Is There Any Room For Anything Else But Grace?

When is there a time for me to offer anything but grace to another person? If God has freely given me His grace, which the book of Ephesians says God lavishes upon us, then how can I offer anything else but grace to another person?

In other words, if God's standards of morality are far beyond my comprehension and my ability, yet because of Christ's death and resurrection, all I get now is grace; then how can I extend anything else to anyone else no matter how grevous their offense is to me?

• If someone gossips about me or my family, they get grace.
• If someone steals an idea of mine and takes credit, they get grace.
• If someone cheats me or is antogonistic towards me, they get grace.
• If someone lies to me and deceives me, they get grace.
• If someone hurts me in any way, they get grace.
• If someone hurts my family, they get grace.

How can I expect grace from God, in response to my chronic offenses against God, but then expect anything less than grace to be extended to others no matter how chronic their offenses are to me?

Some people may object to this idea of grace to all at all costs, but it is because of the ultimate cost of Christ being crucified that we are able to extend grace and forgiveness. Jesus tells us that we should pray, "forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us." I can't imagine anyone not wanting forgiveness for their sins, but Jesus' prayer tells us to forgive others the way we want to be forgiven.

Who are people in my life to whom I have not extended grace? Would my life be different if I were 100% full of grace towards others? Are their justifiable times that I should not extend grace and bestow judgment and condemnation instead? Does grace permeate the culture of churches? Why or why not? If grace were to permeate a church's culture, then how would that church be different? Tell me your thoughts, but please be gracious.

Truth Without Faith Can Be a Waste

In the movie "A Few Good Men," Jack Nickelson plays an insecure Marine Colonel hiding behind bravado, pretense and position but is called on the carpet by a young naive captain played by Tom Cruise. Cruise's character demands to know the truth surrounding the suspicious death of another Marine. Exacerbated by Cruise's naive and truth-demanding character, Nickelson screams at him saying "You want the truth?...You can't handle the truth!"

As Christians we have the truth, but given the truth found in God's Word and the presence of God's Holy Spirit, I wonder how well we can handle the confusion. We have God's truth, but we also have to deal with much confusion in life. We have God's truth, but some have questions that still cannot be answered in this life. Sometimes, I wonder if having God's Truth at our disposal, convinces us that we have all the answers all the time. If we have all the answers all the time, then where is there room to live by faith?

I recently engaged in a wonderful conversation with someone who asked me, "Why does God allow suffering in the world?" "Why does one child get to be born in the U.S. and live a life of privilege, while another is born in Africa to a life of misery?" "God is the one who determines these things, right, so why would God allow this to happen?" While there are some answers that I could have drawn upon from my education and training in philosophy and theology, at the core I had to say, "I don't know for sure."

Sure, sometimes people can't handle truthful answers to such questions, such as it relating to the glory of God. But another questions is can Christians handle the confusion surrounding such questions? Sometimes our quick anecdotal and less than five minute Christian responses can cheapen the pain and the misery that accompanies the realities behind such questions. Sometimes, I believe, that a quick response by appealing to Truth, is more of an attempt to control another person, whereas, a response of "I don't know for sure." allows us to enter into the pain of such perplexities and harsh realities.

My answer was "I don't know for sure. I have ideas and understanding, but I don't know for sure. If I knew for sure, I guess than I would be God. For now, I have to live by faith and without faith it's impossible to please God. By faith, I know that God is good, that God is faithful and that God is sovereignly in control. I know this by the evidence of Jesus' death on a cross." When my own life is wrought with pain the truth of God's word is indispensable, but faith in God is what ultimately carries me through and allows me to believe in God's Word. Without faith, God's Word in the midst of my perplexities and pain would simply be words on a page. I thank God, for being given faith as well as Truth.

Comfortably Out of Control

Ever feel like your life is out of control? There is a word which defines that feeling, it is called "normal." I wonder if we are in fact out of control more than we realize. We may have convinced ourselves that we are in control, when in fact the things that convince us we are in control, instead anesthetize us from the reality that we are out of control.

