Why I'm excited about the 44th president

On the heels of a historic inauguration day, as the country welcomes a new administration, I’m looking forward to what the next four years will bring. Regardless of how much one agrees with his positions, Obama has impacted this country in a unique way. Here’s why I’m excited about the 44th president of the United States.

A country uniting
Obama’s inauguration is testament to the way our country is uniting where we once stood at odds. The historical precedent of the first African American president is something that marks the progression of unifying the once great racial divide. It’s also exciting to see a drastically polarized political world move a little closer together. I will be interested to see how Barack “reaches across the aisle” to unite a polarized government. Unity is at the heart of Christ. The Bible is pretty clear that nationalities, race, sex, or any other way we divide and assign value doesn’t have a place in the Kingdom of God. This presidency seems like a step in the right direction.

Hope
There is no doubt that Obama has brought a renewed hope to people in less than hopeful circumstances. Hope is a perhaps one of the most valuable tools for change that God provides. While I believe true hope is not found in a man or a country but in God alone, I do see how God can use influential people as agents of hope. If all truth is God’s truth, is all hope God’s hope?

New focus
I am excited to see how President Obama will help open a new focus on issues that have been in the background for evangelical Christians. Issues like poverty, social justice, and the environment are already beginning to receive more focus from the evangelical world.

A call to action
I also appreciate Obama’s candor in admonishing Americans to work together in facing these difficult times. A sense of ownership and responsibility for one’s neighbor, whether next door or across the world, is aligned with the type of life Christ called us to live.

I may not agree with all of Obama’s positions, but I can enthusiastically support much of the change he symbolizes. So as the excitement and celebration of this historic day tones down, I’ll be looking forward to seeing a nation step up to the challenges we face with unity, hope, and fresh awareness of the issues.

Fire, Flat Screens, and Catacombs

Last January the church building housing our student ministry and administrative offices caught fire. While part of the building was lost, part of it was untouched by fire but suffered heavy smoke damage.
Now, 10 months later, the clean-up and repairs are nearly complete. As is the case with most insurance settlements we received far less than what it would actually cost to replace everything we had (building, furnishings, technology, etc). So we rebuilt with less square footage and are trying to furnish the building with donated furniture instead of new.

Needless to say, I have had moments of frustration through the process. “Why can’t we get back what we had?” “Why do we have to settle for less square footage?” I also wanted to improve on what was lost. “We should be able to replace that old TV with a flat screen and those stained couches with leather ones!” Our staff and students have been scheming fundraiser ideas (everything from scrapping the burnt metal from the building to holding up a bank) in order to raise the money we need to get our facility back to the way it should be…

…or should I say “in order to raise the money we want to get our facility back to the way we think it should be”…

…or should I say “in order to take God’s money from other things to use it on a facility God blessed us with to bring it up to the ridiculous standards our culture places on material things as if the facility itself was what changed students lives.”

Let me unpack this for a moment…

Listen to the way Eugene Peterson words Jesus’ instructions to the disciples as they head out to minister…

"Don't think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light.” (The Message, Mt 10:9-10)

You mean the disciples did ministry without million dollar facilities with stage lighting, coffee shops, and comfy couches?

Are you telling me that the disciples took the gospel to the people instead of trying to pull them into the church in order to hear the good news?

Big churches with nice facilities are not wrong – a lot of life changing encounters with Christ happen in and through them, I am privileged to see it first hand – but nice facilities are not the answer either. The early church, due to persecution, met underground in catacombs and had transforming connections with the living God despite the rotting corpses surrounding them. God is bigger than bricks, carpet, and light fixtures. He can meet you anywhere.

God challenged my heart when my focus became the facility and not the people it was meant to hold. I’ve come to see the facility we do have as an incredible blessing, but couches and flat screen TV’s will never transform a person’s heart. God wants to use me and you and countless others as the equipment he uses to share the true blessing of Christ’s forgiveness and love.

So I think I’ll hold off on planning that bank robbery, be content with what I have, and focus on equipping God’s most valuable equipment.

Death of Suburbia?

here is a very thought provoking and perhaps prophetic look at society's shift from the suburbs back to downtown and the role the church could play.

http://www.drurywriting.com/keith/death.of.suburbia.htm

My Bible’s drowning in Alphabet Soup

The other week the office wing of our church tragically caught fire and most of the pastoral offices, including mine, were lost. One of the saddest losses was a NIV Study Bible given to me by my aunt and uncle when I first came to faith. I had used that Bible all through college and often used it to preach or teach from. It didn’t completely burn up, just some charred edges, but I won’t ever be able to use it again. So I began looking for a new Bible to replace the one I lost. I realized a couple of things...

