War Is Here ...

We are at war with a virus.  It sounds rather one-sided, as we are complex creatures who think and feel, and our enemy is a rather simplistic, non-thinking, non-feeling enemy.  But what our enemy does well, is reproduce, spread, and kill us.  Covid-19 is still a mystery after months of battle with it.  And as much as we might wish that were our only war, it is not.  We are also at war with drug addiction.  Drug overdose is yet another killer, another enemy of our own making.  It is conceptual.  Drug addiction is an affliction, not a person, but like covid-19, it inhabits a person, overwhelms a person, and then defines a person.  You have it, or you don’t.  And for those who have it, it can be very fatal.  In both instances, we want to reclaim the person, and get rid of the affliction that inhabits them.  But in the case of drug addiction, it can drive an otherwise “good” person to commit horrible offenses against us.  To get that next fix, the addict will gladly steal, harm, or even kill on occasion.  Under “normal” circumstances these deeds would have been abhorrent to them, but under the influence of addiction, their desire for the next fix, overwhelms all sense of morality.

And in the church, we are at war with sin.  But much like covid-19 sin spreads far and wide until we all become afflicted with it in some form or fashion.  And much like drug addiction, sin drives us to do deeds that should be abhorrent to us, but for some reason we consider them normal.  It is a constant struggle between a war of love-of-self, vs a love-of-others.  And the side Jesus is on, the complete and absolute love-of-others, is hard to understand by the side afflicted with sin (the love-of-self).  So it becomes more than just a war within us, it becomes a war waged outside of us as well.  The wicked, that is, those who care little for how they sin, or why, or what damage it causes – pretty much hate those who look to Jesus to lose their own sin.  And behind their wicked forces stands Satan himself, always looking to inspire them to ever darker and darker deeds, and deeper and deeper levels of apathy and hate.  The war is here.  It will not end, until Jesus returns.  There can be no peace until then.  For the war is real.  It began in heaven and will not end until heaven returns to earth and fire rains down from the sky, until all that remains of evil is consumed, until even death itself is consumed forever.  Not eternal flames, but eternal consequences.  Not forever torture, but forever non-existence, forever separation from the source of Love, by the choice of evil.  For now though, the war is here.

Jesus was not unaware of this.  He shared some thoughts and ideas on it back in the gospel letter of Luke in the 12^th chapter.  Picking up in verse 41 He begins … “Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? [verse 42] And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? [verse 43] Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. [verse 44] Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.”  To set some context, Jesus has just been talking about selling all that you have, giving to the poor, and then becoming a servant by choice.  Peter is then asking, does this advice, and analogy of the servant or goodman-of-the-house apply to just the disciples, or to everyone?  Jesus continues that anyone who considers themselves a leader, is also a servant of all, and to be a ruler, is to be found a servant of the many.  This is the battlefield.  It is within us as the war rages between our selfishness and His commission.  It is present in both regular believers just as much as it is leaders.  But Jesus points out it is a blessing to be found in service.

Jesus continues in verse 44 saying … “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; [verse 46] The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”  This is not a war of good excuses.  This is not a war that can be delayed.  It is here and it is now.  And it is only winnable through personal complete submission to Jesus Christ.  Those of us who search for the loopholes in contracts, and determine we can delay our service and our gifts, until right before Jesus returns, do not just play a dangerous game, they play a losing one.  Because the heart remains unchanged, having never submitted it to Jesus Christ.  The vision remains blinded, because Jesus has never had the chance to open your eyes, and change how you think, or how you love.  And even in the church, where we know conceptually about Jesus Christ, we never meet Him personally, or learn what it means to truly obey, or to truly serve.  We play a game of words.  And when Jesus actually does return, these Christians in name only, find themselves cut off from the body, and apportioned with those who never believed at all.  For the difference is indistinguishable.

Jesus continues in verse 47 saying … “And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. [verse 48] But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”  Here is where Jesus describes the nature of sin itself.  Sin is the punishment.  Sin is the problem.  You do not need to wait for God to punish you for your sins, it is you who are already punishing yourself and others because of your sins.  Sin is the punishment.  Sin is the pain, it brings a desire for death to escape it.  But there is a different way of escape, it is Jesus who longs to free us from our sins so that we beat ourselves less.  So that we punish ourselves less.  When you “know” you should not be committing some sin, and you do it anyway, your guilt and foreknowledge adds to your punishment.  When you see those who you claim to love, suffer at the hand of your sin, your punishment is increased.  Not by God, but by your own knowledge that all this suffering could have been avoided, if you just submitted yourselves to Jesus and let Jesus bring you the victory.  This guilt is even worse when you are in a position of leadership, and those who look to you to help point them to Christ, find you pointing only to yourself, and your weakness.  For if you remain bound in sin, when you know the way out, how will they (the weaker) ever find true salvation from their own sins.  And so your failures are made worse by your fore-knowledge, and continued to refusal to submit, as you become the stumbling block to others.

