A new leaf

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

Ever made a really dumb decision? I know I can list a few, perhaps even more than a few. We all make mistakes sometimes, some 'dumber' than others, with some standing out as the 'dumbest' of the 'dumb'. These probably have led to some pretty deep hurts - hurts that seem to hang around long after the decision was made and done. What do we do with the deep hurts that are part of our past mistakes? We can repent, 'turn a new leaf', and move on, or we can harbor those hurts, rehashing the guilt of those decisions over and over again. 

When the hurts of the past aren't in the past, we find the rehearsal of those hurts to sometimes be worse than the original 'misstep' was in the first place. God wants to do a work within us of actually getting those hurts into our past and having them reside there permanently! Those hurts, continually rehearsed, will hinder us from moving forward in life until God affords us the pathway to finally let go of them. We need to follow that path he lays out.

God's voice is gentle - it isn't accusatory. If the voice of accusation is holding you back today, it is time to change who it is you are listening to! God's voice is sometimes no more than a whisper, but it is calling us onward, not back to the past. If God asks us to deal with something that we thought was in the past, it is only because we didn't fully deal with it at the time he asked us to let it go. God doesn't rehearse our sins, so we shouldn't either. He covers them with the blood of Jesus, removing all the stain of our guilt, and gives us a new pathway to follow. 

It is possible we haven't been ready to let go of the past. We hold onto something, even when it isn't doing us any good, bringing us down and loading us up with all kinds of guilty feelings. I want to tell you clearly today that God is ready to transform you right there. Right where your missteps got you into so much difficulty and caused you so much hurt. Listen for that 'whisper' of his gentle voice today and see what he will do as you respond to his voice. You don't have to live under that load any longer. Just sayin!

Uncluttering the closet

The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)

Have you ever purchased some piece of clothing, only to have it sit unworn in your closet? You thought you did a great job of finding a bargain, getting a style that is totally 'in' at the moment, but when you tried it on at home, it just didn't fit you right or you didn't have the right shirt to go with the trousers. God's 'new clothing' he provides us in grace isn't meant to just hang around unworn. It is what actually clothes us against this world's hardness and sin's tremendously tenacious pull. Leave it just 'hanging' and you go defenseless! Two things I'd like us to see from our passage today: 1) The 'new life' emerges, it doesn't just 'whammo' appear one day and all the old is magically gone - there is a little 'closet cleaning' that must be done on our part! 2) We are only capable of being ambassadors of the message of grace when we are willing to drop our differences with each other. 

While 'closet cleaning' is never an exciting job for any of us, there is something cathartic about doing the 'out with the old' and 'in with the new' thing. Some of the hardest 'closet cleaning' we will do is to settle our relationships with each other. We can 'pack away' a whole lot of 'unflattering' and 'unwanted' things in the 'closets' of our mind and heart. When God asks us to finally 'unpack' that stuff, he isn't just asking us to push it further back to make room for the new. He is asking us to actually go through the trouble and exert the energy to get those things out into the light of day, letting him show us how to 'rid ourselves' of them. You may have begun a bit of 'closet cleaning' this year, attempting to make a fresh start with some you have had relationship woes with, but it isn't going so well. That other individual wants to you cram it all back in and just deal with it on our own! When that happens, it doesn't mean we just retain possession of those things - we still let God help us rid ourselves of those thoughts and grudges.

Dropping a difference is likely not going to be at the top of our to do list today, but if God is prompting you right now about someone who you've not had the best of interactions with lately, why not allow him to help you deal with the differences in his grace and see just how freeing having an 'empty closet' can be. As we 'make room', he fills with all that will fit our frame so well. Just sayin!

Reject your sense of injury

I frequently shake my head over something silly I have done or notice around me. It as though I am standing there in just a bit of amazement over the 'stupidity' of my actions or someone else's, wondering just how I ever thought 'that' would work out well for my situation or theirs. I don't know what your 'that' may be, but I do know I don't stand there shaking my head alone as I have observed others shaking theirs, too! It is as though all 'good sense' exited the building and now we are left to deal with whatever the 'lack of good sense' left behind. 

You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands. (Psalm 119:73)

Marcus Aurelius said, "Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears." We can get all upset over injuries others cause us, but we can really get ourselves in a tizzy over the ones we inflict upon ourselves because of our lack of 'good sense'. They say poverty is the mother of crime, but Jean de la Bruyere said the father of it was a lack of good sense. We have much poverty in this world today, not just in the traditional sense of 'financial poverty', but also in the sense of 'spiritual poverty'. Although we have 'religious institutions' abounding, society is still quite lacking in 'good spiritual sense' many times.

