Bad Romance

No, I'm not advocating for Lady Gaga.  But that is what I've often found myself in regarding my walk with Jesus. 

Yeah, I just went there.

I've heard it said (and said it many times myself) that it's not about religion, it is about a relationship with Jesus.  And I believe that with all my heart.  It's easy to apply the concept of a dating romance to our relationship with Jesus.

It is super exciting at first.  All praise services and alter calls.  Tears and joy and excitement.  Then it progresses into the deeper stuff.  Worship CD's or playlists.  Dim lights, maybe candles.  Quite time set aside just for that special someone.

Eventually the newness wears off.  The excitement isn't there.  God just isn't moving in me the way he used to (cause it's never my fault!)  The special music just doesn't work anymore.  Gone are the candles and dim lights.  We really don't spend time together like we used to.  Reality sets in.

It's bad romance.

I mean think about it.  In a dating/marriage situation, if you only show your love in settings like that, settings geared to produce those emotions...what do you do the rest of the time?  Do you not love that person when you're not at the candle lit dinner for two?  Do you not desire to be around them when the excitement and newness wears off?

Of course not!  (Hopefully!)

I don't know about you, but that is often how my walk with Jesus goes.  I get all pumped and excited after some event (and I'm not criticizing events here!) but it fades.  Normal, every day life gets in the way.  I'm afraid to let Jesus see me with my make up off (allegorically speaking.)

No.  The real love stories are the ones that come from couples that are celebrating 60+ years of marriage.  I got to video tape a party for such a couple last Autumn.  It was incredible.  All the people that were friends because of these two people.  Even now, this very post exists because of them.  63 years of marriage.  I asked them what the secret was.  The husband looked at me and said without hesitation,

"You make your choice, and you stick to it."

While that might not sound romantic, his bride smiled and nodded.

Every day life is the biggest obstacle in any relationship.  It really is in our walk with Jesus, because not only do we have that, but we have an enemy who doesn't want us to progress in that relationship.  So he will do anything he can to distract us from even wanting to be with Jesus.  The best way to kill a relationship is to turn it into a boring routine.

But Jesus didn't asked to be romanced by us.  He doesn't want the mood music, special lighting, gifts and 'quiet times.'  Let me rephrase that, he doesn't just want the mood music etc. 

He wants it all.

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

-Jesus (Luke 10:27)

 Don't just give God bits and pieces of your heart, soul, strength and mind.  Love him with ALL of it!  Turn that bad romance into the love story of the ages!  Show your love in all things to all people.  Remember what Jesus says in Matthew 25:31-46 about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, bringing a drink to the thirsty, visiting those in prison...anything we do for the least of these, we do for him.

Give him everything you've got.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

For the Trees (a poem)

Here is something a little different today.  A poem I wrote a while back.  Enjoy!

"For the Trees"

looking to the East I see a tree
it stands alone, magnificent
I stare and wonder at it's glory
I begin to journey toward it
focused and sure of my way

all along the path
I marvel to God at the splendor
and beauty of this tree
long weeks pass ere I reach the shade
beneath it's expansive branches

"God!" I cry, "Let me be a part of this!
Let me stay here and care for this tree.
Surely you pointed me to this place."

God sighs and points, "Look, there."
I follow his finger as it points back to the tree.
I examine the texture of it's bark, the complexity of it's leaves

"That is what I'm looking at!
God, this gift, it is beyond my understanding.
Let me stay here and learn."

Again God sighs.
He looks at me, as only a father can,
when their children doesn't understand.
He takes me by the shoulder,
guides me just past the tree and says,
"No.  Look at that."

I follow his outstretched arm
and see
just beyond the tree

before me, a massive sprawl of mountains
and leagues of forests full of beautiful trees
my mind struggles to comprehend all that I see
the hues and shapes of his design

how did I miss all this!?

how did I journey for so long
and not see this vast ocean before me

I look up to my Father
He smiles
"Go," he whispers softly
and he gently pushes me toward my future

(January 6th, 2011)

The Salvation Incantation

Saving Private Ryan is a brutally realistic view into the horrors of war.  It is the story of an American squad sent on a rescue mission.  A mission to save one person, the titular Private Ryan.  They do not know where he is, and most of the squad don't want to be on the mission.  Why should they risk their lives to send one schmuck home?  But they follow orders and after a long search, they find him.

By the end of the movie, most of the squad has died in the course of their mission.  Including their captain, played by Tom Hanks.  As he lays dying after a vicious battle, he waves Ryan over and rasps to him, "Earn this."

That floors me every time I see it.  Earn this.  How?  How can you live a life knowing that others died so that you can live?  How do you ever live up to that request, to earn their sacrifice.  Well, Ryan clearly struggles with that thought for the remainder of his life.  The scene fades and we see the elderly Ryan at the captain's grave, and he says to his wife, "Tell me I'm a good man."

He lived his whole life wondering if he lived up to the lives that were given so he could go home.  Even though he didn't ask for it.  His salvation ate at his mind his whole life.

