Activate A Child's Faith: Every Kid Needs a Champion

Every kid needs a champion.

In nearly fifteen years of teaching in a public high school, and ten years of leading children’s ministry at church, I’ve had a wide range of experience.  From pre-school to graduating seniors, I’ve been involved in every phase through either my church life or my work life.  Being the father of three kids also helps.

And one truth that is undeniable throughout my years of experience is this--kids need a champion.

The children and teens that I’ve worked with who have been the most successful in achieving success have been those who had a champion rooting for them, encouraging them, and helping guide them through the minefield of life.

While this concept of a champion is not necessarily a shocking revelation, it is unfortunately far less common than it should be.

And in the age of social media, true authentic relationships are often drying up and replaced by the fake, surface level digital facades.  

Psychologists will tell you that human beings have a deep need of community and a sense of belonging.  And studies are showing that social media is having the opposite effect.  While we might know more about our friends and acquaintances (like what they ate for dinner!) we KNOW them less.  We know more about the life events big and small, but less of their heart.  And the inevitable comparisons contained in the filters, platforms, and messaging of the various social media platforms can have a tremendous hindering impact on our self-esteem creating depression and isolation.

Today’s generation is the first to be truly immersed in digital citizenship from birth on.  Toddlers are playing games on tablets and young kids are making duckfaces for selfies.  

By contrast, I had a pager during college so that I could call you from a pay phone if you really needed to get ahold of me and my computer made weird squawking bird sounds when it took about 20 minutes to connect to the internet.  

Children today are growing up in a world where learning how to develop an authentic relationship is a skill that they have very limited practice with.  And with the central role that relationship plays in activating an authentic faith, that’s dangerous ground.

That’s why kids need a CHAMPION.

GENERATIONAL FAITH: PAUL & TIMOTHY

The book of 2 Timothy is a great picture of a godly mentorship.  The older Paul is writing to his younger colleague in the ministry to encourage him.  And everything about the passage speaks to relationship.  In chapter 1, Paul reminds Timothy that it was because of his grandmother and mother than he came to faith and that Timothy is but the latest generation in a link of faith.  He encourages Timothy to continue in the faith and activate the faith of the next generation by investing in them as his mom and grandmother did for him.  

Then Paul CHAMPIONS Timothy to stay in the faith and contend for the faith.  He also reminds him of the example of his own life:

“You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.” 2 Timothy 3:10-11

Paul didn’t just teach Timothy theology.  He showed up.  Big time.  He modeled an authentic faith.  He walked through the doubts and persecution with him.  He was a CHAMPION for Timothy.

WHAT ABOUT PARENTS?

Parents are the biggest influence (present or absent) in their child’s life.  Period.  

They are uniquely positioned to influence their child in positive or negative ways through their relationship, their habits, their personality, their words, and their example.  They have the greatest capacity for being a CHAMPION of their own children.

Parents can’t always be that champion for every stage, however.  For example, during the teenage phase, kids are much more willing to share things with other leaders, mentors, teachers, and coaches rather than their own parents.  It’s just reality.  And it’s a reality that my wife and I are learning now that our oldest is in high school.  Parents need to be intentional about establishing those kinds of relationships with adults who will reinforce what they would say to their child if they could.  Churches need to be intentional about providing them with “Pauls” for this very purpose.

WARMTH & CONSISTENCY

Being a champion doesn’t necessarily mean being the coolest and most trendy old person on the scene.  It just means showing up with a willingness to engage.

That’s why most children’s ministries are now embracing a small group-based model with a consistent leader who will show up every week in the life of their few.  When you “lead small” you are actually making a big impact.  Churches have for many years just tossed whatever unwitting fool was standing in the doorway into their children’s and student’s ministry environments.  They’ve been willing to schedule folks around their convenience and only ask for a limited commitment or sporadic scheduling for fear of not having enough volunteers.

Our kids deserve better.  As Reggie Joiner says, “never put the needs of an adult above the heart of a child.”

Having a consistent adult in their lives will provide them with the safe place to share their doubts and questions about their faith, and allow them to have someone other than their parents that knows them.  This is tremendously important to developing a vibrant faith that they can own and activate in their daily life.

I would guess that most of my former students would probably not remember a great deal of the specific lessons that I taught.  (Although our games of Survivor were pretty epic during the Lord of the Flies unit, and I’m not sure they will ever discard the importance of color symbolism after our enthralling chats on The Great Gatsby.)  I do think that I’m a good communicator and teacher. But if I’m honest, the most meaningful impact that I’ve made in the lives of the kids entrusted to me has not been academic.  It’s been relational.  What does last, hopefully, is how I made them feel and how I helped spark their belief in themselves or their curiosity in their purpose.  Hopefully during our time together, they knew that I was there to cheer them on to success.

Each person is unique and uniquely gifted.  Each person has a temperament and learning style that differs from their peers.  The “one size fits all” approach to education or developing an authentic faith in Jesus never works, but the one consistent factor is RELATIONSHIP.   

