Lost in Translation

Take it from a guy who has been married for ten years, works in close quarters with a handful of diverse personalities and has had friendships rocked by divorces and pride fueled disagreements, communication is an amazingly complex entity that can exude life, growth and camaraderie one moment and then miserable misunderstanding the next.

It is often messy, uncomfortable and misconstrued, however, judging by the current popularity of social networking sites, cell phones and text messaging, communication is also a highly sought after and valued thing.

Now when it comes to communication, I truly believe that those who put their trust in Jesus have the greatest message of hope, redemption, forgiveness and love. We are in fact, (frighteningly) Gods primarily messengers to the rest of a weary and broken world that longs for good news. Our every action, word and even our subtle body language continually sends a message to those around us of who God is and what He looks like.

So what message are we presenting? Hopefully it is one of redemption, grace and, to borrow from Brennan Manning, the “furious love of God”. Sadly, however this great message is often lost in translation.

Case in point was a pastor I recently witnessed leading new “converts” in a prayer to “accept Christ into their lives”. To those uninitiated with church life and lingo, think of it as a swearing in ceremony in which people are “sworn into” the faith. Perplexingly as it may seem being that it is such a monumental spiritual moment, it is rarely scripted or rehearsed by preachers who are apparently more focused on brushing up on the impeccable timing of their one-liners. Which may excuse this particular preacher for exhorting “newbies” to pray to God imploring Him “to forgive them for the way they have been living their lives thus far”.

Sounds pretty harmless right?

Except when you consider that such an unclear and seemingly vague statement forces people to draw their own conclusions as to what they are really being told. Which may be where all the confusion about superficial lifestyle changes like being a person of a particular moral code while avoiding the dangers of “sex, drugs and Rock n’ Roll” is birthed. What we are left with is churches full of people who are not exactly sure what their salvation really means in relation to their lives.

Despite what we might interpret the message to say, the fact is that initially putting ones faith in God has little, perhaps even nothing to do with the life someone has lived or the things they have done. I know some of the most loving and kind people who do not consider themselves Christians, while on the other hand I have been acquainted with some of the filthiest and rotten people who call themselves Christians. The way in which someone lives his or her life is not always an accurate indicator of ones salvation.

And not to pick on this poor pastor alone, because we send similar messages to the world around us when our salvation story consists of what amounts to merrily outward “surface cleaning” (“I used to smoke, drink and cuss but then I found Jesus and now my life is completely different”). The bumper sticker that reads “Born fine the first time” is the world’s jab in response to such shallow testimonies that drip with the underlying message that “life is better here”. On the contrary, life usually gets more difficult (which was what Jesus warned his followers) when one chooses faith.

You see, despite the confusing messages to the contrary, God’s primarily concern is not with the kind of life we lived yesterday. He simply desires to be the center and focus of our lives today and on into our future tomorrows.

Furthermore, asking those who are newly acquainted with God to seek forgiveness for the way they “lived their life” pre-faith sends a dangerous message that the church, and God for that matter, is only concerned with what they do instead of in whom they trust. It causes churchgoers to tiptoe around each other on Sunday mornings concerned and fearful that they will be exposed as a fraud (which, in a way, we all happen to be).

Sadly many people “join” the church, subscribe to the “corporate” brand and immediately begin exhausting themselves by jumping through all the “spiritual” hoops trying to please the others and please God while hoping to quiet the lingering voices spewing words of doubt and guilt. However, despite the commitment, effort, hard work or perseverance we cannot will ourselves to live a better “Christian life”. Such futile striving will only leave us feeling unfulfilled, frustrated and disappointed. We cannot make life, character and moral changes that are deeply ingrained into who we are with “good ole’ fashion” hard work and determination.

All this fruitless striving saddens me because it really is as simple as living in the grace of God and enjoying the spiritual journey without getting caught up in our failures, disappointments and guilt. Unfortunately such messages are a rarity.

Honestly, the most important thing missing from all of our lives is truly knowing and experiencing God, there is no other ingredient required. God, knowing every little nuance, trait, characteristic and aspect of his creation, knows perfectly how to effectively weed out, mold and shape our lives. He is much more patient and long suffering than we could ever hope to be in seeing us unto completion. If there are things in our life that need to be changed or ways of living that need to be tweaked, you can be sure God will inform us of it and will work patiently and with purpose to accomplish it in our life. In this progression our character blossoms to its fullest potential.

The salvation experience is not solely about making people better human beings. But for the grace of God, all of humanity is on a level playing field in such regards. It doesn’t matter what someone’s political affiliation may be, what their sexual orientation is, what religion they subscribe to or anything else, if there be any good deed, word of encouragement or characteristic within them it is simply the illuminating grace of God shining through a putrid soul. And we are all putrid souls, however God can use ANYONE He desires to be a blessing! As Aaron Weiss puts it so simply and yet poignantly in song “It’s (God) in everyone we meet”.

Despite what we would love to believe about ourselves, without God in our lives there really is no good within us, our natural inclinations are selfish and sinful. We should take no pride in our efforts to be “good-people” (our righteousness is like filthy rags after all) but should humbly thank God that He is hard at work patiently perfecting us hardheaded people.

