I have been hovering on the meaning of this powerful verse and had the opportunity to sit down with someone who really is becoming a good, trustworthy friend, and someone who I really enjoy being transparent with. This morning we began to hash through some of the dynamics and tension that comes from this line of thinking that we are about to discuss.

Galatians 6:1-2 KJV [1] Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. [2] Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

I think there is more to bearing one another's burdens then has traditionally met the eye!

Would you be free from the burden of sin? We sing it In our churches regularly. Is there a link though? Is there a part for us to play in the bearing of the burdens of one another? We all know that the provisions for the forgiveness of sins is only accomplished through the work of Christ Jesus on the Cross and the power in His blood but was the model we were given through this glorious work intended to be lived out practically through us? Was the example by Christ set so that we would forgive, bear, forget, restore, and do life with one another without the expectation of any consequences that could come culturally on the chance that  we were to forgive the wrong person? (Can that even happen?)  Did it include bearing the burdens of the sins of those who have wounded us! Finally, does this fulfill the law of Christ?

I would venture to say that we all believe that the list of our sins, shortcomings, and stupidity are blotted out in totality by the blood of the Son of God. But I also think that many Christians aren’t healthy because they fail to understand this foundational and profoundly simple truth in its totality.

For example, many know they’re forgiven—but they have a hard time believing the one who hurt them is. “You can’t ignore the abuse, the trauma, and the anxiety that has been inflicted upon you,” they are told. “It must be dealt with.”  But wait a minute! It has been dealt with by Jesus’ blood on the Cross. He hung on the Cross of Calvary dying for the very sin that bugs us in others. Therefore, for us to say, “We must dig it up and talk it through,” or, to not allow forgiveness and bear the weight and burdens for those who have offended us the most, makes a mockery of what Christ did on Calvary. It basically diminishes a work that was done for all and now becomes selective in scope. We all hurt Him, and we all have offended Him! He cried, “It is finished,” It’s done! It’s paid for. And that means for those who are offenders and also for those who have been offended. So be forgiven and forgive one another. Fact of the matter is, I was the person in the wrong and He bore my burdens anyway and without any regret or even saying Ooops!

Is this too dangerous to teach in today’s church? I know it may sound risky to some but to me, there is only one question of any importance and that is... Did Christ take that kind of risk on me? If the answer for you is yes then, it may just radically reform your perspectives on grace therefore fulfilling the Law of Christ.

Food for thought! When we are under the load and the heavy burden of sin, my prayer is that as believers we would carry one another though, even when we’ve been hurt, even when it is an inconvenience, or an imposition. Even when our reputation is at risk, or those around us think it abuses the some law of grace. With grace the laws have been done away with! By bearing one another’s burdens in this way we fulfill the law of Christ.

Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

So many Questions to ask ourselves...

• How and in what fashion did the Lord forgive you? 
• Was it complete, were you justified, were you restored to a state of righteousness? 
• Did Christ change the record on your past sins?
• Were you the one who hurt Him like so many of us, all of us have? 
• Do I forgive others in the way it was modeled through Christ?
• Do I keep a record of my sins and the sins of others?
• Am I willing to die to my selfishness, selectivity, spiritual pride, dogma, religiosity in order to bear the burdens of those who sinned against me?
• Do I practice selectively in matters of forgiveness and bearing someone's burdens? 
• Is it easier to forgive someone who confessed their sins to you than it is to forgive someone who has sinned against you personally? There is no difference in the Christ model!

I'm just saying!

I know these are hard questions but, I have been contemplating them and I think they are all important to ask if I am to see the law of Christ fulfilled in the way it was intended for me. Let this challenge your thinking and root out any signs of religion, legalism, or hurts that we place on one another. And more than anything may it change the way we respond to one another, causing us to see each other through the lens of Jesus who lavished us with His love and compassion while we were the biggest risk He could have ever taken.

Food for thought!

But Maybe That’s A Good Thing!

Day three of my recuperation from knee surgery has me contemplating many different things. (It’s not the drugs Just for the record!). The Lord has a way of bringing clarity to those who position themselves to wait on Him especially if you have desire for a work of the Spirit and you are becoming a person who anticipates the fullness of His Spirit as you walk in simple faith with Him. Regardless of whether or not this kind of pause and positioning in life are intentional and purposed or they are imposed like the recuperation process I am presently going through, God is faithful to teach us and grow us up through either posture or process but, that doesn’t mean you are going to always get what you want! One thing that I am learning is that all too often; pain, setbacks, weakness, inability to see what is ahead, are all the venues that the Lord has a tendency to show Himself strong in while at the same time He shapes us to be a perfect fit into the valleys that we go through so that we can be salt and light in difficult times.  Post- Surgery I was optimistic that I was going to be breaking all the records for recovery. Raising the bar for other potential candidates of knee surgery! Day 3 has come and my resurrection has been postponed! What the Lord is teaching me in all of this is that He died and was resurrected so that I wouldn’t have to and so that none of us would be able to take any credit for what only He alone could do!