Here’s what I know:

1. CHILDREN ARE NOT ALL THE SAME--even within families--so no approach or model can be applied exactly the same to every child in exactly the same way.  What works with one child, doesn’t work with another.  It takes RELATIONSHIP to understand that and employ the right approach.
2. CIRCUMSTANCES DEMAND FLEXIBILITY--there will be times in that child’s life where the circumstances of life (family dysfunction, dealing with the death of a loved one, personal relationships, substance abuse, depression, bullying, etc.) overshadow what the lesson plan for the day is.  A champion will recognize this and use the circumstances to help grow the child in some way.   That doesn’t always mean teaching.  Sometimes it means just showing up and being present.  During a particularly challenging day in my teaching career, we had a student killed in a car accident which several other students were involved in (as drivers and passengers.)  Most of the school day was spent standing in the hallway with students collapsing into uncontrolled sobbing masses.  We didn’t teach academics that day.  We didn’t try to talk them through it.  We did the only thing we could--grabbed a box of tissues, hugged desperately hurting students, modeled love and support during a time of intense tragedy.  The same is true in growing faith.  God often uses circumstances in our lives to grow our faith.  A consistent leader will be able to pour into our kids during those times when they really need it--and be fully aware of the backstory and bigger picture in that child’s life to help them gain perspective later on.
3. GENERATIONS ARE NOT ALL THE SAME--growing up today are not the same as kids growing up in the 1990s, or the 1980s, or the 1970s, or any decade prior to that.  If we want to influence them and their faith, we need to get to KNOW THEM.  Consistency is key in that.  As Reggie Joiner says, “you can’t influence someone you don’t know.”

It’s the job of the church to partner with families to ensure that every child has a CHAMPION.  

And how can you be a champion?  It doesn’t require training, or academic finesse.  It doesn’t hinge on your communication skills.  It’s as simple as this:

1. Show up.
2. Care deeply.
3. Listen intently.
4. Pray fervently.
5. Know them genuinely.
6. Impart truth regularly.
7. Model faith authentically.
8. Encourage liberally.

When you show up to be a CHAMPION in the life of a child, you are changing the course of a life, the destiny of a family, and the reality of future generations.  It’s worth it.  Show up.

Involved in student ministry?  Children’s ministry?  Teaching?  What are some of the ways that you’ve SHOWN UP to be a CHAMPION for your entrusted few?  How have you LED SMALL?

Helping The Next Gen Grow Their Faith Through Relationship

Our church has been doing a series challenging us to live out intentional generational faith.  A faith that is passed on and encouraged from one generation to the next.  And as someone involved in family ministry for 10 years now, my heart was glad.

It's a message that is so important.  Faith isn't transferred to the next generation through a classroom.  It's not a program or even a great series of lessons.  It's transferred when it's lived out.  Together.  In RELATIONSHIP.

In a passive society where stuff matters more than others and we prioritize ourselves over all, it's becoming a revolutionary act to pursue an active faith and impart that to the next generation.

So, as we begin this series to talk about helping the next generation win, I thought it was time that I look back and thank those who helped me win.  Here are three of their stories:

MY MOM

My mom took a lead role in all things spiritual in our house.  She's the person who instilled in me a deep love of Jesus and church.  She showed me the power of serving.  She demonstrated the power of unconditional love to a son who sometimes struggled to even like himself.  It is through her undying love that I managed to survive the turbulent teen years.  She also served as my youth leader.  Literally nobody else in the church wanted us.  And so she stepped out in faith.  At the time, it was a little awkward.  Having your mom as your youth leader can be a problem.  She didn't have a degree.  She wasn't an expert on teenagers.  She simply had a willing and loving heart.  She loved us teens and walked through the mess with us.  And while it probably seemed to her like many of her lessons during this time fell on deaf ears, it was largely because of this investment in my life that I am where I am spiritually.  And where my children are spiritually.  And why I serve the next generation in my church with such passion.  She is also where I get my love of holidays and celebrating family time.  She also has been the prayer warrior in my life.  There wasn't a day that went by that my mom wasn't praying for us.  I was blessed to have two parents who loved me, supported me, and provided for me.  Not everyone gets that.  I'm thankful for my mom's commitment to our getting involved in church and for prioritizing our walk with Jesus at a young age.  It changed the entire trajectory of my life.

