. This is the only path of peace. The only door to salvation from self-salvation. Rather than trying to save yourself, you will begin to rest in His salvation. That is the difference. You take your faith (or lack of it) off of yourself and put it firmly and fully in Him.

The truth is (according to Ephesians 1) that before the foundation of the world (before Adam fell...in fact, before Adam was ever created) the Father would adopt us in Jesus Christ. Adam would no longer be the head of the human race. Jesus would be. Jesus Christ, as the Last Adam, made an end to Adam's race. In His resurrection He became the Firstborn of the New Creation. A creation where He would be the firstborn among many brethren. The understanding of the Gospel in this light demonstrates that our salvation was not as individual as we have supposed, but familial in it's relationship to us. The Father had a dream for humanity that would not die. He would not allow us to slip away into nothingness. He would give everything to restore us to His original design. Jesus, fully God and fully Man, seated at the right hand of the Father, would become the head of the human race. We would be His inheritance.

Doesn't anyone find it interesting that when the Father established the New Covenant that Jesus would be the Mediator?
Not you.
Not me.
Not another group of well established people.
Not even His disciples would mediate.
Jesus alone would be the mediator of this New and Better Covenant. A Covenant that was founded upon Better Promises. A Relationship with the Father that could not be broken. Well...at least until the Father and the Son have a falling out. Then we would have some serious issues.

My point in all of this is that life beyond the pews can be so much better.
I dare you to believe that what Jesus did was/is enough.
I dare you to trust in the Father's unconditional love.
I dare you to rest in His grace (His Divine Enablement in your life).
I dare you to stop striving, to stop living in fear, and to stop thinking less of yourself.
I dare you to live as a much loved child.
This is my challenge to you. This is life beyond the pews. Enjoy the journey.

Where Do You See Yourself?

I'm often reminded of the story Jesus told that we have titled "The Prodigal Son." There is so much to it that I don't believe it can be exhausted. This morning, as I was thinking of something to post on facebook, these thoughts came to me:

The conversation you have within your head will reveal the lack of trust you have in the Fatherhood of God. Why is that we believe the Lord is more willing to take on another hired hand than to receive a son? How did we get to the place in our thinking where we believe that being remorseful and repentant means that we only get "less than status" with the Father? The story of "The Prodigal" is so compelling. We see ourselves in the two sons rather than in the heart of the Father. And that is probably the greatest tragedy of our thinking. You were created for sonship not servitude.

There are many things that I have already pointed out about this story on the blog. The fact that even the prodigal is referred to as a son should matter in our thinking. It should give us a glimpse into the heart of the Father. The youngest son, even when he was far away and wasting his inheritance, was always a son. The older brother, even though he stayed at home and became jealous of the Father's willingness to extend such mercy, was always a son. The differences between these two boys is how they viewed their relationship with the Father.

The youngest son believed that his Father would take him back...maybe...as a servant.
The older son believed that he was with his Father...somehow...through his service.
Both of them missed out on the reality of the Father's heart for them.

The Father in this story represents our Heavenly Father. We have been told that. But do we believe it?

Who has imagined GOD as a loving Father?
Who has believed that He would be so liberal in His relationship with us?
Who has ever thought that He would accept us on the basis of what is in His heart rather than what we could do for Him?
Who ever conceived of Him the way that Jesus portrays Him?

The irony, I believe, in all of our thoughts about this passage of Scripture is that we still miss the point of the story. And the point of the story is that there is never a moment that you are not in His heart.

YOU are in the heart of the Father as He looks out across the plain waiting for you to come to your senses.
YOU are in the heart of the Father as you stay and work.
YOU are in the heart of the Father regardless of what you have done or are doing.
Both of these boys received a revelation that day.
The youngest son realized that even though he walked away, the Father always carried him in His heart.
The elder son realized that it didn't require working to create a better relationship. All that the Father has was already His.

Don't miss this.
We get so caught up in our performance. We think that we are more acceptable to the Father through our service or through our groveling. The reality is that He has already made His mind up about us. Jesus is God's mind made up about humanity. Whether we have wandered away or we have stayed close, the Father sees us for who we really are. There may be some things that need to change. There may be some attitudes that need to be adjusted. There may be a mindset that needs to be broken through. But none of that affects Him. He embraces the reality of this moment. One son who needed to know he was loved for who he was. Another son who needed to know that he always had the Father's heart.

Stop trying to find yourself in the boys.
Find yourself in the heart of the Father.
You were created to be a son, not a servant.
Enjoy the difference.

*Feel free to look at the story for yourself in Luke 15:11-32. Just change the way your read it. He's ready to embrace you.*