Spiritual Thoughts

SanctifiPod

/ jerrythinks / 9 Comments

I’m not a legalist.  I’m just putting that out there.  I’m not a follower of Jesus who’s in it for the comfort of rules and order.  I think Christians get far too well known for our proverbial “Don’ts” than for anything else.  There are people living right now who reject Jesus and (more accurately) Christians/Christianity because it seems most like a long list of what you’re not allowed to do.  So, before I get into what I’m about to say I want to say first that I hate the fact that I’ve had to say what I just said.  Now that that’s out of the way…

Something happened to me recently that has started/restarted a conversation with myself (yet another) about a specific issue; the issue of practical holiness or as some refer to it as “sanctification”.  I’d like to add to that “daily sanctification”.  Here’s what happened to me:  We recently signed up for Blockbuster’s “Combo Pass” which allows us to take out any movie or video game from our local Blockbuster store for any amount of time.  (If you’re thinking that a pastor shouldn’t be a member at Blockbuster, you might be a legalist.  If you’re not sure, reread the first paragraph.)  The Combo Pass allows us to take any movie or game out, one at a time, and keep it from anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks.  When we return it, we trade it in for any other item we’d like.  There’s a flat monthly fee and since we use Blockbuster a bit and since the monthly fee for this month is 50% off ($7.50 for the  month), we thought we’d give it a shot.  In a nutshell, we’ve used it to the hilt.

So, a couple of Friday’s ago I had the day off.  All the kids were in school, my wife was at work, and I was essentially on my own to do whatever I felt like doing.  I decided that I’d head to Blockbuster and get a video game to play.  I thought I’d try that “Black Ops” game everyone seems to be abuzz over, but when I looked over the selection, I decided on what I thought would be a bit tamer: Goldeneye 007 (A James Bond movie-based game).  With a few hours to kill and a video game under my arm, I headed home.

I put the game into the machine and was soon underway on my first spy mission.  Goldeneye is known as a “FPS”-style game, or “first person shooter” game.  The screen is filled with the images I would see as I walk through bunkers, up stairs, and around corners on my way to the rendezvous point.  Graphically, it was pretty cool.  But as anyone who plays or knows FPS games can tell you, the word “shooter” in the title is pretty much the whole point of the game.  So, as I glided, ducked, and snuck my way through the game’s first level, I had to–ahem–shoot people.

I could really draw this out, but I’ll just cut right to the chase.  Within about 30 minutes of playing this “first person shooter” game, I began to feel physically ill.  I quickly concluded that the stress of the game, the imagery of the shooting, the pressure of the mission, and the overall fantastical experience of being that shooter for 30 minutes had truly been detrimental to my mind, and quite literally my body as well.

I returned the game to Blockbuster within a couple hours of picking it up and the whole experience soon faded from my mind.  That is, until today.

I knew that today would be the day I’d cut the grass and for me, every chore is better with music.  So, I fired up my Pandora radio (built into my phone), chose the “80s Throwback, 90s Comeback” station, yanked the cord on the mower and started out on the work at hand.  I listened to the likes of Bon Jovi, John Cougar Mellencamp, and GNR.  And it was during that second Guns ‘N Roses song that I began to notice something.  Not quite as acute as my 007 incident, but I could have sworn that I had literally begun to feel “down”.  I can’t say that it was entirely physical though there was an element of that.  I suppose its best described as a “soul blah”.   Now I want to restate right here that I don’t think people who listen to secular music are bound for hell because they listen to secular music.  In fact, I own and enjoy several albums of non-Christian musicians.  Its just that I can’t deny the effect that this music was having on me.  Recalling my half hour as James Bond, I decided that right then and there I would stop the mower, change the station to one that played Christian/worship music and see what happened.  Guess what?  I almost instantly began to feel lifted, stronger, and overall better.  Again, I’m not proposing that Christian music is magical; I’m only conveying MY experience right there in my yard this morning.