It’s funny how the Lord can position us in such a way so that when we are in our deepest need or things are toughest, He can turn the light on so to speak and reveal to us what His desires are for our life, along with what He wants us to learn, and what is important for us to understand in the process of shewing forth His Manifest Glory, and not ours! I have been able to reflect on how I view the world and how sometimes what I want is in conflict with what I need. I thought about how much stress I often create for myself by fixating on what I think I want instead of focusing on the things my mind, body and spirit need. I realized that if I stop chasing the things that I feel I should have, I won’t set myself up for disappointment when I don’t get them. It is becoming my belief that if I stop believing that something ought to be a certain way, I won’t be unfulfilled if it turns out differently than what I expected. Maybe the things that God has for me are better than the things I want anyway,! Maybe, building a sense of entitlement only hinders me from recognizing it.

Have you ever said to yourself. “I can’t just not go after the things I want in life because isn’t that what drive is all about anyway. If I don’t have drive, I won’t accomplish anything; if I don’t accomplish anything in life, I won’t be happy.” Thankfully, the more I grow in the Lord, those moments of panic become more brief and I realize that kind of thinking is incorrect. The Holy Spirit is faithful to bring a rush of calm when I am postured to tune in to Him. As it falls over me it is as if the God of this universe is gently telling me, “relax, I’ve got this!” He tells me to let go, and to trust that everything will be okay just rest in Me! Your personal drive and ambition may have gotten you far in life but, “how often have you tried to force a square peg in a round hole because you went after something you wanted just to say you achieved it? “ Or, “How often have you come up empty when I wasn’t the Author and Finisher of the direction you were going?”

Those thoughts sink in deeper as I consider how my actions can impact my kids, grandchildren, wife, family and those the Lord has given me. We can all remember experiences where If we look back there are situations where we wanted something for ourselves or someone else and the results were not what we expected. Or, we had a goal to make something happen because we wanted it, not because others did. That really makes us stop and think about whether or not our motives are in sync with His!

Wet can all understand the feeling when moments we thought were going our direction, build up and then fall flat on their face. Much like the process with my knee. Will I have a closer relationship with Christ if I stop worrying about the things I want and instead focus on what I really need and long for which is Him and the work that He has done?” The answer is a resounding… Yes!

All I know right now is that the Lord has given me the down time to try this on. In the process I will be learning to be better satisfied with His timing, His Flow, His perfect rest, and trust that He that is doing the work in me and for me because, when it comes down to it, the work is done! It is Finished! And although the finished results may look different in each of us, It still has the look of the Finished work of the Cross and the look of 3 days and a resurrection for those who walk in simple faith and who simply abide in what he is doing!

Allow me to give you the simple equation again! The work is done so, rest in it, and wait for it. This is the Simple walk of Faith that manifests his glorious resurrection in our lives.


Food for Thought!

Matthew 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Discipleship has become one of the trademark elements for a thriving church in this modern era but sadly, we have traded in a work that Christ does in us for the methods and spiritual calisthenics of a church culture.

We are never told by Jesus to go and make disciples rather, He told us to “go” and that He would make us fishers of men. Later in Matthew’s Gospel we are told; Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: We have substituted “teach all nations” with “Make disciples of all nations”. We can all acknowledge that the early disciples were called and devoted to the discipline of following Jesus in obedience and with devotion and it is as if Jesus was telling them to go live out the things He was doing in them before all of the people.

Fishing for men was the byproduct that He produced in them as they followed Him and Jesus alone is and has always been the maker of disciples and not us. It is easy produce programs for discipleship and everyone has one! How much better would it be if we simplified our methods for discipleship, embraced this very evident biblical modicum, and finally came to the realization that in an intimate and relational walk with Him, He alone produces fishers of men who are what I like to call Living Epistles. What I mean about that is… Everything in the life of an individual who is centered on Christ will supernaturally in a very natural ways, walk as one of His disciples, and that it is fleshed out and flushed out of these cracked pots we call earthen vessels in the most unconventional ways as we “go”.

​I personally think that we can become very high centered on programs for the production of discipleship and that when we make those programs the centerpiece of our cultural christianity; Jesus gets left out, we feel good about producing disciples but we still feel alone in our walk, and that we build huge impressive gatherings of the disciples we made, but still, nobody ever goes fishing!

Practically, I know this works because I have recently set across the table from two different men who have most effectively  discipled me with their life and not their methods. Their central focus was Christ and not their status, or accomplishments. The power in their story comes from a life devoted to following Christ and it makes true disciples of whoever they come in contact with.


