What does hope sound like?

I love what Jason Roy, of Building 429 (and of Grace Community Church…Jason’s one of the worship leaders at my church) has to say.

‘”I forgive you.  Daddy, I love you!” Isn’t that the sound of hope?’

‘We have this huge God who loves us, who says over and over to us, in the moment of our sin, where we need Him most desperately, He says, ‘I love you!  You’re forgiven!’  That’s the sound of hope to me.”

We all need hope.  We’re sinners living in a broken world.

Thankfully, God’s grace and forgiveness is free.

but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more – Romans 5:20

* While you’re at it, pick up Jason’s new album on iTunes HERE.

 

If you’d like to catch up on this 11-word series, click HERE.

Grace and Forgiveness

Grace is the fertile soil through which forgiveness roots and grows.

 

Graphic by Matt Gruber

In a concerted effort to use fewer words and drive home a more powerful point, I’m writing 11-word posts.  You can see other posts in this series HERE.

They don’t attempt to answer every question you may have.  They aren’t going to change your life.  But, hopefully they’ll make you think.  And since they’re so short, you don’t have an excuse not to read them.

The Old is Gone

God’s love is much bigger than your past failures. Believe it.

 

You can’t see God right now because you don’t want to.

I read 95% non-fiction.  The fiction I read is stuff like The Pilgrim’s Progress.

I know…I’m a nerd.  But I’m a learner (StrengthsFinder confirmed that), and am always looking for some new concept to engage.  Fiction doesn’t necessarily offer something new to learn…it offers a fun experience.  A story that is engaging, funny, or exciting.  And though there are definitely messages and truths to be found in fiction writings, be honest…that’s not why you read them.  You read them because you enjoy getting lost in a good story.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Which is why, throughout the month of December, I decided to put down my nonfiction and pick up a good story.  I’m reading (almost done) through the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan.  Rick is a good storyteller, and I’ve enjoyed reading through the books.

The Mist

In the books, monsters and half-bloods (half-human, half-god) live, work, and fight right among mortals.  There’s a Mist that’s present on Earth (hang with me…I’m going somewhere…it’s fiction, okay?) that causes mortals to see supernatural people and events in a way that is not supernatural…which explains why we never “see” any of these events.  The main character (Percy Jackson) wields his sword and fights with a god in the city of Los Angeles…and the newspapers report that damage has been done by an earthquake.  When he fights 3 demons in a city bus, mortals see something completely different, explaining away what they saw as a natural occurrence.  In another instance, mortals saw a homeless boy that was big and goofy…through the Mist, he was really a Cyclops.

A little silly, yes.  A little childish, maybe.  But there are implications here for us.

We choose the Mist

Because we do the same thing every day.  God is at work all around us.  He’s causing the sun to rise and the rain to fall. (Matthew 5:45)  He’s changing hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26).  He’s turning the hearts of fathers to the hearts of their children. (Malachi 4:6) He’s holding the universe together.  (Colossians 1:17)  He’s healing relationships.  Overcoming fears. (2 Timothy 1:7)  Breaking the bonds of addiction.  Restoring marriages.  Drawing those who are far from Him closer.  Answering our cries for help.

And yet we choose to still ask, “Where’s God?!?”

The reason you can’t see God right now is not because He’s absent. Or abandoned you.  He doesn’t work like that.

The reason you can’t see God right now is because you’ve chosen not to. Even when you’re far from Him.  And your story has taken you off the best path.  And you’ve got more junk in your life than you’d like to admit.

God’s not far away (Acts 17:27).  You’ve just got to look through the Mist.

Have you seen God working lately?

Have you ever chosen to not see what He’s doing?

 

Would you ever ban somebody from being a part of your small group?

That question has been going through my mind after I read an article about some  American pastors who went to Uganda to speak against homosexuality.  They preached in support of a bill that

…creates a new category of crime called “Aggravated Homosexuality,” which calls for death by hanging for gays or lesbians who have sex with anyone under 18 and for so-called “serial offenders.”

The bill also calls for seven years in prison for “attempt to commit homosexuality,” five years for landlords who knowingly house gays, three years for anyone, including parents, who fail to hand gay children over to the police within 24 hours and the extradition of gay Ugandans living abroad.   ABC News article

So these American pastors are encouraging people to hunt down homosexuals because homosexuality is wrong and destroys the family.  They have also met with the Ugandan government and preached their message to them.

Is this the way the church should treat lost and broken people?

NO!

Even if you agree that homosexuality is a sin, and destroys the family, inciting a manhunt is not what God would have us do.

Here are a couple of tips on dealing with the lost and broken when they’re in our small group.  Though the sin of homosexuality may make you uncomfortable to talk about, I encourage you, for the sake of those who need your grace and love, to consider the following:

1. Remember that Christ didn’t die for you because you were good. He died for you while you were still his enemy.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8

2. Remember that sanctification doesn’t happen overnight.  It’s a process. And processes take a lot of time to finish.  In fact, the process of sanctification won’t be complete in this lifetime.

3. Remember that God hates your sin. He hates it so much that He would deny you a relationship with Him, if it weren’t for Christ.

4. Listen. People appreciate when you ask them to share their story.  But they feel loved and valued when you actually listen and engage them while they’re sharing.