PASTOR JACK

Growing up I was beyond blessed with the pastor that served my church.  Jack Hamilton was a joyful man who radiated unconditional love to everyone he met.  He taught me that Jesus likes to have fun.  He helped make church a place that I wanted to be.  He showed me how much of an impact living life with joy and a smile can do.  He showed what the heart of a pastor looks like.  Late night phone calls & visits to troubled families, round the clock visits to the hospital, spending time with shut-ins, he did it all.  His boundless joy could not be contained.  It was a force of nature that left a permanent mark on my life.  There was simply not a person that Jack didn't love or share Jesus with.  His influence went beyond just me personally, his influence on my family and the direction our family took together in the faith is largely because God brought Jack Hamilton int our lives at just the right time.  Attending his funeral bore witness to the influence that he had as person after person stood to share what Jack meant to them.  We even heard one last audio recording from Pastor Jack made on his death bed.  As he said good-bye to us, he shared the Gospel message one last time to those in attendance.  That's the kind of Christian that I want to be.

MRS. WILEY

Mrs. Wiley was a fun old lady.  She was my Sunday School teacher circa 4th-6th grade.  She had to be at least in her seventies when she taught us.  Physically she somewhat resembled Doris Roberts from Everybody Love Raymond.  And she had the voice of Edith Bunker.  She was a little bit eccentric, but she really loved us.  That a woman that much older than us would still be serving faithfully in Sunday School stuck out to me.  And she didn't make an impact because she was super trendy or hip.  In fact, she was pretty much the opposite of that.  But she was someone willing to still have fun and laugh even in her later years.  She may have been old chronologically, but she was certainly young at heart.  Her example taught me to embrace the fun in life.  It also taught me that sometimes being the coolest or most talented person in the room isn't all that counts.  She taught me that everyone can make a difference just by sharing their love and joy with another person.  I couldn't tell you specifically any lessons that I learned with Mrs. Wiley in church, but I can still feel the warmth of her presence.  She loved us unconditionally even when we disobeyed.  She had fun with us instead of scolding us.  She showed me the love of God personified.

LESSONS FROM MY LIFE

The lesson that I can take away from these shining examples and others is that the key to helping the next generation win is RELATIONSHIP.

Reggie Joiner would put it this way:

"You can't influence someone that you don't know."

Helping the next generation win means connecting them to an active and authentic relationship with Christ.  In order to do that, we will need to be warm and relational.  My top 3 influences didn't impact my life because they were the best communicators that I've ever known.  Their lasting impact on me was borne through the relationship they created with me.  That RELATIONSHIP allowed them the INFLUENCE and LEVERAGE to speak life and truth into my life.

As a result, I was more open to what they had to say and who this Jesus that they followed was.  By modeling a warm and genuine relationship with me, they helped me understand the kind of relationship that God wanted to forge with me through Jesus.

As followers of Christ, we owe it to the next generation to be a model of RELATIONSHIP and to leverage that to point them toward the source of all hope--JESUS.

As you look back in your own faith journey, who were some of your biggest champions?  How did they leverage their relational warmth with you to stoke the fire of faith in you?

Thank God for those who poured into your life to help you win and ask Him what you can do to help the next generation win.

Feel free to hit the comments and share!

Have You Ever Felt Unhinged?

Have you ever just felt a little unhinged?

It's okay. If you can't admit it publicly, you can probably admit that you've seen it in others.

That overly negative complaining Facebook post and all of the angry comments egging it on and encouraging the author to bask in that rage. That angry tweet-storm of name-calling and threats. That train-wreck public meltdown of someone in a store, in the parking lot, on the sidewalk, or in your house.

You stare. You judge. You thank God you are better than that person. You talk about them behind their back.

But if you are honest--really honest--you will admit that you were that person a time or two.

And you aren't necessarily a bad person for it. You would hate for anyone to see you like that, and you certainly wouldn't want anyone judging your worth based on your actions that day.

Maybe you stubbed a toe. Perhaps you couldn't find your keys. Maybe the kids were just not cooperating today, or the boss was overly demanding, or the car broke down, or the basement flooded. Maybe it was something more.

Something that happened to you overtook you. And you weren't prepared for what came out of you. You came unhinged.

When we are unhinged, we lose control. We lose focus. We lose what matters most.

So often when we talk about this concept, we think of an all or nothing connection. We're either rolling around in a pool of God's grace or crawling on the hot sands of the spiritual desert devoid of His presence.

We often think of it in those polar extremes. We don't think of the day to day struggle to remain in Him. And maybe you aren't a serial killer, but maybe you snapped at someone when you shouldn't have. Maybe you gave in to road rage. Maybe you believed a lie about yourself and fell into despair.

Being unhinged can take many forms.

Jesus referred to our dependency on God as that of a branch in a vine in the famous passage from John 15:4-6:

"Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned." 

So often we analyze that passage specifically about the relationship of our faith and our works as believers. If we aren't connected to God, our actions will not match our faith. And that's a very central concept to this passage, but it's bigger than that.

When a branch is disconnected from the vine, it's biggest problem isn't its failure to make fruit, it's that it is dead.

Sure, it might not appear that way right away, but the longer that separation goes on, the more the symptoms of death will be evident.

