The Devil Has Many Voices

You've heard from God.  You know it.  You're convinced.  You've found a promise in Scripture that relates to you right where you are.  Or maybe that word came in your quiet time with the Lord.  Perhaps, it came through the words of a friend or minister.  Regardless, something in you came alive.  Hope was renewed.  You were strengthened to get up and go another round.  Then....

There's always a then.  Most of the time it blindsides us.  We fail to see it coming and "boom" there it is, from out of nowhere.  A voice that opposes everything that God just spoke to you.  Like a right hook from a heavy weight boxer it causes us to stagger and stumble.  We quickly try to remind ourselves of what God has just spoken to us, but this voice of the enemy is unloading like a machine gun that has an endless supply of ammo.  Over and over and over this voice screams its unrelenting lifeless jargon in an attempt to rob us of every ounce of hope.

The enemy's voice takes a lot of different shapes and comes at us from all kinds of angles.  In the Garden of Eden, it came through a serpent.  With Joseph it came through his brothers who sought to destroy him.  With Moses, it came from his own feelings of inadequacy.  With David, it came from an insecure king who sought to kill him.  With Job, it came through his wife and friends.  With Jesus, there was a time it came through his friend Peter.  The truth is the enemy has many voices.  Regardless of what shape it takes, it has one goal and that is to cause us to doubt what God has said.

We should not think it odd when the enemy's voice speaks.  Jesus explained to us, that immediately after the Word is sown into our hearts, the enemy comes to steal it (Matthew 13).  Rather than being blindsided, we would do well to heed the words of Jesus.  The right hook is coming!  Look for it! Expect it!  Be ready to duck, block, and then hit back.  I think it's interesting that when Jesus was tempted by the enemy in the wilderness that following his attempt to trip up Jesus, Scripture tells us that he backed off and waited for a "more opportune time."  The enemy picks his moments.  He waits and when he sees the opportunity to strike, he unleashes his fury.  Be ready for it!

This past spring I planted a garden.  I worked hard to prepare two raised beds.  I planted squash, strawberries, green beans, tomatoes, black beans, and several other things.  The first thing to produce fruit was my strawberry plants.  They had strawberries all over them.  And just as they started to turn red something happened.  I went out one day and the same plants that had fruit on them the day before were completely barren.  As I looked around I noticed that birds had eaten my strawberries.  Every last one of them!  In order to get strawberries, I was going to have to do something to keep the enemy at bay.  So, I put up bird netting and ever since the birds have been denied access.  Chalk up a victory for me! I've learned a lot from my little gardening experience.  There are critters that want to damage everything I plant.  If you think that simply planting a seed is all there is to insuring that eventually you'll have fruit, you are completely mistaken.  There are bugs, squirrels, birds, racoons, and many other critters that have to be kept away from the plants in order to see a harvest.

So it is with the Word of God.  If you think that simply hearing the Word of God guarantees a harvest, you'll probably never see it.  The Word of God has a real enemy. While the Word of God is designed to produce fruit in our lives, the enemy has a strategy to thwart that process.  If he can't rip the seed out, then he'll show up at another opportune time to attempt his abortion. Expect him. Once, I saw that birds had stolen my strawberries, I didn't sit back and think it wouldn't happen again.  I expected it.  I prepared for it.  I took the necessary steps to make sure that the "enemy" to my strawberries would never destroy that fruit again.  In the same way, we must understand that each and every time the Word of God  takes root in our heart, there is an enemy lurking in the shadows waiting for the right moment to destroy it.  He'll come speaking words of doubt and unbelief and he'll use any voice he can to spew his garbage.  He'll use our friends and family.  He'll use our own internal voices tainted with wounds from the past.  He'll use our fears of rejection or our own insecurities to promote his deceitful agenda.  He'll leave us hopeless, frustrated, and most importantly doubting the very thing that just hours ago we were so confident that God clearly spoke to us.  

When you read the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the biggest temptation they faced was not to eat the fruit.  It was to doubt the Word of God and believe another.  Eating the forbidden fruit was just the evidence that they had given into that temptation to doubt what God had said.  We face that temptation every single time God speaks to us.  Get ready for it.  Prepare yourself.  The devil has many voices and he'll be speaking to you soon. "Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary the devil, goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8). When he throws his right hook, have your counter punch ready and declaw the sucker!

