Extension of Grace

Ignorant. Stupid. Pointless. Badgering.

This is what many people think of Christians and of their God when we insert Scripture into our conversations.
We tend to use verses as a weapon, as a solution to problems that they believe nobody has experienced or can possibly understand.

Maybe that's why Jesus called us to be 'Living Stones' rather than stone-faced rocks without expression or emotion.

As Christians, we are to be full of the grace and compassion Jesus has shown to us in His mercy; that means it requires mercy on our part to be extended to those who are not like us.

In doing so, we should never treat a person like they are a blank slate that we can mold, but rather, a corrupted, broken slate - in short, a slate like you and me.
Because that's what we are without Christ, broken, corrupted, incomplete.

The reality of life in America is that society's majority is truly right of center.
This means many who are unchurched or post-church will share our values; but if you and I never shine the light and pour out the salt God has given us, those same people will never discover the source of their convictions and their hearts will never awaken to God's Holy Spirit. 

So, how do we do it?

Well, today in America there are literally thousands upon thousands of churches; they use various techniques and programs trying to gain members.
Therein lies the problem.

As the Body of Christ, we're not to seek to gain members but rather to be servants of God attempting to build His Kingdom
And if we are faithful in that endeavor, God will bless our churches because it will be a true Body seeking the Lord's will and heart to be exposed in the world.
We are not to seek to gain members, but we are to seek serving the Lord.

When Jesus was on earth, He didn't use techniques and programs which originated from a think-tank of denominational backing.
Instead, Jesus did it through His Spirit and in example.

Jesus took people seriously when they had a complaint or concern in their life.
Jesus had compassion on the hurting and the sick; even when those sicknesses were self-inflicted or deemed them 'unclean.'

As the Body of Christ, we need to forget about the choices people have made that have brought them to 'this' place in their life; instead, we should concentrate on that underlying thirst of their spirit which is in search....for something.
Although, they may not know what that 'something' is.

But we must remember, every human being is faced with thousands of choices during their lifetime. 
Many of those choices will result in pain.

That pain they experience, will tragic and will never entirely go away; yet, it can be redeemed through grace.
And that is a lesson we must learn and re-learn, for we are all in need of daily grace.

I am a student of history; for that blessing, I credit my father.
When looking over the annuls of history, there are times when it is clear that humanity has come face-to-face with pure evil.
In my mind, immediately the Holocaust comes to mind as the premier example.

In reading the account of Creation from Scripture, I know man was created in the image of God.
And we retain that status as 'image-bearers' which is why God puts such a barrier around our lives and our families.

Yet, I wonder in reading of Creation and of the Holocaust how in the world did humanity descend from being the sacred image-bearer of God to nearly destroying an entire race of people.
We need not look even as far back as the Holocaust; that same beast in the heart of Hitler and Himmler can be found on the campus of Virginia Tech, in the town of Jonesboro, Arkansas; it rose from the ashes of Columbine and found itself in Newtown as well.

In remembering each of these, millions wonder why God allows such things.
Others wonder why God doesn't do something about it; why won't He stop the evil which permeates throughout history?

But I wonder, 'Why doesn't we do something as Christians that God would want us to do?'
Maybe then, tragedies like those mentioned above would come to an end.

The truth is that we live on a planet which has been invaded and is now occupied by evil.

Christ's followers, His true followers, are called to be part of the solution.

In the last three years, I have spent an untold amount of time thinking, exploring and writing about the problem of evil, about God's relationship to it and us and about suffering and pain.
It has been a good three years; productive, while painful.
Yet, I must wonder what would have happened if a true Christian had befriended a young Adolph Hitler. Would he have been on of the greatest leaders Europe had ever known?
Or would he had faded into obscurity without even a footnote in the pages of history?

We will never know.

We can do nothing about the past; nor should we try to do anything with it other than learn honest lessons for the service of God in the future.
You and I may never come into contact with a person like Hitler or even a benevolent soul like Mother Teresa; and we may never change the course of history.
But you and I can make a difference in one person who needs grace and change the course of their life.

And I believe that is what God would have each Christian do today; without judgment, without wanting something from them; just serving them as lost-children of the King in grace and mercy.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.

