Saturday, April 13, 2013
Carried.
I drive to student teaching each morning, each morning I'm far too tired to pay a whole lot of attention to the world around me, but each morning I see this father carry his son down the stairs of their front porch to place him in a wheel chair already at the sidewalk. Some nights, when I am driving back to school at the right time, I see the same father pick his child up out of the wheel chair to carry him up the steps to the house. It touches my heart every time I witness this daily routine.
I am sure the family would love a ramp, because this child is at least a middle school student, so he's not the lightest of fellows to be carried each day. The current living situation is clearly not the best.
Today, as I was driving, it was sprinkling rain and cold and the father was moving the wheelchair out onto the sidewalk so he could go to the house to fetch his boy. As I was driving, a message became vivid to me. God simply said, "I am the father and you are the child, I carry you each day". I began to tear up as this reality hit me. I am not in the ideal situation, God would love me to be with Him right now in the perfect world that He created, but I can't be. So instead, He lovingly carries me through the inconvenience of a sinful world each day. It doesn't matter if it is sunny or if He needs an umbrella to shield me from the rain.
He carries me. He carries you. Each day.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Fed up with the Church.
I am a follower of Christ; I have been a leader in Christian organizations for many years. However, I will be the first to admit that I am fed up with the Western Church. I feel as though the western church is too busy making everyone feel accepted and wanted that they are straying from the message and the standard that we are supposed to spread. The church is too concerned with being politically correct and not causing offense towards any sin, person or sect of people...and it appalls me.
You could argue that we are called to love everyone, but I think people miss the rest of the verse. We are called to love others as Christ loved us. So let's examine different ways that Christ loved people.
In Matthew 21, Jesus approached the temple only to see that people had created a market of the temple. When seeing this, Jesus threw tables and reprimanded the people for making the temple a hangout for thieves. Now I don't see Jesus saying this in a calm, normal preaching voice; I hear him with a raised voice, a voice that shows that he is frustrated. The kind of voice that you hear from your parents when they are correcting you. In these moments, you know your parents mean business, but you still now they love you.
In John 4, Jesus went to the well and met a Samaritan woman. This woman had been living what we would call a questionable lifestyle. Jesus didn't just wrap her in his arms and invite her home, he told her how her ways love life weren't up to the standard of God. He used a loving voice and didn't call her a tramp or anything like that that the rest of the world was calling her....He corrected her with love.
In John 9, Jesus heals a man that was born blind. He doesn't just wipe his hand over this mans eyes, he make him walk down to wash in the nearby pond. Jesus could have catered to his needs right then to give him what he wanted, however, Jesus told the man to move in order to heal himself. The blind man still had to work for it.
In Matthew 26, during the Last Supper, Jesus tells Peter that he is going to deny his belief in God three times. Jesus doesn't seem to scorn his friend for this, he simply accepts reality. He is simply pointing out what Peter is going to do and telling him that regardless, he is going to love him. Still on Peter, during the feet washing, Peter tries to refuse to have his feet washed and Jesus points out his need for his feet to be washed.
The church is overly concerned with making people feel loved and tip toeing around a world filled with sin-thus creating a world of sinners who are unaware of their sin or need for salvation. We think we are doing a service to our brothers and sisters, but in reality, we are hiding salvation and heaven from them. We are hiding the grace and love of a God that loves despite our mistakes. We are hiding a community of broken yet redeemed people from them.
The church is so worried about not causing a ruckus or offending people, when in all reality, Jesus did that exact thing. He turned over tables in the temple, he lived in such a way that was against the norm, he took the death punishment, he hung out with the dirty and diseased. He caused a ruckus everywhere he went! He wasn't worried about making people feel comfortable, He mastered the art of tough love...of showing love through correction and pointing out flaws. He accepted and loved the sinner while denouncing the sinful lifestyle.
The church needs to stop living in fear of the people of this world and accept the standards of living that Jesus lived by. Yes, we are called to love, but loving doesn't mean letting our brothers and sisters wander around without knowing their sin. We are called to live how Jesus loved us.
You could argue that we are called to love everyone, but I think people miss the rest of the verse. We are called to love others as Christ loved us. So let's examine different ways that Christ loved people.
In Matthew 21, Jesus approached the temple only to see that people had created a market of the temple. When seeing this, Jesus threw tables and reprimanded the people for making the temple a hangout for thieves. Now I don't see Jesus saying this in a calm, normal preaching voice; I hear him with a raised voice, a voice that shows that he is frustrated. The kind of voice that you hear from your parents when they are correcting you. In these moments, you know your parents mean business, but you still now they love you.
In John 4, Jesus went to the well and met a Samaritan woman. This woman had been living what we would call a questionable lifestyle. Jesus didn't just wrap her in his arms and invite her home, he told her how her ways love life weren't up to the standard of God. He used a loving voice and didn't call her a tramp or anything like that that the rest of the world was calling her....He corrected her with love.
In John 9, Jesus heals a man that was born blind. He doesn't just wipe his hand over this mans eyes, he make him walk down to wash in the nearby pond. Jesus could have catered to his needs right then to give him what he wanted, however, Jesus told the man to move in order to heal himself. The blind man still had to work for it.
In Matthew 26, during the Last Supper, Jesus tells Peter that he is going to deny his belief in God three times. Jesus doesn't seem to scorn his friend for this, he simply accepts reality. He is simply pointing out what Peter is going to do and telling him that regardless, he is going to love him. Still on Peter, during the feet washing, Peter tries to refuse to have his feet washed and Jesus points out his need for his feet to be washed.
The church is overly concerned with making people feel loved and tip toeing around a world filled with sin-thus creating a world of sinners who are unaware of their sin or need for salvation. We think we are doing a service to our brothers and sisters, but in reality, we are hiding salvation and heaven from them. We are hiding the grace and love of a God that loves despite our mistakes. We are hiding a community of broken yet redeemed people from them.
The church is so worried about not causing a ruckus or offending people, when in all reality, Jesus did that exact thing. He turned over tables in the temple, he lived in such a way that was against the norm, he took the death punishment, he hung out with the dirty and diseased. He caused a ruckus everywhere he went! He wasn't worried about making people feel comfortable, He mastered the art of tough love...of showing love through correction and pointing out flaws. He accepted and loved the sinner while denouncing the sinful lifestyle.
The church needs to stop living in fear of the people of this world and accept the standards of living that Jesus lived by. Yes, we are called to love, but loving doesn't mean letting our brothers and sisters wander around without knowing their sin. We are called to live how Jesus loved us.
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