I found this description of the book "Faith-based Marketing" in my junk email ... I think there's a reason why. This scares me ... especially when I read my Bible!
It's the largest, most faithful, highest spending market segment in the United States, yet chances are you have never considered it. America's 140 million weekly church-goers spend $5.1 trillion annually and support the businesses that understand and respect them with near-religious devotion. But to reach them effectively, you're going to need some help.
Faith-Based Marketing provides everything you need to understand the Christian consumer power niche and effectively reach it. It explains who makes up that community, what they want, and what it takes to appeal to them. Then, based on survey research from believers across the country and interviews with experts, it provides practical guidance for creating faith-based marketing plans that work.
In many ways, Christians are no different from other consumers' they are discerning shoppers who put price, value, customer service, and convenience ahead of loyalty to businesses that just happen to be owned by Christians. But they are also a somewhat forgotten market that promises big returns for those businesses that develop real relationships with them. Christians may be ordinary consumers who need the same products as everyone else, but they respond extraordinarily well to marketing approaches customized to their needs.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Becoming who we already are
Something very significant is beginning to change my heart and it is core to what it looks like to live this Christian life. I'm realizing that sanctification has everything to do with the battle in our lives between the lies and the truth. A lot of these truths have been brought to life as I've devoured Rob Bell's two books Velvet Elvis and Sex God in the last week and a half.
As I've worked through some of my core addictive behaviors with a counselor (who is also a big fan of John Eldredge ... an added bonus!), I've realized that, throughout my life, through situations and moments where I've been wounded by things people have said and done, I've believed the lies that Satan has so quickly and easily snuck in and planted in my mind. In those moments, lies like "You're not worth anything", "People are always going to leave you" and "You'll never be the man you want to be" are so easily believed and so I agree with them, and they move from my mind to my heart, take up residence there, and I take them on as my identity. I then start living out of the supposed truth of this identity that I've taken on myself.
It's been an incredibly liberating experience to begin to realize that I don't have to live identified by who I think I am (who Satan tries to convince me that I am) ... because it's a lie! I am a new creation in Christ and because of this, all that He says of me is true. Suddenly the whole idea of putting off the old man and putting on the new is so realistic and practical. Putting off the old man is not only "putting off" the old ways of living, but putting off the very lies that I've lived out of. There is so much below those behaviors and just dealing with them isn't enough because I haven't dealt with the lies that have led me to live that way.
Putting on the new man, then, is the process of renouncing those lies and claiming the truth of Christ in my life. I have to believe, in faith, that who Christ has said I am, is, in fact who I am and that what He says He has done for me is true. I can so easily look at where I am and my perspective of who I am and say that it's not true and that the lies are really who I am. But it's realizing that we are already who Christ has made us (and that's how God sees us) and yet we're not yet that person at the same time. As Christ begins to work in our hearts and change us, we slowly become who he has already declared to be.
I spent so much time trying, out of my own efforts, to trying and be who I believed Christ wanted me to be. Trying to do the right thing is such a huge motivator in my life. But that's not what the Christian life is about (despite what many well-meaning believers will tell you). It's about a relationship with God that is so deep and all consuming that He changes your heart and your attitudes into the person that He already declares you are. And that's where we can find grace. If we can view ourselves and others like Christ views us, then we don't need to feel the pressure to make ourselves and others be who we're supposed to be. We're already there ... now we can just join with each other in journey of becoming who we already are.
I would really encourage you (whoever actually read this blog) to spend time, in the quietness of your heart, to ask the Lord to reveal to you the lies you've believed about yourself and the situations in your life that have lead you to believe those lies. Also ask what you were looking for those lies to fulfill in you and then invite the Lord to bring His truth into the middle of it. It's a long journey of healing, but it's totally worth it! And as we journey together in this long road of grace, we can finally take the pressure off of ourselves and others to be who only God can be in our lives and, in that, be able to give to others out of the grace and freedom we find in Christ.
