HA!!! I’ve Got You Now!!! (I Just Hope You Don’t Know What I’ve Done)

I love it when I am right!  Don’t you just love the feeling when you have the answer, or win the argument, or even better, when you know that what the other person did was wrong, and you can prove it, and you can really take that person to task for it?  God that feels good…especially when that person is someone who is sort-of your nemesis or that person has called you out before.  Almost nothing is grander than being able to call a person out, especially publicly…

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

 But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”   Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. John 8:2-8

OK… So I am no real expert, though I play one on TV at times, but it would seem that Jesus, who was God, but here on Earth, who had created EVERYTHING and made all of the rules for people to live by, would have seen this woman, who had been caught committing adultery (cheating on her husband) as a real abomination.  God even created a rule which states that you are to not commit adultery.  So here was God sitting there, drawing in the sand when the leaders of the time came to him and wanted to stone this woman who was a sinner of the highest degree.  They were justified by their law to do so.   So when they asked Jesus whether they should stone her, filled with a bunch of anger, trying to get Jesus all fired up and mad at this sin-filled woman.  His response? … Total calm, to the point where He started to write in the sand and kind of ignored them until they persisted with Him.  He stood up, faced them, and stated that they were correct, she had sinned, and they could carry out the requisite punishment…on one condition.  The one of them who had not sinned in his life had to throw the first stone…seems simple enough…right?  Imagine for a moment that you live in a time where your life is governed by rules, where you’re position in society literally is dictated by those rules, your name, and your “honor.”

“Back in the day” your honor was how people perceived you.  If you had the cool well-known name, you had position in society.  You studied really hard and became learned, you could help to make the rules as well as bringing judgment on people who broke those rules.  The last thing that you wanted to be seen as was a hypocrite, that is, someone who judged people differently from how they lived.  The brilliance in what Jesus did here to illustrate his point is in that very hypocrisy.  The Pharisees, who were merely mortal men, were passing judgment on this woman for her crime and were going to stone her to death.  At the same time, they were always trying to trip Jesus up.  If He were to become angry with her for her crime, then He would be agreeing with them, if He told them that their law was wrong and that they should not be judging her based on the law, then he would be accused of speaking against God’s law.  So, Jesus said to them, basically, “Go ahead and carry out the punishment, but you need to have never sinned in order to do so.”  They all knew that they had sinned, and they knew that each other had sinned as well, and in throwing that first stone, they would be acting hypocritically in doing so, which would have left them without much credibility with each other, so they left her alone and went away.

So, aside from the fact that Jesus was really smart at spotting and getting out of verbal traps, (Given the fact that He was God, and therefore had invented the human brain, this should come as little surprise) He was here to teach a lesson.  What was that lesson?  Was it about caring for people?  Was it about not following old antiquated laws?  Was it about not eating fish on a Friday, or the fact that we shouldn’t cheat on our spouses?  Jesus was here serving as the ultimate illustration of how we should live our lives; he was here to teach us how to be.  His message was to love one another.  Simple. Straight-Forward. Well-Packaged.  It should be really easy to follow.

Remember in the beginning of this blog where I was talking about how cool it feels when we know that we are right, and when we really have someone to hold accountable?  After we have called that person out, after we have punished them, have you ever thought for a moment that you had also sinned in your life?  Much of Jesus’ messages were illustrations like this one.  None of this is to say that it is OK for us to walk about this Earth and just do whatever we want and to not punish those who do wrong.  This is more to show that we are, as people, very quick to judge each other, many times correctly, but for the same things which we are also guilty of having done.  What happens after the first part of the scripture above?

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”  John 8:9-11

This is a great illustration of grace.  She was in the wrong for her actions; she knew it, the Pharisees knew it, and certainly Jesus knew it.  There is a great quote pertaining to this very thing from the movie Schindler’s List:  “Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don’t.”  That quote brings something more of a personal power angle to the concept of grace and forgiveness and judgment, but there is a lot of truth to the power of grace.

My prayer for all of us is that we remember that we serve an all-knowing God.  He sees our actions (even the ones that no one else sees) he sees our intentions and what we really mean when we do or say something.  God knows what it is that we are all about.  He also knows that we are very fallible and are nowhere near perfect.   Yet He looks past all of that in order to love us all individually and communally.  He created us for His purpose, and we sin against Him.  He looks past that because of grace, and then he brushes us off, and tells us to “go now and leave your life of sin.”  I pray that we can remember to do the same for others who wrong us, or even have done something to another and we are tempted to judge them harshly.

Blessings!

-b.

 

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Last night I looked up into the stars and matched each one with a reason why I love you. I was doing great until I ran out of stars. -unknown

We have all heard them, or written them in our notebooks, or Facebook, or texted, or *gasp* have even said them. Cheesy love quotes like “Trying to explain how much I love you is like explaining how water tastes…impossible” Admit it, you HAVE said something like that to another human being, or have at least imagined saying something along those lines to another person.

In the Bible, there are many, many references to “love,” whether it is related to loving God, or to loving Jesus, or to loving each other…even if we do not agree with, or like these people. We are called to love them. One of the most complete writings on the subject of love is that found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

We have all heard that passage in some manner, usually while at a wedding. Have you ever read that passage above out loud? I dare you to do so, while really concentrating on the words contained in it. I dare you to do that without feeling a great deal of emotion. Here, Paul was talking about not marriage, as we use the passage today, but obviously talking in loving people as a general rule.

The line which I am most struck by in the above passage is the first one: If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. There is so much applicability in that simple line. It really could, in my opinion, be the only line which someone ever hears from the bible and remembers, AND ACTS UPON and that person would be meeting the goals set in the rest of the book.