For the non-believer, they suffer too, but they do not understand why they suffer.  They refuse to accept the responsibility that it is their own actions that bring the pain and suffering.  They are forever blaming someone else for their own pain and suffering.  In this they suffer less, but they still suffer.  And while they themselves may blame others (like Satan does), those they claim to love also suffer regardless of blame.  For the pain of sin causes suffering no matter what.  Sin is the punishment, never the “fun” as Satan would have us believe.  So Jesus points out to us here, how it really works.  When we know we should not have done the sin, we feel worse.  But worse than that, when we know that Jesus could have beaten the sin in the first place, literally handing us the benefits of His victory, but we chose not to humble ourselves, but instead make the claim we could beat the sin ourselves, we feel even worse than that.  For our continued failures in the war with sin, make us lifelong failures in this war.  Lifelong wounded soldiers.  Soldiers we were never intended to be, but followers, followers of Jesus who fights the war for us.

Jesus knew the war was here.  He continues picking back up in verse 49 saying … “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? [verse 50] But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! [verse 51] Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:”  Jesus comes to send His fire throughout the earth.  He intends for His love to purge the sin from us, if we will but let it.  But how can His fire infect us, if we believe we already have another way to purge the sin from ourselves?  Instead of accepting His gift in our war, we refuse it, clinging to our own ideas about how we can win the war with sin, in our own strength of will.  And we do not win.  Nor do our motives that created the desire for sin change.  We remain drug addicts, bound in chains to the desire of our sin, because the fire of the Love of Jesus is strange to us.  We having made His fire strange to us.

Jesus brings a baptism of the Spirit with Him to win this war.  How can He pull back or stop those efforts until the war is won?  Until all are saved the war rages on, and baptism of the Spirit remains for any who would claim it, or seek it.  How can we believe peace would exist in this world, while Satan remains in this world?  That war started in heaven, and Jesus did not come here to surrender but to win it, once and for all.  To save you however, does not mean the war ends around you.  Instead it intensifies.  Plan on it.  It is what Jesus foretells.  He picks back up in verse 52 saying … “For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. [verse 53] The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.”  Where you would expect family to respect the bonds of family and let family love keep peace in a home.  But selfish love does not respect unselfish love, it abuses it, and tries to bring harm to it.  For it cannot reconcile with it.  So even the bonds of family disintegrate in this war of sin within us all.  Our weapon will be prayer, submission to Jesus, and love for those who would call themselves our enemies.  But make no mistake, they will be our enemies while Satan’s version of self-love remains within them.  For it is self-love that is the root of all sin, of all evil.

Jesus continues in verse 54 saying … “And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. [verse 55] And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. [verse 56] Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?”  Jesus reminds His own followers and all those listening then or reading now, if we are able to discern the sky, or read the times and know what it about to occur – why are we so blind to the war with sin that rages all around us, and within us?  Have we become hypocrites, talking a good Jesus game, but still loving self, and telling everyone around us, that you have to love yourself before you can love others?  There is a whole mantra of books and philosophy based on self-first thinking.  And all of it at war with Jesus Christ in you.  Let us not be deceived, nor drawn to what our carnal nature craves, but instead to find submission to Jesus as our way out.  Jesus was right there in front of their faces, and yet many still denied the Son of God.  Has anything changed?  Jesus is right there in front of you and I, dare we deny Him, in favor of ourselves?

Jesus concludes beginning in verse 57 saying … “Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? [verse 58] When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. [verse 59] I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.”  If you wish to know where you are in the war, examine your heart and see if you have found true forgiveness for someone who has wronged you.  Our cries for justice have a boomerang effect, for as we demand justice against others, it always has a way to return back to ourselves.  Better to forgive, to learn to let go, to learn to trust in God for what we need.  The war over sin within us does not end because we declare it so.  It ends when we love like Jesus loves.  That kind of Love forgave us everything, every slight, every wrongdoing, everything we even knew we were doing wrong as we did it.  If His love is able to forgive us like that, should we not strive to find His love in us, and look for the forgiveness His love will bring.  While we look to get even, we remain entrenched in the pain we embrace.

Your war is here.  It will be raged within you.  It will be raged all around you.  The allies you hoped to have, you may find become the enemies you never expected.  The main enemy is beyond your abilities to defeat.  But that enemy has already been defeated by the Champion who wants to fight your war in your place.  If you can submit to different leadership in your life, you have a chance at following in His footsteps and finding the victories He earns on your behalf.  You need not fight this war.  You need only allow Jesus to fight it for you, within you, and all around you.  For only Jesus has the power to change the heart, and it is the heart that must be changed if ever you hope to see His victory.  You are not meant to carry the scars of this war.  You are not meant to have to declare yourself bound to sin forever.  When Jesus brings you a victory over sin, it is not meant to be only a temporary victory, but a victory that lasts forever.  When Jesus heals your motives, desires, and weaknesses, He does not aim only for today.  He aims for forever.  To cleanse you, to wash you white as snow, not so you can go back outside and fight again, and lose again.  But instead to remain behind Jesus, following His lead, looking to see His strength, not trying to demonstrate your own strength to Him.  He is strong.  You are not.  But if you become strong in dependence upon Jesus, He reveals just what a Warrior He will be on your behalf.  Let Him.  And watch Him win your war forever.  Always behind, and grateful to be there, to be part of the flock Jesus leads, looking not at men, but at the only Shepherd who knows you by name, and knows how you think and feel.

 

Eternal Investments ...