Here is a definition of control from Dictionary.com, "1. to exercise restraint or direction over; to dominate, to command. 2. to hold in check, to curb, a control a horse or one's emotions. 4. To eliminate or prevent the flourising or spread of, to control a forest fire."

When comparing this definition to areas of my own life that I feel in control, I am wondering whether or not I am in control. For instance, scheduling my kids in all the sporting and music events that will make them happy and well-adjusted. Is this an act of control over my kids life, or does this end up controlling me? When I consider how much time I spend planning, attending and traveling for these events, not to mention how much I spend on these events, I wonder if the defintion above demonstrates that these activities control me, more than anything else.

As I have a new cell phone with the data package. This provides a tremendous sense of control over emails and communications with people. However, does this data package end up dictating to me and interrupting my life? Does this data package complete with emails and texting prevent me from flourishing? Professionally, it may help, but personally will it affect my family time?

When I examine my own calendar I come to a similar conclusion. I love to organize my calendar and continually re-examine it and update it. I know why I love to do this. When I do this, I feel in control! However, more often it can be my calendar which dictates my life, more than anything else?

Could it be that our lives are much more out of control than we realize? Biblically speaking, we learn that Jesus, the Author and Sustainer of all life and creation, holds everything together. How ironic when I feel as though I have to hold everything together through my own planning, through my data packaging and through my obsessive calendarizing. I wonder what my life would be like, if I could be comfortable with my life being out of my own control, but completely under Christ's control?

Giving God Too Much Credit

Often we do not give God enough credit for what God does. We are quick to give credit to mythical creatures like "Mother Nature" when referring to the weather. We are quick to give credit to science by referring to observable phenomenon in scientific terms like "gravity" instead of God's sovereignty. We are quick to give credit to nebulous terms and ideas like "coincidence" or "serendipity" when events in our lives occur according to a certain rhyme and rhythm.

In all of these examples we can be quick to give credit to very silly notions or smooth sounding scientific terms instead of attributing these things to God. Thus by compartmentalizing certain phenomenon like weather, science or coincidence, we keep God at bay in our everyday lives, yet on reserve for when we need God. In essence, as human beings we have a propensity to avoid crediting God with what God is responsible, yet we can be quick to give God credit for things which God is not responsible.

How do we credit God for things God is not responsible? We give God credit by making God responsible for our own decisions. Christians time and again will refer to God as the impetus for their decisions by prefacing things with the words, "The Lord has lead me to..." or "God has been telling me to..." or "God has laid it upon my heart that ..." I do not doubt that some Christians are sincere and have done the due diligence of discerning over time what God is leading them to do. However, these phrases are used so flippantly that I find myself wanting to ask people, "How is it that God has lead you to this conclusion?" or "How has God laid this upon your heart? Help me understand the process by which God confirmed that this is from God and not from yourself."

I am not suggesting that God does not speak to us? Not at all! I believe God by His Spirit dwelling in us and through God's Word to us in the Bible, God is certainly speaking to us. But I wonder how well we listen, especially considering how poorly we listen to one another.

For instance, I recenlty heard the the number one irritant in the work place is being interrupted. Furthermore, many colleges are now offering "Listening" courses to their Communications Departments. So, if we are such poor listeners to each other, what makes us so confident and sometimes flippant in believing we have accurately heard from God? Could it be that sometimes we are avoiding responsibility for our own decisions/actions and giving God too much credit? Could it be that when we refer to God as leading, in fact its really our own heart and ambitions? Could it be that when this occurs, we are actually using the Lord's name in vain? Isn't this mix up of responsiblity reminiscent of what occured in the Garden of Eden?

These questions are very sobering to me and I want to further explore any "beams in my own eye" on this issue. May the Lord be ever so accurate in leading me. May I be more introspective when I use God's name to justify my behavior.

My Church Is Not...

