Christianity Isn’t a Brand Name

“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!”

-Acts 20: 28-30

I recently had the pleasure of discussing the term ‘Christian’ with a few close friends of mine. Here, in my opinion, is the first of our hurdles as modern-day believers. How many people do you know that claim to be Christians- quite a few? Please understand, I am not questioning the validity of anyone’s faith (I would be a fool to do so, only God can judge one’s heart). What I am calling into question is our lack of conviction. Our nation is full of spineless saints living in giant bowls of jello… an odd visual image if ever there was one! I see self-proclaimed believers walking about their lives with not so much as a second glance upwards to their savior. What’s worse, I all too often catch myself becoming accustomed to this easy-believe society! Christianity is not about sitting in a church pew once a week, or listening to the latest Christian music artist, or wearing Christian clothing with catchy phrases. Jesus isn’t your homeboy- he’s the sacrificed Lamb of God who plucked you from your filth and, amidst tears of love, died for your soul.

I recently received a postcard from a local church that read something like this- “Not in to the Church thing? That’s okay with us! Come check out our new game room and see if we fit you.” I stared for a moment in disbelief and then began to take a closer look at the world around me. It doesn’t take a genius to see it; it’s everywhere. Christianity isn’t taught as a lifestyle anymore, it has become trendy, trite, and all-encompassing. It’s not popular to talk about sin- after all, who wants to hear that their actions hung a holy man to a wooden cross and then bled him dry? Terms such as salvation, grace, and eternity are now replaced with the user-friendly fate, destiny, and accessibility. The personal relationship has become commercialized- we’ve turned Jesus in to a brand name.

Come now! We are called to be different; what a wonderful thing to be the one that sticks out in a crowd. At what point do we as the Christian body draw the line? I have heard the arguments before, “But Stephen, we are reaching millions who would never have otherwise given the gospel a second look?” That is all good and well, but what are you feeding these people? Are you giving them anything that is radically different from their own lives? It seems that all too often we are giving these people a lifestyle that is exactly the same as their own. The only difference is that the name ‘Jesus’ has been stamped on it… how is that spreading the gospel message? People aren’t stupid- they see through the smoke and mirrors. They make very real (and often all too true!) judgments of character concerning these individuals- “If that’s what being a Christian is, then I certainly don’t want any part in that!”

So where are we left at this point? It feels like an uphill battle; we are brothers and sisters amidst false sheep. It’s so easy to get frustrated, to want to throw the towel in and say, “I quit!”, but it is times like these that we need to stick in there and fight the good fight. Though churches all around us are crumbling to the ground under the shackles of easy-believism, we can make a difference through our thoughts and actions. Again, people aren’t stupid- they realize when something is real, when a life is led with conviction. Though we may be unwillingly caught up in the debate of Christian semantics, we can make a difference by doing one painfully simple thing- following Christ to the utmost letter.

I don’t write this to be discouraging- I hope it is quite the opposite! We serve a God who knows no bounds. I pray that our words would be full of God’s graceful redemption and that our actions would speak louder still! Hope you are all well- may you continue onward in this runnable race.

Light is Brightest Amidst Darkness

To my brothers and sisters running the race- I penned this a few years ago and was shaken aknew after reading it today with the reality of how deep and serious our sins are. Perhaps you know those epiphany moments I’m speaking of- where the full scope of your sinful nature washes over you and you suddenly realize how very undeserving you are of the grace of God. Yet in this darkness, at the dimmest of moments, the glory of God shines brightest. So I share this with you all to be of encouragement- God used this realization in one of my darker moments to show me the full extent of his love!

“And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” ” -Luke 23:34-35

Paul says in scripture that he is the most wretched of sinners. At times I want to cry it with utter defiance, “No you most certainly are not, I am!!!” The scariest moments of my entire life are those when I look down and realize how very close I come to teetering over the eternal edge of fire. Were it not for the protective railing of the murdered son of God, Jesus Christ, I would have fallen so very long ago into a pit no one can climb out of. Indeed I am the murder, I am the one that killed the son of God and yet… yet… I am saved through the very blood I spilt.