As I've worked through some of my core addictive behaviors with a counselor (who is also a big fan of John Eldredge ... an added bonus!), I've realized that, throughout my life, through situations and moments where I've been wounded by things people have said and done, I've believed the lies that Satan has so quickly and easily snuck in and planted in my mind. In those moments, lies like "You're not worth anything", "People are always going to leave you" and "You'll never be the man you want to be" are so easily believed and so I agree with them, and they move from my mind to my heart, take up residence there, and I take them on as my identity. I then start living out of the supposed truth of this identity that I've taken on myself.
It's been an incredibly liberating experience to begin to realize that I don't have to live identified by who I think I am (who Satan tries to convince me that I am) ... because it's a lie! I am a new creation in Christ and because of this, all that He says of me is true. Suddenly the whole idea of putting off the old man and putting on the new is so realistic and practical. Putting off the old man is not only "putting off" the old ways of living, but putting off the very lies that I've lived out of. There is so much below those behaviors and just dealing with them isn't enough because I haven't dealt with the lies that have led me to live that way.
Putting on the new man, then, is the process of renouncing those lies and claiming the truth of Christ in my life. I have to believe, in faith, that who Christ has said I am, is, in fact who I am and that what He says He has done for me is true. I can so easily look at where I am and my perspective of who I am and say that it's not true and that the lies are really who I am. But it's realizing that we are already who Christ has made us (and that's how God sees us) and yet we're not yet that person at the same time. As Christ begins to work in our hearts and change us, we slowly become who he has already declared to be.
I spent so much time trying, out of my own efforts, to trying and be who I believed Christ wanted me to be. Trying to do the right thing is such a huge motivator in my life. But that's not what the Christian life is about (despite what many well-meaning believers will tell you). It's about a relationship with God that is so deep and all consuming that He changes your heart and your attitudes into the person that He already declares you are. And that's where we can find grace. If we can view ourselves and others like Christ views us, then we don't need to feel the pressure to make ourselves and others be who we're supposed to be. We're already there ... now we can just join with each other in journey of becoming who we already are.
I would really encourage you (whoever actually read this blog) to spend time, in the quietness of your heart, to ask the Lord to reveal to you the lies you've believed about yourself and the situations in your life that have lead you to believe those lies. Also ask what you were looking for those lies to fulfill in you and then invite the Lord to bring His truth into the middle of it. It's a long journey of healing, but it's totally worth it! And as we journey together in this long road of grace, we can finally take the pressure off of ourselves and others to be who only God can be in our lives and, in that, be able to give to others out of the grace and freedom we find in Christ.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Sleeping with the Church
I was having breakfast with Joe Hesh, as we tend to do the week before I'm up leading worship at Chelten, and, as usual, our discussions turned to what it looks like to be an artist in this world of church music. How does art fit into the frame of what goes on musically in a church, especially when you're trying to be accessible to the masses. This is the purpose of congregational music, is it not? To be a way for the people of God to sing back their praises to Him as the body of Christ. That's a whole nother conversation for another time! (And yes ... I'm trying to start the revolution where you can actually write "a whole nother" ;-)
Anyways ... we began talking about our experiences with doing ministry full-time in the church and Joe talked about being married to the church when you're working for her full time. The truth is, we should only ever be married to Christ while we date the church (as an institution). If we are ever fully married to the church, they will demand things of you that you were never meant to give and they never should be able to demand. I think anyone who's been in full-time ministry or some kind of ministry leadership will probably be able to understand this. This whole analogy has allowed me to describe my 2 1/2 years serving at a church of 2000-3000 people in a completely new (and more accurate) way. Bear with me ...
I feel like I slept with the church before we were married and all of the emotional issues of pre-marital sex have wedged themselves deep in my soul. Luckily God gave me enough good people speaking into my life that I decided to get out of that relationship before it turned into a co-dependant nightmare (which it was starting to edge towards). Every time I was up serving it was great, but it left me feeling empty inside and without experiencing much love and affirmation back. It felt kind of like being used ... I could give them what they wanted, so I would and once I was done, there was very little relationship connection and I was left wishing there was something more.
The ramifications of that whole time of my life are still affecting me. I would like to be back in full-time ministry in the church again at some point, but since I've seen her naked in all of her glories and imperfections (while I tried to hide mine), I'm wary of baring that part of myself again and a little nervous to trust the church again with the commitment that it requires. But I'm learning what it looks like to be defined apart from her and finding grace in the fact that I am ultimately Christ's and not the church's.