Our IDENTITY, our PURPOSE, and our WORLDVIEW are rooted in the vine of Christ. When we sever that connection, we will die and not just in an overly symbolic way. We will be devoid of life. Not just in a "serving the poor" kinda life. A "Living every day without losing our minds" kinda life.

I began thinking about this while listening to a new Casting Crowns song called "God of All My Days" in which a lyric just hit me in the face:

In my worry, God you are my stillness. In my searching, God you are my answer. In my blindness, God you are my vision. In my bondage, God you are my freedom. In my weakness, God you are my power.

In the rush of life, we don't always allow God to be our stillness in our fear.  We don't always let Him be the answer.  We don't let Him guide us by the hand when we can't see.  We certainly don't allow Him to free us from our bondage, and we don't rely on His power.  We're not totally severed from the vine, we just sorta hopped off for a minute.

When the stress of life overtakes us, our first response is usually to punch it down like Rocky.  

It's acting before thinking.

It's doing before understanding.

God is a God of relationship.  And as beings created in His image, we are as well.  There is a tension in that understanding that binds us together.  But sometimes the rubber band breaks.

Our culture's obsession with social media and hiding behind the superficiality of technology has caused us to lose touch with connections.  Instead of building the genuine bonds of relationship, we tether the filtered facades of selfies.  

In the midst of stress and chaos, Jesus calls

"Remain in Me."   

"Remain."    

"Be still."  

"Abide."  

So, if you are unhinged, that's okay.  We all do from time to time.  It's just not okay to stay that way.  The world needs the fruit that God created you to grow.  Abide.  Remain in Him.

Worldview Lens: Faith or Fear?

There's a rather funny moment in the classic 1991 film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.  This is the movie where Kevin Costner plays Robin Hood and makes no attempt to speak with a British accent whatsoever.  Everyone else around him speaks the Queen's English, but nobody seems to notice or mind that Robin talks like a Yankee.  (To be fair, Christian Slater's "accent" isn't much better.)

In the film, the apparently American Robin is introduced to a crude magnifying lens, a sort of handmade telescope, by his Muslim friend  played by Morgan Freeman.  His first look through the lens at the attacking forces in the distance causes him to dramatically reach for his sword and prepare for attack as he interprets their larger image through the lens to indicate that they are right in front of him.

It's a funny moment, but also a telling illustration.  The lens we choose to see the world with will dictate the identity we embrace, the actions that we take, and the truth that we understand.

MIRROR, MIRROR

Much like our physical sight, we all look at life spiritually through a sort of lens.  The Bible likens it to a mirror in 1 Corinthians 13:12:

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

This comes during a discourse of our finite ability to understand things.  During the course of this chapter, we're described as "knowing or understanding in part" while comparing our current state to that of "thinking like a child" until the "completeness" comes and we can understand in full.

There is no limit to who this applies to.  This applies to everyone this side of heaven.  We don't see clearly.  We can't fully understand.  And if we're not careful, we will apply the wrong lens and warp the vision that GOD has for us.

Like Robin Hood, if we don't allow someone to slap the mis-applied lens of FEAR from our eyes, we will not see things clearly.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, ELIJAH?

This was certainly true of a whining Elijah, who was focused more on his persecution and loneliness than on the provision and power of the God he served.  In 1 Kings 19:2 we see how Elijah loses hope:

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

Now, Elijah's despair occurs one chapter AFTER his triumphant smackdown with the prophets of Baal.  You'd think dude would be strutting around and dabbing in the end zone.

This is not some weakling of the faith.  This isn't some helpless creature to pity.  This is Elijah.  God's man with the plan.  The one man standing against the plethora of false prophets.

Sharing this moment of Elijah's life reveals some very important truths regarding the role of fear and faith:

1.  FEAR isn't limited to weaklings.  Elijah was one of the most powerful prophets of the Old Testament.  A real man of God.  For Elijah to lose heart like this reveals that FEAR can warp the vision of any believer--and in an instant.

2.  FEAR can cause us to amplify the problems in the foreground to something larger than God.  For Elijah this was Jezebel.  The man who humiliated the prophets of Baal and demonstrated the power of God just one chapter before with such magnificent FAITH swagger and confidence, was reduced to a quivering mess because Jezebel threatened him.  In this bleak landscape, Elijah saw Jezebel as larger than his LORD.

3.  FEAR does the opposite of what FAITH would do every time.  In the previous chapter, Elijah was viewing the scene and acting out of a vision of FAITH.  His confidence was not necessarily in himself or the natural world.  His confidence was in the GOD who promises to be with us.  In this chapter, however, Elijah is hiding and praying for death.

FEAR never leads you to a productive action or decision.  It always weakens you.

It also leads to the dark side according to Yoda.

FEAR can lead to a lot of things--from depression and suicidal despair, to sickness, to immobility and spiritual, physical, and relational paralysis.  Like Peter teetering on top of the surf, our vision of CHRIST must be our guide.  Once we allow FEAR to distort the waves and wind into something more menacing than Christ is comforting, we lose the battle.

