I’ve talked to some people that tell me that they feel trapped in their marriage.
Others tell me they feel like they are in bondage to debt.
Still others feel like prisoners in their own life – they’re not living anything close to the dreams they once dreamt.
In Matthew 16:13-19, Jesus gives some hope to us that things don’t have to stay the way they are. Freedom is possible. The gates which keep us from living can be broken, freeing us to live.
Jesus asked his disciples who people were saying he was. They said that many people were identifying him as a prophet, or maybe even a reincarnated John the Baptist. Each of these answers, if correct, would suggest that Jesus was the precursor of the next thing – a forerunner of the person for whom the world was waiting. In other words, if Jesus was who many people thought, they would still be waiting for the next chapter. Jesus was just the next step toward the final chapter.
But the disciples had a different view of things. Peter, as spokesperson, shared with Jesus what they no doubt had been talking about upon many occasions. They had come to the conclusion that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of God. No more waiting for the next chapter – the final character had arrived.
Sometimes we in the Church get so focused on issues of the afterlife and the end of the world that we miss the work Jesus is calling us to today. We can sometimes be found guilty of giving up on some challenges we face today, and simply settle for the someday when God’s going to wipe out all the evil and only good will remain. What we don’t get, however, is that we are supposed to be the agents of God right now to usher in the Kingdom of God, which means whatever kingdoms reign will slowly become irrelevant.
Jesus even gave the disciples a tremendous word-picture for them to remember as they began living in this new reality. He said that the gates of Hades would not prevail against them. Hades was the place of the dead in ancient Jewish thought. This is one of the Greek words that English translates as “hell.” What Jesus is saying here is that when we storm the things of death, we will eventually be victorious. The gates – the issues, challenges, and problems – that seem so impenetrable will be penetrated. The powers and forces of all that is not of God are no match for the King and his Kingdom.
Please note that Jesus didn’t carry a sword, and that he rebuked Peter for cutting off a soldier’s ear upon his arrest the night he was betrayed. He didn’t ride a war horse into Jerusalem for his triumphal entry, but instead chose a donkey. He is called the Prince of Peace. For the first 300 years of the Church, the Church grew in strength and numbers while world superpowers rose and fell. In a world that is tempted and torn by war, we must remember that Jesus had a different approach when it came to releasing captives from the gates of death.
The key to opening these gates is belief in Jesus as Christ/Messiah.
Why? Because if Jesus is Christ it means we have a different understanding of God, of grace, of life and death, of hope and hopelessness, of possible and impossible, of ourselves, our future – everything.
Now you may be thinking to yourself, “I believe in Jesus, and my marriage stinks – it’s definitely trapped in death. And my stress level makes me feel like I’m a prisoner of my own life. Believing in Jesus doesn’t seem to be the answer.”
If you’re feeling this way, and you “believe” in Jesus, you may want to check your definition of the word believe. In our culture, my experience has been that when people say they believe in something, they’re talking about cognitive belief. To believe means they’ve made up their mind about something – they’ve answered a question. People believe that Jesus was who he said he was. People believe in the US Constitution. People believe that gas prices are too high. People believe that U2 is the greatest band that ever rocked (and they’re right!).
But the “believe” Jesus talked about was a Greek word which included cognition but also meant more than that. To believe, in Jesus’ use of the term, meant that we also had some passion behind that belief – that we actually cared about this belief as we do things we highly value. And it also meant volition – belief meant that our actions matched our passionate mental assertions.
Given that definition, maybe your marriage or your finances or your physical health or… stink because your belief in Jesus is only cognitive. If you believed in Jesus the way Jesus meant, it would mean that you are ordering your life as Jesus would have you live. That means that the way you treat your spouse reflects biblical teaching. Same with your money. Ditto regarding your physical health, your priorities, your everything…
That’s why we can defeat the gates of hell, by the way. Because living by the ethic and in the Spirit of Jesus we will eliminate the influence and power of all that is not of God. More life, less death. The gates break.
