Monday, December 28, 2009

Failure

In a 1/2010 Wired Magazine article entitled How to Fail, The Neuroscience of Screwing Up,  Jonah Lehrer explains that it has been proven that we really aren't objective, even in our scientific exploration. Every human has two parts of the brain that deter us from being completely objective, The anterior cingulate cortex, which he calls the "oh, sh*t." circuit leads us to set aside what we don't like or expect. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex deletes even the memory of what we don't like. In other words, we are prone not to accept and, therefore, learn from failures (failures being what we did not expect.) Yet many "failures," if pursued, lead us to new and unknown "successes."

 

I wish I could delete some of the things of which I am not proud. They were failures of my moral life. We all have them. Some big. Some not so big. Some in our past. Some current.

 

Hard as it may be to believe, Jesus took up all our failures on the Cross and made them his. He can handle them. He wants them because he knows we cannot deal with them.  They crush us if we deal with them alone. While I still must deal with the external things that arise from my failures (trust, consequences, etc.,) I am not flawed as a person and neither are you. No matter where you have been or what you have done, you are not flawed. God has pushed the "delete" button. Big, little sins are covered once we turn our life over (again and again) to God.

 

As we enter a new year, celebrate the fresh start God gives you. Remember who loves you – completely and unconditionally.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Encouragement

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers      1 Timothy 5:1 (NIV)

 

Does anyone agree with anyone today? I watch Democrats and Republicans reach what seems to be a permanent impasse. "I am right –totally right – and you are wrong."  Maybe so (I don't think so.) People who have deep values disagree. Since no one is perfect or sinless, everyone needs some wiggle room for being completely off-base. Civility not only respects the convictions of another, it does not guess at motives and it leaves open the possibility that the other may be correct.

 

In other words, civility is a form of love. Yet love moves even beyond civility to encouragement. We who call ourselves Christ are encouraged to encourage. Certainly, not to encourage what we believe is wrong thinking but encouraging the other person. Most of us have heard, "Hate the sin but love the sinner (which is not easy task.)" We may also add, "Rebuke falsehood while being an encourager to those with false beliefs."  And it corollary, "Be open to the fact that you could be wrong." I am willing to walk this tightrope Christ has set out. I will err and sin and have to ask for forgiveness but the world will be a Godlier place. Isn't that what God wants?

 

Lord, I get so riled up when I hear falsehood. Help me to realize that I render the truth a falsehood if I deliver it with a death blow to a sister or brother. Keep me humble in my fantasies that I know all truth. Hold me steadfast when I look to abandon the truth in order to be nice.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Mercy

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God

rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6 (NIV)

 

Most of us would view ourselves as pretty modern folks. Definitely New Testament types. We would think it odd (if not disgusting) to sacrifice animals to keep God happy. Yet, quite honestly, our actions are often more Old Testament than New.

 

We fall into the trap that "doing" stuff that God likes or is churchy makes God happy. Carry a Bible, cook at church, teach Sunday School, forward Christian email – basically do Christian jobs and activities. I have even experienced people who work at church on Sunday but do not worship God. And, when we see burnout, we know that we have the "sacrifice" cart before the "loving" horse. So too, when we become "issue" driven Christians, caring more about being right than loving God, we know we are missing something.

 

God differs with our thinking (and actions.) He wants us to know him – intimately. He wants a relationship. Out of a loving relationship with God, we will do all sorts of things. But, if we do all sorts of things for God, but never get to know him (sacrifice,) we miss the whole point – knowing God. Knowing God saves us. Knowing God bears fruit. Knowing God brings love, peace and joy because I have to give up control in order to fall in love.

 

The mercy (extreme caring for the things that God cares for – mainly people in difficult circumstances) God desires is a natural outcome of loving God. Mercy naturally flows out of loving God. The acts of charity we then do are fueled by God. Things beyond our imagination and capability and resources begin to happen. Burnout NEVER happens.

