I need to decelerate a bit, God!

We have been made right with God because of our faith. So we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through our faith, Christ has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace that we now enjoy. And we are very happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory.  (Romans 5:1-2)

Been made right - that is past-tense, my friends. We have right-standing with God ALREADY. In the day-to-day living we continue to do on this earth, God is still at work in our lives, not to change our 'standing' with him, but to help bring us out old patterns of living into the freshness and joy of living by the standards he proclaims over our lives. Sin is still at work around us - temptation still exists. Our 'standing' with God is good in spite of all the evil around us, attempting to pull us back into old patterns of living. If we trust in Jesus, having placed our faith in his 'finished work' within us, we are 'made right' and stand 'right' in God's eyes. 

Do we always 'do right'? Unfortunately, no. We sometimes give into that temptation to live according to the old patterns sin had established so well in our lives. It doesn't make us any less 'right' with God, though. It makes us weak, in need of his strength to overcome those temptations, but it doesn't mean we are outside of God's grace. We may not 'feel' much different at times, simply because those old patterns have a way of leaving us feeling rather guilty or shameful over some of our actions. Know this - what God begins, he brings to fruition. He doesn't leave stuff 'half-done' in our lives. 

What we do with moments of weakness matters. If we wallow in the self-pity of 'woe is me, I've sinned again', we will soon wallow in all manner of shame and the heaviness of our guilt will somehow convince us it is 'impossible' to live without that sin in our lives. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it may be an uphill battle for a bit until we finally realize that God has a better plan, helping us break the cycle of temptation pulling us into sin one link at a time. Just as a car's engine must go through the gears one at a time in ever decreasing deceleration of the engine, we might find ourselves going through temptation's 'deceleration' one 'gear at a time'. 

Don't be overwhelmed by sin, but if you find yourself headed into that territory from time to time, know that you have a God who is merciful and wants to show you how to 'decelerate' when you are headed toward your next temptation! You might find you never reach your intended destination as he does! Just sayin!

Have you ever...

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Romans 1:16-17)

Have you ever been 'ashamed' of something you have said, done, or believed? I have and it didn't leave me feeling all that good! Why? Shame has a way of 'eating at you'. You feel 'guilty' all the time, and your emotions range from embarrassment to inferiority. Somehow, the enemy of our soul is delighted anytime there is this fear of dishonor, a sense of disgrace, emotions of disappointment, and feelings of extreme condemnation. This is not the way God wants us to live. He wants us to shed our shame as we come to him for when sin has been erased, shame has no place. 

There might be times when we feel a bit 'ashamed' to admit that Christ has been at work in our lives. It is as though we don't want to be 'judged' by others when God has pinpointed something in us that he wants to work on and heal. Why do we do this to ourselves? God's plan was always to have us in relationship with other believers - as support, encouragement, and advisors to live a godly and wholesome life. When we fear what they will think of us, how they will treat us 'differently' once they 'know' what God is working on, we give into Satan's plan to keep us isolated and without that support that comes within community.

The thing we must keep in mind is that salvation (saying yes to Jesus) was just the door opening to a dynamic way of living. Shame has no place there, but sometimes it takes a bit to convince our minds that the work begun in our hearts by Jesus is changing the way we see ourselves, how others see us, and most importantly - how God the Father sees us. There should never be shame in telling others the joy we have found in our salvation. We don't hesitate to tell others about the latest fads or diets, so why do we hesitate to tell others what God has been doing in our lives. It is likely a pride thing - because when we 'cop to the plea' of sinner, we fear others will see us in a different light.

When we say yes to Jesus, the 'difference' seen isn't anything we should be ashamed of - it is life, light, and goodness expressed in the totally undeserved grace of God within our lives. Satan my try to make us feel the shame of our past, but God's good news is that there is no condemnation (shame) for those who are in Christ Jesus. Just sayin!

Just a 'stupid sin'

Are you a map or GPS user? Do you wing it based on the direction of the sun or other landmarks you recognize? I do a little bit of each of these - sometimes recognizing a landmark right off and knowing where I need to turn, while listening intently to the GPS or map's directions to know exactly where to exit a roadway for another. We all need directions - no one of us is able to continually know the right direction to follow all of the time. Things change around us in spite of every effort we might take to keep them the same - so we oftentimes need to have a new course set as those landmarks and way-finding points are no longer 'valid'. How will we find our way? The answer to that question is the most telling in regards to where it is we will likely end up!