Many gates that many have thought to be impenetrable can be opened. We are the ones to open them. So let’s open them the way we have been taught. This means we need to learn the ways of Jesus instead of assuming we already do. This means we care about what Jesus speaks into our lives more than just giving lip service on Sunday. This means doing.
And since our vision is not just for ourselves but for the whole world, it mean inviting others to join us in charging the gates, so that they can be free, too. So who are you going to invite as we charge the gates of death which are holding captive relationships, finances, physical health, emotional health, spiritual health, - everything?
May you be encouraged in spite of your bondage, knowing that freedom awaits as you believe, truly believe, in Jesus as Christ. May you know that the New Day has already dawned – and is waiting for you to awake. May you think beyond yourself and invite a captive world to join you on the journey toward freedom, that the whole world will know life more than death, and that life will be forever.
MP3 Link: http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=43737&share_id=237558&hash=0b92b3ed8fb4f7cfb4ad314aeaa583b2
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Napa to Nairobi: How Do We Know We’re Helping?
A reality exists in our world: there are a limited few who have resources and a massive majority who do not. The ones who “have” are generally in some way responsible for why the poor are poor in the first place.
Some people feel so bad about the fact that they have resources when others do not that they go into poorer parts of the world with lots of resources to give away.
Some people are motivated by compassion instead of guilt, and they do the same thing.
Still others have a need to feel needed, and go into all the world to save it, in the hopes of feeling important in someone else’s eyes.
Whatever the motivation, often what happens is that a flood of resources makes it to a particular area, along with directions on how to use it. What the do-gooder doesn’t realize is that there are great assumptions about what is needed “over there”; all based on what they know from their life lived “over here.” Unwittingly, they impose their own cultural biases upon their recipients. They are happy to give what they think is needed, with little input from those who actually know the context where the help is needed. Since the end result is that much needed resources get to a much needed area, both parties move ahead.
But what happens down the line?
Sometimes a dependency is created, and those in need are given a fish instead of learning to fish, and are therefore facing a future of trouble, especially if their donor’s funds dries up or the donor dies.
Sometimes Imperialism is resurrected. New, Western colonization pops up in the strangest places – slums feature flavors from a culture thousands of miles away. It’s a bad fit, like telling a cat that it needs to act like a dog – it’s just not going to work for very long.
Sometimes the long term result is worse than it was in the first place because the motives and the mission were inherently flawed.
Our approach to making a difference in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, is not at all like the above. Our approach is modeled after the design laid out by one Nairobi’s largest church’s pastor, who applauds the desire to help coming from the West yet laments the travesties noted above. He recommends that indigenous people call the shots, and that genuine relationship between the two be maintained.
Chris, David, Kerry, and Dan were raised saw that in their home-town slum of Huruma. They noticed that the orphans were falling through the system cracks. They were falling behind in school from lack of parental support. They rose to the occasion. They began tutoring children at a community resource center called Furaha, which in Swahili is translated as “Joy.” This tutoring would give the orphans a much needed boost, since living conditions make it difficult for them to receive much help from their guardians, who often are trying to raise as many as eight children in a very small space on about $1 per day.
With unemployment hovering around 70%, the likelihood of continued economic hardship is certain. And if education is neglected for the orphans, their future prospects are severely limited. While they would love to be self-sustainable, the reality is that without outside assistance, that dream could take several generations to materialize.
That’s where we come in. We have resources we can share.
What we don’t have is a clue – how could we possibly know what needs to be done half a world away? We don’t know. We must rely on those who live and breathe the context to direct whatever assistance is provided.
We have gotten to know the leaders of Furaha and found them to be exceptional in their character and commitment to giving the orphans a chance for a better life. Their goal is to be sustainable as soon as possible, and then help other similar programs begin in other parts of the massive slum. The more centers that exist, the more children can be helped.
Based on our relationship with them, we ask them what they are experiencing, and what they sense they need to provide long-term help. Naturally, since our resources are limited, they must prioritize their projects based on urgency and long term impact. We provide what they don’t have and cannot get – resources.
