Today in a spiritual exercise with a small crowd of others, we listened to Acts 10:9-17. We were instructed to listen as it was read to us and even encouraged to close our eyes if we chose to. As it was read, we were instructed to listen for God’s Spirit speaking to us about a particular word or phrase. This is part of the spiritual practice of “Lectio Divina”, something I have been through before, but it has been quite a long time.

As I listened quietly, calmly, and intently to the passage being read, God’s Spirit did in fact speak to me about a particular pair of words. Before I get to them, let me share the passage with you in its entirety. Read this through twice.

⁹ About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰ He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.¹¹ He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ¹² It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. ¹³ Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” ¹⁴ “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” ¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. ¹⁷ While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate.

Were there any words that glimmered for you? Was there anything that caught your attention or pricked your heart? Think about that word or phrase for a moment. Mediate on it quietly, asking God’s Spirit to speak to you as you listen quietly.

The two words that my mind got stuck on were “made clean”. Peter was essentially arguing with God and refusing to call clean what God had clearly given him. From a religious and traditional standpoint, the things contained in the vision were not clean, even though they were clearly being delivered and offered to Peter straight from God.

These two words speak to the completeness I have in Christ and because of what Jesus has done. Jesus has made me clean. Not only that, but He has qualified me to serve in His Kingdom. This is not a statement of arrogance or pride; quite the opposite. I know I am unworthy of His affection and approval. But because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, I am made clean. I am made whole. I am made fit for service.

I’ve been serving young people and their families in a full-time pastoral capacity since 1995. Even after nearly 3 decades of loving and leading the younger generation(s), I still wrestle with my own worthiness. I still have what some call “imposter syndrome”. I still wonder what I have to offer.

At the age of 16, I pushed the pile of mess that was my life across the table to Jesus and said, “Here. You can have it. If you can’t make anything of it, go ahead.” In that moment of surrender, Jesus took my meager offer and embraced me as His own. He took what I put before Him and ever since then has been working, tinkering, tweaking, adjusting, and transforming me day by day.

I hope that there’s something here that’s encouraging or at least thought-provoking to you. If there’s anything you’d be willing to share, I’d love to hear it. Put it below in the comments.

*If you know me, you know I process through doodling. Above is a doodle from today’s Lectio Divina.

For the past 8 days, I’ve been in upstate New York with a group of high school students. It’s always so amazing what happens to relationships when they’re put into that kind of context. We spent most waking (and sleeping) hours together. We saw some incredible sights (like Niagara Falls), met some incredible people (Like Sal & Mama Maria), and we were given opportunities to do some incredible things. 

One of our students had an accident on Monday and long story short, I spent 2 days straight with him in a hospital room. Soon after arriving, I realized I had forgotten deodorant. Not sure if showering would even be an option for me, I really knew that deodorant would be extra important! Thankfully there was a CVS right next to the hospitial, so I walked over and found the deodorant aisle. But when I found the deodorant, I was surprised to see every deodorant under lock and key. There was a big red button (pictured here) to push if you needed help. So I pushed it. Loudly over the speakers, a recorded message declared: “Assistance is needed in the deodorant aisle! Assistance is needed in the deodorant aisle!” I gotta admit: I was a little embarrassed that now the entire store knew that I wasn’t just in need, but that I was maybe not smelling my best. 

I stood there for a couple minutes, waiting. No one came. I thought about pushing it again, but one loud announcement for all to hear about my armpit needs was quite enough for me. So I headed to the front of the store to find someone to help me. I found a store worker and asked for help, so he followed me back to the locked glass case and opened it for me. As he did, he said, “You know, there’s a button right there you could have pushed.” I couldn’t help myself: “I DID!” I responded. “Oh. Sorry. I was busy.” was his reply as he walked away.

We don’t like people to know our needs because, well, then people will know our needs. And they’ll know we actually have needs. And that can only lead them to know one more thing: We’re not perfect. We humans tend to keep our needs to ourselves, thinking that we’ll be looked at differently for having needs at all. Where in the world did we get this idea? I think I know, but I’d like you to think about that for yourself.

Are you living like that store worker, too busy to hear the needs of others being announced around you? Are you too self-absorbed with your busy schedule, your laziness, or your distractedness to even be able to hear the needs around you? This week, try to be intentional in looking for and finding needs God can use you to meet in someone’s life. 

In the conversations I have, hear, read about, and am surrounded by through trainings of various kinds, I can’t tell you how many times the term “post-Christian” has been used to describe American culture in 2024. And while I don’t disagree that we are, as a people, moving undoubtedly toward a reality uncoupled from religion and its vices (and faults), I do not believe we are a people who will ever be without the moorings of spirituality. So where does that leave us?

