As we begin a new year I take stock in the year that has passed and the new year that is before us. As I read the news, follow friends on Facebook and Twitter, and evaluate where our country stands in the midst of the world stage, I am saddened. I can't say that I am shocked because that would indicate that we, as a nation, somehow didn't see the mess that we are presently experiencing coming our way. I use the word saddened because I believe we did see it coming we just didn't do anything to stop it from happening.
As I look at America in the year 2014 I see a country that has lost its way. I see a moral footing that is slipping in the mud of mediocrity, humanism, and appeasement. I see a country that has done its very best to take God out of the equation that equals a successful nation. And through all of this the one thing that has saddened me the most is that I have seen Christians losing hope.
Whether it be Phil Robertson, an attack on traditional marriage, the fear that the speaking of one's belief will someday be declared hate speech, pot in Colorado and Washington, or the replacing of baby Jesus with Trayvon Martin, I see Christians losing hope in America. I can't blame them. I must confess that, at times, I have dropped my head in despair and wondered if things could ever be right again. Yet, in the midst of my despair I have been reminded of the awesome workings of God in this world. I believe that we, as Christians, can once again find hope in our nation. And I believe that that hope can breathe new life into the dry bones of the body of Christ.
Let's face it, we Christians are back on heels, we are reeling from the progressive changes coming into our society, and we, frankly, are just letting it happen. We have taken a hit and while we take time to gather our senses our country's road to destruction continues to be paved. It is time for us to get up off the mat and get back in the game. Now, after mixing as many sports related metaphors as possible I will end this paragraph as succinctly as I can. Hope in God sometimes calls us to action.
For Christians, hope is not about wishing, it is about believing and it is about knowing. We can't stand around wishing our nation would once again be blessed by God. We have to believe that it will be and then do what is necessary to make that a reality. We have to become involved in what is going on in our country and not just complaining about it on Facebook. Christians need to be willing to stand up for what they believe, not just so Phil Robertson can be back on Duck Dynasty but because no one should be allowed to take the word of God from our mouths and expect us not to do something about it. We have conceded to the world that we are the dry bones lying on the floor of the valley and it is about time that God breathes life into those bones.
It is time for us to be confident in our beliefs, courageous in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and hopeful in God's plan for this nation. It is time for us to stand up and be counted speaking the truth in love.
This country was once a great nation not because of its power and might but because of God's. I believe it can be that again. I leave you with the words of the prophet Ezekiel chapter 37:
37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”
15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim) and all the Israelites associated with him.’ 17 Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.
18 “When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ 19 say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ 20 Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on 21 and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding,[b] and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
24 “‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’”
Monday, January 6, 2014
Monday, July 1, 2013
The anatomy of Grace...
Greetings,
After months of preparation and planning my daughter's wedding is in the books! It was a beautiful time with family and friends watching Stephanie and Zach begin their new life together as husband and wife. But now it is time to get back to business!
Over the past few weeks Dawn Orr and I have been broadcasting a Bible study on Paul's book to the Romans. Every Friday at 8 AM MST we share our study on Becoming Christlike live on BlogTalk Radio. You can listen to us at www.bemorechristlike.com if you are interested.
It has been during this recent study that God has been calling my attention to a very powerful and peaceful word...Grace. Most commentaries define grace as "unmerited favor". Simply put...we don't get what we really deserve. What we deserve is death but because of God's grace, through Jesus Christ, we receive life. Instead of death I get life. That sounds like a great deal! And it would be but for one simple problem. God expects us to share that grace with others. And that is where the trouble begins.
I have spent the last few months taking inventory of my life in Christ. I don't think that it is fair for me to host a show encouraging others to become more and more Christlike if I am not going to make the effort to do the same. It was during this time of self reflection that I asked God to show me areas of my life where I might share His grace more with others and to open my eyes to where we, the body of Christ, could do a better job of walking the walk and not just talking the talk. I am happy to say that God has spoken to me in both areas of concern.
One of the hardest things about serving God is that we have a tendency to get down on ourselves when God's Spirit convicts us of our shortcomings. It's natural to feel bad when we think we have let God down. Perhaps it was words we said when shouldn't have spoken or maybe it was words we should have shared but remained silent. In either case guilt has a tendency to grab hold of our spirit and refuse to let go. My guilt comes from a situation in which I felt I should have spoken up but decided, rather, to remain silent. My remarks in this blog are not an attempt to try and rectify my inaction but rather to serve as a cautionary tale to others who might find themselves in the same situation in the future.
I believe that God places within each of us a kind of spiritual barometer. It tells us when there is a storm brewing in the midst of our life or the lives of others and we pay a price when we don't pay attention to that barometer. Over the past few months I witnessed an event that I knew to be wrong, knew to be hurtful, and knew to be devastating to those whom I loved. And, yet, I said and did nothing to stop it. What I did do was make excuses to why I shouldn't say anything, rationalized as to why I couldn't do anything, and, in the end, accomplished my goal of doing nothing!