Jesus Refused To Feed The Hungry

Jesus refused to feed the hungry.  I know what you're thinking, the Bible says he fed 5,000 on one occasion and 4,000 on another.  You are exactly right, there were times when he did feed the hungry.  However, believe it or not there was an occasion where Jesus refused to feed the hungry.  Kind of messes up our view of a benevolent, compassionate man who went around just taking care of the poor and needy among humanity.  Now, before you start to post some negative comments, hear me out.  I'm not saying we shouldn't help those among us who have needs.  However, I think if we are going to do it in the name of Jesus, perhaps we should first know Him and understand what He did and why He did it.  Otherwise in our attempts to truly help people we may actually be hindering them.   

After feeding the multitude one day, Jesus leaves and goes to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  A large number of those that He fed the previous day followed Him. They showed up with the expectation that once again Jesus would miraculously feed them all.  However, they were confronted with the harsh reality that the soup kitchen was closed.  No, it wasn't because of a lack of funds or food donations. Jesus refused to feed them because loving them demanded something more than filling their bellies. Think about it for a moment.  How many times do we throw money at a problem and just want it to go away?  It's the American way.  We donate here or there and feel good about ourselves and pat ourselves on the back for our generosity.  We helped feed a homeless person or we gave them a blanket or a pair of socks.  It certainly makes it easier to look in the mirror each morning knowing that we've done our part to help the less fortunate among us. 

Several years ago, I was doing some ministry in the inner city of LA.  We were handing out sandwiches to the homeless.  I remember so well getting off the bus and seeing a lady sitting on the sidewalk.  Starting up a conversation with her I said, "How are you doing today?"  She responded, "How the #@*!# does it look like I'm doing? I'm homeless!"  (Note to self: never open a conversation with a homeless person with that question).  My response?  "Want a peanut butter sandwich?"  She took two.  I know we were only suppose to give one to each person, but I was thinking two sure made me feel better after our exchange.  The truth is that handing her a sandwich was easy. It made me feel good about myself for helping her.  Plus, it sure did away with the awkwardness caused by my pathetic attempt at making small talk.  It's been more than a decade and I've never seen that lady since.  I came home to the comforts of my suburban life and took up life where I left off.  I had done my "christian duty" of loving the least of these.  At least that was what I had tried to convince myself.

Really, I handed someone a peanut butter sandwich and I can call that loving someone?  Actually, I think you can, but I know well that with that woman that peanut butter sandwich offered me an out.  It afforded me a moment to move on to the next person.  I fed her belly that day, but I did nothing that could be truly equated to loving her.  Jesus fed the multitude one day, but when they came back for more food the next day he refused to feed them.  Filling their bellies wasn't the real issue with them and He knew it.  Jesus went to the root, and ran them all off.  He had a conversation with them that was uncomfortable but it went much deeper than the surface issues in their life.  The woman I met that day was hungry but that wasn't why she was homeless.  The "why" though would take much more from me than a nice greeting and a peanut butter sandwich.  The "why" might have meant that I take a seat on the curb next to her in spite of how she smelled, how she looked, or how many walls she had built up around her.  She responded to me that day in the way she did, not because she was hungry.  Sure, she got her belly filled but once I left, she was still bitter, angry at the world, and still homeless. While loving her didn't require me to find her a new home to live in, certainly it required more of me than a peanut butter sandwich. 

For Jesus, loving the multitude that day wasn't feeding their bellies, it was looking beyond their growling stomachs and determining to offer them more than some fish and bread.  I don't want to belittle the idea of meeting the needs of the less fortunate among us but it is imperative for us to look beyond the surface.  Otherwise, in our attempts to love people we'll fail to truly love them.  Do we really want to pat ourselves on the back when we've done what really amounts to putting a Band-aid on a severed artery?  It's true that the hungry need food but if we only focus on filling the natural belly while ignoring what is spiritual and of eternal significance we've missed the point.  Jesus was much less interested in meeting the physical needs of the crowd that day and more interested in meeting their real needs.

I think we struggle with this area because meeting real needs means we run the risk of being rejected.  We want people to love us, not reject us.  Offering a hungry person food increases our chances that hungry people will love us.  Unfortunately, Jesus doesn't instruct us to go into the world and try desperately to get people of love and accept us.  On the contrary, He instructs us to love people. However, loving people is much more difficult than getting people to love us.  Loving people requires much more than feeding a belly.  That part is easy.  Feeding them takes a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread.  There's not one among us who can't pull that off.  Truly loving them though might mean some stink is rubbed off on us. It might require a few more minutes of our time.  It will require us to step way out of our comfort zone.  It will require us to look beyond the surface issues in their life and determine to dive into the deep end with them.  It will require us to speak the truth while running the risk at being rejected by them. Simply put, we have to be more focused on loving people than being loved by them.

