Growth

Selfies and The Chorus of Condemnation

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1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  Romans 8:1-4

Take a picture of yourself. Go ahead.

Now look at it.

When you see yourself what do you hear?

What’s the voice in your heart?

Are you dominated by critique? A highlight real of your failures?

Do you hear a chorus of “Should have!” “Why not?” and “Shame!”

Or do you hear our Heavenly Father’s affirmation?

“You are not condemned.”

“I gave my Son for you.”

“Hey, those other voices are death to you; My Spirit is life to you.”

“You are free from this chorus of death.”

“You are free from this curse of sin.”

“I know your weaknesses better than you do.”

“I want you to know my strength for you better than you do.”

“You are loved. Live by my Spirit’s power and My Son’s good work at the Cross.”

The courage to silence the voice of condemnation comes as we cherish the Holy Spirit’s accentuation of Jesus’ grace towards us.

 

Jesus sets you free.

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31So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.   John 8:31-36

Disciples of Jesus are free.

But they have got to know their desperate situation.

They have got to know what sin is up to.

Sin makes its slaves.

Sin is not just a list of bad acts; 

Its a condition of independence and separation from God.

Jesus says people are slaves to sin.

If that’s the case there is no freedom from the consequences of sin.

We are bound to the evidence of our brokenness: to our guilt, to our shame, to our fear.

Jesus says His word, his teaching, brings us into freedom.

Freedom from sin… may this be a progressive reality we experience more and more.

How?

The Son must set us free.

Knowing truth is a product of abiding in His Word.

Abiding, Waiting, listening, cherishing His Word.

Abide: that’s the word of a free person.

Abide in the word of Jesus and you will

abide in the house of God… like a child enjoy family privilege.

At home with God.

That’s the condition sin always seeks to disturb.

Listen to Jesus.

He says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31

 

Grief ~ The gift we hesitate to open.

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I have had sadness welling up in my heart and mind since the weekend. Two UBC students died in a horrible accident on the Sea to Sky highway on Saturday. My heart goes out to their families and friends. But I confess I have had my own reluctance to fully enter into the feelings rising to the surface. You see, I have experienced great loss this year and I know there are still sensitivities and unresolved pain there for me and especially for my friends who feel the weight of their loss more dearly.

Christmas is coming.

Gifts are wrapped.

But there is a tear in the paper and I see a gift that comes with tears. Shall I open it?

Loss and grief crash through the thin veneer of invincibility we wear as a shield to our vulnerabilities and mortality. I have a smouldering anger just under the surface. The smoke stings my eyes and generates fear. Its a fear of losing again.

Christians believe God enters into our suffering, our loss, and our grief.

When Jesus came from the communion of God to enter with flesh into the relationships He had ordained for us: with God the Father, with people, with self, and with the stuff of earth, Jesus did not come with a special shield against loss and grief.

He had friends; He attached; His daily life was woven intricately with their lives with memory, with presence, and with hope for the future. They did life together. Knowing that his friend Lazarus had died and knowing that He would raise Lazarus up did not give Jesus immunity against the grief.

32Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Jesus wept. 36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”  John 11:32-

God meets us in our grief and people can too.

Losses come. Grief is the pain telling us all is not well in the world. The smile of God seems hidden. But if we meet Him in that grief, if we wait for Him in that pain, our hope is that we will live again.

We don’t have to open this grief gift alone. Its good to reach out to friends and family, to pastors and counsellors, for company and when we are ready some insight. Opening the gift requires talking and knowing someone else is listening as a witness to our grief.

What about happiness?

I think the well of joy we long to drink from must be dug through the ground of our grief. Its too easy to settle for surface pleasantries and trivial cover-ups.

The extraordinary reality of Jesus’ identity was hidden from Mary and Martha and even the disciples until they entered into the grief with him. Jesus’ declaration, “I am the Resurrection and the Life” surely filled their hearts and minds through the years.

Oh how He loves us!

Here’s Brene Brown sharing how this story of Jesus’ grief brought life to her.

Lucky, Ping Pong, & Redeeming the Time

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Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord… Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 5:9-10, 14-21

“Its just Lucky!”

In University I spent lots of free time at our local BSM building at the University of Georgia. The ping pong and pool tables were privy to scenes that could be used to chart the rise and fall of empires! My friend Lucky would meet me at least once a week. And with each aggressive slap of that ping pong ball he would cry out, “Its just Lucky!”

When we were done, or rather when he was done with me, he would announce, “I’m off to redeem the time.” And away he went.

Lucky sought to live full of the Spirit of God. He was saved by Jesus and experienced healing in a baptist hospital in Nigeria. Afterwards he began to preach the Gospel. By his account he preached by the Spirit of God what he didn’t even “know yet,” as he was just reading the Bible. He loved Jesus and he was conscious of time as a gift from God. Redeeming the time for him, meant to be a part of the Kingdom life and to use his time wisely.

 Redeeming the Time

The Apostle Paul writes that we are to pay attention to our lifestyle, to live wisely “making the best use of time. “

7 Best Use of Time Suggestions:

1. Create habits that save you time and energy.

2. Avoid the tyranny of the urgent by identifying what’s important but not yet urgent. Block out the time to attend to these daily.

3. Divide a page into the key demands or your areas of responsibility and make lists at the beginning of each week; check regularly throughout the day.

4. Attend to the habitual actions that squander your time. As you identify these time wasters eliminate or manage them with different “rules.” For example you could say, “I won’t surf Facebook, Pinterest, etc. until after 9 PM.”

5. Create little “finish lines.” You could divide your day into 90 minute chunks and then take a “recovery break” in order to refuel, recharge, and create the energy for focusing again.

6. Identify “when” (what part of the day) you are best able to focus and put your most demanding work into that time slot.

7. Watch for the “interruptions” in your plan & agenda that actually may be God’s opportunity for you to join Him in the work of His Kingdom.

 

Redeem the time!

 

The Sluggard’s Dilemma

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12Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!

There is a lion in the streets!”

14As a door turns on its hinges,

so does a sluggard on his bed.

15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;

it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.

16The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes

than seven men who can answer sensibly.

Proverbs 26:12-16

 

Habituated incapacitation.

Learned helplessness.

Underdeveloped executive function.

For all of us,

the condition takes hold when courage is crowded out by anxiety.

Lions in the street.

The future does not seem friendly…

AND

we believe we lack the wherewithal to out-do, out-smart, out-battle a lion.

AND

nobody can teach us how outsmart a pride of lions.

I am the sluggard 

when… “I need to go to work but there might be a lion.”

…when “I need to learn something but there might be a lion.”

A disconnect from the urgency of the present or the future.

Sometimes seen as procrastination. But not exactly because

a procrastinator generally is planning to do the battle

when the urgency of what matters demands it.

The sluggard doesn’t feel the urgency anymore.

Some will explore what’s going on in the brain of a sluggard.

But, what’s happening in their soul?

Where is their hope?

Where is their aspiration?

Where is their circle of hope?

The problem grows deeper as teachability decreases.

Time moves slowly for the sluggard and then its gone.

The lions have won.

What are you doing to make peace with your time devouring lions?

What are you doing to raise the urgency of what matters most?

Watch Richard Turere talk about “My invention that made peace with lions.”