I remained silent as people I love, respect, and care about were dragged through the mud and muck of denominational dogma and religious legalism that would make the Pharisees cringe. I knew it was wrong and I did nothing. People who care for me and know my situation tell me that " I have done nothing for which I should be ashamed." But the truth is I did nothing and for that I am ashamed.
I think what bothers me most is that I saw an assault on grace and I talked myself into turning a blind eye and a silent tongue to the whole ordeal. The feeling that I let loved ones down I can deal with but it is the fact that I feel like I let God down that burdens my soul. In short, I feel guilty.
This is not the first time this has happened to me but I hope it will be the last. And to make sure of that there is a question that needs to be addressed and that question is, "What am I going to do the next time something like this happens?". And after considering that question in detail over the past few weeks, this is my answer.
I have spent way too much time discerning the motives of others instead of concentrating on my own motives. I have allowed my anger towards others to rob me of my example of God's grace for others. And I have let the actions of others dictate my actions. In short, I blew it!
At this point you might be asking yourself, "What should you have done Derek?", and that would be a great question. To change the sentiment from a position of regret to a position of action I will not tell you what I should have done but rather what what I will do next time. The next time I feel God calling me to speak out against an injustice I will speak. I will seek to do it in love, but I will speak. The next time I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something I will do something. I will do it in love but I will do it. And the next time I am faced with the choice of choosing between denominational "do's and dont's " and displaying the grace of God in my life I will choose GRACE!
Brothers and sister Christianity is not something we live by it is something we live out! Grace is not a set of rules that we hold up to the world and proclaim our righteousness because we are "by the book" people. We spend so much time trying to live "by the book" that we forget what it says "in the book".
Hebrews 12:15 says "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled".
Now, I must set my heart right again and seek to do that which Christ has called me to do...forgive. I must forgive myself for the guilt I have carried and I must forgive those whom I have harbored anger towards. For it is in that forgiveness where the grace of God abounds. And it is in that grace where I find peace.
May each of us seek the grace of God each day of our lives and may the power of God's Spirit enable His grace to flow through us!
Until next time,
Derek
After months of preparation and planning my daughter's wedding is in the books! It was a beautiful time with family and friends watching Stephanie and Zach begin their new life together as husband and wife. But now it is time to get back to business!
Over the past few weeks Dawn Orr and I have been broadcasting a Bible study on Paul's book to the Romans. Every Friday at 8 AM MST we share our study on Becoming Christlike live on BlogTalk Radio. You can listen to us at www.bemorechristlike.com if you are interested.
It has been during this recent study that God has been calling my attention to a very powerful and peaceful word...Grace. Most commentaries define grace as "unmerited favor". Simply put...we don't get what we really deserve. What we deserve is death but because of God's grace, through Jesus Christ, we receive life. Instead of death I get life. That sounds like a great deal! And it would be but for one simple problem. God expects us to share that grace with others. And that is where the trouble begins.
I have spent the last few months taking inventory of my life in Christ. I don't think that it is fair for me to host a show encouraging others to become more and more Christlike if I am not going to make the effort to do the same. It was during this time of self reflection that I asked God to show me areas of my life where I might share His grace more with others and to open my eyes to where we, the body of Christ, could do a better job of walking the walk and not just talking the talk. I am happy to say that God has spoken to me in both areas of concern.
One of the hardest things about serving God is that we have a tendency to get down on ourselves when God's Spirit convicts us of our shortcomings. It's natural to feel bad when we think we have let God down. Perhaps it was words we said when shouldn't have spoken or maybe it was words we should have shared but remained silent. In either case guilt has a tendency to grab hold of our spirit and refuse to let go. My guilt comes from a situation in which I felt I should have spoken up but decided, rather, to remain silent. My remarks in this blog are not an attempt to try and rectify my inaction but rather to serve as a cautionary tale to others who might find themselves in the same situation in the future.
I believe that God places within each of us a kind of spiritual barometer. It tells us when there is a storm brewing in the midst of our life or the lives of others and we pay a price when we don't pay attention to that barometer. Over the past few months I witnessed an event that I knew to be wrong, knew to be hurtful, and knew to be devastating to those whom I loved. And, yet, I said and did nothing to stop it. What I did do was make excuses to why I shouldn't say anything, rationalized as to why I couldn't do anything, and, in the end, accomplished my goal of doing nothing!
I remained silent as people I love, respect, and care about were dragged through the mud and muck of denominational dogma and religious legalism that would make the Pharisees cringe. I knew it was wrong and I did nothing. People who care for me and know my situation tell me that " I have done nothing for which I should be ashamed." But the truth is I did nothing and for that I am ashamed.
I think what bothers me most is that I saw an assault on grace and I talked myself into turning a blind eye and a silent tongue to the whole ordeal. The feeling that I let loved ones down I can deal with but it is the fact that I feel like I let God down that burdens my soul. In short, I feel guilty.