In loving people, let's determine to follow Jesus' model.  It's ok and completely appropriate to feed their bellies.  At the same time, let's not pretend that we've done our job of truly loving them until we as the church go beyond what the government or some humanitarian organization can do.  The mandate of the church is not to simply become an agent of humanitarian aid.  Our call is a much higher call.  We are to love humanity beyond meeting a their basic needs. While feeding their bellies let's make sure we are doing it with eternity in mind.  What a tragedy it would be for us to offer someone some bread to feed their hunger while neglecting to offer them the Bread of Life to feed their true hunger.  Jesus closed the soup kitchen for a day, but He never closes the kitchen that offers mankind food to feed his spiritual hunger.  In all we do, let's make sure we are really feeding the hungry what they truly need.

A king Is Born!

Much of the world stood on pins and needles as it anticipated the arrival of a new King.  They had been waiting for this moment for a long time.  Finally, the moment had come and everyone was captivated by all the excitement.  Then the announcement was made, "A new King is born! A new King is born!" Emotions went through the roof.  Some jumped for joy, some cried, some clapped their hands, and some shouted from the rooftops as they celebrated this new King.  No, wait I think I'm getting my stories mixed up. Jesus' birth wasn't anything like that.

This week much of the world has waited with great excitement anticipating the arrival of a new addition to the royal family.  And finally we heard the word that the new heir to the throne was born.  Every photographer wanted desperately to be the one to get the first picture of this new king.  Media outlets from all over the world had reporters and camera operators standing by to bring us the news live because this child was royalty.  Never mind that the throne he has to stand in line for is one with little  power or authority.  Forget the fact that great grandma still maintains a firm hold on that throne and this new heir still has grandpa and dad ahead of him.  A new king is born!  Let's all get excited!

Ok, so perhaps I should tone down the sarcasm a bit.  But, I can't help but contrast this moment with that of Jesus' birth.  The King of kings, King of the universe, the King whose kingdom never ends, was born one night and most of the world couldn't possibly have cared less.  The masses weren't following this moment waiting for the announcement.  The town in which He was born made no place for Him.  He was so insignificant to those in Bethlehem that nobody offered Him a room for the night.  Apart from His parents and a few wise men from a distant land, nobody had a clue as to who He was. Quietly, the King came into the world He had created and hardly anyone knew He had arrived.  Like any proud father, His Father in heaven had to announce the birth of His Son, so while the world slept through this monumental moment, all of heaven celebrated.  And to a handful of shepherds hanging out in a field, God sent word to declare,  "He's here!  He's here!  He's here!"

So, the birth of "The King," goes by with few to notice it and no fanfare from the masses.  Still to this day, much of the world fails to recognize who this Jesus is.  "He was just a man," some say.  Others think He was nothing but a fable.  But one day this King will be back and all the world we see Him then.  A world who failed to recognize Him the first time, will not struggle to recognize Him this time.  His return will not go unnoticed by the masses.  While many will still reject this King, multitudes will celebrate His return. This next time, He'll get the fanfare and the praise He deserves. And every other king, queen, prince, princess, emperor, ruler, leader and potentate will bow their knee to His throne.  For His throne is above every other and unto Him alone belongs all power, might and authority.

I am really excited for Prince William and Kate on their new addition, but don't expect me to join in all the hoopla.  For goodness sake, I'm an American, so my red, white, and blue DNA kind of opposes the whole monarch thing.  More importantly though there's another King who I'm expecting to return.  So, while the world's eyes are all turned toward jolly ole England, mine are set to the eastern sky.  -- Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.  And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.  His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns.  He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.  He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.  And the armies in heaven, clothed in fined linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.  Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.  He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:  KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (Rev. 19:11-16 NKJV).  --  Now, that's my KING!  

Search My Heart, Oh God...

I will admit when it comes to the Zimmerman/Martin case, I have not followed it with the interest of many others.  That being said, I don't live under a rock either.  Because of that, I know much of the details surrounding this tragedy.  I'm still a bit puzzled as to why it became such a national story but I'll leave my theories on that for another time and place.  Over the course of the last few months as I witnessed much of the hoopla surrounding this case and now the aftermath of the verdict play out on my television screen, I'm reminded how ugly human nature can be.

