A Prodigal's Path

A Second Helping of Grace. Please.

While working through a challenging situation today I typed these words to a friend:

"I almost hate to ask, but how much grace is enough . . . .?"

Deep down my heart knew the answer before the letters rolled off my fingertips and onto the screen. I hit the "send" button regardless and spent the day facing my dilemma.

In the midst of answering the questions for myself I also came to the conclusion that "Tolerance" is not "Grace." Being tolerant is not the same as being forgiving. Ouch! Somehow I had convinced myself that being compliant and tolerant while disguising my exasperation was somehow the same as being forgiving. It's not.

Forgiveness resides in the disposition of our hearts. Tolerance is a state of mind and a test of forbearance and how long we can refrain from giving into the pressure. It's an exercise in resisting our urge to react. Forgiveness steps beyond tolerance and cleanses both heart and mind. Tolerance hides and disguises. Forgiveness and Grace erase.

So how much grace is enough . . . when should I withdraw grace and forgiveness? Christ seems to answer the question with the common phrase "What goes around comes around."

 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ~ Jesus, Matthew 6:14-15

 Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven." ~ Jesus, Matthew 18:21-22 ~ followed by a great parable on forgiveness.

"And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." ~ Jesus, Mark 11:25

"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." ~ Jesus, Luke 6:37-38

I get it. If I want to more than merely tolerated by God, and my Saviour, then I need to be endlessly gracious and forgiving beyond measure . . . He and I both know I need my share of it.

 

Owned or Owner?

I'm beginning to believe that most economic and spiritual turmoil commonly boils down to the big question: "What am I owned by?" Meaning, what am I willing to part with in order to have security and peace of mind? And what am I willing to put myself at risk for?

Ownership is really a process of control. I control what I do and own or I am controlled by the things I commit and submit to in my life. When we make a purchase, or commit our time to something, we invest another piece of our limited life resources to that item or idea. Sometimes those great ideas can turn into committal nightmares like the car that begins to rob us of our resources as its luster and mechanicals dim 43 months into a 60 month financial commitment. All the sudden the roles are reversed and we find ourselves and our resources owned, controlled, and at risk.

I'm not suggesting that ownership and commitment is bad. But I have become acutely aware of what I am willing to allow into my heart and home. Lately I've begun the process of becoming more a minimalist. I'm divesting myself of the things I own, the things I "want" rather than "need". With fewer things vying for my attention I can travel lighter, faster, and farther. I can be less distracted and more focused on what matters most: Life here for Life later.

I think if we evaluated our choices as "puppies", as objects that we would have to care for, clean up after, share our food, finances, and beds with, that we would all have fewer "dogs" to walk in our lives.

At times we risk stepping into the shadows when we begin to justify our "wants" as "needs". We become willing to sacrifice security for our desires. And we commit the resources of our time, money, hearts, and minds to ideals that in the end leave us with the puzzling question: "Was it worth it?"

And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. ~ Luke 18:18, 22,23.

Was he in Control or Controlled? Owned or Owner? Ruler or Ruled?

Was he really Rich?

I'll have a follow up post in a few days called "Nickels & Dimes" detailing in photos my own personal divestiture of, and battle over, "stuff". 

 

A Timeless Christ

Badgered by confusion, a group of Jews confronted Jesus believing that he must be possessed by a demon to say the things he does in John 8. The chapter concludes with Jesus announcing "before Abraham was, I am." What? Jesus says "I AM" not "I was". Why? Because Jesus is eternal and always present. Jesus, as God and party to the Trinity, exists before and outside of time. Chances are if they had asked Him "Jesus will you be in heaven?" the answer would echo the same "I am"; not "I will be." Jesus, being eternal, is always present and therefore always "I am".

My quick thoughts;

Eternity is timeless and time exists briefly inside of eternity. Time was created in Genesis 1:5. Time will cease to exist in the "last day" and fulfillment of Revelation when Christ returns to gather His own. Eternity always "Is" and has no date.  It's not a second ago, or a second later from now.  Like God, it always "Is" . . . and it's always present and in present tense.