With this in mind, perhaps it is time we reevaluate some of our ideas and perceptions about sin. You see, from the time Moses come down the mountain with those two imposing tablets to today where Sunday school children across the globe are singing, “be careful little eyes what you see” there has always been this underlying belief that God doesn’t want us to have any fun.

One of my favorite writers on faith, Anne Lamott reminds us that we are “punished not for the sin but by the sin.” I believe this is a much healthier way to approach Gods distain for our sins. God wants us to avoid sin, not because He wants to remove all the fun from our lives, but because sin is something that is destructive to a healthy life and healthy relationships. We should desire to live a “better life” not solely because it pleases God or makes Him love us more, but because it is a better way to live and will save us much heartache and pain.

Remember, entrusting God with our lives has nothing to do with pledging our allegiances to the handiwork of man nor does it have anything to do with keeping up our appearances. Salvation is hope that through God’s grace we can overcome yesterday’s struggles. It is hope that beginning immediately God will join us in our battles. It is hope in knowing that life won’t necessarily be easier but we will be guaranteed that we don’t have to go it alone. It is about accepting an offer of “life and life abundantly”.

In a world full of unclear and mixed messages, those of us with the greatest message of hope need to get it right.

WARNING! Contents may be hazardous to your life!

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." Paul the Apostle

I have become tired of the lethargic church and of empty Christianity. It saddens me that the world does not see a true representation of Jesus when it sees His supposed followers. I am dismayed that we continue to build extravagant homes (churches) for God and yet don't take care of those without homes. I am concerned that we have merrily built for ourselves a fortress and now reside within its four walls as if protecting ourselves from the "evil" world around us.

Though I am saddened, angry and tired of these things, I am even wearier of just simply talking about it. I have to guard myself and watch that I don't become too cynical, judgmental and frustrated that I become useless to God, to Christianity and to humankind.

Sure, I can write blogs about Christianities issues until my hair turns gray and my fingers become arthritic. I can sit around at coffee houses discussing the problems of the church with friends until every stone is overturned. I can read as many books and articles about what the church is supposed to look like or how its inhabitants have grown overfeed and lazy. But all the while the world turns, time passes and I grow older. I have to ask myself whether I am simply becoming a clanging cymbal? Am I nothing more than a noise that is pounding like the neighbors stereo at 2 AM annoying all those around me?

Yeah, we have done a fine job messing up Jesus' image throughout history. I feel a responsibility to tell people "no, this isn't who Jesus is". This is not the Jesus I have grown up to know and live for. He is not like those who angrily condemn the gay and lesbian communities while inconsiderately shouting hateful things at them at protests and rallies. He is not the one who hangs "No-Smoking" signs outside churches so that those who do smoke feel even more alienated from the “saints” inside. He is not the one standing on street corners shouting "Turn or Burn!" He does not send hurricanes or fly airplanes into buildings to punish or scare us into getting our act together or repenting. And he is not the one on TV asking for our money while promising us prosperity because of our generous contributions. He is far from any of these things, unfortunately however, their bullhorns are loud and they draw all of the attention.

It all makes me wonder if the world has ever actually gotten a glimpse of the real Jesus? Sure, people can know about him, know a little about religion and spend some time in church but all of that means very little. Those of us who are Christians are supposed to represent the incredible love and grace of Jesus to the world, not send them running away, causing them to despise Him.

Don't get me wrong; there are some of the coolest Christians, churches and people who are doing and being everything they are supposed to be. I am thankful for them because they encourage and challenge my faith and give me hope that all is not lost.

It was because of a somewhat stagnate faith that I began writing blogs and talking to people about my frustrations with religion and church. I was hoping in the very least to encourage and inspire them to think a little more critically about their own faith while at the same time desiring to ignite a little life into my own. I was also hoping to find people that may have experienced or witnessed some of the same things I had, to see if my feelings were legitimate or unfounded. I guess what I really was hoping to determine was if I was crazy, "backslidden" or if I was on the right track.

Thank God I found that I was not alone. There are many people out there who are just as tired and frustrated who desire to see some positive changes within their church and faith. This is where we need to be cautious however. If all we do is sit around complaining, writing and talking we will begin to hear a distant clanging in our ears. We need to follow passionate discontent with action.

God has designed all believers to play significant roles in something incredibly spiritual, powerful and effective, called the church (which is simply a term meaning the collection of all believers, not to be confused with a building). And as much as it frustrates me to no end and tests the level of my patients I cannot remove myself from it nor can I renounce my place from within it. It is a part of me and I am a part of it. So when I find myself nitpicking all of its flaws and inconsistencies I have to ask myself am I doing my part? Is it the churches fault or should I share in the blame because I have taken myself out of the game and stand on the sideline judging it to pieces?

Too many of us have allowed the hurt, the abuse and the neglect we have experienced within Christianity render us ineffective. We can sulk and lick our wounds for a time and point out all the things that need to change, but until we do something proactive it all eventually just becomes noise. The church may be a mess, but its our mess, so what are we going to do about it?

