Still Dangerous Over a Year Later!!

Yes, I've been accused of being dangerous once again by someone who has never met me, talked with me or heard me speak. The gossiping guardians of religion are trading in a lie that some power-hungry, religious pharisee has chosen to spread about me. What are the lies? Here they are:

Lie No. 1) Mark doesn't believe in hell. (somewhat true - I'll explain in a moment)
Lie No. 2) Mark thinks everyone is going to heaven. (I wish!)
Lie No. 3) Mark is a Universalist.

OK, let me respond. I THINK there is a hell but I don't BELIEVE in hell. I believe in Jesus - only God is worthy of believing in. I think there will be a hell but I refuse to state dogmatically exactly what hell will be like. I don't know! I don't think there will be literal flames but I could be wrong. I think most of our notions of hell have been influenced by Dante's "Inferno" more than Scripture and whatever hell will be like will be bad and I don't want anyone to experience it.

Lie 2 - Wouldn't it be great if everyone was going to heaven?!! I wish that were the case!! But I don't think that will happen. I think a lot of religious people will choose hell over being with Jesus and the riff-raff (remember the prodigal son's older brother?). The confusion rests with the fact that I believe God, in His amazing grace, preemptively forgave us while we were still sinners. I think that when 2 Corinthians 5 says that God no longer holds the world's sins against them, it means that God no longer holds the world's sins against them. The problem is that most people think that forgiveness equals heaven. That's like saying that medicine equals health. Not! Medicine only gives health when the medicine is taken and forgiveness only gives heaven to those that take that forgiveness to heart. (By the way, the gossiping pharisees really want people to go to hell! Someone has to pay because they haven't had fun in this life!)

Lie 3 - A Universalist? Well the gossiping pharisees are trying to impress with their big word. Pssst - universalists believe everyone is going to heaven - read my answer to lie No. 2.

I guess I am dangerous by emphasizing the love of Christ as a call to change over the threat of hell. Why does the scripture say that the kindness of God leads us to repentance? Listen to these religious folks and you'd think that the threat of hell is the best method to wrestle repentance out of people. It's dangerous to tell of God's first strike of grace by dying for those that thought God was their enemy. Weird - I thought you did harm to your enemies but God demonstrated his love for us by dying for us while we were against him. Love your enemies? That is dangerous!!

This is the point that I hope you don't miss. God's love and grace is dangerous! It destroys the strongholds and powers that keep people in bondage. It exposes the false, religious dictators as impotent and tells you that you've been emancipated and they no longer have claim to you and power over you. It's dangerous to the powers and principalities that have an interest in ruling over you but it's NOT dangerous to those who are set free. It's good news - salvation - liberation - abundance of life! The man who has been set free is free indeed and it still frosts those that once possessed you and impressed you!

Dangerous!!!

A Conversation on the Golf Course...

A while back I was playing a round of golf with a buddy and friend of his. (Yes, I play golf... it has a hook and a handicap in it doesn't it?) The friend of my buddy was very interested in my work as a counselor and told me how he wanted to go into Christian counseling as a second career.

Now this fella was a religious goober. You know the kind that can just suck the life out of a good round of golf. He was very impressed with the things he did for Jesus and knew that he could do great things from the counselor's chair.

I was feeling a little mischievous and was tired of the religious duffer so I pulled a stick out of my bag (not my golf bag).

"I've found that there are two reasons that people go into counseling." I said.

"Oh, what are those?"

"There are those that want to get people to live right, and there are those that want to help people heal." I responded.

"Hmmm, right." He was nodding as if I had said something profound.

So I asked, "Which motivates you to become a counselor?"

His chest puffed up and he smiled real wide. "Why, I want to get people to live right!" Did I say he was smiling?

So I quipped "I've found that those that want to get people to live right make the worst counselors."

Fore!

Jesus came to heal us... not reform us!

A Must Read for Marriages!

I just finished reading "Love and Respect" by Emerson Eggerichs (www.loveandrespect.com) and watching the video seminar of his with 4 other couples. Fantastic stuff! I will review the material soon (yes soon!) and let you know how this can revolutionize your marriage.

A New Office!

I am excited to announce that LifeChange has been contracted by Christ United Methodist Church in Jackson to oversee their counseling ministry. Christ Church has a rich history of ministry and service to Jackson and we are pleased to partner with them in ministry.

Counseling appointments are available to CUMC church members at a discount and we are able to meet with people from all across the community as well at this new location.

We also have locations at Colonial Heights Baptist Church in Ridgeland, Highland Colony Baptist Church in Ridgeland, and Bowmar Baptist Church in Vicksburg.

Additionally, we have partnering ministries with Highland Baptist Church in Vicksburg and First Baptist Church in Hazelhurst. If you are interested in LifeChange establishing a partnering ministry with your church, please have your pastoral leadership contact us.

Vulcan Mind Meld

Do you remember the Vulcan mind meld that Mr. Spock would perform on Star Trek? Mr. Spock could place his hand on the temple of another and meld his mind with that person and they would experience his memories in the first person. The mind meld would allow the memories of Spock to be the memories of the person. It wasn't like they were watching his memories on a screen, they were reliving them as if they were their own. There was a union (melding) of the minds and the two became one.

Since we don't have the Vulcan mind meld thing figured out, the best we have are words. We wrestle with finding the right words that somehow convey our experience and form a shared experience. It is limited but over time it can create a oneness if two work at it. I've seen a husband and wife become so connected that in many ways they have achieved a oneness of heart and mind. The spirit of love between the two creates a rich, deep knowing that can be shared with just a look.

