Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments
1. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

2. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

there's the big 10. how are we stacking up to those? got them all taken care of yet? i'm guessing not. over the next several days and weeks i'm going to try to break each individual Commandment down...how it applies to me, and perhaps to you. each may look different depending on the Commandments itself, my attitude and emotions towards it and the depth i go into each one. i'm pretty sure i've never killed someone, but i'm guessing i might dig a little deeper into #6 than that...

Santa Isn't Real

in 1 Timothy, paul writes to timothy. he says "As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith."

i know we're a long way from macedonia, but isn't the same still true today? sadly enough, you can walk into pretty much any Christian book store and see shelves full of just this. books written by men who decided to share their thoughts and version of God, giving you their warnings and commands, practically without even quoting scripture.

but it doesn't just stop there. we do this all the time...and no time is it more obvious than the season we're in right now. it's Christmas time...and you know what that means... pictures with santa claus and lots of toys from jolly old st. nick. really? that's Christmas?

and how about Easter? i don't think God created a magic bunny to lay eggs in our backyards to celebrate His son's victory over death either.

here's a thought...a suggestion: how about we celebrate the holiday...the Reason for the season for the right reasons this year!

Both

i recently read a blog and subsequent comments where the readers argued the point; which was a more important moral issue: abortion or world hunger?

is this really worth the debate? thoughts...comments...arguments?

God Is Enough

Real Change

change: verb - 1a: to make different, alter; b: to make radically different, transform

it seems that the word change has been all the buzz lately. first off, with president elect obama's entire campaign platform revolving around the single word 'change'. also there's the push for climate change, a change to the homeless issue facing our nation, even our country's ever changing economy...change is all around us, it's unexcapable.

but all of these examples seem to revolve around the idea that someone else is making the effort, that something can actually happen while you site idly by. that you could actually do nothing to change the outcome of these events, yet the outcome will still occur, and still effect you.

what about those important decisions, those resolutions you make that may actually have an impact on someone more that yourself. what do you do with those opportunities? how do you handle those circumstances...when you could be the change, rather than allowing others to do it for you.

how often do we decide to make a change, to do something, only to see that once thought desire fizzle out? how many times do we want to change something, but expect the voyage of accomplishment to be more of a sprint than a marathon? how many times have you been on the path of change, only to realize that there's more than one path...and perhaps another one may be better suited for your ideas, your passion?

those moments, those breaking points, those forks in the road, those decisions to be made, aren't they just as important as the goal itself? can't those decisions on how to proceed effect the outcome just as much as anything else?

that's when real change occurs...

Love For Enemies

Luke 6: 27-36 NIV
Love for Enemies
27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

i've been studying this passage of scripture quite a bit over the past week of so. some of these truths have been engrained in most of our heads for quite some time...we 'know' them. but upon digging into each verse, i found so many things i was missing.

for example, in verse 29 Jesus says that if someone slaps you on one cheek, turn and allow them to do the same the other. think about that for a minute. how often have you seen a man get punched in the face, not slapped, but full-on punched...whether it be on tv, in a boxing match, a movie, a high school fight, whatever. for some reason, there is some form of pride involved in getting punched, it's like you pushed the envelope so far, that there was no other means to control you. now, cancel out the idea of getting punched, and instead, think of how often you've seen a man getting slapped in the face. quite a different emotion. i can think of very few things as humiliating that could happen to man than getting a slap in the face. how demoralizing, how defeating, how embarassing. and yet, Jesus says, if you get slapped, don't sink down, don't fight back, but instead turn to give them the other one too.

to take that even further, typically, back in the time of Jesus, a man getting slapped in the face meant that he was basically banished from the temple, the social epicenter of that entire culture. so, Jesus is saying that when you've been banished for the 'place to be'... show love, not anger. wow, talk about a humbling experience.

in the very next sentence, Jesus says that if a man takes your cloak, to give him your tunic too. now, keep in mind, this was a couple years before central air and heat, double pane windows and blown insulation attics...so, bascially, whatever the weather was outside, that's what you had to go with. and i'm guessing that most men didn't have a walk-in closet full of cloaks and tunics. odd are, their one cloak and tunic that they just gave away doubled as their blanket at night. how often are we giving all we own to our enemies?

now, that was a good lesson for me...and honestly, had i finished there, it would have been all the challenge i'd need to keep me busy for a few years. but, i read on, i dug in even more..and the lesson i came upon next might be even harder that the whole 'loving thy enemies' idea.

this brought me to John 6:31...one of the most famous passage in the entire Bible. "Do to others as you would have them do to you." now, i've probably heard that verse, that great rule, between 1,000 and 1,000,000 times over my life...and at first, it just seemed that i'd heard it for yet another time. that is, until suddenly i remembered the context of this passage...Love For Enemies. it doesn't say to treat your best friends as you'd like to be treated, but rather your enemies...still not blown away, hold on.

so basically, that passage is saying to treat our enemy as we want to be treated...big deal, right. sure, but what does that say about our friends, our fellow believers in Christ's love? i think it's saying that we have to hold them to an even higher standard. it's our responsibity to watch them, help guide them, hold them accountable, in a loving way - call them out when they have strayed, 'nag them' for Jesus, if you will. i don't know about you, but suddenly, giving a non-believer all my jackets doesn't seem that difficult. what does seem difficult is having those hard talks with a friend when they are down, veering off course, sinning against God...and also knowing that those accountability issues are there for me too...that when i've lost sight of His love, someone should get in face and call me out on it.

but i guess that's still not as hard to swallow as slap in the face...

Bloom

"And the day came when the risk of remaining tight in the bud was greater than the risk it took to bloom." -Anais Nin

last night, Katy and I stepped down from a position of leadership that has been extremely dear to us for well over a year. we walked away, hurt, sad, but most encouraged by what we had accomplished. we started something that changed lives...what's better than that!? we've seen people transformed, we've heard amazing stories, we've shared unforgettable moments together, thanks to the ministry we loved so much and worked so hard to see succeed. we served Him to our fullest, even when things seemed impossible, when mountains seemed impassable. when we had no idea what we were doing, we put our trust in Him, always.

we also realized that we don't need a ministry in order to impact people. we don't need a ministry in order to share God's love, grace, mercy. we don't need a ministry in order to worship Him. we don't need a ministry to have a voice. we posess all we need to make a difference, God's love and grace. also, we have trust, honesty and a passion...to share with others what God has done for them...to tell others of God's love. we can do this in our places or work, schools, in highway traffic, grocery store check-out lines, everywhere. we don't need a ministry to minister.

i pray for the future of that ministry...i pray that it succeeds and accomplishes all it sets out to do. i pray that it stays God centered and the leadership involved seeks after God's heart every moment. i pray in a year from now katy and i can look back and not see something that is struggling, choking, hurt, but a ministry that flourishing, alive, in bloom.

so, that day came when the risk of remaining tight in the bud was greater than the risk it took to bloom yesterday...i can't wait to see what God has for us next!