Tainted by a media, who rarely can tell a story without some type of slant, agenda, or bias, many made judgments one way or the other long before there was ever a trial. Oops, did I make a judgment about the media there? In the court room, the idea is that the jury will get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  Then based on that "whole truth," they can rightly judge someone.  Unfortunately, much of the time each lawyer only wants one side of the truth and is more interested in winning than justice being served.  Oh wait, that kind of sounds like a judgment call on my part as well doesn't it?  Sorry about that.

The fact is that we are often so quick to rush to judgment.  Something happens and immediately we have an opinion on the matter.  Never mind that we don't have the whole story.  It is indeed tragic that a young man lost his life.  I would not want to be in his parent's shoes and navigate through life in the aftermath of this huge loss.  I can not begin to imagine what they are going through.  At the same time is it right to condemn Zimmerman when I have no clue as to what exactly happened that night?  I know there was a lot of evidence presented at the trial, but we will never truly know the whole story, the whole truth of what happened that night.  Did he overreact that night?  Is he a racist?  Did he watch too many John Wayne movies or Dirty Harry movies growing up?  Was he afraid?  Did he fear for his life?  What was going through his mind that night and if he could replay the event would he do anything different? I pray I am never in a position such as he was that night.

Was this a just outcome?  I don't know.  Do any of us really know?  I mean sure you may lean one way or another, but is this really an easy call here?  One with no doubt either way?  From the chatter following the verdict, it would appear many are convinced their own judgment regarding this case is the right one.  Things have been said and been done, that have left me scratching my head.  The anger and hatred that is being spewed speaks volumes about the content of our hearts.  Sure, we can mask it really good when things are going the way we want them to, but throw something like this out there and the garbage in our heart rises to the surface.

Human nature, or "the flesh" is a truly ugly thing. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul speaks of the works of the flesh and none of them are things anyone should embrace, especially believers.  Yet, how many of us want to stand on our soap box because we are convinced we are right. We want to spew venom because the world certainly needs our venom in the mix, right?  Paul links hatred, anger, wrath, and causing division with things like murder, idolatry, and witchcraft.  In other words, he indicates there is no difference between them.

Issues like this are always good gut check moments.  They always serve to reveal what's below the surface.  Much of the time there are things there we have no clue are there until we encounter moments such as this.  Many times we justify our thoughts, speech, and actions rather than recognizing them for what they are... works of the flesh that have no place in the life of a believer. Many have reacted and will continue to react in ways that are consistent with the content of their heart.  As a believer we are challenged to allow God to search our heart and remove anything that is not consistent with His nature.  Of course, that will change our dialogue and how we respond in times such as these.  Scripture tells us that Jesus made Himself a man of no reputation.  He was not interested in standing on a soapbox, proving He was right, or defending His position.  He was determined to make sure that the world saw His Father in Him.  We would do good to take His lead in reflecting the nature and character of God to the world.  If you're with me then let's pray together, "Search my heart, Oh God and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" 

Man, Did He Tick Some People Off!

He read something written centuries earlier.  After reading it, He closed the book and sat down.  With all eyes fixed on Him, Jesus declared that this prophetic word declared by the prophet Isaiah was speaking of Him.  I imagine there was a moment of silence immediately following where you could have heard a pin drop as everyone tried to make sense of what just happened.  They couldn't bring themselves to believe it.  Although something about Him seemed to confirm this truth, they struggled to accept it.  Jesus goes on to speak some other truths and before you know it He has ticked them all off.  So much so they want to kill Him right then and there.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, stirs up conflict here. This is not just a little disagreement. They want to KILL HIM! This is not an isolated event in the life of Jesus. Time after time He speaks and it results in men so angry to the point they want to kill Him. Reading these accounts in the Gospels makes one realize that Jesus didn't come to pacify people and walk on egg shells.  He came to speak the truth. He wasn't ugly about it, but He wasn't a passive pansy either.  He presented the truth and allowed man the freedom to accept it or reject it.  In doing so, this truth caused major conflict.