This might sound crazy, egocentric, or as John Lennon put it best "you may say I'm a dreamer", but its time to be true representatives of what we believe. I know it sounds cliché but we need to be the change we want to see. Instead of shunning the soiled, misused label of Christian, perhaps we need to begin redefining it through our lives and actions. How do accomplish such an overwhelming and seemingly impossible task? Well, may I suggest we begin not by beating down the doors of neighbors, handing out evangelistic tracts, or inviting people to our church (though those are tools that sometimes work)…but let’s start somewhere simple, humble, often ignored and almost always undervalued. Let it begin with us living out our faith, loving others, serving and being hope. If we can accomplish this quietly without all the fanfare and hype it will speak the loudest and our message will be heard.

"Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.' St Francis of Assisi.

Alien Nation

You probably wouldn’t guess it by my easygoing demeanor, but I actually have a bit of a rebellious streak in me. When you’re a Christian all this really means is that you wear jeans and Converse to church, smuggle snacks into movie theatres, and occasionally disagree with the politics of FOX News. Oh yeah, and you listen to David Bazan.

To those uninitiated, David Bazan is a critically acclaimed solo artist in the indie music world whose songwriting is heavily influenced by his Christian upbringing while also being beautifully interlaced with the darker aspects of life and faith. The result is songs containing such hefty topics as infidelity, murder, alcoholism, suicide, lust, and doubt. Not the kind of tunes your apt to hear on your local “always upbeat” Christian radio station, nevertheless real and honest topics found scattered throughout the Holy Scriptures within the lives of our spiritual heroes.

On his latest album Curse your Branches, Bazan boldly dares to take God to task on the disconcerting aspects he wrestles with in the Christian “story” or at least mans best interpretations of it. No stranger to controversy, Bazans new album has ignited some pretty heated, albeit predictable debates, especially within online forums and blogs.

Which is precisely where I encountered a comment that began by clarifying that although he liked the album he didn’t “agree” with Bazans particular commentary on the Christian faith.
Despite his “fringy” songwriting, I had honestly never really given much thought to whether I should agree with Bazans theology or not, I just simply understood. What I understand is the places of questioning and doubt from which he poses his questions. So I never necessarily felt compelled to pronounce whether I agreed with him or not as much as I felt obligated to at least attempt identifying with him.

Whether its simply clicking like/unlike or airing our views in 140 characters or less, we love to make ourselves heard don’t we? We especially enjoy interjecting our own personal “critiques” into any and all conversations. Honestly, isn’t the most entertaining part of American Idol watching the judges argue and disagree with one another? The fact is many of the most popular shows and personalities on television (Pardon the Interruption on ESPN, Glenn Beck and The View) simply offer us their highly opinionated views on varying topics.

Can, or maybe a better question is should every component of life be thoroughly scrutinized (or judged) before being so simply classified and categorized into being either agreeable or not, good or not, beneficial or not? And although my young, brash generation of disgruntled churchgoers would love to spotlight all the ways in which the church arrogantly does just this, I have to humbly confess that we are (I include myself) equally as guilty as we nit pick every nuance of the Sunday morning service.

Obviously utilizing a healthy amount of discernment is wise, however, when we consider that most everyone’s value systems vary whether the subject matter is family, religion, education, the arts or politics, sometimes the things that we believed could only fall into a neatly packaged category of either black or white actually begin to merge into a more complicated gray. What we are left with is not always universal truths, but simply many unique and varying personal convictions.

Take the Christian church for example, which has such a wide range of differing beliefs, ideas, doctrines and theologies about how God, the church and believing people are supposed to function. And the varying views go beyond simple doctrinal matters and into childrearing, women’s roles, birth control, marriage, divorce and so on. My point is that even within Christianity there is a divide on many spiritual and practical life issues. If a faith with common core beliefs can be so messy, how are we to come together civilly when the topic is seemingly something more complicated?

Interestingly enough many religious and political people approached Jesus with questions hoping to identify where he stood on “the issues”. More often than not, however Jesus skirted around the questions being posed refusing to give in to their games. On occasion he actually offered an alternative viewpoint altogether which threw a wrench into the whole idea surrounding “two-sided” debates.

Sure, there is a time and place for debate; however, we also need to have moments of peace from all the noise of dogmatic chatter. We need to have moments of understanding and if nothing else discover some harmony within our “sacred beliefs” to level enough common ground upon which to stand together. It is imperative that we have such places of safety where we can relate to one another and come to understand each other as people and not just as puzzles to be solved.

Mark Driscoll in his book Religion Saves + nine other misconceptions, writes that there are a few nonnegotiable doctrines within our faith that we must hold tightly to with a closed hand, while in the other hand there are those doctrines that are important but secondary that we must hold more loosely and graciously. Although Driscoll is addressing differences in spiritual teachings and beliefs, I believe this advice can be applied to varying areas of dissention. However, it is counsel that is, sadly, unheeded as we often hold stubbornly with white knuckles to certain beliefs that we are convinced are so important even at the risk of alienating ourselves from friends and family.

If we look to the scriptures we find that the Apostle Paul selflessly focused much of his energies into finding ways in which he could relate to others in THEIR world, on THEIR turf and where THEY were comfortable in order to make meaningful relationships. Jesus was a perfect example of this as well, spending much of his time seeking out relationships and accepting invitations into other people’s homes and worlds, many of whom were cast out from “important” religious circles for being “unagreeable”. Jesus asked questions, began meaningful dialog and most importantly he listened.