What if you know a person at school or at work and that person is very popular. This person is the sort of person who walks into the room and everyone takes note of the fact that they are there. This person is someone whom people listen to, and whom others want to be like. You know the type, she has all of the right things to say all of the time, she is beautiful and has all of the right clothing, and she makes people laugh. What if she is the type of person to use that popularity and power to keep her in that elevated status. She uses it for her own good. She is nice to those whom she considers friends, but she has no problem shooting down people whom she feels threatened by. How do people look at this person? Of course people look at her with some amount of jealousy and desire to be “cool like that” but do people really like this person? How could they be true friends when she acts, as Paul says, as a “clanging cymbal?” She gets a ton of attention to herself, but not for the right reason.

Aren’t we all guilty of that? I mean, maybe we are not the type of person who walks into the room and everyone says “wow!” Maybe we don’t have the perfect boy or girlfriend or have one at all, maybe we don’t have the right hair, or in my case, any at all. Maybe we are just another average person…which itself is fine. But haven’t we all, at one time or another, or maybe a lot, been really nice to that friend who was a really nice person, but when we are in public, we talk down about that person or make them feel like less just because we want to “feel cooler.” Haven’t we, at some time, really wanted to get something and been really nice to our parents to get it, but then around our friends, our parents are just…you know…whatever. Lest you think that kids are the only ones who do this, how many times as adults have we been really nice to that person at work because they had something to offer us? Again, we are all guilty of being human beings! Our challenge, and that which Paul talks about in the scripture, is that of trying, sometimes against our best efforts, to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, even if it is reaaaaallllllyyyyy unpopular…and that is HARD!

Paul talks towards the end, about just how that looks:
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
Right before this is the part where he talks about casting off the childish ways. Childish ways here does not mean age, rather maturity, and in saying so is really talking more about how closely we try to act like Jesus rather than maturity as we use the word today. So… After we get rid of the old way of acting, that is become more Christ-like, we are able to see ourselves as a reflection in a mirror.

A term I’ve heard used is emotionally naked. That is to say that we look at ourselves without all of the emotional stuff attached. We are not cool, we are not big, we are not popular, we are not nerds, we are neither liked nor disliked at school, we are just who we are, “even as I am fully known”… as God sees us. He does not care how cool we are or what others think of us so much as He knows our hearts and our intentions (what we really mean when we are being nice.)

My prayer here is that we continue to struggle against that natural urge to be a human being and to submit ourselves to our own desires or to the will of others wants. Rather I would pray that we are constantly evaluating what it is that is important to us, and constantly trying to bring those desires in line with what God needs us to be doing, and how He needs us to be acting. I would hope then, as we stand emotionally naked, in front of the mirror which is the example which Jesus taught, that we realize that “now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Left…Right…Left…Right (The Finish Line is SOOOO Far Away!!)

Left…Right…Left…Right…Left…Right ”Will this ever end?” he thought to himself…Left…Right…Left…Right…Left…Right

All races eventually end…right?  Think about the few words above… Have you ever felt like that?  Have you ever thought to yourself, “will this ever be over with?”  The words above are what have been told to me by a friend regarding his experience in running a marathon.  I thought that it was a very good illustration of how easy it is to feel that way about most anything which is longer than 5 minutes these days.

There are so many things for us to get into doing, from sports, to church stuff, to school activities, and don’t even mention dating let alone marriage.  We are living in a world which is simply amazing to behold.  Never before has there been this much stuff to take up our time.  In a couple of hours, I can go online, book the flight to Florida, book the hotel, change my Facebook status so people know where I am, then get in my car and drive to the airport, have my tickets texted to me, get on the plane, put my headphones into my Phone 4 to listen to music, log into the airplane’s Wi-Fi with my iPad and track my flight progress live online while tweeting about my experience with the flight attendants’ customer service.

WHAT?!?!?!?!

Let’s put the brakes on here and flash back about 125 years, when the modern automobile was invented, let alone not really readily available for several years.  I had to walk into town to get a train ticket for a journey which would take about a week to get to my final destination, and then I waited for said train and had to talk to people because my iPhone 4 and its Mp3s were on back order for another 120 years.  When I got to Florida I had to FIND a hotel and get a room if available.

Have you every taken the time to consider as you are sitting there in your airplane seat, that you are in a tube made of aluminum?  How about the fact that that tube is 5 miles above the Earth and is traveling at about 550 miles per hour?  We have talked before about being present with current goings-on, but holy cow… it is pretty amazing to think about.

For anyone who has ever been married, or in a long term relationship, there is a great quote I heard once that it is more about perseverance than passion.  Think about my friend who is the runner.  He loves to run…I know, I don’t get the thrill of running 26 miles either… but he loves it, and he is very good at it having won many medals in his sport.  How present with himself does he have to be in order to keep going when his whole body is in pain and he is sweating like crazy, and he has to boil his experience down to “left, right…”  We have somewhat been sold a bill of goods in society that everything from marriage, to kids, to church, to whatever, is perfect as we want it to be, and if we don’t like it, we fire one of the writers of the show and hire someone who agrees with us completely.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised. “For yet a little while, and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and keep their souls.  Hebrews 10:35-39

How many times have we wondered again, “Why doesn’t everyone get it?”  I have done it…in church, in marriage, in earlier relationships, at work… We all wonder why everything is not working out exactly as it need to according to our design and plans.  When we are in the race of living our lives, the passion and the newness of whatever it is that we are doing quickly wears off and all we are left with is us versus ourselves.  We may start a race because we think it would be fun, or impress others, or to prove to others that we can, or whatever reason we come up with.  No one who has ever finished a hard, long race did it to impress another person, or for anyone else.  Look at the Navy SEALs.  They have what is considered the hardest training…ever.  As they are in the airplane ride of training, when things get tough, they cannot just start the level over, or walk away…all they have at times is the “left… right… left… right…” mentality with them.