First, there are a multitude of Bibles to choose from. The alphabet soup of over 50 English translations is bewildering – NIV, TNIV, NLT, NASB, NASV, ASV, NCV, NKJV, KJV, CEV, ESB, ESPN, NBC, HIV, XYZ. Ok, maybe not the last few, but you get the idea. Entire books are written on deciphering these Bibles and the translation philosophies behind them. Let’s not forget that for every Bible translation there is a children’s version, a teen version, a woman’s devotional version, a man’s devotional version, life application versions, and on and on, customizable to the nth degree.

The second observation is that Bibles are expensive. If you want a nice leather bound study Bible it will cost you around $60. Even a generic run of the mill NIV pew Bible is around $10. Apparently, God’s word comes with a price tag (unless it’s from the Gideons).

Recently, I read a comment about this that got me thinking…Why are there hundreds of variations of the English Bible, with more on their way, when some people don’t have a single version of the Bible in their language? (In defense, translating the Bible into a new language is a tediously long process.) One could also ask why do languages with one translation not have study Bibles, devotional Bibles, life application Bibles, etc in their language?

Could it be because of money?

Printing Bibles is a business. Bibles make publishers money. It’s profitable to create a new version of the Bible because publishers can copyright it and sell it, and then sell the many variations that follow the release of a new version. Even the Word of God isn’t beyond the reach of American consumerism. Are you bored with the Bible you have? Why not upgrade? I think I’ll get the one bound in leather, with my name in gold print on the cover. Then in a few years I can upgrade to a newer better version of the Bible.

Maybe we Americans don’t need to buy a new Bible…maybe we should actually read the three we already have. (Unless it has charred edges and reeks of smoke, then a new one might be worth the money).

Carbon Guilt and Pollution Penance

Environmentalism has become hip. Its getting more press and celebrity endorsement than ever before. But apparently it’s also weighing heavy on the American conscious. Environmentally conscious people are experiencing what’s been coined as “carbon guilt.” They begin to feel guilty about how their lifestyle negatively impacts the environment. Guilt necessarily isn’t a bad thing; it often leads to change. If someone feels guilty about their negative impact on the environment, then ideally that guilt will lead them to change the way they live. But not in the good ole U.S. of A! Why go to all the effort of changing your lifestyle when you can pay someone to do it for you? Companies are actually cashing in on carbon guilt by offering Carbon offset programs. In Carbon offset programs “Service providers invest consumers' money in environmental projects, such as renewable energy research or forest conservation, with the goal of counterbalancing the carbon dioxide generated by a subscriber's energy consumption.” Walla – no more pesky carbon guilt trips. Its pollution penance! Bye, bye carbon guilt…hello American Consumerism (I’ll just be sure to save some money back to pay someone else to lower their pollution in my name).

I wonder if we bring this same rationale to our faith. We sin and feel guilty…but its hard to change your behavior, so instead we deal with our guilt by giving or serving. Americans are very good at giving to charities compared to the rest of the world. (We should be since we have so much money). However, I wonder how much of that comes from actual joy of obeying God’s command to give, and how much is in response to the guilt we carry. Do we really understand God’s grace? If we serve out of guilt we’re missing incredible joy that comes from serving out of humility and love.

Roosters and Steers

I grew up in rural Indiana and had many experiences with livestock. One of the great frustrations in dealing with livestock is trying to get them to go where you want them to go. Most of the time coercing them with feed usually does the trick. However, some times no matter how much bribery, coercion, or flat out beating, the animal simply won’t cooperate. I found roosters to be particularly difficult. “Herding” chickens into the coop is a challenging task. As you slip in the last chicken there’s always a rooster who slips out, as you chase him down, all the others escape – back to square one! Steers have the opposite problem. Sometimes they don’t move at all. You can push, pull, prod, and goad with all your might, but you might as well be tugging on a 1,300 pound rock. They simply won’t move.

Working in ministry brings up a lot of the same frustrations I had when I worked with livestock. Sometimes things feel like a whirlwind of feathers and dust. Things are moving a mile a minute, and you can barely hold it all together. Other times things are dead in the water. You try to lead and influence someone or some group with all your might, but still nothing.