Listening is essential to understanding. When we give someone the opportunity to speak while also attentively listening it affords him or her the proper respect they deserve. In effect, we validate that person by listening. Nothing turns (or ticks) people off quicker and sours their opinion of you more than if you are someone who talks without listening. All too often various matters escalate from simple conversations into debates and arguments because both sides would rather speak than listen and empathize with one another.

Although perhaps our family, friends, church or pastors cannot come to grips with the ugly circumstances surrounding our life we can rest assured that God does understand. And not in a shortcut kind of way being that He is a God of infinite wisdom. God took no shortcuts or easy ways out when He sent Jesus to this earth; He in effect put himself in our shoes and in our situations. He faced everything we have had to face and more, rejection, temptation, betrayals from friends, false accusations, sickness and death. The real miracle of Jesus’ life on earth is not just that he accomplished it without committing a sin. The real miracle is that God would choose to experience this life right along side of us, forever making any accusation that He doesn’t understand sound rather foolish.

The scriptures also reveal that on several occasions Jesus was moved with compassion for people. This compassion was not a matter of pity, but a sincere concern for people’s well being. Which stings because most often it is not compassion that stirs us when we offer our judgment…uh, I mean, advice to those who may or may not have come looking for it in the first place.

Having our own convictions and beliefs is important, however we need to remember that is all they are, our own. Each one of us needs to decide for ourselves how much of the surrounding world we wish to weigh according to those convictions and beliefs. More than anything else I encourage you to humbly make an effort to understand and relate to those you interact with on a daily basis. Maybe then we might begin to see people as more than simply those we disagree or clash with, perhaps we might begin to see them as God does, as His precious creation who are just a little misunderstood at times.

Faith like an elf

As far as movie genres go, the holiday classics perhaps more than any other have much to say about life, especially when it pertains to spiritual matters. It’s a Wonderful Life for instance, sets out to show us just how intricately interlaced and important our lives are in relation to one another. Through Ralphie, A Christmas Story encourages us to pursue our hopes and dreams despite circumstances or the discouragement of others. The numerous versions of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol warn us against cold-heartedness, greed and misplaced priorities. And finally, A Charlie Brown Christmas puts the whole materialistic and consumer crazy season into the proper perspective.

Another movie that looks to creep onto the holiday classic list is Elf. It is the story of Buddy (Will Farrell) who upon finding out as an adult that he is not an elf but a human, (despite the rather obvious clues) decides to return to New York City in search of his true identity.
Early in the movie the elf that has raised Buddy informs him that Christmas spirit is waning because less and less people believe in Santa. Buddy responds quite befuddled, “What? Who do they think puts all the toys under the tree? The elf replies, “there are rumors floating around that the parents do it”. To which buddy retorts with certainty, “that’s ridiculous! I mean parents couldn’t do ALL that in one night. What about Santa’s cookies? I suppose the parents eat them too!?” Here Buddy has turned the age-old arguments against the existence of Santa against itself, while wonderfully exemplifying the childlike faith, wonder and innocence it takes to believe in the jolly old Saint.

Countless theologians, writers and preachers over thousands of years have undertaken the task of explaining what it might look like to obey Jesus’ instruction to have faith like a child. Although I find myself a bit hesitant to apply the sacred to a Will Ferrell character, this is kind of what I imagine childlike faith to resemble.

Jesus used children to illustrate to us what genuine trust, faith and hope can look like without all of the hang-ups and hurts that plague adults. Jesus command to have a childlike faith wasn’t a trivial or a simple request. In fact, I would argue that there is not a single discipline that Jesus instituted that is easier than another to obey or inaugurate into our lives, they all require a great amount of faith, deliberation, sacrifice, devotion and obedience. Nevertheless, child-like expectancy, excitement, wonder, dependence and freshness are imperative to our spiritual lives.


Sure, we might have faith, but the faith we have comes with stipulations. We know how to work the “religious systems” to fit our needs and you can be certain that we will walk away if we aren’t satisfied with the results. And our version of faith can be very rude, inconsiderate, hurtful, demanding, competitive, and angry, in short, it can be very adult.
In a sense, all of our life experience and, as the lyricist Aaron Weiss put it in song, “the things we think we know”, handicaps our faith in God. Slowly the sense of amazement at those Sunday school stories of our youth is replaced with skepticism and doubt as we simply rationalize them into being something more symbolic than anything else.


So here we have the example of eager to please Buddy, with his childlike innocence and wide-eyed with wonder enthusiasm and passion for life. He faithfully believes in Santa, adamantly defends Christmas and makes a point to expose any imposters. He believes in Santa because he has seen him, spent time with him and he knows him personally. In Buddy’s world no other reality exists besides the Santa reality. How nice it would be to somehow operate this way within my own life, where the God reality is the only reality. However, it is only possible if we are willing to go through the painful process of shedding all the extra weight associated with our “mature” faith and humbly become like a child.

Buddy’s character challenges my oftentimes uninspired and lifeless faith with how unnaturally joyous and happy he is all the time even in the face of hardened New Yorkers. The truth is that we are missing a substantial ingredient to our spiritual lives if we don’t have a childlike joy. I’m not talking about a naïve, “ignorance is bliss” happiness, but a true joy at the knowledge of who God is and what he has done for us. Our faith may give us hope, strength and aid us through this life, but do we delight in it?