I know that this can come across as somewhat defeatist, but I assure you that it is not.  In paying attention to what you are experiencing and getting through the hard times in life, when everything in your world seems out of control, the left…right mentality makes not only the parts a bit more manageable, but also allows you time in communion with God’s purpose.

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters,that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.  And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.  Philippians 1:12-14

Paul was writing this letter, from prison, or at least house arrest, likely aware of the fate he had coming to him….and he is excited because God has used him to spread the message so that others may be less afraid to speak it.  Not only does he spend time with God here, in prayer, he helps to encourage others in a way that obviously changed world history.  What if Paul had just given up and stopped preaching so that he would be in less trouble with the Romans?  He couldn’t, God’s purpose was that he should be doing exactly what he was doing.

It seems to pale in comparison with Paul’s struggle when we parallel his struggle with that of homework, or school, or sports, or with marriage, but it is valid.  There are times in a relationship with another person, in marriage or friendship or dating, where being in love is not enough to get you through, or you may feel less in love with that person.  That is OK and natural at times.  But in looking at the tough times as one foot in front of the other… “left…right…left…right…left…right…left…right…left…right…” You are being present in your struggles, and you are becoming closer to God in the process.  As forever as a 26 mile race may seem… about 4 and a half hours, and about 46,112 “left…rights” later, you are across the finish line, and on the other side of your struggle.  That is perseverance!

My prayer is that as we travel through life, however we choose to do so, we are always mindful of what is happening around us, and take the time to notice God there too.  He is making us stronger, he is cheering for us, and most of all, He is working His plan.  I pray that we take the time to realize that in the end, all of the sweat, and the pain, and the struggles are worth it.  That in going through these struggles we are able to become closer to God and to each other.

Blessings!

-b.

 

Ready…Set…Answer My Prayers and My Needs!

…But I pray all of the time! WHY WON’T GOD LISTEN TO ME?!?!?!

This is probably the number one thought which goes through the mind of a person in a time of trial (even teens.) When we ask someone for something, we want answers…NOW! We are used to this as people. A long time ago, in a civilization far, far away, we would send a letter to a person when we wanted to talk. Then we got the telephone and cars and became much faster at communicating with people, then came the Internet, and email, and it was like a long-standing cloak was lifted from our very eyes! We could communicate as fast as we were able to type. Now, we have Facebook, twitter, blogs, IMs, BBSs, all of the older stuff still, and texting. When we send a text to a friend, it has been reported that texts are answered, on average, about 28 seconds later. That is crazy fast!

Now that you have that knowledge, you know that this fast and easy way get results is the best way to go, and therefore, God should follow along and join the 21st century with his iPad and iPhone 4. I mean, here is this ultimate being, who rules and created EVERYTHING, including the iPhone, so you’d think that He would be able to start communicating with us, even without fear of early termination contract fees!

What about looking at it like this. What if we assumed that no matter how much we change, no matter how advanced we get, God does not move with the tide of the times. What if we thought along the lines that these things are so incredibly and in-comprehensively small and irrelevant to God? What then? What does God want us to say? How should we approach Him who has created everything?

In Exodus, we are introduced to the man called Moses. We have all heard the story, right? Moses born, Israel enslaved by Egypt, Moses kills guard for beating Israelite up, Moses in exile in desert, God shows up as burning bush, Moses takes off his shoes, God says get Israelites out of Egypt, Moses calls God crazy and involves a bunch of other people from his family, in the end, God’s will is done. (There is a bit more to that story, but for the sake of space, I figured the abbreviation was enough.)

So, when the really famous story of the burning bush starts, we find Moses in the desert, hanging with his wife and sheep, and he happens upon a bush which is on fire, yet it is not being destroyed. Since Moses was a curious sort, he started towards it to investigate. Put yourself in this moment here, you are in exile for fear that a NATION wants to kill you, and you happen upon a burning, yet not destroying fire. The bush then started talking to Moses…strike two for normal things happening to him that day. What did God say?

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father,the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. Exodus 3:5-6

Moses was so incredibly consumed with awe and respect that he hid is face and was afraid to even look at God. He was just struck by this whole moment. A couple of minutes later in this conversation, God has informed Moses what His plan is to answer the prayers of the Jews. He gives Moses instructions as to what he (Moses) needs to do in order to get his people out of this situation. What Moses does next is astounding. Here he had been, covering his face because seeing God was too much for him to handle, he was way overwhelmed. He then, upon hearing God’s instructions, starts to disagree with God’s plan. He brings up every conceivable reason why he should not be the one sent, or what if they don’t believe me, and all sorts of other excuses…TO GOD…who he knew had created EVERYTHING!

But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Ex 4-10

Fast forward a couple of thousand years, and we have Peter hanging out with human-God (Jesus) who tells them that in order to fulfill his father’s will, he must meet death so that all will be free.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. Matthew 16:22-25

Fast forward to now. Here we are praying to God for what we think that we need. We are asking Him to reveal His plan for our lives to us, just like the Jews of Moses did, just like the Jews of Jesus’ time did, and we sort of do the same thing to God, don’t we. Maybe our encounter with God is not as overt as was Moses’, maybe there is no burning bush there, and maybe we aren’t physically walking down the road with Jesus, but we insert what we believe our best plan to God. I have often heard the phrase, “pray and get out of the way,” which is to say that when we ask God for His wisdom, it is due to the fact that we realize that we are not the answer, nor do we have the answer, so we need that answer from God. It becomes troubling for us, however, when we get that feeling or that thought that God is talking to us, and what he is telling us is not what we WANT to hear.