I often wonder in those times if this is how ministry is supposed to feel. Is leading others in growing relationships with Christ supposed to be this hard? I wonder if in these times I’m frustrated because I’m trying to do God’s work instead of letting him take a go at it. Maybe I feel like things are out of control, because they really are. Maybe the problem isn’t my circumstances. Maybe it’s me and my illusion of control. Maybe its time to let the steers and roosters go.

Guardin' the Garden

Picture the Garden of Eden…what do you see? Lush tropical forests, sparkling waterfalls, succulent fruits on every branch, Adam and Eve swinging on a hammock in the shade – paradise! I recently read an article that made me take a second look at Genesis and the Garden of Eden. Did God really create such a paradise for Adam and Eve?

Genesis 2:4-15
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground- 7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil… 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Notice something…God’s planned paradise involved Adam and Eve working and taking care of the earth. At the very beginning of creation, God intended a partnership between him and mankind and between mankind and the earth. There is something very spiritual about taking care of the world. Too often environmental issues are separated from spiritual issues, and at times from Christianity all together. God’s call to care for the earth involves environmental advocacy. Christians should be some of the loudest voices concerning environmental issues because we know the God who created the environment. Working and taking care of the physical might just be spiritual.

End World Hunger while Improving your Vocabulary

http://www.freerice.com/

This clever new website helps users learn vocabulary while donating rice to the United Nations to help fight world hunger. The rice is paid for by companies who advertise on the website. Who would of thought of combining capitalism, education, and humanitarian aid?

Faith in Progress

This past weekend I help a couple good friends re-roof their house. I spent all day Friday and Saturday taking the old roof off and putting the new one on. Despite the blisters, sore muscles, and smashed thumbs, it was an enjoyable time. There’s a part of me that has always enjoyed hard work and manual labor. I think growing up raising livestock and having good parents instilled some of those values in me. However, I’ve found myself really enjoying manual labor more and more the past couple years.

I think I enjoy manual labor so much because it is concrete. You work hard, things get done, and progress is visible. You could see how much of the old roof was gone by the end of Friday. And as the hours ticked by on Saturday you could see the progress with each new shingle laid. I’ve been drawn to manual labor more the past couple years because of the subjectivity of dealing with the spiritual lives of other people. Spirituality is anything but concrete, and you can’t always see visible signs of progress. There are many times I wish I could track the progress in a student’s heart of removing their old self and putting down new shingles of Christ in their life. Often after teaching a lesson, preaching, or having one-on-one conversations I’m not sure what progress is being made.

There are visible markers of a student’s spiritual progress; lifestyle changes, servant hood, baptism, church attendance, and others. That’s why James says “I will show you my faith by what I do.” But assessing a person’s heart is a subjective and unclear thing. I wish I could watch each shingle of faith being nailed down in a student’s life. While I’m not sure why God set up things that way, I realize it boils down to faith: Faith that God is working through me to reach students. Faith that Christ is bringing other people into their lives. Faith in the Holy Spirit to tug on their hearts. Faith in progress that I can’t always visibly see.

Busy.

Our world is incredibly busy. I am incredibly busy. Its frustrating, stressful, harmful to relationships and ourselves, yet we persist to function as busy people in a busy world. Maybe we have to keep up with everything, or we’ll get left behind. I don’t know. But I have been thinking a lot about business. Here’s just a couple thoughts:

Busy is the new “good”
When an acquaintance passes you and asks “how are you doing?” the rote response has always been “good.” Whether you really were good or not doesn’t matter, it was just the socially expected response. In the last few years I’ve heard more and more people (myself included) respond by answering “busy” instead of “good.” Busy has become the new good! Instead of an expectation of being good, we now have an expectation to be busy. If we’re not busy, then something is wrong. We’re not functioning at the appropriate frenzy level. Our reply about being busy is then met with affirmation by saying something like, “I know what you mean” or “let me tell you…” or “no kidding.” I wonder if our business becomes a badge of honor. The busier you are the more important you are.

Busy is the ultimate excuse
Whether you’re late, forgot to call someone, missed an assignment, or haven’t talked to a friend or family member, being busy is the standard excuse. We all have used it. “I’m so sorry, I’ve just been so busy lately.” You can’t really argue with that because we’re all busy and have been guilty of playing the busy card.

