Survey Says!

Ok, so when it comes to religion, was it really news that none of us know what we are talking about? I mean truly, there are dozens of denominations of Christianity just in my neighborhood. Am I really well-versed in all the rules and strata that make up those religions? Not to mention all the other thousands of denominations of Christianity, Judaism, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhism - they all have thousands of denominations within their respective umbrellas, don't they?

And, truly, I highly doubt the survey findings that atheists and agnostics know everything about all religions and therefore are making a more informed decision regarding their faith (of intentional lack thereof).

So what exactly did the survey ask? What did the survey assume? I believe it assumed that religion is the same as one's faith. But mostly, what I run into among believers in Christ is that religion separates people from their faith - that the rules are arbitrary and impede their ability to create a relationship with Christ. That seems to be a national narrative right now: "Relationships not religiosity". More and more believers want to distance themselves from being associated with 'the church' because it presents itself as an institution that has arbitrary rules for the sake of being rules and feeding the coffers of the people who run it.

And that's the real news. That is where this spiritual battle is being lost right now. It's being lost because true believers haven't been fully engaged in the church since it's inception. As a result, hundreds of years and layers and layers of rules and practices that seem way removed from the Bible, have built an institution that seems like a stranger to a lot of people who are in love with Christ. The real news is that we people who are in love with Christ, need to help the church purge it's centuries of sin collection and rehabilitate it with Christ's guidance. The real news is that we don't know much about denominations because they seem irrelevant to God's will because we don't and haven't stayed close and involved.

We indeed are the church. We are the religion. But the corrupt institution represents us. Instead of wither and complain, we believers need to be more courageous and active in coming to the church's defense, and yes learn more about it. The more we learn, the more we can change it.

And then, and also, the more we learn about other religions, the more we can change God's global impact and rip holes in Satan's wide net which was re-cast yesterday with the news of this survey about religious ignorance among Christians while implicitly touting the wisdom of atheists. But we can't fight a world battle for God until we rehab ourselves as one called Christ's bride. It's all of our responsibility.

Evolution of a Believing Wife's Prayer

"Dear God, please FIX my husband."

"Dear God, please break by husband."

"Dear God, please transform my husband."

"Dear God, please come into my husband's life and help him see you."

"Dear God, please put another Christian man into my husband's life to FIX him."

"Dear God, please send someone into his life and change him to be the husband I want."

"Dear God, when will you send someone to fix my husband?"

Dear God, please help me see my marriage through your eyes."

"Dear God, I AM THE PERSON YOU HAVE SENT. AREN'T I?

"Dear God, please forgive me for treating you like a short-order cook. Help me to be the gift to my husband that you have designed me to be, and help him be the leader you have made him to be."

"Dear God, help me to be a living example of your love for my husband."

"Dear God, thank you for loving my husband enough to send him a woman like me."

"Dear God, thank you for my husband and our marriage."

"Dear God, thank you for your patience, love and blessings on our life together."

"Dear God, today I saw my husband through your eyes."

"Dear God, today I understood your wisdom in pairing me with my husband and see how I can be his true and perfect helper here on earth and your partner in his salvation. Thank you for loving him so much, that you would die for him."

If You Are A Married Christian, You MUST Read This

If you are a married Christian (man or woman) you must read the book by John Piper, This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence. "Why?" You may ask. Here's why. Nowhere is there a better direct extrapolation of what a marriage is between a man and woman than in this book. It will blow you away with the truth and show you the hope.

Have you ever heard anyone say, "Oh, I left him because he was our spiritual leader, he lead us in prayer every night, read devotions with the kids, encouraged me to go to Women's ministry, was in a men's Bible Study, provided for us, and made us feel safe in tough times." ? No. I doubt it.

Have you ever heard anyone say, "Oh, I had to leave her because she was such a great support and resource for advice with out being overbearing, because she knew what I needed before I even could say it, because she was too passionate, always laughed, managed our money, and made me feel really significant."? No, I really doubt it.

Look guys, do you know how much sex you would have with your wife if she caught you initiating a devotion with your kids? Praying with HER? Asking her about her prayer life? Asking her to read the Bible to you? Telling her you want to protect her? Oy Vey! It is so easy! Leadership is not being bossy - it's being humble and being, well, the guide.

Married Christians owe it to themselves and their spouses to read the Bible (first and foremost) and then read this book for John Piper's dissertation on the parallel between marriage of a man and woman; and marriage of Christ and His church. With laser precision he looks at marriage the way God designed it, and it turns out....it's a really loving, respectful, undyingly passionate, deep and permanent relationship.

After I read it, I felt like, "Gosh, why don't more people 'get it'?" How could there be so many divorces or unhappy, unfulfilled people if they are following God's plan? The answer must be that we are NOT following God's plan, but some other world plan. The plan that brainwashes us with what society thinks of marriage collectively. Well, guess what I have found out? Most of society (especially Christians) don't actually read the Bible directly, and therefore believe what they hear...allow outside programming to determine what we think marriage ought to be and what it really is.

So look: if you want a lot of sex, want a lot of appreciation, want a lot of respect, want a lot of leadership (spiritual, emotional), want a lot of tools to take care of you, want a lot done for you...then read this book, and the Bible - side by side.