The Trinity exists eternally and before time. God sends His Spirit to hover over the face of the deep in Genesis 1:2 before time is created in verse 5. Jesus pre-exists and transcends time as John 1:1 tells us that all things were made through Christ. And God's eternal nature is a theological given.

The "Time" question I have . . . "Where did Jesus go for the 3 days that His earthly body was in the grave?" We know His body lay dead for those 3 days. But what about His spirit, His essence? Where did He go and what did He do? Logic says Heaven to be with The Father . . . but I still want to know . . .

"God has visited his people!" Luke 7:16

 

Walk With Me.

 
 
 Walk with me through the fields of delight and promise

In time, in stride, and in search.

Walk with me through the darkness that may cover my eyes

In days my heart lingers behind.

Walk with me when I run and you can't keep up

In moments my soul leaps boundless forward.

Walk with me when I've lost my way and footing

When my pace is broken and distracted.

Walk with me and together we can find Him

We'll sing and echoes rebound His glory.

Walk with me and I can help shoulder your burden

When life is grey and trials taunting

Walk with me and be my Brother, my Sister, and I yours

Walk with me and we'll be three.

harlan, july, sixteen, two thousand ten

"For where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I among them." ~ Jesus Matthew 18:20

 

Thinking Outside The Clock

My trying to comprehend God's greatness and holiness often leaves me with the feeling that I've hit a wall. My finite being and understanding can't fully grasp his infinite existence. And I know all my knowledge is but a grain of sand on the vast endless expanse of eternal beach. But of all my "bigger" thoughts, Time intrigues me the most.

"And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." Genesis 1:3-5

And so "it" began . . . . Time.

God creates Day and Night marking first instance of a division of time as we know it. In that moment, that great divide, Time was born. God created day and night to allow us to mark time. To measure, compare, and compute. To remember our lost depravity and look forward to our promise of purity. Prior to mankind there was no need for Time.  Time doesn't harass the Omnipotent Being known as "The Great I Am" because He is always present and in present tense. Time doesn't matter in the midst of eternity. Eternity "Is". And it "is" without beginning, middle, or end. Eternity exists beyond the grasp of Time.  Eternity exists before time, and time will have a short life within the expanse of forever.

Time effects Mankind and Deity differently.

Time, and all of it's markers, is inconsequential to a limitless and boundless God. However we, as humanity, are made as "linear beings". We were born into Time. We exist on earth in a measured amount of ticks and tocks. Days, hours, weeks, months, years, are all the numbers of time. Our clocks start and our clocks stop. We travel in miles per hour. And in between all that starting and stopping is measured time and events marked with dates and hours on the calendars of our lives. More often than not I find myself organizing my daily life around Time rather than the Timeless. I get anxious about time and tasks and accomplishing what needs to be done . . . . in Time.

God gives us time and linear boundaries not only to measure, but also to compare. So we can fathom, and try to comprehend His limitlessness when measured against our finiteness. It's hard to imagine an "endless day" and existence outside of time. It's difficult to imagine that instruments of time won't have to be calibrated to an Atomic Clock. That the rising and setting of a sun will have no bearing on what occurs . . . ever. I don't think there will be a setting sun in the eternal day. And if there is perhaps it will be manufactured simply for our soul's delight . . . to remember a day . . . and how Time once held us captive to this world.

Cell Phones – Church – The Promise

My last post "Cell Phones – Christ -The Call", shared my thoughts on what we choose to do and doing it well.

In an interview Martin Cooper, inventor of the cell phone, addresses both his fascination with modern cell phone capabilities, and his dismay at what he calls cellular's "unfulfilled promise." He believes that "promise" was, and is, to simply deliver reliable and accessible wireless phone service. An insightful Cooper founded ArrayComm in 1992 with a sole mission is to simplify wireless communication and free it from an "untethered internet". An internet that, while offering "promise", severely pollutes the purity of cellular service.

So, you're wondering; "What does that have to do with the Church?"

The Gospel, like cell phones, fascinated curious people at it's inception.  Both meet a created need and successfully did so with clever simplicity. And both have become prolifically burdened to the point of near non-function by zealous over-programming. You see, we're so used to fascinating features that we're no longer awed by cellular technology. If anything, we're accepting of mediocrity to the point we openly buy into the fact that half the junk crammed into our phones won't work properly after a few months, and some of it never at all. They become complicated and cumbersome as we "make them better" with more programs to widen their appeal and functionality. In reality we slowly kill them over time.

