Little Things

Sometimes I have a diseased view of the things I’m passionate about and love to do. Many of us think that the things we love are not important and worthy of acknowledgement unless they’re significant to everyone. The love of writing seems to be insignificant until you publish a book, the love of swimming insignificant unless you’re Michael Phelps (okay, you know what I mean).

We brush off the things we really love to do if they are not applauded by the majority. Last weekend, the weather was beautiful so I took my dog out on a trail, which is where I end up really thinking about life. I started to mull over how currently, I do not have any hobbies that are significant. Then I had a thought that I have repeatedly considered and have drawn a conclusion on. I came to the conclusion that if you love it and it has significance to you, why is it NOT important?

I love snuggling with my dog, going on free runs with her down a dirt trail at a state park, and talking to her just to see her eyes light up when she hears my voice. I’m addicted to afternoon naps and the refreshing process they do for my brain. I play the same song on my guitar over and over just because I love how my fingers have to move to play it.

I read to know more things, because I love having my brain challenged and I write to get things out and to challenge and grow my creativity. I love night and the stars and the moon and the sound of crickets in the summer. I love green tea and slow dancing and bonfires. I love serving people and doing things for them as a subtle way of saying I love them. It doesn't have to be significant to the whole world to be important, just significant to you.

Self Sufficient Salvation

We are the generation of a country that has taken the ethic of hard work to an entirely new level-we never cease. We admire the self-starters, the ones who push themselves to the top. We love to hear the stories of how people created themselves, especially if it is through an innovative way.

This is all very well in itself, but as Americans, we take our hard work, independence and self-starting and plant it in the heart of our churches, try to make it the roots of the Gospel. We have come to an era in the church where, “God helps those who help themselves,” is a far too common saying, even from the pulpit. What does this mean? It means we have dismembered the beauty of grace.

From reading Paul’s lovingly frustrated letter to the Galatians, it seemed as if the Christian population in Galatia had the exact same diseased mindset. They were fond of doing things in “the name of Jesus”, held the law to the letter, and were easily swayed by false teachers who outlined a XYZ Self-Starters’ Plan for Salvation. In their reliance on themselves, they discounted grace and slowly started to turn from their first love to their new hero: themselves.

In the first chapter of Galatians, Paul writes, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

Grace is defined as “the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings”. What the people of Galatia and the people in our culture have a hard time understanding is that nothing they will ever do will be good enough to earn forgiveness; it is un-earnable because it is through the grace given by Jesus’ death and resurrection and that grace alone that can set sinners free, restore broken hearts and bring intimacy with a beautiful Creator.  

So redirect. Instead of putting all your effort and strength into good works and deeds and fake righteousness in order to “earn salvation”, do these things because you are so in love with the One that saved you that you want to be like HIM for the rest of the world. Know that you do not have to rely on yourself to be saved (which should make each of you breathe a sigh of relief) and put your faith simply in the One who gives immeasurable grace.

Overboard Holiness

Christians have become passive about pursuing holiness. That is a blunt statement, but there’s really no better way of putting it. Christians everywhere have become skilled in the art of arguing why they’re okay doing exactly what they’re doing and weak in the realm of killing sin. We are a culture of Christians content with convincing ourselves of our own personal holiness without ever chasing Jesus and striving for the real thing.

            

A comment often heard among people who claim to strive after Christ is, “Don’t go overboard. It is good to try to follow Jesus, but make sure there’s balance.” Ephesians 5:3-4 says, “But among you there must be not even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.” I don’t know what your personal definition of overboard is, but God seems to have no problem with going overboard in this culture’s definition of the word.

           

Now obviously those two verses don’t encompass EVERY possible aspect of holiness, but they touch on some very hard and sensitive topics that collectively create many of the things that this culture worships and deals with on a daily basis. Immorality, sex being thrown around, gossip and lack of restraint in speech, lack of intelligence in speech (including social media stupidity), innuendo and other jokes you probably wouldn't tell your grandmother, and the like are mentioned.

           

One of my favorite authors and vloggers Skye Jethani recently tweeted, “If imitation is the highest form of flattery, than Christians have become pop culture’s most devoted admirers.” Daily I am around Christians who are content with keeping their holiness in check with culture and the sin that comes with it. They are fine with where they are in their faith and are very good at persuading that God didn’t really mean “not a hint” when talking about the previously mentioned topics. They reason that God can’t expect them to get rid of all innuendo-because c’mon...it’s sometimes clever-, get rid of all gossip (especially about that really obnoxious person), and as long as you don’t go all the way in a relationship before you’re married, it’s not REALLY sexual immorality…right?

            

What so many Christians miss is that holiness isn’t something we half-heartedly pursue, a side hobby when we feel like it. Radical holiness and pursuit of Jesus is something that should consume us. When God says, “not a hint”, He absolutely means it! Obviously as an innately sinful human you will slip and fall, but falling to temptation is not the same as condoning the sin. It is all a matter of perspective, attitude, and what you choose to pursue. If you fall, you get back up and keep fighting for the prize, but you can’t win the prize if you never enter the fight.