The sense to follow God's commands isn't innate - it has to be learned. There is a yearning for God that is 'internal' within each of us because he created us with that 'hole' in our lives that really cannot be adequately filled with anything other than himself. We lack good spiritual sense whenever we reject his commands or alter them to fit our set of ideals. To really embrace his commands, one has to embrace him, allowing him to take control of our thought life, emotions, and even our will. To many, that is a scary thought because they feel 'giving over control' to another is going to 'cramp their style'. Let me assure you of this - you have ZERO style without Jesus! It isn't until he enters that space created just for him that your 'style' really begins to show through!

God made us, creating us with a desire to know him - though we sometimes don't know how to put that 'inner desire' into words - it still drives us to 'find' whatever we sense is missing. Whenever we seek to understand him better, we are going to find him welcoming us into his presence. When we enter his presence, there is a change in perspective that comes into our lives. We begin to see things just a bit differently than we did when we were trying to 'control our style'. We find the 'good sense' we thought we had really wasn't all that 'good' after all. His 'good sense' begins to infiltrate our lives, and we begin to see different actions emerging, as a result. 

We are able to reject the injury we caused ourselves or others brought upon us, and in time, we sense the injury falling away. We find a sense of peace, allowing his commands to define for us what makes 'sense' in a world that sometimes makes very little sense at all. Just sayin!

A let down isn't always bad

When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:1-5)

Stop for a moment to consider the faith of these friends. There is no indication the man had enough faith to do such a thing - although he certainly had the need. These words struck me this morning - "Seeing THEIR faith". It is important to know that THEIR faith got the man where he needed to be in order to receive his healing. Sometimes it isn't our faith that gets us to that place where our need is met - it is the community of friends that we have in Christ Jesus that get us there!

A surgeon doesn't operate alone. He is surrounded by others, all doing their particular tasks. The entire operation requires a team effort, expertly coordinated and perfectly orchestrated. The team makes the difference! We can 'get by' with a lousy team, but when the right team is in place, what a difference that makes. When the right team is in place in your life, the difference is palpable. The 'faith energy' produced when we are surrounded by those who are also close to Jesus energizes us when we are 'running low'.

They dug a hole through some poor guy's rooftop in order to get their friend before Jesus! I can only imagine the moxie that took to coordinate such a plan and actually 'create the opening' that would become the means by which the man received his healing. There are definitely times when we need others with a courageous spirit and determination that won't quit. When we are having doubts, we need their faith. When we are succumbing to the 'difficulties of the moment', we need their perseverance to continue on in spite of it all.

Sin might attempt to keep us flat on our mat, but the faith of good friends and their determination to see us made right again with God may be the thing that propels us forward into the presence of God again. We cannot ignore the need for community - they could provide the 'biggest let down' of our lives. Just sayin!

Disreputable?

Later Jesus and his disciples were at home having supper with a collection of disreputable guests. Unlikely as it seems, more than a few of them had become followers. The religion scholars and Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company and lit into his disciples: “What kind of example is this, acting cozy with the misfits?” Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit.” (Mark 2:15-17)

Unlikely as it seems - that statement really says way more than we might initially think. We have a tendency to 'gloss over' some words that really 'set the stage' for what is about to be revealed. We cannot ever forget the 'company' Jesus kept, because not only was it a 'sticking point' for the religious leaders of the day, but it was a revelation of what was about to come - liberty, healing, hope, and restoration. Unlikely candidates for grace are oftentimes the most grateful for it! 

The sin-sick vs. the spiritually-fit - what a challenge that must have been for the 'religious leaders' who always shunned the sinful and elevated their own worth by being 'showy' about all their religious deeds and book-learning. The sin-sick needed help, but they did not find it in the religion of the leaders. In fact, they were often excluded from 'practicing' their religious customs because they were considered to be 'unclean'. Clean people don't need a bath - dirty ones do!

Cozy with the misfits - the crux of the matter is the company Jesus was keeping. He had healed a paralyzed man lowered on a mat through the roof of a house; healed the one with a disturbing spirit that kept the man in constant agony, tortured from the inside out; and opened his heart to those that were 'religious outcasts' of the day. This drew the 'negative attention' of the religious leaders who thought of these individuals as 'misfits' - not 'fit' to enter into the presence of a holy God. It is good news to know that misfits are welcomed at the table of the Lord!