With our ongoing support, they are able to begin multiple small businesses based on a micro-loan program whereby funds are loaned to individuals who want to begin a business, who then pay it back so that another person may do the same: a peanut butter production business, a bead-stringing jewelry business to begin with (each require a little under $200 to get going). Leadership training for the Furaha leaders is made possible because of our generosity. And lunch is provided for 400 students every school day – this means they will have the caloric means to maintain attention and actually learn.
In return, we are the greater beneficiaries. We may be tempted to think that we are the only ones helping them. But the reality is they teach us a great deal – lessons we need to learn.
That’s how relationships work.
It is possible (but not necessarily likely) that over time Furaha could get these things going without outside help. But how many hundreds or even thousands of kids would lose out during that period? And how much would we lose out for not knowing them during that time?
Here’s the deal… We are family. We are the family members who were born where resources flow abundantly. Our brothers and sisters in Kenya were born into a resource drought. We don’t know how to do life in Kenya. They do. We wouldn’t know what to do to help them live abundantly in spite of their challenging circumstances. But they know how. What they don’t have are resources to realize their life potential.
We’re not their saviors, we’re their family. So let’s do what we can for the ones we can.
Download and Watch the Service: http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=43737&share_id=233120&hash=d3f9ac6f63c3769601184113881cc929
Some people feel so bad about the fact that they have resources when others do not that they go into poorer parts of the world with lots of resources to give away.
Some people are motivated by compassion instead of guilt, and they do the same thing.
Still others have a need to feel needed, and go into all the world to save it, in the hopes of feeling important in someone else’s eyes.
Whatever the motivation, often what happens is that a flood of resources makes it to a particular area, along with directions on how to use it. What the do-gooder doesn’t realize is that there are great assumptions about what is needed “over there”; all based on what they know from their life lived “over here.” Unwittingly, they impose their own cultural biases upon their recipients. They are happy to give what they think is needed, with little input from those who actually know the context where the help is needed. Since the end result is that much needed resources get to a much needed area, both parties move ahead.
But what happens down the line?
Sometimes a dependency is created, and those in need are given a fish instead of learning to fish, and are therefore facing a future of trouble, especially if their donor’s funds dries up or the donor dies.
Sometimes Imperialism is resurrected. New, Western colonization pops up in the strangest places – slums feature flavors from a culture thousands of miles away. It’s a bad fit, like telling a cat that it needs to act like a dog – it’s just not going to work for very long.
Sometimes the long term result is worse than it was in the first place because the motives and the mission were inherently flawed.
Our approach to making a difference in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, is not at all like the above. Our approach is modeled after the design laid out by one Nairobi’s largest church’s pastor, who applauds the desire to help coming from the West yet laments the travesties noted above. He recommends that indigenous people call the shots, and that genuine relationship between the two be maintained.
Chris, David, Kerry, and Dan were raised saw that in their home-town slum of Huruma. They noticed that the orphans were falling through the system cracks. They were falling behind in school from lack of parental support. They rose to the occasion. They began tutoring children at a community resource center called Furaha, which in Swahili is translated as “Joy.” This tutoring would give the orphans a much needed boost, since living conditions make it difficult for them to receive much help from their guardians, who often are trying to raise as many as eight children in a very small space on about $1 per day.
With unemployment hovering around 70%, the likelihood of continued economic hardship is certain. And if education is neglected for the orphans, their future prospects are severely limited. While they would love to be self-sustainable, the reality is that without outside assistance, that dream could take several generations to materialize.
That’s where we come in. We have resources we can share.
What we don’t have is a clue – how could we possibly know what needs to be done half a world away? We don’t know. We must rely on those who live and breathe the context to direct whatever assistance is provided.
We have gotten to know the leaders of Furaha and found them to be exceptional in their character and commitment to giving the orphans a chance for a better life. Their goal is to be sustainable as soon as possible, and then help other similar programs begin in other parts of the massive slum. The more centers that exist, the more children can be helped.
Based on our relationship with them, we ask them what they are experiencing, and what they sense they need to provide long-term help. Naturally, since our resources are limited, they must prioritize their projects based on urgency and long term impact. We provide what they don’t have and cannot get – resources.
