Wednesday, September 28, 2011

105. He's Throwing A Party

Matthew 22:2


I think a lot of people would be completely shocked if they met Jesus. Even if they wouldn’t admit it, deep down, I bet most folks probably think Jesus would be the lamest person ever to hang out with. You see, lots of people get their mental image of Jesus from movies that shouldn’t have been made and Sunday School lessons that shouldn’t have been taught or else religious people who need to stop pretending to be religious. Some people still see Jesus as a figure in a stained-glass window or as a statue carved out of marble. For most folks, the idea of God on earth is so inconceivable that they just think He would be as boring and easily offended as the most stilted and dry church person they knew as a kid, but that’s not who Jesus was! Jesus was electric! He was magnetic! Everywhere He went, huge crowds followed Him! Little kids flocked to Him and people who went to listen to Him speak were literally so captivated by Him that they would forget to eat food! He was the life of the party. In fact, the reason He came was to throw a party! Jesus came into this world talking about an everlasting party! It will be the greatest party ever! It will be a party filled with gladness, true life, friends, food, music and dancing where you can be you - as in, the ‘you’ that you’ve always wanted to be but have never had the courage to be! The crazy thing is that not everybody wants to go. Some folks will make excuses and miss it. What about you? The invitation is there. It has your name on it. Will you be there?

Saturday, September 24, 2011

104. He Made You On Purpose

John 1:3


I don’t know too many people who are perfectly happy with the way they look. I mean, I guess that guy on ‘The Jersey Shore’ seems to be pretty pumped about the way he looks, but I don’t really know him, so who knows. Most of us would change something about our physical appearance. Most folks, if they could, would change their height, their nose, the sort of hair they have, their body type, their teeth and on and on. And sure, I guess we could all eat a little better and exercise more and wear more flattering clothes and get a haircut that costs more than a dollar menu meal, but for the most part, we can’t really change the way Jesus made us. And this is really interesting, because part of our faith in God is that He knows what He’s doing and that He’s smarter than we are. We may not like the way He made us to look, but our faith says that He’s right. Hmm. It’s a strange thing to think about Creation and realize that Jesus was and is an abstract artist. What I mean is, when Jesus first created trees, He wasn’t copying a design, but innovating something that had never existed. The shapes of manatees and mountains and mitochondria were 3D abstract sculptures. In the book of Job, the Lord talks about horses and donkeys and ostriches and doesn’t give any excuse for their eccentricities. They just are that way because He made them that way. Why? Well, He’s the artist. I think He just likes them that way. Jesus made you on purpose. He made you the individual you are on purpose. Why? Because, He just likes you this way.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

103. He's Been There Before Us

John 10:27


The turning point for anyone in their understanding of who Jesus is always comes when Jesus finally says to them, “Follow me.” For a while, maybe you heard about Jesus in Bible stories or from a friend or a pastor, but at some point, you felt a shift when the Bible stories became more than stories and you felt a tug at your heart. You knew that Jesus really is alive and that He was actually calling you to walk through your life with Him. Thing is, this can get scary. I mean, let’s be honest - Jesus takes people through some junk sometimes. Jesus asks people to endure some heavy stuff, so when He says, “Follow me,” it’s not always a simple, cut and dry kind of decision. For anyone who really knows what’s up, they realize that following Jesus is going to be difficult and unpredictable and may even be dangerous. Here’s one thing to remember though: Whatever Jesus asks you to go through, He has walked through it Himself. In fact, He can only ask you to follow Him if He’s actually going ahead of you. No matter what He takes you through, you’re not alone, and you’re not some kind of freak who’s going through something new that no one can identify with. Jesus has been where you are. In fact, wherever you are right now, He was in there first, just leading you through it. I can’t tell you why you’ve had face what you’ve had to face, but I can promise you that you haven’t had to face it alone. Jesus is the kind of Shepherd who walks in front of His sheep. He knows what we go through, because He went there first.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

102. He Encourages The Real You

Matthew 16:18


Have you ever had someone tell you who you have to be - according to them? You know what I mean, right? This might be a parent, a coach, a teacher or even a boyfriend or girlfriend, but whoever it is, they have some expectation for you to be a certain kind of person and you have to fit in that mold or else you’re failing them. Dang, I hate that feeling and I’ve always rebelled against that kind of attitude. I don’t want someone telling me “You are going to be such and such because I say so...” Someone telling me who I have to be because they have authority over me doesn’t motivate me. It only makes me feel like I am going to fail their test. Maybe you’ve had to live up to this kind of expectation your whole life and the really crappy thing is that the people who put those expectations on you don’t take the time to find out whether or not you even want their plan for your life. That’s where Jesus is different. Jesus doesn’t bark orders at me telling me who I have to be. No, He knows my heart and tells me who I actually am and that He loves me. He doesn’t impose impossible demands on who I should be, but instead gives me a vision for who I could be if I keep walking with Him. He doesn’t force me into a mold, but instead already knows the individual masterpiece He’s making me into, so He tells me who I will be in Him, which is exactly the person I’ve always wanted to be -- joyful, righteous, forgiven, strong, wise and filled to the brim with His outrageous love.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

