I remember driving from Great Bend, Ks, to some secluded mountain park in Colorado that I couldn’t get you to today if you paid me a million dollars. I was an early grade schooler with the family at an annual family reunion.

At some point in the afternoon the kids were getting hungry and restless, but dinner was still a couple hours away. That’s when my step dad and uncle decided to take the kiddos on a little mountain hike.

You know, something just long enough to distract the kids and be back in time for the big ol’ potluck.

It was fun at first, and as a kiddo, I wasn’t keeping track of time, but even a mildly ADD child like myself could tell we’d been out there too long.

So, I started paying attention to some details before I made the discovery:

• Step dad and uncle kept having us rest while they stepped aside for a ‘whispered’ argument
• Uncle took off his T-shirt and started tearing strips off and tying them to trees
• The look of terror on their faces when we kept finding those pieces of his shirt

It all lead to my conclusive discovery: there was no denying it, we were lost!

Though the adults never admitted it, all the kiddos new we were lost when we emerged from the tree line just after dark and all the mommas lost it.

Lots of hugging’ and cussin’ (the former at the kids, the latter at the men).

It’s a painful thing to be lost. It’s a scary thing to be lost and not know it.

Still, lostness is one of the dominant issues of the gospel.

• The story of Genesis describes the beginning of our lostness.
• The Old Testament chronicles a people of lostness.
• The Gospels find the answer to lostness.
• The entirety of the New Testament is manual for lostness recovery.

In fact, Jesus gave His personal vision/mission statement in Luke 19:10 when He said, “The Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost.”

That’s what Jesus is all about, the reason He came and the purpose of the cross and the grave. Lostness is a condition that is curable, and Jesus doesn’t have the answer, He is the Answer.

I don’t think there is a Christian alive who denies the centrality “lostness” as a biblical theme. We are even grateful, awestruck and worshipful about it. One of the church’s favorite songs includes the line, “I once was lost but now I’m found.”

The problem isn’t with our own appreciation for being found, forgiven, rescued and redeemed. The problem is the disconnect for those who are still lost.

Pastor Perry Noble has said, “Found people find people.”

Pastor Ed Young, Jr, echoed, “The radically rescued, rescue radically.”

We need to rekindle an urgency, a passion, a fire for reaching the lost!

It is our responsibility.

Our church is about to start a series called LOST focusing on the 3 parables of Jesus concerning lostness. We often see the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son as messages of grace and mercy for those who have wandered and squandered in life.

But, if you read closely, Jesus had a deeper meaning. Obviously, grace and mercy extended to the lost is an appropriate application of these stories.

However, the fact that Jesus told all three stories in a row, to an audience of the over-churched (known as the pharisees), in response to church people talking smack about the lost gives these three stories a much dire inference.

Jesus wasn’t talking to the lost… He was talking to the found. He was making it very clear that found people find people, the radically rescued rescue radically and that if we are going to be like Jesus we have to be about His mission: to seek and save the lost.

So, here’s what we are going to do: pray for those you know who are not going to church, invite them to services with you (again and again and again), serve them in whatever ways you can that will draw them to Jesus, and talk to them about what Jesus means to you.

By the way, on that last one, you can’t really mess up your own story… it’s your story, so, have no fear.

Whatever church you attend, make sure that you are on a mission. This weekend, bring someone with you because if you are going to be like Jesus, you have to make your passion, mission and desire seeking what He is seeking.

When you go to the doctor they take a nice little hammer thing and smack you. Even if they just tap you on the knee you usually want to punch him them in the face. Not that it really hurts, it’s just a reflex, right?

So, what is a reflex? In combining the best definitions I’ve seen it’s an “involuntary natural response to stimuli.”

I love the phenomenon of the reflex. It really shows you what you’re made of!

When you scare somebody, and I mean you scare somebody good, like jumping out of a closet with a plastic knife in the middle of the night when they were just about ready to collapse into their hotel bed… man, I love that.

The responses from individuals in that particular setting are as numerous as burger joints in an ever ‘expanding’ US of A!

• You’ll see tiny little females ball up their fists and go at you like a rabid wolverine.
• You’ll see big strapping men cower in a very pansy, yet Heinemann, like way and shriek like little girls.
• You’ll see some people stand there with their legs frozen and their eyes bulging out of their head, twisting at the torso trying to run, but those legs just won’t do anything.
• You’ll hear Godly people just getting home from church use some… er, colorful language.

The response doesn’t really matter, if you’re the victim it’s never a good thing. But, if you are the scare perpetrator… It’s awesome!