With our ongoing support, they are able to begin multiple small businesses based on a micro-loan program whereby funds are loaned to individuals who want to begin a business, who then pay it back so that another person may do the same: a peanut butter production business, a bead-stringing jewelry business to begin with (each require a little under $200 to get going). Leadership training for the Furaha leaders is made possible because of our generosity. And lunch is provided for 400 students every school day – this means they will have the caloric means to maintain attention and actually learn.
In return, we are the greater beneficiaries. We may be tempted to think that we are the only ones helping them. But the reality is they teach us a great deal – lessons we need to learn.
That’s how relationships work.
It is possible (but not necessarily likely) that over time Furaha could get these things going without outside help. But how many hundreds or even thousands of kids would lose out during that period? And how much would we lose out for not knowing them during that time?
Here’s the deal… We are family. We are the family members who were born where resources flow abundantly. Our brothers and sisters in Kenya were born into a resource drought. We don’t know how to do life in Kenya. They do. We wouldn’t know what to do to help them live abundantly in spite of their challenging circumstances. But they know how. What they don’t have are resources to realize their life potential.
We’re not their saviors, we’re their family. So let’s do what we can for the ones we can.
Download and Watch the Service: http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=43737&share_id=233120&hash=d3f9ac6f63c3769601184113881cc929
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Bigger Dream. New Name.
Do you ever feel like a caged hamster on one of those wheel contraptions? They run like crazy for awhile, and then get off. I guess they know they need to get their daily cardio in…
Sometimes I think about the life I live – we live – and it just seems like something is off. If I don’t look too closely, everything is fine. But when I look a little deeper, I see things others have seen and have shared – serious cracks in our system, massive indicators that we’re headed in the wrong direction. I get really uneasy when I look closely at the life we find ourselves in, even here in America, even here where we celebrate and protect an American Dream where we can freely pursue “the good life.”
Back around 1900 BCE, a guy named Jacob was having similar feelings. He had given 20 years of his life to a company that had mistreated him time and again. At first, he was just happy to have a job, a place, a life. But after 20 years, he learned that what seemed like a dream at first had turned into a living nightmare. He didn’t want that dream anymore. Not for himself, his wives (uh, yup, plural), or his twelve kids (perhaps Jacob means “rabbit” in some languages).
Jacob became acutely aware of the system he was living in, and he realized that he had been fitting right in from the beginning. In Hebrew, Jacob’s name literally translates as “grasps the heal; or deceives.” He learned from the best – his father-in-law was a master-level shyster.
The crazy thing was that many people would look at his life and see a well-accomplished person. He had a ton of resources. A large family. Servants. Probably a German-engineered camel, with an Italian one in the garage. In an ancient way and time, he had gone after and captured the American Dream. And now he wanted out.
Jacob remembered a bigger dream that he had which went beyond his personal wealth and holdings. He remembered a dream where the whole world would be blessed. It was a God-sized dream. Jacob wasn’t exactly sure what it would take, but he was sure he wanted it.
There is a lot more to the story for you to read (see Genesis chapters 30-32). But to speed things up a bit… the night before Jacob was going to step into the Bigger Dream, God did a very weird thing – he sent a “man” to wrestle with Jacob. Jacob wrestled this being all night long. He wasn’t going to give up. The old Jacob may have conceded at some point and run away. But Jacob knew what was ahead of him – the Bigger Dream – and he wasn’t going to let it go, even if it killed him. Truly, to go back to what he had previously lived was to die (perhaps literally, certainly emotionally). He had nothing to lose.
At dawn, the match was called. Jacob figured out God was in the mix. This being finally blessed him – freed him – and then gave him a new name: Israel. The name "Israel" means “struggles with God.” Jacob certainly earned that name that night!
I used to think negatively when I saw “struggles with God,” like it was an insult of sorts. But now I realize that it was a great compliment revealing something wonderful and incredible about Jacob’s transformation as a human being. The struggle was a good sign. It meant Jacob was willing to go forward, to face his fears, to trust the promise of God, to put legs on his faith relationship.
When someone comes and tells you, I’m struggling with something, we often hear it as a sign that a person is in a weak or wounded place. A failing kind of struggling. But maybe it’s a sign of great faith and strength, the way we see it in Jacob.