What I find interesting is that we all long for that oneness, the experience of union, of something like a Vulcan mind meld. The creative thoughts of the writers of Star Trek to script such a "power" for Spock tell us that there is a rumor percolating in us of a perichoretic fellowship. Down deep we have heard the whisper of such power and union that we wonder if that is possible and hope that it is.

Why is that? I believe that the reason we strain for such expression here is because Christ Jesus has already performed a "Vulcan mind meld" with humanity. Read this:

11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

1 Corinthians 2:11-13

So the reality of this passage is that God was not satisfied to just give us words or a book or speakers. He wanted to be able to share a look, a nudge, a sense, a feeling with us and for us to know and understand just what was on His heart and soul. He wanted us to experience as our own His experiences of passion, joy, peace, concern and love and for us to live in step with Him.

How did He do this? He united Himself with us in the incarnation and poured out His Spirit on and in us so that we might experience the "Vulcan mind meld" of Christ and know what it means to really have life! His Life!

It's a Scam!

Imagine what it would be like if there was this huge, global collections scam that preyed on the unsuspecting. The Fraudulent Collections Agency continually harasses everyone, sending them notices of delinquent accounts, demands payment and threatens with imprisonment.

An uninformed public pays up and continues to buy the lie that more is owed. They take the harassing calls, buckle to the threats and cower to the demands when in fact nothing is owed! The debt that was once on the books was paid a long time ago. As a matter of fact, the company was brought up on fraud charges and a judge found them liable and condemned the CEO and his lackeys to prison. They are out on appeal but their case will not be overturned and it's just a matter of time before they have to report to prison. Until that time, they are busy perpetrating their fraud and duping poor, unsuspecting people with their convincing tactics.

Wouldn't that scenario be crazy?

Believe it or not, this happens everyday! Satan and his evil minions are busy perpetrating a fraud on humanity telling them they owe a huge debt. Daily, people buy the scam and sell all they have to pay off a debt that is not due. They either don't know that the debt has been paid or they don't believe it. Christ has paid the debt of sin, conquered the penalty of death and restored the credit and standing of man in Himself. Done! Finished!

Next time you get one of those harassing, guilting, shaming collection calls that condemn you. Hang up on the evil schmuck and go back to watching American Idol.

Hiatus

I'm going to take a few weeks off writing to regroup and bring fresh material. Please register for updates and when I start writing you will receive an email notice of new articles.

Thanks!

Emancipation!

When Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 he declared that all slaves "from thenceforward shall be forever free". He also stated that anyone holding slaves would be in rebellion against the United States.

Now I'm sure there were many freed slaves who did not know of the their freedom and there were rebellious slave owners who did not want their "slaves" to know the truth. They may have rationalized their control by stating, "They won't be able to handle freedom. They are like children or worse animals that need to have a master." Whatever their rational, they did not want to lose their power and control and economic benefits of having the "one up" position.

But what happened when the news of freedom moved onto the plantation? Did the "slaves" remain slaves? Some did, of course, but most celebrated and received the news with joy. I'm sure fear was mixed in with the joy, because with freedom comes much responsibility; but, those who embraced the truth were forever changed. This change forever altered the power structures and systems even though the powers have continuously sought new ways to enslave and keep the upper hand.

You probably see a correlation coming. Christ has emancipated the whole world in His life, death and resurrection. He has defeated death and secured our resurrection in Himself - He is the Resurrection and Life and ALL will be raised in Him!

The question today and on the last day is do you want freedom? Do you want Jesus? He has emancipated you and broken the chains of death's slavery and exposed it for the empty power that it is. Do you love life or death? Freedom or slavery? Choose...

Now there are powers and systems that have done well hiding the truth of your emancipation. They have built big buildings and empires selling you what has already been freely given.

They have held out the threat of death's beating if you don't jump through their hoops for their personal gain. Not knowing the truth and having the mind of slave, what were you to do? You acted as slaves and said "Yes Masta!"

Hear today this proclamation: Christ has set you free and overcome your death! You will be raised in Him as surely as He is Lord of All and Above All! Choose - freedom or "slavery".

Is Your Life in Your Big Toe?

I know it is a crazy question, but are you in your big toe? Did your big toe have to invite you into it in order for it to be alive? Did your big toe have to recognize that it was always getting stumped and confess that and then pledge to stop hitting the couch in the middle of the night in order for you to enter into your big toe and give it life? Has your big toe confessed, committed, been dunked or sprinkled and then started to read, give and share with other toes the necessity of inviting life into it?

Of course not! Your life is already in your toe and it lives and moves and has its existence in your body. It doesn't have to do anything to get your life - it already has it.

Likewise, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. Where can we go where He is not?

Salvation is not committing to the Lord. It is not making Jesus Lord. It is not inviting Jesus into your heart (as if He weren't already there). Salvation is surrendering to the reality that the Lord of All has always been here and the life you live is not your own!

Go wiggle your toes!

Pinch your mate!

Have you pinched your spouse lately? If you haven’t, you might want to! So many times we get into fights with our mate and we are convinced that THEY are the problem. With contempt in our hearts and minds, we see our mate as a buffoon and if they would just get their act together we would be happy.

The problem with this is that we are failing to see what the real problem is. The scriptures tell us that our battles and conflicts aren’t with flesh and blood; rather, our battle is with things spiritual. Evil sneaks in and picks fights between us as if we are roosters in a cock fight. We are pitted against each other and before we know it we are in a mortal battle to save our significance, worth, or beloved-ness.