As a man who decided over 20 years ago to turn it all over to Jesus and His Lordship of my life, I must confess to you that as I get older, I see a direct connection between His Lordship and my sense of peace and ease.  Not at all that full surrender brings full bliss and problem-free living, but rather that full surrender brings confidence and certainty while the opposite brings, well, the opposite.  The Bible puts it this way, “You will keep him in perfect peace who’s mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”  (Isaiah 26:3)

Daily sanctification is the result of the day-to-day choices we make as to who we’re going to follow.  Those choices reflect our heart, for better or for worse.  And while its arguable that video games and music choices play a minor role in our overall holiness, I’d submit that they play just as much an integral a part as any other choice we can make; from running that red light to stealing that item to committing that adultery to ending that life.  How can we dismiss some choices, claiming they have no bearing on the choices we’d call bigger?  Doesn’t each small drop of rain contribute to the torrential downpour?

So, based on my experiences as of late with gaming and music and if I were to make a decision on those isolated alone, I’d have to say that filling my eyes, mind, and ears with things that don’t make God the center draw me farther from Him and likewise filling my eyes, mind, and ears with things that do make God the center draw me closer to Him.

The conversation opens when I realize (because its true) that there are plenty of Jesus-following, God-honoring people who are reading this post and love first-person-shooter games.  And there are people who love Jesus and are listening to Guns ‘N Roses while reading my blog.  And again, if you think they’re not really Christians then you need to go back and re-reread my first paragraph because you may need to check yourself for legalism.

Instead of drawing this all up with a nice bow, I’d like to invite YOUR thoughts on the effects in YOUR life of “secular” media choices; gaming, television, music, movies, etc.   This is a great opportunity for any who have been faithful readers but who have never posted a comment to do so!  All I ask for is honesty and respect for others viewpoints.

Why Do We Want

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While its true that I’ve been invited to speak at a revival series later this month, I’m not yet sure if I believe in the concept of revival.  At least, not in the way we have come to understand it, describe it, and daydream about it.  Hear me out.

It seems to me that we talk about revival like we’re at a bus stop waiting for a bus that may or may not exist; one that has no schedule, and worse yet — no clear destination.

So, approaching the idea of revival with the body of believers I’m honored to be invited by, I’ll begin with one often overlooked question: “Why do you want revival?”  I mean, it sounds like the right thing to want but if we look deeper than the surfacey nice-nice it portrays, I think we’ll see some hard truths that must be faced before forward motion can happen.

First, the desire for revival must, by definition, include an admission of the need to be “revived”.  Let’s not get too complicated here; if something needs to be revived, what we’re really saying is that it’s dead or nearly so.  The very desire for revival must first be okay with confessing our deadness.  And we’re Christians.  Ouch.

Secondly, revival by its very nature declares that we are not complacent to stay where we are any longer.  Inject a Christian with truth serum and they’ll likely tell you that they feel spiritually stuck more often than they care to admit.  But to all those who I’ll be joining in NC later this month, and to all those reading these words, I share a wonderful quote from the prolific, late Mike Yaconelli when he said, “Being stuck is the prerequisite to being unstuck.”  So, Christian stuck in your _________, rejoice!  You’re right now in the perfect position to be unstuck!  If we’re going to call for revival, we’re going to have to make up our minds that we can’t possibly stay here.  Here is where we’ve been.  Here is where we’re comfortable.  Here is what’s familiar.  Here is where our routine lives.  So, we must march on…and out of here.

Finally, revival calls for God to do something.  (As if He hasn’t done enough.)  Essentially, we prepare, we plan, we pray, we plan, we coordinate, we pray, we prepare….and then we wait.  And if God doesn’t “show up” in the way we have planned and prescribed for Him to show up, then…well…dangit.  We’ll have to try again next year.