Now I'm not railing against the church as a whole, or even the specific church that I was working at. There were many wonderful experiences and times and the Lord really used it to teach me some extremely valuable lessons ... especially when it comes to putting up boundaries in my relationship with the church now. I'm slowly courting the church again as she courts me and I'm discovering that once I get to know her heart (found in the hearts of her people), our commitment to each other will come out of a love relationship that is already there. You cannot be in relationship with the church until you are in relationship with the people she is composed of. And most importantly, until you find your ultimate definition in the words of her groom and not in her traditions and made up rules and laws.
That is where the freedom is found to be the artist, musician and person that God longs for us to be. Grace is slowly unveiling herself to me, and this is just one more peak into her expanse.
Anyways ... we began talking about our experiences with doing ministry full-time in the church and Joe talked about being married to the church when you're working for her full time. The truth is, we should only ever be married to Christ while we date the church (as an institution). If we are ever fully married to the church, they will demand things of you that you were never meant to give and they never should be able to demand. I think anyone who's been in full-time ministry or some kind of ministry leadership will probably be able to understand this. This whole analogy has allowed me to describe my 2 1/2 years serving at a church of 2000-3000 people in a completely new (and more accurate) way. Bear with me ...
I feel like I slept with the church before we were married and all of the emotional issues of pre-marital sex have wedged themselves deep in my soul. Luckily God gave me enough good people speaking into my life that I decided to get out of that relationship before it turned into a co-dependant nightmare (which it was starting to edge towards). Every time I was up serving it was great, but it left me feeling empty inside and without experiencing much love and affirmation back. It felt kind of like being used ... I could give them what they wanted, so I would and once I was done, there was very little relationship connection and I was left wishing there was something more.
The ramifications of that whole time of my life are still affecting me. I would like to be back in full-time ministry in the church again at some point, but since I've seen her naked in all of her glories and imperfections (while I tried to hide mine), I'm wary of baring that part of myself again and a little nervous to trust the church again with the commitment that it requires. But I'm learning what it looks like to be defined apart from her and finding grace in the fact that I am ultimately Christ's and not the church's.
Now I'm not railing against the church as a whole, or even the specific church that I was working at. There were many wonderful experiences and times and the Lord really used it to teach me some extremely valuable lessons ... especially when it comes to putting up boundaries in my relationship with the church now. I'm slowly courting the church again as she courts me and I'm discovering that once I get to know her heart (found in the hearts of her people), our commitment to each other will come out of a love relationship that is already there. You cannot be in relationship with the church until you are in relationship with the people she is composed of. And most importantly, until you find your ultimate definition in the words of her groom and not in her traditions and made up rules and laws.
That is where the freedom is found to be the artist, musician and person that God longs for us to be. Grace is slowly unveiling herself to me, and this is just one more peak into her expanse.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Perfection is not Perfect!
As tends to happen when you try to go to bed early, Bekah and I ended up having a really deep conversation that kept us up somewhat late earlier this week. It ended up being one of those moments where God uses someone that knows you really well to shine spotlight on your heart and illuminates something that needs some healing. I can't even tell you how huge this revelation was.
Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, I realized that I really struggle to open myself up to Bekah and share with her the struggles that I have and the things that I'm going through. I realized that I put so much pressure on myself to be a good husband, a good Christian etc. Something that I've slowly been discovering about myself is that I'm really driven by the need to do the right thing. Now, this seems to be a good desire, but just underneath the surface some major "law" creeps in and crowds out any room for grace. This is such a sneaky thing that it seems so right from the outside and everyone applauds you for doing the right thing. But is there something better than doing the right thing? This is the hard lesson God's been teaching me.
In trying to be the perfect husband for Bekah, I didn't feel like I could share with her my struggles and shortcomings, especially in areas that really affect her directly and our marriage (such as struggles with lust). I thought that if I shared them with her, it would impact impact our relationship negatively and so I just kept quiet and tried to be there for her as best as I could. Over the last year and a half of our marriage, we've been through crisis after crisis which has really allowed me to step into the role of being there for my wife, and it's been a great way to minister to here. But now that we're no longer in crisis, our relationship is moving below the surface again and I can't live like I've been.
