Monthly Archives: July 2013

Do What Jesus Said: Don’t Judge Others

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“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. ” — Matthew 7:1-5

With Jesus, everything comes back to love. The bible tells us that when we live in alignment with His Spirit we will receive His character, and the first listed is love. Have you noticed how it is pretty easy to be judgmental about people we don’t love and pretty hard to love people and keep that judgmental spirit?

I’m painfully aware of my capacity for criticizing others. But when I remove the “log” from my own eye, the “speck” in my neighbor’s eye takes on a whole new perspective. Being mindful of our own shortcomings should automatically remove us from the position of judging others. Jesus commands us to NOT judge others.

How will the world see the Light of the gospel if we don’t do what Jesus said? Wouldn’t it be better if we just did what Jesus said and clean up our own prideful house before we try to tell others how to clean theirs?

Doing What Jesus Said: Love Your Enemies

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“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you….” Matthew 5:43-44

I get it. We all have differences with each other: politics, belief, life, death, taxes. It seems there is nothing that someone doesn’t disagree with. (I’m pretty sure practicing “love God – love others” would whittle down that list.) We hate our enemies but Jesus calls us to love them and pray for them.

And why don’t we do this? I suspect it is part because we don’t really believe in the power of prayer to change people. I wonder also how much our prideful self, and our intensive desire to be right about things, is at the heart of our disbelief and lack of love. Maybe we just don’t care what Jesus says because we love our “causes” more than we love to do what He says!

I do know one thing that is always counterproductive to love, and that is making fun of people, especially our enemies. Jesus NEVER EVER made fun of people, not even His enemies who persecuted Him and had Him on their death list. Disagree. Call them out. But true followers of Christ, at least, have no right making fun of their enemies. Far from it. We are called to love and pray, not ridicule.

Want to change the world? Let’s live out what Jesus says and stop sending emails making fun of people we disagree with. Let’s be adults. Let’s humble ourselves. And let’s pray for those we don’t like, those we disagree with, those who have hurt us. Let’s believe that prayer is powerful to change others, and to change our own prideful heart.

Doing What Jesus Said: Love God – Love Others

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“But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
—Matthew 22:34-40

Love God. Love others. Jesus sums up all the law in these two sentences. Pretty easy to memorize, eh? Every time we see the sign of the cross, we are reminded of this. The vertical beam represents our relationship with God (however strong or weak it is). The horizontal beam represents our relationship with others in this world. Every day when we get up and check our to-do list, we have two assignments: love God. love others. Why do we make it so hard to follow Christ and to do what we were created to do?

Talk about bringing light to the dark world. If every day we acted out just this one passage from all the bible we would literally change the world…and ourselves.

But we are quite unable to do this in our own power, especially while we remain so in love with ourselves, our possessions, and our hobbies. The power comes from loving God. And just like any relationship, loving God starts with spending time with Him, learning about Him by reading His Word (gospel of John is a good start), and just talking to Him about what’s on your mind and in your heart. Be honest with Him (He knows everything about you, you know). And He loves you so much.

Our ability to love others is dynamically impacted by our love relationship with God. Loving God allows us to love others. Put something down and spend time with God. Changing the world starts by being changed within by your loving Creator.

Apologies for early release

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My apologies to email subscribers for the early release today of a not yet completed post in a new series called Do What Jesus Said. I was working on a draft for next week when my computer locked up. And when it came back to life it said “post published.” Yikes!

In the meantime, maybe you’d like to contemplate what the world – and our lives – would be like if we just DID what Jesus said!

Bryan

God’s Dream

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“The Lord’s dream…What if we lived like Jesus really meant it?

We want to be known for our love and the community we are building.

It would flip the world upside down if we really read the Sermon on the Mount and tried to live it as if Jesus meant it.

The questions are not doctrinal. According to Jesus we will be asked, ‘When I was hungry did you feed me? When I was a stranger did you welcome me? When I was in prison did you welcome me?’ The real test of our faith is how it works itself out in love and compassion.

I love the old saying that we just have to connect our passions to the world’s pain.”

Comments and call to action by Shane Claiborne, leader of The Simple Way, Philadelphia. From The Alliance Life Magazine, July 15, 2013.

BT: Maybe instead of asking WWJD (what would Jesus do) we should just DO what Jesus said (DWJS). Faith is not easy but it also is not all that complicated. Just act it out each day.

An Odd Conversation With God

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Leonard Pitts Jr. is a writer for the Miami Herald. Recently, he wrote an article entitled “A conversation with the ‘universal spirit.'” In it he relays a conversation he had with God while they were standing in line to watch Monsters University. Leonard expressed his dismay over a recent “religious” study conducted last year that reported that 12% of people who don’t believe in God, nevertheless pray, and that some of them pray to a “universal spirit.” God seemed unmoved by the concern. Moving forward in the line, Leonard complained how hypocritical it was for atheists to meet together in ‘godless congregations’ to meditate and reflect. “And this annoys you?” replied God, waving at a little child in line with them. Leonard replied, “I’m just saying if you believe, believe. If you don’t, then don’t. Make up your mind.” God replies, “You think it’s that simple? It’s not. Faith and doubt do not oppose each other. They define each other, like light and shadow.”