The weighing conviction of my guilt burdens my entire frame with the filthiness of my sin, the utter decrepit nature that my life takes on in these dark moments. But the conviction mingles with the joy of mercy and grace. The very son of man whom looked me in the eye and said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!” had in mind this very moment. This very moment of realization that comes upon a man, yes, even a man of God. The moment in which a man stops aimlessly bolstering forward and looks down at his bloody hands and says to himself, “This is my handiwork… is this the ‘good’ person I’ve become?”

Now there are two paths to walk from this point. The first that Judas took- he could not live with the guilt and let it overpower his soul. He killed himself and secured the eternal shame which is what we all deserve. The second path is the one Saul took. The man murdered hundreds of Christians and persecuted Christ, but the Lord saw fit to appear to him and to command him to change his ways. Of all the people who might feel guilt- this man turned to the ways of the people he had hated and killed for so long. But Saul, who now became Paul, realized something crucially important to those of suffering from this sinful disease (read here as all of humanity!). He realized that the smallest bit of Grace far outweighs the Guilt of our sins.

Yes with sin comes shame (this can be seen in the story of Adam and Eve as they hid themselves from the Lord) but also a hope that we might live a life anew without a permanent mark of death on our heads. When we sin, we should feel shame for what we have done, yet I do not believe that we should continue to stoop lower and lower and turn our eyes from the miracle that Calvary is. We should raise our tear-stained faces and shout praise and glory to the man who stretched out his arms and took the full fury of his father straight on as we stood safely behind him.

I know I am a wretched sinner, but I stand in the Lord’s hands through the promise that Jesus Christ has given me. I praise God, even now, for this encounter- that he has made this clear to me. I pray that he would see fit to use me as a man of God. I pray also that he would continue a work in me to mortify the stumbling blocks of my life, that I may be true to his word and do all that I can with this brief life to further his kingdom. This is not a faith of illusions, it’s a faith of reality. It’s a faith of promise and hope to live a life pure in the sight of God through a blood that cleanses even the most vile. Dear God I love you so very much- there is nothing in this universe that I love more than you. I beg you- have pity on this soul and teach me your ways.

A Prisoner’s Paradox

Here you are again… you throw your face into your hands and sigh a deep, frustrated sigh; pinned-down, waiting for the next stage of life to begin, sick of the now and aching for the future…

I think everybody has felt it before- the dull pang in your heart that makes you want to scream out, “Please Lord tell me what your will for my life is!”. It is a longing that seems to be unquenchable at times. It’s as if we become a prisoner inside our very skins- confined inside our own sinful human nature. The quest for more, whether it be spiritually, mentally, or physically, can become an all-consuming desire. This is a dangerous pursuit indeed considering that it can cause us to break our focus on the important things in life; that is the ONE important thing in this life. As is the case with most ‘unquenchable’ longings, we find assurance and rest in the broken Lamb, Jesus Christ.

As I continue onward through the book of Acts in my daily devotions, I came across the story of Paul and Silas in prison. To the outward eye the duo’s predicament was an inherently bad one. Prison in those days was not the government-subsidized, stopping point of law-breakers as it is today. For a great many it was the unfortunate resting place before trial and possible execution. The prison cells were disease-ridden, the guards were brutal, and we can only speculate that the food was a good deal less-than-appetizing. But we have a God who does not adhere to our human standards of what is or isn’t an appropriate place to experience the majesty and grace of Christ Jesus. Our God saves people from the vilest of places- filthy, unruly, distasteful prison cells included. God shook the foundations of the prison so that the cell containing Paul and Silas was at once opened. As anyone can imagine, the guard was shattered to his core with what had just occurred; by human standards, this should not be happening.

