Real Love Requires Real Grace

Love thrives on honesty and truth telling. Honesty and truth telling require GRACE because honesty and truth telling open us up and make us vulnerable. People only open themselves to this kind of vulnerability in an environment of grace. Grace is goodness and kindness and forgiveness that is given to one who doesn’t earn it or deserve it. If we want love, we must offer grace.

There Are Things We Know...

There are things that you and I know that we cannot articulate, we cannot put it into words. This knowledge might be thought of an as intuition but it is actually even more than that. This idea was expressed by scientist/philosopher Michael Polanyi in this way, “We always know more than we can tell.” We can also have an ASSURANCE of God in this way and the Bible credits it to a work of the Holy Spirit.

Confession Is Good For The Soul, Right?

Confession Is Good For The Soul, Right?

Alright, I’m going to do something bold.  I’m going to do something that may seem foolhardy and ill-advised.  (I haven’t checked with my lawyers about this…oh yeah…that’s right, I don’t have lawyers.  But if I had lawyers, I wouldn’t check with them before doing this.) 

I’m going to trust that this is a safe place.  A place of grace and understanding.  I’m going to believe that this is a place where I will be loved and accepted in spite of my flaws and sins and imperfections.  So, here comes my confession….

It’s January 30^th and our Christmas tree is still up.  I know, it’s embarrassing.  I can feel my face turning red even as I type these words.  I can’t believe it’s standing there in the living room.  I’ve kept meaning to put it away.  But there it is, looking at me, saying, “Um, I’m still here, Paul Bunyan.”

It’s sort of strange that it’s still up because some of you may recall, from a story I wrote, that when we put it up, back in December, it kept falling down.  We couldn’t seem to get the thing up and now we can’t seem to get around to taking it down.  This is the tree that refuses to play by the rules.

But that’s it, my dear friends!!!  This tree is coming down and it’s going to be put away!  And I mean it!

Soon.

In fact, I hereby state that this tree will be put away before February.  I’m giving myself a firm deadline.  There’s NO WAY we will have a Christmas tree up in our living room in February.  No sir.  I stand here and proclaim in no uncertain terms—actually I’m sitting, but forget that technicality—I stand and proclaim that this Christmas tree WILL BE TAKEN DOWN AND PUT AWAY before February 1^st!

I’m not kidding.  I’m serious about this.  Consider it a done deal.  Consider it a “mission accomplished”.  The tree will be out of sight and officially put away by February 1^st.  That’s it!  I’m not messing around anymore.

…You know, it occurs to me that it could be a funny conversation-starter to have a Christmas tree up all year long.  Think about people walking into the house in June and there’s the Christmas tree with the lights sparkling.  We would laugh and I would tell them the story and then we’d laugh some more…as they inch nervously toward the door.  Man, it would be hilarious.

But, trust me on this one, by the morning…or perhaps late afternoon…of February 1^st—early evening of Feb. 1^st, at the latest—that tree will be gone.

By the way, it’s never too early to get started on your Christmas shopping, it’s only 329 days away!

Is This A Real Commitment To Love?

When I was in 8^th grade there was a girl who was madly in love with me.  It’s hard to blame her, after all, you should have seen my haircut.  I knew that her commitment to love me was absolute and total when I saw that she had drawn a heart on her hand and written my name inside the heart along with the word “forever”.  Hey, “forever” is definitely a commitment!  Right?

We began officially dating on a Wednesday and a day and a half later, on Friday, she told me she couldn’t go out with me anymore.

I said, “But technically speaking, we haven’t actually gone out anywhere, yet.”

She said, “I know.  It’s better this way.”

I’m still not sure what that means but I’m fairly certain it’s not a compliment.

There’s a genuine commitment that is a significant aspect of really loving someone.  When we love the way God calls us to love, the standard of commitment is high.  In fact, it looks like the commitment that is described in Romans 8:38&39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

That’s a commitment to love.

That Friday afternoon, back in 8^th grace, I looked at my former girlfriend’s hand and the heart, along with my name, was washed off.  Ouch!

It’s nice to know that God still loves me.

Mistakes Can Be Great Learning Experiences

Mistakes can be a good thing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about intentionally doing things that are wrong, or trying to mess up on purpose. However, anyone who is truly engaged in life, trying new things, growing, learning, will fall down along the way, that’s part of the process. Let’s not allow mistakes to defeat us. God has a remarkable way of working in our mistakes…if we are willing to learn.

Perfect Obedience...The Standard Of Jesus

When Jesus refused to turn the stones into bread—his first temptation in the wilderness—he was demonstrating a very high standard, actually a perfect standard, a standard of complete holiness. He was saying, “Even a physical NEED, something as critical and pressing as a genuine NEED, cannot come before OBEDEDIENCE TO GOD.” God bless you as you walk—with God’s help—in the way of the Master today.

Let It Go

Sometimes, even though God has forgiven us, we still carry around reminders of our sins. We impose this penance upon ourselves because we feel guilty and unworthy of God’s mercy and grace. But God encourages us to: LET IT GO. “…As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm103:12.  Hey, God has let it go…so, you know what? We can let it go.

Having A Talk With Jasper

You know how a pet dog will get excited, and jump up and down, and wag its tail wildly when you come home?

Not Jasper.

Our dog, Jasper, gives a very casual greeting when you walk in the door.  I don’t know why, but that’s Jasper.  He may actually come to the door with some mild tail-wagging.  He does that, sometimes, sure.  But, on the other hand, when you walk in, he might look up from wherever he happens to be laying and just give a slight nod.