Here are 3 things that I believe revival does.  If you’re looking for complex and deep then get ready for disappointment:

1. Revival calls us out of the sin we’ve wallowed in.  And I’m talking about “Christians” here.

2. Revival calls us into the Word of God–for nourishment, for sustenance, for comfort, for counsel, for all we need.

3. Revival sparks within us an unquenchable love for the lost and for sharing the message of the cross in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Are there more thoughts I have on revival?  Sure there are.   And if the Lord enables me, I’m excited to share them with the people of New Life Baptist Church later this month.

Serendipitous.

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The relationship between the sovereignty of the Almighty and the free will of the unmighty (that’s us–no offense) is one that is confounding, to say the very least.  The fact that God who “has the whole world in His hands…” lets me have a say in anything, let alone the trajectory of my life is nothing less than miraculous.  But He does.  And excuse my French, but I think that rocks.

 

It’s been a day of serendipity.  Let me first define serendipity then I’ll tell you how I saw it.

Serendipity is an interjection of the divine providence with the human circumstance, looking like sheer coincidence.  I just now made that up, so let me take a sec and flesh it out: We’re doing our thing, going about our free-will day, when suddenly God intersects with us to show us that even though we’re free to do as we wish, He’s not going to sit idly by and not let us see Him working too.

I happened to be walking past a couple people that attend our church as they sat in the lobby cafe this morning, so I stopped by to chat.  As we talked, I (unknowingly) mentioned something that they apparently were just discussing.  I then mentioned that me walking by and sharing what I did must have been by “divine appointments”.  To be honest, I was pretty light-hearted and kind of joking about the whole thing.  Thinking not much more of it, I said my so-longs and walked off.  More on that later.

A couple hours later I had a lunch meeting with someone that was practically a stranger.  We met quite by “accident” several weeks ago when I happened to read a comment he wrote under an online article written by a friend of mine.  Turns out, that “friend of mine” (Kent) was in fact a “friend of ours”.  His name is Chris.  In his comment, he mentioned he lived in the Richmond area.  I like meeting people, so I also commented on our friend’s article and in a completely unsolicited way pretty much said that Chris and I ought to try and get together.  (Is that creepy?)  He almost immediately invited me into a small group of businessmen that he meets with weekly for the purpose of goal-setting and goal-getting; a “success accountability” type of group.  My schedule doesn’t jive with when they meet but as he said in an email, “I’d love to get together for lunch. I think there’s a reason we connected. We should probably find out what it is.”  Well put I thought.  By the way, if you’d like to read Chris’ blog, head over to www.mysimpleinspiration.com after you’re done here.

So, today we meet for lunch at a Mexican place on Forest Hill Ave.  I was immediately struck by his sharpness.  He quickly reminded me of a video shoot years ago that I was in and I guess all I can say about that is that his face and name fell victim to my steel trap memory; the steel trap that is rusted open.  Sorry, Chris.  No offense.   Like I said, this guy is sharp.  Not just professionally, but personally.  Chris is well-spoken, articulate, and genuine.  He knows what he’s after and is definitely going after it.  Best of all, he loves Jesus.  I thoroughly enjoyed our lunch together and before we parted company, we both agreed that we should definitely get together again.  And I know we will.

So imagine making a comment on an onilne article and as a result you end up at lunch with a near-perfect stranger only to realize that you are in many ways “in the same boat” (interests/aspirations) and there are innumerable ways this new friendship could potentially be mutually beneficial; not to mention just down-right fun.  And the icing on this “coincidence” cake is that our desire to live lives surrendered to God’s power and leading is our greatest common thread.  Hello, serendipity.  Nice to meet you.