I'm realizing that any relationship needs to have intimacy as its driving force and goal, not perfection. My relationship with Bekah isn't about me becoming the perfect husband for her ... it's about us becoming more and more intimate with each other and discovering the joys of deep relationship there. By worrying so much about whether or not I was as good a husband as I could be, I was actually depriving Bekah or the depths of my heart, as well as depriving her of one of her main roles as my wife in coming alongside me in my times of struggle.
I discovered, ironically, that I can only be the perfect husband for Bekah by not being perfect. She needs a human, flawed partner and friend that she can walk alongside in the good and the bad times. It is only through honesty and being broken that true intimacy can be formed. This holds true in our worship as well. We will never be able to fully worship God and we are fully honest with Him. If we are keeping God and these other people out of hearts for fear that they will truly see who we are, we will never be able to go as deep as they desire to go with us. Now I'm only at the beginning of this whole honesty and brokenness thing and I know it's going to be hard, but I so desperately long for the intimacy that I'm willing to give it a shot.
Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, I realized that I really struggle to open myself up to Bekah and share with her the struggles that I have and the things that I'm going through. I realized that I put so much pressure on myself to be a good husband, a good Christian etc. Something that I've slowly been discovering about myself is that I'm really driven by the need to do the right thing. Now, this seems to be a good desire, but just underneath the surface some major "law" creeps in and crowds out any room for grace. This is such a sneaky thing that it seems so right from the outside and everyone applauds you for doing the right thing. But is there something better than doing the right thing? This is the hard lesson God's been teaching me.
In trying to be the perfect husband for Bekah, I didn't feel like I could share with her my struggles and shortcomings, especially in areas that really affect her directly and our marriage (such as struggles with lust). I thought that if I shared them with her, it would impact impact our relationship negatively and so I just kept quiet and tried to be there for her as best as I could. Over the last year and a half of our marriage, we've been through crisis after crisis which has really allowed me to step into the role of being there for my wife, and it's been a great way to minister to here. But now that we're no longer in crisis, our relationship is moving below the surface again and I can't live like I've been.
I'm realizing that any relationship needs to have intimacy as its driving force and goal, not perfection. My relationship with Bekah isn't about me becoming the perfect husband for her ... it's about us becoming more and more intimate with each other and discovering the joys of deep relationship there. By worrying so much about whether or not I was as good a husband as I could be, I was actually depriving Bekah or the depths of my heart, as well as depriving her of one of her main roles as my wife in coming alongside me in my times of struggle.
I discovered, ironically, that I can only be the perfect husband for Bekah by not being perfect. She needs a human, flawed partner and friend that she can walk alongside in the good and the bad times. It is only through honesty and being broken that true intimacy can be formed. This holds true in our worship as well. We will never be able to fully worship God and we are fully honest with Him. If we are keeping God and these other people out of hearts for fear that they will truly see who we are, we will never be able to go as deep as they desire to go with us. Now I'm only at the beginning of this whole honesty and brokenness thing and I know it's going to be hard, but I so desperately long for the intimacy that I'm willing to give it a shot.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Walking with God
Yes, you are seeing correctly, there are in fact two posts in one day! Oh, the joys of having a job where, if I'm scanning all day, I can actually write blogs while pages are being scanned. These two entries really flow out of each other and come out of the same place in my heart. This has been something that God has been working deeply into my heart over the last couple of weeks and months. The two books I'm reading at this moment are John Eldredge's "Walking with God" and Keith Green's biography. Both of these men of God have incredible relationships with their Heavenly Father and it's been bringing up some major questions in my heart that I think everyone needs to wrestle through.