Instead of fighting your mate, turn and attack the problem that is coming between you. Let them know you are “on their team” and are unwilling to let things come between you. If you have to - pinch your mate. Better yet, pinch yourself!

Mission Accomplished not Mission Possible!

"Moreover, as it was the death of all mankind that the Savior came to accomplish, not His own, He did not lay aside His body by an individual act of dying, for to Him, as Life, this simply did not belong; but He accepted death at the hands of men, thereby completely to destroy it in His own body."

Athanasius

It is amazing how quickly we have moved from salvation accomplished to salvation possible. We have moved from Good News to believe to a Good Offer to opt into.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:1-7

Jesus has been accomplished it - Believe!

Happy Valentine's Day

Vine and Branches

Imagine a vine with countless branches growing from it. The branches draw their life from the branch and are alive in the vine. Some branches are heavy with fruit, others slightly, and yet others not at all; but, all live and grow and have their being in the vine.

The branches do not generate life in themselves but have the life of the vine in them. If the branches were to be cut off from the vine, they would eventually disintegrate and cease to be. There is no life apart from the vine - apart from the vine the branches can do nothing!

Now, think about what happens to the branches if the vine dies. The branches follow suit - they die, too. The branches cannot keep the vine alive and they cannot exist without the vine. The whole system of vine and branches are headed down the path to ruin - they are doomed.

Now consider what happens if the dead vine comes back to life and once again has life flowing through the vine and out to the branches. The whole system is re-birthed and alive! The branches are restored to new life and are free to bare much fruit.

What happens to the vine, happens to the branches. The branches are completely dependent upon the vine and their welfare is bound up in the vine - for good or ill.

Jesus is the Vine, we are the branches. What happened to Jesus, happened to us! What happens to Jesus, happens to us! That is why the scripture tell us that when we come to the place in our life when the light bulb comes on and we recognize that Jesus is the Vine (Lord) and that this Vine that was once dead and is now raised to life, something amazing occurs in us. This amazing liberation of heart and soul can only be described as salvation. We are saved FROM the fear of death - we have been raised with the Vine! We are saved TO new life - the Vine's life is in us!

When the Good News of the Vine reaches us branches and we rest in the truth, much fruit begins to be expressed in us. We have come to believe that apart from the Vine we can do nothing - even exist!

Thanks be to the Vine!

Acceptance

The most powerful way to transform yourself or others is through acceptance. When you find yourself struggling with hiccups and hangups, do you beat yourself up with negative self talk? When those around you are acting out in ways that annoy you, do you respond harshly?

We are most open to correction from those who are accepting and affirming. We have all had those authority figures in our lives that could speak directly to us, even firmly correct us, and we listened to them because we knew they were committed to our best interest. At the end of the day, we knew they loved us and cared.

When we are struggling with our own hangups, start with accepting yourself. Instead of condemning yourself with harsh, shaming comments, seek first to understand where those hangups came from. Understanding doesn't mean agreeing or embracing as viable, but you can never transform something until you understand it.

In the same way, invest in understanding others before you start trying to change them. Honor where they are coming from and then offer another way in love.

When I start to get anxious when climbing up a ladder, I can approach myself with condemnation - "Gosh, what's wrong with you? It's just a stupid ladder! Buck up and climb, you wimp!" This approach rarely works.

"Why am I anxious (oh my soul)? What? Oh, OK! You are afraid I will fall again and lose another hand. That really hurt you when you lost lefty falling out of that tree. Body, you're afraid that I will be careless and break another arm. I promise I will be careful and watch my footing. We have to get up that ladder and complete this task. You can keep me on my edge by keeping me a little nervous but you can't rule me. Let's get this done together."

I know that may seem odd to talk to yourself that way but who better talk to you that way than you? If someone else talked to you in such a supportive way, you would like them and be influenced positively. Treat yourself in the same manner. Love others the way you love yourself!

After loving yourself, you will be better equipped to deal graciously with others and you will see transformation occurring around you and within.

Hamster's Wheel

Jesus told us to do the taste test when it comes to religious teaching. Bad fruit comes from bad trees and good fruit comes from good trees. One of the ways that we can determine whether or not to swallow what we are hearing is to ask this question:

"Does this throw me back on myself or does this have me coming to Jesus and resting?"

Religion is full of calls to mount the hamster's wheel. Do this. Do that. Do! Do! Do! Excuse me, but this is dodo! The Gospel News is a declaration of DONE in Jesus!

Religionists will give you detailed lists of the things you need to do to gain God's favor, receive His blessings and get forgiven. These prophets of Baal will instruct you in many things to slash yourself to get God to hear you.

Jesus invites all the weary and loaded up people to come to Him and find rest. He knows how the road is wide with people flocking down the path of religion and winding up with destruction. He also knows how counter-cultural it is to narrow yourself to rest in Him and build your life on Him and His finished work. Building your life on Jesus is the only foundation that will stand the storms of life. Your long list of things to do for Jesus will never cut it and will never last the test of time.

If you are tired of the hamster's wheel of religion, you can climb off any time. Trust that all that is required of you has been done for you by Christ Jesus. It is done - you can stop trying to hold your spiritual tongue just right!

Word of God

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." John 5:39-40

It seems to me that the scriptures, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, would point people to Jesus. The Holy Spirit is always pointing to Jesus and is determined that we know the Father's Son. The whole of the scriptures is about revealing the relationship of the Father and Son and our inclusion in their relationship through the Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We know the Father through the Son, who has made Him known, and He shares their relating with us through the Holy Spirit. "From the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit" is what I heard and read J.B. Torrence (great, Scottish theologian) say on several occasions.