And then the paradox- Paul and Silas tell the guard not to be afraid, that they will not flee the prison though their cell has been opened. The guard, taking this in, realizes something truly awesome- he is the prisoner, not the men standing before him. The guard then asks the right question, “What must I do to be saved?” Notice he doesn’t say, “What does God have in store for the rest of my life?” or “How am I possibly going to deal with this radical change?” He needs only to know that he has the assurance of salvation.

What an awesome God we serve that can turn prison guards into prisoners and prisoners into the redeemed. God has been making this incredibly clear in my own life- so often I fail in the area of placing my complete trust in the blood that washes my sins away. I get impatient about my future; I want to know the answers to all my little nagging questions: Who will I marry? How will I make it through final exams? How am I supposed to take care of all these expectations with so little time? But he kindly and gently reminds me that I need only ask one question, “What must I do to be saved?” Now that’s cool.

“While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was there giving approval to his death.”

-Acts 7:59, 8:1

As my mind wandered today, I came upon a realization of sorts. During my study in Acts I have found the account of the death of Stephen increasingly interesting. The event in and of itself, and the way it was handled by Stephen the martyr are humbling to say the least, but in the past I neglected to recognize the significance of Acts 8:1- “And Saul was there giving approval to his death.”

The words are written in direct contrast to the previous verses. A Godly man is presented in his final hours, praising the name of God to the very end, and on the other end of the spectrum there is a hate-filled man standing by and approving pain and suffering. I couldn’t help but think of how often I’m that approving man. So often I’m the milk-toast Christian who stands idly by so as to not ‘rock the boat’. It would seem that it is human tendency to avoid confrontation when possible. The thing is, we’re not called to coast through this life, and by doing nothing at all when confrontation comes our way, we make no headway! Faith has no purpose without action- one cannot and should not try to just ‘make it’ through life.

Here’s the wake up call- by doing nothing, that is, to live a life of weak conviction, is to give approval to the decay of society. I know that dramatic, but it’s really not when you think about it. As a good friend of mine and I have talked about from time to time, “Jesus isn’t a brand name.” Christianity isn’t an article of clothing you put on and pull off; its engrained, its living a changed life, its resolving to make your convictions known, its not compromising EVEN if that means confrontation, its about NOT giving approval to the foolish ways of a sinful world. A man’s failure to act may spare him confrontation in the here and now, but what is the lasting value? What are we ultimately accomplishing by our inaction?

Believe me, I don’t write this out of ill-intentions or a pointing finger. In truth, I’m writing this out of the conviction of my own heart. One of the biggest struggles I often have is to not want to cause confrontation- I just want to be everyone’s friend. The concept sounds innocent enough, even perhaps a just pursuit, but the problem lies in the fact that it is a self-satisfying desire. Oftentimes I don’t want to rock the boat, because it makes ME uncomfortable.

It is my prayer that myself and others would be given the grace of God to perceiver through those times of necessary confrontation. We should want to be like Stephen the Martyr who embraced the confrontation he was presented with and who chose to die for his faith rather than to settle for the degradation of it! I know its not always fun, but just knowing that you have a Savior who overcame the greatest of confrontations is peace of mind enough to continue onward in the runnable race.I hope you are all doing well and that God is blessing you- thank you to everybody who has been so kind and understanding this last week while I dealt with an extended workload and taxing school schedule. Your prayers were much appreciated! Have an awesome week!

The Example of Peter and Paul

When life gets difficult or stressful, I often turn to the story of a biblical character for guidance. This week I have been very blessed by the characters of Paul and Peter. Both men were called by God, yet by different parts of the trinity- Paul was confronted by God the father while traveling; Peter was confronted by Jesus while fishing with his brother Andrew. In both cases we see God doing the selecting- God chose us! There was no reason for this to be so, yet in his mercy he declared us worthy of the saving grace provided on Calvary.

I think what really encourages me about these two men is the depth from which they were saved and the newness that they were brought in to through Jesus blood. Indeed, these two men were give new names through Christ. How awesome is that? I think its just an amazing picture of God washing the slate clean… it’s as if he says, “Here is your new life, go and live it!”