Busy is the new drug
One of the most common reasons to use drugs is to escape. Life is hard and facing your problems is not enjoyable. I think busyness has become the drug of choice. By over occupying our time we never have to face life’s unpleasantries. What a great escape.

These are just a few thoughts. I’m sure the list is much longer. Some questions I struggle with: How to manage your life in such a busy world? Where does God fit into my busy schedule? What do I do with the verse, “Be still and know I am God?”

Lost and Found

I’ve been reading a book by Brian McLaren about evangelism called More Ready than you Realize. In one of the chapters he discusses the labels the Christian community places upon those who have yet to follow Christ. We label them with such terms as “lost,” “unsaved,” or even “non-Christian.”

The danger of labels is that it creates an “us versus them” mentality, or an in-group and out-group. While on the sociological side, labels are useful to help us refer to and think about large groups of people, we have to be very careful of the language we use. We never want to unintentionally elevate one group and degrade another. This language may push away the very ones we want to reach with God’s message of love and acceptance. McLaren goes one to explain that the term “lost” may not be accurately used in describing people not following Christ, but better used to describe Christians.

“Sometimes I wonder if we would be wiser to apply the term “lost” to ourselves. After all, if you send a letter to someone and it never arrives, you say the letter is lost. Similarly, God has sent us into the world as ambassadors and agents of God’s love, and yet many of us have never really arrived at our destination. So, in that light, who is lost – them or us?”

May we “find” our destinations as Christians who live their life on purpose with love enticing others into a relationship with our Savior.

Take two and call me in the morning

I have had some pain in a tooth for the last week, so I reluctantly yielded my fears and went to a dentist. Expecting a cavity, I was surprised when the dentist said he didn’t know exactly what was causing me pain. He suggested a couple options, and like any good health care professional who doesn’t know what the problem is, he prescribed some antibiotics. “Take this and call me if the pain continues or worsens.” I left the dentist office with a mix of hope and uneasiness. I wondered if this will really cure my pain, or if the doctor was just taking a shot in the dark.

I think a lot of times we see prayer as the magical pill to our problems. If you want God to do something, just throw up a prayer. God will fix the problem, won’t he? Now, I’m not saying prayer doesn’t work. In fact, I believe in a huge way that God moves through prayer and that if you spend time doing anything - you should pray. However, too often we see prayer as a “miracle cure” to our problems instead as a divine conversation with the God of the universe. We work under the assumption that if we say the right words we might convince God to give in to what we ask. How arrogant are we to think we have the ability to coerce almighty God? When we approach God with the magical pill mindset we miss out on the relationship God intended to have with us and we’re left feeling like I did as I left the dentist office.

Prayer is a way to interact with the God of creation who desires relationship with us. Prayer is more than just talking, its listening, its yearning for his presence and resting in it. Perhaps prayer works not because God does what we ask, but because through prayer, our hearts align with God and we begin to understand and pray for the work he is already doing. There may be a benefit to “take two and call me in the morning,” but we’re missing out on so much more of God when we only see prayer as a quick fix.

Impatiently waiting on Patience!

If patience is a virtue, then I’m not a very virtuous man. I like to think I’m patient, and compared to the idiot honking his horn the moment the light changes green I am. But I’m really not that patient. The other day I was trying to refurbish an old cabinet we picked up for free to place in our home office. I put wood filler in the nail holes and scratches so it will look good when we paint it. You’re supposed to let the wood filler dry “all the way” before you start sanding. Well, “all the way” is a relative term to an impatient man, so when the outer covering was hard I began sanding. It wasn’t long before I discovered I didn’t wait long enough and the wood filler really wasn’t dried “all the way.” So I get to do it again (doing something over is torture to an impatient man).

For a long time, God has been working with this issue in my life. He has a tendency to bring things up again and again until we get them right. Evidently, I’m not making a ton of progress on this issue because he brought it up again as I was reading my Bible the other night.

The Scenario:
Moses frees the Israelites from 400 some years of slavery in Egypt. After numerous plagues and signs to the Pharaoh to show God’s might, the Pharaoh finally lets the Israelites go. Now, God had promised to give the Israelites their own land, a land flowing with milk and honey, but they weren’t going to get all of it right away. Listen to what God says to the Israelites in Exodus 23:29:
“But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.”

