Check your expectations at the door

If your anything like me, you find yourself affected by other peoples' actions. There are times when others don't 'behave' in the manner you expect. It's as if there are rules of the road that you want society to follow. This makes total sense to have this inner code of morals that we hold people to, but I think we are in for a great letdown if we expect this code to be followed perfectly.

The origin of the 'moral code': I believe we are all made in the image of God and desire perfection. This is engrained in all cultures - from tribal Africa to the metropolis. We often complain about people not acting the 'right' way. We can even look at how children are taught to know 'right from wrong' in early childhood.

Well who created this dance of rights and wrongs? Why is it so consistent across all cultures? If it were survival of the fittest, shouldn't we all be after our best interests?

We should expect everyone to be wholly selfish. But we don't. We desire more from people. As mom and dad say, "I expected more out of you".

Why do I always fall short? Or why do others always fall short, and why are we constantly aware when others don't play by the rules?

I've been reading Tim Keller's Reason for God lately. He has a solid insight on the subject.

Socially, Christians are expected to be morally superior to others. They are expected to live by a higher standard, and it's when they fall short of this standard that non-believers throw up their hands and affirm themselves in their atheism. A lot of times atheist claim hypocrisy as their foundation for disbelief. They have countless stories of how the Church and it's believers are so flawed and don't live by Christianity's core principles.

This argument doesn't work for me. Actually, it only further validates the Gospel message.

The Bible teaches not that we have to live a certain way to achieve salvation. It actually teaches that we as humans are all screwed up, and we cannot possibly live perfectly. Keller highlights that: "Jesus came to forgive and save us through his life and death in our place. God's grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Savior."

He didn't came to save those who don't need a Savior. That's like a Doctor coming to heal the healthy. Jesus came to heal the sick. That's why our churches look more like hospitals and less like hallways of the holy.

Now I also believe that those who are truly impacted by Jesus and the cross will begin to take on the life of Jesus. We will start to mimic His characteristics and personality traits. The Cross shouldn't be a get out of jail free card, or a license to do whatever our sinful hearts desire.

But we can't expect this metamorphosis overnight, nor can we justly hold this expectation over each others' heads. We need to truly believe that we and everyone else are sick. In need of a Savior.

Derek Webb states: If our sin is small, our Savior will be small. But if we truly believe our sin is great, we will see the greatness of our Savior.

Romans 3:23 - all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.

Believe that, and we will find ourselves spending less time pointing out the flaws in others, and more time rejoicing in the beautiful gift of the cross.

And who knows, maybe this will lead to us dying to our nasty characteristics and taking on more appealing ones. Characteristics of Jesus.

It will also lead us to showing grace to others when we are deeply offended by their iniquities...

Through the Cross I can hope to get better at this, cause Lord knows I need a reminder everyday.

Faith that Works

Tonight at Bible study we talked about Faith and Works. We looked at two passages of scripture - one focusing on Faith being the principle of 'The Way', the other focusing on the importance of works.

A lot of people will say that Faith and Works are polar opposites of each other. Maybe even that the two passages we discussed are contradictory. A year ago I would tell you that we are fully justified by faith - faith in the Gospel and that it's by Jesus' death on the Cross that we are reunited with the Father. I would tell you that Works are a way towards legalism and a life of constant judgmental survey.

What I'm learning more and more is that the two are designed to work in unity. A divine marriage of sorts.

I still hold to the promise that we are fully saved by grace through faith. Our faith is a gift that we cannot earn or merit. But what's so important and what I think we so often miss is that faith without works isn't really faith at all. Faith without works is spiritual insurance.

If we are truly impacted by the beauty of the Cross - the beauty and the offensiveness - we wouldn't be able to help but live a life of 'works'. A life totally dedicated and lived to glorify God. A life that makes Him smile.

I also believe that we are to become Christlike. This has always been sort of cliche for me. I claim the truth of our Christlike ascension, but then get on with my day. What in the heck does it mean? Are we to literally heal the lame and feed the masses? I think what this means is that through our faith and spiritual journey, we will actually begin to take on the personality of Christ. Our selfish ways will die to the humility, grace, love, etc of Jesus.

Our hearts will break for what His breaks for. We will truly desire for His Kingdom to come. Our importance will start to lie less in who we are or what we do, and more on how to pour out the love that we've received.

I believe when we are spiritually reborn we become babies. Clumsy, infantile in thought, and helpless. From there we grow into spiritual teenagers, then young adults. The pinnacle of this is Christ. I don't think we can ever reach this pinnacle, but we can most definitely get closer.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not all about surveying where you are in this journey. That actually has nothing to do with it. Self-reflection isn't a bad thing, but it's not THE thing.

The imprisonment of self-reflection is avoided by focusing on the Cross, and letting your cup runneth over. Being truly impacted by the gift at Calvary.

It's really simple. Just focus on the Cross and let everything else follow.

James 1:27 says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."


The Cross is the cause. James 1:27 is the effect.

So what's your story?

I heard someone reminiscing about a friend who had recently passed away. There were actually several people reminiscing about this friend, who I did not know. They went into great detail about how he had these massive hands, and how they remember getting lost in this guy's bear-hugs. He sounded like a great listener who deeply cared about his friends. It made me wish I had met this guy.

That got me thinking. What would people say if they were reminiscing about me? What would my story be?

My hope is that people would say I lived life to the fullest. Seizing every opportunity to have fun - and to live. Most importantly I would hope people would say, "Man, that guy loved Jesus. You could tell by how he treated the people he was surrounded by".

Words I wouldn't want to be used: self-centered, complainer, or boring.

I don't think we should walk around worrying about what people think about us. This can be consuming and a lot of times I think it can lead to self-fulfilling prophesy. It's a very trapped way to live. There's no freedom there.

Maybe it means we should live by example. This may be watching how a mentor or friend loves on people, or looking at the way Jesus lived.

Paul gives us a pretty good mantra in Colossians. Colossians 3:12 says:

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience"


In verse 13 he says we should also forgive one another, as we have been forgiven. I think the most important part of verse 12 is that we are holy and beloved. Beloved is one of my favorite words. It totally encompasses who we are in Christ. Totally and fully beloved. The dearest to His heart. Jesus climbed down from his heavenly ladder to show us this. Totally manifested on the Cross.

A lot of times when I talk to people going through a hard time what I hear isn't that their situation or circumstances are tough. What I hear is that they don't understand that they are beloved. They are fully loved and accepted just as they are.

Once we begin to truly believe we are beloved, the compassionate heart will follow. It will pour out and overflow in our daily conversations and interactions. It takes the emphasis off ourselves, and gives us a chance to live outwardly.

This is a lot easier said than done. Especially when we are constantly being lied to about this truth. We are told that we need to work harder and be better people. We get entangled in the world and how we measure up.

That's a bunch of crap. Come as you are - beloved. The rest will follow.