Only Forgiven

I have to be honest, the more and more I read in the Gospels of Jesus, the more I'm left asking, "how can anyone truly make contact with Jesus and not be changed?"

As we talk about how the world views the church as a "bunch of hypocrites," I think it's NOT because of what we are teaching, but it's exactly the things we are teaching that may attribute to this lack of real transformation.

You have undoubtably seen the shirt or the bumper sticker that says, "I'm not perfect, I'm just forgiven," plastered all over the back of minivans or youth groups everywhere. I believe that this subtle misleading theology has done more damage than good, and before all you bible scholars get in an uproar about salvation and justification issues let me explain.

Dallas Willard in his book "The Divine Conspiracy" sheds some great insight into this issue which I believe we need to consider. If we ONLY see the interaction with Jesus as merely forgiveness of sins, then we can only expect to see the benefits of this exchange when we die.

Is this the "life and life abundantly" that Jesus was talking about? Certainly not! Any interaction with Jesus must leave a mark in our life that causes us to interact much differently with the world around us.

Maybe we need to put more effort in showing and teaching not just the forgiveness of sins but instead what the reconciled (friendship) life with the Creator of the universe should look like!

Forgiveness of sins was a given...Getting up and walking is our part.

Make sure you laugh

Sometimes life gets a little to serious and you need to stop and laugh.

This is a blog by Kevin Keigley that I read once in a while to keep my sense of humor.

Here is his latest post:

One of the best things in the world: reaching into your pocket and feeling the $50 bill you made for mowing your neighbours lawn
One of the worst things in the world: reaching into your pocket and being stung by a box jellyfish and knowing you have only a minute or so to live

Sticks and Stones

Last night we talked about gossip and the way it can consume and destroy everyone it touches.

We've all no doubt heard the old saying "Sticks and Stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me." But recently a young girl by the name of Phoebe Prince took her life because of the things that were said about her and she took her own life because of it.

Im convinced now that "Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can cut deep and kill me."

Who am I? I have no respect for justice. I maim without killing. I break hearts and ruin lives. I am cruel and malicious and gather strength with age. The more I am quoted, the more I am believed. I flourish at every level of society. My victims are helpless. They cannot protect themselves against me because I have no name and no face. To track me down is impossible. The harder you try, the more elusive I become. I'm nobody's friend. Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same. I topple governments and ruin marriages. I destroy careers and cause heartache and sleepless nights. I wreck churches and separate Christians. I spawn suspicion and generate grief, make innocent people cry on their pillows. Even my name hisses. I am gossip.

Get Your Feet Wet

Have you ever wondered if God was really going to provide?

We ask in prayer, but do we truly believe that He has gone before us on our behalf or has it just become routine for our walk of "faith" to ask and not really expect provision?

It does however, require some effort on our part to see God’s provision realized in our life.

Joshua was told to be courageous and not to fear what would come next because God had gone before him and prepared the land to be taken. But, notice in chapter 3, God did require that the Levite priests take the ark down to the water in faith and put their feet in the Jordan, which, by the way, was raging at the time of year!

When they did take that step, it says that "the waters rose in one heap" and that the priests and 2,000,000 people were able to cross on "DRY GROUND!"

That last part gets me. See, God cares enough that even the ground, under a river that had been running for thousands of years, was completely dry so that they could cross easily and not turn into a "running-of-the-wildabeest mudfest." That’s provision!

But crossing the river does take action. Get your feet wet today!