I see patience as waiting weeks and months. God sees it in years. First of all, the Israelites had already waited 400 years to be free from the Egyptians. Now they are free, but they have to wait even longer to receive all of what God promised them. But I love what God said – “until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.” God knew his people had to grow to be able to handle what he was going to give them.

I think he does the same with us. In our ministries, in our relationships, in our futures we wait on God to do something. Sometimes that wait isn’t about God - it’s about us. God is growing us to be able to handle what he wants to give us next. He wants to make sure we’re dried “all the way” before he uses us.

So, there’s another lesson from God to a man who’s impatiently waiting on patience.

Home Improvement Blinders

I like to think I’m a handy man. I enjoy trying to fix things around the house – sometimes with success, sometimes with utter failure. When I do commit to a home improvement project it consumes me, it’s all I can think about. I don’t want to stop until I’m finished, and do it yourself projects always take longer to finish then expected. The “home improvement blinders” I wear drive my wife crazy. I’ll be in the middle of a project and she’ll come up wanting a hug or a kiss on the cheek and stand there waiting for me to stop my work – an annoying distraction. I know, you think I’m a horrible husband, but in my mind, I’m willing to spend all the cuddle time she can stand - once I finish my project! But often the project goes longer and cuddle time goes shorter.

The prophet Haggai talks about similar “home improvement blinders” the Israelites faced. Having returned from exile they were so focused on their own homes they didn’t do anything for God’s house. I’m sure they were using the same rational I do – We’ll fix the Temple once we get our homes squared away. But they were finding – as I often do – projects take longer, time is fleeting, and their supplies are never enough. God tells them through Haggai, “You expected much, but see it turned out to be little. What you brought home I blew away. Why? declares the Lord Almighty. Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.” Haggai reminds the Israelites that God is their first priority, not themselves. But he doesn’t just say God, he says God’s house is their first priority. In the Old Testament God’s house was the temple. In the New Testament it is within his people that God dwells. The house may be different but the calling is still the same…we shouldn’t be so focused with ourselves that we ignore God’s people.

This idea goes against our culture of individualism and material success. Life in America has become private and individualistic. Take houses for instance. A lot of older houses have large front porches facing the street. Newer homes have small front porches, but large back yard patios and decks surrounded by a privacy fence – private and individual. But just like the Israelites of Haggai’s time would plant much but gain little, I wonder how many of our modern private lives are toiling for meaning but come up shallow and missing the depth of real relationship and community. Real fullness and purpose in life comes when we lay ourselves down and tend to God’s house. So next time my wife walks up to me, I think I might lay down my hammer and give her the hug she deserves.

The Dirt on the Nativity

A small rustic shed housing serene ceramic figures. Mary and Joseph, with their hands clasp together, stare down lovingly at a peaceful infant Jesus lying in a manger. Shepherds stand by leaning forward to get a glimpse of the beautiful infant. Their sheep are calmly lying around the stable chewing their cud. Three Wise Men are on bended knee holding their gifts in the air for the child to see. Above an angel dressed in white hovers over the beautiful scene arms spread open with an angelic smile.

This is what I remember of the Nativity at my Grandma’s house. Every Christmas season it would be set up, and every Christmas season when she wasn’t looking I would grab the peaceful figurines and recruit them as army men to help fight my imaginary wars. Once I accidentally chipped the tail end of one of the Wise Men’s robes. Imaginary wars are brutal like that.

Many homes in the U.S. and around the world have similar Nativity scenes displayed. All depict a peaceful and serene moment when divine became flesh. Most, when thinking of the birth of Jesus Christ, imagine those angelic Nativity scenes. But, I imagine the real Nativity was far from peaceful imagery we have in mind.

