What if we got this all wrong? Perhaps the reason so many fall away from Christ is that they slip into self-realization as the goal rather than self-expenditure.
Oswald has me thinking again. He says: Jesus’ purpose is not the development of man; His purpose is to make man exactly like himself, and the characteristic of the Son of God is self-expenditure.
I totally get this. My goal is not to be a better person or to do more it’s to be less and allow Jesus to pour His life through mine. As soon as “My” will comes into the picture the things He wants to pour through my life, not into my life, get clogged, blocked or hidden by me.
Many of us slip into this self-realization trap. What we can’t seem to get through our thick skulls is “This is not about US.” Even when we serve others it comes back to us, somehow.
Today try to think about others, to truly think about others. Look at how many times your concerns rise above the concerns of those around you. Imagine your life without you. Imagine the freedom you would experience is you lived as though what happens to you really didn’t matter.
Now, that will change your life.
Too many of us are stuck in a pattern. We get up in the morning, do the same thing over and over again and call it life.
What would happen if today you tried something a little different? At first it’s not easy. Your pattern is pushed and the rest of the day seems a bit off.
But if you and I are writing the story of our lives, with God’s help, why are we so impressed with the character we’ve created?
Yesterday I stepped out of my gym routine to go with a friend to Dexter Lake to try my hands at rowing. I’d like to say I was the greatest, I caught on quickly and it was a breeze. That’s what I’d like to say but it’s not true.
I didn’t look all that good at this new sport. My friend was helpful but the whole time I felt like I was keeping him from his workout. He didn’t make me feel like that I made me feel like that. The point is I did it, I like it and I’ll probably go do it again. My routine broke and I saw something different about me.
The other day I spoke at a church and read one of my favorite lines from a book by Portland Author Donald Miller.
“I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it is time for things to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently. Only the good stories have the characters different at the end than they were at the beginning.”
Go try something different today. Be an interesting character. Don’t allow your story to look the same at the end as it did at the beginning. I don’t want to be the same person today that I was tomorrow.
It may be time to leave….something.
http://picasaweb.google.com/dhorton11/RowingWithRickDancer#5511765555935499698
There’s a video posted here.
There is nothing like walking in the Eugene Celebration Parade and seeing people respond to our clients with the Oregon Supported Living Program and Full Access. A few weeks ago we kicked off a campaign called “Look Me In The Eye.” We went on TV, radio, newspaper and the internet with a message for all of us to look people in the eye. What we know is that the general population often wants to do the right thing when it comes to dealing with people with disabilities but we don’t know exactly what to do. Our clients tell us the best thing to do is just “look them in the eye.” The message worked. Spend a few minutes watching this video to see why. But don’t let it end here. Today, if you see someone who is different from you, “Look Them In The Eye.”
I find myself looking over the newspaper or hearing a headline on the news and paying little or no attention.
The center of my brain that used to “get a rise” when certain terms were used to blast those who see life differently must have become disconnected or worn out.
The blame game no longer makes me feel, anything.
The blaming, the badgering, and the belittling use to stir something in me and make me want to take action. But now it only reveals desperation on the part of the message-makers and I no longer care.
Don’t get me wrong; action still stirs in my soul but for people not the message-makers ideology. Some say that’s riding the fence, I simply don’t see a fence. I see a whole bunch of people, like me, in the middle who care about “life” and are sickened by the control used to quiet us.
Politics, religion and culture wear me out and yet I still see some value in all three. I just see that value differently. At the heart of it all should be people. That’s what’s gotten lost in the process. We no longer care about people or perhaps the problem is more that the message-makers care more about the organizations power than the people they used to represent.
I still see great power in people. I see the strength of who we are in the middle not the far right or left. When I think about what could be, if only we the people would stand up, I get excited.
As the great divide continues to come between us I wonder to myself and now to you, when do we again start thinking for ourselves and tell the message-makers to back off?
How long will we continue to buy this crap?
I picked up my Bible this morning and got very excited. That happens when I hear God answer one or two of my long-term questions.
I have many questions about how “We” in Western Culture “Do Church.” Most of you who read my stuff regularly know that. Many of you don’t understand it and that’s okay. I don’t think God is afraid of my questions because I’m actually looking for His will in my questioning. He tells me to Seek Him and I do.
We call ourselves Followers of Christ and yet are we truly following Jesus?
I read in John 15:10 where He says: “If you guard My commands you shall stay in my love, even as I have guarded my Father’s commands and stay in His love.”
So, let me start there. I’m supposed to follow the commands of Jesus. So, then I need to go look to see what His commands are. Not what others say I should be doing or even what Western Church Culture has determined to be “Right.” I’m looking strictly for what JESUS said and it’s all there in the Bible.
Now, let’s look at the second part of what Jesus is saying. He goes on to say, “Even as I have guarded My Father’s commands and stay in His love.”
So, if in order to stay in His Father’s love he guarded God’s commands, do we also need to do the same thing? Don’t get all excited on me. I’m simply asking the question. Jesus followed God’s commands to stay in God’s love so why wouldn’t I need to do the same thing? He never told me to stop did he?
I’ve got more; John 16:2 Jesus says; “They shall put you out of the congregations, but an hour is coming when everyone who kills you shall think he is rendering service to Elohim (God). And this they shall do to you because they did not know the Father, nor Me.
So, who’s putting whom out of the congregation? It would have to be other’s who are in the congregation right? In other words, the way I read this is the church will put those following Christ out of the congregation and believe they are serving God by doing so. And why do they do this? Because they do not know the Father or the Son.
Who are we listening to? Do we really read the words of Christ and follow them? Did He, in order to stay connected or “In” His Father’s love, guard the commands? Do I do the same?
The more I read the more I’m convinced there’s a lot we don’t understand.