That knee-jerk response, that instinctual behavior, that reflex; it really shows us what’s going on inside. When we don’t have time to think about it, orchestrate it, or playact we really find out what is in our head and heart.

It reminds me of something Mark Batterson says in his book called Primal: “In my experience its much easier to act like a Christian than it is to react like one. Anyone can put on an act. But your reactions reveal what is really in your heart. And if you love God with all your heart you won’t just act like it. You’ll react like it.”

The reflex is the great outer of the hypocrite. We may put on a pretty good show, but when we come into financial distress, relational difficulty, or almost anything that life seems to hand out on a regular basis, we get squeezed and what comes out is just what comes out. It is what it is.

That’s why it’s so important that we don’t focus on keeping up appearances. What we need to really invest in are the core integrity issues of the faith. We don’t want to look good, we want to be on the road to becoming good because of what Jesus Christ has done and is doing in our lives.

Sometimes I worry that our message of grace has gone so far that we don’t expect people to conform any longer to the image of Christ. In fact, we are so full of Grace that we use God’s forgiveness and Jesus’s sacrifice as an excuse and a license to keep being who we’ve always been. But, never forget Jesus was in the business of changing lives!

Where there used to be anger, we should start seeing the growth of patience. Where there used to be greed, we should see the blossoming flower of generosity. Where there used to be lust, we should begin to see the roots of self-control!

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

You see, you can react like Jesus, because He lives in you.

If you call yourself a Christ follower it’s important to remember that you no longer possess the right to be static. We are to be changing, improving, becoming more Christ like. We are called to Grow up!

So, it will take some time and a whole lot of effort, but we should be moving from the realm of acting like Christians to reacting like Christ followers. As we grow up we choose to do the right things, develop Godly disciplines and make better choices so many times that it becomes an issue of spiritual muscle memory:

1. Go to church and worship God even when you don’t feel like it so that worship becomes a part of your life, not your weekend.
2. Turn off the tv and log out of FaceBook to give yourself some Bible time. I know you don’t understand it all, but it’s not going to get any easier if all your freetime is spent posting that you’re bored and watching YouTube videos.
3. Do somebody else some good. Volunteer at church, the crisis pregnancy center, a local school… It really doesn’t matter where. Just start living outside yourself for reasons bigger than yourself.

If you start displaying these disciplines in your life, you will be shocked just how quickly you are transformed from acting like a Christian to reacting like one.

And, there’ll be no need to punch anyone in the face.

That’s one of those complimentary questions we ask someone to show we are impressed with their performance. Sometimes we ask it in utter awe, legitimately amazed at their display of physical strength, mental aptitude and spiritual perseverance.

They are life skill jugglers, and we bow in respect at their ability to endure, thrive and get it all done.

Other times we ask the question with a hint of disdain. We’re not impressed with them, in fact, we’re kind of ticked!

Here, let me translate. On those occasions, the question “How do you do it?” can be translated in these ways:

*What’s wrong with you?
*You’re going to kill yourself
*Are you sure you should be doing all this?
*Knock it off, dude! You’re making us all look bad.

No one likes the guy who blows the curve, but you have to show them some respect. After all, they are apparently doing better than us. So, we continue to say it: “How do you do it?”

It doesn’t matter if you are impressed, or peeved, it is a legitimate question to ask and wonder where some people get their strength.

I was having a conversation this morning with a friend and wonderful Christian man. By the way, when I say “wonderful Christian man” I don’t mean it in that funeral kind of way. It seems like everyone who dies was a wonderful person, that we’re all going to miss dearly.

Just once I’d like to see an honest funeral. You know, one where the eulogy contained phrases like “Couldn’t stand him,” “Not my favorite,” or “Good riddance!” Don’t get all offended, you know you have a list. It’s a sin issue, we’ll just pray through it.

Anyway, this guy is what I said, a wonderful Christian man. He’s generous, spirit-filled, a little ornery and whole lotta fun. We were having a conversation because he was just diagnosed with cancer.

I wondered how he would take the news, and what the Big C would do to his spirit.

As we met, he joked and spoke about family plans for the coming weekend. Even we Godly people will play a good round of “Lets Avoid The Issue” on occasion. But, we finally sat down for coffee and got real.

He talked about the moment when the doctor gave him the news. He detailed all the potentially difficult things his future holds. Mostly, we looked into the scariest pages of all… the unknown.