Maybe we need to correct our vision, here. Maybe if we’re not struggling with God it means we’re not really walking much with God.
Think about it. Faith implies that we are walking with God, the Creator of the Universe, the Holy One, the Almighty, All-Knowing, All-Present God. How can we not struggle?
Maybe lack of struggle implies that we have reached our limit. We have enough of God to keep us content. No more struggle necessary – we got what we wanted. We got our on-call divine counselor, we got our after-life insurance. Good enough...
But what if what we want pales in comparison to what God wants to give us? I bet we’ll get to the end of our lives and think, I wish I would have struggled more for that…
Reality check time: How is your struggle going? How are you struggling with what God is inviting you toward? What is the next step of faith God wants you to take? Where is God leading you that makes you shake just a bit (or a lot)? What dream is God wanting to realize in you if you will just stay in the game with God long enough to let God bring it all together?
Imagine for a moment if all of us were so enamored by God that we took Jesus’ many invitations seriously.
Wanna know what it might look like? Less war, more peace – at home, at work, in the world. Greater equality where there is currently great disparity. Healthier environment. Fewer and fewer people stuck in extreme poverty. More and more people going to bed without hunger pangs. Economic stability and sustainability. A decreasing number of sweat shops exploiting children. The slow eradication of all of the abuses related to sexuality. Substances not being abused so much. Clearer, healthier communication. The list goes on and on.
This is the Kingdom of God breaking in. This is Shalom showing up.
All that’s needed are people willing to stick it out – no matter what – with God. Struggling with the implications inherent with following Jesus fully, holistically, sacrificially. Choosing not to settle for an emotionaly "Yes" to God when a "Yes" plus changed behavior and attitude is also necessary.
May you find yourself struggling with God…
MP3 Link: http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=43737&share_id=231339&hash=26f22cb276709eaae34e649af7bd0d1b
Sometimes I think about the life I live – we live – and it just seems like something is off. If I don’t look too closely, everything is fine. But when I look a little deeper, I see things others have seen and have shared – serious cracks in our system, massive indicators that we’re headed in the wrong direction. I get really uneasy when I look closely at the life we find ourselves in, even here in America, even here where we celebrate and protect an American Dream where we can freely pursue “the good life.”
Back around 1900 BCE, a guy named Jacob was having similar feelings. He had given 20 years of his life to a company that had mistreated him time and again. At first, he was just happy to have a job, a place, a life. But after 20 years, he learned that what seemed like a dream at first had turned into a living nightmare. He didn’t want that dream anymore. Not for himself, his wives (uh, yup, plural), or his twelve kids (perhaps Jacob means “rabbit” in some languages).
Jacob became acutely aware of the system he was living in, and he realized that he had been fitting right in from the beginning. In Hebrew, Jacob’s name literally translates as “grasps the heal; or deceives.” He learned from the best – his father-in-law was a master-level shyster.
The crazy thing was that many people would look at his life and see a well-accomplished person. He had a ton of resources. A large family. Servants. Probably a German-engineered camel, with an Italian one in the garage. In an ancient way and time, he had gone after and captured the American Dream. And now he wanted out.
Jacob remembered a bigger dream that he had which went beyond his personal wealth and holdings. He remembered a dream where the whole world would be blessed. It was a God-sized dream. Jacob wasn’t exactly sure what it would take, but he was sure he wanted it.
There is a lot more to the story for you to read (see Genesis chapters 30-32). But to speed things up a bit… the night before Jacob was going to step into the Bigger Dream, God did a very weird thing – he sent a “man” to wrestle with Jacob. Jacob wrestled this being all night long. He wasn’t going to give up. The old Jacob may have conceded at some point and run away. But Jacob knew what was ahead of him – the Bigger Dream – and he wasn’t going to let it go, even if it killed him. Truly, to go back to what he had previously lived was to die (perhaps literally, certainly emotionally). He had nothing to lose.
At dawn, the match was called. Jacob figured out God was in the mix. This being finally blessed him – freed him – and then gave him a new name: Israel. The name "Israel" means “struggles with God.” Jacob certainly earned that name that night!