In the evangelical Church’s efforts to spread the gospel in American society over the past 70 or so years, we have accidentally instead created a structure, an institution, a set of expectations, and even a reality where some are definitely “in” and some are definitively “out”. Here’s the problem: This is all wildly divergent from what Jesus had in mind and more to the point, what He instructed His followers to be and to do. Let’s call it what it is: the biggest, most damaging “oops” in the history of the world.

If you’re someone reading this who would say that you love Jesus (most people do, actually), and if you’d say that your love for Him has radically changed your life and everything in (a vastly smaller crowd), then you might be wondering how the Church might right the ship, so to speak. How does the largest organization in the world rip itself from its status of even being an organization?

First, I believe it starts with moving away from using the term “post-Christian”, which ironically, at least in my experience, is a term only used by Christians. The term may very well be addressing the current perceived reality, but it also is a backwards-facing term. In essence, it speaks to what was more than what is. It’s a term that will keep us on the front porch, rocking slowly in our rockers, reminiscing on the “good ‘ol days”, even though how good they actually were is debatable. So, dropping the term “post-Christian” is a good first step. It isn’t serving a good purpose in any direction.

Instead, we ought to seek to understand the cultural view of Jesus. Not church, not religion, not spirituality, not faith, and not morality. To be blunt: We the people don’t know Jesus. We have a wrong view of who Jesus is. We have a concocted version that is often in stark contrast to the truth of Jesus. In other words, we have our own version of a Jesus we’ve made up, and its inaccurate. That’s not only A problem, but I believe it’s THE problem.

If you’re a follower of Jesus and you need something to label American culture with, how about the term “pre-Jesus”? Where post-Christian looks back longingly, pre-Jesus looks forward hopefully and purposefully. Pre-Jesus unhitches us from the constraints of the past; things that have taken us down rabbit-trails that have led to Christians building walls instead of bridges. The view that America is now a pre-Jesus culture gives us nothing but opportunities. Not to preach with a bullhorn, but to serve with a towel. Not to indoctrinate with a program but to influence with a purpose. Not to push an agenda but to point to a Messiah.

The fact is this: America actually DOESN’T know Jesus. And what the average person thinks they know isn’t correct, so it isn’t helpful. The foundational good news is that most Americans believe Jesus was a real person–that He actually lived here on earth. That’s incredible news and it’s where we should start. According to Barna research, every generation in recent history (last 100 years or so) has a strong belief in the historical truth that a man named Jesus (the one found in scripture) actually walked this earth. Millennials represent the lowest percentage of generational belief, but even they’re at a strong 87%. So anytime you talk to anyone, you can START with a minimum of 87% confidence that that person believes Jesus was a man in history.

What happens next to those percentages is where some of the difficulties start. While most believe that Jesus was a human, far fewer believe He was more than a human. Far fewer people are sure that Jesus was (is) God. If Jesus was only human, we can stop here and simply laud him as a good teacher and a man who did nice things before being accused and executed. End of story. If Jesus was just a man, we can rightly place him on the shelf next to Gandhi, Buddha, Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa. Good people who did good things and then died.

What we must do in our pre-Jesus understanding of American culture is to correct the wrong perceptions of Jesus, paint a better picture of Jesus, and then invite people to be personally embraced and transformed by Jesus. Again, church activities have their place, but emphasizing joining a group over embracing a Savior will only lead us down the road we’ve trod for decades. Our pre-Jesus perspective opens up the doors of opportunity for those who know and love Jesus to live lives that place His nature and character on display in daily, authentic ways. Look at the life of Jesus and see how often He got dirty loving people. It was almost non-stop. Yet to many today, being a “Christian” is little more than cleaning ourselves up once a week, going to a sanctified, tidy location, and repeating a structured regiment of words and songs we’ve created largely for our own entertainment.

The pre-Jesus mindset looks at our culture with wonder and zeal to introduce America to the real Jesus. We get to reframe the common misunderstandings about Jesus and misgiving about His bride, the Church. We get to love one another well, and in doing so establish our strongest apologetic. We get to see each person as Jesus Himself sees them; worthy of His shed blood regardless of their complexion, their income, their status, their ability, their beliefs, and their habits to name a few. We get to be the very representation of the gospel of grace in the world around us.

*What I’ve shared here has been largely nothing more than my inner dialogue up until now. What are your thoughts on any of this? Do you see any differentiation between the concepts of post-Christian and pre-Jesus? Where do you see the church’s efforts falling short? Where is the gospel advancing in your life as you seek to serve others? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

(If you’d like to read more about common beliefs about Jesus, check out Barna’s research here.)