 

God, let me seek you and a knowledge of you before settling for being busy as a Christian.

Hazardous

I saw a truck the other day marked as hazardous. From my oil patch days, I knew the contents were aluminum alkyls. These are used in making polymers (plastics.) Nasty characters, they spontaneously combust when exposed to air and can explode when hit with a fire hose (presumably, you are trying to put out the fire you started when you exposed them to air!)

 

People do not come with a hazardous warning sign. It might be helpful to know who was ready to blow if exposed to suggestions or corrections and who would blow when rebuked. I have met these people from time to time in ministry. Now we all are this way once in a while but some are this way most all the time. Powder kegs waiting to go off. We tip toe and hope for the best while we navigate life around them. This proves really hard if they are family, a coworker or a parishioner.

 

We, as Christians, mistakenly believe that we are supposed to be "nice." By nice, I mean that we are never supposed to do anything that would make anyone mad. Now I don't believe we should purposely go around picking a fight and I do believe we should respect others (especially those different) but I also believe that the rebuke is a critical tool God uses to correct us.

 

A rebuke is a correction. We all need correction and we all need to correct. We are as yet incomplete as humans. We have things to learn and we have habits to break. True, not all rebukes are grounded in God, but the Bible tells us that wise people correct others (in love) and accept correction. Only the fool avoids rebuke.

 

Lord let me listen to faithful correction and embolden me to offer it in love. Help me keep explosions to a minimum.

 

 

Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt. Leviticus 19:17 (NIV)

 

You speak continually against your brother and slander your own mother's son.

 These things you have done and I kept silent;
       you thought I was altogether like you.
       But I will rebuke you
       and accuse you to your face.

 Consider this, you who forget God,
       or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue:  
Psalm 50:20-22 (NIV)

 

My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline
       and do not resent his rebuke   
Proverbs 3:11 (NIV)

 

He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor
       than he who has a flattering tongue.  
Proverbs 28:23 (NIV)

 

 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Mark 8:33 (NIV)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Schadenfreude

There, I said it. I ran across this word the other day while reading. It is German and means the enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others. Another way to say this is "I feel so much better when I see how badly you are doing."

 

I don't think we cultivate Schadenfreude but I do think it is second nature for us to engage in it when given the opportunity. You get a new car. I have a junker. Yours gets hit and somehow the world seems fairer. You make a lot of money and I don't but there is a certain glee when my child outscores yours in the SAT's. You engage in risky behavior. I don't (at least none I will admit to.) You get sick or hurt. The world is now right. This may be our baser response but God calls out more in us.

 

Schadenfreude makes my life seem better and makes life sort of even out. Kind of like a cynical karma. The Gospel calls us higher, not shaming our nature but speaking to the Christ within us.

 

Advent calls us to ponder the Christ who comes into the world. Today, between his first and second Advent, his foray is through us. We engage those who have troubles. God loves those who have troubles. Troubles are a call to action. No time for Schadenfreude.

 

Hear Mary, God's Mother…

 

 My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
   From now on all generations will call me blessed,
    for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.
 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful
 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."    

                                                               Luke 1:47-55 (NIV)

 

Hear her Son years later…

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
      for they will be filled.
 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.   Matthew 5:3-10 (NIV)

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

No Wrecks

Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us! So we must get rid of everything

that slows us down, especially the sin that just won't let go. And we must be

determined to run the race that is ahead of us. We must keep our eyes on Jesus,

who leads us and makes our faith complete       Hebrews 12:1-2

 

I don't know the state of Tiger Wood's soul or the souls of Chris Brown, Bernie Madoff, or Mark Sanford. I cannot Judge. God says so. I am not unaware of their alleged or adjudicated actions. How could I not be? All seem sad to me. The truth does (always) come out.

 

I can assume that they took their eyes off Jesus. Maybe it was never on him. But even that is not my job as juicy as gossip is (as long as it is not about me.) I am to worry about me.