I used to think negatively when I saw “struggles with God,” like it was an insult of sorts. But now I realize that it was a great compliment revealing something wonderful and incredible about Jacob’s transformation as a human being. The struggle was a good sign. It meant Jacob was willing to go forward, to face his fears, to trust the promise of God, to put legs on his faith relationship.
When someone comes and tells you, I’m struggling with something, we often hear it as a sign that a person is in a weak or wounded place. A failing kind of struggling. But maybe it’s a sign of great faith and strength, the way we see it in Jacob.
Maybe we need to correct our vision, here. Maybe if we’re not struggling with God it means we’re not really walking much with God.
Think about it. Faith implies that we are walking with God, the Creator of the Universe, the Holy One, the Almighty, All-Knowing, All-Present God. How can we not struggle?
Maybe lack of struggle implies that we have reached our limit. We have enough of God to keep us content. No more struggle necessary – we got what we wanted. We got our on-call divine counselor, we got our after-life insurance. Good enough...
But what if what we want pales in comparison to what God wants to give us? I bet we’ll get to the end of our lives and think, I wish I would have struggled more for that…
Reality check time: How is your struggle going? How are you struggling with what God is inviting you toward? What is the next step of faith God wants you to take? Where is God leading you that makes you shake just a bit (or a lot)? What dream is God wanting to realize in you if you will just stay in the game with God long enough to let God bring it all together?
Imagine for a moment if all of us were so enamored by God that we took Jesus’ many invitations seriously.
Wanna know what it might look like? Less war, more peace – at home, at work, in the world. Greater equality where there is currently great disparity. Healthier environment. Fewer and fewer people stuck in extreme poverty. More and more people going to bed without hunger pangs. Economic stability and sustainability. A decreasing number of sweat shops exploiting children. The slow eradication of all of the abuses related to sexuality. Substances not being abused so much. Clearer, healthier communication. The list goes on and on.
This is the Kingdom of God breaking in. This is Shalom showing up.
All that’s needed are people willing to stick it out – no matter what – with God. Struggling with the implications inherent with following Jesus fully, holistically, sacrificially. Choosing not to settle for an emotionaly "Yes" to God when a "Yes" plus changed behavior and attitude is also necessary.
May you find yourself struggling with God…
MP3 Link: http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=43737&share_id=231339&hash=26f22cb276709eaae34e649af7bd0d1b
Sunday, August 3, 2008
How Many Cows?
When people were just beginning in world history, they noticed that the sun, moon, stars, and everything else just magically kept on doing their thing. They quickly surmised that there must be some Great Being that keeps everything going along smoothly. This Great Being brought rain when it was needed so that stuff could grow that people could eat. This Great Being was very nice to do such things.
But then one day it stopped raining. More days passed – no rain.
The people quickly determined that the Great Being must not be happy, and that was why the rain stopped. They needed to bring happiness to the Great Being, and then, perhaps, the rain would start pouring.
So some sang songs. Some danced. Some sang and danced at the same time. Nothing seemed to make the Great Being happy enough to send rain.
Then humanity’s best backyard BBQ’er had a new thought – perhaps what would make this Great Being happy is the smell of a great hamburger. He’d seen people get happier countless times when the smoke from his grill let everyone know a burger was on its way.
So he killed a cow.
And then he grilled it up.
The smoke filled the air – everybody’s mouth was watering (except the Seventh Day Adventists and other vegetarians, who were vomiting).
The next day – rain!
An important lesson was learned – when the Great Being is unhappy, kill and grill some cows.
As time went forward, the rain stopped for longer periods. More and more cows were required. At certain ugly points in history, people even offered their own offspring to appease the Great Being. It seemed to work often enough that people kept doing it. They secretly wondered, how many cows does it take to make the Great Being happy?
The Great Being – God – never asked for the BBQ. In fact, God tried to intervene several times to let people know that it really wasn’t necessary to kill cows for him. That the point was to know God and be led by God in order to get the most out of this gift called life – a Way that allowed everybody in on the good stuff. God called a guy named Abraham (c. 2000 BCE) to get this message across. It lasted awhile, but then people slipped back into the cow mentality.