Back in Jesus’ time, there were many many people wandering about claiming to be the Messiah. The Jewish people were really expecting and wanting a Messiah to be the leader who would deliver them from the Romans and from being persecuted. Jesus WAS the Messiah, and what he claimed, and taught, and showed was that people needed to be saved from their own agendas, and to be brought to a closer communion with God. This was revolutionary in that he was not leading an army against the Romans, which is what the people wanted, but setting an example to the people of love and how to treat each other, and how to be closer to God, which is what God wanted. This is why what Jesus saying to Peter was so important. Jesus was saying that “What I am going to do is God’s will, you all have prayed to be delivered and saved, I am going to show you, and die for you to make that possible (Get out of the way).”

I would pray that as we go through our lives, we are able to really hear God talking, and to feel him working, and to accept that what He does is what He needs to do, regardless of what we think. This can lead a person to feel a little bit like a pawn, but really is just God using all of us, as He needs to, to work His plan.

The Lord’s Prayer, Aramaic Translation

Oh Thou, from whom the breath of life comes
Who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration.
May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest.
Your Heavenly Domain approaches.
Let Your will come true – in the universe just as on earth
Give us wisdom for our daily need,

Detach the fetters of faults that bind us, like we let go the guilt of others.
Let us not be lost in superficial things,
But let us be freed from that what keeps us off from our true purpose.
From You comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act,
the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age.
Amen

Set your eyes on the things of God, and away from the things of men. Then you will be in concert with the needs of God, and you won’t wonder why he is not answering YOUR needs. He is, He just knows the bigger picture of what those needs are.

Blessings!

-b.

But if I Act Like Me, Who Will Act Like You?

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!  Walk to the closest mirror, look at the person looking back at you, and tell that person, “You are the only person whom I am capable of changing.”

Now that that is out of the way, let’s talk about that person staring back at you in the mirror.  Do we like what we see?  Do we agree with this person staring blankly back at us?  Do we even seem to know this person all of the time?  I know that the answers to these questions would seem to be a resounding “YES!” but it may not be that simple…

I remember looking at myself in the mirror when I was about 16 or 17 wondering what the future held for me, wondering if I would fit into this or that group of people, and generally wondering why I thought the things which I did.  I can remember feeling a certain way about something and “knowing” that it was the correct way to feel about that way, then wondering why everyone else was so out-of-the loop on the topic.

What is it that you see in that person (you) when you are all alone and your friends aren’t there and you aren’t trying to impress someone else?  This goes for adults as well.  Adults just, rather than wearing sideways caps and certain tennis shoes will buy a bigger house, or a sports car.  Hats of a certain style or brand name jeans, let alone nice houses and sports cars are not in any way evil nor dangerous in themselves.  It becomes troublesome to one’s life when these things, and the search for more of them, or better ones of them, or ones which my friends don’t have becomes who we are.

The word which comes to mind here is AUTHENTIC – adj.  Of undisputed origin; genuine

Imagine for a moment that I want to get a bunch of teens to trust me so that I can deliver the good news which we Christians are always trying to share.  What if I, as a 34-year-old who hasn’t been into a high-school even to visit in like 10 years were to put on the new trendy jeans, a trendy shirt, the flat-brimmed hat, and the hoodie.  Boy would I be pretty cool and widely accepted into this teen circle…right?  Probably not so much.  I would be coming to them with something which would be beneficial for them to hear, but I would be doing so in a less-than-truthful way, which is to say that I am not being me, and in doing so, my message is lost.

Adults do this all of the time with each other.  We walk around dressed in a certain brand, or talk about the trip which we made unnecessarily expensive for the sake of being able to talk about how expensive it is.  We drive cars which are very expensive, because everyone else knows how expensive they are.  Kids do this by acting a certain way around different groups of people, as to say “I am a member of this group.”  Have you seen this in the halls, or at lunch… or in the boardroom for a meeting?

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? James 2:1-26

God does not care what car you drive, he does not care who you act the most like, he does not care for your clothes.  He loves YOU as YOU are.  Part of loving God, as I have written before, is that letting go and letting God mentality.  We have to be willing to let go of these things which we see on the outside, and concentrate on ourselves and our relationships to others.  We have to look into the mirror and be willing to be OK with what we see staring back at us.  We need to get into agreement with ourselves as to what is important.  We need to learn to be ourselves, and to be the real deal us regardless of who we are around, or who we would like to impress.  Interestingly enough, God created all of us, differently, on purpose.  Our tough job is to be then who we are, despite what we may think that others wish us to be…likely they just want us.

Blessings!

-b.

Thank You for the Gift! I So Don’t Deserve This!!!

Imagine that you were sitting in your room and you get a call. You answer the phone, and then are unable to speak, because the person on the other end is your favorite star, sports hero, singer, or whomever it is that you would be least likely to get a call from. This person saw you at a recent event and has taken the time to have their assistants find your number. This person next asks you if you’d consider joining them for dinner and a movie, you know…a date. Holy cow… You’d likely believe that it was a prank call and would just hang up. What if on Friday that person showed up at your door, the bell rings, and your parents call up to you that your date was here and waiting for you? Would you believe then that this person was serious? Your head would likely be filled with such thoughts as “Wow, I must be dreaming!” “Where are the cameras, this must be some set-up.” “Why me?” and all sorts of other thoughts about the situation.