How is your 401k doing?  Are you too scared to look?  Do you even have one?  Most of us try to plan for our retirement.  But we do it too late.  We invest too little.  And we hope for a financial miracle to keep us afloat.  But if you used to work at Enron, you know what it is like to see your long-term investments come to nothing in a matter of a few weeks.  Many of us crave financial security, but where it comes to money, there is nothing secure about it.  Past Enron we nearly had a complete financial collapse of our banking systems here in America.  Had this happened it would have surely caused a domino effect collapse throughout the entire world’s economy.  So we threw tons of tax payer money at it, to keep it afloat.  Witness the miracle of men, of a reluctant Congress, and of a monetary system that in all actuality is based in your “faith” in the value of American dollars – not in any inherent value of them.  Our gold is not connected to our dollars, it has not been that way since Nixon.  Our faith remains though, and it is our faith that allows our government even now, to throw tons of money at the covid-19 financial collapse.  But our government is not so ready to completely eliminate our need, only to partially meet it, and force us back to work – even if it kills us.  Not much of a miracle if you ask me.  But then, this is not a miracle of God, it is the half-baked attempt of a miracle of men, of a reluctant leadership to do the minimum it can.

Monetary policy in this world, is not such a great thing.  Economics in this world is not any better.  So let’s talk about the currency of our heavenly kingdom for a moment.  First, as I have said many times, rocks have little value past being something nice to look at.  Gold is nothing more than concrete in heaven, the streets are paved with it.  They make giant gates out of pearls.  Foundations (which are generally something you push into the ground for support, and therefore cannot even see) are made out of a variety of other stones.  Now it is said there will be “stars” in our crowns.  Most folks think of diamonds, but a diamond is a dull beast, when compared to an actual star (which gives off a light of its own, it does not wait for light to be reflected upon it).  So stars might generate some interest, but they are not used to trade for goods and services.  They are rewarded to us, one for each person, we were instrumental in helping bring to Christ to be saved.  In that sense they are a recognition of how we loved here in this world, of how we reflected Christ here in this world.  But even then, they are not a currency in heaven.

As for the economics in heaven, it will be decidedly different.  For God does all the real work.  Everything you need to eat, God will provide to you.  It will grow naturally and never decay.  And everything you eat will be transformed into pure energy within your internal systems (leaving nothing for waste, as it does here).  As for housing, God builds you a mansion in His city we call heaven.  So housing is already provided, even if that does not stop you from building country homes, or other cities, or planets, as you have the interest – but never the necessity.  So in our heavenly utopia, looking at it from here, you would think there is no currency in heaven.  But there is.  What is valued in heaven, by literally ALL the residents of heaven (including you one day), is the one resource that is more precious than any other, throughout all of time and space:  that my friends is people.  People are the creation of God, but they are also free-will creature who once chose badly, dooming themselves to forever isolation from God.  Reclaiming people therefore became God’s mission number one.  For every person who allows themselves to be saved, EVERYONE in heaven rejoices more than anything.  To see the lost, become the saved, is the greatest joy heaven will ever know.  Therefore it is people who are the very currency of heaven.  Jesus would go so far as to spend His own life for any one of them.

So the question remains, what would you spend?  Would you give of your means for the currency of heaven?  Would you sell everything you have in this world, to make an eternal investment in the next one?  You will not likely appreciate the value of that investment from this world, or from this reality’s perspective, even if one day you will understand it as clearly as the residents of heaven do now.  Would you go so far as to lay down your own life for the people you hope to help save?  That is a tall order.  And it is only done, by people who in this world, have come to see others, from a purely heavenly perspective, and through the transformation of Jesus in your heart, have come to love others like God loves others.  But if you are reading this BLOG, chances are high your life is not at risk right now from the saving of others.  It is probably more secure than that.  So how do you think about economics, by that I mean, how often do you think about what is really important, and eternally lasting, versus what is here and now and decidedly temporary and fickle in value?  Jesus had thoughts and ideas on this topic.  Luke recorded them in his gospel letter in the 12^th chapter.

Picking up in verse 33 Jesus says … “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. [verse 34] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  If we were to translate this financial advice into today’s climate we might say:  sell everything you own, collect the funds and give it away to those in need, and in so doing you accumulate treasure in heaven.  Meeting the needs of people here, helps give them strength, love, and a reason to seek Jesus to know why you would do this.  Loving people so much, you would give everything for them, is living the way Jesus lived.  This process will change who you are, like nothing else will.  And no thieves can take it away from you.  No collapse can touch you, or bankruptcy of others come near you, no rust or moths corrupt the gift.  For giving everything is a pure gift.  It is how the residents of heaven behave and operate.  The services that exist in heaven done by anyone outside of God, are done as a gift to anyone who has need.  It is an economy based in giving, because it knows the value of every person saved by Jesus able to come home.  Jesus is asking us to put on heaven colored glasses and see what life is going to be like up there; but do it here.

And here is where you start hearing the tumbleweeds blow across the screen and the theme music from “the good, the bad, and ugly”.  Nobody; wants to move on this financial advice, this life advice.  Not since the first apostolic church, who was listening to this, has anyone been willing to give up perceived financial security in this world, to actual financial security in the economy of heaven.  Because our carnal nature wants instant gratification, not a delayed one.  It does not like the trade.  Money for people.  Yuk.  People don’t even appreciate the gift, or me for giving it.  People often waste money like it grows on trees, and hate each other, even the givers of such gifts.  Warren Buffet decided to give his money away, and people either criticize and distrust him, or line up with greed in their eyes to get some of it.  When they do get it, their gratitude lasts for the moment, just about as long as it takes them to lose it all again.  Then they want more, if they don’t get more, they become angry and resentful.  Given this, how could Jesus’ advice possibly result in adding to the currency of heaven?  Because in actuality, Jesus is trying not to cement others in the heavenly kingdom by giving them money, He is trying to cement YOU in the heavenly kingdom by changing your heart, into one that would live like He lives, and love like He loves.  What we do with the gifts of Jesus is no different than the greedy recipient of Warren Buffet’s charity.  We take the gift and internalize it.  Jesus asks us to give His gifts away, and learn to externalize them.