Crossed The Line

Somewhere I crossed a line of looking at my life in terms of ‘what should I do today?’ to ‘I don’t have much time left!’ On the one side of the line, life is endless and I never practically or daily thought of life in terms of when it ends. Well, I knew life had an end to it, but I never thought about it. Just kind of took things as they came. Do well and be nice to others and someday way down the line somewhere, it will all be accounted for…you know when I someday meet Jesus. The end was always quite off in the blurry distance.

Maybe it’s because I’m in my forties my perspective has shifted. Now, I think about the end all the time, and, am I using my time wisely, or what can I do before my life comes to an end, or, there isn’t much time left, or, what can I do with the time I have left? Even though I don’t know when I am going to die, every day I feel like – if I had to be judged today, by Jesus…if I died today, would I be invited to heaven? It’s this salvation mentality. It’s not something that I am intentional about. It’s just there. I don’t know why I think like this. Each new day makes me really focus on my salvation and what I am doing about it – am I doing enough, serving enough, boldly preaching enough, honoring enough, praising enough, praying enough? I don’t know.

And honestly, most days, I feel like I don’t deserve heaven. Not if I died today.

Even though I am in love with Jesus above all my other relationships, I feel so far short of deserving an eternity with him. I feel like the more I know him, the cleaner I become, and the more powerful I become; but at the same time, my old sins, my hidden sins, my evident unbelief, my existing sins, my future sins – they are all under a light brighter than ever. It’s like stadium lights on a petri dish. I feel like all my muck – past, present and future- is naked, exposed and, well, just so out there. And I feel like I have such a huge mess to clean up before that last day. I feel like I have mountains of forgiveness to beg for before that last day.

I feel like it is urgent for me to really pinpoint the size and scope of my personal chasm of unbelief (cause we all have it – no matter how saved we Christians think we are – we all have a certain degree of unbelief), and finally, I feel like I only have a short time to really make a spiritual difference in the lives of my future generations…to lock it in that from me on out, we are fall-face-down-followers-of-Christ.

Then on top of all this chaos of feeling unworthy and knowing it’s true, I doubly feel like that my deep conviction for Christ’s love – that I am so in love – I feel completely out of place in the real world. Only when I am reading the Bible or certain writings from biblical scholars do I feel like I am in my own skin.

I don’t know if any of you reading this can understand what I am talking about. But I think if you are pursuing a life with Christ, you may someday resonate with this awkwardness, urgency, unworthy, yet more whole than ever, feeling. Psalm 90 – written by Moses – was truly what assuaged this feeling today.

Ughh! Fundraisers!

Ughh!

I just sponsored my niece in a ‘swim for cancer’ event. I hate that I did it but at the same time, I feel like I should support my niece in any of her attempts to do something noble, join a cause, be an activist. She's demonstrative, all about actions speaking louder than words. You know how you should never say ‘no’ to a kid who is selling something because you want to encourage and foster their industrious spirit? My feelings on that side of the fence kind of out-weigh my disdain for supporting the ‘cancer machine’… a machine that seems to support the creat-ED rather than the creat-OR. If it were anyone else and not my niece, maybe someone older like my age, I am sure I would have sent them a lecture rather than money.

My lecture would be all about how life is too short to ‘raise awareness’ about the created thorns of this world – how in doing that, it is nothing short of idolatry – how statistics show that these cancer runs, walks, swims and other various fundraisers actually do nothing to help ‘the fight against cancer’ – but they themselves are simply a self-sustaining cottage industry that only serve to sooth and inflate those who participate.

I wish for every dollar I spend that the sponsored in return would pray 1 prayer asking for forgiveness on (behalf of mankind for causing this humongous sin-generated thing called cancer), and wisdom (on discerning God’s will for victims of cancer). I pray that they would actually spend our money and their time caring for victims of cancer, face-to-face, and not act like victims themselves….because the money raised does not go anywhere near the pot that is used for finding cures. I believe God sees these fundraisers and the people who participate, running around like little ants, and perhaps wonders, “do they really think their effort will cure cancer?”

But who am I to assume that God himself is not at the origin of cancer fundraisers? After all, in the face of cancer we are all victimized either directly or by association. And God raises people up to care for each other, support each other, comfort each other. Through others, through our horizontal relationships, we find His great power for grace, peace, and healing. These fundraisers may be His offering for those who know victims of cancer…those who need to reach out to others for support and unity …those who need comfort and courage in a time of fear…Those who need to know God is with them.

These fundraisers may be God’s way of empowering and energizing those who are willing to fight, those who are His hands and feet of this world’s massive spiritual battles, those who need encouragement and ideas on how they, personally, can make a difference… Those who are willing to do something rather than sit at their computers and rant…like me.

Hey, you know what? Maybe it’s not so bad after all. Maybe my niece is doing the right thing, and I am an idiot. In this world, we are either part of the problem or part of the solution…there is no in between. And if my niece supports others while swimming this swim – guess what? She is part of a grand solution…even if it is not overtly calling people to focus on the goal (God), but rather forcing people to set their eyes on cancer (sin), these fundraisers provide an excuse for people, who matter to God, to be comforted and empowered against the enemy. And that makes me super proud of her and super embarrassed to be me - who sits here merely thinking about it.

Thank you Jesus for people like my niece.