To reduce the Christian life to living the Bible is to miss the point altogether. The Father did not send His Son to give us the Bible so that we can have an instruction manual by which to live. He has given Himself to us through His Son and in the Spirit so that we might have fellowship with them.

The scriptures are so beneficial in their revealing the Son to us. The Spirit is always using the scriptures to draw us to the Son and to paint us a picture of what living in relational participation looks like. But there are those that want to replace God with the Bible and exalt it above Jesus.

"Thank you, Jesus, I've got this covered - I have your Word and have mastered it!" That is what Pharisees always do - give me the words, those I can manipulate, control and master. The difficulty is that the Word cannot be manipulated, controlled or mastered, for He is the Lord of the Universe and when we draw near to Him we are the ones who are transformed.

We honor scriptures when we recognize they bow their knee to Jesus and guard ourselves from our propensity to ditch the Author and go for the words.

Molesting Eden

As I reflect on the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, it seems to me to be more like a molestation than anything else. A molester always places themselves between the innocent and the protector and sets themselves up as the new friend. In doing so, they then hurt the innocent and it sets off a cascade of pain.

Adam and Eve were not created perfect - they had limitations. They were created "very good". They were created out of nothing and for the purpose of knowing Life through abiding in the Word - Jesus. As a branch rests in a relationship to the vine, man was created to rest in a relationship with God through His Son.

They didn't have a conscience, they had no knowledge of good and evil. What they had was life and relationship with God. All was very good! They were very innocent.

The serpent strutted into their life and positioned itself between the innocent children of God and God Himself. What did he do? He drove a wedge between God and the innocents by calling into question the goodness of God. This is the master work of a molester. "Your parents have left you. They are mad at you. They are not coming back." The hissing lie was God was holding out on Adam and Eve. He really doesn't want you to have life!

The second step was to shame the children. You are flawed - you SHOULD be like God. In other words, the way you are created is flawed. "You are strutting around here with your fly undone, making a fool of yourself, and God doesn't have the common decency to let you know how foolish you look and are. He's holding out on you!"

At this point, Adam and Eve exchanged the truth for a lie. They moved from "God is good and we are loved" to "God is bad and we are flawed". In that moment, the panicked trauma bond is established and the molester is now sought out for the fix.

"What do we do?!"

"Simple, eat the fruit in the middle of the garden and you will be fixed!"

Adam and Eve did just that but far from fixing themselves, they were now cast into a greater despair - they had been molested! To add insult to injury, the serpent now condemns the ones he has robbed of their innocence and tells them - "When God finds out he is going to kill you! Hide, I think I hear his footsteps!"

"Don't look at me! You will see how disgusting I am! Let me distract you from seeing me by masking my shame with these temporary things. There, how do you like me now?"

Our God is a loving and good God and he saw right through the situation. He knew that his children didn't arrive at their shameful conclusions by drawing close to Him and resting in His embrace. He knew that this dis-ease with Him had a source outside of Him.

"Who told you these things about your self? That didn't come from me!"

Lovingly, he explained the implications of talking to strangers and being molested. "It is going to hurt like Hell, children!"

Then he turned His eyes toward the "evil one" and gunned for him. "I will crush you even if it kills me! Just wait!"

Turning His eyes back to His children, dressed in failing coverings, He covered them with "flesh" skins and said, "Come, we have to get you away from the Tree of Life, I can't let you get stuck this way. I have better plans for you!"

Another Great Quote!

My wife, Robin, shared this quote with me that she read today as she has been reading the following book:

From Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala:

One Sunday about 20 years ago, back in our days in the YWCA, I said something impromptu while receiving new members into the church that has stuck with us ever since. People were standing in a row across the front before me, and as I spoke, the Holy Spirit seemed to prompt me to add, "And now, I charge you, as pastor of this church, that if you ever hear another member speak an unkind word of criticism or slander against anyone - myself, another pastor, an usher, a choir member, or anyone else - you have authority to stop that person in mid sentence and say, 'Excuse me - who hurt you? Who ignored you? Who slighted you? Was it Pasor Cymbala? Let's go to his office right now. He will get on his knees and apologize to you, and then we'll pray together, so God can restore peace to this body. But we will not let you talk critically about people who are not present to defend themselves.'

"New members, please understand that I am entirely serious about this. I want you to help resolve this kind of thing immediately. And meanwhile, know this: If you are ever the one doing the loose talking, we will confront you."

To this very day, every time we receive new members, I say much the same thing. It is always a solemn moment. That is because I know what most easily destroys churches. It is not crack cocaine. It is not government oppression. It is not even lack of funds. Rather, it is gossip and slander that grieves the Holy Spirit.

Too Little Time!

Life is short and I have come to the conclusion that it is too short to belabor points and try to convince those who don't want to be convinced. There comes a time in everyone's life when, like the Apostle Paul, you have to shake the dust off your feet and go on to new fields of ministry.

For four years I ministered at a church as Associate Pastor and taught openly, plainly (some would disagree) and passionately the Gospel of Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When I stepped down due to a heavy work load, I remained as a member - teaching as I always did.

Some appreciated it, some endured it, some couldn't stand it. What did I teach?

• God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit living in a great fellowship of love, life and beauty.
• We were created from the overflow of their life and given a share in their life through the Son. We are the sons and daughters that God has always wanted!
  