Grace Downward & Outward

"The Church is where Christ is."

                                                                                            - Jurgen Moltmann


In my life, I have faced trials and made mistakes; I've been judgmental and harsh at times.
Like many Christians, self-absorption creeps into my psyche from time to time.

Yet, because of these failings I have learned some wonderful truths about grace.
And for the mistakes, sins and failures of my life, I am truly thankful for without them I would have never known the depths of God's grace in this life nor how to pass His grace from my heart through my hand to another.

It takes no grace at all to relate or even to love someone who is just like me; white, Protestant, heterosexual, outdoorsman,  veteran, degreed, male.
But it takes infinite amounts of grace to be able to understand, love and relate to those who are the opposite of me; yet, it is these whom I've been able to come to appreciate since being healed of Cancer.
Now, sometimes that has been very difficult, but not impossible.

Truthfully, I believe God is allowing me to share in yet another part of the beauty of His creation; not only that, but to become an active participant in demonstrating what His grace means to me.

Every person, regardless of color, gender, race, genetics or sexual preference - everyone has been created in the image of God.
Because I believe this, it raises the value of all people in my mind and should raise our respect of those people as well, including those who are different than we are. 

As the Body of Christ, the Christian should seek God's image in those who are not in our image.
For, the more we love and learn to appreciate those who are not like us, the more we resemble God.

When it comes to those with whom we disagree, how we treat our opponents can be our greatest achievement or our greatest failure.
Oh, I know friendly debates can turn unfriendly and become heated and hurtful very quickly. 
And I know how hard it is told a tongue that is afire with thoughts from a heart which has been wronged in the past.
God knows and has experienced these things as well; in His Proverbs through an ancient author He reminds us of what it means to be like Him in those times by saying:

"A gentle answer turns away wrath..."

You see, even a person who may dislike us, hate our politics, disagree with our choices; even that person deserves to know the grace of God.
And that person will never be argued into the Kingdom of Heaven because nobody, and I mean nobody, wins those types of arguments.
We walk away with a smugness, an arrogance perhaps - but it is always at the expense of another person with the result being another convert against the very faith we hold dear.

As Christians, we would do well to understand how little we don't know about other people and about God.
There is a beauty in embracing the mystery of God in this fashion.
Is this not what we read of in Job or scattered throughout the Psalms?

The truth is that as humans and as Christians, we do not have all the answers to life's problems; but in dispensing religion we will fail. 
We must dispense grace.

Do you know what the difference is between religion and grace?
It is how you view the other person.

Do you other people, especially those with whom you disagree, as potential converts or as someone God already loves?
Therein lies the answer to your own heart and purpose concerning Grace.

Now, I will be the first to admit, even though I love the Body of Christ and appreciate the rich 2,000 year history of the Church, that Christians have been on the forefront of some fairly horrendous acts in the name of God since the Lord walked the Earth.

At times, we acted no better than those of a previous generation who persecuted Christians. 
In time, the persecuted became the persecutors and sought vengeance.
The Crusades, the Inquisition, the introduction of disease to the Indians...and many other instances....Christians have failed Christ.

And that is why Grace is the abundant gift of God; for, we are in desperate need of His grace.

Admitting our personal errors, failures and sins expresses rightly and in the best way who we truly are at our core → Recovering Sinners.

Unlike dispensing Christian propaganda, when we admit our failures, it disarms others and tells them the truth - that we are just like they are, we just sin differently than they do.
Jesus once said He didn't come to the righteous, much like a doctor doesn't go to treat the healthy but the sick; if we were righteous, we wouldn't need Him.

We should readily admit our shortcomings and see through the eyes of faith that all people are made in His image and have shortcomings similar to our own.

You see, when attempting to demonstrate God's grace through your life, it is in the questions of faith, not in the answers, where we have the most commonality with those who are not like us spiritually.
That common ground is always a wonderful place to start.

I have learned that God has done some of His best work with those who are hopelessly lost, whose lives are a wreck, who seem to be on their last legs.
Remember those parables from the Gospels about the 'lost' things?
The Lost Coin, the Lost Sheep, The Prodigal Son?