Right in the middle of all that he said something that just blew me away. He said, “Well, it’s not like I shouldn’t have cancer. I’m a sinner like everyone else. It’s just something I’m going to have to deal with.”

Where was the denial? How about a little anger? What, no pot shots at God?

How’d he do that?

Truth is that it doesn’t matter whether the task is big and impressive to all who witness your accomplishments, or small and unnoticed by anyone but you. Whatever is before you, you have to have the strength for the task.

Later in the day, God taught me what was going on in my friend.

I went into the gym to do my normal workout… and it killed me. Literally, I’m dead even as I type this. (It’s not lying when you’re blogging, its called gross exaggeration and it’s a literary device. Don’t judge me.)

Now, I remember high school football workouts that worked me over. I remember running outside in mid-August until I hurled. I have even done Pure Cardio with Shaun T in then Insanity program. In a word, it was insane!

But, today my normal, old, boring workout just killed me. I had to use lighter weight, I sweat like a dumb kid in college, and I had to give up early. Why?

I just didn’t have the strength today.

That’s the real deal. The people who go through amazing trials and overcome incredible obstacles often don’t have some secret to their success. True, sometimes the difference between us and them is a little laziness on our part, but other times what lies at the core of our amazement is a strength that seems to transcend them and their efforts.

That’s exactly what it is. A strength from above:

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

This is my prayer for you. Whether your task is large or small, that you would have the strength of the Father within you.

Because the task really isn’t the issue. The hardest thing you’ve ever done is the thing you didn’t have strength for…

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.

Don’t work harder. Don’t look for tips and tricks. Seek the face of the Father and may He fill you with His strength for whatever it is that’s beating you down.

Now, that’s how you do it!

They were going through the Seven Deadly Sins this semester and wondered if I’d speak to one of them. I couldn’t resist… I picked sloth.

I said I was passionate about sloth… and I get right to work on it… I would diligently pour myself into sloth… if you aren’t getting the humor here, text a friend and ask for help.

In case you are wondering, the Seven Deadly Sins are not a Biblical grouping, but a teaching of the ancient/Catholic church include:

• Pride
• Avarice
• Luxury
• Envy
• Appetite
• Anger
• Sloth

If you are really interested, you can always learn more about it at WIKIPEDIA, and usually half of what you find there is accurate.

If you are a regular in our faith community I am sure you have heard these illustrations before, but it was a fun challenge to speak on such a unique and narrow subject. Hope you enjoy!

The Sin of Sloth from Andy Addis on Vimeo.

Almost anything.

Anything is better than that.

Still, that was today for my bride and I as the kiddos slept in at Grandmas. We spent a small fortune (as opposed to the large fortune it could have been) and got about 90% of what we hunted.

We dominated Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target Mart and Home Depot Mart and even squeezed in a romantic breakfast for two at IHOP Mart.

While we were wolfing down some pancakes (actually, I was wolfing… Kathy never wolfs… she delicately cuts, slowly eats and cutely chews… she never wolfs) we were discussing how crazy some people were.

Every year we see stories on the news about how two soccer moms nearly clubbed each other to death with a Christmas ham and an extra value pack of jumbo wrapping paper at a discount store over some Tickle Me Elmo.

Oh, pardon me. This year it’s a robot hamster. My bad.

So over breakfast we recounted tales of inappropriate human behavior.

I shared how the wicked witch of Wal-Mart put a hex on me for not having an ESP-like knowledge of her desire to purchase a card table and chairs. “There are only twelve of these and 16 of us have been waiting longer than you!”

And a happy 4:45 am to you too, my dear.

I wanted to respond, “Yeah, but I’m bigger than you, so, if you don’t want a broken nose, I’d head over to Target before I get done here and move over there to take more stuff away from you.”

Instead, I opted for, “Oh, I’m sorry.” (You can envision me meekly pushing my cart away, just like the Apostle Peter would have if he were hitting Black Friday… aren’t you proud?)

I crammed some pancake in my mouth, with sugar free syrup cause that makes it all better, and let Kathy recount what happened on her end of the store.

With those “you’re never going to believe this” eyes, she started in: “I was lined up to get this oversized doll for your niece right next to this woman, and just before 5 when they released us, her husband started coaching her. He was saying, ‘Elbows, baby. Use your elbows.’”

Now, I have to tell you.

You really shouldn’t mess with Kathy. One of her favorite expressions for talking about difficult people is, “Oh, they better be glad I’m not married to them. He’d been buried in a shallow grave in the back yard years ago.”