Food for thought!

Understanding your purpose.

​One of the most common threads amongst in folks who live in constant struggle is the loss of hope. It can be evidenced in those who have been beaten into a corner by various life circumstances and it is even more prevalent in those who seem spiritual but are conditioned to cover up. They isolate the struggle in their life by countering their story with a false narrative giving the appearance that everything is ok on the outside. After all, we would never want to be the one who sucks the air out of the room when everyone else’s false narratives are so amazing and triumphant or so it would seem. The truth of the matter is that we are all a hot mess whether your mess is messy or it’s really neato, (desirable) in its form.

In both circumstances it is not hard to identify an evident loss of hope and a lack of understanding about what the Father is authoring in their story. Some wear the struggle openly and others who are more spiritually adept run around bound up like a hound dog trying to pass a peach pit. However, in every instance the questions about ourselves and the accusations from the enemy are always the same. Will I ever be used, will I ever get out of this rut? Am I worthy, Do I have what it takes? The enemy distorts our perspectives, we listen and hope is lost.

The most simplistic way to regain hope, and understand your purpose along with the most profound method for getting unstuck and experiencing peace in your life is not only found in the story of God but, His story by design has authored a unique story for each of us that yields the same glorious outcomes that we see in the life of Christ. Another way to put it and begin to understand it is by recognizing our position in Him.

We are in Christ!
Let me pose this question in light of the simplistic answer to follow. How do we understand our purpose and regain our hope when the struggles are real and ever with us?

Our part is to abide and rest in Him. Say What..?

1 John 2:24 KJV
[24] Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.

How many times have heard about the redemptive work of God even from your earliest beginnings? Would you characterize your walk as hit and miss? In other words you have taken a swing at a walk of faith but, feel like you can’t hit the ball! We feel this way because the wrong person is stepping up to the plate! It is important to understand that the home run has already been hit! Jesus knocked it out of the park and He did it for us! He continues to do it for us even though when we would get to the plate we had a tendency to strike out! Here is the deal though! I only need to simplistically abide in Him. When we hear “Batter Up” if we abide in Him, we step up to the plate as Him and in Him, and then we knock it out of the park every time! The Son remains in me an I am grafted in Him! Simple, just abide, just rest on the bench. Become someone who doesn’t just know a home run hitter, or has heard about a home run hitter, but continue in the home run hitter! Continue on in the Son and in the Father.

1 John 2:20,24,26-29 KJV

[20] But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things (24] Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. [26] These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. [27] But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Do not be seduced into a cultural christianity that would have you in pursuit of a special anointing. Don’t live in the fear or belief that just because you run in the ruts that you’ll never hit the ball. We have already received anointing and it abides in us even when we are in the deepest of ruts. In fact, It allows us to navigate life from rut to rut, where so often there are difficulties and tension. The things that appear to be setbacks are the training grounds where we learn how to rest, anticipate with hope, walk in peace, and watch the home runs being knocked out of the park.
Whether you wear your struggles openly or cover them up, we are all in the same mess and all affected by sin. I am gradually becoming more satisfied with winning the game while being a benchwarmer and the guy that couldn’t hit a home run if his life depended on it!
Is God calling you to abide in the dugout or are you more worried about getting up to bat!  I can always understand God's purpose and see it unfold in my life better from a place of resting and abiding in Him!

Food for thought!

Col 4:6
Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

To often, conversations start and end without either of the most important elements for good communication.
​
Any communication that comprises or is an attempt to influence the another person, or changes the tone, intent, or heart of what has been spoken to reflect ones personal positions, then it is outright manipulation. This isn’t always easily identifiable especially in Christian relationships because the typical motivation behind our dialogue with one another starts out with pure intent but when our own feelings enter the room, everything turns to one’s own purpose and personal advantage very quickly. It is very easy to see things spiral downward from there.

Communication is so important among people of all ages. Misunderstandings can be avoided, and great things can be accomplished when there is open communication. Words can hurt or they can encourage, they can teach or they can tear down, but no matter what they are very powerful. They are also a huge reflection of what is in our heart. As Christians, the Lord has given us some basic guidelines in his word about how and what we should speak and choose our words wisely.

We are told in scripture:

Psalm 19:14 (ESV) “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

Matthew 12:37 (ESV) “…for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

This verse is a clear warning to all of us about the importance of our words. It is apparent through God’s word that our behavior and actions have consequences in the Kingdom of God, but this verse also makes it obvious that our spoken words also bring ramifications. The verses right before this one make this very clear by saying, “…For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak (Matthew 12:34-36). With this warning in mind, we should seek to fill our hearts with God’s word, so that we practice good communication and so that we will ultimately be judged as righteous children of God.