The coin was lost, but rejoiced over when found though the owner had many more.
The Sheep rejoiced over when found although the owner had many more.
The Prodigal Son, he was lost to the world and pleasure; rejoicing began when his father saw him on the horizon returning home.

The common theme is simply this → There are millions of people in the world today, no, billions. And God values each of them so much that he rejoices when another one comes to Him and is 'found' like the coin in the story; or the sheep or the son who returns home.

Ultimately, and theologically, God created us for Himself and literally moved Heaven and Earth to secure our place with Him in eternity.
And while I have my failures, mistakes and sins; if I had been the only person in need of grace, His Son would have still volunteered to go to the Cross so that I could be reconciled to God.

Because God values each person that much, so should you and I.

You see, Grace flows downward, similar to water.
It must originate with God, come to me and then on to someone else who needs His grace just as much or more than me.

To find Grace, it should be found in Churches; but Jesus said it is also found in those whom He called, 'The Least of These.'
Do you know who they are?

They are the hurting, the hungry, the homeless; it is the single mom struggling, the floundering father in the bar. It is a man  who has been derided and ridiculed as 'queer,' or the woman shunned by being branded a 'whore.'
They are the 'up-and-coming', but also the 'down-and-outs.'

They may be physically poor, financially poor, but the one thing they have in common is that they are all grace-poor; just like me.
And what I have, I must give to another so that they might see what difference Grace makes in a life that needs that missing link to life fixed. 

In the Scriptures, in particular Acts 17, the Apostle Paul is preaching throughout Asia Minor and comes to Mars Hill.
There is something often overlooked in that sermon recorded in a few verses in that chapter; it is Paul's attitude toward the Greeks in Athens.

What we see is a servant of God who wants others to understand the Lord as He understands Him; to have the grace Paul himself had received. 
It's a wonderful attitude to have, wanting others to know the blessing you already know; not to show superiority, not to gloat in truth; but rather, to demonstrate the greatness of God's Grace.

You see, there is a huge difference between treating someone as if they are wrong OR treating a person as if they have lost their way.

Most people in life, they've simply lost their way.

Earlier in my life I cut my ministry teeth in a high-tempo, high-octane job as a Chaplain in a trauma hospital in what is affectionately referred to as 'Kentuckiana.'
The University of Louisville Hospital gave me more to think about and decipher in my young mind than I could ever imagine; mostly, I believe, it was because nearly every time I went on shift, somebody died.

In those long nights on the floors and in the Emergency Room, I witnessed what I believe was my first miracle, the dedication and caring of nurses and the expertise of a handful of doctors. 
One thing I took away from my time in the Hospital was that the entire medical staff would work and work and do their best to help the hurting for hours on end, even if the sick and suffering was self-inflicted.

There is a lesson from those docs and nurses from so long ago.

The Christian faith requires that we as Christians care; yet, we are tempted to do otherwise.
It is only through Grace that this 'requirement' ceases to be a duty and is transformed into a privilege, no longer being a 'required' act but an act of voluntary love.

The truth of it all is this → Either life is Holy or it doesn't mean anything at all.
And if it is Holy, it must be redeemed.
To be redeemed, that life must experience God's Grace.

That Grace, it must flow downward from God and outward through His servants to those in need; regardless of race, education, faith, sexual lifestyle, color, gender or a thousand other differences.
Grace is owned by God; those who have received it, have no right to hoard it for themselves while others are hurting.

Until next time, share grace and win one for the good guys.

Grace Happens

In October 2012, I was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and given six months to live.
As I looked into the mirror this morning to shave, I thought to myself, "You may have gained some weight, but you do look pretty good for a corpse."

That was my silly way of thanking God for another day of life He didn't have to give, but one I am eternally grateful to have. 

Since that dark day in October 2012, I've endured three major surgeries to remove body parts, lymph nodes and tumors. I have been deceived and betrayed by Christians whom I believed loved me and my family; while at another instance was embraced by another church family who taught me once again what it was like to be loved simply because I was a human being.

I have been supported by old friends and forsaken by others.
I stepped out of the pastorate, and then was called back to it.
I became a full-time military Chaplain, then watched as our leadership within the Air Wing changed hands. 

