Reflection

Others are watching you, wondering if your heart really belongs to God.  Do you know how they determine if you are truly His child?  They look for evidence of the relationship.  No one has to wonder whether or not I am married.  The wedding band on my finger tells the whole story.  The same should be said of the Christian journey.  The evidence is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.

But these qualities of character do not simply appear, nor do they grow through the force of your will.  They are like fruit, and they grow into your life as a result of your being related to Christ.  You cannot bear this kind of fruit unless you are connected to the Lord.  When these qualities are blatantly evident in your life, God is glorified.  He wants everyone else to know that you belong to Him!  He is proud of you!  God carries your picture in His wallet.

Jesus summed up the key to developing these qualities.  His command to us is this:  Love others as He first loved us.  If you heed His teaching, He will help you develop the character traits that prove to the world that this Earth is not our home.

True Faith

One of the most frequent criticisms applied to Christians is that we
are "hypocrites." Many times this is simply a cheap shot. But,
sadly, sometimes we deserve this label. We can easily believe one
thing, yet do another. Or we might sweetly praise God's name in a
worship service, only to yell mercilessly at the driver who cuts in
front of us on the way home from church.

The issue of hypocrisy is as old as Christianity itself. Just a few
years after the church was born, James wrote a letter addressing the
problem of Christians who fail to live out their faith. In his letter
he offers practical advice for how our lives as Christians can reflect
well upon our faith, and, indeed, upon God.

Perhaps the most familiar section of James is the discussion of faith
and works in chapter 2. On a superficial level, James appears to
contradict Paul's teaching on justification by faith when he says that
"a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone" (2:24;
compare Galatians 2:16). But a more careful reading of James (and
Paul) corrects this misunderstanding. For Paul, genuine faith in
Christ will always be expressed in good works (cf. Ephesians 2:8-10).
Similarly, James claims that faith without works is dead (2:17).

Why does James emphasize the negative side of the discussion? He is
probably responding to a group of Christians who distorted Paul's
original teaching. These individuals claimed that it was sufficient
merely to affirm the truth of the gospel. Faith, for them, required
no active response or life transformation. In fact, their theology
provided a solid foundation for a life of blatant Christian hypocrisy.
James writes to correct their confusion. Both he and Paul would
agree that true faith will transform one's life and be demonstrated in
good works.

Not surprisingly, James's comments on worship emphasize its active,
daily-life implications: "If anyone considers himself religious and
yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue, he deceives himself and
his religion is worthless" (1:26). What a tragedy that the same mouth
can both praise God and curse people created in God's image (3:9-10)!
To frame the matter more positively, if our worship is genuine the
experience of offering praise to God should transform the way we speak
and relate to others.

Furthermore, our worship must be expressed not only in praise to God,
but also in tangible care for people: "Religion that God our Father
accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and
widows in their distress" (1:27). Since God, who is full of
compassion and mercy, gives generously to us, we should do likewise to
others. This passage reminds us of what Jesus says in Matthew
25:31-46. When we care for "the least" in Jesus' family, we are
caring for Him! So, when we show love to orphans, widows, co-workers,
homeless, even those who have intentionally wronged us, God receives
our actions as offerings of love to Him. There is no greater goal
than to point others toward Christ!

Perspective

Christ is building His kingdom with earth's broken things.  Men want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in building their kingdoms; but God is the God of the unsuccessful, of those who have failed.  Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take and restore to glorious beauty.  He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow and transform it into an instrument whose music shall be all praise.  He can lift earth's saddest failure up to Heaven's glory.

Salt and Light

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."  Jesus, taken from Matthew 5:13-16 (NIV)

Considering that my last entry started with the Beatitudes, I figured it would behoove me to continue the journey.  You will note that there is a shift here.  The Beatitudes were written in the third person.  Now, in this passage, we have text in the second person plural.  In other words, there is a subtle shift here, from describing Kingdom character traits (v. 1-12) to what Kingdom people, what we as Christians, should actually do.