 

What Hebrews reminds me of is this…


      
Life is a long-haul enterprise. Things may look good today, but all my sins do catch up with me.


      
I get "slowed down" by a lot of things that are none of my business or of which I know little but provide a bit of titillation or righteous indignation.


      
I must keep my eye on Jesus, even in the minutest details of my day.

 

Pointing at others and wagging my finger is more fun than following Christ, at least in the short run. But I am running the race of my life (and so are you) and it is the little things that divert my gaze from Christ (and often look harmless enough. I mean, I have never crashed an SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree or stolen millions) that slowly but surely get me off course in life until I am lost altogether.

 

We are surrounded with so many people that can support us in our race. These witnesses can be both dead and alive. My mother is one of these supporters almost 25 years after her death. Choose to surround yourself with those who encourage you to keep your eye on Christ. Avoid the influence of those who would divert your gaze, even for a moment. Love them but don't turn over the wheel of your life to them. The prize is too great to waste.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Stuck

Anyone in Christ is a new creation 2 Corinthians 5:17

 

Did you now that? If you turn to Christ and let him to lead you, you become a different person?

 

I get "stuck." That is, no matter how hard I try, by sheer will power, I can change little. I soon return to my "old" self. The Apostle Paul had the very same problem.

 

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.         Romans 7:15

 

With all the self-help books out there, I see little changing of people unless Christ does it. The biggest impact of these books may be to make some people rich writing self-help books. There is something of my "old" nature that gets stuck and I am unable to really make the changes I desire. Some people even try to make Christianity a self-help religion. They stay stuck as well.

 

When I follow Jesus, I become "in him" rather than "about him" or "aware of him" or "sucking up to him." There is a big difference. Lots of people claim to be Christian and do lots of impressive Christian-looking stuff. And even the devil quotes scripture. But only a follower becomes a new creation.

 

New people change without so much will-power as God-power. Following does take practice and trust because Christ's way of navigating life seems odd to me. "Die to live." "First is last." "Deny yourself." "Forgive forever." "Love unconditionally and sacrificially." These are all, well, WHOPPERS. Yet if I follow Christ in these, I can truly become unstuck – a new creation. I like that.

Ideal Christmas

Author, educator, and environmentalist Bill McKibben  said, "There is no ideal Christmas; only the one Christmas you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires, affections, and traditions."

 

We are busy with Christmas here in the middle of Advent season. Is what you are doing a reflections of your true values? This time of year, I hear from many who are tired, feel coerced, and are overscheduled. My bet is that Christ would not want us to mark his birthday this way. Maybe even skip it if this was the fruit.

 

I want to communicate thankfulness and love this time of year. I am so blessed, not with everything I want (because I don't need it all and it will come to possess me if I am not careful,) but with a good enough way my express myself and make a living, the freedom to move around, fairly good health, a few good friends who I can count on no matter what, and a family that loves me.

 

What I do this season, I want to reflect the bounty I have in the last statement. What is your statement out of which will come your ideal Christmas?

Ultimate Bummer?

I noticed recently that no one has read the blog I write in a long while. Actually, I only have two who have subscribed. I write because that's what I do, not because I will be famous or even followed.

 

When we ask someone, "Who are you when no one is looking?," we usually mean " Do you try to get away with things when no one is looking?" But the converse is true as well. "What good do you do that goes unnoticed, especially in everyday living?" Those little things we do to grease the wheels of the lives of others?

 

In a very critical world, do you ever stop and recount what good you do? What good you do that was not forced, involves a sacrifice on your part, or even requested but just because? These times are Christ-Moments. Moments when our Savior was borne into the world through you and no one else.

 

Recount your day today. See what good you do for others that is so much a part of you that you take in for granted. God never takes it or you for granted. You are his special child. And, sometimes, it is because of what you do right. No forgiveness or lecture needed.

 

I thank God for people like you who unconsciously become Christ at a moments notice and change the course of a day for others.