Jesus continues in verse 35 saying … “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; [verse 36] And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. [verse 37] Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. [verse 38] And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.”  Notice the very next thing Jesus talks about after giving everything you own away to those in need, is becoming a servant.  After losing your money, you could expect poverty to drive you to become a servant.  But that is not how Jesus offers it.  Jesus asks you to choose to become a servant.  Giving away your goods is great, but it cannot be the end of your giving only the beginning of it.  Next, give away your services, your skills, your talents (entrusted to you by God in the first place).  Become the “servant” who awaits His Lord.  Jesus does not ask you to become Pope of the church, or head Bishop, or General Conference Leader any other power position at all.  Instead He asks you to become servant of literally everyone.  It is that kind of servant Jesus is looking for upon His return.  A servant willing to work in second and third shift of the day, or rather the night.  A servant who is faithful to serve anytime, to anyone, in any way they are able to serve.  We are often quick to focus on the first part of these texts that talks about monetary gifts, and overlook the idea of giving our time, and our services.  But giving all is important, both money, and non-money.

But then, does all this heavenly financial advice have a timing component to it?  For those of us who look for loopholes in the contracts, it sounds as though the goal is get this done “right before” Jesus returns.  As long as Jesus returns and finds us doing all this stuff we should be golden right (pardon the pun)?  No need to rush right in, we just need to sit back watch, wait, and make our eternal investments at just the right time.  Jesus anticipates our thoughts and continues in verse 39 saying … “And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. [verse 40] Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.”  There ya go.  Your best ideas about watching for the return of Jesus and knowing when it will be, are fugazi (fake, not real, not correct).  Just when you think it will never happen then, it will happen then. 

But here is the insiders view on why that happens.  Because this advice was only ever to secure the heart of the giver, not of the recipients.  It matters not one iota what the poor do with your offerings of love.  They can use them to buy illicit drugs and booze, or take them and spit in your face.  They may even use them for something they really need, that will one day lead them to the kingdom.  What the recipient does with the gift was never even part of the equation.  And your judgement of the person you give to, was never asked for or required.  Your judgment in fact, is your stumbling block, from changing who you are, not who they are.  These gifts you make say NOTHING about the poor, but they say everything about you.  Giving everything you are and have, puts you in the league of Christ.  It remains aspirational for me.  I give my tithes and offerings, and I try to serve in the ways I can.  But the gap from what I give, and what I have been asked is nothing short of substantial.  My heart aches that I do so little, and were I too fall asleep in Jesus today, I expect I would awaken to His kingdom with no stars in my crown at all, for my investments have been meager at best.  Indeed, perhaps the only thing changing in me at all, is my awareness of this fact, and a continued desire to do more about it.  But so far, my meagerness prevails.

If you struggle like I do, I would offer you a small experiment to conduct.  First, take ten one dollar bills, and roll them up in rubber band and put them in the center console of your car (out of sight of thieves).  Then whenever you come to an intersection where someone asks for money for anything, I mean any reason at all.  Open up your console take out a dollar and give it to them.  Don’t think about how they may use it, that is not the point, just give it to them.  The intent of this is to teach you not to judge, not to teach them anything other than perhaps in some small way, they are worth loving.  When the ten dollars is gone, restock it, and keep it restocked until you want to start increasing the denominations of those bills of your own free will, then do that.  Second, at whatever church you attend, find an empty role for service, and offer to fill it yourself.  It could be anything from a greeter, to helping prepare food for potlucks, to helping out in a kid’s classroom, to running the AV systems.  Anything you can do to serve.  And start serving.  It is only once a week after all.  And God will give you the talents you need to fill this role, if you, by faith, and in the Spirit of Love are willing to step forward and try to serve.  Don’t worry about being good at it.  Just be there at it.  That will be enough.  Your goal in this experiment is not to change the world, but to change you, just a little bit more.  I have done this, and it works, and it becomes addictive in nature, as God intends it.  But you will come to find it is never enough, your heart will always search for more to do.  That is the point.

Our God asks much of us, in fact He asks everything of us.  The irony, is that our perspective of what He asks is colored by where we are when He asks it.  In this world, we think it great sacrifice, sometimes beyond our ability to trust.  But in the next world, it will be a pleasure and an honor just to be asked.  We will be thrilled to fulfill the tiniest request, and still more thrilled for a big one.  If we are to understand the eternal, let us begin to grasp an eternal mindset here.  The benefits of that life can still be real here.  All it takes is a slight change in perspective, and a learned trust, that He decidedly deserves.

 

Living in the Hand of God ...

I have to admit, I am spoiled rotten.  No, not talking about being the firstborn of my father, or being the only child of my mother.  I am talking about how my God Jesus Christ, treats me.  Not what He did for me all those years ago at Calvary, but what He does for me right now, throughout the course of my life.  Let me offer just one example; finding a parking spot.  These days I need and have the blue disability placard, so you would think finding a parking spot would always be a thing of ease.  It’s not, at least not because of the blue card.  But finding parking is not something I have ever had to worry about in all the years I have been driving. 