There seems to be this assumption in the church that if you are a Christian, you have a relationship with God. I've been coming to the realization that that isn't necessarily true ... at least in the way that we tend to think. Yes, every Christian has the potential to be in relationship with God because they have the Holy Spirit living inside of them through the work of Christ, but most Christians' relationships with God are akin to a relationship one might have with a giant redwood tree. I know it's there, I admire it, I can learn many things about it, but that's about it. There's no back and forth conversational relationship. We kind of live our lives side by side and try not to get in each other's way. In the same way, most people's extent of relationship with God is reading the Bible and praying every day ... interacting, but not in relationship with Him
Now, I'm obviously not saying that those activities are bad, I'm just saying that there needs to be more our relationship with God, if it is even going to be defined as a relationship. Keith Green is constantly wrestling around with God, asking at every moment if it's God's will for Him to do what he is looking to do next. Every decision is brought before the Lord and his guidance and opnion is asked. John Eldredge similarly assumes that every Christian should be able to have conversational relationship with God in which you can sit and have a conversation with Him, speaking to Him, bringing Him your heart and hearing from His in return.
May I be so bold as to ask, why has no one, up until this point in my life, described to me what in the world a relationship with God looks like? Does no one know? Even after 2000 years of Christianity ... 2000 years of people who have the Holy Spirit living inside of them!? I'm just beginning to realize that there's got to be so much more tied up into what it looks like to be in relationship God. If God really does satisfy all of our desires, there has got to be a depth of relationship that we can go to with Him that would soothe lonliness and rejection.
If His sheep hear His voice and know Him, and we are His sheep, why isn't that happening? Have we gotten to the point that we understand so much about Christianity that we just discuss away what a relationship with God looks like? John Eldredge has some really good thoughts on what it looks like to walk with God and I've been learing a lot. But I still struggle to know what it looks like to be in relationship with God for me. As you can see, there are more questions than answers, but I'm driven on to discover deep intimacy with God. We are one flesh, now that I have died to myself with Christ and been resurrected with Him into this new creation. But how do you relate intimately with the God of the universe that lives inside of You that is already one with you and knows you intimately.
All I know is that it takes one step at a time, and as I continue in this feeble attempt to walk with God, I pray that I begin to know more of what it looks like. And most of all, I pray I never reach the point where I am content with where my relationship with God is. Always deeper into God!
There seems to be this assumption in the church that if you are a Christian, you have a relationship with God. I've been coming to the realization that that isn't necessarily true ... at least in the way that we tend to think. Yes, every Christian has the potential to be in relationship with God because they have the Holy Spirit living inside of them through the work of Christ, but most Christians' relationships with God are akin to a relationship one might have with a giant redwood tree. I know it's there, I admire it, I can learn many things about it, but that's about it. There's no back and forth conversational relationship. We kind of live our lives side by side and try not to get in each other's way. In the same way, most people's extent of relationship with God is reading the Bible and praying every day ... interacting, but not in relationship with Him
Now, I'm obviously not saying that those activities are bad, I'm just saying that there needs to be more our relationship with God, if it is even going to be defined as a relationship. Keith Green is constantly wrestling around with God, asking at every moment if it's God's will for Him to do what he is looking to do next. Every decision is brought before the Lord and his guidance and opnion is asked. John Eldredge similarly assumes that every Christian should be able to have conversational relationship with God in which you can sit and have a conversation with Him, speaking to Him, bringing Him your heart and hearing from His in return.
May I be so bold as to ask, why has no one, up until this point in my life, described to me what in the world a relationship with God looks like? Does no one know? Even after 2000 years of Christianity ... 2000 years of people who have the Holy Spirit living inside of them!? I'm just beginning to realize that there's got to be so much more tied up into what it looks like to be in relationship God. If God really does satisfy all of our desires, there has got to be a depth of relationship that we can go to with Him that would soothe lonliness and rejection.
If His sheep hear His voice and know Him, and we are His sheep, why isn't that happening? Have we gotten to the point that we understand so much about Christianity that we just discuss away what a relationship with God looks like? John Eldredge has some really good thoughts on what it looks like to walk with God and I've been learing a lot. But I still struggle to know what it looks like to be in relationship with God for me. As you can see, there are more questions than answers, but I'm driven on to discover deep intimacy with God. We are one flesh, now that I have died to myself with Christ and been resurrected with Him into this new creation. But how do you relate intimately with the God of the universe that lives inside of You that is already one with you and knows you intimately.