Conventional Wisdom

The economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, is credited (1958 – The Affluent Society) with coining the phrase, "conventional wisdom." While we think CW is a good thing and back by lots of expert data, he meant it's connotation as negative. He said, "We associate truth with convenience....with what most closely accords with self-interest and personal well being or promises avoid awkward effort or unwelcome dislocation of life. We find highly acceptable what contributes most to self esteem."

 

In other words, CW is often cited as a way to make us feel better about ourselves and to avoid painful situations. We have conventional wisdom in order to fool ourselves that everything is okay, that we are really doing enough or engaged, and that no difficult changes are in order.

 

CW in the 1950's had doctors saying that cigarette smoking was not harmful to our health. They even appeared in ads.  CW can lead us to become inert, not open to new ideas (We don't have to adopt all new ideas but openness can often be an avenue to new life. Remember, CW once said the earth was flat.) If we believe CW that says all incumbents lose elections, we may not vote. Despite what we believe, people we know kill and abduct us far more than strangers do.

 

Modern Day Spiritual Conventional Wisdom has us believe that we are just fine and need only a minor tune up that will not truly interfere I with life as we know it. Listen to God.

 

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.                   1 John 1:8 (NIV)

 

Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."             John 3:3 (NIV)

 

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.              Mathew 16:25 (NIV)

 

3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 4Blessed are those who mourn,
      for they will be comforted.
 5Blessed are the meek,
      for they will inherit the earth.
 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
      for they will be filled.
 7Blessed are the merciful,
      for they will be shown mercy.
 8Blessed are the pure in heart,
      for they will see God.
 9Blessed are the peacemakers,
      for they will be called sons of God.
 10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.                Matthew 5:3-11 (NIV)

Thursday, December 3, 2009

The Right Questions


Marc Kramer, the President of Kramer Communications and an instructor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the National University of Singapore, wrote recently on Forbes.com (Forbes.com article) a blog on The 10 Questions You Should Never Stop Asking.
Beware if you cannot answer these, do not ask these or stop asking these.

The questions were...


  1. What is our purpose of existing?
  2. Who is our target customer?
  3. Why does anyone need what we're selling?
  4. If there is a need, is it enough to support a profitable business?
  5. What are our competitors up to?
  6. Can you reduce expenses — without harming the product?
  7. Do we have the right leadership?
  8. Do we have the right employees?
  9. How will we continue to drive revenue?
  10. How are your employees holding up?

What if we applied these to church or even to our own life as a follower of Christ?


  1. What is My/My Church's purpose of existing?
  2. Who are the specific people I/we hope to offer abundant life? ("everybody" = "nobody?")
  3. Why does anyone need what I/we are doing? Does anybody really care? Has it lost its importance/ Is its "season over?
  4. If there is a need, is it my/our calling and my/our best stewardship response?
  5. What are My/our peers doing?
  6. Is "more money/fresh blood" really the answer?
  7. Who is called and equipped to lead this specifically? (i.e, who is NOT?)
  8. Have I/we surrounded ourselves with the best team (or any team for that matter)? Who (what gifts) are missing? What gifts/people are not needed?
  9. How will I/we measure success/faithfulness?
  10. How are those around me/those in ministry holding up?

Beware if we cannot answer these, do not ask these or stop asking these.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Risk

Peter Sandman, a risk consultant, developed the following formula about how we perceive risk.

 

Risk = hazard + outrage

 

I would have thought that it would be written,

 

Risk = hazard

 

But then, I realize that most of us know the risks of obesity, debt accumulation, smoking, overworking and such but do little to change. Yet, we go bananas when the hazards are minimal but we are fearful. These later cases include child abductions (mostly happen within our group of acquaintances and not by strangers – no child has been shown to be abduct because he or she had a picture posted on the internet,) swine flu (way more drunk driving deaths,) guns at home (more children die in pool accidents,) and healthcare reform (oh, they want to kill off grandma.)