My God’s love for me is so thorough, and unique, that He showers me with blessings I don’t really even need.  Whenever I used to go out (pre-covid), anywhere I go, whenever I arrive, there is ALWAYS someone else pulling out of a parking spot just as I pull up, allowing me to park close to the entrance, without having to circle around endlessly looking for somewhere to park at all.  The place can be packed, but I never worry about it.  When I get there, I park.  Almost immediately, nearly always up front, with no wait, no fuss, no worry.  In fact, having the disability placard now, I often find those spots are already full, but for me this is still not a problem.  Now you could say I have “good luck”.  Getting this to happen even more than not, would be good luck.  But every time?  That is a statistical anomaly that is quite frankly, impossible.  But it is also my life’s experience, for decades and decades.  I’m sure there are some that will just call me liar on this, as it sounds just too impossible to be true.  And I would agree that it is indeed impossible; that is how I know every time it happens, it is that real-world manifestation of Jesus’ love for me, that no other explanation would satisfy.  Since I have lived this, I know it to be true.  His love is more generous than my need.

But who cares about parking spots, that is trivial in the scheme of things.  OK, so let’s talk about food, housing, and employment.  I am also, let’s see how should I put this; far from skinny.  I used to be skinny when I was growing up.  My metabolism was so fast, I could consume 2 large pan pizza’s at Pizza Hut all by myself and not even feel full.  Never gain an ounce of weight.  Now if I “look” at pizza, I feel myself putting on the pounds.  So there’s that.  But heavy people like me don’t reflect a steady lack of food, they reflect a steady abundance of it.  At this age, if I eat two meals a day, I gain weight, plain and simple.  If I eat one meal a day, I maintain or lose weight.  So one glance at me, and you realize I don’t go too many days where I eat nothing at all.  In fact, I cannot remember a day when I had nothing to eat at all.  I have been hungry, but there was always something around to eat.  Who do I credit with feeding me my whole life?  You guessed it, Jesus does.  Not just beans and rice, or bread and water, but full on nutritious meals with fresh vegetables, fruits (that I largely ignore), and meats (of the clean variety).  To eat your entire life, to know your children never missed a meal, is not an accident, or a stroke of luck, or even the result of hard work – it is Jesus, and He alone.

But eating and driving can’t happen without funding right?  So where does the money come from, and has it always been around.  Quick answer, No.  Money has not always been around.  When it was around, it was from employment (and blessings).  You would think I have always worked and done fairly well.  But that isn’t quite right either.  I have worked, from the lowest paid positions everyone can identify with, to the top of the food chain (so to speak).  I have made just over minimum wage to earning mid-six-figures in a single year.  One year, I made more than a million dollars (with stock options I cashed in); and at the opposite extreme I once had no money at all.  So while I have always seemed to find “good” positions.  Do you imagine for a minute that was me?  It’s not.  It was my Jesus holding me in the palm of His hand, whether rich in the eyes of men, or so dirt poor I should have been homeless.  Still always finding rest under a roof (I would never earn, or deserve, but be gifted).  In summary, the care of me, of my family, has always been accomplished by the same Jesus, I call Lord.  Though I am not a righteous man, still He has never forsaken me, and gathers me under His wings, and provides for my every need, then exceeds my needs with blessings too great to count.  This has been the experience of my life.  It is my testimony, but in spiritual matters, there is so much more to tell.

However it is your life that Jesus was interested in talking about so so many years ago.  Luke records the very words of Jesus Himself in matters of how God feels about you, and about what God is offering you for the taking, and the trusting.  It picks up in chapter 12 of Luke’s letter beginning in verse 22 saying … “And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. [verse 23] The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.”  Take no thought.  Imagine that for a minute.  Jesus offers you and I a way to live that is completely without worry and completely full of trust.  Food is on the menu.  Clothing will be on your body.  For your life is worth more than any food, and your body worth more than any clothing.  So why would Jesus tell you, not to worry about these key ingredients of survival?  Because your life, your survival is in the palm of His hand.  And your death, when or if it ever comes, is but a momentary nap in the timespan of eternity.  You will wake from it as if no time has passed, and your life from that moment forward will continue to be in the same palm it always was.  Throughout the eons of time, it is God, that will guard your life.  It is God that will enable your life, your food, and your clothing (even if made out of light from then on).  God taking care of you is not supposed to be a foreign concept, it is supposed to be both real, and everlasting.

Jesus continues in verse 24 saying … “Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?”  Then Jesus gives us a tangible example of this.  Think about how all of creation survives.  Do you think it is an accident?  No, it is ordered.  The mechanisms are largely known to us.  But that says nothing of the care.  When you encounter a small bird, or animal in distress, crying and in pain – what is your response?  Do you walk away thinking to yourself, well who cares about that bird, or small creature?  Or rather, is your heart moved, and you want to help, even if you don’t know exactly how to help.  If you and I who are far from perfect can still care about the creatures in our lives, how much more can our God in heaven, our very Father, feel more intensely about us.  He does not wait for us to be in pain.  He tries to help us learn how to avoid all pain.  He knows we get hungry.  He made us that way.  He knows birds need to eat, and He also knows you and I do too.  (Me probably a little less in that regard).  So He takes measures to see that we eat.  Offering us choices in the process.  Offering us the gift of taste in the process.  Offering us the means to eat for at least today.  And when you think about it, today’s meal, this meal, is all I really need.  Tomorrow, I can trust to Him, will take care of itself.