This is not the first time this has happened to me but I hope it will be the last. And to make sure of that there is a question that needs to be addressed and that question is, "What am I going to do the next time something like this happens?". And after considering that question in detail over the past few weeks, this is my answer.
I have spent way too much time discerning the motives of others instead of concentrating on my own motives. I have allowed my anger towards others to rob me of my example of God's grace for others. And I have let the actions of others dictate my actions. In short, I blew it!
At this point you might be asking yourself, "What should you have done Derek?", and that would be a great question. To change the sentiment from a position of regret to a position of action I will not tell you what I should have done but rather what what I will do next time. The next time I feel God calling me to speak out against an injustice I will speak. I will seek to do it in love, but I will speak. The next time I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something I will do something. I will do it in love but I will do it. And the next time I am faced with the choice of choosing between denominational "do's and dont's " and displaying the grace of God in my life I will choose GRACE!
Brothers and sister Christianity is not something we live by it is something we live out! Grace is not a set of rules that we hold up to the world and proclaim our righteousness because we are "by the book" people. We spend so much time trying to live "by the book" that we forget what it says "in the book".
Hebrews 12:15 says "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled".
Now, I must set my heart right again and seek to do that which Christ has called me to do...forgive. I must forgive myself for the guilt I have carried and I must forgive those whom I have harbored anger towards. For it is in that forgiveness where the grace of God abounds. And it is in that grace where I find peace.
May each of us seek the grace of God each day of our lives and may the power of God's Spirit enable His grace to flow through us!
Until next time,
Derek
Thursday, May 30, 2013
I Believe...
Greetings,
Recently my son, Jacob, completed an assignment for school in which he wrote down the things in which he "believed". For you Presbyterians out there think of it somewhat like a creed or confession. I was so proud of what he had written that it urged me to take stock in those things in which I also believe. So, with the zeal of a weekend spelunker, I tunneled deep into my soul to explore those things which God had written on the deep and dark places of my soul. Narrowing them down I settled on these ten beliefs. Enjoy!
1. I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and for the sins of the world so that we might be reconciled to a loving and living God.
2. I believe that the path God puts before us is always the road less traveled and that the people you meet on this road are looking for you just as much as you are looking for them.
3. I believe that God wants me to pray hard with a soft heart, worship loud with a quiet soul, and believe that I can move a mountain with the faith of a mustard seed.
4. I believe that pain is good because it lets you know that you're not dead yet!
5. I believe the person who walks by sight is blind, but the person who walks by faith sees the world as it really is.
6. I believe that the more our country seeks to remove God from it's belief structure, value system, and moral code, the more God will let us do just that! God chose to bless this country and He will allow us to choose to ignore that blessing.
7. I believe that God has a specific purpose and plan for me and my life and that plan is wondrous not because of me but because of Him.
8. I believe that nothing I have done in my life can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
9. I believe that God's people have a tendency to get in the way of God's work...not because of the way we live out our faith but because we claim we have faith but don't live it.
10. And finally, I believe that my faith makes me stronger not weaker, blessed but not better, and a hater of sin but not of sinners. The world may call me a hypocrite, intolerant, and narrow minded but the words of man will never change the Word of God because I know what I believe! What about you?
Blessings,
Derek
Recently my son, Jacob, completed an assignment for school in which he wrote down the things in which he "believed". For you Presbyterians out there think of it somewhat like a creed or confession. I was so proud of what he had written that it urged me to take stock in those things in which I also believe. So, with the zeal of a weekend spelunker, I tunneled deep into my soul to explore those things which God had written on the deep and dark places of my soul. Narrowing them down I settled on these ten beliefs. Enjoy!
1. I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and for the sins of the world so that we might be reconciled to a loving and living God.
2. I believe that the path God puts before us is always the road less traveled and that the people you meet on this road are looking for you just as much as you are looking for them.
3. I believe that God wants me to pray hard with a soft heart, worship loud with a quiet soul, and believe that I can move a mountain with the faith of a mustard seed.
4. I believe that pain is good because it lets you know that you're not dead yet!
5. I believe the person who walks by sight is blind, but the person who walks by faith sees the world as it really is.
6. I believe that the more our country seeks to remove God from it's belief structure, value system, and moral code, the more God will let us do just that! God chose to bless this country and He will allow us to choose to ignore that blessing.
7. I believe that God has a specific purpose and plan for me and my life and that plan is wondrous not because of me but because of Him.
8. I believe that nothing I have done in my life can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
9. I believe that God's people have a tendency to get in the way of God's work...not because of the way we live out our faith but because we claim we have faith but don't live it.
10. And finally, I believe that my faith makes me stronger not weaker, blessed but not better, and a hater of sin but not of sinners. The world may call me a hypocrite, intolerant, and narrow minded but the words of man will never change the Word of God because I know what I believe! What about you?
Blessings,
Derek
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