Okay, so we say goodbye with an eye on another lunch this fall and I head back to my office.  Not long after sitting down my phone rings.  Remember those two people from the cafe this morning?  Sure you do.  Well, one of them had told me before leaving the cafe that he wanted his son to definitely go on our upcoming high school fall retreat.  He wasn’t sure how it was going to be paid for, but he really wanted to make it possible somehow.  I assured him as he walked away, “It’ll work out.”  He was calling me to tell me that just today a friend called out of the blue and asked him to lunch.  At lunch the friend wanted to know how his son was doing and was there anything he needed.  This father shared openly about his son’s desire to go on the fall retreat and right there the person pulled out a check and gifted him with the entire amount.

Remember that “It’ll work out.”?  Sure you do.  Hello, serendipity.  Nice to see you again!

You can go ahead and chalk all this up to coincidence, but simpleton that I am, I choose to give a loving Heavenly Father credit where credit is due.  Thank God that He cares deeply about what’s going on in your life and even gives you and I the privilege of showing us how much.

Getting Up Right

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I’m a pretty good waker-upper.  I might lay in bed for a minute or two after opening my eyes, but I’m not a grouchy, leave-me-alone, just-another-five-minutes, for-the-love-of-Mike-I’m-gonna-kill-that-alarm-clock kind of morning person.  For the most part, I’m an up-and-at-’em kind of person.  And while genetics might play some part of that, I really don’t think they do at all.

I’d like to suggest that today is the only day God is interested in.  So when I wake up every morning, I want/need to see it as one more opportunity to participate in something God is intimately interested in.  I look at my day as a one-day extension of my time in the mission field.  I look at my day as one more day to enjoy the mystery of having a relationship with the Creator of everything I see, while still understanding that I can’t see Him…yet.  When I open my eyes and I’m still alive, I consider this a message from God that essentially says, “Okay Jerry, let’s do this one more time. From the top.”  In reality, each day is gifted to me to do with as I wish.  To squander, to waste, to destroy, or to benefit from–and hopefully to benefit others in.

I typically have several things in my mind that are effective at getting me up and out of bed.  Here they are in no particular order:

  1. The coffee is on.  Even having given up sugar long ago, I still enjoy a morning cup ‘o joe.  There’s just something about it.
  2. Along with my coffee is my Bible reading. Lately I think I’m “o.d.”ing on devotions.  I’ll start off with Dennis Kinlaw’s “This Day With The Master”, follow it up with John MacArthur’s “The Quest for Character” (a study on the Beattitudes), then a healthy dose of straight Bible (currently working my way through Genesis & Job again).  After that, I’ll head into the New Testament and just go where the wind blows (usually the epistles somewhere; they drip with practicality).
  3. Thoughts of what must be done today.  Like I said, I think God is only interested in today.  Given His eternality, how can he be anything but?  God doesn’t plan for tomorrow.  God doesn’t even have a tomorrow.  Not only that, but Jesus warned about looking too far into the future because tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone.  Matthew 6:34 is a great example of Jesus’ teaching on this.  2 Cor. 6:2 is also a great verse that emphasizes the “now”.  So, I try and keep my thoughts to what must be accomplished TODAY.  Does that mean I don’t plan for the future?  Does that mean I’m not thinking about the details of next week, next month, or next year?  Absolutely not.  I simply keep my focus on what’s directly in front of me.  It’s ALWAYS plenty for the time I have today.
  4. The simple yet profound joy in my life.  I am a guy who is blessed beyond measure and who knows it.  My wife is smokin’ hot and is in love with Jesus which makes her even hotter.  My kids are by no means perfect, but they’re perfect for me.  I can’t describe how blessed I am that they call me “Dad”.  Everyday I get to do exactly what I love–student ministry–the thing that I feel I was born to do.  And the people I serve with and minister to seem to like having me around.  I know it more than anyone else: I’m unbelievably fortunate to live this life I’m living.  And I don’t take it for granted.  But that sense of joy of life is like a springboard that flings me out of bed.

What are YOUR first morning thoughts?  Do you utter a prayer?  Do you wake up joyful or stressed?  Do you have a routine that helps set your day?  I’d love to hear from you about what your waking moments (and what follows) look like!