All I know is that it takes one step at a time, and as I continue in this feeble attempt to walk with God, I pray that I begin to know more of what it looks like. And most of all, I pray I never reach the point where I am content with where my relationship with God is. Always deeper into God!
Extreme Home Make-over God
I just got done listening to an interview with William Paul Young, the author of the #1 Best Selling book "The Shack" on the Catalyst podcast. Bekah (my wife) and I just finished reading through the book together at the end of last year and it was an incredible experience. The book is a parable/metaphor for Young's journey through his issues into freedom and chronicles, in fictitious story form, his conversations with God that led him into healing.
His testimony is staggering and I would encourage anyone to go and listen to it here: http://www.marinerschurch.org/theshack/av/index.html
and then I would recommend that you read the book. All I'll say is that there's a reason it has done so well. Knowing that he just wrote it for his kids as a Christmas present without intending to publish it at all, also says that this is definitely a move of God amongst many people. This book will shake you up and let you down gently, a little more healed, into the arms of our Papa God. He describes the Shack as that place in our hearts where all of our secrets live and where all of our addictions fester. God took him into his 'shack' and the incredible thing is that he came out on the other end with no secrets and no addictions. This struck me right through the heart as someone who struggles with my own secrets and addictions and wants to be free of them. I asked myself, "How could anyone not have any secrets or addictions anymore? I so badly long for that, but it doesn't seem possible!"
In this last interview, he said something very interesting that ties into how this is possible in his life. He said, "So often, we want God to be like Extreme Home Make-over ... you know, send us off to Disney World while he renovates our hearts and makes it a glorious place for Him to live in." He went on to say that that's not how God works. He wants to come into our 'shack' where all of the crap is, meet us there in our mess, and heal all of the junk. And that's where the true freedom comes from. When we can bring our junk to God, realizing that He already knows it all, and already knows all of the other stupid stuff we're going to do, we can honestly let Him move in and work on healing the wounds. 'Cause it's really our wounds that get us trying to find love and validation in so many unGodly ways that so easily become our addictions.
This has been something very huge in my life lately ... just trying to be honest with God. I need to do this, because honesty is the foundation and starting point of intimacy. Without honesty, you will always come up against the facade that the other is trying to erect to show you who they would like you to think that they are. The problem (and blessing) with God is that He already knows us, intimately, we just have to catch on to that and invite Him in ... He will not force His way because that is not the way of relationship. When we can finally get honest with God about the junk in our life (which is, in essence, confession) we can finally move beyond trying to prove to God that we are worthy of His love. He's loved us ... it's done! Then we can move into the intimacy of knowing God and reveling in the deep joy and peace that comes from knowing that He knows us more deeply than anyone ever will and He will never leave us or forsake us.
The other outworking of this is in our relationships with each other and the community that we're supposed to be as the body of Christ. There's something incredible that happens in your soul when you no longer have anything to hide from God and can live in the freedom of His grace, inviting Him into the mess: you can start living in that freedom of relationship with others. Granted this is something that can only happen with other people who are as screwed up as you are and who are willing to take the glorious journey of grace together. As God begins to heal our wounds and our poor attempts at coping with the realities of life (where all addictions come from), we can stop asking others to give us the things that only God can give and we can start discovering what true intimacy looks like. When we're not trying to hide from each other and not trying to erect our facades of who we wished we were, we can finally start seeing each other for who we really are ... broken people, in need of the Lord's healing, all on the road to redemption. That, my friends, is a journey I hope to be able to walk with you face to face, for the long haul.
His testimony is staggering and I would encourage anyone to go and listen to it here: http://www.marinerschurch.org/theshack/av/index.html
and then I would recommend that you read the book. All I'll say is that there's a reason it has done so well. Knowing that he just wrote it for his kids as a Christmas present without intending to publish it at all, also says that this is definitely a move of God amongst many people. This book will shake you up and let you down gently, a little more healed, into the arms of our Papa God. He describes the Shack as that place in our hearts where all of our secrets live and where all of our addictions fester. God took him into his 'shack' and the incredible thing is that he came out on the other end with no secrets and no addictions. This struck me right through the heart as someone who struggles with my own secrets and addictions and wants to be free of them. I asked myself, "How could anyone not have any secrets or addictions anymore? I so badly long for that, but it doesn't seem possible!"