• We exist in union with Jesus - always have and always will.
• Union doesn't mean fellowship - only those who love Jesus will appreciate that union.
• God actually reconciled the whole world to himself in Christ's life, death, resurrection and ascension and we are all presented to the Father spotless and free from blemish in Jesus.
• We are all called to believe this fantastic news and no longer live for ourselves but Christ who died for us and was raised again.
• When we look at anyone, we can no longer see them apart from this amazing inclusion in Christ and this shapes how we relate to all people.
• The church is not a place where we have a corner on the God market, but a place where the news has been embraced. We are therefore ambassadors (newsboys) telling the most beautiful news in the world to as many as possible - eager that they, too, rest from their religious strivings and relate to God as he truly is - the loving Father, Son and Spirit - not judge.

This teaching has been labeled by some as unsafe and wrong. Their greatest desire is that I be silenced - sit down and shut up. Oh, I can stay (please do) but stop teaching that dangerous stuff. Others have said, we have no problem with what you teach - the problem is just how you teach it. This is a style issue and more styles need to be accommodated. Let's throw in a little judgment style, we're OK with a dash of legalism style, prophecies that are true only 66% of the time - who are we to be the style police?

For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

2 Corinthians 2:15-17

Back to Posting Monday

I am swamped with phone calls and emails with the launch of Marathon Makeover this weekend. I will be back to posting on Monday.

Newpaper Article

Thanks Billy Watkins for a great article on Marathon Makeover!

Click Here to Read.

Out of Nothing...

When God created us, He created us out of nothing. We were given a share in the life of the Word - that is Jesus - and in union with Him we have existence.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they began back down the path toward nothingness. This was the plight of humanity that Christ took upon Himself to undo. Life Himself secured our existence by taking into Himself our non-being death and destroyed it, overcoming it in His resurrection.

What I am at present trying to get my head around is the idea of nothingness. If the truth of our existence is that we exist in loving union with the Son who is in fellowship and union with the Father and Spirit, then to live out of any other center than that union is to not truly exist.

Evil is non-being, the "negation and antithesis of good*" and a lie is a vapor - the absence of reality. When you don't abide in the embrace of Jesus you are a ghost and the "real you" doesn't appear.

Any living in rejection of the love of God is destined to fail, not because of a fiery judgment at the hands of God but because lies and nothingness can't prevail. On the last day, anything that is not real will be consumed by the fire and the only thing that will remain is the real you - the you loved and embraced and accepted by the Father, Son and Spirit.

Why wait until that day and go through this life not really being? Why waste the time and gift of life by going around living as if you weren't already made right? In Jesus Christ you will always find your true self. Whenever you approach Him you will hear your true name - Beloved!

Leave your nothingness and live in Reality.

Add your thoughts to this post!

*Athanasius - The Incarnation of the Word of God

A Marathon Isn't 26.2 Miles...

I was interviewed for an upcoming article on our Marathon Makeover and the reporter asked me what life applications I had learned from training for and training others for a marathon. For me it was easy. The thing I have learned the most is that a marathon isn't 26.2 miles - it is one mile 26.2 times.

Whenever I have run a marathon, I have not been able to focus on the whole picture, that is too overwhelming. By breaking down the process into bite-sized pieces, I have been able to get through the enormous task. Life works this way.

Instead of focusing on the whole picture of the surmounting task(s) before you, break the task into what you can accomplish today. Slice the task into small deli-style slices and start chewing.

Most everyone I know can walk or run one mile. If that is the case, and if they are persistent enough, they can accomplish a marathon if they keep moving.

What are you facing in your life that you need to overcome? Break it down into small steps and focus only on those steps and keep moving. In time, you will get through the whole marathon task.

Sharing Love

"For God is good - or rather, of all goodness He is Fountainhead, and it is impossible for one who is good to be mean or grudging about anything. Grudging existence to none therefore, He made all things out of nothing through His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ; and of all these earthly creatures He reserved especial mercy for the race of men."

St. Athanasius

I read those sentences over and over and wondered what in the world Athanasius was saying. Then it hit me - God, in His goodness, is full and overflowing and out of that fullness God created. Like a husband and wife full in their love for each other who decide to have children, the Father, Son, and Spirit in their fullness determined that their love was too good to keep to themselves.

In other words, God created not out of need but out of fullness! God is a philanthropist that has so much that the only natural thing to do is share - not hoard.

When we start with a bored, lonely god who creates out his need to be worshiped or glorified, what we have is an egocentric god. A god that needs fixing. That idea even shapes our understanding of the cross. The cross becomes aimed at changing God's attitude and appeasing His hurt feelings, because after all, it's all about Him.

God as Trinity tells us that God has never been egocentric. The Father, Son and Spirit have always been other-centered and the fountain of all love - God is love! The cross is not an instrument to appease an angry god, in whose hands we are held (i.e. Jonathan Edwards), but the surgeon's scalpel used to remove the diseased condition of our humanity. God, in His other-centered love, determined to save us even it killed Him.

God is full of love for you!

Truth vs. Tradition

The thing about truth that is amazing is that truth is truth regardless of whether or not anyone believes it. Long before anyone believed that the world was round... it was. While others believed the moon was made of cheese... it wasn't. Truth is truth.

Somehow we have come to believe in the Christian faith that our belief in something is what determines the veracity of it. Unless you believe in Jesus you are not reconciled by Him. Unless you believe in Jesus you are not included in Him.