Jesus continues in verse 25 saying … “And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? [verse 26] If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?”  And here is the difference in how we think and what our limitations are, and how God thinks who knows no limitations at all.  Jesus asks us, if we are unable to make ourselves taller, why do we worry about the rest of our lives.  Growing taller is so incredibly easy from God’s perspective.  But God did not intend a world full of giants, nor a world full of the opposite of that.  The same God who makes the elephants, also makes the ants.  God enjoys diversity, even though He could have made every creature the same size if He wanted to.  He didn’t.  He wanted differences in every one of our characteristics, and personalities.  And He wants to know each of us in as unique a manner as we are unique from each other.  What is common between you and I, is that God loves each of us so much, He would lay down His very life, to see us reconciled to Himself.  If He loves you and I that much, why are sweating the small stuff?

Jesus continues again in verse 27 saying … “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [verse 28] If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?”  Then Jesus takes it up a notch.  Jesus introduces us to the idea of beauty.  The flowers, lilies that is, are beautiful.  If you ask me, every flower is beautiful.  But why?  Green grass is sufficient to cover the ground.  You don’t “need” flowers in nature.  If they never existed we would be missing out on tremendous beauty.  But they do exist.  Not just for God’s enjoyment, but for ours.  God made that beauty for us to enjoy.  He wants you to smell them.  To see them, even though they may not last very long.  While they do, they are incredible.  In the eyes of Jesus, you are that beauty.  How you are adorned, is not just in the bare necessities, but in God’s ideas of beauty.  It could be very simple, or very elegant.  But you are beauty that God sees (not so much what you are wearing).

Jesus continues in verse 29 saying … “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. [verse 30] For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. [verse 31] But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  With a singular purpose of mind, to seek our Lord Jesus Christ, in everything we think about, in how we love each other, in what our feet take us to do – let that occupy our minds.  And our God will sweat the small stuff for us.  I have learned not to worry about food, or shelter, or parking.  Cause Jesus always provides that stuff.  Not because I beg Him to.  And not just the bare minimum for me to survive.  But huge abundant gifts, so large, I barely have capacity to receive them.  Because it pleases Him to love me like that.  And I am no special child of His, I am just like you in that regard in every way.  Taking the stress out of life, is an awesome experience to live through.  Its not to say everything is always peachy.  But it is to say even in the thunderstorms, God still holds you right in the palm of His hand.

So taking care of us is squarely the duty, the responsibility, and the pleasure of our heavenly Father.  It is He who preserves our lives and makes them interesting (in good ways).  But what about our salvation?  Even if I do not worry about eating, shouldn’t I be worrying about getting rid of all this crap in my life?  Jesus concludes with a simple verse to sum up that area of your life as well.  Jesus continues in verse 32 saying … “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  You are not saved because you earn it.  Or based on what you do, or think you do.  You are saved because it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.  Jesus starts that very thought out with the specific admonition – “Fear not”.  Stop worrying and trust.  If you want to do something, then trust.  If you are not content to do nothing, then trust.  Trust Jesus to save you.  Trust Him to change how you think, what you want, and therefore what you do.  Trust Jesus to change how you love others.  That is the very basis of salvation.  It is way more important than parking spots, but no less, an evidence of His love.  What Jesus does for you on your journey to His Kingdom, is not an accident, it is by the very intent of His Father.  Saving you makes God the Father happy.  Imagine that, a happy God, from cleaning up the mess of your life.  Not an angry God, or vengeful God, or God who cant wait to judge you – but a God who has already judged you, condemned your sin, paid the price of your sentence Himself, and is now HAPPY to see you saved and reconciled back to Himself.  Happy about it.  So if our God is happy about saving you, why do you keep sweating the small stuff?  Why don’t you open up the happy valve, and join your God?  He’s waiting.  And He is happy about it.

 

Confessing Jesus ...

Do you follow Jesus?  It is a relatively simple question, but a loaded one as well.  Any idiot can claim to be a Christian.  I did.  I do.  But I think being a Christian, might just be a different thing, than truly following Jesus.  It’s weird but when I think about being a Christian, it is almost as if we are discussing a term based in the past.  Christ came, Christ died, Christ was raised … and Christ left.  We have been waiting for Him to return for more than 2,000 years.  Following Jesus however, has the air of the present.  To follow Jesus today, implies that Jesus is still actively leading, an active leader, today.  To follow Jesus is somehow in the now, in the right now.  I am not just waiting for Christ to return, I am waiting for Jesus to make my very next decision for me.  To show me what to do next, and now.  That begs the question, how do I hear Jesus give me direction?  I have His word, yes.  But many of the decisions and situations that come up in my life seem out-of-scope from what the Bible says.  Yet to follow Jesus, the conundrum remains, how do I keep hearing from Him in the now, when others seem more content to follow Him by association some 2,000 years ago.