Disreputable guests? Unlikely as it seems - they followed Jesus. We sometimes don't believe our life testimony speaks very loudly, but when others see something of Jesus in us, it draws them. They develop a curiosity about that which has so significantly changed our lives. Don't be afraid to reveal Jesus through your life - in actions and attitude. You never know how many 'misfit' and 'disreputable' will be drawn into his presence because you do! Just sayin!

All the kings horses...

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. (Ernest Hemingway)

What are some of your worst 'broken places'? Maybe you have been 'broken' in the place we call the 'heart' - someone disappointing you so badly that you just have never fully healed. Perhaps it is in the place we call the 'spirit of man' - something occurring that just shredded your confidence and left you not wanting to ever try again. You and I both have broken places, but they don't have to be places where brokenness remains. There is hope for restoration beyond what we imagine possible when Jesus touches those places.

The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken! (Psalm 34:17-20)

We might believe the 'damage' is permanent, but the moment we ask Jesus to take over that 'damaged place', the healing begins. If what Hemingway proposes is true, that the world actually does 'break' everyone, then it is also true that ALL of us need some 'putting back together' from time to time. When we allow Christ to heal those broken places, we come away stronger than we were before. Not because we have formed 'callouses' in those places, but because whatever debris was there from the hurt is removed, not just covered over.

It was Hemingway that also reminds us, "When you go to war as a boy, you have a great illusion of immortality. Other people get killed, not you... Then, when you are badly wounded the first time, you lose that illusion, and you know it can happen to you." We might think we are never going to experience the brokenness we work so hard to avoid, but it is all an illusion. At some point, like it or not, we will experience that broken place. If you haven't realized it already, broken places are God's opportunities. Just sayin!

A life healed and whole

What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole. (I Peter 1:3)

This was one of those verses I'd remind mom of anytime she'd worry over her many aches and tremendously haunting neuropathic pain. We'd just sit for a bit and imagine her walking upright, without pain, able to see perfectly once again. She had a hard time imagining it, but she held onto that promise time and time again - life healed and whole. Sometimes all we have is the hope - we cannot let go of it no matter how long the answer may be delayed - because the day is surely coming! I don't know what you delay may be, but trust me on this one, the day is coming!

Too many times we think the 'future' begins at some point in the distant 'future', but as God reminds us - the future starts now. God's plans for us may not be at the point of fruition yet, but if we hold onto the promise of his purpose in our lives, we won't be disappointed. His plans will always come to pass - hold on. Whenever I feel like my 'hopes' are dipping a bit, I remind myself how blessed I am to have a God who loves me enough to fulfill his promises. I also remind myself that timing is everything - God's timing is way more important than mine. I may not see the things I am hoping for as evident right now, but is that any reason to doubt his plan? No, in fact it is a reason to ask God to help me continue to have my faith built up, made solid and sure, leaning heavily upon his arms as I wait.

Plans don't just 'happen' - they unfold. That is the nature of a plan - it is laid out, orchestrated, then put into action. I don't plan a vacation by just getting on the road and heading somewhere, who knows where. I plan the lodging, route to take, things I might do while there or along the way. Then I know the day I will leave, but I don't settle on the time to leave until closer to that day. I plan my wardrobe based on the weather forecast for that time away, but don't pack until the day before the trip. Plans in our real, ordinary, everyday life unfold - little by little. Why would we think God's plans would be any different? The future begins now, but the culmination of the thing we hope for so much may take some orchestration by God - and that takes time. Time for us to be ready. Time for the things that need to be put in place around us to be complete. Time - the four-letter word we have the hardest time reconciling! No matter the timing, a life healed and whole is my goal. How about you? Just askin...

So, time for retreat?

God is solid backing to a well-lived life, but he calls into question a shabby performance. (Proverbs 10:29)

Just met with the financial advisor and one of the questions I keep asking is how 'solid' the backing of every investment is right now. As I near retirement, I want to be sure my investments will be solidly backed. Backing sometimes comes in the form of a 'thing', but it can also be a 'place' and a 'person', right? Be in the right place and have the right person 'backing' you there and you are likely going to do okay in the end. A sanctuary is kind of like having that 'well-backed' place and it is usually a place provided by some pretty 'phenomenal', as well. There is something special about having a place of sanctuary, isn't there? When we have a place of retreat, we somehow feel a little better knowing we can go there to recover from the things of our day that beat us down and made us more than a little weary. Another word for sanctuary is refuge or bastion - a place of 'backing'. The purpose is for our protection - God provides a fortress for our defense and so that we can develop a good offense.