The Slipknot of Fairness

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I heard something said by someone yesterday that I can’t forget. It’s caused unsettledness in me for a variety of reasons. First, its because I love and respect this person immensely. Second, what was said was said quickly and its context passed by before I could really engage it. Third, from all appearances I seemed to be the only one in the room who got hung up on it.

I won’t share with you who said it or what it was specifically, but if you keep reading you’ll see those specifics aren’t very important.  The jist of what was said would indicate that a particular doctrine couldn’t be embraced because (it seemed) it couldn’t be made sense of.  The person speaking couldn’t understand a particular possible characteristic of God and therefore couldn’t agree with a doctrine that I know many wonderful, good, and Godly people embrace.

The reason? Because it didn’t seem “fair”.  And that has always been the word that stops me in my tracks; in my mind’s thoughts and in my heart.  The idea that we can’t be open to a particular truth that scripture supports because it doesn’t seem fair to us is an idea that has birthed countless splinters among Christians, divisions among churches, and fractures in the Kingdom of God.

To reject anything God does (or has done, is doing, or could do) on the basis of our handle on fairness is a precarious place to be to say the very least.  As humans (and even Christians), we have this incredibly egotistical idea that the Creator of all the galaxies (we’ll never have the technology to even see) somehow owes us anything, let alone any explanation or understanding of anything He does.  That my theology is fenced in by what I deem as fair puts me in control and puts God in a box.  Maybe you’ve heard someone say (perhaps in the midst of a difficult situation), “Well, one day God will explain everything to us.”  First of all, I dare you to find scripture to back that up, and second of all even if He did explain things to us we’d be far too beneath Him to understand it.

So, don’t get caught settling for a God that fits your view of “what’s fair.”  The truth is that God would be completely within His right to strike me with an aneurysm while I type this.  Or better yet, to simply stop thinking the thought that I should be living because when He stops thinking that thought…guess what?

Oh don’t become so comfortable with a convenient view of God that you only allow your view of Him to include those things that gel with your sense of fairness.  Instead, embrace a view of God that invokes a trembling wonder at the magnificence of this God you’ll never fully understand.  I dare say that taking that view will fling your heart closer to His than anything else, especially as you realize that this universe-speaking Creator is intimately interested in speaking with you.

Chances are…

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First things first. I need to apologize to any of you who have come back to my blog recently only to find it the same as the last time you checked.  It hasn’t been for lack of desire, I can promise you that.  When I began this blog years ago I promised myself (and maybe even the readers) that I’d only write when there was something on my mind or in my heart that I felt was worthy of recording.  And to my knowledge I have stayed true to that promise.  It makes for an inconsistent blog, however.  And if you know anything about blogging, inconsistency is the death nail of a successful blog site.  Good thing I’m not terribly interested in a successful blog site.  If I were, I would have been doing a much better job thus far of living by the immutable principles of blogging.  But I digress.

Since I’ve written last the biggest event in my life has been a week-long trip to Costa Rica and back.  (I’m currently sitting in a beach house on the Gulf of Mexico recovering from that and more.)  We went down to Jaco with the intent of doing all we could to bless the people there and in hindsight I believe that we accomplished our mission.  Through a variety of activities and immersing ourselves in the culture, it was a week of powerful moments of seeing God clearly working and moving around us, pleased to use our group of 39 as conduit for His love and grace.  It was more than memorable to say the least.

Sometimes God lets you experience His perfect timing in a way that is undeniable.  One such situation arose while we were in Costa Rica last week.  One of our leaders, Jacque had spoken with a family in the local church we had partnered with and had found out that they were in dire need when it came to finances.  They (Dad, Mom, & 4 kids) were facing eviction and even often had shortages of food.  Despite their church’s desire to aid them and despite their faithfulness to the local body of believers in Jaco, they found themselves in a tight spot.