In scripture, King David has a moment of childlike joy and excitement as he casts his inhibitions (and most of his clothing) aside to dance before the ark as it was returned to Israel. When his wife Michal sees him making a fool of himself she becomes furious with embarrassment and ridicules him when he returns from his joyous rumpus. I humbly admit that my actions in this scenario are more likely to resemble that of Michal’s than that of David’s.

In fact, when it comes to my spiritual life, I find that I relate to Buddy’s skeptical father who is horrified that he is going to be embarrassed by his high-spirited, long lost son. Sure, I suppose we all have to come to terms with being ridiculed for our faith in God. I realize that, in the opinion of many, such faith is as outlandish as an adult who still believes in Santa Clause. Eventually were expected to grow older, experience the cold, harsh realities of this world and put to bed such ridiculous ideas as Reindeer, Easter Bunnies and Jesus.

When considering the significance that Jesus placed upon having a childlike faith, I find it interesting that we demean certain actions or characteristics in other people as childish. Perhaps it is out of our own envy that we make such brash judgments. The truth is we live in a world that demands us to “grow-up”, “be a man” and “stop kidding around” when in reality we might just be touching the surface of truly understanding our faith.

The greatest tragedy of all is if we allow ourselves to lose that spirit of wonder and awe at the incredible works of God. Perhaps this is the greatest lesson to be learned from the film. Despite all of the ridicule, discouragement and negativity cast at Buddy, he still manages to maintain his faith in not only people, but also the spirit of Christmas itself.

SOMETHING WE CAN"T BE

I confess to a tendency of being a bit critical, cynical and even unfair at times when I analyze (call it “judge” if you like) how the Sunday morning Christian church represents themselves through preaching, music, tithes, announcements, skits, dramas, etc. Sometimes that cynicism can be constructive and at other times it is neither productive nor beneficial in the least, it merely fuels my own self-righteousness (not a good thing!).

So recently during the praise and worship portion of the church service, the lyrics “a thousand times I have failed” caught my attention. I immediately began contemplating the dynamics of failure in relation to my spiritual life. That is until the very next song began with a similarly themed verse of “all my fears and failures”, at which point I quickly sat down, grabbed a pen and jotted down this “coincidence” for later deliberation.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the heart of the songwriters, obviously it is quite true that we have all “fallen short of the glory of God”. We also know God to be gracious, sympathetic and forgiving, in whom we can openly confess our struggles (sins) without the burden of guilt or condemnation.

Furthermore, I cannot neglect the fact that Christianity has admirably made strides towards becoming more honest and transparent, abandoning the façade of holiness and hypocrisy that so often identifies us. And I don’t mean to undue any of that here nor do I beckon a return to such a destructive “fairy-tale” version of spiritual living.

However, there is a danger to the health and well-being of our faith when we get hung up on such self-critical, self-labeling and condemning thoughts of being failures. And I have been there, fruitlessly despairing over my transgressions within my spiritual life and relationship with God. Sadly, I don’t believe my experience is an isolated incident, but is a common hindrance to the spiritual growth of many.

I am not suggesting that we stop singing our songs of repentance, which I love actually, however we cannot continue to remain in such a place of mourning over and reflecting upon our past sins. The word failure references something that has happened in our past and God is more concerned with our present and our future. We need to forgive ourselves (because God has already forgiven us) and move on.

In his book Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell recounts a conversation he had over lunch with a new follower of Jesus who laments about his struggles with sin and his continual failures. Rob assessed that “becoming a Christian had given him all sorts of things to feel guilty about. I wondered if becoming a Christian had made his life not better but actually worse.” And this is what I don’t want to see happening to people, the message of the Gospels is supposedly “good news” after all.

It is finding the positive in a fallen world as C.S. Lewis did in writing that “we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven”. Thus, since our failures are forgiven, then they are gone, no longer an embarrassing stain that wrecks havoc on our self-conscious. We cannot be defined by something that has been removed. Can you be a failure when God no longer recognizes the failings? Somewhere, somehow people are not getting this message or they are hearing the wrong message entirely.

I am concerned with the message because the truth is that we can only fail when we are striving towards something or when we try to live up to some unrealistic expectations that we have placed upon ourselves. Spiritual holiness and perfection cannot be earned or attained neither by our own good deeds nor by our obedience to some spiritual rites. As Philip Yancey so beautifully wrote, “Grace comes from the outside, as a gift and not an achievement.”

The Scriptures tell us “there is no one righteous” not as a word of condemnation, but as a message of freedom. It is a truth in which we are to exist and reside within. We need to come to peace with this in our heavily competitive and self-reliant culture, because despite our very best efforts we will never stack up, we will only find ourselves exhausted and burned out. When Jesus offered all those who were “weary and burdened to come to him to find rest”, he was speaking to a religious culture that strived tirelessly to please God through good works and obedience to the law. Instead of striving to earn our “gold stars”, we must consciously choose to live within the undeserved, unearned favor of God.