I recognize that is the traditional point of view but it is neither biblical or truth. In Acts 17:28, Paul, speaking to a group of Athenian pagans, tells them that in Christ they live and move and have their being." - They are already in Christ. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul states that ALL THINGS are held together IN Christ and that God was pleased to reconcile all things to Himself in Christ. He goes on to emphasize this point by declaring "whether things on earth or things in heaven" all have been restored to the Father in and through Jesus.

When you start with a faulty, traditional premise - only those in Christ get to heaven - to hear this news is to assume that the person is crossing over into the realm of heresy. "Universalism! Universalism!" they cry and begin to build the fires for the burning at the stake. Protect a tradition that is neither biblical or true.

Thomas Erskine in his essays on the "Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel" states:

"I think that a lot of the theoretical difficulty on this matter has arisen from the habit of considering heaven merely as a reward, and hell merely as a punishment. Pardon, or forgiveness, is viewed as the deliverance from hell, and the introduction into heaven."

also,

"Heaven then is the name for a character conformed to the will of God, and hell is the name for a character opposed to the will of God. The idea therefore of having heaven without holiness, is like the idea of having health without being well; it is a contradiction in terms."

and more,

"Christianity is like a divinely revealed medical treatment for diseased spirits. Heaven is the name for health in the soul, and hell is the name for disease. The design of Christianity is to produce heaven, and to destroy hell."

Finally,

"Forgiveness, or pardon, is not heaven any more than a medicine is health. Pardon is proclaimed freely and universally; it is perfectly gratuitous, unconditional and unlimited. But heaven is limited to those who are sanctified by the belief of the pardon."

The truest thing about us all is that we have been included in Jesus - always have, always will - and that when He died, we died (II Corinthians 5:14); and when He was raised up we were raised up (Ephesians 2:6).

When we come to know the truth we are set free (John 8:32) and heaven begins to be produced in our soul. To not believe the truth is to live in denial (and when has that ever worked?).

Walk in the truth of Jesus!

For further reading on Thomas Erskine go to this site.

Listening to Friends and Family Members

At this time of year, I start my Marathon Makeover training program with which I will train others to finish the Chicago Marathon. This is my fourth year to do this and I have seen 125 people cross the finish line after 26.2 miles and most of them were couch potatoes when they started.

What is interesting to me is that every year I have to contend with participants who are being counseled by their friends and family members NOT to do a marathon.

"That's stupid!"
"You're going to hurt yourself."
"That's a selfish waste of time."

On and on it goes and sadly too many people listen to their friends and family. They are trying to be helpful and keep you from failing - Never try anything big and you won't be disappointed - but the message is "you are too fragile to handle disappointment."

If you are going to make it in this world, there comes a time when you have to stop listening to your friends and family and run your own race. They have a limited perspective of you, after all, they knew you when you were in diapers or where a 7th grade dork.

"While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you." He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Matthew 12:46-50

Coming Home...

Salvation is coming home to the truth that in Jesus Christ you already are (and always have been) home in Jesus Christ!

"It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.

Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing."

Ephesians 2:1-10 The Message

Jesus Take the Wheel

Have you heard the Carrie Underwood song, "Jesus Take the Wheel"? It's been all the rave and has done well for her career start. I wish her well!

But the song has gotten me to thinking about the notion of asking Jesus to take the wheel. When we look at our lives as though we are the ones in the driver's seat it would naturally stand to reason that when in trouble we will ask Jesus to take over. "Hey, Jesus, I'm doing OK today, I can handle this one." is the kind of attitude we develop. We actually think that we have life in ourselves.

St. Athanasius states:

"This, then, was the plight of men. God had not only made them out of nothing, but had also graciously bestowed on them His own life by the grace of the Word. Then, turning from eternal things to things corruptible, by counsel of the devil, they had become the cause of their own corruption in death..."

Do you see what Athanasius is proposing? He is saying that the life we live is nothing less than a share in the very Life of God through Jesus.

St. Paul, in talking with the Athenians on Mars Hill stated that "we live and move and have our being in Him." The reality of yours and my existence is that we do not have life in ourselves. An EverReady Energizer battery was not installed at the factory, but we were created in union with Christ and we derive our whole existence in Christ.

When we turn our eyes away from this Truth, we create for ourselves destruction by trying to create an alternate reality that is no reality at all. It is a lie, nothingness, vapor!

Here is the Truth. Jesus has the wheel. He's in the driver's seat. Your life is bound up in Him. Quit reaching over the console and trying to grab the wheel. Trust and enjoy the ride.

Life After Affair...

Here's an article in the Clarion Ledger Newspaper on affairs that I was interviewed for:

http://clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070111/FEAT05/701110359

On Becoming Community

Becoming community is not an easy process! Whether it is a community of two - marriage - or a community of many - church - becoming community is like making sausage. It is not a pretty process.

There are four developmental processes on the way to community. The first stage is:

1) Faking it. In this stage there is pseudo-community. A whole lot of pretending is going on in this first stage. Think of couples who are on their best behavior when they first start dating. It would be impossible NOT to fall in love because both are so airbrushed, picture perfect.

Churches do this, too. When churches are early in their community, developmental process there is a whole lot of faking it going on. People act like they "have it all together" and who wouldn't want to join the church - it's perfect! Everyone gets along and likes each other. It appears like a real community, but it is not.

This isn't a slam, it's just not there yet. You have to graciously accept that a church is immature and hasn't yet "grown up". Sadly some churches and some marriages never grow up. They stay on the surface of pseudo-community, faking it to their heart's dis-content. It never satisfies long-term!