I always laugh, but when we fight… I sleep with one eye open.

All kidding aside, she got through her episode with the Karate Girl and Kansas Miyagi with her witness intact.

She rocks.

I pushed away from the breakfast table with a full belly and with more than just a little haughtiness that we didn’t act like those animals that were shopping with us.

A little later in the day, after the shopping was starting to fade into memory I had to put on a suit and go perform a small wedding at the church.

When all was said and done and I was making an exit from the building as the last guy there, which happens a lot, something very quiet, yet illuminating happened.

I turned off a light only to see the warm glow of a room at the other end of the hall in the opposite direction I was heading.

I ignored it and hit the next light on my route out and saw another room aglow just a few steps away. This time I walked over and turned it off.

Then in the last few steps I noticed the main hallway lights still burning, and even though those switches were further away than any of the  others I had flicked on my exit, I headed over to turn them off.

For whatever reason, the Lord had me process my decision making on this exit. You know we all process and calculate our decisions for the mundane things faster than we actually understand them, but here is what came out of my light-flicking illumination:

• Why am I turning off lights anyway? It saves the church money. It’s being a good steward. You’re the last man out, so the responsibility is yours. And, though it’s not in the official personnel description (chief light flicker), it is your job.
• When I noticed the first light on at the end of the long hallway I chose to ignore it. Why? “Dude, that’s at the other end of the building. I’m supposed to get two days off for this holiday and I’ve worked both of them. One light isn’t going to kill anybody. I’m gonna make like a tree and disembark.”
• When I noticed the second light closer, I turned it off. Why? “Well… they still owe me, but this one’s close. I’ll get it.”
• When I noticed the main hallway lights on I turned them off without hesitating. Why? “Duh? It’s the first thing people see when they come in the building, and if I leave these on someone will call me on it.”

So, let’s recap.

• I left the first light on because I’m selfish and feel the world owes me something, I’m just that good. That’s a gross sense on entitlement.
• The second light I turned off because I’m lazy, just not that lazy.
• The third light (main hallway) I turned off almost as a reflex because even though I am self-focused, self-pitying and lazy… I still want to look good in front of people.

It was in that moment I loosened my tie a little and realized my behavior isn’t much better than those department store barbarians from earlier in the day. I’ve just learned how to sanitize my image for public consumption.

Maybe you do the same thing. If you so, here’s some Biblical advice for us both.

First, when we start operating in that sense of entitlement when we think someone owes us something, or we deserve better, remember this:

Job 38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.

He said:

² “Who is this that darkens my counsel

with words without knowledge?

³ Brace yourself like a man;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?

Tell me, if you understand.

⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶ On what were its footings set,

or who laid its cornerstone—

⁷ while the morning stars sang together

and all the angels^a shouted for joy?

⁸ “Who shut up the sea behind doors

when it burst forth from the womb,

⁹ when I made the clouds its garment

and wrapped it in thick darkness,

¹⁰ when I fixed limits for it

and set its doors and bars in place,

¹¹ when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;

here is where your proud waves halt’? ^[1]

This goes on for two full chapters before:

The Lord said to Job:

² “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?

Let him who accuses God answer him!”

³ Then Job answered the Lord:

⁴ “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?

I put my hand over my mouth.

⁵ I spoke once, but I have no answer—

twice, but I will say no more.” ^[2]

Truth is God, this world and those in it owe us nothing. We should act out of our own sense of what God’s word says is right or wrong, regardless of the circumstances.

Second,  when our actions are lacking due to laziness, remember this:

Proverbs 6 ⁶ Go to the ant, you sluggard;

consider its ways and be wise!

⁷ It has no commander,

no overseer or ruler,

⁸ yet it stores its provisions in summer

and gathers its food at harvest.

⁹ How long will you lie there, you sluggard?

When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest—

¹¹ and poverty will come on you like a bandit

and scarcity like an armed man^[3]

Apparently, God does not tolerate laziness and we shouldn’t reward it in others or in ourselves.

Third, when we do what we do because of the people watching, remember this

Matthew 6 “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.^[4]

This really is the point, isn’t it? Why we should do what we should do.

So that your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Not rewarded by the public, not rewarded by yourself, but by the One.

May this holiday and every season be the season of action as you do what you should do, for the right reason.

^[1]The Holy Bible  : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Job 38:1-11.

^[2]The Holy Bible  : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Job 40:1-5.

^[3]The Holy Bible  : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Pr 6:6-11.

^[4]The Holy Bible  : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Mt 6:1-4.

