The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Putting On Christ

February 18, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” ~Romans 13:14

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent, the 40-day period of fasting and prayer that precedes Good Friday and Easter Sunday on the Church calendar. Going back to the early years of church history, Lent has traditionally been a time for personal abstinence and self-discipline. In the middle ages, it became particularly associated with a fast from eating meat. It developed into a teaching tool for the church and a reminder for all Christians: in your hunger, be reminded of all that Jesus suffered and sacrificed to win your salvation.

As you enter this season of Lent on your own or together with your family or community of faith, allow me to suggest that it’s not just about giving something up. It’s not only about sacrificing a certain type or amount of food or some other regular pleasure in order to participate in the sufferings of Christ or to remember his selfless preparation for the cross. At least as important is the idea and practice of taking something on, adding something new to your life in Christ.

Not only the surrender of material things, but the taking on of spiritual things, eternal things that draw us closer to Christ and, by the power of the Spirit, transform us more into his image is the best way to prepare for Easter. A new ministry. A new discipline. A new work for the benefit of others. A new prayer. A new friend. A new passage of Scripture. While you’re cleaning out your house over the next six weeks, pay attention to what you’re moving in to the empty spaces. Add something important. Commit to something Spirit-filled.

Peace,

Allan

Double Deuce for Whit-Pit

February 17, 2015 / / 2 Comments

If you’ve met our oldest daughter, Whitney, then you already like her. You like her smile, her good manners, her willingness to serve, her desire to make others happy, and her warmth. You really like that about Whitney.

If you’ve spent any time with her at all, then you already love her. You love her laugh, her bright outlook on life, her gullibility, her passion for her favorite things and favorite people, her silly trash-talk, her fierce loyalty, and her hugs that last for twelve days. It takes about six minutes with her to experience all of that. You already love that about Whitney.

If you are Whitney’s dad…

…well, let me tell you. If you are Whitney’s dad, there’s so much more to love about her that not everybody knows.

I love how hard Whitney tries to do things right. Whether it’s tying her shoes and hitting a baseball as a little girl or learning to drive a car or sack groceries as a young lady, Whitney wants instruction and practice. She focuses on doing things with excellence, doing things the right way. She’s patient, she’s determined, she’s committed. And I love that.

I love Whitney’s optimism and positive disposition in the middle of pain and disappointment. Our oldest girl has suffered plenty of both in her life. You probably already know a little about the meningitis and the surgeries and the results of that time in her childhood that still impact her today. You know about the hearing aids and fine motor skill limitations and balance issues. You haven’t seen her the day before a surgery or the night before a doctor’s appointment or the hours leading up to an entrance exam or a job interview. I have. Everything’s upbeat. Everything’s positive. Everything’s going to work out fine. And then, because things don’t always work out just fine, the bounce-back. Whitney’s great gift is her bounce-back. Yes, she can wallow in disappointment and heartbreak — for about ten minutes. And then it’s on to the next thing with faith and trust and great joy. Unabashed joy. And I love that about Whitney.

And I really love what God is doing with our daughter and, more surprisingly, through our daughter. Whitney shocks us quite often with her perception of what’s happening around us. She can lead a prayer for someone, as she did this past Sunday night during our small group, that penetrates to the very soul of what’s going on inside that person. Things few of us would have remembered, things few of us would ever say out loud, Whitney remembers and, somehow, ties it all together, and blesses in the name of Jesus. I think God puts Whitney in people’s lives on purpose in order to bless them. It seems to me that the people in Whitney’s life need her as much as she needs them, the people hugging Whitney need those hugs as much as she does. God uses Whitney to bless others. She seems to be increasingly aware of it. She’s paying attention more and articulating more what God is up to in this world and how she’s actually in on it. And I love that.

Whitney is 22-years-old today. And God put her in my life in order to bless me.

I love you, blue-eyed angel. Happy Birthday.

Dad

For the Sake of Relationship

February 16, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Jesus came to save for the sake of relationship. All of salvation history is motivated by God’s desire to restore relationship with the men and women he created and loves. I think we see this in just about every paragraph of the Gospels. But my eyes have been opened only recently to see this aspect of salvation in the reasons Jesus heals.

Our Lord tells the disciples of John the Baptist to pay attention to what’s happening in the world now that Jesus has come:

“The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” ~Luke 7:22

(By the way, Jesus puts preaching in the same category as healing the blind and raising the dead? Did you notice that? I notice that every time.)

Let me remind you that a man with leprosy was not allowed in the temple. If you were blind or lame, if you were deaf or mute, if you were bleeding, if you had a skin disease, you could not enter the temple. You could not approach the presence of God. You couldn’t worship God in his holiest place with his holy people. To those afflicted with these imperfections, the presence of God was off limits. Relationship with God and relationship with his people was impossible.

But when Jesus heals them…

See, Jesus is doing much more than just restoring sight to the blind and causing the crippled to walk. Jesus is allowing these people he touched to get past the bouncers at the temple doors. He makes it possible to approach God. That’s why Jesus saves: for relationship. They were unable to come to God, so God in Christ comes to them.

Jesus is Emmanuel. God with us. With all our sins and mixed motivations and limitations, we can’t come to God. That’s why God comes to us. That’s why he heals us. He makes us clean and whole, he gives us his own righteousness so we can bask in his holy presence. Jesus saves for the sake of relationship.