The story above is a very light-harted and earthly description to what the concept of grace must be about. Here we are, all average and not ready, doing average-people things, thinking average-people thoughts, and to our door shows up the most amazing and desired thing which we have been waiting for. We have done nothing to deserve this gift of this ‘date’, we have only dreamed that it could be possible. This “person” who showed up has all of the riches, and could have their pick of any person with whom to spend their time, and has chosen us.

With all that we have done wrong, and all of the anger and small things which we harbor in our hearts, with those things which we think and keep in ourselves, in places which we don’t talk about, God gives us this gift of grace. He loves us so much that He knows, because He knows EVERYTHING, how much we screw up, and what we think, and how we act, and no one even has to tell him. And, He gives this gift to EVERYONE.

Consider this, as an individual, we interact with a few hundred people. Of those, we choose to be friends with a few. Of those few, we are really close friends with a couple, and with that couple, we get married to one. The one person with whom we will spend our lives, the one whom we are stating that we will love and forgive and be true to, forever. Let’s extend that a bit…

This star which we talked about above, interacts with hundreds of thousands all of the time. Everyone seems to know who this person is, and is able to touch the lives of many more than we are able. What about God? God created, and sees, and directly loves everyone.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – Ephesians 2:8

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. - Romans 6:4

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. - Romans 5:1-2

Yup…there it is…I get it… God loves us and forgives us! Woo Hoo! End of story, no further discussion needed…Right?

I think that to really understand God and what is meant by grace, we need to get out of what we read for a moment. I talked above about the feelings of “what did I do to deserve this?.” The thing is that we cannot do enough. There are not enough laws, man or God-created which we can follow to earn our way to Him in His kingdom. The issue comes into play that it seems that the harder that we try to follow all of the rules, the more we strive to be perfect, the less perfect we are. Not that following the rules is a bad thing, it certainly is not, it is just that we start to focus on the rules rather than the goal of the rules, which is to be a good person, know that we are loved, feel solace in this love, and to focus on and love God. We almost start to love the idea of following the rules, or competing to follow them better than the next person.

If we “know” that God loves us, why do we feel guilt about things which we have done and apologized for? I mean really apologized for, not just said “sorry that you saw me do that.”

That lingering of guilt comes from, being human. We want in our brains to be in charge of everything and in control and the center of our universe. We want to believe that if we can make atonement for things then all is well. But, we hold on to the guilt because the absolute hardest part of following God comes from the fact that it is so incredibly difficult to let go of our control, in whatever form control shows itself. Isn’t it interesting that we get this free gift to be able to let go of what we’ve done wrong, and we try to control even that.

Here are the rules to grace:
Love God above all else, and with everything within you.
(Including, but not limited to, relinquishing all control for your salvation, forgiveness of others, loving of God, your own thoughts about how much of a jerk your older/younger sibling is, doing the right thing because it is the right thing, even when no one is watching, etc)
Love each other as Jesus has loved you
(This one is a but tougher to see because none of us were actually there when He said this, we just read about it. If you read all of the stories in the bible, Jesus loved EVERYONE, and tried to teach them; even the ones who killed Him. In other words, strive to live like Him to the best or our abilities.)

God came to us, as a person, and showed us how to live. He then allowed Himself to be beaten and killed so that we, people here and now, would be able to someday spend eternity with Him. I would say that no matter how good the dinner is, no matter the name of the movie that we saw on the date, this is a way better gift. God has called our house to invite us to “hang out” we hang up on him many times with our actions and our disbelief that He could even love us as we are. He sent Jesus as a sign of showing up to our doorstep so that we would have some tangible thing to follow.

Let go of your past regrets, having LEARNED FROM THEM. Let go of your anger and distaste for someone, or a group of people. Stop running away from what God has in store for you, His perfect and unwavering love. He is knocking. Set aside your pride and your notions, and your insecurities. He does love you that much. He really wants to “hang out” with you. You are very average compared to Him. You don’t listen to Him all of the time. Through your creation and His giving us free will, this is how He made you. You are worthy because He made you worthy through His love and Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

The best phrase explaining this, is that of AA:

Let go and let God.

If your best notions of being in control, and being the center of your universe have gotten you where you are, and feeling how you do, give it to God and let Him drive.

ANSWER THE DOOR!

Blessings!

-b.

Consensus, It’s What’s For Dinner…(Until Someone Disagrees, Leaves, and Starts the Same Meal With a Different Name)

I would like to take this opportunity to shock you and thoroughly blow your mind!  Are you ready?

People tend to, and even like to, spend time with other people who are as much like them as possible.

Can you believe this revelation which I have given you?  I know what you are thinking, Brian, in addition to being brilliant (at stating the obvious) you really seem to be losing steam here.  What sort of knowledge can we gain from the above revelation, and what can we do with it?

Have you ever noticed that people at school or work tend to start groups within their own circles, pretty much just including their own circle of people?  Sociologists call this the Homogeneous Unit Principle.

Have you ever done this yourself?  Say you had a great idea to start a club to show everyone how cool your dad was.  I know, as a teenager that seems like a stretch but you’ll get there.  Say you wanted this group to tell everyone how cool your dad is, how strong he is, how good his job is, and how much he loves you and your friends.  What would that look like and how would that club work?