NEED VISION?  STAND IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

There's no simple answer to combating FEAR.  It will creep up on you over and over again.  It's not something that you can just vanquish forever like Robin Hood did to the Sheriff.  There is HOPE though. In the midst of Elijah's despair, GOD stepped in in verse 11:

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

FAITH casts out FEAR.

LIGHT casts out DARKNESS

LOVE casts out HATE

By spending time in the presence of GOD, we can renew our strength, right our vision, and restore our path in life.  Read your Bible.  Pray.  Meet with fellow believers to discuss your situation.  Let the LIGHT of the FATHER pierce the darkness around you so that you can see clearly.  JESUS wants to set us free from the prison of FEAR.  He wants more for you.  FEAR always wants you to do the opposite of what you should do.  Be BOLD.  Walk in FAITH.

Are We There Yet? Fear's Demands on Faith

Back in my day, we didn't have all those new-fangled technologies to dull our senses and lull us into a comatose silence during long road trips.

We might--MIGHT--have had a cassette player or CD walkman, but once your batteries died (which was shortly after you left your driveway) you were left without your tunes and subjected to whatever hillbilly nonsense your parents were listening to on the car radio.

As a result, I often found myself looking for signs that we were near our destination.  Every landmark and road sign was subject to my analytical scrutiny and speculation.

It dawned on me the other day as I was thinking about the ways that FEAR has impacted my FAITH over the years that the "are we there yet" angle is one that FEAR has played a major role in.

Let me explain.

GOD's plan for our lives often invites us to interpret His motives or the deeper meaning.  Every blessing or struggle is viewed as a window into God's character and motives.  And we then begin listening to our own (often fearful) interpretative spin on things.


And as we FOCUS on the TRIVIAL we DIMINISH the ETERNAL.

Now, I'm not saying that questioning and reasoning has no place in our faith.  In the right context it is one of the ways that God grows our faith in Him.

HOWEVER, if we apply the wrong interpretations and come to the wrong conclusions, we might find ourselves fearful of a God that we define in our own failed logic.  If the obstacles in our path become larger or more significant than the One who made the path, we will have officially handed over the wheel to FEAR.

Moses had some issues here in seeing the big picture.

"What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'the LORD did not appear to you?'"

This is from Exodus 4 when Moses is conversing with the burning bush.  The LORD has to walk Moses through some seemingly endless scenarios as Moses inundates Him with a stream of "what if" questions that any person who wrestles with FEAR will identify with.

Now, it's easy to mock Moses' cowardice from the comfort of our living room.  Dude was literally speaking with the LORD via a burning bush.  What is there to worry about?  How could you diminish the power of God by focusing on your problems when you are standing on Holy Ground?

Simply put, Moses allowed his fear of failure to distort God's message and character.  And we do the same thing every day.

When we lose a job.

When we have a fight with a loved one.

When someone betrays us.

When terminal illness strikes our family.

When prayers go unanswered.

With his FEARS dwarfing his view of the LORD, Moses continues to throw "what if" scenarios at the great I AM.  #SMH

Finally, in Exodus 4:11 the LORD said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths?  Who makes them deaf or mute?  Who gives them sight or makes them blind?  Is it not I, the LORD? Now go, I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

The problem with my trying to interpret the landmarks and signs on our long road trips is that I had no idea where we were actually going and was reading into those signs and landmarks with a distorted or uninformed view of reality.

The problem with Moses was that he was reading into the future what his own fear of failure saw instead of what the LORD behind the burning bush did.

I did not, at the age of 10, know how to drive a car.  My dad did.  And yet I spent many a minute in the back seat questioning where we were going and how close we were as if I did have that knowledge.

Moses didn't yet fully understand who God was.  He was trying to figure out the entire plan at the beginning because his FEAR OF FAILURE was bigger than his FAITH.  And here's the kicker--many of the worries that Moses brings up to God did actually happen.  And God knew that they would.

But the plan wasn't necessarily that Moses would know all the details from the beginning and could trust in the plan.  It was that when the plan did go awry, he knew enough about his HEAVENLY FATHER to LEAN INTO HIM during those trials and experience a new intimacy and understanding not possible via a pre-journey lecture.

FAITH is ACTIVE, FEAR is PASSIVE.

The lens of FEAR turns the PATH that God has mapped out before us into a pothole-filled trail of terror and lead us to a life of apathy and inaction.

FEAR doesn't want you to act because in doing so, you will grow in your CONFIDENCE and FAITH in the LORD and FEAR will be weakened and diminished.

FEAR focuses on life's obstacles, FAITH focuses on the character of God.

FAITH isn't about always knowing exactly where we are going or how things will turn out, it is trusting the God who does.

This is why Moses, so terrified in Exodus 4 at the burning bush, was able to calmly rally the Israelites standing in between an advancing army and the Red Sea.  It was not because Moses suddenly had no FEAR but because HIS GOD was much larger than the "what ifs" of life.