How could it not?  We are talking about the collision of two opposing kingdoms.  Of course, there is going to be conflict. By why can't we all just get along? Yeah, right! This assumption that we can maintain the peace is completely absurd. The kingdom of this world is set against the kingdom of God. It is in complete contradiction to the kingdom of God.  It is impossible for them to coexist without major conflict.  God's Word is truth.  It's absolute truth and that truth always faces opposition.  When the truth is presented it requires that one get off the fence and take sides.  Truth requires a decision to accept it or reject it.  There is no middle road when it comes to the truth.  While the world wants desperately to create some gray areas, there are none. It is a black and white world and those two sides are at constant war with one another.        

There's the belief in Christianity that all Jesus did was walk around hugging everybody and wiping away their tears.  He's often pictured as this really nice guy who encouraged everyone just to get along with everybody else.  While those ideas somewhat represent His character, they are anything but complete. Sure, Jesus had mercy and compassion on the woman caught in adultery, but then He spoke directly to her sin and told her to quite doing it. How about the time Jesus healed a man who had been sick for 38 years by the pool of Bethesda?  Naturally, he loved the man enough to heal him, but then He tells him to sin no more (John 5:12).  He doesn't sweep the major issue under the rug.  While it was important for this man to be healed, the bigger issue was his spiritual well being. Jesus did not come to deal with surface issues, He came to crush the root.  Jesus, Himself, makes the statement that He didn't come to bring peace, but He came to bring a sword (Matthew 10:34).  Scripture tells us that He came to destroy the works of the devil.  Jesus didn't come to be a nice guy, He came to wage war.  He came to bring light into a dark world.  A dark world that wanted no part of the light.  He came to destroy the kingdom of darkness.  While the Jews were expecting their Messiah to overthrow the Roman government, He actually came to make war with a kingdom much more powerful.  He came to speak the truth and to open the eyes of humanity.  Eyes that had been blinded by deception.  But, when He spoke that truth, many didn't want to hear it.  They didn't want their eyes opened.  They fought Him at every turn. They mocked Him. They rejected Him.  Some said He was crazy.  Others said He had a demon. There were times He was literally run out of town (Mark 5:17, Luke 4:29).  There were times He had to escape in order to prevent from being killed (John 10:39). I think many have this concept that it was only the religious leaders of the day that rejected Him, but that's not true.  Many rejected Him.  Sure, there were many that followed Him, but multitudes rejected Him and everything He had to say.

There was a spiritual climate in the day of Jesus that just wanted Him to back down.  It wanted Him to stop rocking the boat and stop stirring up conflict.  It was ok, if He wanted to be nice to people but they wanted no part of Him if He was going to get up all in their business. How dare He shine light on the darkness they had embraced!  How dare He speak to the corruption in their heart or reveal the corruption in their culture! They wanted Him to just sit down and shut up.

Today, truth faces that same kind of opposition.  Just like in the days of Jesus, there is a spiritual dynamic within our culture that wants us as followers of Christ to just keep to ourselves.  It permeates throughout our culture at every possible turn.  If we aren't careful, we'll bow to that demonic ideology thinking its actually of God.  After all we need to love our neighbor right?  While its true that we need to love our neighbor, I think its vitally important to reevaluate what loving our neighbor really means.  What does that look like?  Jesus loved humanity enough to tell them the truth.  We aren't loving anybody when we dance around the truth for fear of ticking them off.  No, we don't need to be jerks, but speaking the truth is a part of loving people.  It's risky though.  It takes boldness and it could lead to us being completely rejected.  Let's face it, it's much easier to keep quite and determine not to stir up conflict.  But, that isn't love.  Loving people demands that we speak the truth even when its unpopular, uncomfortable, and counter-cultural.

Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, and all the rest of the apostles had a long history of ticking people off.  Their motive wasn't to stand on a soap box or make people mad, but they cared enough for humanity to speak the truth.  That truth wasn't condemning but it did present mankind with the choice of life or death.  As followers of Christ we are living in a dream world if we think for one minute that everyone is going to love and accept us or the message we bring.  If we aren't ticking some people off, then we are probably doing something horribly wrong.

Is The Church A Mirror Image Of Him?

I remember when my two boys were born.  I would hold them in my arms and try to find a mini me in there somewhere.  As they've grown, it has become very easy to see myself in them.  Some of those things make me want to stick my chest out in pride.  Other things make me want to blame someone else in their family ancestry. The simple fact is the fruit has not fallen far from the tree.    