Jacque felt led to bring their story to the attention of our 29 high school students and in roughly a 12 hour time frame, those students gathered together $502 of their own money.  The next day was Sunday and Jacque took the money to the Pastor, not knowing specifics of the amount that was needed.  The pastor took the money with gratitude with the promise to use the money as best as they could for this family.  When the family returned home from church, there was a note on their door that said that unless they paid that month’s and the next month’s rent, they would have to move out.  How much was one month’s rent? $250. How many months were needed? 2.  What is $250 x 2? $500.  What had our students collected?  $502.  Why were there 2 extra dollars?  I have no idea.

What are the chances of that?  Skeptics might say, “Pretty good, actually. Coincidences like that happen all the time. Don’t read into it. Your God isn’t that great.”  To them I would respectfully reply, “Whatever.”

Over the course of that week in Costa Rica I saw several instances that might be chalked up to mere chance.  That got me thinking about something and if you can forgive the long introduction, I’ll talk about that something now.

Chance. Luck. Happenstance. Coincidence.  Do these things have any place in the kingdom a “sovereign” God oversees?  It turns out they do.  Except they’re not known by those words.

All throughout both testaments in the Bible, there are 70+ instances of the words “cast lots”.  While not much is known about what casting lots looked like (i.e. rocks, sticks, dice, etc.), it is clear that God used this method to reveal His will to His people.  Under Joshua’s leadership to divide lands, on the boat with Jonah and his shipmates, and even at the foot of Jesus’ cross; lots were cast to figure things out.  Today it would be the equivalent of flipping a coin.  So, instead of knowing God as “the God of second chances”, perhaps we should also call Him “the God of chances.”

So, how can the sovereignty of God and the “dumb luck” of casting lots be reconciled?  Doesn’t it seem that throwing dice to move closer to what God wants seems like a bit of conflict of interests?  Aren’t His followers supposed to be faith-filled and watchful for God to supply His light where details seem dim?  Or should we live by the sage advice found in the immortal words of Yogi Berra when he said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”?

I’d like to spotlight just one of the many instances when lots were cast to determine God’s will.  This is near the birth of the early Church in Acts chapter 1, verse 26.  Here’s the deal: Judas had hanged himself and needed to be replaced in order to round out the team of apostles (that’s the nutshell version).  Now if you take that verse alone, and forget the context you very well may think that casting lots is the method of choice for indecisive wimplings like those who had just been with Christ for 3+ years.  Not so. Let’s look 2 verses prior and we’ll suddenly see a better picture of the situation.  After nominating 2 men (Joseph and Matthias), they PRAYED: “Then they prayed, ‘Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen.'”  Essentially they were saying, “God, you know our hearts.  Now let us know yours.”

Have you ever stood still waiting for God to show you which way to go?  Have you ever been paralyzed by fear because you view God’s will as a tightrope you have no idea how to traverse?  Have you ever NOT acted because you were more fearful of going the wrong way than hopeful you were going the right?

Here’s a simple equation to remember next time you face such a situation:

1. Pray. Ask God to reveal His will as you move forward.

2. By all means, move forward.

I know it sounds overly simplistic and you might even call it naive.  But the longer I live, the more convinced I have become that Jesus’ followers don’t need to know more of what to do as much as they need to do more of what they know.

May you and I live lives that are not afraid of trusting a God who is able to reveal Himself through a variety of methods, even the flip of a coin.  He’s either going to direct the lots (and does) or He’s going to bless the lives of those trusting enough to follow the outcome of the lots.

The Jesus-Driven Life

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I saw something today that I’ve never seen before.  I was driving along and there it was just a few car lengths ahead of me.  I thought, “Wow, I’ve never seen one of those before.”  And I hadn’t.  So I was glad when we soon came to a red light and I was able to take my camera out of my pocket and snap a picture of it.