You would start with you, and likely write down all of the cool things about your dad.  You would then recruit your closest friends to join you, since they know your dad and think he’s pretty cool too, and you all would come up with a name, something like Group Of Dad.  This whole group, at this point, would be composed of you, and people like you, who all know your dad, and talk about how cool he is, and ‘that one time when…’  This is all well and good, and is a great group to have.  It really reinforces to you and your friends just how cool your dad is!  At some point, what if one of your friends disagreed with you as to a detail regarding your dad, or maybe remembered some small detail a little differently than you did?  What if they went off, with their group of friends and started their own group, which still had the premise that your dad was, in fact, the coolest guy alive, but they added that the Group Of Dad had gotten too into themselves and that they would like to reach others who were not in the original group, so they started Group Of Dad United.  They have the same central focus, but look at it a bit differently, and also want to get as many people to like your dad as possible, so they put out videos, and ads in the papers, and write blogs on how cool your dad is.

What has happened there?  What caused the division within the original group, and what was the end effect?  There are now two groups, which act differently, and have the same focus, arguing about which one is more right about your dad.

Isaiah 58:1-5 is a really great example of this behavior:
 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. 
 Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 
 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, 
 as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. 
 They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 
 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
 “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, 
 and in striking each other with wicked fists. 
 You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? 
 Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?  Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

In the above passage, replace fasting with literally ANY group activity, including, and in this case church.  The people are being told/asked:

- “Shout out!  Let people OUTSIDE your group know what you stand for!”
- “Stop “loving” each other, by the words you say in front of me in church, because I see you as you walk out of church arguing with each other, and doing nasty things to each other.”
- “Do you think that this one brief time in this place, when you are acting like that out in the world, is how I want to be worshiped?”
- Along those lines, “I see you all of the time!”

In the Homogeneous Unit Principle, we are told the obvious, that people like to be with people with whom they share similarities.  In the example of the Group Of Dad, and Group Of Dad United, we are told the obvious, that people who are alike, often see things differently.  Finally, in real life, we are shown that these groups really create some big problems for each other even when groups of people, who have the same core beliefs, believe that their way of doing things is the only way to get those things done. (Think politics or a social club at school)

What are we to do about it?  How can we effectively get our ‘best way’ across to others while at the same time respecting the others’ ‘best way’?  This is where the human tendency to be with like-looking, minded, social, economic types really is a disservice to us.  This is also where pride hurts us.  As a church family, we have our ups and downs; we also have our individual agendas or needs.  As members of that church family, we need to take the time to look at the bigger picture at times.  God is not here just to save, love, and teach us as individual people, but also as a church family as a whole.  At the same time, God is not just here to love our church as an individual entity, but as a part of the greater whole which is all of humanity.  If we were to consider, for a moment that we are a part of a bigger something, we would be able to concentrate on getting out the bigger message, rather than our own take on it.

We have the greatest news to share with the world!  God sent Jesus to show us how to act and to save us from being humans.  We share that vision with ALL Christian churches, but, at times, we choose to focus only on the different ways (different than our own) that they choose to express, celebrate, and worship that message.  If we would take a moment and think about it, we would see that in all areas of our lives.

Would we not be better off talking to that guy or girl who looks or acts differently or strangely? Would we not be better off taking time to understand why it is that the person in our math class (or in the next cubicle) chooses to wear that, or listen to that music, or talk that way? (Does any of this even matter?)  Is that not what God is calling us to do?  Why do we worship so well on Sundays, and not the rest of the days?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  -John 3:16-17

Everyone knows John 3:16, and does not all of the time consider the ramifications of 3:17.  Yes, we are to believe that God loves us individually, but as a community and world as well.

I pray that as we walk through the coming weeks we will take the time to consider those “other” people, even the ones whom we do not like, understand, or who are different, and realize that to them, we are different too.  BUT, we are all His children, and maybe that is enough of an overlapping similarity to start a conversation with them.  We may even realize that they have really cool ideas too…ones which we may not have thought of…ones to bring about better change to our lives and those in the world.  I pray that we look up from our small view to realize that there is a whole world of different kinds of people out there, with all sorts of things to offer to the group’s conversation.  Lord, help us to set aside our pride long enough to realize that we are not central to our lives, you are, let us, at least, find commonality there.

Blessings,

-b.

God, Why Are All of These Other People so Wrong All of the Time?

I recently read an article about a pastor in Florida.  It seems that this pastor would like to create some sort of online website whereby people who are atheist are listed, with the point of both boycotting their businesses as well as being able to evangelize to them.  When asked as to why he would like to have this list, he says:

“for the same purpose many States put the names and photos of convicted sex offenders and other ex-felons on the I-Net – to INFORM the public! I mean , in the City of Miramar , Florida , where I live , the population is approx. 109,000 . My family and I would sure like to know how many of those 109,000 are ADMITTED atheists!”

I guess that there are, maybe a few people who would like to know this information so that they are able to avoid, in the pastor’s words, “feeding Satan.”  Interesting that this pastor would choose to relate feeding Satan, and informing people about the Atheists in the same breath which he states that we need to evangelize to these people.

Here was my first reaction upon reading this:
I do not BELIEVE that he is in any way correct in his BELIEFS, in fact, I flat-out KNOW that he is wrong!  I am IRRITATED that he is doing this, and I am very UPSET with the reputation that people LIKE HIM give to MY beliefs.  All of these emotions are spawned from the fact that I simply CANNOT STAND it when people JUDGE other people!!!

What happened there?

My reaction, while well-meaning and meant to ensure that the God and the beliefs which I love so deeply are protected, was based on judging this person whom I do not even know!  I have never met this pastor, and while I do disagree with his theology and his motives for doing what he is doing, I judged him and attacked him and his beliefs by using my beliefs.  This, in my head, puts me in a morally superior position than him, which allows me to talk down about him.  With that mindset I am able to do all sorts of damage (in my own mind) to him, and his reputation, and to his ministry, and to this idea.  I feel powerful in this position.