He’s a good dog.  Don’t get me wrong.  We love him.  And he’s slightly happy about allowing us to know him and feed him.  It’s just unusual that we don’t get the traditional, excited, dog-greeting from him.

Last night, when I came home, Jasper’s friend Jake was at our house visiting.  Jake gave me the traditional welcome home greeting.  There was vigorous tail-wagging.  There was happy slobbering on my face….oh, wait...that was Nadia.  But Jake did do an occasional 360 degree spin executed with pure joy.

In the meantime, Jasper, wandered over with a little bit of tail-wagging and a small wave of the paw in my direction.

Later in the evening, I was sitting on the couch reading and Jasper came and put his head on my leg.  I petted his head for a few moments and as he looked at me, I think I heard him say this:

“Look, I hope you’re not upset.  I’m just not into that crazy, wild-greeting thing that most dogs do.  It seems a little over-the-top and, well, it’s sort of unbecoming.  But that’s me.  I like you folks, I do.  You’re nice people.  And you’re really good about forgetting that you’ve left food unattended on the kitchen table.  This is a terrific thing we have here.  So, I just want you to know, this works for me.  It really works nicely for me.  How about you?”

I looked into Jasper’s dark eyes and scratched his chin and said, “It works nicely for me, too.”

When I raised my head, I saw Nadia standing in the doorway watching.  I’m fairly certain she didn’t hear Jasper’s part of the conversation.  She shook her head and walked away.

…..And I think I heard her muttering the phrase “maybe medication will help”.  But I’m not sure.

Here's Jasper wearing the

Dog-Snuggie that he received

for Christmas. If you chew a

Christmas present into tiny, ragged

pieces is that a sign that you really

liked it?

God Is Near...Can You Tell?

God is often very subtle. He’s near…for sure…but He doesn’t force himself on us. And, yet, if God wants to get a person’s attention, it’s remarkable how UNAVOIDALE He can be. This is good. It’s true that sometimes when God is unavoidable it can be difficult, but it is good. With love, I write these words: I hope that God is an unavoidable presence in your life.

What Happens When Some Pastors Gather?

I got together with some of my pastor friends today.  We meet on a monthly basis to talk about life, and church, and our relationship with the Lord, and other issues that come up in the life of ministers….Did I mention fistfights in the church parking lot?

And we spend some time praying for each other and for our respective churches.

By the way, I’m just kidding about the fistfights in the church parking lot.  That one hasn’t happened for any of us, yet.

...I don’t think.  (*NOTE: Fellas, if you’re reading this, feel free to correct me at our next meeting, if necessary.)

You might be thinking, “Wow, a small group of ministers sitting around talking!?!  That must be a thrilling time of white hot excitement.  Hey, Dan, can you video tape the meetings for us and broadcast it on the Internet?”

I tried to do that, but the folks at YouTube rejected the video.  They said it was too explosive and they feared that people might have heart attacks or other types of debilitating physical episodes while watching something that exciting. 

“There’s a limit to how thrilling we can get with the videos we allow on our site,” said the YouTube People.

At one point in our pastors meeting, we were talking about prayer.  And we talked about the tension that can exist when we pray in faith, truly believing God will answer our prayers—the Bible instructs us to do this—and yet the prayer may go unanswered, at least, as far as we can tell.

What do we do with the tension of this reality?  It is a reality that is known and experienced by anyone who has spent many years following God and bringing requests to Him in prayer.

We may pray for many years for some good thing, like the salvation of a loved one, and yet the person remains resistant to God.  If this happens, how do we remain hopeful and faithful and, even optimistic, when we pray?

We talked about these questions and other similar ones.  We talked about trying to help people who experience these types of genuine struggles in their prayers.

Pastors—at least the ones I know—are folks with terrific hearts for people.  Pastors have a very good and understandable desire to help the people in their churches.  And it seems reasonable to believe that there are many times when it would be proper and right for pastors to help minimize some spiritual struggles that people are experiencing, if we can.  But, today, as we were talking about this tension that can be experienced in prayer, it occurred to me that sometimes “the struggle” that may happen in our seemingly unanswered prayers is important.  Perhaps we might even say that “the struggles” that may occur in the wake of our seemingly unanswered prayers are necessary.

Please understand, I’m not intentionally looking for any more struggles in life, however, it may be that this struggle regarding our prayers might bring us into a form of interaction with God that we wouldn’t experience any other way.  And it might just bring a new dimension of strength and depth to our relationship with Him.

When we pray earnestly, looking to God in faith, truly believing, and yet we do not see the results that we’ve asked for, I do not believe it is because God is callously and arbitrarily playing games with us.  He has His reasons.  Even in our struggles—even when we don’t understand—He has His reasons.

I don’t take times of struggle lightly.  I realize that sometimes they can be heartbreaking and demoralizing.  But I hope and pray that even our struggles would help us to be closer and more dependent on Him.

Here's Some Good News: God Can Make "Something" Out Of "Nothing"

“It is the nature of God to make something out of nothing. Consequently, if someone is nothing, God can make something out of him.” This quote from Martin Luther is another reminder that, from God’s perspective, there is great value in humility. There is an emptying of our “self” that is good; it is necessary and important and vital to God’s work in us.

We Cannot "Love Too Much"

It is impossible to “love too much”. Sometimes people misunderstand what it really means to love, such as being overly permissive, when true love would establish boundaries. But this is not loving too much, this is avoiding what is necessary in order to be liked. REAL love reflects the character of God and is the highest good, it can’t be overdone.  “…And the greatest of these is love.” 1Cor.13:13