What is it?  Well, I don’t know the exact name of it, but I’ll call it a hoist truck.  It was clearly designed to lift and carry things on and off of its bed.  Sitting there on the back of this truck that was rumbling down the road, clear as day, was the unmistakable sight of a casket case.  What struck me was the normalness of it all.  It was very matter-of-fact, like the driver was running a casket errand or something.  No pomp, no processional, no long line of cars all with their hazards or headlights on.  Just a casket case sitting in traffic on the back of a truck.

As a pastor, I’ve been around an awful lot of death.  Just last month, I stood in a hospital room with a family weeping over the dead body of their father, grandfather, husband, and friend.  Death, as they say is a “fact of life”.   We’re all going to die physically.  Nobody argues that.  What gets people upset is when I say things like, “But none of us will die spiritually.”  Just as true as the first statement is, so is the second.  We’ll all live eternally in one of two places: heaven or hell.

That is precisely why the way I live must be marked indelibly by the centrality of Jesus.  Jesus is many things to many people.  To some He is a historic figure, to others a good teacher who lived long ago, to others Jesus is someone on a long list of options.  To others He is a crutch, to others He is a fairytale.  To still others He’s a nice idea that just doesn’t “work” for them.

As I said, I’ve been a pastor for a long time and I’ve been alive even longer.  And as long as I can remember, Jesus has been an issue in my life.  Even in my “rebellious” phase as a teenager, I still knew in my heart that while I lived contrary to His character and indulged in a completely selfish way of life, He was still there; waiting, watching, wanting me for His own.

We’re in the season of Lent.  That’s the 40 days preceding the celebration of Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father while I type these words.  He’s going to return in glory someday…anyday…maybe even while I’m typing these words.  And during this time I often find myself cogitating on the reality of who Jesus really is, because that question stands alone as the one question every person in all of history has had to and will have to answer.

Jesus asked that very question of Peter one day.  “Who do people say that I am?” and then a few minutes later, “Who do YOU say that I am?”  Make no mistake about it.  The answer to THAT question is THE defining issue in my life.  Either Jesus is the Messiah, the Lamb of God, the risen Son of God, the Redeemer of mankind, the sacrifice for my sins and yours, the One who has conquered death, hell and the grave, the Healer, the forgiver, the author and perfecter….or He’s not.  And if He’s  not, then He isn’t much of anything at all.  If He’s not, then He stands on equal footing with Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Buddha, Martin Luther King, Jr., and a host of other revolutionary “good” people.   If He’s not, then I might as well have spent the last 21 years of my life surrendered to Winnie the Pooh, environmentalism, Oprah or even (dare I say) “purpose”.

But  I didn’t.  I chose Jesus because Jesus chose me.  God has shown me love poured out on a cross, has convicted me of my sinful dead end, and invited me to receive grace heaped on top of forgiveness, with a hefty side of mercy. Not because I deserve it, but because of who He is.   God loved me, and so now I know what love is.

Studies show the 80% of Christian teens today do not believe in the centrality of Jesus as Lord.  Read that again.

That means that to the vast majority of teens who claim Christianity as their “religion”, they do so with a very loose grip on the hand of Christ, if any at all.  That means that while they claim Jesus as a way to heaven, He is by no means the way to anything.  That means that for 8 out of 10 teens today, Jesus is nothing more than one person on a long list of options; one of many roads that all end up in the same place.  And where that leads us is to Jesus being a bold-faced liar.  Jesus simply lied when He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father but through Me.”

To that many say, “Haha, Jesus.  Good one.”

So when Jesus asked Peter, “Who do YOU say that I am?”, Peter actually got it right: “You are the Christ.”

May we never exalt Christ-like behavior over Christ.  May we never worship the worship more than the King.  May we never rise up in social activism apart from rising up in declaration of Jesus as Coming King.  May we never make good things, nice things, right things, or Godly things central to our lives.  May we take hold of the face of Jesus, stare into His eyes, and lose ourselves in that gaze.  May that be the center of each word, may that be the catalyst of each action, and may that permeate each thought.