Instead of asking if we are there yet, perhaps we should just sit back and enjoy the ride and kick FEAR to the curb.

Beautiful Sunset: A Lesson on Faith

Sometimes following Jesus is like a rainy day on a vacation.

Let me explain.

We all know that FAITH is believing in something that we can't see, and yet most Christians I know are constantly looking for signs or confirmation about things. Even the most certain of Jesus followers will find a need for confirmation at some point.  We want to know that we are right.  We want to know that God's real.  We want to know that He hears us.   That He cares.  That there's really a plan.

And sometimes we can read too much into things and come to the wrong conclusion.

The enemy KNOWS that your Father God has CREATED you with a PURPOSE.  And God's purpose for your life is not something that Satan will enjoy.   As a result, FEAR and DOUBT will often obscure your view and cause you to hunker down at home and miss GOD's BEAUTY.

We're currently on vacation in Naples, Florida.  It's beautiful here.  I'm pretty sure heaven will look like this.  One of our favorite things to do is to go to either the Marco Island or Naples beaches at night and watch the sun set over the Gulf.  It's truly breathtaking.  On my birthday we went to dinner on Marco Island and planned to see the sunset afterward, but it had been raining all afternoon.  It was still cloudy and foreboding.  We didn't want to pay the $8 to park if there wasn't going to be a sunset.  

We finally decided to just go for it.  And the sunset was a truly unique sunset.  It was unlike any other sunset we've seen.  The water almost looked light gray.  The sky was filled with clouds, but as the sun sank on the horizon it became partially visible near the horizon.  It looked like a painting.  It was so colorful and so beautiful that it didn't look real.

We were so focused on looking for signs of a sunset that we almost missed one of the most beautiful ones we have every seen.

A woman who was healed by Jesus probably had the same experience.  The Bible tells us that she had been "subject to bleeding for twelve years" and that she suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors.  I don't know about you, but this doesn't sound like your best life now.

This woman's life was one of suffering and frustration.  All of the signs told her that her case was hopeless.  She should just accept her life of misery.  But she heard that Jesus was in town and she ignored the signs because she KNEW that He could help her:

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?' ” 

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”    MARK 5:24-34

I never considered this story from this perspective until I either read it or heard it in a sermon recently, but the reality is that the woman was healed just by touching Jesus' robe.  That could have been the end of the story.  And it would have been miraculous.  But Jesus stepped into her life in the most unexpected way.  He wouldn't let it go until she came forward and admitted that she touched Him.

Why?  It's not as if Jesus didn't know who did it.  Much like Santa, he sees everything and knows all.  So then His questioning had to be for her.   It was so that she would have a face to face conversation with her Savior.  It was so that she could shed her old identity of the sickly, downtrodden hopeless gal  and emerge as a daughter of God.

That wouldn't have happened for her if she read the signs and stayed home.  GOD has a beautiful sunset beyond your current storms.  Don't miss it.

Haughty Humility

"That person is a hot mess. At least I'm not as bad as that person."

"I'll never amount to anything.  I'm destined to fail."

I'm sure you've made at least one of those statement--even if only in your head.  Amiright?

Our society is ripe with comparisons.  Social media and a celebrity-worshipping culture have only made that worse.

And if you're like me, and I suspect, a lot of Christians, than you probably manage to simultaneously exude a haughty elitism and a humility grounded not in truth but in the lies of the enemy.

Let me explain.

So many people are convinced that life is about being good.  Good people get rewarded via karma.  Only good people can get into heaven.  Even Christians talk about doing good and being a good person as though it determines our eternal destination.

If you are a true follower of Christ, you know that is not the case.  It is not possible to earn your salvation through goodness.  Salvation is found only in Christ's redemptive work on the cross and through a contrite heart that embraces that sacrifice.

But there is something that wars against our understanding of this.  There is a voice that condemns our worth because of our actions.  And yet, as human beings, we know that our value is not ascribed.  It is intrinsic. In other words, your value and dignity are not something you have to earn.  You are born with your value and dignity.  You matter regardless of what you can do or the choices that you make.

We should be mindful of our actions and choices.  We should feel badly when we fall short in our life.  But we need to use our failures as a GPS to lead us straight to the healing power of Jesus.  His desire is our restoration and illumination.  Jesus wants us to learn from our mistakes, not be condemned by them.  He wants to take our broken vessels and restore them so that we become a beacon of light that points the way for others.

If we don't get that, we lose.  And so does the world.  If we allow our failures to condemn us into a falsely-grounded humility and despair, we will fall into complacency and our sins will magnify.  

