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!"