On the day of Pentecost, some 2000 years ago, Jesus gave birth to the church. As I read the stories of the early church, it is not difficult to see a resemblance of Jesus in what they said and did.  They looked like Him. They reflected His character and nature to a world that needed to see it.  They carried the light into a darkened world.  They shared the truth with a world shrouded in deception. They shared the love of the heavenly Father.  They did exactly what the church is suppose to do.  They were His hands and feet.  They served as a visual image to the world of who God is and what He's like.   

The church is the "body of Christ" and as such is to reflect Him to the world.  In its search and pursuit of God, the world should be able to find Him easily within the context of the church.  But is that the case today?  Is the church today a mirror image of Him? Well, because the church is made up of people the truth is sometimes we get this right and sometimes we are an extremely distorted image of who He truly is.  Sometimes we look like Christ and sometimes we look more like the Pharisees and Saducees of Jesus' day.

There are several reasons why the church gets this wrong so often.  At the top of that list is the simple fact that many within the body of Christ have a distorted view of who God is.  When that is the case, its impossible to offer the world a healthy image of Him.  For instance if I see God as someone who is tolerant of sin, then I don't really know Him.  Tolerant?  Are you kidding me?  Check out what your sin did to Jesus and then ask yourself, "is God tolerant when it comes to sin?"  Yet, if that's how you view God, then you'll treat sin as something that is not that big of a deal.   In doing so, you've just showed the world an image that looks nothing like Him.  God declares that He hates sin.  He hates it!  That's some pretty strong language.  Perhaps we should start hating sin the way He does.  I'm thinking the first sin we should start hating though is the sin in our life.  If we'll set out to do that, then we won't have the time to worry about the sin of others.  On the other hand, if you believe that God is just waiting for us the mess up so He can unleash His fury on us, you don't really know Him either.  His fury, that we deserved, was released on His Son.  However, if you hold this view of God, then you'll look more like the disciples who asked permission to call down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans.  Jesus' response to them was, "You have no idea what spirit you're of!" I can just picture Jesus looking at these men after they uttered those words with a look of disbelief.  "Are you kidding me?"  "Consume them with fire?" "I'm walking out life with you guys, and you have no clue who I am" "No, I'm not going to consume them with fire, but I just might consume you!"  Ok, so perhaps I'm taking a bit too much liberty with that passage, but I hope you see the point.  Jesus was saying to these disciples that they were not acting like Him at all.

Another huge reason we present the world with a perverted image of God is we as believers are lousy at loving one another within the church.  Let's face it the church is a great place to get wounded.  Of course it is.  Have you ever thought that just maybe that's God's grand design. It's only in the context of community and family that we truly learn to love.  It's much easier to love those who are distant.  It's a completely different ballgame to love someone in a more intimate setting.  Those that are close enough you can smell their bad breath and body odor.  Those that are close enough that you see all their faults.  Those that are close enough to get on your last nerve.  It's here in this setting where offenses take place and we are given the difficult challenge of dealing with those offenses.  Unfortunately, many within the body of Christ opt not to deal with them.  They either sweep them under the rug and pretend they don't exist or they cut and run.  That only leads to unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, and hurt. Yeah, that's a great reflection of Him.  Hurt people hurt people and because we have an epidemic of hurt people in the body of Christ, we have become great at perpetrating that hurt.

Loving people though demands we address wounds and offenses.  Truly loving others can be difficult.  What am I saying? "IT IS" difficult at times.  That's why we often fail miserably at it.  I'm thinking divorcing churches has to be about the same divorce rate we see in marriages today.  We would rather just leave than deal with it according to Scripture.  God forbid we do that.  In many churches there are leaders who struggle with this so they facilitate this behavior among those they lead.  Let's face it, the reason why we find it difficult to share the love of Jesus with the world is we refuse to truly love one another within the body of Christ. Notice I used the word "refuse."  We have a choice here.

There's a lot going on in the world right now.  Much of what's going on, leaves me scratching my head.  And no, I don't need Head and Shoulders.  I'm just thinking that perhaps our best approach as the church is to determine to love Him first.  In loving Him, I'm talking about getting to know Him.  Become acquainted with His nature and His character. In doing show, we'll be better equipped to truly love those within our church community.  We will also be much better at showing the world an image of Him that is much more accurate.

Political Correctness...No Thanks!