On the other end of the spectrum, however, we need to be sure to compare ourselves to God' standard and not other people.  Sometimes it is easy to get haughty by looking upon the failures and sins of others and deciding that we are better than those people.  It can numb our awareness of our own sin and failures.  A sense of superiority flies in the face of everything Jesus did here on earth.  He was the walking personification of grace.  He never abandoned sharing truth with people about their sins and failures, but He always treated them with grace.  Except the religious leaders.  He kinda just freaked out and called them vipers.

Why is that?  Because following Jesus is about the heart.  He wants RELATIONSHIP.  He wants you to understand the TRUTH of your condition and your need for HIM.  He wants you to also extend that same grace that was extended to you to the unworthy masses around you.  In Matthew 7, Jesus cautions:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

Stop judging, Judgey McJudgey Pants.  That's how that passage is usually interpreted by well-meaning hipsters.  That's not exactly the whole point, though.  Jesus is simply cautioning against the hardening of the heart that comes with seeing yourself as MORE worthy of forgiveness and grace than others.  The admonition is not instructing you to keep the truth to yourself when you see someone sinning, but rather a reminder that you were extended grace that you didn't earn and that you should also wrap your truth-burgers for others in a cushiony roll of grace as well.

Again, this comes down to IDENTITY.  A subtle change in your alignment can harden your heart or decimate it.  A subtle shift in your view can strangle the hope out of your life or stop up the passage to compassion that God wants you to share with a world in need.

Let's truly see the world--and ourselves--through the intact lens of GRACE and TRUTH.

That Egyptian Army, Though...

One of my favorite people in the Bible is Moses.

I mean his story is a story of redemption, of fighting against the powerful on behalf of the downtrodden, of submitting to God and having a front row seat at a display of His power.

It also comes with a long time of wandering around in a dry, hot desert while leading a bunch of complaining cry-babies.  To be honest, I don't know how Moses put up with his people as long as he did.  And when he is denied entering the Promised Land because he hits a rock in anger, you have to wonder as a reader how he didn't get to that level of frustration earlier, amiright?

He goes up to talk with God on the top of the mountain and comes down and the gang is dancing around a golden cow, having totally forgotten and forsaken the powerful God who has delivered them from their oppressive slavery.

It's easy from the comfort of a 2016 existence to look at such behavior and mock them for their lack of faith or consistency.

When you dig beneath the snark of how stupid and weak these people were, you actually get a realistic and gritty depiction of how stupid and weak we are.  Just like the Israelites, our HEARTS are often COATED in FEAR.

One of my favorite passages of scripture comes during the excitement of the Exodus.  Here the Israelites have left their bondage and are on the banks of the Red Sea.  A literal pillar of fire and clouds has been leading them.  They've seen countless miracles and plagues demonstrating God's power.  And they saw the most powerful leader of their day, the Egyptian Pharaoh, lose his resolve and let them go.

I mean dude was like a defiant teen with his tremendous refusal to accept reality and submit to a greater authority.  It seemed like he would never give in.  But he finally did.  And then about 10 minutes later when he realized that his slaves were gone and that he and his boys might have to lift a finger and work.  So, he gets all confederate on the Israelites and chases after his "property."

And of course the Israelites melt into a pile of cowardly goo when they see the advancing Egyptian army.  They literally start whining that it would be better to go back and be slaves then to experience freedom with God.  (Another blog post for another time but very telling on our view of "freedom" and "slavery" when it comes to our society and submission to God!) As a response, Moses gives one of the most epic statements in the entire Bible in Exodus 14:13-14:

"Moses answered the people, 'Do not be afraid.  Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.  The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.  The LORD will fight or you; you need only to be still.'"

Be still.  The LORD will fight for you.  Stand firm.

In fact, the pillar of smoke and fire then goes between the Israelites and the Egyptians.  And the Bible tells us that one on side it brought "darkness" and to the other side it brought "light" so that neither side went near it.  God is darkness, confusion, and foolishness to those who don't trust Him.  To those who do, however, He is a shield, a protector, a LIGHT that illuminates every aspect of life and history to make sense in a way not possible to someone not open to the things of God.

And just for kicks, God threw the mighty Egyptian army into confusion.   Then Moses lifted his hands and raised his staff and God parted the Red Sea for His people to make perhaps the most dramatic exit in the history of the world.  Oh, and then he made the Red Sea crash down onto the heads of the Egyptian army as they attempted to cross.

Pretty epic, right?

It's easy to mock the folly and fear of the Israelites as nothing but foolishness.  And it was.  However, it is a foolishness that we all share in.  Whether it is the Israelites in the desert, Peter on the water, the disciples in the boat, or those of us today fretting about our family, our finances, our health, or even just whether or not people will mock us, FEAR has played a huge part in warping our conception of God.

GOD stands ready to FIGHT for you.  You literally have to do nothing but stand firm and keep focused on HIM instead of your FEAR.  An advancing Egyptian army, or a broken marriage, or a troubled son or daughter, or a broken relationship, or a financial hardship are all pretty frightening in their own way.  They ALL, however, pale in comparison to the POWER of the GOD who is FOR YOU and WHO DELIGHTS in FIGHTING FOR YOU.