In this video we can explore the possibility that we are spending too much time of the symptoms and not enough on the disease.

Matthew 15:19

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

To watch the same video in your external player, use this link:

Symptoms

For the video, just hit play and give it a few seconds to load!

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

email Andy directly

We simply moved our adventure to KOA Addisland. Yep, we’ve all done it; camping in the backyard, that is. This would be my boy’s first experience.

Hot dogs and smores over an open fire, a six-man tent pitched in record time (3.5 hours… I didn’t say which record),  and a complete lack of bathrooms. Oh, we had them, but we made the boys go outside to increase the authenticity.

Never should have started that… they’d rather ‘water the lawn’ than all the other civilized options to this day.

Finally, after pointing out some constellations and watching the fire die, we headed into the tent for what Kat and I were assuming would be the worst night’s sleep of the year.

After a few giggles and prayer, we started to drift off into the quietness of what my wife calls ‘Sleepytown.’

But, our trip was derailed by a comment from our eldest from out of the dark:

“Dad,” Noah said. “I want to go inside.”

“Me, too,” sheepishly added Nathan.

“What?” I responded. “Why?”

“I’m scared,” Noah said.

“Me, too,” Nathan said.

“That’s silly boys. We’re in our own backyard,” I said. “What could you be afraid of?”

“I’m afraid of monsters,” Noah said.

“Me, too,” Nathan echoed.

Using Daddy Logic, I asked, “Boys, in all the time we’ve lived here just how many monsters have you seen in the backyard?

Noah was silent

Nathan said, “Four.” Confidently.

For the first time… I was a little afraid.

It’s strange how logic can go out the window when we strongly believe something. Even when facts are presented to us, we will rewrite the facts and their interpretation if they challenge our beliefs.

We’ve seen this in extreme cases like conspiracy theorists and UFO hunters… not that they aren’t out to get us, and by they I mean the government AND the aliens.

Given a sliver of information they run with it and create an entire belief system based on potentialities and presuppositions. And, even if they are presented with clear information that undermines their beliefs and causes, they will rewrite, reinterpret, reconfigure to make it all gel, somehow.

Don’t criticize them too harshly. While most of these folks are represented by individuals who are a few Coco Puffs short of a nutritious breakfast, this pattern of behavior is wider spread than the regional Star Trek Convention.

Even seemingly reasonable and intelligent people get caught up in this process, that for lack of a better term, I call rationalization.

My definition? Glad you asked. Rationalization is the uniquely human capacity to deny or change information that challenges a belief system for the purpose of preserving that belief, even at the expense of truth.

• People who want a divorce but were raised with the model that it is wrong… they can rationalize their way into it.
• People who see an easy, but unethical way to advance their careers… they can rationalize their way into it.
• People who don’t want to believe in God or commit to a holy life… they can rationalize their way out of it.
• But, be careful, even devout Christians who live, love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ can be challenged by arguments and philosophies that really need a hard fought answer… they can rationalize their way into easy answers.

We each no someone we hope would explore the beliefs that we have, but it seems like no argument, circumstance or relationship can sway them. They are armored up with titanium-plated rationalization!

This human tendency is why it is so important for us to get our beliefs right from the beginning. If we start living with a false belief system, we’ll get comfortable with it and defend it even in the face of truth.

If we start out on the wrong foot, we will tend to walk miles in the wrong direction. Who wants to turn around after that?

For those friends who ‘kind of believe,’ or family members who are good people but just don’t do the “Jesus thing,” its important that we don’t let them keep walking in the wrong direction.

Because the further you walk in the wrong direction, the harder it will be to admit you are far from where you need to be.

Even when confronted by his father about the ludicrous fears of monsters in the backyard, Nathan rewrote his script and made up a fictitious number to continue his belief that there are monsters, they want to eat us and that four of them live in our backyard.

There is a story in the journey of Paul from Acts that shows just how important it is to have the right faith system from the beginning. It comes right after they are shipwrecked and make it to shore in Acts 28:

Ashore on Malta

Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. ² The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. ³ Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. ⁴ When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. ⁶ The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

The Holy Bible  : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Ac 28:1-6.

In this passage, the Maltisians display three key characteristics of rationalization.

First, they had a faith system. The capital ‘J’ on the word justice in verse 4 indicates that they were talking about more than an intangible concept. In classical Greek, this word dike used for justice was also the name of the daughter of Zeus who rendered judicial decisions over men. You know the blindfolded lady with the sword and the scales we see on courthouses… that’s her. Their belief in her and the other gods lead them to another belief: that if Paul survived the sea only to be killed by a snake the Fates must have it out for him. They even concluded that he was the worst of all criminals, a murderer. Three or four beliefs hinging on each other which lead to obvious conclusions in their mind; they had a faith system.