Scriptura tells us our Lord is a stronghold (sanctuary, bastion) to those with integrity. Yet, this same stronghold brings judgment to the wicked - those with 'shabby performance'! What is a place of refuge for one is the very thing which will destroy the other! We see this as true throughout scripture, don't we? Look at Israel and the surrounding nations - Israel enjoyed God's presence as their stronghold (sanctuary, bastion) while the heathen nations found the presence of God as a threat and a thing of dread! God is a SOLID backing (bastion, stronghold) to a well-lived life - yet a life lived in the shabbiness of sinful self-indulgence is unable to enjoy the safety and protection of this same sanctuary. Not only is God our stronghold, but walking in the way he outlines for our lives is a place of "sanctuary" for us. Sometimes I think we imagine a stronghold or sanctuary as being "some place" rather than being a journey of consistent progress in the right direction. As we are "on the way" we enjoy the sanctuary of the presence of God. We don't need to "retreat" to a physical place to enjoy his presence (sanctuary, bastion). We simply need to be walking in the way of the Lord.

Integrity is the "key" that unlocks the door of the sanctuary. The moral soundness of our walk is important! In order to understand this a little better, allow me to use a picture to illustrate. Think of getting dressed in the morning. If you are female, there may be a few different items you will don to keep things in place and modestly covered. If you are a guy, you probably might wear a few things us ladies would not, like a tie or a belt to hold all those things you like to attach to your waist. Now, if you were to dress today by leaving off some of these things you use to "hold things in place" or "attach important stuff to", how would you feel? You'd probably feel a little less than "perfectly" put together. Integrity is the condition of having things together in right order. When we try to make God our sanctuary, we are able to do so when things are in "right order" between us and God. God calls into question any "shabby performance" - simply because his presence is enjoyed best when we have things in order within our lives!

We all need "backing" in our lives. No one is able to live life completely without the help of another. Try as we might, we will never be able to accomplish quite the same degree of performance as we can when we are doing it with the help of another. There is no stronger assistance, no better "backer" of our lives than God himself. We may hunt high and low attempting to find other things and people to "back us up" in life - but nothing outshines God's backing! The 27th verse of the same proverb says, "The Fear-of-God expands your life; a wicked life is a puny life." Isn't a sanctuary a place where we can "spread out" in rest, repose, and refreshing? The idea of sanctuary leads us to believe we can "recover" and "retake" ground we may have lost during previous failures in the battle. God is more interested in our living well than he is in pointing out our failures, but it is good to know when we fail there is a place of refuge to turn for healing and restoration! We all need to consider our sanctuary. Maybe it has been a long time since we have "retreated" into the presence of God - allowing him to heal and restore. Today could be the one that helps us move from shabbiness into integrity. His presence is both a place of defense and offense! Sometimes we don't walk well - recognition is the first step toward sanctuary! Just sayin!

No April Fool Here

But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master. (Romans 6:23)

Who tells you what to do? We probably all have persons in authority within our lives that give us tasks to complete and we go off in the direction of 'doing' whatever it is we are asked to do. Bosses are probably at the top of the list - they by nature of their position are guiding the work that gets done each day. If you are a child, parents are those individuals who remind the child of the bed needing to be made, teeth requiring a little scrubbing, and toilet paper that needs replacing when they use it all up. Traffic cops expect we will observe what they tell us to do, diverting this way or that, stopping when told and then proceeding when it is our 'turn' in line. Even in nature there are bigger, more dominant animals, birds, and reptiles that seem to be 'telling' those around them what to do. I observe the larger mourning doves ward off the sparrows until they have had their own fill at the feeders - the sparrows just watching on the fence line until it is 'their turn'. If sin has been at work in our lives, telling us to go this way or that, maybe it is time we listen to a different 'authority' in our lives.

It took a while for me to figure out that I didn't need to listen to that voice of temptation telling me what to do. How about you? No, I don't have this down pat, still listening to the 'wrong voice' on occasion, but I listen less and less to it as I recognize there is a new 'authority' in my life I need to listen to instead. Sin attempts to tell us what to do, but we don't have to listen, much less heed the urging to do whatever it is we are being prompted to engage in. There is indeed a great delight in listening to the 'right' voice! Who knew it would be so rewarding to listen tot he right voice - submit to the right authority - in our lives? I appreciate that God reminds us sin is like a task-master, making us work for it, but with no real reward at the end of all that work. If you find you have listened a little bit more to the urging of the one who urges you to take steps you know better than to take, maybe it is time to allow a change of authority in your life. Sin will rule as long as you allow it to rule - you actually have to 'unseat' that authority in your life and allow the authority of Christ to become the only thing 'seated' deep within your heart and mind.