There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool? Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray. Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar. (Psalm 19:14)

I like the part in our passage today where our psalmist asks God to keep him from 'stupid sins' and from 'thinking he can take over God's work'. If there were two prayers I need to pray every single day - those are the two! I step out without seeking God's direction and fall into stupid pitfalls - avoidable completely if I had just waited for the wisdom of God to show me. I certainly get ahead of his plans, thinking I have them all figured out. So...I need to ask God to keep me from doing dumb stuff and to help me stay in step with him - how about you?

How do we start each day fresh? We ask God for a clean slate. We don't just live like we expected to 'play the fool' with a 'damb the torpedos, full speed ahead' kind of attitude the day before. We need to ask God each day for the wisdom to live as we should and if we slip up a bit, ask for a clean slate each day so we don't carry yesterday's mess ups into days possibilities. Clean slates happen because someone takes the time to remove every grimy reminder of the thing that was there before. God is the only one who can remove EVERY reminder - so bring your good and bad parts of the day to him - let him do what he does best. He will magnify the good and clean away the bad.

All sin is 'stupid', but there are some sins we know very will we are not to engage in and we do them anyway. Those are the ones I kind of label as 'stupid' - because if we knew not to engage in them and did it anyway we are being played as a fool. We lack good judgment and sometimes even common sense! God doesn't reject the fool - he works to change the mindset (and heart-set) of the fool. The fool is really one who never recognizes their 'stupid sin'. The wise is the one who recognizes when they have played the fool and pursued the wrong stuff - making a swift confession to God of their 'stupid sin'. In turn, God cleans the slate - removing EVERY sign of that folly. Just sayin!

Truly Good

But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God! (I Corinthians 15:55-57)

It was guilt brought on by trying to keep 'all the rules' on our own that gave sin its leverage. The 'law-code' that says we have to obey all these rules upon rules actually did more to keep us under a load of guilt than anything else. We just aren't capable of keeping all the rules on our own. Rules are boundaries - some are set by men to keep men in line; others are set by God because he knows the destructiveness of sin's full consummation in our lives. Either way - they are hard to keep all of the time in our own effort or 'will-power'. 

In a single stroke - sin, guilt, and death - all are wiped away. How is that possible? Guilt seems to linger on long after we have confessed our short-comings. Sometimes shame replaces the feelings of guilt, making the 'sting' of our sin felt time and time again as we come to believe we are never going to be free of the sin's pull. Yet - - - in a SINGLE action, Christ dealt with all three! Sin was swallowed up in the action of the cross - along with the guilt and shame of that sin. Death - life lived apart from God for all of eternity - was dealt a final blow. 

Don't miss it - freedom from sin; victory over shame; and triumph over the 'finality' of the grave is ALL ours - as a gift given by the one who holds all three in his claim - Christ. Not anything we earn, but everything we count on as ours from now through all of eternity. So, why do we live as though we don't have victory over our sin and shame? We likely do so because we are listening to the lie that we will never be good enough, do enough good, or influence enough good in this life. That is true - apart from Christ's presence within us. 

With the presence of Christ within, 'good enough' is made 'so much more than just good enough'. We are exalted into the position of Kings Kids - we are royalty! With the presence of Christ within 'doing good' isn't about keeping all the rules, it is about living the way he desires because we are so in love with him that we desire to do nothing less. With the presence of Christ within, our life is an influence for good and a deterrent to evil. We are light and life - examples of his love, grace, and peace. We are living testimonials of his ability to release from the hold of this 'do good' spin we try to convince ourselves we can do on our own.

Death swallowed by triumphant life - sin brings death in the spiritual sense - separating us from the presence of God and the peace that comes by living close to his heart. Christ did what none of us is capable of doing - triumphing over death's pull and sting. Nothing pulls us toward eternal death any longer - everything pulls us toward eternal life - a life lived in the presence of the One True God himself. We can 'try' to live good, but only the presence of a good God within us can make us truly 'good'. Just sayin!

Too many to count

I am always on the look-out for a good deal. I like to find those mark-downs on the end-caps, come across a great garage sale with items so reasonably priced, and even find the perfect good deal on the social media marketplace. A person on the 'look-out' really has to be on their toes, or it is quite possible a good deal could pass them by. Staying on your toes is a term used to describe being prepared for whatever could happen - ready for action - ready to jump in and to take action no matter what it may require. We also could describe this type of 'look-out' stance as being alert and aware of what is going on around us - not missing a beat. There is attentiveness, preparedness, and an investment which is spoken of when we are 'on the look-out'.