If our motivation to do good works is simply to please God and to earn his love and acceptance, then we are striving for something we already possess. To again quote Rob Bell, “There is this person who we already are in God’s eyes and we are learning to live like it is true…God is not interested in shaming people. God wants people to see who they really are.”

And we are people who have been “Justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Through Jesus, God has done his part to redeem everyone, and I mean EVERYONE on the planet, our response is to come to terms with that and live like we believe it is true. Living such good lives, obeying His instruction because of our gratefulness for what he has done and for the freedom we have been given.

And yet, the pious will continue to self-righteously bring before God their resume of “glowing marks” and outstanding accomplishments, ignoring the fact that scripture calls those acts “filthy rags”. We cannot hope to impress God by any actions of our own, after all He is our creator and upon finishing his great masterpiece declared it good. It is completely arrogant for anyone to truly believe that they could impress the maker of the planets, stars, sun and moon. As scripture points out, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” (NLT)

Now all this talk of living free of guilt and shame when we accept Gods free gifts of salvation and grace are wonderfully poignant but in the reality of our lives it is a painstakingly difficult idea to grasp or live out. Truth is, that in all areas of society we are governed by certain rules that convey to us, whether audibly or not, that we must earn respect, raises, good grades, trust, love, credit, etc. As we learn from an early age, “there is no such thing as a free lunch”. Growing up in such an atmosphere makes it difficult for us to accept God’s grace without any strings attached.

Scripture tells us “without faith it is impossible to please God”. I would argue that those who strive to please God have in actuality little, to no faith at all. They have no faith that He is in control, that he has forgiven them, that he cares for them and that his grace is enough. Perhaps to appease their own guilty conscience, they strive for the approval of God, however, being faithless they toil and labor in vain. In effect their actions and good works give witness to their unbelief.

The thing that struck me the most about the God that Mack encountered in last years ever-popular book The Shack was a God who, being omniscient, had no need to place any expectations upon His beloved creation. In the book, God explains to Mack that because He does not place any expectations upon us, we therefore never disappoint Him. I don’t know about you, but from where I’ve been within the “church world” the idea that we never disappoint God is revolutionary. Such a truth should free us from all of our fruitless striving to please God and allow us to instead live truly fulfilling spiritual lives.

It is only out of such knowledge as this that we can actually desire to live and succeed in living holy lives, knowing that if we stumble somewhere along the way that we haven’t disappointed God. The point of living our lives at a higher standard isn’t to please God, which we have already established we cannot do, but simply because it is a healthier way to live this life.

Every one of us can relate to the terrible sting, stigma and struggles caused by failure in our lives, whether it has attached itself to a marriage, job, business, friendship, ministry or whatever. The possibility of failure is the cause of many detours and delays in our lives as we are paralyzed by fear and worry.

Yet, there remains one area of our lives we are afforded freedom from the weight of doubt, fear and guilt associated with failure and that place is in our relationship with God. He gives us everything we need for life and life abundantly without our having to strive to earn it. It’s a win, win situation really…how could we fail?

This Frightening Faith (A HALLOWEEN SPECIAL)

Considering the current economic crisis and the whispers of “CHANGE”, which is always a bit of a scary proposition, the chill in the air may have less to do with the changing of seasons and more to do with the current atmosphere of uncertainty, worry and fear surrounding many people these days.

In the “last days”, the Apostle Paul warns believers of “terrible times” characterized by people being lovers of themselves, proud, abusive, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, treacherous and conceited. Interestingly enough, Paul’s descriptive caution doesn’t immediately bring to my mind the “godless heathens”, with their “hidden-agendas”, as much as it does those within Christendom today that irresponsibly spew their “poison” over the airwaves of radio, through the intoxicating glow of the television and within the print of those best-selling books on our nightstands.

It seems an especially appropriate description as Paul speaks of them “worming their way into the homes of weak willed woman”, sounding eerily reminiscent of those televangelists who target the elderly.

I suggest we evaluate the happenings within the “four-walls” of Christendom, before we go pointing out the “speck in the eye” of the world around us, blaming them for all that ails this country.

Forgive me for sounding so harsh but I have a hard time equating some of the “religious elite” representing my faith, with the gracious, peacemaking, enemy loving people Jesus commanded us to be. There is no need to name those who irk me with their misrepresentations of Christ’s unfailing love, because as Jesus instructed “you will know them by their fruit”. Their character easily betrays them as the “wolves in sheep’s clothing” that we have been forewarned about.

Some will counter that this is such a small minority of so-called Christians, but in my opinion it isn’t small enough. This little contingent of “religious fanatics” is stirring up a considerable amount of “grass roots” fervor, if not trouble, that perpetrates fear and worry in good people; perhaps someone has forwarded you one of their emails.

Perhaps even more shocking and distressing is that some of this “nonsense” is originating from Christian organizations of great respect, influence and power. It makes me wonder why such groups would involve themselves in the “mudslinging” and slandering of politics when they could use their incredible amount of influence to humbly represent Jesus to this culture.

