Archive for August, 2010

Thoughts on healthy relationships

1. Does God seem far away, impersonal or distant?
2. Do you experience guilt and self condemnation?
3. Have you learned to survive on ability and talent alone?
4. Is your life defined by weakness, sin or addictions?
5. Would you see yourself as insecure, anxious or fearful?
6. Do you think by pleasing others you can earn love and acceptance?
7. Do you feel your life has stalled or is stagnant?
8. Have you given up on being or doing better?
9. Can you not be happy unless you feel in control of others?
10. Do you define your life by past successes or past failures?

I developed this list some time ago when I was thinking about what healthy relationships look like and especially what a healthy relationship with God looks like. In our buy-and-sell world we learn that everything of value must be purchased by money, by behavior, by paying some kind of price. We then make that payment and wait for the result we are looking for or wanting, either from others or from God. It can be rather distressing when this not only doesn’t happen, but the price we paid seems to make things even worse. The most unfortunate part about this system is that it often takes years to figure out “my life isn’t working” or that “we have been living by the wrong rules and not the offering of Jesus!”

The Bible tells us:
* While we were yet sinners, Jesus gave His life for us.
* Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.
* For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son.
* Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
* Love God with all your heart, soul and mind.
* If God is for you, then who can be against you?
* Give and it will be given to you, pressed down, shaken together and running over.
* Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
* Life does not consist of the abundance of things we possess.
* Blessed are the pure in heart, the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful.

If we are not happy with what we’ve got, we won’t be happy with what we get!

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures: He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in paths of righteousness for His names sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23

Thoughts on Jesus

When I was 20 years old, I attended a young adult Sunday School class for the first time, also the first time I had attended Sunday School since I was 12. The teacher decided to test us for service, and the first test was to see if we could sing. Each person in the small class sang a song. The only song I could think of was Jesus Loves Me, so that is what I sang. And Jesus does love us!

At the gym the other day, a young man I have talked with many times worked up the courage to ask me a question. He wanted to know about faith, sharing with me that he attended a church on occasion and prayed most days. But he still wasn’t sure if he had faith. I told him, “If you are in your car going 80, it spins out of control on ice, and you see a bridge abutment heading your way and know you are about to die, what would your last word be, ‘Jesus’ or ‘@#&*%$#’?” I think you know something about yourself by that last word.

But Jesus is more than a children’s song or the one we believe can help us in seasons and moments of trouble.

In the first chapter of Revelation, John has an encounter with Jesus, the same Jesus he followed around the Sea of Galilee and eventually to Golgotha.

“His head and his hair were white like wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in its strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. And he placed his right hand on me saying, do not be afraid . . .”

“Do not be afraid,” the same words Jesus said to Peter and John as he walked on the water toward them in the storm. Do not be afraid! In a world that panders to fear, these words are a treasure of a promise.

I think sometimes people think that if they make Jesus small and more like them, then somehow He becomes more approachable, more palatable and friendlier somehow. But when we do this, He also becomes less than He really is, and in this, also less influential and much easier to ignore. People can do all kinds of things with Jesus, even turning His name into a curse word. But Jesus cannot be ignored.

Jesus loves us, is our savior but is also Lord and God before whose feet we must fall. When I do this, my problems, anxiety and fears get smaller and smaller, my temptations fade, my sins are washed away and my future is reshaped by the power of an amazing Christ.

The one whose face is like the sun shining in its strength is the one who loves us, is the one who we can call on in the moment of desperation, is the one we kneel before and then stand up after fearless.

Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so!

Thoughts on loving God, loving others, and serving the world

I had another thought prepared for today, but I heard a story yesterday that demands telling.

I went to the hospital to visit a family with a new baby. It is one of the very enjoyable things I get to do on occasion. The brand new baby with such happy parents and grandparents was beautiful as you might imagine. As I was leaving the hospital, I ran into a member of our church who was on the way in. I asked why she was there (sometimes there is a concern I need to know about). And, then she told me this story.

She had gone to the hospital to see a friend. While there, she met a woman who was in crisis. The woman, who was from out of town, had a very ill husband in Intensive Care. He was not far from death. Our member saw this and felt moved to ask if she needed prayer. She said “yes,” and the prayer happened for this isolated, in crisis, lost woman who was far from home. Later it was discovered she attended a Methodist church in her hometown, and this connection with our church, through our member who typified spontaneously our mission statement — love God, love others and serve the world — became a channel for God’s grace in this most unlikely place. Jesus entered a time of tragedy through the alert, open and willing heart of one of His followers, just the way it is supposed to work.

Following Christ is not rocket science or something reserved for the professional and the trained, just the willing. I hope that I am just as willing today to love God, love others, and serve the world as Laverne was.

Thoughts on finding our place

This past weekend was a remarkable season of worship for me. I like to share God’s word, we got to pray many times, other people who love God and are getting to know God joined me, the attendance was pretty remarkable for this time of year, and we, of course, marked closely a few words in scripture. I felt God’s presence. The message was on finding our place (one of the more confusing and difficult things sometimes to do in a church family). But there was one special moment that was a highlight that I think really defines what the church is. (And no matter how it seems, Jesus is the architect of the church just as God is the architect of the world and universe.)

We celebrated Communion (the Lord’s Supper) in all our services. During the serving of communion in one of the services, one of the ushers let me know that someone at the back needed me to come to them as they could not make their way to the front. This often happens. So, I got a tray and a piece of bread and headed toward the back. Usually this is an elderly person. When I went to serve the young lady, I discovered she was from Haiti and was a double amputee here for medical care. A friend was with her and acted as interpreter. She was staying the weekend with a couple in our church family. She shared Christ with us and us with her in this small cup and piece of bread that symbolizes the body and blood of Christ, God’s gift reaching into a broken, earthquake-destroyed building in Haiti as well as into our air-conditioned Sanctuary on Sunday morning some months later. It was an inspiring moment for me.

The Church of Jesus Christ is remarkable, not just because we have great music and hopefully inspiring sermons, but because people find their way to Jesus and Jesus finds His way into our hearts in the smallest and yet most meaningful moments that make up what the Christian life really is. Look for Jesus in the small moments, and He will surely be found. “Knock and the door shall be opened, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find,” Jesus said.

I would also like to add that we are preparing for a unique message series the last two weeks of August and the first week of September entitled “Coffee with Mike and David.” I and our teaching pastor are going to be sharing a message together in all our services, a little like the podcast we do on a weekly basis. Kevin Selle, our moderator, will join us for this special joint sermon. Kevin is the meteorologist for TXCN cable news. You will also hear him on occasion at local radio stations. What I would ask you to do is this, if there is a question you have or a subject you might like to see addressed in this more open time, please email me or David. I can’t say we can address every question or subject, but we will try within the parameters of time and worship.

Making disciples of Jesus Christ who will love God, love others and serve the world.