Fast-forward to 6 BCE, and we find a child being born who would later be heralded as both God and Man come to earth – the Messiah, the Christ. Jesus was his name. He spent his life letting people know about God’s heart of hearts – and that it had nothing to do with killing and grilling cows! To settle the whole sacrifice-to-earn-God’s-grace issue, this Jesus offered himself up – the very best of humanity, the most complete sacrifice – and died on a cross. After being dead for three days, he came back to life to assure humanity that he was who he said he was, and that his sacrifice covered everybody. Forever.
So, if you ever wonder about how many cows it takes to make God happy, the answer is: zero.
If you ever wonder about what you have to do to get God off your back, or to get God to forgive you, or to buy God off so you can live beyond the grave, the answer is simple and difficult: you can do nothing. No amount of cows our other forms of sacrifice will make God love you more than he already does. He loves you completely, unconditionally, forever.
So, in light of the love God has for you, and the Way of life God invites you to live, may you be free from a distorted view of God-as-Angry-Beast, and may you open yourself up to the world of saying yes to his Spirit of Life. May you understand the depths of meaning carried by Jesus on the cross, and may you begin living – now and forever – because of it.
MP3 Link: http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=43737&share_id=230826&hash=c0d4bb1010f6d56ee7c6539e257e0623
But then one day it stopped raining. More days passed – no rain.
The people quickly determined that the Great Being must not be happy, and that was why the rain stopped. They needed to bring happiness to the Great Being, and then, perhaps, the rain would start pouring.
So some sang songs. Some danced. Some sang and danced at the same time. Nothing seemed to make the Great Being happy enough to send rain.
Then humanity’s best backyard BBQ’er had a new thought – perhaps what would make this Great Being happy is the smell of a great hamburger. He’d seen people get happier countless times when the smoke from his grill let everyone know a burger was on its way.
So he killed a cow.
And then he grilled it up.
The smoke filled the air – everybody’s mouth was watering (except the Seventh Day Adventists and other vegetarians, who were vomiting).
The next day – rain!
An important lesson was learned – when the Great Being is unhappy, kill and grill some cows.
As time went forward, the rain stopped for longer periods. More and more cows were required. At certain ugly points in history, people even offered their own offspring to appease the Great Being. It seemed to work often enough that people kept doing it. They secretly wondered, how many cows does it take to make the Great Being happy?
The Great Being – God – never asked for the BBQ. In fact, God tried to intervene several times to let people know that it really wasn’t necessary to kill cows for him. That the point was to know God and be led by God in order to get the most out of this gift called life – a Way that allowed everybody in on the good stuff. God called a guy named Abraham (c. 2000 BCE) to get this message across. It lasted awhile, but then people slipped back into the cow mentality.
Fast-forward to 6 BCE, and we find a child being born who would later be heralded as both God and Man come to earth – the Messiah, the Christ. Jesus was his name. He spent his life letting people know about God’s heart of hearts – and that it had nothing to do with killing and grilling cows! To settle the whole sacrifice-to-earn-God’s-grace issue, this Jesus offered himself up – the very best of humanity, the most complete sacrifice – and died on a cross. After being dead for three days, he came back to life to assure humanity that he was who he said he was, and that his sacrifice covered everybody. Forever.
So, if you ever wonder about how many cows it takes to make God happy, the answer is: zero.
If you ever wonder about what you have to do to get God off your back, or to get God to forgive you, or to buy God off so you can live beyond the grave, the answer is simple and difficult: you can do nothing. No amount of cows our other forms of sacrifice will make God love you more than he already does. He loves you completely, unconditionally, forever.
So, in light of the love God has for you, and the Way of life God invites you to live, may you be free from a distorted view of God-as-Angry-Beast, and may you open yourself up to the world of saying yes to his Spirit of Life. May you understand the depths of meaning carried by Jesus on the cross, and may you begin living – now and forever – because of it.
MP3 Link: http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=43737&share_id=230826&hash=c0d4bb1010f6d56ee7c6539e257e0623
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