2) The second stage is chaos. In this stage of community development, the veneer of perfection begins to crack and the defects begin to surface. This is a scary time for communities of two and communities of many. This is the make or break it time of community life. Conflict is common and necessary at this stage but is often resisted. Crisis management is put into high gear and "fixing" the problems becomes the rallying cry. Fixing the problems, though, are often a call to regress to the faking it stage.

Play nice boys and girls! And like windshield wipers that get too close and clash, the communities separate and keep their distance and never experience true intimacy. If you are going to dance close, you are going to step on each other's toes. If you want to never step on toes, just don't dance close.

Many will bail from community at this stage and go looking for another community. What they find usually is another group or person in the early stages of pseudo-community and the process starts all over again. They didn't manage the developmental process before, there is not much hope for moving through the stages in the future. They are stuck in the loop of fake it, chaos, flee - fake it, chaos, flee.

Those couples and churches that do manage to move through the chaos find themselves at the beginning of the third stage:

3) Releasing. In this stage, couples and churches release their personal agendas and start to hear the other or others. Stories begin to emerge and present struggles are shared - there is room for silence, sadness and tears without being "fixed". Acceptance is being birthed in this stage and people are truly met for the first time. This leads to:

4) A Community of Love. It is at this point that home is experienced. Couples say they have found their best friend and people describe church as coming home. Differences are accepted, celebrated and honored. Peace is experienced - not a fake peace - but a hard won peace that allows all to be human and you are safe. Even conflict is accepted as the opportunity to grow more intimate, for intimacy is really just - Into-Me-See.

So, there you have it. On becoming community you must remember that community doesn't just happen. It is developed and it is not easy. It is scary and messy but most of all worth it.

Sadly, I find that when I look at community on this level I realize that I have experienced very little true community in my life. What keeps me going in my quest for community? The Community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and our inclusion in it.

Because we have been included in the Triune Community, my prayer is that the Kingdom of God (community) will be fully expressed on earth as it is in heaven and that we can be participants and helpers of community here and now. I know we ultimately cannot create community - Community is because of God - but we can give ourself to participate in community or we can resist community. Remember though, we were created for community and you have been included through Jesus.

Just some unfinished thoughts...

Pretty Good!

Here's a link if you have a little time to watch or listen. Sent to me by my friend Stacy Wills.

http://www.lifestream.org/fatheraffectionplay.html

Endoskelton, Exoskeleton or Jellyfish?

I've found a number of people that I counsel do not have a backbone. Usually this surfaces in the counseling session when they present themselves as overloaded, overwhelmed, full of resentments, and ready to quit life. They are mad!

I usually say, "You are ticked at them because you don't have a backbone!" I get a confused look, but I continue. "You wouldn't be so ticked if people wouldn't take advantage of you, continually ask of you, walk all over you and mistreat you. You're mad at them because YOU don't have a spine."

I know that sounds harsh, but the fact of the matter is we don't like to grow a spine. We don't want to have to set boundaries and assert our space in the universe. We want people to automatically respect our person, space and things without having to speak up. Without ever having to say "NO!"

Blessed are the doormats for they shall inherit the heals.

If you don't have a backbone and don't know how to be assertive by speaking up for yourself, you will usually take the path of developing an exoskeleton or you will remain a jellyfish for the rest of your miserable life.

Those that don't learn assertiveness tend to develop an exoskeleton - a hard, external shell. Like a crab or a crawfish, you look for your protection by keeping everyone out with your tough exterior. That seems to protect your insides but it ultmately eliminates the possibility of experiencing any real pleasure from the outside world.

A crab doesn't enjoy being stroked or cuddled. The feelings can't get through the tough exterior. Cold blooded as they are, they just become scavengers for others' waste and bottom feed throughout life.

Jellyfish aren't much better. Try to hug a jellyfish and they will just go to nothing, slime you or worse - sting you. These invertebrates are tossed about by the storms of life and their only protection is to passively sting after someone gets to close or violates. They are masters of passive-agression!

So what do you do? Get a spine! Set boundaries and learn to say "No!" so that your yeses can be true yeses. Henry Cloud and John Townsend have written a great book on the subject entitled Boundaries.

If you need help developing a backbone give me a call or shoot me an email.

Good fences make good neighbors!

Control or Liberation?

I sat down last night to read a few minutes from one of my favorites, The Ragamuffin Gospel, and receive some comfort, encouragement and as always passion. I almost missed this paragraph in trying to find where I last left off. I'm glad I looked back to the top of the page and read this:

Eugene Kennedy writes: "The devil dwells in the urge to control rather than liberate the human soul. One can hardly live in these closing years of the twentieth century without realizing how the forces of control have gathered.... We stand by a dark forest through which fearful religious and political leaders would force us to pass in single file through their exclusive pathway of righteousness. They want to intimidate us, make us afraid and hand over our souls to them once more. Jesus saw such shadowed forces as the corrupters of the essential nature of religion in his time. They are no less so all these centuries later."

Claiming Manhood

I just finished reading Carlyle Marney's Priests To Each Other and although I haven't understood everything in it, it has ministered to me at this point in my life. As some of you know, I am going through a battle of sorts at the place where I was associate pastor for 4 years.

There are a handful of people who are attempting to replace the Gospel of unconditional grace in our Lord Jesus Christ with a dangling threat of hell and a demand to live holy (as they understand it). They have been conniving, disingenuous and downright dishonest in their depiction of what I believe and what I have taught.

Hell and holiness are power trips. With hell you can control the outsiders - "Jump through our hoops and we will keep you out of hell." With holiness you can control the insiders - "Live the way we say is a true Christian and we will include you in the inner circle." Power, control, fear.