And if I truly follow Jesus, am I willing to admit that?  Being a Christian makes me part of the majority in this country, so less worries there.  But following Jesus, looking for Jesus to literally tell me what to do next – that puts me in a very small minority – a minority that most others simply call crazy.  People who look for God’s voice are just called nuts.  Because so few of us hear it.  So few of us want it.  Most Christians have the attitude that God helps those who help themselves (perhaps the most anti-Christian sentiment ever uttered).  But that attitude keeps you in charge, and God on the back burner, for use only in times of great emergency beyond your control.  It likely means you do not even attempt to ask Jesus about what clothing you will wear today.  Jesus is not for stuff like that.  But in some cases I wish He was.  Jesus gone, allows modesty to leave the building, allows designers to overwhelm it, allows fads to dictate self-worth, the list goes on and on.  All because most of us would not even attempt to include Jesus in a clothing decision, let alone ask Him to lead it.  Those people are crazy.  I am crazy.

My crazy though, is to believe so much, as to think I should include Jesus in every decision, even the stupid ones, even the small ones, especially in the ones that will impact others.  My crazy recognizes my crazy enough to know He should be making my decisions, because when I make them, the results are so far from perfect you could drive a wedge the size of the Grand-Canyon between them.  Even when my intentions are good, what I try for, and what I get seem miles apart.  To publicly acknowledge that would be at the least, humiliating.  To admit my failures, mark my history, is not something to brag about.  And all of that, because I trusted my own abilities instead of looking to Jesus for what He might have wanted as it occurred.  Or asking for His help while it was occurring, instead of asking Him to clean up my mess long after it occurred.  Perhaps that is the difference between Christian and Jesus follower in my mind.  The matter of seeking forgiveness verses seeking to live in a way that requires much less forgiveness, and yields much more obedience in the first place.

So if you share my faith in Jesus, not just the whole Christianity thing, but very specifically in the following behind Jesus thing, are you willing to admit it?  Luke talks about this in his gospel letter to his friend Theophilus in chapter twelve.  He picks up with Jesus speaking in verse 8 saying … “Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: [verse 9] But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.”  Imagine Jesus as a proud parent, as your proud parent.  You do something in secret like help someone else for no reason, no reward, and no credit.  That is the kind of act, our proud heavenly parent would like to give vocal credit to in heaven.  But instead of acknowledging Jesus in your actions, you deny Him, and lift up yourself.  After all, you did these things.  No one influenced you.  They were your acts of charity.  Jesus deserves none of the credit, so you give Him none.  And so in heaven, when your proud parent so wanted to lift you up to the angels of God.  When they ask about you, Jesus must still tell them you remain in denial about what impact Jesus is trying to make on your life.  You deny Jesus.  So Jesus is forced to deny you.  A pattern that if continued forever is a highway to hell, in the present, and at the end of all things.

But this kind of mistake can be undone.  Luke continues in verse 10 saying … “And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.”  So lets get back to my crazy for just a minute.  I am still trying to follow Jesus in the hear and now.  I am listening for Him.  And to whisper in my ear the Holy Spirit is sent.  It is the Spirit of God, the third personage we understand so little about.  But despite our lack of full understanding, it is the Holy Spirit who is the mechanism by which we hear Jesus in the now.  The Holy Spirit never contradicts the word of God in the Bible (after all He inspired that too).  Nor does the Holy Spirit contract the Ten Commandments or any other law of love (again those are His laws too).  But the Holy Spirit fills in the gaps between the past and present, and whatever situations and decisions you face in the now.  That is the gift we were sent.  That is not just some method of babbling on in languages not even a Dothraki could understand.  It is about purpose, and meaning, and accomplishment – your life in the here and now, guided by the Jesus you wish to follow.

So when you sin, or come up short, or perhaps deny Jesus for something Jesus clearly influenced you to do.  Jesus is happy to forgive you, happy you finally saw the wisdom of coming back to Him, happy He will be able to help you truly live.  Jesus wants your life to be so much more than it is today.  Forgiveness is the first step in that journey.  If you seek it, the Holy Spirit comes next.  But the Holy Spirit is the mechanism to keep moving on this journey.  If you start denying the mechanism, you have left yourself without a way forward.  That is a problem that cannot be fixed.  And so many of us do not even want to talk about the Holy Spirit, let alone embrace Him with both hands and arms.  We are so caught up in the false images of the Holy Spirit’s work, we overlook the real ones.  There are a good deal more spiritual gifts than just two.  Speaking in tongues (which is actually the ability to speak or decipher languages you don’t know already – very much like google translate, without the google translate).  And healing people which has become more and more rare, is far from the entire list.  And who do you think is the arbiter of the gifts we are given?  So have we collectively decided to ignore the single greatest gift we were ever sent (by Jesus I might add)?

Let’s talk about blasphemy for just a minute.  Blasphemy most often comes in two forms; taking credit for something that belongs to God (imagine how often we do that, elevating ourselves to the place of God).  Or blaming God for something He actually has no part in (like say, what we do all the time when tragedy strikes us).  Now let’s talk about salvation for just a minute.  Our desire to be saved from sin, from ourselves really.  What we want is to be the creature our Lord would have us be.  That salvation has been promised to us as a gift of Jesus Christ.  But what do we do?  We take credit for it, by stating we have a “partnership” with God.  And in so doing, we cut off the mechanism (the Holy Spirit) from doing His work in our lives, because we keep placing “self” at the center of our salvation instead of Jesus.  And in the same breath, when tragedy strikes us we call it “an act of God”.  When we are not healed, or not made whole, we go further blaming God for not doing, what we all know He has the power to do.  We never interpret what happens to us as “His will” unless it is exactly what we want to happen to us.  Our thought processes for taking credit, and casting blame – are the two things that keep us from seeing the true power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We need to undo both, and learn to trust.