“Here’s the thing,” God said as they got their tickets and approached the snack counter. “I designed you to seek me, to feel a need for me. Leonard ask, “But what if they don’t find you?” God replies that finding is crucial but so is seeking and reminds Leonard of the crazy things some Christians do in his name. He added, “I wish more often people would hug in the name of God, heal in the name of God, make peace in the name of God. I would like that very much.”

BT: The bible is clear in showing that God accepts us where we are. No one comes to God with a clean act. It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us, each one. So let’s be patient with each other and encourage those around us to keep seeking. Let us bear truth and grace, the Light of the World, reminding our selves that ultimately, any decisions are between an individual and the Spirit of God who draws them to Him. And let’s hug and make peace in His name.

Thanks a Lot, Jodie Ray!

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I don’t normally have dreams about real people, but this time I did and I’m naming names. You may think that sweet little receptionist has no dark secrets but I’m telling you Jodie may have some back roads driving experiences to explain. In this version of my recurring dream about driving too fast on mountain roads, Jodie is featured as the VW tour bus driver somewhere in high hills country. Jodie was her normal friendly self except that she got a little distracted and missed a mountain curve going way too fast. This is where my dream usually ends with the vehicle frozen in space like in a video game: “Game over!” But with Jodie driving we end up crashing on the road below. We’re all fine and Jodie shows us you don’t need all that transmission on a four-wheel drive. She tore out a pretzel of scrap metal from under the bus and said we could drive just fine with the remaining bits of transmission. Off we tore off again and just to make up for lost time, we miss the next curve where we were again going way too fast. But on the fast descent Jodie found a three foot opening between two Ponderosa pines to push that eight foot bus through and hit the road running this time. Amazed to have survived two colossal mishaps, we arrived at the border where it turns out I was wanted for murder . . . In Australia. I try to explain to the officer that I am a US citizen, when 15 copies of my Australian driver’s license fall out of my wallet. And I’m thinking I want to rewind this dream and take my chances with Jodie’s mountain driving!

I don’t know if a lot of Leukemia patients have delusional dreams, but I sleep about 16 hours per day so that probably ups my chances a bit. Today’s a bit better. I actually fixed a software problem on Marcia’s computer…the first useful thing I’ve done in three weeks. Good news: the endoscopy showed my esophagus and stomach were healed from the chemo damage. And the doctor who ran the lung CT scan said he wished all his patients had such healthy lungs (no chemo scarring after all). Still, they are stumped about the constant upset stomach and shortness of breath. (In my favorite text of the week, a dear Christian friend writes, “I hope that SOB leaves you soon!” She meant of course “Shortness of Breath.”)

Sometimes it’s not so much the intensity of the pain as the duration. In the end, we all live just one day at a time and seldom have access to view much more than that. The question is what do you cling to each day…what sustains you. I’m finding it humbling how little strength I have some days, and inspiring how much strength God provides in my weakness. Our God is a mighty God!

It Is Well With My Soul

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The year was 1873. Horatio Spafford had been a successful and wealthy Chicago lawyer. But following the tragic loss of his son and then losing most all his real estate investments in the great Chicago fire, Spafford sent his wife and four daughters on a boat trip to Europe with plans to follow them soon. But the ship crashed and all four daughters drowned. Taking another ship to join his grieving wife he penned these now famous words which have inspired millions over the last century. But notice in the third verse, why it was well with his soul. Not because his lost children had crossed to their heavenly reward, but because his sins, not in part but in whole, had been forgiven.

It Is Well With My Soul

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well (it is well),
with my soul (with my soul),
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

And Lord haste the day, when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

They Will Know We Are Christians – 2

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Francis Schaefer looks at John 13:34-35 to conclude that the mark of a Christian is love, that by loving others as Christ loved us, we demonstrate ourselves to be Disciples of Jesus.

He then turns to John 17:20-21 to focus on another element of love: unity. In this passage, Jesus is praying to His heavenly father:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Unity is not the same as unanimity. The latter holds that all think and act the same. Unity however calls for us to support one another and the truth even if we don’t all see eye to eye on the specifics. The best teams examine all angles of a problem and proposed solution. All input is valued, even the minority. An enlightened vote is taken with respect to all input, and the team supports the decision in unity.

Why is unity so important amongst Christians? Jesus answers, “So that the world may believe that you (God) have sent me.” If we live as ‘religious’ people we are no better off with Christ. Religion is an empty belief in ritual and good deeds. But loving with the love of Jesus, in unity with one another… That is something quite different.

It is easy to disagree with others. Bear the mark of love today and see how many ways you can build bridges of agreement with others, bridges that support unity.

“Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

They will know we are Christians

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By our love.
Francis Schaefer, famed theologian, wrote that the mark of a Christian is love. You wouldn’t necessarily know it by the way we behave sometimes. But I guess that is true of any group. E.g. Try to put all “Americans” in a box that adequately describes them. We are a diverse group of people.

Schaefer looks on John 13:34-35: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Our primary character is to be one of love. Despite our various roles as employers and employees, parents and children, citizen and state, our overall character should reflect love…as Jesus loved us. Jesus gave His life for us, now that’s a high order love. And that’s how we should love others today with tough and gentle, unconditional love.

Look for it throughout the day…opportunities to leave your mark. No amount of good deeds, without love and compassion, will make much difference. But living a life marked by love – that makes all the difference in the world.