I'm glad Jesus did not have the same mind set.  He did not ask us to earn the salvation he purchased for us.  He said, "It is accomplished!"  Done.  Finished.  Salvation was delivered to us.  We just have to accept it.

But salvation is not a once and done thing.  There is a moment.  An instant when someone believes and salvation begins.

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Romans 10:9-10

 We are also told to "work out our own salvation," (Philippians 2:12)  Think of it this way.  You train to be a doctor and graduate med school and eventually say the Hippocratic oath.  You're a doctor now  Yay!  What happens if you never show up for work after that?  You never practice medicine for the rest of your life.  Are you still a doctor?  Were you ever really a doctor?

Now, I'm not saying to question your salvation.  If you believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, and have confessed Jesus is Lord, you are saved...but it doesn't stop there.  If you truly believe that Jesus is Lord, you will behave and live a certain way.  Bearing fruit that comes from having Jesus in your life.  Remember his analogy about the vine and the branches?  (John 15)

We need to remain in him.  So we can bear fruit.  Fruit that comes from God, through Jesus, and out of us.  "Jesus is Lord," is not just a statement of fact.  It is a declaration of your devotion to him.

Salvation is not just an incantation at the end of a church service.  It is not an emotional response at a conference or retreat.  It's not just a moment in a small group or home gathering.  It very well may happen in one of those places or come out of situations like that, but it is so much more. 

It is a clear decisive choice that Jesus is Lord of your life. 

There will be changes in your life.  Some might be instant.  Others will take the rest of your life.  But they will come out of your love for him.  How you grow with him in your life and with others who follow him.

Unlike Private Ryan, we don't have to wonder if we earned it.  Because we can not earn the salvation that Jesus won for us.  Only he could.  But the good news is, because he won it, we don't have to wonder if we can have it.

It's already accomplished.  Salvation ≠ Recitation.  Saying the Hippocratic oath does not make you a doctor.  Saying the sinners prayer doesn't make you a follower of Jesus.  You have to actually follow him to be a follower.  And that is discipleship.  Learning about Jesus.  Who he is.  What he has done and taught.  Then, you go and teach others about Jesus.

grace, peace + hope-Bear

// Messy Discipleship

The following blog was written by Jake Chambers http://www.gospelcentereddiscipleship.com/messy-discipleship/  

Jake's message is exactly what M28Ministry  http://m28.us/   is all about:  partnering with Jesus in extending the same grace he has given us to those around us.  Thanks Jake!

In our house, we used to have a beautiful set of drinking glasses that were made of translucent artsy green glass. Notice I said we “used to”…

A few weeks ago our house was full of the life, laughter, and mess of sharing our home and table with our community; after everyone left and my wife and I were cleaning up, we noticed one of our beautiful green glasses had a huge chip off the top. We now officially have only three of these nice glasses. They’ve moved from the threatened dishes list to the full-fledged endangered dishes list. I don’t have much hope for their survival either as they have yet to breed.

Just the other day a neighbor broke another one of our glasses, and as I was cleaning up the glittery shards, it hit me - if you have a complete set of dishes you just might not be on mission.

God’s mission is messy and costly. Think about it. In order for us to be a part of God’s family, to be his disciples, to get to live in eternity with him in his home, it cost him his comfort to the point of a dirty, torturous execution on a cross. Yet I often want to be his follower and have a life of comfort.

I want to do hospitality my way, on my time, around my schedule, with the people that are easy for me to be around, and I want to have a complete set of dishes when I am done. But this just isn’t the life God has called us to. God calls us to not just have hospitable events but to have an open door and hospitable life. Jesus was available for the sick. He fed the hungry crowds when it was inconvenient. He hung out with the drunks, tax collectors, lepers, and sinners. His way of discipleship was dirty and probably smelly.

I have a friend that has modeled this hospitality well and as a result often has men in his home that are so drunk and out of it they sometimes foul their pants. He and his wife have literally cleaned man-poop off their floor. This grosses me out and makes me want to think twice about the people I let into my house, but oddly enough it also inspires me. It looks so much like Jesus. A couple of weeks ago my neighbor’s daughter had a little present slip out of her diaper while they were visiting. We saw the log on the floor, and all of us wondered where it came from. I immediately checked my son’s diaper, and people were diaper checking all around until we found the culprit. I instinctively cleaned up the poop, de-sanitized the floor, and went on with what turned out to be a wonderful evening.

Sometimes discipleship means people are going to poop on your floor. If we are servants like Jesus, we get to clean it up. Jesus modeled this when he washed his disciples feet. At the time, everyone traveled on dirty, smelly roads in sandals and often were hopscotching around camel dung. Washing smelly feet was reserved for slaves, yet Jesus, the master, took the lowliest task and washed his disciples’ feet.

I like my things to stay nice, and I don’t like doing disgusting jobs. But I do want to follow Jesus, and I do want to be his disciple and make disciples.  To do this all the time means I am going to have to do some things I don’t like and lose some things I do like.

So again, if you have a full set of dishes and nobody has ever pooped on your floor, you might want to stop and examine if you are really on God’s mission.