So watch your step, friends. Make sure there's no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as it's still God's Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn't slow down your reflexes. If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we're in this with Christ for the long haul. (Hebrews 3:12-14)

Scripture tells us to take a good, hard look at Jesus. This is suggestive of more than just merely "entertaining" a fleeting acquaintance with who he is or what he has been doing. It is suggestive of being really deeply engaged in finding out who this Jesus really is to us. In taking this "good, hard look" at Jesus, we are to come to the place where we recognize he is the center of all we believe and do - not just some small part of our belief system. As the center, it is important to realize everything else we believe must begin and end with him. We are reminded throughout scripture to consider the failure of our forefathers in the faith - the Israelites - who failed miserably in trusting God over and over again. For a while, they'd surge ahead in faith, aligned with God's plans, but when they got "comfortable" with God's grace in their lives, they began to take God's grace for granted - he drifted out of center in their lives. In the end, they'd fall into all kinds of sinful misdeeds which God had clearly warned them to avoid. Their actions are described as "trying God's patience". I so totally see myself doing that! I wonder just how many times I have taken God for granted, settled into my comfortable place, and drifted into complacency? Too many to count.

Guess what? I am not in this "comfort zone" alone! I think I have other companions in this journey who have done the same! In fact, this is why God reminds us to "keep each other on our toes"! He knew comfort's extremely easy "drift". He also knew the best way to avoid the "drift" is to have a companion in the journey - one who helps us to remain on our toes. I honestly believe having someone in our lives who keeps us on our toes is more than having someone we confess our struggles to and ask for them to pray for us on a particular matter of concern. One of my most important "accountability" partners doesn't even know she is holding me accountable at times - she just does because I give her permission to 'call me out' when I am acting a little out of sorts! In the simple ways she challenges me to consider my actions, to temper my words, or even to just get it together, I am kept on "my toes". Yep, she is helping me to draw nearer to Christ just by being in my life. A boxer in the ring needs to be "on his toes" when he is faced by an opponent. It is the presence of that opponent that brings him to attention - demands his focus. I wonder how many times we have discounted the activity of being faced with an opponent in life? Perhaps the presence of an opponent is really helping to keep us on our toes! Through comfort and unease, we have to be ready for anything. We will face much in the journey - some more enjoyable than others. In the midst of it all, we need each other's "coaching" to remain on our toes - so we don't give into the "drift" and lure of that place of comfort. Who's in your life, keeping you on your toes today? It could be a friend, or it could be the one in the ring with you! Either way - keep Christ at the center, stay on your toes, and don't get too comfortable! Just sayin!

The Counting House Books

Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. (Charlotte Bronte) If you recall the Charles Dickens classic in which Ebenezer Scrooge is observed making his way to his counting house (today's version of a bank), all the while intent on not celebrating Christmas, holding people captive to their debts, and being unwilling to ensure the poor could have even a small meal to enjoy on the holiday, you might be close to the miserable state a soul endures who is so tied up in himself that he fails to recognize the needs of others around him. I daresay none of us is exempt from a periodic display of selfishness from time to time. If we find ourselves given to this pattern of behavior over and over again, it is likely we are going to develop some of these traits as revealed to us by Scrooge. Nursing animosity or registering wrongs is really a condition of the heart that goes much deeper than 'keeping accounts'. Did you ever stop to wonder why Dickens chose to give Scrooge the profession of running the counting house? Maybe he was trying to help us realize there is no 'record-keeping' that will ever lead to us living a full and honorable life!

Overlook my youthful sins, O Lord! Look at me instead through eyes of mercy and forgiveness, through eyes of everlasting love and kindness. (Psalm 25:6-7)

We all do dumb stuff from time to time - there is just not escaping that fact! We all need forgiveness for the things we have said, thoughts we have entertained, and coolness of attitude we have displayed as the moments arose. We all might seek it, but do we render it as quickly as we seek it ourselves? This is where the rubber meets the road - in our giving forgiveness - not just in our seeking it for ourselves. It is easy to point out where someone has wronged us - it is quite a different matter to release them from the debt of 'owing us' something for that wrong. The 'counting house' books we all can potentially keep against others can soon become full of 'debts owed' if we aren't careful. The 'books' could be filled with our own transgressions and failures, but God in his vast mercy wipes the slate clean. Those pages bear the words "paid in full" next to our names, my friend. Isn't it about time we learn what it is to live above 'keeping record of wrongs'?

Forgiveness isn't always sought - in fact, some may find it easy to point out how they feel wronged, where it is we have failed them, and what it is others have done to make life hard for them. It seems their 'record-keeping' is quite thorough - as they are able to 'turn the pages' of their 'counting books' and find each and every 'debt' they feel they are owed. Animosity is really a big word for resentment or bitterness. All record-keeping does is allow us to constantly keep in mind what debt hasn't been paid in the moment. Debt is always something 'owed' because it could not be repaid at that moment in time when the payment was required. If you went to your car dealership today and declared you desired a new car that you needed to take off the lot today, but that you had insufficient funds saved to pay in full for that car, how is it you'd be able to drive it off the lot? You'd owe a debt you could not pay in full - a debt that would need to be paid back 'with interest'.