Peace,

Allan

To Have Been Found!

February 11, 2015 / / 0 Comments

When Jesus is passing through Jericho in Luke 19, please notice that Zacchaeus does not invite Jesus over for dinner. Jesus invites himself.

“I must stay at your house today!” ~Luke 19:5

There were restaurants and hotels in Jericho. Jesus had friends in that town. Why did he say he “must” stay with this chief tax collector? Because Zacchaeus was lost and needed to be saved. And that’s what Jesus does: he saves.

True, Jesus was never one to turn down a free meal at the wrong place. But, the striking thing is that he invites himself. Jesus is always intruding, always pushing in to places where he might not be wanted.

“Today salvation has come to this house! ~Luke 19:9

So, according to Scripture, this is how we define salvation: when Jesus intrudes into your space and makes your sinful table the site of his holy feast.

This is Jesus’ great priority. It’s his initiative, his call. It’s his choice. It’s his undivided passion. And he’ll stop at nothing to see it through.

What a deal — this Kingdom of God! — where the main requirement for membership is to honest-to-goodness lost and the main claim for citizenship is not to have discovered, but to have been found!

Peace,

Allan

Which of You?

February 9, 2015 / / 1 Comment

Allow me to suggest a major twist to the ways we read and understand the familiar parables in Luke 15:

Jesus asks, “Which of you…?”

And then he describes this guy who loses one sheep out of a hundred. He leaves the ninety-nine sheep out in the middle of the desert exposed to who knows how many kinds of danger and peril. Then he beats the bushes all day long in the searing heat, climbing over rocks, crawling through the Acacia, to finally locate this one, single, solitary sheep.

Then Jesus describes a woman who loses one coin. She rips up all the carpet in her house, she pulls every cushion out of every couch, she cleans out every junk drawer and goes through every closet, she plunges the toilet, meticulously combing over every square inch of her dwelling to find this one, single, solitary coin.

Then Jesus describes a father who has a son who steals half his fortune. This son runs away from home, he squanders the family money on drugs, alcohol, and prostitution, and he winds up on nine different state criminal registries. This guy is broke, he’s gross, and he limps home after all this time, after blowing the family money and ruining the family name, he crawls back home and his dad throws him a huge party. He restores the son to his previous position with the family right there on the spot. No questions asked.

And Jesus asks, “Which of you…?”

I think we’ve traditionally answered Jesus’ question by saying, “Well, all of us! Anybody with a heart! We would all take these steps, we would all go to these lengths to find what is lost! Of course!”

Really? Is that really true?

I don’t know about you, but I’d probably keep my eyes on the ninety nine sheep and make sure they’re safe and write off the other one as a loss on my tax return. I wouldn’t get down on my hands and knees for more than a minute-and-a-half for just one coin, would you? And this son? Seriously? What would you do? I’d at least make this kid finish his apology speech. He’d have to earn the robe and the ring. He’d have to get a job. Enter rehab. Get some counseling. And it would be six months before I’d even consider letting him have his cell phone back! He’d have to earn my trust back.

When Jesus tells these stories and asks, “Which of you…?” I think the honest answers is, “None of us.”

None of us would really do these things. It’s too unseemly. Too reckless. It’s not responsible. It doesn’t make sense.

Ah, ha! Exactly! These are not stories about us, these are stories about God. Jesus is not saying God’s love and commitment is just like ours. He’s saying God’s love and devotion and determination to find what is lost is like nothing you’ve ever experienced in your whole life! Jesus is telling us that our God will stop at nothing — nothing! He’ll do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to find and rescue everybody who is lost.

Including you.

Like most of Jesus’ stories, this is a contrast, not a comparison. God will take great risks, he’ll go to foolish extremes, in order to save. And we’ve never, ever experienced anything quite like it.

Peace,

Allan

Mad About Miracles

February 5, 2015 / / 0 Comments

We should be reminded that not everybody was amazed when Jesus performed miracles. The crowds and religious leaders and a lot of the people following Jesus around didn’t always cheer when somebody got healed. When Jesus spits in the dirt and heals a blind man, it leads to an official investigation: depositions, court orders, arrest warrants. When the authorities asked the healed man’s parents to testify, they threw their son under the bus. And then he got thrown out of the synagogue.

Why would Jesus’ miracles make some people mad?

Remember, Jesus’ miracles were not proofs of his Messiah-ship. They were not intended to lead people to faith. If they were, then many of his miracles were miserable failures. A lot of them led to mean accusations, stubborn denials, and murder plots.

Jesus’ miracles are “signs.” They are pointing us toward something bigger, something beyond, something eternal. They show us that we are not in control of who gets healed and who doesn’t, who will respond to the love of God and who won’t. God in Christ is fixing things back to their original pre-sin condition, whether religious people approve of it or not.

Wasn’t it that lack of control that ticked off the church people?

The religious leaders wanted to decide who got healed and on what day of the week. Jesus never asked them first if it was OK. He just caused the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and the blind to see. He just raised folks from the dead. Those who were amazed praised the God of Israel. Those who were enraged conspired to control our Lord by killing him.

Jesus’ miracles were an exertion of the power and authority of God over the power and authority of sin and Satan and death. And, um… humans. Even religious humans. We’re good with that, right?

Peace,

Allan

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