 

We are easily duped into believing something is risky based on how much we are fearful (outrage) rather than the actual potential the hazard may possess on its own.

 

1 John 4:18 says "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.…" Why is that? Because God and fear cannot exist in the same place. Elsewhere John says that "God is love."

 

When you think about it, fear drives us to do some of our most desperate, stupid and destructive acts.

 

What am I afraid of? Afraid that people will find out? Afraid will happen if I do or don't do something? What fear fuels my desperate attempts to control my environment?

 

God move on in. Drive out my fears with my attention to you and your ways.

Happiness

In a Houston Chronicle article in the Business section on 11/21/09, Jennifer Latson quoted billionaire Warren Buffett, speaking to Rice's Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, as offering this advice, "unconditional love is more valuable than any amount of wealth….success is getting what you want and happiness is wanting what you get."

 

I always envy those who are not successful but wildly happy. I also note how many who are very successful for whom happiness is always a day away. Could love make the difference that all the possessions, degrees, money and achievements can not? Seems so. I mean BOTH God and Warren (the Oracle of Omaha) agree!

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)

 

Unconditional love is loving others for who they are – God-made wonders – and not for what they can do for us, or how they can make us feel or what they have. Most love comes with conditions, even within families. "I love you, but I do expect this in return." And to be loved unconditionally is one of the most wonderful states to be in. Unconditional love is loving and being loved in the "as is" state. "As is" in the retail world means a "demo" or "scratch and dent."  In the real world that pretty much describes us well.

 

Unconditional love is the path to happiness.

 

Who do you love unconditionally? Who might you love that way? See any "conditions" that you can drop?

Fellowship

Much is said about Fellowship in church. In most cases, fellowship means like-minded people doing together something fun or effortless. God has a different take. Certainly fun and effortless (Sabbath) should be on our radar screen. But Christian fellowship, a major part of Christian life, looks a little different.

 

Christians devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.    Acts 2:42-27 (NIV)

 

Christian fellowship involves, putting up with each other, disagreeing with each other, holding each other accountable, forging each other, correcting each other, sharing with each other, going out of our way for each other, regular meetings together, and doing things together for the benefit of others that are deemed impossible.

 

Look at your faith and the faith of your church. Do you have friends who hold you accountable and you don't get defensive? Do you have friends for whom you will sacrifice? Do you go out of your way to include new friends? Do you have a group with whom you meet and plot impossible things that will benefit others?

 

If so, give thanks to God and help others have what you have. If not, why not?

 

Lord, don't let me off with being a puny friend today.

 Help me be one of impact.

Thanks

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. – Psalm 100:4 (NIV)

 

When was the last time you bounded out of bed on a Sunday just itching to worship God?

As I talked with other clergy and the Clergy Conference in October, we all noted one thing in common with our varied churches: worship attendance had fallen off. Giving and people doing church work had not dropped off, just worship attendance. Has worship become just "one more thing" to do on "my day off?" I don't know but it may be true.

 

The Psalmist has a heart for God. Everything else not only came second. It also was taken care of if the #1 priority – God – was attended to. How do we know that? Unbounded thanks. Despite our recent Thanksgiving holiday, we tend to dwell on thanks only momentarily. The national sports of complaining (blaming is a variant) and entitlement take over all too quickly.

 

Two transforming stories of thanks come to mind for me. The first came while I was in seminary. An African friend challenged (I actually think he rebuked) me to uncover my blindness to all that was good around me, things he would never see once back home, that I take for granted. The second was a story related to me by a peer about thanking God in the midst of a horrific car accident for all the things that still worked and were not broken in her life. I would have been bitching up a storm, throwing a pity party and screaming, "why me." I felt small because I was small. I have a long way to go but go I will.

 

Lord, give me the courage to pause and thank you today and, maybe,

again this Sunday – your day.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Out of Business

I received an interesting letter yesterday. One I have never gotten before. It was a letter offering services for the disposal of church items when a church closes. Maybe it is a sign of the times. Annually, 3500 to 4000 churches close their doors each year. Were they wrong to start? Did they serve their purpose and now it was time to die?