Think about it…first, an engaged girl becomes pregnant, and her fiancé knowing it wasn’t by him has enough concern for her to quietly break the engagement (by law he could have had her stoned to death). After angelic intervention declaring the child would be the Messiah, the fiancé takes her back. I can’t imagine the wild thoughts racing through the couple’s heads at the prospect of raising the Savior of the Jewish people. The couple probably had a myriad of emotions; fear, nervous anticipation, confusion, doubt, excitement. The man and his pregnant fiancé travel to Bethlehem, surely not an easy task. Then the man frantically tries to find lodging for the soon to give birth woman. A stable is the only available shelter. (Now, I used to raise livestock, and a barn is not a desirable place to give birth.) Itchy straw, manure, and pungent smells are the commodities for Joseph and Mary. Then comes the pain and confusion of this young woman’s first labor. Her screams and moans no doubt kept the animals at bay. Finally, after much struggle, the infant is born. His screams from being thrust into the harsh cold new environment fill the stable. The baby is cleaned, nurses, and wrapped up to lay in the only available crib – a feed trough. Joseph no doubt cleaned it the best he could, but grain crumbs are still lodged between the rough boards. A group of dirty shepherds arrive from the fields to see this amazing infant the angels sang about. In the back of everyone’s mind they are wondering if this helpless infant is really who the angels promised him to be. And the wise men? They are no where to be found. They are just beginning their journey towards the peculiar star in the sky.

This account isn’t exactly how it happened either, but I imagine its a little closer to reality than the images of modern day Nativities. Why do we imagine Christ’s birth as peaceful and perfect? Even though Jesus was fully God he was also fully human, and humanity can be messy, dirty, and uncertain. Jesus cried as a baby, dirtied his undergarments, and spit up after he nursed his mother.

Christ’s birth was as unglamorous and any person’s birth, perhaps even more so given the surrounding and circumstances of it. What an amazingly peculiar way for God to physically enter our world. The nativity models perfectly the humility of Jesus Christ. It shows how from the incarnation all the way through to his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ lowered himself and laid himself down for us. Christ was willing to leave heaven to come to earth as a man. Not just a man – a baby. Not just any baby – one born in the humblest of circumstances.

Jesus’ willingness to enter our imperfect world gives me assurance that he is willing to enter my imperfect life. What a Savior.

Change your Perspective

Check out my friend Michael's blog entry about "Interesting Human Ratios." It might just change how you see the world. Who knew the rest of the world isn't like Kokomo, IN?

http://michaeldubbels.typepad.com/weblog/

They don’t get you cause they don’t got God.

They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world and the world listens to them. We are from God and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. 1 John 4:5-6


Does it ever seem that when it comes to the media and current culture Christians can’t win? (Partly because some of the most outspoken media driven Christians are horrible poster children and give us a bad name) I think John was pretty close to the point when he simply stated, “hey, they don't get you cause they don’t got God.” In other words one’s world view drastically shapes all he does. So it makes all sense that Jesus makes little sense to those who don’t believe. Then why do Christians get all bent out of shape about a little bad press? Shouldn’t they be expecting it?

The New Testament is after all filled with examples of persecution and pressure form those who don’t “get it.” Jesus faced it (to the point of death), his disciples faced it (again almost all to the point of death) and every Christian truly living for God has and will face it. But this persecution in no way points to a losing battle. In actuality, it’s often in times of persecution that the church grows the most. (Look at Chinese church in the midst of Communism.)

So breathe a little easier next time Lowe’s advertises a “holiday tree”, or you see the ditzy Christian girl on ER, or hear Studio 60 take another whack at Christianity, or see another History channel special on the “Real Jesus.” When we feel like getting our fists in the air to fight, maybe we should instead get on our knees to pray.

Here are a few thoughts I jotted down about this topic Concerning evangelism:

Since…
People in the world won’t readily hear our viewpoint.
People in the world won’t readily understand our viewpoint.

Therefore…
We have to rely on the Holy Spirit to change people’s hearts, not simply our own rhetoric or words.
When someone accepts Christ it has nothing to do with us, and all to do with God.

Simplistic Complexity or Complex Simplicity?

Why is it a tendency of human nature to make simple things difficult? Our lives mirror the complex machines in the Rube Goldberg contests. For example, I have a tendency to spend hours wandering the isles of Menard’s looking for a specific tool, when all I needed to do was ask a store attendant and within 5 minutes I’d be heading home. Or why do women have a tendency to make things more complex by saying everything but what they really mean in the hopes of coercing some sort of indirect communication out of men? Humans love to confound the simple with the complex.

Our faith is no less at risk to this phenomenon. Human tendency is to take the beautifully simplistic message of Jesus Christ and tack on doctrines, rules, implied behaviors, dress codes, etc to create a confusing complexity of Christianity.

(Two things: 1. I hope the preceding alliteration impressed you. 2. I do think doctrines, rules, etc have an important place in the church and are needed. They can however, distract us from Christ instead of pointing us to him.)