A whole, healed, put together life - is there anyone reading this that doesn't honestly want this for themselves? I know I get tired of walking around with a bag of mixed emotions, heart hurting because of what I do that doesn't honor God, and dragging around all those feelings of guilt and remorse. So, instead of dragging those things around, I have come to recognize they signal me of a problem with who is the ultimate authority in my life at that moment. It is likely me and my own sinful desires that urge me to do things that aren't in God's plan for me. I listen to the wrong voice and it loads me up with all manner of stuff that I don't want to be loaded down with. So, I choose to listen with my spiritual ears, not just the ones attached to the sides of my head! I hear God's voice in the stillness of the times I allow him to be heard. You read that right - I 'allow' God to be heard by my heart, mind, will, and emotions. I have to make time to listen - intently, with determined heart, mindful of what is being spoken to me. Remember, God never said he would speak with the loudest and most demanding voice - that is likely the task-master known as sin!

The 'put together' me is not an easy project - there are a whole lot of 'missed steps' that God has to deal with when he speaks into my life. How about you? Does he bring correction to you, as well? If so, you need to remember you are only being 'corrected' because you are being intensely loved. God's correction is always designed to bring us out from under the task-master of sin in our lives - it is love in action, delivering us from a task-master with a very loud voice, but a very evil heart. Don't reject God's quiet corrections - they are 'love taps' to get us back under the correct authority in our lives. I like that God corrects me - when my words are harsh, actions are less than honorable, or thoughts wander into places of comparison that only feed pride and envy. A healed and put-together life is one that recognizes when the voice we listened to steered us down a wrong path and the voice we hear quietly correcting us is really the only one that speaks from a place of love - the ultimate place of authority! Just sayin!

Can you re-purpose this?

Construction projects come in all forms. What is built is really determined by a few things such as how much someone is willing to invest, the place where the constructed item will rest, and what the purpose of the construction holds. We might not all see the constructed thing the same way, as some may look at an old barn and see a venue for weddings, or an old grain silo and see a new home for their family. The thing constructed can be 're-purposed' if it has the right attention and the right hands doing the work! All of us are capable of having 'constructed' many things in this lifetime, but none of what we construct measures up to what God can 're-construct' from our lives when they are firmly placed in his hands.

What the wicked construct finally falls into ruin, while the roots of the righteous give life, and more life. (Proverbs 12:12 MSG)

As I have pointed out before, that which is constructed sometimes needs to be deconstructed before it can be reconstructed. The demolition process can go very, very fast compared to the reconstruction process, though. The effort to remove all the things that no longer belong can oftentimes turn up things that we never knew were there. I have watched a couple of series with people doing home remodeling or the demolition of older buildings. The most amazing discoveries can be found buried deep within walls, or under floor-boards hidden away by years and years of 'recovering' the surface time and time again. Sometimes what we have sought to 'cover over' for so long can be the one thing that lends the greatest beauty to the entire 'reconstructed' life!

It is awesome to see old, once hidden hardwood flooring, weathered and worn by the years and years of misuse and 'cover-up' to finally be uncovered and restored. The weathered and worn look only lends character to the dwelling - allowing the true character to show through lends warmth that invites others into the dwelling - it doesn't drive them away. What we sometimes think will repel others can become a thing of great beauty that actually invites others to 'uncover' what has been hidden in their lives, as well. The hidden only masks the true beauty - we might not think it possible for beauty to emerge from what is cleverly masked over, but with the right attention that which has been hidden away can become a glowing reminder of how much God's tender care can restore a damaged life to the most beautiful showcase of his grace.

What matters most when the deconstructing work is occurring is our trust in what God sees as the finished project. He knows what he is doing by uncovering all those hidden places and taking out what no longer belongs in our lives. He knows where the 'root' of our lives will reveal beauty instead of masked flaws. The moment we trust him with the 'reconstruction' of our lives it might become a little uncomfortable to see all those flaws brought out 'front and center' in our lives, but when we see how his tender care begins to do more than 'mask' those flaws, we begin to see that he has done much to 're-purpose' what we thought would serve no further purpose in our lives ever again. Just sayin!