So what? What is the problem with all of this?  I am right, he is wrong, and the list he is proposing is actually dangerous stuff.  The problem with this is my initial approach.  I can see that his beliefs are not along the lines of what I believe, so I will attack him until he stops attacking others…perfect!  Just what Jesus would have done?  Not so much…

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Romans 2:1-3

Or how about in His own words:
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. John 8:7

The danger is in knowing what the Bible has to say about judging, and letting EVERYONE else around you know how wrong it is to judge other people.  (As a side note, this is not to say that people should not be corrected, as I would like to do to this pastor, rather it is in your intention which matters…more in a bit)  Have you seen a situation, maybe at lunch, where you and another person were talking about so and so.  In this conversation, you talk about how that person is always telling other people what to do and what to think, etc.  You get to the point in the conversation where you start to see this person as their actions rather than as a person, and can therefore just treat them a certain way because they’ve earned it in their actions!  I know that I have.  I am, in doing that, judging them!  Not in seeing that something is wrong, or needs improvement, but in my approach.  I have taken this person, who has parents, and maybe kids (if you’re older) and siblings, and a dog, and maybe a cat, and worries, and who cries and has feelings, and I have watered them down to just “that guy who is this way.”

Even when Jesus was here, as he was dying on the cross, because those who didn’t agree and were threatened by him put him there, even then Jesus asked his Father, our Father, God, to forgive them because they did not know what they were doing.  I don’t know about you, but regardless of how irritated I am with this pastor, and how I do not like that guy at lunch, neither is putting holes in my body after I had told them what I didn’t like.  Neither of them have done this to me, and those people in your lives who have wronged you, have also not nailed you to a cross, physically.  We are commanded by Jesus, no matter the situation, that we are to try to lead people in the appropriate way, His way, rather than to attack them because they are wrong, or flawed, or we just don’t like them.

If I were to rewrite my original feeling about the topic, I suppose that it would be like this:
Man, I wonder if this guy realizes how damaging his idea of creating this registry is?  I certainly do not agree with it in any way, and I believe that it is downright dangerous, not to mention opposed to how we are supposed to lead others in the Christian way!  I pray that he has prayed about this and listened to the answer.  I will pray as well, hoping that his heart is touched by God’s voice and direction. 

It is so easy to snap to judge that THESE people are THIS way because of something which have EXPERIENCED, HEARD, or just FELT or because they LOOK this way or ACT a certain way.  God has really challenged us with the task of transcending that way of thinking.  To get past lumping people together based on some sort of illusion that we are either better than them or that they meet some sort of set of criteria which make them a certain way.

Blessings!

-b.

You Talkin’ to Me?!?

Who? Me? I cannot believe this…I cannot believe that I am being picked for this task! I have never done this before, ever… Times where I have tried anything remotely similar have all ended in disaster… why now? Why me?

Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever wondered why you would be the one chosen to do something? If you have, then you are in good company. Most everyone has felt like that at one point or another. I have experienced this many times before, trust me, so I’ve heard, the tasks become more daunting and harder as you grow older! For example, when I was in 8^th grade, I was chosen to lead a small group in band…my first leadership experience. I was terrified, I didn’t know if I was up to it…was I really ready? Well, given that the calendar has no regard for my schedule, the day came when I had to actually lead that group, in front of others. In the end, as I stood there, almost shaking, we had pulled it off, and everyone loved the performance. Fast forward about 20 years. There we were, happily living our lives, not a care in the world, and God stops by. He tells us that we are going to have a child. “WHAT?!?!?!?!” “Are we ready for this?”, “What do we need to do to get ready?” …and on and on…

The above is merely an illustration, from my experience which helps to show how sometimes God knows things which we do not know. Ok…He ALWAYS knows things which we do not know, I mean, He did create everything and all. The point is that He often trusts the most unprepared with things which He needs done. No problems there, God is in control, I just need to do what He wants. Here is the checklist:

1. God makes the plan.
2. God needs something accomplished.
3. He tells us.
4. We follow it.
5. All is done for His glory.

What could be simpler!

Here is how the checklist works when humans become involved:

1. God makes the plan
2. God needs something accomplished
3. We are off in our own world trying to control something which we cannot
4. He tells us.
5. We pretend not to hear Him
6. He tells us again.
7. We ignore Him, because we are “really smart and have better things to do.”
8. He tells us again.
9. We run away.
10. He sends a storm and a whale to swallow us and bring us back.
11. We begrudgingly admit that He may be in control.
12. He tells us again what he needs done.
13. We follow it.
14. We take credit because we are that awesome!
15. All is done for His glory.

So that was a bit lighthearted way to put it, but really, it is pretty accurate as to how we deal with listening to God. This is not even a new concept, humankind has been doing this for YEARS! Like since-the-beginning-of-time kind of long time!

When God wanted to found a nation, to whom did he turn. Surely the young stud and his younger wife? Nope, he want to Abraham:
And he said, I will certainly return unto thee when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? Genesis 18:10-12
Can you imagine the surprise of both parties, being 90 or so and overhearing that she was to become pregnant, after being unable to have children her whole life?

What about warning of a nation of its sin? God surely must have gone to an insider to get this task done. Someone who would stand fast and get right to it. Someone who the people would listen to because he cared so much for them. Nope again!! He went to Jonah:
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah; and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah. Jonah 1:2-3
These people whom Jonah was to speak about their repentance were his enemies, he secretly wanted them to be punished. He fled God, God caused a storm, Jonah was sacrificed to the sea, a whale swallowed Jonah and brought him back where he started and told him again to get to work.

