Self Revelation From Crises

From Michael Kelley at Forward Progress

You see it all the time. You feel it yourself. Life is rocking along at a steady clip, and then… BAM! Something happens. Something dramatic. Drastic. Paradigm shifting. Something that, though you don’t yet know the full fallout, you know when it happens that this event will be a dividing point in your life.

There was life before the diagnosis…

Before the job loss…

Before the hard conversation…

Before the revelation…

… and life after. And nothing will be the same.

Our lives are marked by these moments of crisis. And in that moment of crisis, when the earth is emotionally shifting under your feet, “stuff” starts to come out. You get angry. Or frustrated. Or worried. Or that long dormant sin starts to become a temptation again. The temptation, as we look at the remnants of life after that dividing point, the shards of broken relationships or the broken down finances or the busted up sense of self, is to look to that pink slip or call from the doctor’s office or difficult conversation as the point of causality. It’s the thought that this unexpected occurrence, whatever it is, caused these other things to come up.

But it didn’t.

Crisis doesn’t create; it only reveals what’s been there all along......

Read it all at the link - It's worth the time. 

A Moderate Stoning

They did not stone Stephen in Acts 7 for being a non-confrontational, warm & fuzzy moderate. They won't stone you and me for that fault either. But they will probably ignore us!

(Click on image to enlarge)

Hat Tip: Vitamin Z

So Flawed, So Loved

“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to died for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

             — Tim Keller The Reason For God  (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 181

Hat Tip: Of First Importance

Pray for the Conclave

Whether you are Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, or just call yourself a Christian, the choice  of a new Pope effects all of us. This man, his speeches, writings and work will have a great influence on the openness of the world to the Christian message.

Please join me in praying for wisdom for the Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church as they begin meeting in Conclave today to choose a new Pope.

Enough English Bible Translations?

From Alan R. Bevere at The Poached Egg - You know, I think he's on to something.

Harper One has just published The C.S. Lewis Bible (an article on the Bible is here). Bibles are big business for publishers and with the publishing industry changing faster than you can power up your Kindle, it is understandable that publishers would want to capitalize on a money-maker.

But to Christian publishers and denominations (my own UMC was behind the Common English Bible) I say enough is enough. We do not need another English version, translation, or paraphrase. Moreover, as much as I love C.S. Lewis (I am teaching a seminar on Lewis starting this next week) we do not need a study Bible with certain portions of his writing lined up with passages of Scripture. Lewis' writings are already available. Those who desire are able to access his work quite easily.

In a western culture of excess, the plethora of English translations and study Bibles present just one more example of such excess... and all in the name of Jesus! Anyone who speaks English not only can read the Bible, they now have to wade through exactly which Bible they want to read. If indeed one is confused over which English Bible to read, perhaps that already reveals the problem.

I have an idea. Instead of publishers and denominations getting behind yet another English translation, why don't they put their energy and money and marketing plans into publishing Bibles in other languages. They can then have a program where those of us who have more Bibles on our shelves and tables than we can count can actually purchase Bibles for poor Christians in other countries. The publishers can still make a profit (which is certainly OK with me) and those of us who are blessed with an abundance of Bibles and enough money, can bring the written Word to those who have limited access to God's Word or do not have access to it at all…

I agree. What do you think?

Need the Presence

Like this from Pete Wilson - Note the very important question in red at the end.

This morning I did a little reading in Exodus and saw this…

Exodus 33:15 “Then Moses said to him, ‘If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”

God promised Moses he would send his angel before them and guide them to their God-given destination. This is what Moses has been waiting for. This is a win. A huge win. He’s assuring Moses success, but Moses doesn’t want success. He wants God.

When I read this I felt like someone had hit me in the head with a shovel.  Far too often as a leader I make success my God. I make success the destination. I’m willing to make a lot of sacrifices, even some unhealthy ones, if it means achieving success.We’ve all sacrificed things for….

larger church attendance

more money

nicer car

corner office

bigger title

noticeable popularity

Moses reminds us that no amount of success, plans, or dreams are worth it if it means less of God’s presence in your life.

Just a few verses before in verse 11 it says “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to a friend.” I think Moses had grown so accustomed to God’s presence that it became the most cherished and prized thing in his life. He couldn’t imagine going a moment without it.

Can I be honest? I’m not there… but I want to be. I want to get to that place. I want to get to the place where I want God and His presence in my life more than anything this world has to offer.

How would you feel if God promised you success and victory but without His presence? Have you experienced God’s presence so consistently you can’t live without it?

 Good question.

No Plan B

From LivingWaters.com

Avoid the Horror

Don't Skip the "Begats"

You do it. I know you do. I know because I have been guilty of doing the same. Here's an article from BibleMesh to encourage us all to not skip the genealogies (the  begats") when reading the Bible.

"The Bible contains some long genealogies, with a host of strange names, from Jehoshaphat to Shealtiel. It’s tempting to ignore or skim over them. After all, what does it matter that Azor was the father of Zadok or Abijah the father of Asaph?

But a closer look shows them rich in significance. For instance, the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-17 shows that God was utterly faithful to bless the nations through Abraham and to raise up a king from the line of David, just as He promised. The world was oblivious to Jesus’ bloodline around the time of Perez or Eliud, but God was at work through these people just the same. Generation after generation, the Lord superintended history, ensuring that the “torch would not be dropped.”

This doesn’t mean that all the torchbearers had flawless pedigrees or resumes. Rahab is a prime example. Hebrews 11:31 says she was a prostitute in Jericho before she joined the Israelite cause and later became the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth. And what about Ruth, also an ancestor of Jesus? Well, she was a fine woman, faithful to her widowed mother-in-law Naomi. But she came from the Moabite people, who were offspring of an incestuous encounter between a drunken Lot and one of his daughters.

Then there was David, who took another man’s wife for himself and had the husband killed to cover his adultery.

These people don’t sound like promising material for God’s great work of salvation on earth, but He is able to work with everyone and everything to accomplish his purposes.

So when you read that Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, don’t glaze over, but thank God for His constancy in shepherding the inheritance of Abraham through the centuries. And when you read that some of the procreators were scoundrels or the relatives of scoundrels, rejoice that He can do great things with bad bets. There’s even hope for us."

Treat it Like Your Cell Phone