101. He Uses Your Name

Luke 19:5


Do people ever identify you solely by your actions? You know, like, “She’s the soccer girl,” or “He’s that guitar guy.” Sometimes people lose sight of who you really are by simply focussing on this one piece of your character or life. They grab hold of something you’re good at or something you’re into or maybe even something bad you did once and then they just stereotype you by that one thing. How many times have you heard people refer to a kid as a ‘pothead’ or a ‘slut’? And you know as well as I do that you can’t define a whole person with one word... I mean, sure, a kid may smoke marijuana, but there’s so much more to them than that one thing. Sure, a girl may have been with a few guys, but that’s not all there is to know about her. The only way you can sum a whole person up with one word is by using their name. You see, using a person’s name shows that you are getting to know them as an individual instead of just putting them inside a box of something they did one time. One thing I love about Jesus is the fact that he called people by their names when other folks didn’t. After meeting this one man, the Pharisees summed him up by calling him “uneducated.” Jesus called that same man, “Simon Peter.” There was a woman who was known all over town for being possessed by demons, but Jesus called her, “Mary.” Everyone in Jericho hated this one guy because he was “the tax collector.” Jesus looked up into the tree he was hiding in and said, “Zacchaeus, come down. I wanna hang out with you.”

Saturday, September 10, 2011

100. He Cries A Lot (A 9/11 Reflection)

John 11:35-36


Today is the tenth anniversary of 9/11. I don’t think any of us will ever forget where we were on that morning. I know I won’t. Ten years ago I was a newlywed in college. It just so happens that on that morning, I was at a graveside funeral playing and singing ‘Amazing Grace.’ It was a peaceful and beautiful morning in Middle Tennessee with a gentle fall breeze blowing through the quaint little graveyard. When the service was over, I started my car and heard confusion and chaos on the radio. The first tower had just been hit. As it turns out, there is no such thing as, “it just so happened.” Jesus knew what would happen. He knew what would happen on the morning we’ll never forget. He knew what would happen when His friend Lazarus was sick and dying in his bed. He knew what would happen when He rode a donkey into Jerusalem a week before Passover with everyone cheering and singing His praises. He knew the cheers would turn to screams of, “Crucify Him!” Jesus knew what they would do and He cried. Jesus knew that He would raise Lazarus from the dead in Bethany, but still He sobbed. Psalm 56 says that God keeps a record of our tears. He feels our pain and cries with us. We don’t know why bad things happen, but we know our Lord hurts with us. Ten years ago as towers fell, the tears of Jesus fell along with them. The Amazing Grace that saved us comes from the heart of Jesus that’s filled with not only grace, but Amazing Compassion. When you hurt, He hurts. When towers fall, when tears fall, Jesus is crying too.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

99. His Word Is Power

Mark 1:41


Do you know what hopeless feels like? Have you been pulled under by despair? Are your problems too messy? Is your drama so completely overwhelming that you are beyond the point of no return? Have you ever wilted underneath the desperate tide of knowing that you are un-helpable and un-aidable? Do you know what it feels like to be ‘more trouble than you’re worth?’ Have you ever felt as though you are such a complete disaster that even God Himself wouldn’t want to touch your life with a 10 foot pole? Here’s the thing: you will be too much for some people. There are folks in your life who will give up on you because your mess is just too messy for them. There are people who simply don’t have what it takes to untangle your knots, but Jesus isn’t one of them. Jesus is Almighty God. John chapter 1 says everything that exists is here because Jesus made it in the beginning. He simply spoke, and the universe burst into being! That same powerful word is still in His utility belt to help you today. The word of power that brought forth galaxies filled with stars and systems of planets is still being spoken. The word of power that made the teeming hundreds of thousands of species from nothing is still being uttered. Jesus said, “Let there be light!” and light exploded from nothing! Jesus said to a leper, “Be clean!” and instantly, he was healed. Jesus can come right down into the convoluted mess of your overwhelming and dramatic problems and speak a powerful word of order, peace and love and simply fix the whole thing. So, what are you waiting on? Ask Him to help!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

98. He's Not Afraid Of Your Issues

Mark 4:35


Some people are afraid of your problems. They won’t talk with you. They won’t be real with you. They avoid what really matters and keep conversations on the surface because they just don’t know how to deal with you, right? People act this way because they’re afraid. They’re afraid because they just don’t know what to say. They don’t know how to help you. Some folks like this actually do care about you, but they’re so afraid of getting it wrong or of making you more emotional, that they just won’t ever go there at all. Now, you don’t expect everyone to have all the answers... you’re just looking for a friend. You just want them to show a little love; but dang, they can’t always see that, and their fear makes them do nothing at all. They are simply afraid because they’ve never been where you are, and your problems, struggles, cycles of sin and personal issues scare the crap out of them. Well guess what... Jesus isn’t scared one bit. Jesus isn’t afraid of your issues. He’s not scared to face them head on. He’s not afraid to meet you where you are, tell you what’s in your heart and what needs to change. One time Jesus went toe-to-toe with a man so troubled and disturbed that he was isolated, alone, living in graves and cutting himself with sharp stones. Jesus spoke love and peace into his life and the thing is, Jesus didn’t just happen upon this man by chance. No, He went there on purpose. That episode appears in Mark 5, but we find out at the end of Mark 4 that Jesus crossed the lake because He was on a mission.