Second, that faith system lead to expectations. Since the gods had it out for Paul and this snake was the messenger of the gods, they fully expected Paul to kick it! Literally, they all just sat back and waited for Paul to swell up and die. No medical care, no ancient home remedies, no prayers for mercy. They just waited and, according to Scripture, they waited a long time for Justice to do her work. Having the right faith system is important because it frames the expectations we have in life. They had expectations.

Third, expectations built on a faith system lead to ramifications. They believed in the god Justice and expected her to kill Paul, and when it didn’t happen… they had to start rewriting. To protect their belief system, they determined that Justice was a god and since this guy (Paul) didn’t fall to Justice,  he must be bigger than Justice. He’s a god! Wow, were they off, and that’s the problem. They were wrong getting wronger. Expectations built on a faith system lead to ramifications, and if you start out with a faulty faith system, you frame your life with broken expectations and the ramifications will take you even further off course.

So, what’s the lesson here?

• Don’t play the rationalization game. Don’t defend your beliefs at the cost of sacrificing truth. Rather, be committed to your beliefs, but only because you know they are truth: tested, weathered, substantiated, life-changing truth.
• Always be open to have your faith challenged and either changed or strengthened based on what the truth really is.
• And, don’t let those you love live their lives and make decisions based on a belief they defend because its convenient or beneficial to them.

Life, and eternal life, are too important to rationalize away.

I believe that Jesus is the Christ, Son of the Living God and the only way to salvation. I believe this not because I grew up that way, or it’s the most convenient truth for me.

After living, struggling, reading, arguing and growing… I know.

The core of religion (in any faith system) is a focus on rules, regulations and rigorous observation of prescribed behaviors. Sorry, that last one was a bit verbose, but I was looking for another ‘r’ word.

In fact, my good friend Merriam defines religion this way:

re•li•gion \ri-ˈli-jən\ n

1 a  : the state of a religious  nun in her 20th year of religion

b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural

(2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

2   : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

3   archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness

4   : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

Hmmm. Sounds inviting, does it not?

Problem is, what I believe does not fit into this ‘religion’ model without a lot of cramming.

It’s a pretty complex recipe needed to change the teachings of Jesus into a religion. But, have no fear, humans are capable of almost anything; especially if it means taking something beautiful and making it bureaucratic, burdensome and baffling.

Wow, I have got to quit this alliteration thing, it’s driving me nuts and I’m the one doing it.

Here’s the recipe for reducing our resurrection to ritual… seriously, I’m trying to stop:

Jesus ala Religion (AKA: church, Christianity, faith, etc.)

Take one heaping helping of Good News resulting in a relationship with Jesus Christ and then stir in 1 cup of church doctrine debate and a season with church sanctioned Crusades, too taste. Add 3 tbs of institutional church self-preservation and heat over a steady flame for 2,000 years to reduce the dish in its own juices. Remove from heat and let cool. Glaze with a mixture of worship war schisms and health/wealth broth. Slice into well-defined denominational pieces that look exactly the same, but DO NOT let them touch. Use a separate plate or bowl for each piece. Then garnish with a sense of irrelevance and present to no one who is hungry. Only serve this dish to those who have already eaten.

Yes, the incredible story of redemption and reconciliation has been reduced to the rubbish of religion regardless of God’s reasoning to rekindle relationship with His roving ragamuffins… sigh.

Okay, let me back up a little bit. Religion isn’t all bad, but we need to understand religion was given as gift, a tool, a medium of communication or a way of getting somewhere.

But, when we start spotlighting religion, taking up sides and fighting about it, protecting its history at the cost of the present and in spite of our future… religion has lost its way. Rather, we lost ourselves in religion.

Religion is good, no great, if it’s a gift that brings Jesus into someone’s life.

It’s amazing if it’s the tool that opens the door to a realization of our sin and Christ’s provision.

It’s magnificent if it speaks words that draw all men to God.

It’s invaluable if its moves people from places of lostness and brokenness to positions of connectivity and restoration with their God.

Religion is good when it gets us to God. Religion is evil when it becomes our God, no matter what you’re singing or praying about.

Why? Because God gave us religion as a tool, means of communication and way of moving back into relationship with Him.