The life example of Christ, the Church of the Book of Acts, and those nurtured by Paul, not only reached out to the poor; they were, or became the poor. They sold and gave what they had to meet the needs of those without choice in order to relay the message of choice, hope, and promise. They met in homes, ate together, and built value into the lives of each other.  The "haves" and "have-nots" shared equally in the physical and spiritual bounty that was the promise of the Gospel and Church that seamlessly co-existed.

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction." James 1:27

While I think James is speaking both literally and metaphorically about the Church meeting the needs of the broken and forgotten parts of society it is also a far cry from some of the bannered and polished programs we create mainly to incubate our own. In most cases, Churches create passive activities that require the lost to find us instead of us reaching out beyond our sanctuaries to find them.

The Gospel is a simple message, a promise given to simple people to pass on to other simple people. Christ didn't come looking for the scholarly, self appointed important people of the day, whom He knew would begin over-programming His message. He sought out, captivated, and captured the hearts and souls of those most often left behind. He implores us to do much the same. Christ lived life out in the open. He sought the ill at heart and they sought him. He nourished their hungers physically and spiritually. Not by plugging people into programs and filling them with mass produced cookies and sugared up water . . . but by meeting their basic needs, nurturing friendships, and fulfilling the promise of life both today and in eternity.

Cooper said this about cell phones; "People want to talk to other people - not a house, or an office, or a car. Given a choice, people will demand the freedom to communicate wherever they are, unfettered by the infamous copper wire." Relate it to The Gospel in this way; People seek out and find Christ in other people – not through attending an over-programmed, over structured, religious system that requires them to immediately conform and plug-in or be damned. Given a choice, the lost would choose to find salvation and freedom through your life, and mine, unfettered by the daunting facades we construct around, and obscure The Gospel with.  

"Just Do It Well"

 

Cell Phones. Christ. The Call.

Rewind. On April 3, 1973 Martin Cooper, inventor of the cell phone, placed the first public cell phone call using Motorola's DynaTac. The DynaTac had but one function; it was just a phone, and went on sale to the public in 1983 for $3,500. I watched a recent interview with Martin as he cascaded through a cell phone trade convention. The now 81 year old inventor was fascinated by the plethora of technology in today's phones; cameras, video, browsers, gps, apps galore, and messaging. But he seemed troubled and vocal about the fact that none of our phones do any one thing particularly well. Some, in fact, are actually horrible "phones". Interesting.

Rewind further. Unlike today's cell phones, Jesus did not come to be all things to all people. He came to call his own. He openly rejected the Pharisees and those who oppressed the poor and broken calling them a "brood of vipers" in Matthew 23. Jesus is, however, all things to His people. He is all we need.

Nor did Jesus come to do everything for everyone. He came as a teacher, often called Rabbi. He came to establish His authority and a pathway home for those who seek Him. He came to die for Life. Jesus did a few things and He accomplished them with simplistic excellence. But, Jesus can do everything for those that call Him "Savior."

Christ came. He lived. He died. He defeated death and in between the example He left was to focus on doing a few things well.

Today it seems we as individuals and as a Church often try to do everything, be everything, and fail miserable at times at accomplishing anything. Being back in Church now for 6 years I went through extremes of first not feeling worthy to do anything. Then being ecstatic to be asked to do "something" and eventually ended up being overwhelmed by "everything". Lately I came to realize I can do a few things well and chose to follow that narrower, tighter path, if you will.

Romans 12:4-8 confirmed the choices I made earlier this year and has encouraged me to seek out what I've been given to "do well" through His grace.

"For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;  if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;  the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness." Romans 12:4-8

Individually we should seek out the true abilities of our hearts and hands. And as a Church we should identify how we are best suited, situated, and gifted to deliver His message whether that is over the fence, or over-seas. While Nike popularized "Just Do It", I would have to refine and focus that to "Just Do It Well."

Part 2 Follw up post is here:  "Cell Phones - Church - The Promise"