I'm No Superman

Perhaps as a minister I shouldn't disclose this vice, but one of my favorite shows is "Scrubs." Although the morality of the show can be questionable at times, it sometimes can be very accurate in its portayal of humanity and also very touching. While doing my devotion this morning, I had music playing in the background, and the theme song "I'm No Superman" begin to play in the shuffle. I almost turned it off, but then let it play because the line "I can't do this all on my own. I'm no Superman" rang out. That caught my attention because I tend in my life to tackle too many things at once. I have never been the best delegator. Maybe you're like that too?

Also, to hit it home, my LifeWalk devotional reading this morning was about the temptation of Jesus passage in Luke. The author of the devotion suggested that we should carry a small battery in our pocket all day long to remind us of the source of power that we have in the Holy Spirit, both to resist temptation as well as a general source of strength in our lives. I may try that today. After all, I'm no Superman! I certainly need all the power and help I can get!

Loving God, Loving People

An artice that appears in the NC Biblical Recorder that was just posted has the following quote:

Almost three-fourths of Americans who haven't darkened the door of a church in the last six months think it is "full of hypocrites," and even more of them consider Christianity to be more about organized religion than about loving God and people, according to a new survey.

Wow. This is very sad. However, I cannot deny it. We as Christ's church need to do much better. I think we can still integrate ourselves into society, as well as show love to the unchurched, while at the same time not compromising the principles that we stand for. I do believe that there is good in people. I believe that people can be loved and should be loved. I believe that the hardest thing about loving people is the fact that, they're still people.

Is it easier to love God, or to love people? For some like me, loving God is easy, for He has evidenced Himself in my life and calling, and gave His Son to die for me. Loving people is the challenge. For others, God may seem so unknown, unreachable, untouchable, that it is easier for them to love people, for even with their shortcomings, at the end of the day they can wrap their arms around them and hold onto something tangible. However, as believers, we are commanded to do both. After all, paraphrased, these are the greatest commandments!

I've been hypocritical. I know others of you reading this can say you have been too at times. We can do better. We must do better. It's my calling. It's our mission.

Bring Your Best/Natural Consequences

Below I'm pasting my newsletter articles for the past two weeks. Both deal with the book of Malachi, so I thought I would put them in the same post.

I began working through Malachi today, which for me, sadly ends my trek through the key stories and characters of the Old Testament study I’ve been working though for most of 2007. I went into it not expecting much, but realized very quickly that just because it is the last book in the Old Testament, it still packs a punch. It actually deals with some key concepts in worship that I think that are important reminders for us. In the first chapter (1:11-13), Malachi reminds a very lazy people about how God feels about worship. This is a somewhat more colloquial reading from the Message version of Scriptures.

"I am honored all over the world. And there are people who know how to worship me all over the world, who honor me by bringing their best to me. They're saying it everywhere: 'God is greater, this God-of-the-Angel-Armies.' "All except you. Instead of honoring me, you profane me. You profane me when you say, 'Worship is not important, and what we bring to worship is of no account,' and when you say, 'I'm bored—this doesn't do anything for me.' You act so superior, sticking your noses in the air—act superior to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! And when you do offer something to me, it's a hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I'm going to accept it? This is God speaking to you!

God’s message is clear to us. Worship is important, and what we bring to worship is important! The people in Malachi’s day were trying to short-change God by bringing in animals that were flawed and imperfect as sacrifices. In other words, they were not giving their best to a God, who in the very first verses in chapter one begins by saying “I Love You!” Let me encourage you to give Your best to God in this new year. Give your best to God through faithful giving of the tithe. Give your best to God though humble acts of service both within the church and without. Give your best to God through allowing focus on ONLY Him in our corporate worship times. And as alluded to in the passage above, our gifts to him must be done in the proper attitudes. Oh, and by the way, in case you feel I’m getting too “preachy” here, Malachi also later has words for the “priests” as well.


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God loves You. He really does! I mentioned last week in Malachi that the first thing mentioned in this book of prophecy (and judgment) is the fact that He loves us. And as if God saying it weren’t enough, God explains throughout the first chapter how he has showed it to then nation Israel through the blessing of Jacob’s lineage. God loves, He forgives, and He shows grace. So should we. However, much of Malachi speaks on judgment. Chapter one speaks of the people not giving their best. Chapter two deals with priests who were promoting false teachings. Chapter three deals with robbing God through the withholding of tithes. Chapter four, the final chapter, appropriately deals with the great Day of Judgment to come. I realize that this is ancient Israel we are talking about here, but are these issues that far from ones that we see happening in Christ’s church today?

Yes, I believe our God is loving. But I also believe our God is just. Through belief in Christ and what He has done for us, and through the grace of God the Father, we as Christians now share in the inheritance of eternal life. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We cannot campaign before God Almighty for our souls. Only Jesus, as the sacrifice, can do that on our behalf. But in that, has God through grace, “let us off easy?” Ultimately, yes. However, I do want to clarify that our sin, although forgiven, often (but not always) carries natural consequences that even the most repentant heart will have to bear. Now a repentant heart will not have to bear this ALONE – The Holy Spirit’s counsel guides during these times. To flesh out the example, if I had an internal sinful thought to which I entertained and dwelled upon, then I repented, there would probably be no further repercussions. However, I once had a friend that was imprisoned once for a very serious crime. I spoke with this individual after their legal conviction and could see their repentance. Still, they had to go to jail. That was a natural consequence. Did God forgive them? Of course! Perhaps even the folks directly affected by the crime did as well. Repentance, true repentance is the key. And my friends, only God knows the innermost being, and can only be the full judge of that.