The 'interest' is kind of what Scrooge was revealing to us as the 'hook' that keeps us mulling over those debts. Every time we allow a 'debt' to be recorded in our books, we assign some form of 'required interest' on those debts. We expect the individual to 'pay back' in full what they owe, including some measure of interest. The longer the debt is held, the more the interest expected! There is a danger in holding debts others cannot repay - those things we should forgive in the moment, never allowing even one entry to be made into a 'counting book' under their name. The danger isn't always clear to us, though. We forget that our sins have been many and we have been forgiven much more. We forget the interest we never had to repay, or our future inability to make payment for some infraction or 'debt'. We'd do well to recall the extreme mercy of God and remember he keeps no records of our wrongs! Just sayin!

A well-worn path

We all probably have heard some variation of the 'confession is good for the soul' terminology. The fact of the matter is that it is one of the most powerful 'actions' we take on behalf of our soul that actually begins to touch the souls of those around us. Being able to own up to your mistakes is hard, but there comes a time when the soul is changed by one simple confession. There is nothing that binds two people together in a more committed manner than being able to confess one's mistakes to the other. Too many times, we hold out for the other to come to the place of admitting they were wrong before we will take even one step in that direction. When we choose to do this, we alienate ourselves from that which will bring health to our own lives. It is in confession that we find healing. The first place of healing is at the foot of the cross - in confession we find deliverance. The next place we may need to make confession is at the feet of a friend - for in confession, we find wholeness in the relationship is restored.

"This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God. Or say you're out on the street and an old enemy accosts you. Don't lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him. After all, if you leave the first move to him, knowing his track record, you're likely to end up in court, maybe even jail. If that happens, you won't get out without a stiff fine." (Matthew 5:23-26)

Jesus is talking about making the "first" move. Whenever you have knowledge that you have offended, or that the other feels that you have offended them, it is your responsibility to make the first move toward reconciliation. Sometimes we think that we did nothing wrong and in actuality, when the facts are examined, we probably didn't have much to do with the thing that now drives a wedge between us! But...the other person interpreted something you said or did as offensive to them. It was a very difficult thing for me to actually learn that I was responsible for the way others perceive me. I wanted to believe how they saw me was their problem - not mine. After all, if it was their problem, then I didn't need to do anything to 'fix' the problem!

It is in my actions, words, or lack of these, that you form an impression of me. You "perceive" me as kind, caring, and a joy to be around, OR you see me as meddlesome, overbearing, and a pain to be associated with at all. The way I "come across" is my doing - it is my responsibility! Sometimes, we don't do such a good job at putting our best effort into being our best in relationship. Whenever this happens riffs are apt to occur. Jesus gave us the picture of being at the altar, ready to offer a sacrifice of worship, and realizing that a "riff" had occurred. His instruction: Leave the sacrifice (abandon what you are doing) and beat a path to the doorway of the one you have offended - the sacrifice matters little if there is discontent and misunderstanding in relationship.

Now, for some of us, this "pathway" to the door of the one we have offended may be a little better worn! I have been in relationships where I find that the two of us are just like course sandpaper to each other - constantly rubbing each other wrong. Those "paths" are a little deeper worn than in some of my other relationships. In fact, I "know the way" without even looking - simply because I have made my way to them often enough that the way is familiar to me. At first, it was very awkward and uncomfortable. Now, it is a little easier, but no less important! If we are always waiting for the other to make the first move, we may wait a long, long time. In that passage of time, the mind and heart has a chance to "formulate" all kinds of imagined reasons for why the relationship will never work again. It is that very passage of time that Jesus was focusing on us avoiding. He even says that worship is not more important than making things right when an offense exists. It matters that much to him to see us living well with each other!

We are not "overlooking" an offense and just letting someone get by with something. Instead, we are coming together to "settle the differences" - making a clean slate of things. Sometimes, it means we both confess we were wrong - at other times, it may only be one of us that comes to the place of confession. It does not have to be both of us realizing the error in our ways to bring reconciliation - it only takes one of us making the move! In time, God will do the rest. In the times of open dialogue within relationship, confession plays an important part in the destruction of "dividing walls" that serve to drive us far apart. That 'well-worn' path is not a bad thing, but remember - as important as the pathway is, avoiding the need to use it at all is something we should learn over time! Just sayin!