Imagine going into the garage of someone with a completely restored ‘64 and a half Ford Mustang. With loving and meticulous care they have found all the original parts and they know for sure that this vehicle is true to the original without any error. They protect it in a garage filled with framed pictures of that same model car in dozens of settings.

They have stacks of owners manuals. A laptop opened to www.64andhalf.com. In fact, the more you look around, the less it looks like a garage and the more its looks like a well-kept, well-supplied longue for Mustang enthusiasts.

You notice you are just in time for the weekly gathering. Other Mustang lovers are gathering for their regular time of celebration. That’s when they all get together and the lead Mustang lover (he went to Mustang school) takes out the key and recites the words they love so much: “There was no car like it before, there’s been no car like it since. It’s ‘the’ car. The same yesterday, today and forever.”

Everyone in attendance responds, “Ford, brother!” Then their leader starts up the car there in the garage and they all sit and listen to it idle for 20-30 minutes (ok, sometimes 40) while taking notes in their own service manuals.

Tragic isn’t it. A car like that was made for the open roads, cruising Main St. and carrying the grand marshal of small town parades. Keeping it in a garage is just wrong!

Unfortunately, that’s what we have done with religion. We have exchanged the destination for the ride and built shrines to the way we get their without ever making the trip.

God is interested in restoring relationship with us and religion is only useful if it gets us there!

We see this clearly portrayed in the book of Hebrews:

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵ Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

The Holy Bible  : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Heb 10:19-25.

Jesus came as a sacrifice to replace the religious rituals and places of the Old Testament church: The Most Holy Place, The Temple Veil (curtain), even the Great Priest.

For what purpose? That we could ‘draw near to God’… ah, religion that pointed us to relationship. Now those were the good ol’ days.

The end of this passage exaggerates God’s desire for relationship by connecting the fact that drawing near to Him should draw us into relationship with other believers: And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Between these two relationships, to God and other believers, are four distinct things in the teaching. They are attitudes that we are to have as we draw near to God, and easily extracted from this is the thought that our human relationships ought to push us in the same direction.

So, these four things are indicative of our relationship with God, and should be enhanced by our church connection and small group relationships.

With a sincere heart. God desires authenticity from us and we should also find it in our human relationships. The word sincere in English comes from a Greek business term. In the days of buying clay pots, there were some shysters who would sell you broken pots that were held together with wax in the cracks. Once a glaze was put on them, you couldn’t tell until you filled them with something and either the pressure or the heat broke the pots apart at their point of waxy weakness. So, back in the day, high-end pottery shops marked their wares with a stamp: sinceros. This literally means ‘without wax.’ Sincerity, or authenticity, in our relationships with both God and man means we don’t pretend to be what we’re not. If we’re a cracked pot, so be it. Literally, just that… be it.

In full assurance of faith. We can have ‘complete certainty’ in who God is and what He says He is going to do. As we draw near to Him, we are called to full dependence on Him being exactly what He claimed to be. Our human relationship should support that as well and not undermine our faith. Christian gatherings should move us in the direction of full assurance.

Having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience. In drawing near to God we are reminded that we are now guilt free. The blood of Jesus has made us clean and as we approach Him the approach is absent of regret, condemnation, guilt and fear. Our small groups and church gatherings should celebrate this and not pile up accusations and sins that have already been forgiven.

And having our bodies washed with pure water. Drawing near to God is walking through life with a New Partner. As you journey with your Savior you live differently. A striving toward personal holiness begins to take root in your life, and the groups that you are involved in should move you down that pathway closer to God, not further from Him.

It’s about drawing near, walking with and becoming like our God.

It’s about relationship; our relationship with God and others who follow Him.

We need to make our move to the magnificently majestic miracle mile with the Messiah.

It’s time to reject religion that reduces relationship to ritual and reinstate our rights as the restored and redeemed.

We need to draw near, neglecting the ‘nothing’ promises of a needy netherworld negating naively nocturnal necromancers nor… ok, that one doesn’t even make sense.

We need to appreciate religion for what it can do, but we need to cling to and live in the relationship we’ve been given. First with God, and then with His followers (Mark 12:29-31).

Then we can all truly say, it’s against my relationship to have a religion.

For example, when you’re walking down the street and massive pit bull with foam dripping from its mouth comes running at you, your typical response isn’t, “Nice, puppy!”

It’s fear… run, kick, scream. That’s a good thing.