Jesus continues in verse 11 saying … “And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: [verse 12] For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.”  Apparently Jesus sees my crazy.  But He also sees the hatred the world will express to anyone who loves like He loves.  True servants, true followers of Jesus, submit to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit teaches them how to love like that.  He begins to inhabit our hearts and reform them from the inside out.  While that prospect looks awesome to the follower of Jesus, it looks crazy and dangerous to the world outside.  It may even be infuriating to church leadership, so much so, they may be the very ones who accuse you and put you in front of the state to defend your very lives in court.  It has happened before.  It is still happening.  The different stand out.  Loving like Jesus loves is very different.  But Jesus says, here is another gift for you.  When these situations come up, and you know your life is on the line.  Don’t prep.  You heard me, take NO thought of what you plan to say and how.  Instead, the Holy Spirit will inspire your words right as you need them.  If you allow it, God will speak right through your very tongue and teeth to those in that court. 

Does this mean you will win your case and go free.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But your temporary freedom in this world is not actually the goal.  Your ability to influence those who stand in accusation of you, and perhaps plant the seed that leads them to follow Jesus down the road is.  The convicting relentless power of the Holy Spirit is what you will have unleashed if you can get “you” out of the way.  If you accomplish that, you have accomplished more than your freedom in this world.  You have accomplished their freedom in the next one.  That is mission-one for the follower of Jesus.  All lives to His glory.  All actions to lead to that goal.  It might be why I ask Jesus about my clothing or about my diet, or about a hundred other seemingly stupid decisions, that have impacts outside of what I can see.  It is why I am happy to be called crazy, if my crazy is grounded in my attempt to follow Jesus in the here and now.

Luke continues in verse 13 saying … “And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. [verse 14] And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? [verse 15] And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”  So a follower of Jesus back in the day asks Jesus a question many of us do – help me get what was due to me by the person that owes me.  Seems like a reasonable request.  You are not asking more than you are due.  You just want what you are owed.  Of course there is always a financial aspect to this.  The response of Jesus (proud parent to us all), the question you ask is the wrong one.  You do not need Jesus to act as a judge between men yet.  You instead to evaluate your “need” for the financial gain you seek.  Didn’t Jesus just tell us to rely upon God for what we need that day, and that day alone?  If we trust God this way, we look to God to provide, not actually to what we are owed by others.  The danger is not our survival, it is about our desire to be financially stable (on our own).  We value stability as if a collection of money would protect us from harm.  It looks that way, but it does not.  The true underlying motive of our desire for financial stability is the idea that we will have to trust “no-one” for our security – including God.

So Jesus told them a story to illustrate the point picking back up in verse 16 saying … “And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: [verse 17] And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? [verse 18] And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. [verse 19] And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”  You will note, we start in our story with someone who has already been blessed, he is already rich before this incident occurs.  He already has fields, a harvest, and barns.  But this harvest is so great it would more than overflow them.  He has what he needs.  He is faced with more.  What does he do?  What do we all when confronted with more?  We look for even more than that,  So the rich man schemes to tear down the small barns, build greater, fill them with the excess harvest, then quit worrying about working ever again.  He will be living the dream.  Does he need any of this?  No.  All of it was a gift from God in the first place.  But in that gift was supposed to be a blessing.  Instead that blessing was going to be aimed in just one place – at me, at self.

Jesus continues in verse 20 saying … “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? [verse 21] So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”  Giving is why even God has the glory.  He holds nothing back from us, even so much as the life of His Son, in exchange for our disobedience, to pay our punishment.  Yet our natural inclination is to take His gifts and apply them inward.  Even the gifts of the Spirit we tend to squander on ourselves, and only our inner circle.  They were not meant to be used in that way.  You see, to add to my crazy, I know that following Jesus is not the path to great wealth.  It is supposed to be impossible to hold great wealth and still be behind Jesus, following His every move.  For Jesus gave His wealth to us.  We should be doing that for each other.  It is not impossible to encounter money when following Jesus, but holding on to it, was not the best use of it.  More for the world to consider as crazy.  A rich person willing to shed their riches, that does not happen often within the realms of “sane” people.  But it does happen in the hearts that begin to see love like Jesus loves.  Blessings are meant to be shared and given away.

So much of my prayers, are prayers for things I should not be asking for.  So perhaps a better prayer for me, is to ask Jesus to want whatever He wants, desire whatever He desires, and get rid of the self-centered stuff in me, cause again, when I try to do it myself, it never works out very good.  You don’t need to win the lotto and give it all away to prove you would to Jesus.  Instead, with whatever you have today, find a way to share it with someone else, for no credit, no reward, no recognition – done in secret.  And be sure to praise Jesus for even the opportunity to give like that.  And watch your proud heavenly parent lift your name up in heaven to all His heavenly angels of God.  Finally, God says about you, a child who gets it.  Finally, a child who is already living like We live here in heaven.  Finally, a child like Enoch who may be ready to leave that world and live here at the end of all things.  I sure wish I could give Jesus a moment like that, don’t you?