Simon, a simple fisherman, comes upon Jesus suddenly and unexpectedly one day. It is not as if he was given time to contemplate this choice; God presented him with a new life to live and he jumped at the chance without looking back. In Peter I see my own shortcomings. Peter was a zealous follower of Christ- he was a man of extreme highs and lows in his spiritual walk… both could get him into trouble. On one end of the spectrum we see him cutting off the high priest’s ear for trying to take his beloved Lord away, and at the other end we see him denying Jesus three times with shame. Peter was also the man that refused to let Jesus wash his feet, and then asked him to wash his whole body! I know that’s something that I can really relate to- it seems that all too often I’m either on fire or freezing in my walk. The encouraging part is that Peter was beloved of God- he was turned from Simon into Cephas (translated Peter) which means ‘rock’. What a great God we serve that can turn restless, changing men into solid rocks of the faith.

The story of Paul is quite possibly one of my favorites in the Bible. In the character of Paul, we are given a glimpse of how deep the cleansing blood of Jesus runs. Saul was not a nice man by any means… in fact he was quite the opposite. Saul made it his sole purpose in life to hunt down and kill those who proclaimed the name of God (he was even present in the condemnation and martyring of Stephen). In Saul we see the most violent of offenders- a man who attacked the very cause that he would soon claim as his own! The amazing part about this is that it wasn’t a slow revelation for Saul- it was instant. God appeared to him on the road and declared that he change his ways. When I start to try and imagine the guilt that Paul had to deal with at his conversion, I am humbled. Here you have a man that had just spent the better part of his adult life attacking and killing men and women that he was now called to join! When I ask myself the question, “How could God ever forgive me, when my sins are so vile?” I need only look to Paul and realize that God’s saving grace knows no bounds. That is truly moving my friends- God saves us from every wrong thing we have done against his name!

It is my prayer that God would make all of us like Peter and Paul; that he would take overzealous, murdering men and turn them into solid, rocks for Christ. Well I’ve done it again… I just can seem to post short blogs! At any rate, that’s what has been on my mind this last week- I hope it is an encouragement to you all as it has been to me. Have an awesome week, take care.

God’s Reality

As I sit here, safe in my home, I find that a great many things become apparent. God is so incredibly good; his goodness spans the confines of our finite human minds. Ouch… that’s hard to even ponder!

I find it interesting that everyone is up in arms, blaming each other for this horrible New Orleans tragedy. One person blames the federal government, another the state, still another the populace itself, yet never a word is mentioned about this all happening according to the will of God. Man doesn’t want to hear that God allowed something like this to happen! We are so stooped in our sin that we refuse to recognize a will other then our own. The paradox of course is that each and every human being is fulfilling God’s perfect will daily whether they claim to ‘reject’ it or not.

Right now I’m going through an awesome book by Charlie Peacock (New Way to Be Human), and as he puts it- “Since sin is always about having some other agenda than God’s, repentance is first about turning from my false understanding of reality to God’s true reality. When the eyes of my heart are enlightened, I see reality as it is…” God sees us as pure through the blood of his Son and gives us this reality; his reality! There is nothing grander and more hopeful then that- life takes on meaning and purpose.

I think we as Christians walk this road but don’t give the gravity of the situation a second thought. It hit me this week how very, very fortunate I am. How often do I think about how my sins held the dying son of God to the cross? How often do I smile and give thanks when I realize that I have been given the most amazing gift there is? How often do I share this free gift with others? Do others see Christ in my actions and how I lead my life?

We should live this life with fervor and dedication, as though everything is new and exciting- the promise of God is fresh! Why is it that so many Christians become dull objects as the years go by? We have the promise of eternity and the love of God. Who in all the earth could be happier? Yes we will fail, but we will not be defeated, because the battle has already been won.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” -1 Timothy 4:12

This is a verse the Lord has been using in my life lately, it’s become somewhat of a ’spurring on’ theme… Hope you are all doing well, thanks for reading this huge blog. I don’t do these too often, so I apologize for the length!