He raised a man from the dead!  A man who had been dead for four days.  It wasn't some type of illusion or trick. While Lazarus might be able to hold his breath for a couple of minutes, 4 days was a bit of a stretch.  Jesus didn't pull up in an ambulance ready to perform CPR as Lazarus was way past that point.  He had died, been prepared for burial, and placed in his tomb.  There were those standing around who saw this miracle and immediately believed in Him.  Others, however, feared the momentum that was gathering around this man, Jesus.  The Pharisees who heard of this event couldn't deny it happened. There were way too many eye witnesses.  They saw a man who was dead with rigor mortis taking over.  There was no doubt this man was dead because the stench of death was in the air.  There was no denying what happened that day.  A dead man was raised from the dead!

It is well documented that the Pharisees struggled with this Jesus.  He was stirring things up.  He was making things uncomfortable. He was doing things and saying things that were, well.....controversial. He was either unaware of the cultural/political climate or He just didn't care.  He didn't send out pollsters or get a consensus prior to speaking or acting out.  He was as unconcerned about what the religious leaders thought as He was about what the Roman government thought.  He seemed to fear none of them nor what they might do to Him.  He spoke the truth.  He lived the truth.  He was not  concerned about being culturally relevant, politically correct, popular, or gathering a crowd.  At the same time He didn't come to stand on a soap box.  He didn't strive to prove He was right.  He didn't condemn humanity because they opposed Him or His message.  He spoke the truth and allowed man to make a decision to believe that truth or not.  He granted mankind freedom.  Freedom to accept that truth and in doing so he chose life.  That same freedom afforded man the liberty to reject that truth and in doing so he condemned himself.  Wow, imagine that....personal responsibility!

Those who opposed Jesus that were standing around the tomb of Lazarus that day, saw the same miracle that many others saw that day.  And while many believed in Jesus after that miracle, these men responded completely different.  How could that be?  They witnessed a miracle that they could not deny, yet still were not on board with this man or His message.  What was the matter with these men?  What was holding them back?  What were they afraid of?

⁴⁶ But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. ⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” - John 11:46-48 (NKJV)

Wow, they were afraid of an oppressive government!  The truth is they had become puppets.  They worked hard not to rock the boat and in doing so, they maintained their power.  Along comes this Jesus and He starts rocking that boat.  They are convinced that if they don't step in and do something, the waves Jesus is making is going to sink the ship.  So, regardless of the incredible works He is doing, they reckon that the price is too high to pay to jump on board.  They could lose everything.  Their positions, power, and status are all at risk.  Persecution was certain and they wanted no part of that.  God forbid their faith cost them something. They wanted to simply sit back and do life as normal and they were willing to make whatever compromises they needed in order to maintain the status quo.  They had sold their souls in order to be comfortable.  

Jesus wasn't controversial for the sake of being controversial.  He didn't stir up things simply because He wanted to.  Jesus didn't set out to just tick people off. The clash between the truth and deceit, light and darkness is inevitable.  It cannot be avoided.  When the kingdom of God shows up, the kingdom of this world is shaken.  When greed, pride, selfishness, and deceit is confronted with generosity, humility, sacrificial love, and truth there is a collision that is certain and completely unavoidable.  To think that those two competing kingdoms can coexist without producing some major friction and fallout is extremely naive. 

Like Jesus, the church does not have to purpose to cause waves.  We do not have to jump on a soap box in order to get the world to notice us.  We should never say or do anything for the simple reason of trying to stir up something.  At the same time, we should never cower or compromise in order to pacify any person or entity.  Jesus was simply who He was.  When the church determines to be who they are suppose to be, darkness will sit up and take notice. Forces will collide. Boats will be rocked. Offenses will come.  Speaking and living the truth isn't comfortable.  It comes with great risk.  Attempting to keep the peace is not the goal of the church.  Being the light of the world is what we are here for.  Determining to be that light in a world shrouded in darkness will always produce conflict.  Being that light requires the courage and strength to stand for what's right when it is extremely unpopular. It requires one to speak the truth even when its rejected by most.  It requires one to love when its easier to hate.  

The Pharisees during the days of Jesus failed miserably.  They were more concerned about keeping the Roman government happy then doing what was right.  They determined to be politically correct in order to keep the peace, yet in the end, the Roman government did exactly what they feared the most.  There is a spirit of tolerance that permeates throughout every fiber of our culture. Much like the Pharisees, we are faced with the temptation of compromising, cowering, and shutting up.  The day we give in to that temptation is the day we turn off the light.  I don't know about you, but turning off the light is not something I am ok with.  Political correctness....No thanks!