I can remember being in school some time ago. I loved to learn, but I hated to do homework. I fought homework like crazy, even though it was “what I was supposed to be doing.” I didn’t care, I knew better, and figured I was learning so…so what? Well, the whale of poor grades and displeased parents kept bringing me back to shore and instructing me as to what I should be doing. Eventually I listened, and as my grades improved, so did my opportunities. The longs and short of this whole thing is that we are constantly in a struggle with ourselves and with God’s plan to reconcile what we are doing and what we need to be doing.

The easiest thing to do is to know that there is a plan which God has for us. The hardest thing for us to do is to give up just a little bit of our pride in order to do what God has for us. This is especially true when we look at the stories in the Bible in the context of “those great people doing those great things.” Those people were flawed individuals; they were broken and scared and guilty of being human beings, just like us. Even the Disciples, Jesus’ closest friends all deserted him, and claimed not to know Him. How bad is that, they walked around with him for three years, and disavowed knowing Him, we have never seen Him and are asked to believe that He has a plan. What a great burden which we have; one which allows us to grow and to mature, and to be close to Him.

God knows what you are capable, even if you are unsure, or resisting. He created EVERYTHING, and has the plan. It is up to us to fight the feeling of not being worthy, of feeling like we are less than God sees us to be. We need to live up to all which He has made us to be. We are right that we do not have the greatness nor the power, but through Him, we do. He spoke a word and created the universe, He certainly is able to make us more than we believe we are!

Blessings!

-b.

This Nose is Not Made for Walking!

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

1 Cor 12:4-6

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us

Romans 12:4-6

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable

1 Cor 12:21-22

What was Paul telling us with these two letters written at different times to different cultures? Why do they seem so similar? Why am I asking all of these questions?

I can remember feeling a bit out of sorts, sort-of out-of-place in my life. I felt like I was an actor in my own life, except I didn’t get my lines until I was to act them on stage, sometimes after that time, sometimes not at all, and I was forced to improvise…poorly. I can remember this like it was yesterday… because it was yesterday, and many other days in my life.

Have you ever noticed that we all grow up hearing, to the point of nausea, that “God has a plan for our lives,” or “He has great things in store for you?” Well, that is all well and good, but what I really want to know is WIIFM (What’s in it for me.) How is God conspiring to make MY life better, and how is he here to do great things for ME, and most importantly, how can he serve ME? And why don’t others see it the same way?!?! What we all often fail to remember is that we are all a part of God’s grand sandbox, and He makes the rules, and there is no magical ball for us to take and go home.

Not long ago, I was thumbing through a book of art of the last century. There were many paintings of different scenes, some real, others made up or even abstract. As I looked from my deck, I noticed that there were many flowers in my yard, some of which were represented in the pages of the book. What struck me was that most of the flowers were painted, even abstractly, with realistic colors, true to nature. That really strikes one as being odd given the fact that abstract art strives to be a different way to represent an object, or an emotion, or whatever else the artist is trying to convey.

Ok… Well that is a really great and long-winded discussion on art appreciation, so what?! That does not at all parallel the scripture above! I don’t like abstract art, am not a gardener, and most of all do not like a bunch of splatter paint, called art!! Why, Brian, did I have to read that? Here is the deal: The interesting part of that moment that God let me experience is not in the appreciation of art, or of flowers, but in the fact that in realistic paintings, abstractions, or in nature, flowers just act like flowers. No kidding, right? Flowers do not bark, there is no quacking going on, and most of all, they don’t write stupid blogs about how they somehow tie into scripture!

Paul, in all of the above passages, talks about playing a part of a grander play. As humans, especially as young humans, we really get caught up in the idea that somehow we are in control of our destiny and our lives, or even that they are our lives to begin with. What Paul is proposing, and what I am trying to convey, is that the nose is content being the nose, and never tries to be a foot, and would not make a good foot if it tried. Likewise, you do not see roses trying to build bridges. Each part is simply there to do their beat part of the whole effort.

As strong and powerful as I (we) believe that I/we are at times, the sheer volume and size of work to be done on the Earth is too great to do ourselves. Thusly, God, because He is infinitely smarter than we even think that we are, devised a plan where He makes the plan, and He gives different gifts to people to fill those roles. Ever wonder how the street sweeper could be so happy? Ever wonder, money aside, why anyone wanted to be a CEO? Ever felt left out when a group at school was formed, just to find your place in a different group soon after? None of these things is outside the plan of God! He created a whole bunch of different things which need to be done, and different people to do them. Where we run into trouble is when we, who are designed to be a red rose, try to be an orange lily, so to speak. What I am saying here, and what Paul so eloquently spent so much time writing about, was just this. If we try to force our way into something for which we are not fitted, we feel out of place.

I am not talking about predestination here or a lack of free will; we have free will, and can act on it as we see fit as well. What are being discussed by Paul are one’s gifts, natural abilities. Some people have the gift of teaching, or evangelizing, or speaking, or organizing, or many other things… that one thing that they feel natural doing. As well, we need to understand, and to celebrate what others have as their gifts! Again, neither the nose nor the foot is more important to the body, just different, so we need to appreciate the efforts of all of out human team. We are no more or less important to God’s plan than others are.

Our energy is best spent working to understand God’s plan, and how we fit into it, rather than to fit it into our lives. About the same amount of energy will be used, but the fruits of that labor aren’t quite as bitter. God has a VERY large paintbrush, and an endless canvas on which He is creating an AMAZING painting. He is using us to color that canvas! Be the color He has intended for you… Be you!

Blessings!

-b.