The truth is that fear is an incredibly tempting tool that offers a considerable amount of power and control. Though we’d like to believe they are motivated by something a little more Godly, don’t think for a minute that Christian radio and television programs, magazines and publishing companies aren’t concerned with ratings and revenue. Such talk of conspiracies that conjures up fear and hysteria is all wrapped up in dollar signs too enticing for some to ignore. Not everything with the “Christian stamp” on it is Gospel or beneficial, we must be discerning like the ancient Bereans who critically examined everything preached to them to test whether it stood up to scripture.

Along with this “media barrage” of manipulation and fear comes talk of an impending persecution of Christians in America. Every disheartening news story of natural disaster and war, each passage of “liberal” legislation and every constitutional challenge to our Christen heritage in this country is spotlighted by “those in the know” as examples of our slowly eroding, “everything goes” culture which is ushering in a time of difficulty for the Christian.

Writer and radical Russ Belville’s “Christian Persecution Complex” is a hilarious, often irreverent and convicting article regarding portions of Christianity that see everything as a conspiracy in which the rest of non-Christian America is constantly declaring war with their way of life in attempts to subjugate them.

Along those lines is Susan E. Isaacs insightful and entertaining memoir Angry Conversations with God, which recounts a “pep-talk” given at her Christian school on last day of sixth grade that warned “next year you’re off to public school where they‘ll persecute you because you love Jesus”. To which she responded in alarm, “you mean they’ll try to kill us?” Such an innocent and yet astute observation from a child puts some of our outlandish claims of wrongdoing in perspective. Is the world really trying to kill us or are we being overly paranoid? Are we simply throwing fits because we didn’t get our way?

Given the current climate of Christianity and its often-hostile interactions with the world around, could it be that Paul’s warnings of “terrible times” will be set into motion by the “Pharisees” of our day and not the world around us, as we have always feared?

What I am referring to are those religious extremists within the militant Pro-Life groups that deliver a “black-eye” to not only the Pro-Life movement, but also Christianity with their anger, hatred, threats and deplorable acts of violence.

I am also alluding to those protesters forever seared into our consciousness carrying incomprehensible and frighteningly hateful anti-gay picket signs that read “Matthew Sheperd is in HELL!” and “God hates FAGS!” (My personal favorite however is one that reads “GOD HATES SIGNS!”).

Not to be outdone are those “talking heads” within Christendom that leave behind a wake of embarrassing and often offensive sound-bits that arrogantly explain God’s purposes for 9/11 and hurricane Katrina, which they later recant and apologize for.

We had a pastor make the news here in Arizona recently for preaching a sermon titled “Why I hate Barack Obama”. He stated in subsequent interviews that he prays every night for Obama’s death so that he will go to hell!”

Meanwhile, in Illinois a group of Christians are rallying together to smear and discredit the professionalism of Hemant Mehta, (author of I sold My Soul on E-Bay) in hopes he will lose his position as a schoolteacher, because he nightlife’s as an atheist blogger. (When this happens to us we call it persecution, when we “do unto others” it is called defending our religious freedoms).

Are we not partially responsible for contributing to the mindset of Christianities detractors? When you consider such “noise” from Christianity, who can blame the “outside” world for their suspicions, fears and defensiveness towards Christianity.

As often as we (Christians) get it wrong, I don’t want to overshadow the many who get it so beautifully right. It may matter little however, because “The world is using our most irate voices to define us” (Mark Steele Christianish).

And we are supposed to be the peacemakers. As the Apostle Paul admonishes, “bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse…be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Oh, how I long to see more of this put into action.

Yet, we often forget the sacredness and humanity of those around us, be it friend or foe, in the eyes of God. Scripture states, “we curse men, who are made in God’s likeness”. If we are indeed created in God’s image, than to curse another is akin to cursing God. Explaining why Jesus was so adamant in his warnings against calling another a “fool”. Which convicts me of my attitudes towards certain co-workers, politicians and evangelicals,

If it were possible to pinpoint the “enemies” of Christianity (which some inexplicably find it their calling to do) than in the very least, according to the teachings of Jesus, we would have identify those who we are to love, serve and extend grace too. Perhaps in that way we will “heap burning coals on their heads” instead of fuel their fires. We are called to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry after all.

To be honest times are a bit dark and scary, but as those who claim to have faith in Jesus we have “not been given a spirit of fear”. We shouldn’t recoil in panic or act out in anger at the “godlessness” around us; our response should be that of love and forgiveness. John the Evangelist beautifully writes, “let us not love with words or tongue but with action and truth”. The unfortunate reality is that no matter the sincerity of our words and testimony, they are being made irrelevant at the hands of these small factions of so-called “Christians”. The world around us will have to come to know whom we represent by our tangible acts of love.

No Guarantees or Promises

Already incredibly blessed by the birth of our daughter Grace, My wife and I “decided” shortly thereafter that it was time for a little brother or sister. However, as the pages on the calendar continued to turn months into years we had become that “heartbreaking story” of a young couple that couldn’t conceive. I reluctantly put on a brave face feebly masquerading as a strong pillar on which my heartbroken wife could lean upon. Meanwhile, she bravely bore the discouragement and despair whether she was fielding phone calls from friends who “just called to share their good news” or while simply opening those colorful baby shower invitations at the mailbox.