Have Some Christians Stolen the Church from Christ?

I recently engaged in a discussion with my brother, who is also a pastor. He regularly meets with a group of men to discuss important questions of faith. Tonight one question/issue they are going to discuss is "Why the Church is important to God." This question resonated deeply with me because it phrases the question from the perspective of God rather than us.

Many times I hear people refer to church as something they possess rather than something that possesses them. I can be guilty of this myself when I say "Well 'my' church..." I understand we may simply be communicating our connection to a local church, but I wonder if subtlely we are not suggesting that the church exists for us. This is poignantly communicated when people discuss what they like or dislike about "their" church. For example, people say they like the music at "their" church, or they dislike the Student Ministries at "their" church. I wonder if by referring to the church as "My" or "Ours" we are not setting ourselves up for a consumeristic approach to church, where the church exists to serve us rather than the church being comprised of us and existing to serve others through us.

However, when we see the Church, both local and universal, as belonging solely to Christ, will that mitigate against the "My" perspective we use? Would this new perspective transform our own so we see ourselves as being stewards rather than consumers of church? What is God's perspective on the church and our interjection of our personal pronouns in reference to something he possesses?

Have you ever had something that was not yours but you referred to as yours, only to have the rightful owner witness your perspective? While in college I chaperoned a mission trip with the youth group my brother pastored. I was using my brother's new football to play catch with some impoverished children and decided to give them the football as a gift. Enthusiastic about my philanthropic and Christ-like act of kindness I told my brother. My brother did not care that I gave the children the football, but I remember his rhetorical question he asked me, "You gave them 'your' football, or did you give them 'my' football?

Sometimes, I wonder if Jesus asks us a similar question when we refer to the church as "ours." When we say things like "My" church, does Jesus ask us rhetorically, "Your church?" Perhaps we need to hear Jesus ask this of us, for when we take credit for something that is not ours, it's because we have taken something that is not ours and use it as if it is ours.

Reexamining the Essentials

Reading in the Bible the story of Jesus' encounter with a Samaritan woman, I have to ask myself what are the essentials in life? As the encounter is recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter four verses seven through thirty-eight, a Samaritan woman goes to a well to obtain water. This was an essential part of the day for this woman. Water was not readily accessible and thus the journey to the well for water was a pinnacle point of the day. However, at the well, the Samaritan woman is engaged by Jesus and thus provoked to leave what seemed essential, to tell others about this Jesus. Verse twenty-eight records that after her encounter with Jesus, she left her waterpot to tell others about him.

Is an encounter with Jesus so compelling and transforming that a person is willing to forget what seems essential to this world? Can Jesus have this affect upon people's lives? Do churches resemble this kind of effect Jesus can have? Does my life, as a professed follower of Jesus, reflect this type of transformation?

The woman could have just as easily filled the waterpot and taken it with her, but after an encounter with Jesus, her waterpot went from being essential to inconsequential. This is challenging to me when I sometimes pray a quick prayer before a meal because I am hungry. Now to read about this new follower of Jesus willing leave what she once thought was essential in order to tell others about Jesus.

Does Jesus have that effect upon me, upon you, that the essentials of this life become inconsequential? Is Jesus really worth giving up everything to follow? The Bible records in the Psalms that the steadfast love of the Lord is better than life itself. What a claim!?

I recently witnessed the transforming power of a Jesus encounter as I said good-bye to a dear member of our church. Myron had an encounter with this same Jesus and lived his life to serve others on Jesus' behalf. Myron started a food shelf and gave everything to feed the hungry. When Myron awaited death last week, he did so with great anticipation. He could not wait to see and be with Jesus. He was like a kid in a candy store. He was like someone who really knew that the steadfast love of the Lord is greater than life itself. He was like someone who equated the essentials of this world as inconsequential to knowing this Jesus.

Does Jesus continue to have this effect upon me? Am I willing to give everything to follow Him? What are the "essentials" in my life that compete with Jesus?