Please notice here, those reading who are my brothers and sisters in Christ, that we are called to be this salt, this light, this living, radiant energy that points the way to Christ!  I've said this at least once earlier, but it bears repeating: if someone is living outside of Christ, then they are living inside darkness!  There is no tolerance, no "grey area," no spiritual smorgasboard that will suffice.  Christ is all, and we are His body on Earth! Hallelujah!

The Definition of Serendipity

Most everyone, whether or not they are followers of Christ, are familiar with the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5.  What most do not know, however, is that in the original Greek, the word for "blessed" here literally translates into a short cry of joy.  The best way I could phrase it would be "You lucky person! You're doing what God made you to do!"  Keep in mind that we cannot pick and choose when this applies.  "Blessed" also appears in v. 11, where Jesus reminds us to be joyful "when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me."

Christ turned the world's accepted standards upside-down.  It is the poor, not the rich, who are blessed; the weak, not the strong, who are to be esteemed; the pure in heart, not the sophisticated and the worldly, who understand what life is about.  Righteousness, not pleasure or power or money, should be our pursuit.

My friends, happiness is not what we feel, it is what IS.  Happiness is not a goal, it is a by-product, controlled by our internal values and beliefs.  Happiness is what happens to us when we choose to follow Christ and allow His character to become a part of us!  That is why Paul explains in an amazing passage out of II Corinthians that we, "who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (3:18 NIV).  Not only do we glimpse God's glory now, but His Spirit is in the process of transforming us more and more into the glorious likeness of God.  

Soul-Baring Surrender

The author of Ecclesiastes is known only as "the Teacher" (Heb. Qoheleth [Koh-hey-LATE] ), although tradition and textual cues connect him with King Solomon.  The book contains a lengthy speech (1:12-12:8), preceded by a brief introduction (1:1-11) and followed by an epilogue (12:8-14).

The Teacher's message is a bracing confession of his struggle to find meaning in life.  His view of the world is often cynical and jaded.  His gut-wrenching honesty enlightens our own struggle for a purposeful life.  It also models for us how to be honest with God about our own doubts.  The Teacher's message may seem shocking to us, but it doesn't offend God.  God is more interested in the things on our hearts, however rough, than He is in the polished words we use to impress Him.  For all of his cynicism, the Teacher does not question his relationship to God or deny God's goodness.

Ecclesiastes also reminds us to cultivate humility before God.  We who know God through Jesus Christ and through the Bible must not forget how much bigger God is than our pint-sized conceptions of Him.  We must guard against undue self-confidence when we worship a God Who is free and sovereign.  His ways are mysterious.  Ecclesiastes is an antidote to the venom of glib platitudes and repetitious chatter in worship.  As the Teacher says: "Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few" (5:1-2).

The Teacher's message prepares us for the coming of Christ, the only source of true, lasting meaning.  How thankful I am that God has come in Christ to show me what life is all about and to deliver me from the quicksand of meaninglessness!

One Love, One God, One Way

Choices.  It seems our culture is obsessed with them.  Paper or plastic?  Interstate or back roads?  DVD or Blu Ray?  In Matthew's gospel, ch 7:13-29 Jesus introduces us to a foundational choice, one that I would venture to say speaks to the heart of Christianity itself.  Note that Jesus is using a dualistic approach here: two trees, two gates, two foundations.  Yes, our society is obsessed with having a multitude of choices, but true, Christ-following faith is no Baskin Robbins.  There are no "31 Flavors" of Religion that we can pick from that can get us on God's good side ( see my earlier posts on relativism if you want to delve deeper into this aspect).  God has come fully in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Christ is not one spiritual guide among many religious gurus.  In fact, Paul writes that He is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by him all things were created...He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy" (cf. Colossians 1:15-18 NIV).

Too often we overcomplicate the choice that is all too simple.  This really can be boiled down to asking a single, honest question:  "What is going to be my Authority today?"

In other words, Christ, or Culture?  The Word, or the World?  Self, or Sacrifice?  We're either being a shaper of society or we are being shaped by that same society.  We have to remember, dear friends--we are called to be the light in this dark world!  We are commanded to be this radiant energy that points the way to Christ!  Darkness is nothingness.  Darkness is the absence of Light.  If anyone is living outside of Christ then they are living inside darkness!  What are you and I going to do about it?...