In this last interview, he said something very interesting that ties into how this is possible in his life. He said, "So often, we want God to be like Extreme Home Make-over ... you know, send us off to Disney World while he renovates our hearts and makes it a glorious place for Him to live in." He went on to say that that's not how God works. He wants to come into our 'shack' where all of the crap is, meet us there in our mess, and heal all of the junk. And that's where the true freedom comes from. When we can bring our junk to God, realizing that He already knows it all, and already knows all of the other stupid stuff we're going to do, we can honestly let Him move in and work on healing the wounds. 'Cause it's really our wounds that get us trying to find love and validation in so many unGodly ways that so easily become our addictions.
This has been something very huge in my life lately ... just trying to be honest with God. I need to do this, because honesty is the foundation and starting point of intimacy. Without honesty, you will always come up against the facade that the other is trying to erect to show you who they would like you to think that they are. The problem (and blessing) with God is that He already knows us, intimately, we just have to catch on to that and invite Him in ... He will not force His way because that is not the way of relationship. When we can finally get honest with God about the junk in our life (which is, in essence, confession) we can finally move beyond trying to prove to God that we are worthy of His love. He's loved us ... it's done! Then we can move into the intimacy of knowing God and reveling in the deep joy and peace that comes from knowing that He knows us more deeply than anyone ever will and He will never leave us or forsake us.
The other outworking of this is in our relationships with each other and the community that we're supposed to be as the body of Christ. There's something incredible that happens in your soul when you no longer have anything to hide from God and can live in the freedom of His grace, inviting Him into the mess: you can start living in that freedom of relationship with others. Granted this is something that can only happen with other people who are as screwed up as you are and who are willing to take the glorious journey of grace together. As God begins to heal our wounds and our poor attempts at coping with the realities of life (where all addictions come from), we can stop asking others to give us the things that only God can give and we can start discovering what true intimacy looks like. When we're not trying to hide from each other and not trying to erect our facades of who we wished we were, we can finally start seeing each other for who we really are ... broken people, in need of the Lord's healing, all on the road to redemption. That, my friends, is a journey I hope to be able to walk with you face to face, for the long haul.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Writing your own Biography
I've been totally captured by Keith Green's biography written by his wife. His music is phenomenal, which is the main reason Bekah turned me on to him, but the more I read about his story, his passions and his desire to see God glorified in his life above all else, it makes me wonder what my biography might one day say.
I'm realizing that so much of my life is lived without much thought and without including God into every aspect of it. Right now in the story, Keith is wrestling around with pledging himself, his wife and his son to God, so that whatever were to happen to them, he wouldn't turn his back on God. He wanted to be completely the Lords and if it meant laying aside his recording career, or anything else that he was doing to serve the Lord, he would do it.
This book has really gotten me to think about how I live my life. How do I make decisions ... major life decisions and the minor ones too. Up until this point, I've really been making my own way for my self, but there is real joy and fulfillment to be found when we completely surrender ourselves over to God and choose to ask what His will is, and follow that. Lord, I feel so superficial and cardboard. Take me down to the depths where all that I am and all that I do flows from You. I need You more. Help me to die to myself so that I can be raised in You. Show me what this looks like and what this means for me.
I'm realizing that so much of my life is lived without much thought and without including God into every aspect of it. Right now in the story, Keith is wrestling around with pledging himself, his wife and his son to God, so that whatever were to happen to them, he wouldn't turn his back on God. He wanted to be completely the Lords and if it meant laying aside his recording career, or anything else that he was doing to serve the Lord, he would do it.
This book has really gotten me to think about how I live my life. How do I make decisions ... major life decisions and the minor ones too. Up until this point, I've really been making my own way for my self, but there is real joy and fulfillment to be found when we completely surrender ourselves over to God and choose to ask what His will is, and follow that. Lord, I feel so superficial and cardboard. Take me down to the depths where all that I am and all that I do flows from You. I need You more. Help me to die to myself so that I can be raised in You. Show me what this looks like and what this means for me.
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