In the gospel of John, after Jesus fed the 5,000 and walked to the other side of the lake, crowds continued to follow him. Someone asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus replies with this simple yet profound instruction. “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Ah, this is where the complex simplicity (or is it simplistic complexity) of faith begins. What does it really mean to believe in Jesus?

Do you have to read you Bible? Do you have to pray everyday? Do you have to understand what atonement, propitiation, justification, and sanctification all mean? Do you have to be baptized to believe in Jesus? Do you have to say a special prayer? Do you have to understand the Four Spiritual Laws and walk down the Roman’s Road? Do you have to dress modestly to believe in Jesus? Do you have to quit cussing, drinking, and smoking? Do you have to break up with your same-sex partner to believe in Jesus? Do you have to go to Church? Do you have to think abortion is wrong? Do you have to…?

What must we do to do the works God requires?

Personally, I have a tendency to have a Rube Goldberg kind of faith. When I get caught up in the complexities of doing things, not out of belief in Jesus Christ, but trying to earn his approval, I spin my wheels in futility.

What must we do to do the works God requires?

Can it be that simple?

Confessions...

As I sit here at a desk piled high with papers, a calendar filled with to do lists, and a watch ticking away…I have to confess something.

I get an “F” in time management. No…wait…I think time management is baloney. It is a leadership principle the Devil made up to make us feel guilty about ourselves. Ok…perhaps I’m a little harsh, but track with me here. There always seems like there are too many things to do and too little time to do them. And just when I think I have a grasp on my schedule, something comes up and throws it all out of whack. I hate it that I have to choose one thing over another. Spending my time on this means not spending it on that. It’s a never ending process!

Its times like this that I’m reminded I’m created for eternity. I truly am an alien to this world (1Pt 2:11). This temporal world was not meant for me. Everyday we say things like, “time sure flew by” or “I need more time” or “there’s not enough hours in the day.” Time is a constraint to us because we were created for eternity – for all time. Breaking time into 24 hour increments is foreign to who and what we were created to be.

So next time you miss a deadline tell your boss, “It’s not my fault, I was created for eternity!”

Sure Pinocchio, you’re a Real Boy.

I hate to shop. Ask my wife - if I spend too much time perusing the isles of any department store, mall, or supermarket I get a headache. I have a real physical repulsion to shopping. But the real problem is that while I hate shopping I love buying new things. Oh what fun it is to consume! Now that I have a steady income I have become quite the purchaser. It’s like having Christmas any day you want! Bring home the shiny cellophane wrapped bundle of joy and rip it open as fast as you can; bask in the glory of your new toy! I tend to find excuses to buy new things, like “oh look, there is a little dent in the screen of my speaker. I should buy a new stereo system.” I confess, I like to buy new things. But I wonder, where does my desire to purchase the bigger, better, newest item come from? Is it an innate need to always find something new, or is it a cultural force pushing me to get the next best thing?

Lately I’ve been thinking about the power of the media in our culture. American consumers will buy what products the commercials tell us, listen to the music MTV plays, and wear whatever clothing a celebrity does.

The influence of the media is everywhere, and no one is immune. Tucan Sam told me to follow my nose, and I did by forcing my Mom to buy Fruit Loops at the Grocery Store. If Ashton Kutcher wears a trucker hat, so will I. The commercials for the RAZR cell phone are so cool…I have to have one!

Our materialistic consumer society is playing along with a never ending cycle of marketing schemes. Ron Sider in his book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger writes about such ploys. “The director of research labs of General Motors, Charles Kettering, decided that business needed to create a “dissatisfied customer.” Annual model changes-planned obsolescence-was his solution. Success, according to advertising historian Roland Marchard, came to depend on the virtue of qualities like wastefulness, self-indulgence, and artificial obsolescence.” Or think about this…the largest 100 corporations in the U.S. pay for 75% of all commercial television. Because of this, producers and writers develop what those advertisers will support. These corporations may be telling us we’re “real boys” by giving us the impression of consumer choice, but we’re really just puppets and they can pull our strings anyway they want to.

The question is…What does God have to say about this? Is it his desire for us to be caught up in a system of deception and indulgence? Do I serve him better by having that new cell phone playing MP3’s of the newest American Idol? Perhaps God wants us to re-evaluate our consumer priorities. Is he not the Lord of our finances, our desires, our media?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the media and our consumerist culture is the Devil - but to too many it is a god.