However, the vast majority of our fears aren’t pit bulls. They aren’t collies, or even kittens. Truth is a good chunk of our fears are like that noise in the basement we  imagine is a serial killer whose been hiding there all day and is waiting until 3:46 AM because of some sick ritualistic obsession of his to come in and pounce on my entire family!

When actually it’s just the sump pump.

I’ve got some potentially scary days ahead and I just wanted to offer you this children’s camp moment as a reminder to Fear Not.

^{2 Timothy 1:7} For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Now, watch the video below!

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If the above link doesn’t work, try one of these:

Fear Not Via YOUTUBE

Fear Not!

Actually, it’s been fun. They are being rewarded for making their end of the year reading goals by getting the afternoon free from class and kicking back to watch a movie here at our facilities. So, with popcorn and cookies in hand these kiddos sat down to watch The Tale of Despereaux.

I had never seen it, kinda cute.

As the movie was getting underway and the plot was setting up, the ‘stinger’ line is given: “A hero never appears until the world needs one“.

Enter title character Despereaux.

A great little movie about bravery, hope and the little guy making it big. But, I started thinking about the premise.

Is it true? Do heros wait to appear when they are needed? Do circumstance create our saviors?

At first, there seems to be some Biblical support for this. Galatians chapter four says:

⁴But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, ⁵to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

Just looking at this verse it appears that God waited to send Jesus until we needed Him, but that can’t be right…

If that logic were correct then it would mean humans hadn’t pegged out the sin meter unil 2,000 years ago, and there was no need for a Savior until Jesus actually made the scene at the BC/AD split.

And, that’s so not true. If you look at Scripture, all through the Old Testament (for thousands of years) God’s people had been looking forward to a Savior, a need for redemption, the hope of a Messiah. Right after creation came was the fall for us all and the promise of a Fix. A Hero was needed from the beginning.

And, obviously its not that we don’t need a Saviour anymore, either. Beleive me, no one is arguing that we got things figured out post-New Testament. Jesus coming at Christmas and dying at Easter as historical events were heroic for all of humanity, but what does this passage from Galatians mean when it says that, “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son”? 

Theologically, it’s less a statement about the coming of the Rescuer and more about the readiness of the rescuees. When Jesus came 2,00 years ago the world was at a crossroads of some firsts during a time period called the Pax Romana (The Peace of Rome):

• For the first time since the Towel fo Babel there was a common/dominant world language (Greek)
• There was a common culturual motiff (Hellenism) that unified the civilized world
• There was an international road system and trade route
• There was more governmental protection and peace than had ever been experienced to date

All of this meant there had never been a better time for a message, a religion, a belief system to gain a foothold and find safe passage all around the world…when the time had fully come, God sent his Son…good timing.

So, this is not a verse about a Hero apearing when He was needed. 

Jesus was needed from the beginning. He is needed today. And, He will be needed for all eternity.

So, while our Tale of Despereaux is a cute flick… it’s stinger line, not a great one to live by.

Too many times as a pastor I have talked with people who have bottomed out, spiritually flatlined and face planted in life. Then, in their moment of complete despair they are shocked and amazed to find that Jesus is their, waiting with arms open wide… well no duh, doofus.

Sorry, I forgot to take my vitamin C for Compassion this  morning.

Jesus doesn’t appear in our lives like some spiritual ninja when we jack it all up. He’s been their all along.

In the real world heros don’t appear when you need them. They are there everyday, but we don’t pay attention to them until we want to, or more correctly, until we have to.

So, if there would be a lesson for us to learn today it’s this: don’t let your life become a Tale of Desperation.

Our Hero, Savior, Messiah, Lover, Redeemer, King, Friend and Lord has already come.

When we wait until the crisis to turn to Him, or we try to write our own novel free of the Hero character until we ‘have to’ write Him in, we are missing some of the best chapters of the story.

We should turn to Him today before we need an even bigger rescue. Our Hero wants to be a part of the everyday storyline.

Jesus wants to be a part of your story today.

SUGGESTIONS:

1. Take a half hour walk alone with your Hero and talk about what the rest of this week will hold

2. Turn off the TV and read a little of the Hero’s tale: I’d start with JOHN  if you don’t know where to begin

3. Download some new inspirational tunes (try David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Aaron Schust, etc.) and get lost in it

4. If you’re new to the CrossEyedLife, spend an hour and read a courple of article.watch a couple of videos

5. Go completely radical and “do something’ the Hero would do! Serve someone today in a radical way.

6. Whatever you do, do something different, or all you did was waste your time reading an article about a cartoon mouse movie… and, that would be stupid.