5. Speak the truth in love. Speaking the truth is good.  But truth without love is abrasive.  And hurtful.  And unhelpful.  It doesn’t have the other’s best interest at heart.  It’s self-serving and self-focused.  It’s un-Godlike.

6. Be open and honest about your own struggles. This helps you to fight against pride, and makes others feel more comfortable in being honest about their struggles.

7. Invite an open dialog. Instead of condemning the lost and broken, ask if they’d be open to thinking through what the Bible has to say.  And don’t let the conversation drift into a discussion that slams one sin, and minimizes another.  It’s easy to condemn the sins that we don’t struggle with.  It makes us feel better about the sins we constantly have to battle. Don’t fall into that trap.

8. Be quick to forgive. Those quick to forgive understand the true nature of their sin against God.  Those not quick to forgive don’t truly understand the nature of their own sin, and the loving mercy of God.

9. Offer prayer and further pastoral care and counseling to those open to it.

Notice that I didn’t say, “Ask them to leave.”  OR, “Point out every passage in the Bible that condemns their sin.”  OR, “Petition the government to hang them.” (see article above that does just that)

Those who are broken and lost don’t need our heaping condemnation.  They need our pursuing, relentless love. Jesus, to an adulterous woman, said these words:

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”John 8:9-11

A sin is a sin, no matter how small.

Do you treat some sins as worse (in God’s eyes) than others?

 

I recently wrote a sports editorial piece for a local paper here in middle Tennessee, the I-24 Exchange.  For your convenience, I thought I’d re-post it here on my blog, though you can also find it HERE.  Keep in mind…this was written last Thursday, before the news of Tiger’s indefinite leave from the game of golf.

Tiger Shanks it in the Woods

Unless you live in a hole, you’ve heard the news about “the greatest golfer of all time.”  Tiger Woods was taken to the hospital for an accident he had in his SUV just outside of his Ocoee, FL, home, at 2:25 AM on Friday, December 2^nd (momma always said that nothing good happens after midnight).

It was suspected that Tiger was driving under the influence that night.  Rumors of marital troubles between he and his wife, Elin, only led to confirmation of years of infidelity on Tiger’s part. Elin, at this point seems to be sticking around…for the kids.  His sponsors are sticking with him (though who knows for how long).

Tiger’s life is spinning out of control.  To say that more accurately, Tiger’s life has already spun out of control.  He’s reaping the fruit of years of poor decisions.

Why are we as a society drawn to stories where people’s lives seem to be spiraling into an absolute dumpster fire?  Maybe it helps us to feel better about our own life. Maybe we see ourselves somewhere in the story.  Maybe it’s because we have a morbid fascination with the failure of others. Maybe we’re just thankful it’s not us.

Tiger messed up.  But so have I.  And so have you.  None of us have lived a life immune from bad decisions and moral failures.  Tiger, on his website, says, “I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect.”  You may, or may not, have cheated on your spouse, but you’re not perfect either.  I’d venture to guess that, at least one point in your life, you’ve been in need of someone’s forgiveness.  You were guilty, and there was no denying it.

There’s hardly a greater feeling in life than being forgiven.  To be granted a fresh start.  To have your slate wiped clean.   It’s as if a heavy, unbearable burden has been lifted off of you.

Is Tiger’s career over?  Is he going to be counted as “the greatest golfer of all time?”  Or has this exposure marred his fame and fortune forever?  Only time can tell.

But instead of our eyes and hearts that are quick to judge, and quick to thirst for more and more dirt, maybe we would be better off extending grace and forgiveness.  Tiger doesn’t deserve that.  But by very definition grace is not deserved.  It is not earned.  It’s granted by the one who has been wronged.

I vote to give him a second chance.  And I’m thankful that others have done the same for me.

 

I had stepped out of the room and left my son to himself for just a second.  Typically, I hear him all of the time.  Sometimes he’s banging a toy on the table…or hitting his head on it…or crying…or crawling.  This time, when I stepped out, I listened for him, but couldn’t hear him.  As you can probably guess, 9 times out of 10, that means he’s up to no good.  This time was no exception.  Here’s what I said about it on Twitter:

Caught my 10 month old son snacking on dog food. Probably tastes better than his pureed snap peas.

I am positive that his pureed peas, though they look and smell pretty gross, are vastly more tasty than dog food.  Dog food was created for, well, dogs.  Pureed peas, while not created for me (thank you very much, I’ll stick with non-pureed veggies), were created for humans to enjoy…or at least for humans to consume and receive energy from.

I can’t imagine that Rex was truly satisfied with the dog food.  Though he cried when I took it out of his mouth, but at some level he was saying, “Thank you for taking that nasty stuff out of my mouth!”  I didn’t discipline him…he didn’t know better, the food was accessible, and it was something new.  I simply removed it from his mouth, and carried him away from the food bowl.  Like I said, he did cry, but it was only for a moment.

I wonder how many of us need some junk removed from our lives.  How many of us need God to come in and remove that thing that is ultimately unsatisfying?  That will ultimately leave a bad taste in our mouth and our stomachs unnourished…that “seemed like a good idea at the time.”  It won’t be fun in the moment, but looking at the bigger picture, getting rid of the nasty dog food is what’s best for you.  Go ahead and spit it out.  Turn from it.  Run away from it.  That’s what repentance is.

God’s ready and willing to forgive.  Even for our dumbest mistakes.  Why not give Him a shot?