Leadership has become afraid in the wash of the pervasive fear and abandoned the fight, summoned the spirit of Rodney King and attempted to "just get along", or been persuaded that what is needed is a returning to that old time religion that was good enough for you and me (before it killed us).

So I was heartened when I read this by Carlyle Marney:

On my more nearly obedient days I have tasted a recovery of nerve which is a manhood in the ministry. This means one can speak up! This issues in a recovery of meaning known only to personal theologians or theological persons and produces the prospect of communion, the church in your own house.

Do you see? I am really speaking of a conversion toward manhood. (In these preacher schools they look at me as if I were sick sometimes when I say we need our manhood more than we need to be ministers.) I mean by this that I was forced to an acceptance of guilt, my guilt, and more - of my shame. My teachers here were Hobart Mowrer and a twelve-year-old after communicants' class:

"What is guilt, little girl?" I had asked her, thinking I knew. "Guilt is a shame you can talk about," she answered. "And what is shame?" Head low, eyes averted, but lifted toward the Kortheuer Crucifixion on my wall and the spectator-figure of despair with which we both had identified, she said, "Shame is a guilt you can't talk about." And we let the matter go.

The conversion of manhood begins here for me in my acceptance of my guilt-ness. Where all are guilty, none is guilty. I meet a new notion of redemption in the child. It's all right to be guilty lest I lose my brother who is guilty, too. There is no redemption which is not a brotherhood of guilt as well. It's all right for things to be this way.

All of which has showed me how far we have to go. I am on some days aghast at the rooms upstairs still unoccupied, at the waste areas still unclaimed, at the ghastly power of sin, evil, and my own unconscious and conscious capacity for both; and I throw up after meetings with shallow pretensions of us professional churchmen. But these very points - a hope - I am being saved by the Christ, by you, and by my brothers.

Thanks Carlyle!

Elephants

Elephants are always popping up in the living spaces of community. They are big, awkward and very present BUT people are so prone to act as if there are no elephants. If I look at you with a blank stare and smile maybe we won't have to deal with the pachyderm in our midst.

"Let's move forward and not look back. I just don't have permission to talk about that. Now is not a good time to deal with this."

"When can we? When would be a good time? I really want to resolve this. Let's put our cards on the table and speak clearly, honestly and directly about the elephant in the room."

"Well that's a thought but I'm just not willing to do that."

We really are only as sick as our secrets and our unwillingness to hit head on the real issues before us only keeps us unhealthy. Sergeant Schultz is still saying "I see nothing, I know nothing" after all these years and in an attempt to maintain the illusion we collude with the throng with selective vision.

Families, businesses, churches and organizations will always remain dysfunctional when they fail to engage in healthy conflict and confront the elephants. Dysfunctional systems will always scapegoat the child who exclaims "The Emperor is naked!" and will go back to "oohing and aahing" over the Emperor's new wardrobe.

By Storm

Whenever the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ advances, it does so by storm. As you look back over the last two thousand years, you will see the repeated attempts by lesser gods to silence and put out the news of God's unmerited favor for sinners.

To realize that in Christ there is no longer Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, nor any other class distinction but that Christ is all and in all (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11) demolishes our precious constructs of superiority.

The lesser gods of exclusivism do not go gently in that good night, but rather rage, connive, conspire and attack all truth that crucifies anything that tries to exalt itself above Jesus Christ.

The Western Church needs to realize that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will never be popular or painless but when embraced will always liberate... but not after calling us to die to our self-importance.

Love Me or Else!

Recently someone told me that they had a hard time believing in God. "I grew up in the whole Baptist thing and I kind of got the impression that God was saying 'love me or else'."

What he was saying is that the the way the Gospel is so often presented the message that comes across is this:

"Love me or I'll punish you!" or

"I'll love you unconditionally IF you will confess your sins, repent of them, commit your life to me and join the church." or

"I love sinners but I can't have anything to do with you until you ask me to forgive you."

Sadly, the mixed messages serve as a huge barrier to actually loving God. We "love" him to avoid getting punished. We jump through hoops to get an unconditional love? We beg forgiveness to stop the pain of his rejection of us sinners who He can't look upon.

Love is what God is after and as long as you fear God you will never love Him!

"But what about the fear of God?" you ask.

Fear-of-God is not three words. It is one word in three. It is to stand in awe of God and realize you have encountered Someone who is beyond you, has unlimited authority, and is the Ultimate Reality of all things.

How does God bring about holy love in sinners? He freely pardoned all sinners! (Romans 5:6-11; Colossians 2:13-14; Ephesians 2:4-5)

Yes! Every last one of us has already been pardoned, forgiven, accepted in Jesus Christ. When we wake up to the truth of his grace for sinners (not potential grace) we are struck with gratitude (root word "gratis" - grace). Our "thank you's" are the beginning of love for a God who lavishes love and grace upon sinners.

Father God sent His Son for us sinners to do for us what we never could do for ourselves. Father doesn't accept us in Jesus because on our own we are too dirty. Father sent His Son to do for us because on our own we are too weak.

Thomas Erskine states "The love of God is to our minds, what the keystone is to the arch, and it falls to ruin without it." The only punishment one will ever experience not loving God is self-inflicted. To not know the love of God or to reject the love of God is to live in an unreality that will never work. It is a denial of who you really are - a beloved child of God!

God really is good. God really does love you. God really has already pardoned you. Fear not, draw near to Him and experience His love.