            

This flies blatantly in the face of culture, and many people (including Christians) would be ready to mock someone who pursues holiness at the expense of getting rid of things in their lives that cause them to compromise that holiness. But…why should we care? If you know Jesus, you know how worth getting rid of the things of this world that compromise our holiness would be. We shouldn’t be scared to be referred to as “such a Baptist” or “boring” or “goody two-shoes” (I know, stupid terms, but you get the picture) because as a Christian, you know the truth. Why should we be afraid to follow that truth and radically pursue holiness at the cost of being looked down on for it?

            

It takes boldness to be able to deny the things of this world to be able to become holy like your creator. I’m sure the majority of this post has seemed like I’ve been lecturing, but these words are exactly what God has been drilling into my own heart, and it’s something I’ve been learning daily. It truly is okay to not talk about someone behind their back, not laugh at the coarse joke that all your friends crack up at, and choose to cut out the sexually explicit music from your playlists. God is continually teaching me that holiness is worth more than the acceptance of people, the approval of this culture, and the cheap tricks that allowing sin brings.

           

So this year, my goal is to take God seriously when He says “not a hint”. I will daily choose to follow Him and rid myself of the things that take my eyes from Him, even if it costs me the approval of my peers. He is so worth going overboard for. Radical holiness is beautiful.

            

Transformation of a New Year

Why does the start of a new year seem to hold so many possibilities? We don’t get as excited over the start of a new day, new week or even a new month, so why is the beginning of a new year so huge? I think that above all the other new starts on a calendar, a new year screams of transformation.

            

We all want transformation in our lives, to the point that some of us obsess over it. You see the craving among the avid gym goers, the ones determined to have a great love life, the people on the job hunt. We seek to make our lives different, to keep moving forward, and to transform.

            

The beautiful part is that our desire for transformation is God given. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Coming to Christ is the ultimate recreation that leads to continual transformation as we choose daily to walk in Him.

           

Goals and resolutions are awesome things; it is always great when we seek to better ourselves. I am a planner to the core, so I make many of these each year (and sometimes I’m actually successful, which is always cool to see). Although I have many areas of my life that I want to become better in this year, I want my main focus to be on the One who brings about ultimate transformation.

            

What good is it to meet my gym quota every week if I become spiritually weak? What am I gaining if I compose all the new music in the world and become a stellar guitarist but don’t use it to worship the God who ultimately gave me the talent? I crave the power of transformation above many things, so this year I want to look directly to the source.

            

So this year my most important goal is both extremely simple and extremely complex: I want to be like Jesus. I want to focus on spiritual growth and becoming a godly woman. I want Jesus to shine through me in my relationships, the work I do and how I live my life. I want the focus of my year to be on Him rather than on me because when you’re all about living for Him, that’s when you’re truly able to be transformed. 

The Heart of the Homeless

"Out of the darkness, He reached for a piece of clay..."

I started to choke up as I listened to the next few lines, detailing intimately how God has created man and recreated those He saves. The words came slowly but joyfully out of the mouth of a homeless man named Lyle. The words came to Lyle when he was out in the woods by his camp praising the Lord. He can barely write, but by God's grace was able to scribble the words down on a piece of paper. It was the second thing he has written in two years. 

I have always had a passion for the homeless. Ever since I was young, they have been the people that God has really placed on my heart to go out of my way to love and care for, and recently I have been able to do just that. I have become involved with a homeless ministry called The Thankful Leper that is focused on caring for the homeless in downtown Des Moines, and helping in the work they have been doing has been a blessing. 

Before I started volunteering, I always thought that I would be blessing the homeless. However, now I can see that is not exactly the case. I can give my time and possessions, but every time I have the fortune of being around these people, I walk away in tears, inspired and in awe of what God is doing in their lives. They truly bless me. 

The passion and joy for the Lord among them is like nothing I have ever seen. Very rarely do you come into contact with people who tell you horror stories from their past just to have a smile chase the sadness of their face as they say, "But praise God, because He is great!" Their joyful hearts are in stark contrast with how bitter my heart can be, and that fact is brought to light and emblazoned into my brain every time I talk with them. 

Although God has been using the homeless in Des Moines to convict me of a bitter, self-centered heart, He has also been convicting me of how selfish I can truly be. I constantly think "I need, I need, I need" when I have been supplied with more than plenty, more than enough to be radically generous, yet I rarely am. The people that The Thankful Leper helps to supply are more than grateful to have enough food to get by, or for a donated pair of boots.

When I met Lyle this afternoon, I knew that God was gently pointing out my own selfishness to me. I had donated a scarf that I had made, and although there was no way that Lyle could have seen me carrying the scarf, he walked right up to me and said, "If this scarf is the only thing I get today, I will be more than happy. I'm just happy to be here." 