It has been quite a ride; sometime hurtful, sometimes joyous but at all times exciting. 
Yet, I have noticed that there are things that have become important to me that weren't as important as before.

Today, I have a greater concern as to how Christians represent their faith and their Lord to others; to non-believers - mostly because I don't think we're doing a very good job.
I mean, seriously, if the Gospel is Good News and it is true and trustworthy, why aren't more people to hear it?

Scripture speaks of Christ emitting an aroma; a sweet savor.
Do modern Christians smell like a rose plucked from the Divine gardens, OR do we just go around and stink up the place? 

Some non-believers, and rightly so, are disengaged with the Church and with the faith because they don't like what they've seen in the Church or in the followers of Christ.
I can't really blame them because I've seen some fairly unsavory things just in the last year from people who claim to follow Christ.
It turned me off from them as I wondered how many of the outside, lost world was watching and permanently turned off and away from Jesus Christ because of their actions.

Non-believers or the 'un-churched' often view Christians as spiritual-acting robots, holding to a specific agenda.
When they don't agree with us, many times the Christian will just move on and away from them, citing the passage of Scripture that says to 'shake the dust' off of our shoes.

But...
Is a non-believer, a person who doesn't go to church, a man or a woman who has never heard the Gospel; is that person going to agree with a Christian who has been raised in Church?
Are they going to embrace our values?
Are they going to be like the Christian in any way?

Absolutely Not!

Then why in the world would we shake the dust off of our shoes and move on, leaving them in the same condition we found them only with a worse opinion of Christians?
We shouldn't.

The Christian author C. S. Lewis once compared communicating faith in a secular society  to a man who wants to court either a divorcee or a virgin.
The man must obviously change his approach and strategy. 

You see, a divorcee will not fall for the 'sweet nothings' whispered into her ear by an eager suitor; the woman has heard it all before, and probably more than once. She will distrust the man and distrust the romance.

In America right now, according to Barna Research, we have 2/3 of youth and young adults who have become divorcees of the faith.
They've heard it all before and won't simply trust and believe without proof and reason.
While the Christian holds the Truth of the Ages, they have been deceived by the world's 'truths' and won't easily trust again.

These are the ones who run away from the Good News.
They aren't pleased to hear it because they've been hurt and deceived by 'another' good news that turned out to be false.

Yet, to many in Third World countries, Jesus' Word is still received as 'good news.'
It is still the Godspell which breaks the Dark spell that has shadowed much of the life on earth and clouded the soul.

Just a few years ago, we began conversations by beginning with God as the foundation; asking then if the individual knew where they would spend eternity and why.
Today, we must start with a much more basic question, 'Do you believe in God?'

If they do, then we must determine what or who is their God.

For Christians today, the question remains as to how we can rightly communicate grace and the Good News of Jesus Christ to a culture that is doing wind sprints away for the Holy.

In truth, I don't blame the unchurched. 
Actually, with what I've experienced in the last year and what I have seen from some angry Christians, I think to myself, 'Why would anyone even bother with the Church at all?'

As for the Unchurched, who are on the outside looking in, they've seen fallen evangelists, pastors wrongly fired, churchmen criticize hurting families, power grabs within the pews and hundreds of other things that could turn people away.
All the while, the mission of the Church to feed the hungry, help the poor and care for the homeless and hurting goes by the wayside as grace becomes an unfamiliar word and the Great Commission turns into a worn-out phrase that nobody understands any longer.

Jesus Christ never ranked very high in the opinion polls of Jerusalem; yet, He made remarkable in-roads to the forgotten, the lost and the hurting.
People use a lot of words to describe Christians today, many not very flattering; but Jesus used two - He called us Salt and Light.

Have you ever wondered how we can be seen by the Unchurched as the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World?

It is simple → It is in how we treat people who are vastly different than we are and do not agree

with everything we do or believe. 

Humans are odd creatures.
We are half-angel and half-animal; it is hard to honor the angel part when the other half is still acting like an untamed animal.
But that is what grace does; extends itself to those who don't deserve it but need it badly so that our 'animal' part is covered by the righteousness of God.

Like an unexpected thaw in the middle of January, grace happens at unexpected moments.
But only if Christ works through us to touch the untouchables and love and unloveable.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.