So, God does love us. He really does! But if we love Him in return, we should show it by our changed lives. We should not complain about the consequences our own actions (or inaction) have created. We should praise God for His grace, thank Him for His discipline, and love Him for His Son. And we should remember that God’s grace isn’t an excuse for us to live however we wish. As Paul said in Romans 6:1-2,

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Avoiding the Hall of Shame

I was just reading an article about Britney Spears. The article was from CNN and was describing how as Britney was released from the Hospital, Dr. Phil provided counsel to her and her family. This is his quote:

"My meeting with Britney and some family members this morning in her room at Cedars leaves me convinced more than ever that she is in dire need of both medical and psychological intervention"

I still do not fully understand the public's fascination of the downfall of her life. It's very obvious she needs help. We didn't need Dr. Phil to tell us that. One of the saddest parts of the whole story is how Britney has done so many kooky things, that it barely can fit into a summary for news "soundbyte" purposes. The last paragraph of the article states just that:

Spears and Federline married in October 2004. Her life has spiraled downward since their divorce in July. She has been photographed without underwear and appeared to be drunk and out-of-control in public. She shaved her head, beat a car with an umbrella and spent a month in rehab.

I normally wouldn't blog about something so overpublicized as this, but this particular paragraph really just blew me away. I'm thankful for the power of Christ to change lives. He changed mine! I'm not perfect, but if you were to summarize the past several years of my life, I'd like to say my "rap sheet" for the most part did contain some bits of attempting to make a difference in this world for Christ. What does your rap sheet say? Have you done anything as of late that would put you in the hall of fame, or hall of shame?

Nehemiah's Unfiltered Prayer

My devotional reading was in Nehemiah this morning. I've been rereading the major stories in the Bible chronologically through a Bible Gateway plan: I've also been using the Message version, which although not my favorite, is definitely an interesting take.

There is something within all of us that really just wants to be candid with God when we pray. However, there is another more "churchy and refined" part that acts as a filter when we begin to pray, sanitizing thoughts such as "Lord, do them in!!!" into "Lord, please let them see the error of their ways." Hey, and some of you may even have the KJV filter on top of that that turns it into "Lord, Blessest thou mine enemies with Thine revelation of their transgressions."

Well, I think Nehemiah may have let one of the unfiltered ones out. In chapter 4:5-6, he prays to God because of the persecution of Sanballat and others who continually try to discourage and sabotage his plans of rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah prayed, "Oh listen to us, dear God. We're so despised: Boomerang their ridicule on their heads; have their enemies cart them off as war trophies to a land of no return; don't forgive their iniquity, don't wipe away their sin—they've insulted the builders!"

Wow. And although the Message makes it more direct or colloquial than it may actually have been, other translations still have the same content. Sanballat sounded like a real jerk. When you read through the context of the passage, you'll be rooting against Sanballat as well! Because of him, the workers had to arm themselves. Because of him, Nehemiah was almost tricked into a sham meeting where his life would have been on the line. Sanballat was a conspiring gossiper. He was paranoid that his influence would be threatened. I can understand Nehemiah's "mean" prayer. It was justified. After all, one could argue that i was well before Jesus came along and said "Love Your Enemies."

Still, I'm not sure that Nehemiah's prayer is still one we should model. That's probably why the Prayer of Jabez was marketed a little more successfully. I do believe that we should feel the freedom, without being blasphemous of course, to be candid with God in our personal prayer. Love is always the better answer, and God always acts out justice in His way.

So, what happened to Sanballat? Did God bash him in the head? Did someone pull down his robe in public revealing his "I love Samaria" boxers? Well, no. And I'm not the greatest Biblical historian, so I could be wrong here: nothing happened. I can't find scripture again mentioning his name, except for a later passage in the book in which Nehemiah drives away one of Sanballat's relatives (13:28). So perhaps Sanballat's punishment was just the fact that he had no lasting legacy or imprint on history. If any of you out in blogosphere land know anything further about Sanballat, I'd love to hear it. I think it's important to note, though, that God didn't act immediately or directly along with the lines of Nehemiah's unfiltered prayer. God chose to do then, as He does now, to act in His own timetable in regards for justice.



I'll close with a further point of note. A little later, Nehemiah does turn the filter back on, just a bit. He's still mad, but his words are a bit softer.

Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, because of what they have done (6:14)

In this case, the prayer filter works appropriately. Leave it up to God. Atta boy, Nehemiah.

Alone in the dark

One of my favorite computer games growing up was one called "Alone in the Dark." It was a murder mystery/clue type game, and it truly had some scenes that were frightening! Looking at how computer animation has changed since then, I have to wonder how I ever got any entertainment (or authentic "scares") out of it.

This morning, I was alone in the dark. The cold front that came though brought very unseasonal cold winds to our area. The power went out one near midnight, but then came back on. It went out again at 4am, about an hour before Sharon gets up for her trek to Kings Mountain to the school she works at. Although I had more sleep time ahead, I couldn't get back to sleep, mainly because I discovered it was 50 degrees in the house! I got up primarily so I could put some clothes on to stay warm. I turned on the radio and literally sat alone in the dark for about an hour before I left to go make an early morning hospital visit.

As I sat there, an overwhelming sense of gratitude engulfed me. How blessed am I to have power, water, & heat! Millions around the globe wake up to darkness, drought, & cold. Instead of complaining about the inconvenience, I instead praised God, because most likely, I'll have power when I get back home later today. Later on this morning, I had another moment of praise when I realized that millions often wake up to spiritual darkness as well. I have hope. They do not. And while, I often focus on doubt in my life, I still for the most part always turn my mind to my faith in God when times are uncertain. There are many who have nothing to turn to - they literally continue to sit . . . ALONE IN THE DARK. Let's be lights for them.