I almost started crying when he told me that. Generosity is something that God has been teaching me lately, and this was such a blunt lesson that there was no way I could write it off. God has also been working on my heart through His word. Right now, I'm reading through 1 John with the leadership team I'm on. 1 John 3:17-18 says, "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."

I still have a long way to go, but day by day God is altering my bitter and selfish heart to look more and more like His, selfless and generous. The homeless people I have the joy of being around are most definitely a catalyst. To close this story, my statement for you is the same on that God has been telling me: "Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."

The Jesus We Create

He does not show any emotion, looking like his face transcends any human feeling or passion at all, perfectly serene. He pays his taxes, is generally nice to people (except for those he doesn't like, people who are different and the gays [those sinners!]), is very moderate and stays comfortably in the middle. He thinks that following him on some things cuts it and is willing to look the other direction when we do not obey what he has said. 

This is the Jesus we create in our imaginations, and this is the Jesus that many of us want to follow. We hear 1 John 2:6, "Whoever claims to be in Him must walk as Jesus did," and get uncomfortable. To fix our lack of comfort, we look to our imaginary Jesus and remind ourselves that compared to him, we're doing pretty good in life! We look around at other Christians (whether they are actually people who follow Christ or if they just label themselves as Christians and do their own thing) and think that we are doing pretty good. Brothers and sisters, this should not be! 

I just finished reading Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos (phenomenal book by the way, and even better author, he's my favorite and I recommend all his work). He brings about our twisting of Jesus in our own image in a amusing but shocking way, and shows the true idolatry of it. We tend to take characteristics of Jesus and run with them, creating them in our own image so that we get Political Power Jesus, Passive Jesus and the like. 

I am completely guilty of this. Looking up from reading in the Book of Mark last week, I looked up from my Bible startled. Was I actually finding the life of Jesus...boring?? I set my Bible down for a few minutes and thought about it, and I realized the reason stemmed from me reading the story of the man I described at the beginning of this post, not Jesus himself. Shortly after, I penned the following paragraph...

"I just realized how much I've limited Jesus to my brain. Some pale guy who was calm and tame. NO! Jesus was Jewish, zealous and passionate! He deeply and vigorously cared for the people he loved, and was so very in love with the other members of the Trinity and the things of the Kingdom and it was evident. He was a story-teller to all, captivating to all."

Although that small paragraph is not nearly enough to capture the true Jesus, it shows the spill of my heart realizing how beyond my wildest dreams Jesus actually is! So all of this post has led to my simple challenge for you. Open your Bible to the Gospels, and read it keeping the real Jesus in mind. The Jesus that had real emotions, real passions, loved boldly and was completely radical. Let this change your perspective. 

You Jesus-Loving Jerk

"My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." {James 1:19}

I have struggled with being a mean person my entire life. Now, when I say mean, I'm not talking about cheesy sarcasm or friendly teasing, that just means that I'm friends with you. No, I'm talking about the cut-you-to-the-core mean, brutal comments and a temper that reminds me that even though I am indeed forgiven, I still have a disgusting sin nature. 

When I decided to wholeheartedly follow Jesus the summer before my freshman year, God slowly started breaking down the walls in my heart, showing me that my anger was worthless and disgusting compared to the light I walk in when I act like Jesus and hold my tongue. I have come so far since that point, but I would be lying to you if I said that fighting the temptation to be a total jerk was not a daily struggle. 

My devotions lately have been convicting me even more. I've been reading in 1 Peter (if you need a book of the Bible to read, you should read it...so thought provoking). 1 Peter 2:1 says, "Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind." A chapter later, in 1 Peter 3:8, it says, "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble." 

One of my favorite verses is 1 John 2:6, "Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did." I've spent some time connecting the dots between those three verses (there are more I've been thinking about too, I just figured I'd stick with three). If we claim to be Christians, we've gotta walk like Jesus. Jesus did not walk around cutting people down, making power plays, and having snippy comebacks when He was impatient or wanted something to get done His way. I know that example sounds stupid, since He was a perfect Savior, but just think about that image. Are we walking like Jesus? 

Are we getting rid of malice and the nastiness and evil language that pours out of us? Are we sympathetic, compassionate, and loving towards people? Do we treat people with the dignity, respect and brotherly love that Jesus would have had towards them, even if they are "strange" or "not cool"? 

Or do we cut people down with our words, brushing them off as if they are worthless? Do we treat certain people better than others? Go read the beginning section of James 2, obviously that isn't biblical. Are we loving Jesus while acting like complete jerks at the same time? 

This was honestly less of a post than a rant God has put on my heart. I would like to apologize as well, I am not necessarily fond of people, but lately I have been impatient, bitter and brusque to the point of being sinful, and that's not okay. This spoke to my heart, and hopefully it speaks to yours as well. 

Simple challenge: love people like Jesus, all the time, every minute. It doesn't matter whether it's the grocery bagger, the President or the kid that people like to make fun of in youth group (because sadly, hypocrisy reigns in the church). Be different, be the Christian that actually acts like Christ, and people will start to take notice.