 

If you study churches, there are a few things to look at. I do not think God opens any church in order for it to be an object lessons and close years later. I think churches close because they lost their mission. Churches begin with dreams of serving Christ, being Christ in a world in need. After a while, unless renewal takes place in the hearts of church members, a calcification begins as program and routine overtake mission. Mission comes from God. Mission is seasonal and changes just like a person changes over the years.

 

Personal spiritual lives can run the same. On fire at first. Then, over the years, a cooling off sets in as routines take the place of a passion for doing the work of God. We become Christian on the outside but not to the core. We visit church rather than celebrate God-with-us. People need renewal as well. People need to renew their mission on a regular basis. Christianity is not something to be mastered but is a way of life that must be followed day after day.

 

Advent is a time of renewal. Renewal for people and churches. Look at your routines. Do you know why you do them? Are they God-driven? Where has worshiping God fallen on your "To Do" list? How about prayer? Spending time in scripture? Giving up yourself for another in need?

 

Lord, may I be Christ today and may I be driven by his mission for me. I'm not ready to shut down for business.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

T

My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. –Acts 20:24 (NLT)

 

I like to cook. I relax that way (sick, I know, to some of you.) I recently purchased a new product that, to my surprise, exceeded any expectations I had. It was so good that I found excuses to cook with it. I am sure my family was pleased with the food, the fruit of my new-found inspiration.

 

Scripture makes clear many things (I admit it is foggy, to me, on many things like roaches and humidity.) Three of these things are

 

  •        We each have a purpose
  •        We will not be satisfied until we "do" our purpose
  •        In "doing" our purpose, we will produce fruit that enlivens others

 

Our purpose is revealed through the experiences we have had, the talents we have from birth, the passions we develop, and the gifts we get upon becoming a follower of Christ. My experience is that few invest the time and effort to uncover these gifts and fewer still have the resolve to employ them. Employing them means change. Employing them means criticism from those who have an investment in us not changing. Too bad, many who would have been enlivened by God working through us will miss the power of the spirit we would unleash. We, too, miss out.

 

In a parable, Jesus teaches that those of us who keep safe what we have miss out on life and those who risk it all not only have the ride of their life, thy also have the ride of the next life as well.

 

Father, let me not be puny today. Send me on an adventure that suits me to a T

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Freakomonics

In the recent bestseller, Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner state, "Morality represents the way we'd like the world to work, economics represents how it actually works." As a theologian (amateur, I do it for love,) I would state it this way

 

"Morality represents the way we'd like the world to work,

The Kingdom of God represents how it actually works."

 

We blah, blah, blah about morality all the time. We get depressed when things don't go the way we planned. We practice hypocrisy because morality is so hard to attain on our own will power.

 

But Jesus had a passion, not for morality, but for the Kingdom. He yearned for it. He preached it. He was it. The Kingdom is real reality. What we make up is bogus. And, trying to live in bogus-land is stressful.

 

In bogus-land, we want to be on top, but getting there is killing us. In bogus-land, we want revenge (or, at least judgment for others and mercy for ourselves,) but are left with a handful of emptiness at the end of the day. In bogus-land, we strive to control our environment and others, getting sick in the process.

 

In the Kingdom, the last are first and that's okay. In the Kingdom, mercy trumps judgment, and that's life-giving. In the Kingdom, unnoticed things and people, heck – even the impossible, triumph. In the Kingdom, everybody gets loved and no one keeps score. In the Kingdom, peace replaces TUMS. In the Kingdom, who you are and what you've got in talent are all God needs to usher in Paradise. In the Kingdom, time is full and an ally – never the crush of getting things done.

 

Lord, give me Kingdom vision, Kingdom passion, and Kingdom lifestyle. I want to be eternal.