Every time we allow our FEARS to shrink our view of the unfathomable SIZE and POWER of GOD,
we allow our CIRCUMSTANCES to DEFINE our FAITH as TINY and TIMID.

FAITH is the exact opposite of FEAR, and that's why FEAR works so hard to undermine it.  The larger our faith, the smaller our fear.  So as we allow our FEAR to EXPAND, our FAITH begins to rapidly DIMINISH.

Exodus 14 ends with verse 31: "And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in Him and in Moses his servant."

Put your trust in the GOD who sees you as a BELOVED SON or DAUGHTER.  In the GOD who is LARGER than your FEARS.  In the GOD with the UNMATCHED POWER to demolish your FEARS so that you never see them again.  Let your FEAR shrink and your FAITH expand.

Don't be captive to fear.  Embrace the freedom in God's security.

Heart GPS: Consider Your Paths

I'm a sucker for a good road trip story.  Frodo and the gang on the way to Mordor.  Luke and the gang on the way to destroy the Death Star.  Chief Brody and the gang looking for a great white shark.

In the Bible, however, we see that our hearts are often linked to a journey.

Jesus and the Bible talk about the heart a lot.  We are to guard it for some reason.  It is where our treasure is. Out of it flows our true nature.  And the peace of God will guard our heart if we lean into Him.  The heart is somewhat like a GPS for our life.

Now a GPS system is great.  We use them all the time on road trips.  And usually they are good.  Sometimes--not so much.  Ours has gotten us lost before. Especially around Washington D.C.  For some reason our GPS has no idea what roads are there or not when in the DC area.  We often end up taking some random offramp into the slums of DC and driving around in circles until we find our way back with no help from our GPS.

And of course, every time we drive near DC we say "let's try to remember what the correct road is this tie because the GPS will be wrong."  And every time, we've forgotten so we follow the GPS into the heart of DC one more time.

So the damages of past hurts, of fear and doubt, can screw up your heart's GPS system and send you meandering through places you don't want to go to.

Consider the call of wisdom in Proverbs:

"I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full." Proverbs 8:20-21 

"The prudent keep their knowledge to themselves, but a fool’s heart blurts out folly... Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up...In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality." Proverbs 12:23,25,28

Now, as an English teacher, I enjoy a good motif.  Notice that in these verses that our life here on earth is likened to a a journey.  It's a path.  We either move on a good path that leads to life and immortality and a good inheritance or we move on a path of folly, anxiety and destruction.  If you're like me, you are probably humming "Life is a Highway" right about now.

So much can be said about how to end up on the right path, but the simplest directive can be found in Proverbs, and reiterated by Jesus in Matthew:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ Matthew 22:37

And like most things in the Bible, those statements are tremendously profound and true, and seemingly simple to do and yet in practice they are often so very hard to do.

And there's a reason for that.  In pop culture, you pretty much know if someone is told "whatever you do, don't do (insert instruction here)" that sometime during that movie they will do that thing.  Walk off the yellow brick road.  Feed Gremlins after midnight.  Leave before the Jedi training is done.

As human beings our heart has tremendous potential for good but it is also easily ensnared in emotions and damages that war against your very soul.  The very thing that helps us to identify God and lean into Him can also be the instrument of our undoing.

And there is no quick fix.  Yes, pray early and often.  Yes, read your Bible daily.  Yes love God and love people.  And yet, there is still something askew in the inner sanctum of your heart.  And when you least expect it, it can pop up and rip you from the path you were on.

Like Michael Scott from The Office, it can direct you to drive your car into a lake.  And that can turn you into a Michael Scott rage-monster.

The truth is like those verses in Proverbs suggest, life is a journey.  Faith is a journey.  And we usually follow our heart in determining which path to take.  Oh, and SPOILER ALERT, the Bible tells us that ALL OF US will fail at some point.  That none have succeeded in this whole right path thing for the entirety of our lives.The best thing we can do is to seek God with all of our heart, mind, and strength.  If we lean into Him and not our own understanding, we increase the likelihood that we choose the path of life.  And that's because of our own heart being strengthened by proximity to God and because of the promise in Philippians 4:7:

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

There is protection for our hearts and our lives in leaning into God instead of our own understanding and emotions.  There is a reason why God's peace will guard our hearts and minds for us.  It's because we are incapable of doing it ourselves.

The fact is, you are ALWAYS on a path to somewhere. You are never STAGNANT.  You are either skipping down a PATH OF LIFE or stumbling down a PATH of DESTRUCTION.  And sometimes, like a faulty GPS, your heart can't tell the difference.  What seems right to you in that moment, later will be the right that sent you into the lake.

Consider your paths.  Guard your heart.  Seek God and lean not into yourself, your feelings, your conceptions of people, places and things.  Let God sort it out for you.  He will guide you and make your paths straight.