There is a feeling of helplessness being at the mercy of nature and God without having much input into the matter. It is especially frustrating when friends, family and even teenagers all around you are getting pregnant either incredibly easily or by accident, like “oops, we didn’t mean for that to happen?” Yeah, as if they didn’t know anything about how this whole thing happens. I worked with one guy who had three little girls in the time we were simply hoping for one (too much to ask?) who joked that he had to be careful how he looked at his wife. I felt little sympathy for him.

Finally, after tossing out our fair share of negative pregnancy tests into the wastebasket (obviously failing pregnancy tests isn’t very “Green”), we got a faint blue line. Of course my wife was pretty ecstatic, whereas I remained emotionally guarded, figuring there was a possibility that it could be a mistake and considering our continual heartbreak, I wasn’t going to allow what little hope I had remaining to be extinguished.

As each day followed that blue line that had remained “allusive” for so long became stronger and brighter. My wife literally danced around me while I sadly continued to give a half smile with fingers crossed in hopes of evading any “bad news”. I found it extremely difficult to simply let go and trust that this was for real without the fear that the rug might be pulled out from beneath us.

Fortunately for the sake of my sanity the pregnancy continues to progress normally (“we will have a boy in October). Through those first few weeks and months of the pregnancy the reoccurring spiritual theme for me was trust. In fact, I could hear the ghosts from churches past echoing in my ears the refrain, “trust God and everything will be okay”, or the more sinister, accusing and guilt infused “don’t you trust God?”

I do trust God, Yes, but I am aware of the realities of life. Good Christian people who trust in God suffer tragedy and lose at the same rate as the “heathens” all around us. As witness by my physical and emotional bruises, scabs and scars that I have endured throughout my lifetime, trust and faith in God is not a cure all, guarantee of protection against ever being hurt or let down. Yeah, I trust a good God, a God who nonetheless allows tragedy, death, sickness and sadness to befall his children.

It is easy for us to say we trust God when life is rolling along smoothly while we testify to Gods goodness and shout “hallelujahs” in church, but how about those times when we are harvesting nothing but lemons? Job, a man who suffered more than any of us can imagine, made one of the greatest statements on the subject, saying, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” So trusting in God for me means being willing and prepared to accept “trouble” with hope place firmly in His promises that He will see me through.

Sure, I could “trust” God more, exercising my “spiritual muscles” with extra time spent in prayer and perhaps fast from food for a period of time, but that won’t necessarily ensure anything or change the will of God for my life. It may simply strengthen my faith in preparation of enduring life’s disappointments and lose (Yippee!). Contrary to what many people believe and teach, the amount and strength of ones faith is not a gauge in which God delves out rewards and punishments.

Those who offer the suffering, doubting or hopeless soul a simple “you just have to trust God!” as encouragement must have forgotten the examples of those who throughout scripture wholeheartedly trusted in God like Job, Joseph, King David, The Apostle Paul and even Jesus. Each one surrendered their full trust to God and yet still experienced brutal trials and tribulation throughout their lifetimes. The silver lining on this particularly “depressing” example is that in the end all of them were blessed because they endured and remained true to their faith.

When we pray “thy will be done”, we are often in a way, naively releasing things into the hands and control of a God who never promised to protect us from all the difficulties of life but a God “who in all things works for the of those who love Him”. I have heard that quoted countless times after the passing of close friends and family as sort of a mantra of comfort. I cling to that promise tightly, in some cases still awaiting those promised results.

Scripture instructs us to “trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding”. The underlining current of this statement is that life, more often than not, will refuse our demands that it make any sort of sense. Which, upon pondering further simply says to me “This is going to hurt a bit”.

Can we trust God? Well, look at his track record for yourself. However, a better question may be do we trust that God has our best interests at heart? I trust in a God whose “ways are not my ways”, A God that asks us to trust Him as He calls us to step out of the boat and walk to Him, who waits two days too long before visiting a loved one on their death bed and who sleeps comfortably while we weather the torrential storms on the sea. Often times we need a graceful reminder that He does indeed have our best interests at heart especially when that conclusion is clouded by the lose of a job, the failing health of a loved one, a deteriorating relationship and seemingly unfulfilled and unattainable desires or dreams.

Although appearing to be a bit of a “sacrilegious” quote, I can understand the feelings behind author Samuel Butler saying, “to put one's trust in God is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it”. Sometimes it does feel that way doesn’t it? Most certainly the act of placing ones trust in God should be done with much consideration and weighting of the cost. It isn’t for the half-hearted of fair-weather soul. As Brennan Manning put it in his book Ruthless Trust, “Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic…it requires heroic courage to trust in the love of God no matter what happens to us.” Although it may often seem as if we are “rolling the dice” when we place our complete trust in God, He will continually prove His trustworthiness as we courageously place our trust in Him.

The topic of trust brings to mind the chaotic Hollywood movie chase scenes in which the driver turns to his passenger who is cowering in his seat with white knuckles and says “trust me, I know what I am doing”, as he recklessly crashes through fruit stands and runs red lights while narrowly missing innocent pedestrians.

So with a wild-eyed expression on my face and white knuckles gripped tightly to my seat I continue to trust God as He navigates me through this life. I truly believe that He has my best interests at heart and that He is concerned with the smallest details of my life, however, as Mother Teresa was famous for saying “I know God will not give me anything I cannot handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.”