I have been doing a litmus test to gauge the level of manipulation that seems to come full circle in the conversations that I have. Many of them were intended for just for the individuals in the room and yet they can still come back around after being manipulated or fashioned with different purpose, perspective, or selfish intent. Other conversations were manipulated because they went through the rumor mill and the essence of the dialogue was lost in translation. Either way, if you have a conversation with someone and It leaves the room for any reason it is reduced to here-say. Period! Keep your conversations personal and private. Resolve and restoration in anyone you speak with come not from your spiritual spin or prowess but through your prayer for others. The rest is just what the Lord does.

In my own observations and litmus test I believe that there can only be one reason for the presence of manipulation in our conversations and it seems that in many cases they lack the power and influence of scripture. Scripture is one of the best tools you have to guard your conversations. It keeps you from perpetually having to recover right standing in relationships and brings productivity to the conversations of those you minister to. You can’t catch everything but the scriptures provide everything that pertains to life and Godliness so you can’t go wrong!

So... let you conversations start with the Word, be filled with Salt, and always finish with The amazing work of Grace.

Food for thought!

Wrong information can get you lost very quickly in life. Especially if you aren't sure of who you are or you don't understand the purpose you have been given.

​I know my own road to failure and every stop I made along the way. I know it so well I can drive it in the dark, backwards, with my eyes closed. Some folks provide perpetual reminders of the roads I’ve traveled and where I have made wrong turns. It’s like they have hacked the location services of my phone or GPS and think they know where I’m going next.

Those geocaching and maps in the wrong hands have added turbulence to my travels, my story, and life and the waypoints all come in the form of shame, guilt, doubt, fear, embarrassment, insecurity, humiliation, resentment, regret, and you get the picture.
​
Now, I like being mistaken for certain things for instance, being to young to have grandchildren or, I like being mistaken for being a mountain of a man because I am in many ways and in others I’m really not but, what I absolutely despise is the inability of many folks in Christianity to see each other through the lens of Jesus. There seems to always be a bad detour or a dead end offered by those who don’t want to really understand or discover the journey that the Lord has us on.
For instance, being mistaken as someone not worthy of being used in God’s kingdom is not only unbiblical but it’s a contradiction to the command to bear one another’s burdens in love. You can also contrast that perspective with those who will flatter you with empty characterizations of who they think you are but nevertheless they are the type of descriptions that feed my ego and pride or validate my status among the spiritually elite and my flesh gravities to the glory in self generated accolades because they can make me feel better about myself. This is why When I dialogue with others that I tell them that I thank the Lord for them and leave it at that.

Now, both instances whether negative or positive have the equal power to superficially shape what I believe about myself and my identity? Even the most positive characterizations I’m given, or award myself, have the power to define or disillusion my identity. The truth is, I can be a victim of not understanding who I really am in either direction, and have often lived in a state of mistaken identity during certain times throughout my life. Many of us have painful proof of this and it causes us to become professional in the business of marketing ourselves.
When I am mistaken for my age, it makes me think that I’ve unlocked the secret to longevity or that I am the picture of health when I know I am not! I always have the potential to become an idolatrous commodity that I work hard to sell in order to keep the compliments flowing and my stock rising.
In contrast, when I am referred to as a “liar”, “adulterer”, or a “failure”, it reminds me of my sin and incites deep emotions that range from guilt and depression, to rage and vengeance. It also spurs me on to contradict the negative names attributed to me.
If I am not careful, instinctively I become my personal PR man. In fact, it is painful proof of a sinister system of checks and balances.

I'm so glad God agreed with me!

In His economy, I am bankrupt. I am every label that has been attached to me: idolater, liar, adulterer, coveter, thief. The collateral I have collected is worthless against my debt. I have boldly labored as the sole proprietor in my own corrupt marketing business. I write checks as if I have endless resources. But in reality, even when I think I’m in the green I am completely in the red—broke and working a dead-end job selling a worthless product. Furthermore, because of my bankruptcy, God sent Jesus as my substitute, not only to pay my debt in full but to make a deposit of righteousness that will never run out.

All the titles we spend a lifetime trying to make or break, Jesus says “charge them all to me.” He announces his one job in Luke 4: to set the captives free. Free from our foolish attempts to fool ourselves and others. Free from the bondage of business gone bad. Free from the mishaps of mistaken identity. Free from the rise and fall of our stock. Free from the terrible titles we achieve in public or private. Free. He provides permanent labels of identity for us like; forgiven, righteous, accepted, beautiful, and beloved forever—no matter what. For me, being given His identity also gives me mine and declares exactly just who I think I am but how I roll!

Who do you think you are!

Food for thought!